ENAC Seminar Series by Prof. Katerina Ziotopoulou
Event details
| Date | 15.05.2023 |
| Hour | 09:30 › 10:30 |
| Speaker | Prof. Katerina Ziotopoulou |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
09:30- 10:30 - Prof. Katerina Ziotopoulou
Associate Professor, University of California, Davis
Holistic development of numerical models towards resilient critical geosystems
The development and re-evaluation of critical infrastructure (e.g., embankment and tailings dams, pipelines, bridges) founded upon, penetrating through, or comprised of natural and/or anthropogenic soils faces persistent challenges that hinder our ability to predict, mitigate and expediently respond to minimize the extent, duration, and cost of any disruption. These challenges are rooted in the spectrum of processes involved in such predictions: from characterizing the materials, to understanding their behaviors, to developing appropriate engineering procedures and numerical methods, all the way to predicting system-level performance under standard and extreme loading conditions. Uncertainties can lead to conservative assumptions in performance which can result in design or remediation that can cost more than $100M for a single project (e.g., dams). Today, under the continuous threat of earthquake hazard, the rapidly emerging threats from shifting climate conditions, and the shift to alternative energy sources, the need to advance our predictive capabilities for soil-structure systems is more imperative than ever. Against this backdrop, this presentation will describe the holistic development of a constitutive model for sands and silts (PM4Sand), from its element-level formulation to the system-level validation. Extensive bench- and centrifuge-scale model tests elucidate capabilities and limitations for capturing certain mechanistic behaviors. These critical examinations and the establishment of validation protocols enable discoveries and inform future steps. Last but not least, the use of advanced constitutive models in unresolved case histories facilitates the assessment of failure modes in geosystems, the quantification of ensuing impacts on critical infrastructure, and the development of design procedures and decision frameworks. Ongoing work and near- and far-future opportunities will be discussed towards ensuring the sustained serviceability of geosystems and their resilience in the face of natural hazards.
Short bio:
Katerina Ziotopoulou is an Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. She received her PhD and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from UC Davis, and her undergraduate 5-year diploma degree in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Dr. Ziotopoulou specializes in soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering with an emphasis on the investigation of ground failure due to earthquake-induced liquefaction and cyclic softening, and its mitigation. She combines the development of advanced numerical methods with multiscale novel experimentation, the establishment of validation protocols, and the upscaling to system-level analyses accounting for the spatial variability of soil deposits. Products of her research have been used by hundreds of researchers and by decades of companies in high-profile national and international projects. Dr. Ziotopoulou is the recipient of the 2021 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2023 International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Young Researcher Award. She has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, mentoring women towards critical transitions, and has been ensuring technology transfer to industry through numerous professional courses, workshops, and seminars.
Associate Professor, University of California, Davis
Holistic development of numerical models towards resilient critical geosystems
The development and re-evaluation of critical infrastructure (e.g., embankment and tailings dams, pipelines, bridges) founded upon, penetrating through, or comprised of natural and/or anthropogenic soils faces persistent challenges that hinder our ability to predict, mitigate and expediently respond to minimize the extent, duration, and cost of any disruption. These challenges are rooted in the spectrum of processes involved in such predictions: from characterizing the materials, to understanding their behaviors, to developing appropriate engineering procedures and numerical methods, all the way to predicting system-level performance under standard and extreme loading conditions. Uncertainties can lead to conservative assumptions in performance which can result in design or remediation that can cost more than $100M for a single project (e.g., dams). Today, under the continuous threat of earthquake hazard, the rapidly emerging threats from shifting climate conditions, and the shift to alternative energy sources, the need to advance our predictive capabilities for soil-structure systems is more imperative than ever. Against this backdrop, this presentation will describe the holistic development of a constitutive model for sands and silts (PM4Sand), from its element-level formulation to the system-level validation. Extensive bench- and centrifuge-scale model tests elucidate capabilities and limitations for capturing certain mechanistic behaviors. These critical examinations and the establishment of validation protocols enable discoveries and inform future steps. Last but not least, the use of advanced constitutive models in unresolved case histories facilitates the assessment of failure modes in geosystems, the quantification of ensuing impacts on critical infrastructure, and the development of design procedures and decision frameworks. Ongoing work and near- and far-future opportunities will be discussed towards ensuring the sustained serviceability of geosystems and their resilience in the face of natural hazards.
Short bio:
Katerina Ziotopoulou is an Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. She received her PhD and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from UC Davis, and her undergraduate 5-year diploma degree in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Dr. Ziotopoulou specializes in soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering with an emphasis on the investigation of ground failure due to earthquake-induced liquefaction and cyclic softening, and its mitigation. She combines the development of advanced numerical methods with multiscale novel experimentation, the establishment of validation protocols, and the upscaling to system-level analyses accounting for the spatial variability of soil deposits. Products of her research have been used by hundreds of researchers and by decades of companies in high-profile national and international projects. Dr. Ziotopoulou is the recipient of the 2021 Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2023 International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Young Researcher Award. She has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, mentoring women towards critical transitions, and has been ensuring technology transfer to industry through numerous professional courses, workshops, and seminars.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Sarah Feller & Clivia Waldvogel