Annual Report Year 2009 - Civil and Environmental Engineering

PROGRAM AREAS
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Continued from page 31
use of paleoliquefaction techniques for
determining performance-based seismic
design parameters for the central-eastern
U.S.
Other participants on this project include
Scott Olson (University of Illinois)
and Patrick Munson (University of Indiana,
emeritus), Stephen Obermeier (U.S. Geological
Survey, emeritus), and Ph.D. student
Kathryn Gunberg (Virginia Tech).
Other students who Green has worked
with over the past year on various projects
include Rachel Finch, Stephen Gyurisin,
Kevin Foster, and Sam Lasley, as well
as the post-doctoral researcher Jongwon
Lee.
Earlier in the year Green completed his
term as the interim chair of the research
committee for the U.S. Universities Council
for Geotechnical Education and Research
(USUCGER) and became an editorial
board member for ASCE’s Journal
of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering.
Additionally, he gave invited lectures or
presentations in California, Beijing, China,
and Tokyo, Japan.
Jimmy Martin remains active in teaching,
research, and professional service.
A significant portion of the year involved
work as director of the Institute for Disaster
Risk Management at Virginia Tech
(DRM@VT), a university research center.
Under Martin’s leadership, DRM@VT developed
19 proposals to funding agencies
and organizations.
Most proposals were in excess of $2
million and involved natural disaster-related
research. Proposals were funded in the
area of geothermal energy where foundation
piles are used as heat exchangers
via heat pumps to more efficiently heat or
cool buildings. The Department of Energy
and NSF are sponsoring this work. (See
related story, page 2.)
Funding was also secured for landslide
analysis, modeling, and disaster risk mitigation
in Romania.
Martin and his colleague Guney Olgun
also secured funding to develop a levee
monitoring system for New Orleans using
plane- and satellite-based remote sensing
32 | VIA REPORT | 2009
technology. This innovative work closely
integrates sensing, advanced modeling,
and decision-making in an attempt to
establish a new paradigm for long-term
infrastructure management.
If successful, this work will be expanded
to other major levee districts, such as Sacramento,
Calif., and be implemented for
other types of infrastructure systems.
Importantly, based on this work and
his discussions with leaders at ASCE,
Martin was one of 30 national experts that
participated in ASCE’s Critical Infrastructure
Summit that developed guidance for
President Obama’s stimulus package for
infrastructure-related projects.
Martin made numerous international
trips to perform research studies, conduct
training and outreach, teach courses, and
present the results of his work. Travel during
the past year involved Japan, Turkey,
Romania, Switzerland, and Italy.
Findings of his work were developed
into several refereed publications, including
a special issue of the Journal of Emergency
Management in which he served as
co-editor.
He presented several professional engineering
short courses and seminars for
ASCE, FERC, and other regional groups,
such as the New Jersey Chapter of the
Geo-institute.
He served on a number of large consulting
projects including serving as lead
seismic consultant on the Pevari Dam
in southeastern Turkey, and the foundation
and seismic retrofit of historic Grace
Church in Charleston, S.C.
Matthew Mauldon’s research activities
for the last year included semi-automated
processing of LiDaR data to extract statistical
engineering parameters for rock
masses (with M.S. student K. Chaturvedela),
and a study of the relationship between
damage areas and shear strength
on sheared bedding planes.
Undergraduate Seth Martin applied image
processing techniques to delineation
and measurement of the damage suffered
during shear.
Mauldon presented papers on these
topics at the 43rd U.S. Rock Mechanics
Symposium in July.
Mauldon continues to explore geoengineering
research opportunities at DUSEL
together with colleagues at other institutions.
New initiatives include a study of
erodibility of fractured rock.
He served this year on the organizing
committee for the 43rd US Rock Mechanics
Symposium and Fourth U.S.-Canada
Rock Mechanics Symposium.
He serves on the editorial board of
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering.
Emeritus Professor Jim Mitchell continues
to serve as the chair of the advisory
committee for the interdisciplinary
NSF IGERT at Virginia Tech on Exploring
Interfaces in Graduate Education and
Research.
He is a member of the research team
for the Transportation Research Board’s
Strategic Highway Research Program 2
project on Geotechnical Solutions for Soil
Improvement, Rapid Embankment Construction,
and Stabilization of the Pavement
Working Platform.
He delivered nine invited lectures,
including the 2008 Stanley D. Wilson
Memorial Lecture in Seattle and the 2008
Mueser-Rutledge Consulting Engineers
Lecture in New York City.
He was the honoree at the “Sixth International
Conference on Case Histories
in Geotechnical Engineering and Symposium
in Honor of Professor James K.
Mitchell,” Arlington, Va., in August 2008.
Mitchell’s professional service activities
included membership on the nominating
committee of the National Academy
of Engineering and the Civil Engineering
Academic Advisory Board of Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
His current consulting activities include
advisory panels on seismic remediation
studies for four embankment dams in California
and the Seismic Peer Review Panel
for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System,
membership, along with Mike Duncan, on
the Blue Ribbon Panel for review of the
Eastward Expansion of Craney Island for
the Port of Virginia’s new Craney Island
Marine Terminal, and evaluation of mattress
rock densification problems at the
Deltaport Berth 3 Marineworks in Vancouver,
British Columbia.