Former Group Members

Asheesh Pradhan, Ph.D.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
1. DEM model study of geogrid reinforcement
2. DEM model study of p- and s- wave in granular soil
3. Design and fabrication of TDR and Thermal-TDR sensors
4. TDR sensors for soil moisture and thermal property measurements

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Dr. Asheesh Pradhan recently received PhD in civil engineering with focus in geotechnical engineering in the summer of 2015 from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA. He received his ME at McNeese State University in Lake Charles Louisiana and BE degree from Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University in Nepal. During his masters he worked on chemical stabilization of soil and design of driven pile foundations. During his PhD at UTA he worked on several research activities such as DEM modeling of geogrid reinforcements and dynamic soil properties and design and fabrication of TDR and Thermal-TDR sensors. Currently he is involved in several research projects involving filed application of TDR and TDT sensors, prediction of drilled shaft capacities, prospects of using geothermal energy for bridge deck deicing, and setting up of large scale geogrid pull out box setup.

Nan(Victor) Zhang, Ph.D.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
1. Development and Validation of TDR-based Sensors for Thermal Conductivity and
    Soil Suction Measurements
2. Use of Geothermal Energy for Deicing Approach Pavement Slabs and Bridge Decks

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Dr. Nan (Victor) Zhang is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Texas, USA. He received his BE and MS degree from Hohai University in Civil Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering, respectively. Then, he obtained his PhD degree from UTA in Geotechnical Engineering in 2015. He has been conducting research on: (1) Development and validation of thermo-TDR probe for geothermal applications; (2) Design of moisture/ suction TDR probe for unsaturated soils in geotechnical engineering; (3) Theoretical and experimental study on soil thermal conductivity prediction models; (4) Use of geothermal energy for deicing approach pavement slabs and bridge decks.

Elmira Riahi

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Behavior of Epoxy Coated Concrete and Its Application in Buried Concrete Members

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Elmira Riahi is a Ph.D. student in Geotechnical Engineering at University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Texas, USA. She received B.S. in civil engineering and M.S. in geotechnical engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. She is studying behavior of epoxy coated concrete by doing experiments and numerical modeling. She is using ABAQUS to simulate tests on epoxy coated notched concrete beams and generating a calibrated model of epoxy coated manhole structure.

Yujie (Felicia) Hu

RESEARCH INTERESTS
California load and resistance factor design (LRFD) for deep foundations

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Yujie (Felicia) Hu currently is a M.S student in Geotechnical Engineering in the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Texas, USA. She got her Bachelor’s degree from Beijing University of Technology in the area of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Then, she continued to register as a Master student in UTA until now. Currently she’s been working on analyzing bearing capacity data for driven piles in California and improving resistance factor. She can play the keyboard and piano.

Saurav Sinha

RESEARCH INTERESTS
1. Infiltration Study in Soil using Sensor Technology
2. Infiltration Modeling of Soil data
3. Infiltration Models for Field Applications

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Saurav Sinha is a Master’s student working at the University of Texas, Arlington with Dr. Xinbao Yu. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He got placed in Shapoorji Pallonji Engineering and Construction and worked on various different Multi-Million dollar Commercial Building Projects. This work sparked his interest in Research and Development field. He was selected as a Research Assistant in the European Union funded FP-7 project “CEOP-AEGIS” with 8 country partners; France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, India, China and Japan. His work mainly focused on Map delineation and Data Interpretation using Arc-GIS and ERDAS software (Remote Sensing Software). He is currently working on a National Science Foundation Project Cyper SEES: Type 2: Integrative Sensing and Prediction of Urban Water for Sustainable Cities (iSPUW) that focuses on developing a prototype system empowered by distributed computing and cyber-infrastructure for integrative sensing, high-resolution modeling and uncertainty-assessed prediction of water quantity and quality for a large urban area, provide training and support to the user community for early adoption, and educate the next generation of sustainability scientists and engineers.

Xiang Chen, Ph.D.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
1. Rock and soil mass stability
2. Soft soil subgrade treatment of high speed railway
3. Comprehensive advance geological forecast
4. Evaluation of weathering degrees of historic relics with stones

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Dr. Xiang Chen, associate professor from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, is current a visiting scholar in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Texas, USA. He received his BE degree from Chang’an University in Geological Engineering in 2001. Then, he obtained his MS and PhD degree from China University of Geoscience at Beijing in Geotechnical Engineering in 2004 and 2007 respectively. He has been conducting research on: (1) The unloading effect of rock samples and the quality evaluation of engineering rock mass; (2) The experimental study on the real-time karst detecting and grouting effect evaluation technology high speed railway engineering; (3) Key technology of CFG pile composite foundation for high speed railway; (4) Deformation mechanism of long oil and gas pipelines across underground mined-out area; (5) The experimental study on the blast vibration of large underground oil storage caverns.

Zhaoyu Wang

RESEARCH INTERESTS
1. Dynamic behavior of rubber and sand mixture
2. Micro-piles Foundation
3. Solid Waste Management
4. Geotechnical seismic analysis
5. Retaining Systems for Deep Excavations
6. Advanced CPTU Soil Testing

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Zhaoyu Wang, associate professor from Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, China, previously is a visiting scholar in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Texas, USA. He received his B.S. degree from Southeast University in Civil Engineering in 1997. Then, he obtained his M.S. degree from Southeast University at Nanjing in Geotechnical Engineering in 2003.

Velpuri Nagavenkata P