Newcastle University

Background

I am a structural engineer specialising in earthquake engineering.  The aim of my research is to help develop communities that are resilient to natural hazard.  I believe the best way of achieving this is by understanding how critical infrastructure responds in a disaster and what role it has  in protecting communities.   My specific methodolgy is to identify robust network architectures for critical infrastructure systems that are insensitive to the magnitude of the hazard to which they may be exposed  and therefore suffer minimum disruption in the event of a disaster.  This is an extension of the way eathquake engineers design their buildings whereby they treat them as systems that have ductile modes of failure which can absorb vast amounts of energy without collapse (bend not break).  I also teach these concepts in my structural engineering design classes as well as teaching my specific expertise of earthquake engineering. 

Qualifications

 PhD QUT 1997, Meng QUT 1991, Beng QIT 1986

Memberships

Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics co-opted committee member
Earthquake Field Investigation Team Management committee

Industrial Experience

Worked as a civil and Structural Engineering for Ove Arup and Partners in Brisbane Australia before returning to academia at Queesnland University of Technology.  Was Seconded to Robert Bird and Partners in 1997 to design seismically resistant high-rise building in Indonesia, before moving to his present position

Research Interests
Resilient communities, Critical infrastructure, Earthquake engineering, Extreme loadings, Future design wind speeds

Other Expertise: Design of High-rise buildings, lifeline engineering, network reliability

Postgraduate Supervision
Sarah Dunn - Making Resilient Communities for the 21st Century
Matthew Holmes, Resilience of water supply networks
Tom Pickering - Vulnerability curves for electricity distribution system 
Alan Richardson Graduated  2008
Mahdi Al Yami Graduated 2009 
Michael Kyakula Graduated 2004  

Esteem Indicators
Reviewer for the Georgian National Science Foundation
Mission Leader EEFIT mission 20 2009 Padang Earthquake
Academic Leader EEFIT mission to 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami
Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics co-opted committee member
Earthquake Field Investigation Team Management committee

Invited Lectures
Securing the Resilience of Critical Infrastructure Systems: Invited lecture at Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Measures and Models of Resilience 1-2 Nov 2012: hosted by Rockefeller Foundation and Oxford Martin School  
The Christchurch Earthquake of 22nd March 2011, Invited Speaker at Institution of Structural Engineers, EEFIT meeting
The Vulnerability of the European Air Traffic Network to Spatial Hazards; Presentation for the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, 15/02/2011
Are our Air Traffic Networks Particularly Vulnerable to Spatial Hazards? Presentation for the University of Colorado at Boulder, 07/02/2011
The Padang Earthquake of September 30 2009. Invited Speaker at Institution of Structural Engineers, EEFIT meeting
The Indian Ocean Tsunami: Lessons Learnt and the Engineers’ Response, Invited Speaker at A joint meeting of the ICE Maritime Board and The Society of Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics, 7th February, Institution of Civil Engineers
The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004 field mission, Invited Speaker at the Institution of Structural Engineers on 5 April 2005.
Lessons from the Tsunami Disaster, December 2004, Invited Speaker at Institution of Structural Engineers, Northern Counties Branch:, 8 November 2005 Central Square, Newcastle and 10 January 2005 Sporting Lodge Inn, Stainton, Middlesbrough
“The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami – Findings of the EEFIT Mission to the Area,”, Invited Speaker Institution of Engineers Australia, 11th November, 2005,

Current Funding
EEFIT Earthquake Mission Grant: Funding for improved response and dissemination; March 2011 - March 2016  (PI £205 000) 

RESNET Resilience and Electricity Networks in the UK; Sep 2011 - Aug 2015; £1.4M (PI NCL £415 000)

ECISE Enabling CLimate Information Services for Europe Feb 2011 – Jan 2014 (Co-PI £170 000)

Infrastructure reliability and adaptation - STREAM Cohort II Project; October 2010 – Sept 2014 (PI £58 000)

PLATFORM GRANT: Earth Systems Engineering: Sustainable systems engineering for adapting to global change Co-Investigator, £1.3M, Dec 2008 – Nov 2013. (joined 2011)

Past Funding
Post Earthquake Field Investigation of the Padang Earthquake 29th December 2009, £33 500 EPSRC funded, Nov 2009

Post Earthquake Field Investigation of the Indian Ocean Tsunami 26th December 2004; Jan 2005;  £6 751 EPSRC funded.

Effects of Higher Modes On the Collapse Behaviour of Buildings.  May 2002 - April 2004; £60 000; EPSRC funded research grant. 

