Dr Mohamed Rouainia
Senior Lecturer in Computational Geomechanics

  • Email: mohamed.rouainia@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 3608
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 5322
  • Address: School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
    Room 1.09
    Drummond Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK

Introduction

Dr Rouainia has been a member of academic staff in the the Geotechnical and Structural Engineering (GEST) Group in the School since 2003. His research interests focus on the development and implementation of multi-surface soil plasticity models capable of modelling nonlinear cyclic loading (with applications in renewable energy foundations effects of current and future climate scenarios on infrastructure slopes etc.). Geomechanics and fluid  flow processes in unsaturated soils/rocks have been a major focus of recent work (with applications in gas shales, CCS and ground source energy). His teaching focuses on geotechnics, soil modelling and numerical methods for civil engineers and engineering geologists.

Qualifications

Dipl.-Ing in Civil Engineering
MSc Geotechnical Engineering
Ph.D in Computational Geomechanics

Roles and Resposibilities

GEST Postgraduate PGR Selector
School Coordinator of the International Exchange Programmes (Erasmus)
Coordinator for the Geotechnical Engineering Lab

Memberships

Member of the Geotechnique Advisory Panel (GAP)

Member of NAFEMS Geotechnical Committee.
Member of Northern Geotechnical Group (NGG) Committee.
Chairman of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering - UK, 2008-2009.
Vice-Chairman of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering - UK, 2007-2008.

Industrial Relevance

Small strain modelling of excavations and tunnels
Offshore wind turbine foundations
Soil/pipe interaction
Software consultancy services 

 

Research Interests

My research interests and expertise currently encompass the following areas: (i) the development of advanced kinematic hardening models for natural soils and routine use of such models in geotechnical problems; (ii) the implementation of robust numerical integration schemes for the integration of advanced soil constitutive relations; (iii) the assessment of climate change effects on embankment slopes; (iv)  the long term cyclic performance of offshore foundations and feasibility of novel foundation solutions and (vi) the development of seismic performance based design methods for geotechnical systems.

Postgraduate Supervision

Jing-Rui Peng - Behaviour of finned piles in sand under lateral loading (completed 2005)
Mahdi Alyami - Seismic behaviour of gravity quay walls built on liquefiable soils (Completed 2008)
Salah Hamuda - The relation between soil compaction and its thermal characterisation (completed 2009)
Owen Davies - Numerical analysis of the effects of climate change on slope stability (completed 2010)
Ulf Boeker - Petrophysical and geological characterisation of shale reservoirs (completed 2011)
Stylianos Panayides - Application of kinematic hardening structure models to geotechnical problems
Chandra Vemury - Seismic analysis of braced frames with shape memory alloy-based dampers
Abdulbaset Alterimi – Thermal conductivity of pfa for geothermal applications
Gerardo Gonzalez - Environmental risk assessment of underground coal gasification with CCS
Michael Drews -  Lithological and petrophysical variability of fine-grained sediments
David Simpson - Advanced laboratory characterisation of weakly cemented
Paul Sargent -  The use for sustainable materials in soil stabilisation  

I am always interested in discussing opportunities for postgraduate study in all areas of my research interest but I am also open to discussing other potential projects.  Funding can be secured from a variety of sources, including an annual competition for research council funding.

Esteem indicators

Visiting Research Fellow at the USQ, Australia
Visiting scholar at the University of Newcastle, Australia
Invited Panel Presentation, 16th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Geotech. Eng., Osaka, Japan, Sept 2005
Keynote Speaker, NAFEMS Awarness seminar, The Institution of Mechanical Engineering, 2004
Invited Speaker, European Plaxis users meeting, Karlsruhe, Germany, November 2004
Invited speaker, University of Southern Queensland, Australia, 2001
Invited speaker, Scottish Geotechnical Network, University of Napier, 2001 

Funding

Current/Recent Grants

GeoPOP - Pore pressure and its prediction in clastic sedimentary rock. Industry funded, £550,000. PI with Andrew Aplin. 20012 – 2015.

GASH (Shale Gas Europe). Industry funded, £400,000. Co-PI with Andrew Aplin. 2009 – 2012.

Shale Gas Canada. Industry funded, £500,000, 2008-2011, Co-PI with Calgary.

BIONICS - EPSRC funded, £125,000. Co-PI with Stephanie Glendenning, 2004-2009.

Soft rock behaviour. Buro Happold, £30,000. PI 2010-2013.

Anisotropy and destructuration of natural clays – EPSRC funded, £125,000. PI 2004-2007.

 

Undergraduate Teaching

Principles of soil mechanics for civil engineers.

Module leader for:
CEG2201 Geotechnics

Contributions to:
CEG1201 Geotechnical Properties of Soils and Rocks

Erasmus Coordinator 

Postgraduate Teaching

Geomechanics and numerical analysis of geotechnical structures for geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists.

Module leader for:
CEG8201 Geomechanics
CEG8205 Soil Modelling and Numerical Methods 

Contributions to:
MAR8057 - Civil and geotechnical aspects of pipeline engineering