NTU-CEE Distinguished Seminar Series: Professor Akihiro TAKAHASHI
Organized By
CEE Seminar Committee
Host By
Assistant Professor SHI Chao
Topic
About the Seminar
Repeated water seepage over a long period causes internal erosion of earthen structures. Internal erosion causes the migration and loss of soil particles within earthen structures or beneath the ground. As a result, internal erosion can loosen soil or create voids/pipes within earthen structures, leading to soil deterioration and loss of structural integrity over time. Internal erosion gradually progresses within earthen structures or beneath the ground and is typically invisible. Thus, the causal relationship between internal erosion and earthen-structure failure is not readily identified; even in the absence of obvious signs, internal erosion can predispose earthen structures to instability.
The talk introduces internal erosion phenomena and their consequences at various scales. The talk begins with erosion phenomena observed at the structural scale, as evidenced by field surveys and physical model tests on river levees. At the sub-meter scale and below, how internal erosion progresses and how it affects mechanical soil responses are demonstrated through experimental evidence from laboratory tests. Lastly, a trial for identifying and modelling soil strata vulnerable to internal erosion through field surveys is introduced.
About the Speaker
Dr. Akihiro Takahashi has held a professorship in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology) since 2014. He received a doctorate from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2002. Following his postdoctoral research at Imperial College, he moved in 2004 to the Public Works Research Institute in Japan, where he was involved in geotechnical engineering practice. In 2008, he returned to the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he currently holds a professorship.
His main research interests are geotechnical engineering, specifically soil-structure interaction and erosion-induced geotechnical instability. Recently, he has also been interested in subsurface structure modelling and the performance of monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines.