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Micromechanics

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The soil can be considered as a collection of grains or aggregates with microstructures, aggregates are composed of particles with interparticle voids, and grains or particles are made of minerals with atomic structures. Thus, the origin of mechanical behaviours/properties of the soil can be investigated by downscaling, and the mechanical modelling of the soil can be conducted by upscaling.

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​​Details: http://www.geoinvention.com/research01.html

FEM / FDM

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Finite element or different method (FEM/FDM) based analysis is an effective way for geotechnical design and disaster protection. Our objectives are to develop advanced constitutive models (e.g. elastic viscoplastic model of clay, critical state based models of sand), to implement them into available FEM/FDM codes, to develop smoothed particle finite element method (PFEM) with model implementation for large strain analysis while keeping the accuracy of small strain analysis, and to develop macroelement model inspired from constitutive modelling and beyond FEM/FDM analysis.

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Details: http://www.geoinvention.com/research02.html

Artificial Intelligence

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Excavation

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We have extensively performed the application of AI in geotechnics due to the strong capacity of solving non-linear and high-dimensional problem of AI. For example, the optimization and Bayesian-based methods can bridge the gap between advanced constitutive theories and engineering practice; ML-based surrogate model can also be applied in engineering practice as the alternative to experimental and numerical methods, saving expenses for engineering design. Currently, we focuses on the following three topics.

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Details: http://www.geoinvention.com/research03.html

 

Experiment

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We have developed various types of geotechnical tests: (1) scaled model testing, in which we aim to address the reclamation related geotechnical problems, such as sedimentation and consolidation of marine deposits, marine reclamation by super-fast consolidation methods, FRP pile behaviour filled with sand or cemented sand, and clay-FRP pile interaction under static and cyclic loadings; (2) advanced soil element testing, in which the soil element performance can be clarified by several advanced testing apparatuses, including multi-functional soil-structure interface testing apparatus, PolyU-patented true triaxial apparatus, dynamic hollow cylinder apparatus, and biaxial testing apparatus; and (3) soil microstructural testing, in which the soil microstructure can be well identified by X-ray computed micro-tomography, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test, with the relevant apparatus in PolyU and CEE.

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​​Details: http://www.geoinvention.com/research04.html

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Research Projects in HK

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  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: Theme-based Research Scheme, Topic “Digital Twins for Coastal Resilience under Extreme Storm Surges in Hong Kong”. Located to me HK$ X,XXX,000 (Total HK$ 53,821,000), Grant No. T22-607/24-N, Period 2025.Jan.-2029.Dec., Co-PI (PC: Jidong ZHAO of HKUST).

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Multiscale Multiphysics Study of Scour-induced Bearing Capacity Degradation of Suction Anchor Foundation in Sandy Seabed”. Total HK$ 1,134,931, Grant No. 15232224, Period 2025.Jan.-2027.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Multiscale approach to water ice-bearing lunar regolith in thermal, vacuum, and microgravity environments”. Total HK$ 1,134,931, Grant No. 15227624, Period 2024.Oct.-2027.Sep., Co-I (PI: Mengmeng WU).

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Physics-informed multi-fidelity neural network approach for intelligent rectification of shield machine attitude in layered soils”. Total HK$ 1,132,781, Grant No. 15220423, Period 2024.Jan.-2026.Dec., Co-I (PI: Ning ZHANG).

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Investigation of grain breakage and seepage erosion in carbonate sand based on a multiscale hydro-mechanical approach”. Total HK$ 1,132,781, Grant No. 15229223, Period 2023.Oct.-2026.Sep., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Machine Learning-Aided Multiscale Approach for Recycled Solid Waste Mixtures Composed of Easily Crushable Rigid Aggregates and Highly Deformable Soft Aggrgates”. Total HK$ 1,132,781, Grant No. 15227923, Period 2024.Jan.-2026.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Multiscale approach for granular materials reinforced by disposable face-mask chips”. Total HK$ 1,113,600, Grant No. 15226822, Period 2023.Jan.-2025.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Modeling of Rock-socketed GFRP Tube Confined Concrete Pile under Combined Vertical and Lateral Loadings with Consideration of Long-Term Degradation”. Total HK$ 1,145,452, Grant No. 15210322, Period 2022.Nov.-2025.Oct., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic "Micro-mechanical analysis of particle breakage and fines migration in methane hydrate-bearing sediments during depressurization". Total HK$ 1,089,600, Grant No. 15226322, Period 2023.Jan.-2025.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Deep Learning-based Multiscale Approach for Granular Materials from Particle Recognition to Mechanical Modelling”. Total HK$ 911,317, Grant No. 15220221,Period 2022.Jan.-2024.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme, Topic “Study of multi-physics coupling mechanism of deep sea pipeline and soft marine organic deposits interaction considering time and temperature effects”. Total HK$ 1,154,954, Grant No. N_PolyU534/20, proposed period 2021.Jan.-2024.Dec., PI (collaborator: Fuping Gao, Institute of Mechanics of CAS).

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: General Research Fund, Topic “Multiscale hydro-mechanical modeling of marine silty clay interacting with FRP foundation structure in consideration of rate and abrasion effects”. Total HK$ 873,995, Grant No. 15217220, Period 2021.Jan.-2023.Dec., PI.

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Internal): Grant to replace the “General Program of Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province 2019-2020”. Topic “Intelligent constitutive modelling of natural clays in GBA and its application”. Total HK$ 100,000, Period 2019.Oct.-2022-Sep., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: Topic “Influence of Natural Deposition Plane Orientation on the Viscous Characteristics of Natural Clays: from Microstructural Investigation to Micromechanical Modelling”. Total HK$ 72,000, Grant No. F-PolyU501/19, PROCORE-France/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme, Period 2020.Feb.-2022.Feb., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: Topic “Coupled hydro-mechanical modeling of suffusion in gap-graded cohesionless soils”. Total HK$935,375, Grant No. 15209119, Period 2020.Jan.-2022.Dec., PI.

  • Research Grants Council of Hong Kong: Topic “Study of Super-fast Large-area Economical Marine Reclamations for Housing and Infrastructural Developments in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area”. HK$14.26M, Grant No. R5037-18F, Period 2019.Sept.-2024.Aug., Co-PI (HK$2.27M).

  • 2019 Provincial Science and Technology Cooperation R&D Project-Sichuan Science and Technology Department: Topic “Intelligent Assessment of Service Performance of High Railway Embankment in Expansive Soil Area and Study on Disaster Diagnosis and Treatment Technology”, Total HK$200K, Grant No. 2019YFSY0015, Period 2019.Jan.-2021.Dec., PI of HK (HK$80K).

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