Steel Bearing Pile Market Survey, funded by Corus, 2005; £12 000

British Council Link Programme – Ghana RES/4562/7002; Apr 2000 - Mar 2001;  £12 516 British Council ;  

Undergraduate Teaching

CEG2302 Steel and Concrete Structures -  Module leader (100%)
CEG8303 Seismic Resistant Design -  Module leader (100%)
CEG 2001 Design of Sustainable Engineering Systems 2

Postgraduate Teaching

CEG8303 Seismic Resistant Design -  Module leader (100%)

• Wilkinson SM, Alarcon JE, Mulyani R, Whittle J, Chian SC. Observations of damage to buildings from M_W 7.6 Padang earthquake of 30 September 2009. Natural Hazards 2012, 63(2), 521-547.
• Wilkinson S, Grant D, Williams E, Paganoni S, Fraser S, Boon D, Mason A, Free M. Observations and Implications of Damage From The Magnitude M_w 6.3 Christchurch, New Zealand Earthquake of 22nd February 2011. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering 2012, (epub ahead of print).
• Wilkinson SM, Dunn S, Ma S. The Vulnerability of the European Air Traffic Network to Spatial Hazards. Natural Hazards 2011, 60(3), 1027-1036.
• Dunn S, Wilkinson SM. Identifying Critical Components in Infrastructure Networks using Network Topology. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2012. In Press.
• Alyami M, Rouainia M, Wilkinson SM. Numerical analysis of deformation behaviour of quay walls under earthquake loading. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 2009, 29(3), 525-536.
• Richardson AE, Coventry KA, Wilkinson S. Freeze/thaw durability of concrete with synthetic fibre additions. Cold Regions Science and Technology 2012, 83-84, 49-56.
• Booth E, Spence R, Wilkinson S, Free M, Rossetto T. EEFIT: the UK Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team. International Journal of Forensic Engineering 2011, 164(3), 117-123.
• Rossetto T, Peiris N, Pomonis A, Wilkinson SM, Del Re D, Koo R, Gallocher S. The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004: Observations in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Natural Hazards 2007, 42(1), 105-124.
• Wilkinson SM, Hiley RA. A non-linear response history model for the seismic analysis of high-rise framed buildings. Computers & Structures 2006, 84(5-6), 318-329.
• Wilkinson SM, Hurdman G, Crowther A. A moment resisting connection for earthquake resistant structures. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 2006, 62(3), 295-302.
• Wilkinson SM, Knapton J. Analysis and solution to human-induced lateral vibrations on a historic footbridge. Journal of Bridge Engineering 2006, 11(1), 4-12.
• Wilkinson SM, Thambiratnam D. Simplified procedure for seismic analysis of asymmetric buildings. Computers and Structures 2001, 79(32), 2833-2845.
• Wilkinson SM, Fowler HJ, Blenkinsop S, Kilsby CG. Challenges for the Assessment of Future Design Wind. In: 9th UK Conference on Wind Engineering. 2010, Bristol University, UK.
• Bramald T, Wilkinson SM. Introducing and Stimulating Sustainable Engineering in First Year Civil Engineering Students. In: American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference. 2009, Austin, Texas, USA: American Society for Engineering Education.
• Pomonis A, Rossetto T, Wilkinson SM, Del Re D, Peiris N, Koo R, Manlapig R, Gallocher S. The Indian Ocean Tsunami 26th December 2004. EEFIT, 2005. Earthquake Field Investigation TeamReport.
• Wilkinson SM, Hiley RA. Characterisation of Seismic Response Using Multi-Degree of Freedom Inelastic Response Spectra. In: First European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. 2007, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Alyami M, Wilkinson SM, Rouainia M, Fei CAI. Simulation of seismic behaviour of gravity quay wall using a generalized plasticity model. In: Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering: 4th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering. 2007, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Alyami M, Rouainia M, Wilkinson SM. Effective Stress Analysis of Gravity Quay Walls under Earthquake Loading. In: Electronic Proceedings of the 15th UK Conference of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering. 2007, Glasgow, UK.
• Jones CJFP, Wilkinson SM. The Potential Application Of Geosynthetics To Reduce Structural Damage Caused By Tsunamis. In: International Symposium on Tsunami Reconstruction with Geosynthetics: Protection, Mitigation and Rehabilitation of Coastal and Waterway Erosion Control. 2005, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Kyakula M, Wilkinson SM. An Improved Spread Plasticity Model For Inelastic Analysis Of R/C. Frames Subjected To Seismic Loading, 13th. In: World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. 2004, Vancouver, Canada.
• Wilkinson SM, Hiley RA. Collapse behaviour of high-rise buildings: a response history hpproach. In: 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. 2004, Vancouver, Canada: International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE).
• Kyakula M, Wilkinson SM. The Effect Of The Length And Location Of Yield Zones On The Accuracy Of The Spread Plasticity Models. In: 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. 2004, Vancouver, Canada.
• Wilkinson SM, Hiley RA. Use of Advanced Analysis Techniques to Determine the Collapse Loads of Buildings. In: ASRANet International Colloquium. 2002, Glasgow.
• Jones CJFP, Wilkinson SM. The Potential Application of Geosynthetics to Reduce Structural Damage Caused by Tsunamis. In: International Symposium on Tsunami Reconstruction With Geosynthetics. 2005, Bangkok: Asian Center for Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics.
• Wilkinson SM, Thambiratnam D. Development and application of a simplified procedure for lateral load analysis of asymmetric buildings. In: 7th International Conference on Civil and Structural Engineering Computing. 1999, Oxford, England: Civil-Comp Press.
• Wilkinson SM, Thambiratnam D, Clark B, Williamson M. Torsional coupling in buildings under seismic loads. In: Eurosteel '99 - European Conference on Steel Structures. 1999, Prague, Czech Republic: CVUT.