Hiroshan Hettiarachchi, Ph.D., P.E.
Assistant Professor - Civil Engineering Department |
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Current Research Interest
Geoenvironmental Engineering:
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Settlement mechanics of bioreactor landfills: Mathematical modeling and field investigation of settlement behavior.
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Stability analysis of bioreactor landfills: Development of an innovative method to enhance slope stability using geosynthetics.
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Geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste (MSW): Investigating the variation of geotechnical properties of MSW with age and moisture.
Properties and Behavior of Soils:
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Scouring at bridge piers: Field and laboratory investigation of scour at bridge piers in the state of Michigan to calibrate scour predicting methodologies to Michigan specific conditions.
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Shear strength properties of soils: Development of an energy balance approach to estimate shear strength properties using SPT blow counts.
Research Involvement
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Co-PI for a 3-year (2007–2010) research project titled “A Critical Evaluation of Bridge Scour for Michigan Specific Conditions,” funded by Michigan DOT Project budget $285,000, LTU portions $166,000.
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“Settlement Mechanics of Bioreactor Landfills.”: Development of a comprehensive mathematical model to predict the settlement behavior of bioreactor landfills. Laboratory experimentations were conducted to investigate the compressibility of municipal solid waste. 2001–2005, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ
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US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Management of Environmental Problems in Egypt, funded by National Science Foundation. 2004–2005, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ
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Settlement Studies of the City of Calgary Biocell Landfill: Design, implementation, and instrumentation. Summer Research 2002, 2003, & 2004, University of Calgary, AB, Canada
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Methane Biofiltration Project: Design and field experimentation of pilot scale methane biofilters to mitigate point source methane emissions. Summer Research 2002, 2003, & 2004, University of Calgary, AB, Canada
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Correlation of Surface Texture, Segregation, and Measurement of Air Voids, funded by US Department of Transportation/New Jersey Department of Transportation. A laser based automated methodology was developed to quantify surface texture of asphalt concrete pavements. 2001– 2002, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ
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Research, Development, Demonstration and Validation of Intelligent Systems for Conveyance and Storage Infrastructure, funded by U.S. Army Industrial Ecology Center/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2001– 2002, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ
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“Numerical Analysis of Transient Heat Flow Coupled with Groundwater Flow.” Feasibility of using heat flow as a natural tracer was evaluated through extensive mathematical modeling. 1999– 2001, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand