News
DFI LANGAN/Bernard F. Langan Scholarship
The LANGAN/Bernard F. Langan Scholarship is available to Purdue University students only. One award of $6,250. For information and to apply go to: LANGAN/Bernard F. Langan Scholarship Application.
Prof. Rodrigo Salgado speaks at the Texas A&M University Center for Infrastructure Renewal
Prof. Salgado visited Texas A&M as a guest speaker at the Construction, Geotechnical, and Structural Engineering Seminar held by the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University. There, he gave a presentation on Risks in Geotechnical Engineering.
18th C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture
After a pause, we are restarting the Lovell Lecture series with a lecture by Ed Kavazanjian.
Dr. Kavazanjian is the Regents' Professor and the Ira A. Fulton Professor of Geotechnical Engineering
at Arizona State University and his lecture is called "Geo-Alchemy: Biogeotechnical Carbonate
Precipitation for Hazard Mitigation and Ground Improvement".
The lecture will take place at 4:30 pm on Friday, November 3, 2023.
Burton Morgan Bldg, Room 121, Purdue University.
Prof. Rodrigo Salgado participates in the ASCE Geo-Institute Director's Cut Interview
In this Geo-Institute interview, he talked about his trajectory, how he became a professor and a lawyer, and much more. If you are interested in watching follow this link.
DFI LANGAN/Bernard F. Langan Scholarship
Langan Engineering and Environmental Services has established a scholarship at the DFI Educational Trust. The Trust will select the recipient from a field of 5 finalists selected by COFFEE and then make the award directly to the recipient. The scholarship will provide an award to a Purdue University student in good standing enrolled full-time in an undergraduate or graduate civil engineering program with focus on geotechnical engineering. The scholarship honors Bernard F. Langan, a distinguished former member of Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, for his contributions to the deep foundations industry. The deadline of the application is October 31, 2023. More details and application form can be obtained from here.
Rodrigo Salgado receives Richard R. Torrens Award
Congratulations to Rodrigo Salgado, Charles Pankow Professor in Civil Engineering, on receiving the Richard R. Torrens Award for outstanding contributions to the ASCE publications program. He is the first Geotechnical Engineer to win this award since the creating of the Geo-Institute.
Prof. Rodrigo Salgado answers questions about Surfside building collapse on live TV
After the Surfside building collapse on June 24, 2021, Prof. Salgado was invited by WTVW to answer a few questions on live TV. He explained why monitoring cracks is important to prevent such catastrophes and how cracking can lead to more important structural problems. The full interview is available on YouTube.
Prof. R. Salgado elected chair of technical committee of ISSMGE
Prof. R. Salgado was elected chair of TC 205 of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). This technical committee deals with safety and serviceability in geotechnical design. Dr. Fei Han was appointed secretary. Both are looking forward to contributing, together with the committee members, to advancement of geotechnical design under the auspices of ISSMGE. The website for the committee can be found here.
Graduation this semester
Fei Han successfully defended his thesis and was awarded his doctorate in the month of November, 2017. His thesis is titled "Axial and lateral resistance of non-displacement piles". Fei will continue to work at COFFEE as a post-doctoral research assistant. We wish all the best to Fei Han and hope for a bright and productive future.
C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture by Professor Ross Boulanger
The 15th C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture was presented by Professor Ross Boulanger of the Univeristy of California, Davis, on October 20, 2017 at Purdue. The lecture, entitled Seismic Response of an Embankment on Loose Saturated Sand Treated With Soil-Cement Panels: Centrifuge Tests and Numerical Analyses, focused on numerical simulations of a centrifuge model test of an embankment on a liquefiable foundation layer treated with soil-cement panels. Details of the talk can be found here. The lecture was preceeded by a visit to Bowen labs by Professor Boulanger and a seminar on subsidence risk mitigation by Dr. Kevin Foye, Senior Engineer at CTI Companies. The day was concluded with a dinner in honor of Professor Boulanger.
Prof. Salgado receives Outstanding Reviewer Award
In August 2017, Professor Rodrigo Salgado received the Outstanding Reviewer Award from Elsevier for his work for Computers and Geotechnics, one of the top journals in geotechnical engineering. Computers and Geotechnics publishes papers in computational geomechanics and other computational applications in geotechnical engineering.
Prof. Salgado elected as director of the International Press In Association
In June 2017, the general assembly of the International Press-In Association (IPA) elected Professor Salgado as one of its Directors. The IPA is an academic organization that supports and facilitates research for the press-in method of pile installation. More details about the organization can be found here.
