Chuao Dong

MPM Workshop was held at Berkeley City Club

The MPM team of SRG organized the 15th Annual MPM Workshop at Berkeley City Club, a historic hotel architected by noted California architect, Julia Morgan. The conference was attended by 35 researchers from multiple universities and national labs, within the US and abroad. Among the 24 presentations, three of them are made by our group members: Lauren Talbot on “MPM with Levelset and Barrier Method… Read More »MPM Workshop was held at Berkeley City Club

Group Dinner (August 2024)

The SRG recently gathered to bid a farewell to Dayu, who is leaving the group in August, and to celebrate Nanda’s PhD graduation which happened last May. Dr. Dayu Apoji has been with our group since 2018, for his PhD study on the usage of machine learning in tunneling. Dayu then continued working with us as a postdoctoral researcher extending his expertise in machine learning… Read More »Group Dinner (August 2024)

Nanda’s Presentation at 16th WCCM

Nanda, a former PhD student from our group, now a postdoc at Berkeley ME, attended the 16th World Congress in Computational Mechanics held on July 21-26, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. He presented the work he did during his PhD in collaboration with Prof. Ryota Hashimoto (Kyoto University) and Prof. Ken Kamrin (Berkeley/MIT). His presentation was entitled “Development of mixed material point method for analysis of… Read More »Nanda’s Presentation at 16th WCCM

How three UC campuses are phasing out fossil fuels

The plume of steam from UC Berkeley’s natural gas-fired power plant is a familiar sight on the skyline of San Francisco’s East Bay. But the facility’s days are numbered: The campus is on track to switch to an electrical heating system by 2028. As each UC campus prepares to publish its long-term plan for eliminating carbon emissions and transitioning to renewable energy, hear from sustainability… Read More »How three UC campuses are phasing out fossil fuels

Paper: Modeling large-deformation features of the Lower San Fernando Dam failure with the Material Point Method

The Soga Research Group and collaborators have published a new paper in the journal Computers and Geotechnics: “Modeling large-deformation features of the Lower San Fernando Dam failure with the Material Point Method”, authored by Lauren Talbot, Joel Given, former SRG member Dr. Ezra Tjung, Dr. Yong Liang of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Dr. Khaled Chowdhury of USACE, Prof. Raymond Seed, and Prof. Kenichi Soga. The paper focuses on… Read More »Paper: Modeling large-deformation features of the Lower San Fernando Dam failure with the Material Point Method

Invited Talk at Delve Underground

Dayu Apoji was invited to speak at Delve Underground’s office in Walnut Creek, California, on December 20, 2023. The event centered around the practical applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in tunneling. Dayu’s talk provided an overview of how these technologies could support tunnel engineers and TBM operators, suggesting a potential evolution in tunneling practices. This initiative reflects a growing interest in adopting… Read More »Invited Talk at Delve Underground

Berkeley Fire Chief Gives Lecture in CE170 class on Wildfire Preparedness

As part of their coursework for the CE170 Infrastructure Sensing and Modeling class, taught by Professor Kenichi Soga, students performed traffic simulations of wildfire evacuations from Berkeley Hills. Recently, the class had the privilege of welcoming Berkeley Fire Chief David Sprague and his colleagues, Duncan Allard, Dan Green, and Sarah Lana, to discuss the results of the assignment.  Chief Sprague shared valuable insights on Berkeley’s… Read More »Berkeley Fire Chief Gives Lecture in CE170 class on Wildfire Preparedness

Utility Members and CE112 Students Visit CSI

On the vibrant day of October 17th, the Center for Smart Infrastructure (CSI) labwelcomed members from Pacific, Nor-Cal, and Western TAG utilities, as well asenthusiastic students from CE112 – Water & Wastewater Systems Design andOperation on October 19th. During these visits, we performed tension tests on 8-inchiPVC pipes, incorporating fiber optic sensors. The pipes were subjected to testing until anotable failure and water leakage were… Read More »Utility Members and CE112 Students Visit CSI

ASCE New Technology Project of the Year

The New Technology Project of the Year award was presented for the EBMUD Summit Pressure Zone South Pipeline Replacement, Phase 1 project (EBMUD – Claremont Ave Pipeline Monitoring – Oakland, California) by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), San Francisco section. This award recognizes projects which advance more efficient and sustainable civil infrastructure through innovation and advancement in technology such as implementation of new methods and… Read More »ASCE New Technology Project of the Year