Geotechnical earthquake engineering, geohazard simulation and mitigation, computational geomechanics, micromechanics.

Topics include:

• Ground motion characterization, selection and simulation  for earthquake hazard analyses; Characterization and simulation of spatially-distributed ground motions;

• Physics-based ground motion and associated landslide hazards;

• Material Point Method for large deformation modeling of slope failure;

• Micro- and macro-mechanics for soil liquefaction

• Soil dynamics, site response analysis, dynamic soil-structure interaction;

• Computational mechanics for soils, solids and fluids (finite element methods, meshfree methods, discrete element method, computational fluid dynamics etc.), and their applications in geohazard simulation;

• Micromechanics for granular materials, micromechanics for heterogeneous media, composites mechanics, damage mechanics, and nano-mechanics. 

·      Principal Investigator, Study on structuralized cementing technology and innovative stone column-seawall system for environmental friendly reclamation. NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme, grant No. N_HKUST621/18, 01/01/2019-31/12/2022 (only 26 projects were funded, 3 in civil engineering. success rate 10%)

·      Principal Investigator, Physics-based large-deformation analysis of coseismic landslides: a multiscale MPM-SEM method with case studies, Funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund grant No. 16214519, Jan 01, 2020-Dec. 31, 2022.

·      Principal Investigator, Linking microstructure evolution to cyclic liquefaction in granular soils: particle-scale investigation based on X-ray tomography and discrete element modeling. Funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund grant No. 16204618, 01/01/2019-31/12/2021

·      Principal Investigator, Developing parametric models for strong-motion amplification considering 3D topography and subsurface soils, Funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund grant No. 16214118, 07/01/2018-31/06/2021

·      Principal Investigator, Developing an Innovative Ground-motion Simulation and Modification Technique using Wavelet Packet for Nonlinear Structural and Geotechnical Analysis, funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) grant No. 16213615, 2015-2018.

·      Principal Investigator, Improving Soil Liquefaction Prediction and Evaluation through Innovative Ground Motion Characterization and Advanced Constitutive Modeling, funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) grant No. 620311, 2011-2015.

·      Co-I, Understanding Debris Flow Mechanisms and Mitigating Risks for a Sustainable Hong Kong, Funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Theme-based Research, grant no. T22-603/15N, total funding HK$33,225,000. PI (Charles Ng), January 2016-December 2020 (my share is HK$1,913,000 as Co-I).

·      Co-PI, Cost Effective and Survivable Wide-area Topology of Telecommunication Cabling, Funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) grant no. CityU8/CRF/13G, total funding HK$3,277.200. PI (Moshe Zukerman), June 1, 2014 – May 31, 2017 (My share is $330,000, plus on-costs: 62,700 as Co-PI).

·      Co-PI, Strategies for enhancing walkability in Hong Kong via smart policies, Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR) Project, Funded by Central Policy Unit, Hong Kong SAR Government, 01-Mar-2018 - 28-Feb-2021, total amount HK$3,500,000 (my share is HK$440,000 as Co-PI).

·      Co-Investigator, DEM-FEM Multiscale Method for Concrete Structures, Supported by Open Research Fund Program of State key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2013-2014.

SUPERVISED Ph.D. DISSERTATION AND M.Phil. THESIS

DU Chuanyang, "Regional Scale Spectral Element Simulation of 3D Topographic Amplification of Ground Motions and Associated Landslide Hazards" (co-supervised with Prof. Duruo Huang), June 2018.

Dr. WEI Jiangtao, "Discrete Element Analysis of Fabric Evolution in Cyclic Liquefaction of Granular Soils", Ph.D. Disseration, HKUST, Jan 2017

Duruo HUANG, "Stochastic Simulation of Spatially Correlated Earthquake Time Histories, and Energy-compatible and Spectrum-compatible Ground Motion Modification using Wavelet Packets", Ph.D. Dissertation, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, January 2016.

Yongning XIE, “A Numerical Procedure for Solving Hydro-mechanical Coupling Systems Using Reproducing Kernel Particle Method”, Ph.D. Dissertation, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, August 2014.

Wenqi DU, “Earthquake-induced Slope Displacement Analysis Using Spatially Correlated Vector Intensity Measures”, Ph.D. Dissertation, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Sept. 2013. 

Srinivas Vivek Bokkisa, Fabric Evolution in 3D Discrete Element Modelling of Soil Liquefaction, M.Phil. Thesis, HKUST, August 2019

Chaoyi WANG, “Modification and Validation of One-dimensional Equivalent Linear Method for Ground Response Analysis”, M.Phil. Thesis, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Dec. 2014.   

Sen LONG,  “Seismic Site Response Analysis Considering Ground Motion Variability and Site Property Variability”, M.Phil. Thesis, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Feb. 2012.