Talk by Dr. Marina Pantazidou
On May 25, 2017, Dr. Marina Pantazidou, Associate Professor at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, visited Purdue and gave an interesting talk entitled "Bridging Geotechnical Engineering Education and Research on Education". Prior to the talk, Dr. Pantazidou also visited the model pile testing facility at Bowen Laboratory. Below are a few photographs from the visit.
Visit by Prof. Magued Iskander
On May 18-19, 2017, Prof. Magued Iskander, Professor and Department Chair of Civil and Urban Engineering at NYU, visited the COFFEE research facility at Purdue University. During the visit, Prof. Iskander gave a stimulating presentation entitled "Visualization of soil-structure interaction and flow liquefaction using transparent soils". Prof. Iskander's visit was concluded with a tour of the model pile testing facility at Bowen Laboratory and an interaction session with the graduate students and scholars of COFFEE.
Congratulations to Ruben Tovar on passing his preliminary examination
COFFEE scholar Ruben Tovar passed his preliminary examination on May 19, 2017. His thesis is titled "Particle-scale effects on pile response during installation and loading". We congratulate Ruben for becoming a PhD candidate and wish the very best for his future!
Keynote address by Professor Salgado
Professor Salgado gave the keynote address, entitled "Insights into Pile Design from Experimental and Theoretical Research", in the 41st Annual Metropolitan Section Geotechnical Seminar on May 11th, 2017 in New York, NY.
Professor Salgado and Professor Prezzi in Colombia
On May 4-6 2017, Professor Salgado and Professor Prezzi gave presentations in the Colombian Geotechnical Society's Second Course on Subsoils Exploration and Characterization and Design of Deep Foundations. Prof. Salgado gave a presentation entitled "Theorical simulation of the load response of piles in sand and related design lessons" and Professor Prezzi gave a presentation entitled "Lessons from the Purdue pile load testing program". Brochure for the course can be downloaded from here.
3rd Bolivian International Conference on Deep Foundation
Professor Salgado and Professor Prezzi were invited to present at the 3rd Bolivian International Conference on Deep Foundation held at Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, from April 27 through 29, 2017. Professor Salgado gave a lecture entitled "The load response of non-displacement piles in sand" and Professor Prezzi gave a lecture entitled "Effects of installation processes on axial pile capacity". A few pictures from the conference are shown below.
Congratulations to Ayda Castro on passing her preliminary examination
COFFEE scholar Ayda Castro passed her preliminary examination on April 18, 2017. Her thesis is titled "Effect of Cyclic Loads on the Axial Capacity of Piles". We congratulate Ayda for becoming a PhD candidate and wish the very best for her future!
Professor Salgado at Purdue Road School, 2017
Professor Salgado gave a lecture entitled "Load Capacity of Open-Ended Pipe Piles for Sagamore Parkway Bridge", in the 103rd Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo on March 7, 2017.
Venkata Sakleshpur awarded the Bernard F. Langan Scholarship
The second Bernard F. Langan Scholarship at Purdue University was awarded to Venkata Sakleshpur, a COFFEE scholar and graduate student pursuing his Ph.D. in civil engineering at Purdue University. We congratulate Venkata for this achievement and wish the very best for his future. More details can be found here
Ongoing research by COFFEE covered by news channel WLFI
Local news agency WLFI covered the ongoing research on large diameter pipe piles by COFFEE. Two static pile load test for open-ended and closed-ended pipe piles were carried out at the US-52 bridge re-construction site as a collaborative effort by COFFEE and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) in August, 2016. The video (courtesy WLFI) is shown below. The accompanying article can be found here.
C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture by Professor Richard Jardine
The 14th C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture was presented by Professor Richard Jardine of The Imperial College London, England on November 4, 2016 at Purdue. The lecture, entitled Geotechnics and Energy, focused on the importance of integration of geology and rigorous analysis with advanced laboratory and field experiments to resolve complex geotechnical problems raised by climate change and energy requirements of the world. More details about the lecture can be found here. The lecture was followed by a luncheon in honor of Professor Jardine.
Professor Salgado at the Argentinian Geotechnical Congress
Professor Salgado delivered the keynote lecture, entitled "Mechanics of the Axial Loading of Piles in Sand", in the Argentinian Geotechnical Congress in November 2016. Immediately after the Congress, he taught the short course on Load Resistance Factor Design (LRFD).
Visitors to COFFEE pile testing facility at Bowen Labs
On June 2nd, Dr. Ted Okumura and Mr. Kazuyoshi ISHII of Internal Press-In Association and Mr. Toshifumi Shiomi of Giken america Corp. visited Purdue to discuss possible research related to pressed-in (jacked) piles.
