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Dr Loizos Pelecanos
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Landslides are a major natural hazard in many parts of the world and its mitigation presents a global grand challenge. A number of inactive landslides may suddenly become active without any warning due to the occurrence of extreme natural events such as heavy rainfall and earthquakes. Records of recent landslides in Great Britain have been associated with various severe consequences such as damage to civil and transportation infrastructure, economic losses and some reported fatalities.
Although the analysis of large landslides can be considered as a traditional slope stability problem, such an exercise can only predict the initiation of the failure and therefore provide limited information about the post-failure deformations. Even the widely-used finite (FEM) and discrete element methods (DEM) have their own limitations as the former struggle to converge for large deformations and the latter are extremely computationally demanding.
An alternative approach can be the more recently developed Material Point Method (MPM) which seems to be able to overcome a number of obstacles encountered when using the previously-mentioned approaches. This project will involve development of the MPM approach to the analysis of the post-failure behaviour of landslides. Relevant developments in the areas of coupled hydro-mechanical (e.g. seepage) and transient dynamic (e.g. cyclic and earthquake) analysis will allow the formulation of an appropriate tool to assess the post-failure effects of landslides. Comparisons with the more established FEM and its various large-displacement formulations will also allow an assessment of the shortcomings of the latter widely-used methods.
This project is entirely computational and will involve numerical analysis with both in-house developed codes and commercial software. Therefore, the suitable candidate should have a strong interest in engineering mechanics, geotechnical/structural modelling and computational analysis. Ideally, the candidate will have some experience in programming using Matlab/C++/Python.
Interested candidates are encouraged to contact the supervisor ([Email Address Removed]) to inquire about the project.
Although the analysis of large landslides can be considered as a traditional slope stability problem, such an exercise can only predict the initiation of the failure and therefore provide limited information about the post-failure deformations. Even the widely-used finite (FEM) and discrete element methods (DEM) have their own limitations as the former struggle to converge for large deformations and the latter are extremely computationally demanding.
An alternative approach can be the more recently developed Material Point Method (MPM) which seems to be able to overcome a number of obstacles encountered when using the previously-mentioned approaches. This project will involve development of the MPM approach to the analysis of the post-failure behaviour of landslides. Relevant developments in the areas of coupled hydro-mechanical (e.g. seepage) and transient dynamic (e.g. cyclic and earthquake) analysis will allow the formulation of an appropriate tool to assess the post-failure effects of landslides. Comparisons with the more established FEM and its various large-displacement formulations will also allow an assessment of the shortcomings of the latter widely-used methods.
This project is entirely computational and will involve numerical analysis with both in-house developed codes and commercial software. Therefore, the suitable candidate should have a strong interest in engineering mechanics, geotechnical/structural modelling and computational analysis. Ideally, the candidate will have some experience in programming using Matlab/C++/Python.
Interested candidates are encouraged to contact the supervisor ([Email Address Removed]) to inquire about the project.
Funding Notes
A Home/EU award will cover tuition fees, a training support fee of £1,000/annum, and a standard tax-free maintenance payment of at least £14,553 (2017-8 rate) for a duration of up to 3.5 years.
An Overseas award (3 years): Provides tuition fee, £1000 per year Training Support Grant, but no stipend.
The successful applicant will ideally have graduated (or be due to graduate) with an undergraduate Masters first class degree and/or MSc distinction (or overseas equivalent).
Any English language requirements must be met at the time of application to be considered for funding.
An Overseas award (3 years): Provides tuition fee, £1000 per year Training Support Grant, but no stipend.
The successful applicant will ideally have graduated (or be due to graduate) with an undergraduate Masters first class degree and/or MSc distinction (or overseas equivalent).
Any English language requirements must be met at the time of application to be considered for funding.
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