Professor Saouma’s research interests include: 1. Computer (finite element) modeling of concrete material degradation (aging, corrosion) of major infrastructures (dams and nuclear reactors in particular) subjected to seismic load; 2. Theoretical, experimental and computational fracture mechanics as applied to various materials 3. Innovative (concrete) material testing, and large scale dynamic testing of structural components (real time hybrid simulation) 4. Interaction of earthquake and culture (myths, religion, art) 5. Performance based engineering 6. Hand based analysis of historic iconic structures; 7. Arches and Shells.
keywords
concrete deterioration, safety assessment of dams and nuclear reactors, experimental-numerical and theoretical fracture mechanics, innovative (hybrid) structural testing, computer modeling
CVEN 3525 - Structural Analysis
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Spring 2022
Studies structural analysis of statically determinate and indeterminate systems, deflections, energy methods, and force and stiffness methods.
CVEN 4525 - Matrix Structural Analysis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2021
Covers matrix formulation of principles of structural analysis and development of direct stiffness and flexibility methods for analysis of 2D and 3D structures. Variational formulation of the finite element method. Geometric nonlinearity. Familiarity with Metlab programming is expected. Same as CVEN 5525.
CVEN 5525 - Matrix Structural Analysis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
Covers matrix formulation of principles of structural analysis and development of direct stiffness and flexibility methods for analysis of 2D and 3D structures. Variational formulation of the finite element method. Geometric nonlinearity. Familiarity with Metlab programming is expected. Same as CVEN 4525.
CVEN 6525 - Nonlinear Analysis of Framed Structures
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2020
Explores theoretical underpinnings of nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of framed structures, along with exposure to the corresponding programming techniques in Matlab. Topics covered are: flexibility and fiber based beam-column element formulation; structural,section and fiber plasticity; geometric and material nonlinearities; nonlinear pushover and transient analysis of framed structures.
CVEN 6595 - Earthquake Engineering
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019
Analyzes and designs structures for earthquake load covering: properties of earthquake ground motions, ground motion prediction equations, seismic hazard analysis, response spectra, response of linear and nonlinear structures, construction of design spectra, seismic design methods, and building code requirements.
CVEN 7161 - Fracture Mechanics
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020
Includes three parts: 1) fundamentals through rigorous mathematical formulations of linear/nonlinear elastic fracture mechanics, 2) materials' theoretical strength, including metals, granular materials, polymers and steel, 3) numerical (finite element) methods in fracture mechanics. Heavy emphasis on project and independent work.