Ayda Castro awarded the Bernard F. Langan Scholarship
The first Bernard F. Langan Scholarship at Purdue University was awarded to Ayda Catalina Galvis Castro, a COFFEE scholar and graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in civil engineering at Purdue University. Her thesis is titled "Effect of Cyclic Loads on the Axial Capacity of Piles.". We congratulate Ayda for this achievement and wish the very best for her future. More details can be found here
Prof. Rodrigo Salgado named Charles Pankow Professor in Civil Engineering
The Purdue University Board of Trustees on October 9, 2015, named Prof. Rodrigo Salgado as the Charles Pankow Professor in Civil Engineering. The Charles Pankow Professorship was established in honor of Charles Pankow Jr., a pioneer in civil engineering and concrete-forming technology (more details can be found here)
C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture by Professor Emeritus Michele Jamiolkowski
The 13th C. W. Lovell Distinguished Lecture was presented by Professor Emeritus Michele Jamiolkowski of The University of Torino, Italy on September 23, 2015 at Purdue. The lecture focused on the geotechnical aspects of the development of one of the world’s largest copper tailings disposal facilities, located at Zelazny Most in southwest Poland. The Lecture was followed by a seminar by Professor Jamiolkowski on the temporary and final stabilization works carried out to stabilize the tower of Pisa in the period from 1993 to 2001. More details about the lecture, seminar and Professor Michele Jamiolkowski can be found here.
Seminar By Prof. James K. Mitchell
Professor James K. Mitchell, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech, held a seminar titled, "Lessons from the lives of two dams," on September 3rd, at Purdue. The seminar focused on risk mitigation strategies, the importance of correct soil and site characterization and the implementation and effectiveness of different ground stabilization and improvement methods.
Congratulations to Sang Inn Woo on his PhD
Sang Inn Woo graduated with a PhD degree in Civil Engineering, under Prof. Rodrigo Salgado, on August 7, 2015. Sang Inn's thesis is titled "Numerical simulation of penetration in sand". We wish all the best to Sang Inn and hope for a bright and productive future.
Prof. Salgado receives Outstanding Reviewer Award
Professor Rodrigo Salgado is the 2015 recipient of the Outstanding Reviewer Award from Elsevier for his work for Computers and Geotechnics, one of the top journals in geotechnical engineering. Computers and Geotechnics publishes papers in computational geomechanics and other computational applications in geotechnical engineering.
Research paper awarded Geotechnical Research Medal by ICE
Dr. Mazhar Arshad, Dr. Faraz Tehrani, Prof. Monica Prezzi, and Prof. Rodrigo Salgado are the 2015 recipients of the Geotechnical Research Medal
from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Both Dr. Arshad and Dr. Tehrani obtained their Ph.D. degrees at Purdue University in 2014. The
award was given to the researchers for the paper entitled “Experimental study of cone penetration in silica sand using digital image correlation”
published in Géotechnique (Vol 64, Issue No 7). The paper was selected as the best paper published in that journal in 2014 and will be made available
for all to read in perpetuity on the ICE Virtual Library.
The Geotechnical Research Medal was established by a bequest by the late Professor A.W. Bishop of Imperial college, London, and is awarded annually to
the author(s) of the best contribution in the field of research in geotechnical engineering published by ICE in the previous year. The medal will be
presented to the authors at an awards ceremony being held in October 2015 at the ICE, in London.
The research work reported in the paper, which was partly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant # 0969949, focuses on results
of experimental investigations of the cone penetration test performed in a half-circular calibration chamber that allows visualization of the penetration
process. Cone penetration in soils is part of a challenging class of problems – which also includes installation and loading of pile foundations and
anchors, the interaction between piles in a pile group and the interface response of soils with steel, concrete and other materials – in which soil, a
highly nonlinear material, experiences large displacements, large rotations and extreme deformation. The researchers used the Digital Image Correlation
(DIC) method to analyze the images collected during penetration and produce the soil displacement and deformation field around the advancing penetrometer.
The DIC chamber was developed in its entirety at Purdue University and is housed in the model pile testing facility in the Bowen Large-Scale Laboratory.
It offers Purdue researchers the ability to study the most complex problems in Geomechanics and onshore and offshore foundation engineering.
Events
C W Lovell Distinguished Lecture
Beginning in 2003, the C W Lovell Distinguished Lecture series was established through the generosity of Prof. Lovell, who expressed an interest in creating a lecture series at Purdue that will have staying power - one in which a track record of scholarship is clearly established. Thus, each year, COFFEE has invited lecturers to Purdue with outstanding accomplishments in Geotechnical engineering research. The lecture series creates an excellent opportunity for our graduate students to meet some of the most important names in Geotechnical engineering in person at Purdue.
