Research Projects

Current Projects

  • "Characterization of thermal failure in natural soils"
    • Principal Investigator: J. Zhao
    • Funded by: Research Grants Council of Hong Kong - General Research Fund
    • Duration: 3 years (2012 - 2014)

  • "Towards a statistical mechanics based theory on granular plasticity"
    • Principal Investigator: J. Zhao
    • Co-Investigator: X.S. Li
    • Funded by: Research Grants Council of Hong Kong - General Research Fund
    • Duration: 3 years (2011 - 2013)

  • "Experimental and Numerical Shakedown Analysis of Asphalt Pavements in Hong Kong"
    • Principal Investigator: J. Zhao
    • Funded by: HKUST RGC DAG
    • Duration: 4 years (Oct 2008 - Oct 2012)

Past Projects

  • "Micro-macro computational modeling of collapse problems in geomaterials" - Funded by Research Grants Council of Hong Kong - General Research Fund (HK RGC/GRF) (2010-2012, HK$1,108,600)

  • "Multi-scale modeling of collapse problems in geo-materials by strain gradient plasticity" - Funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Project (ARC DP) (3 years, AU$120,000).

  • "Theoretical and numerical analyses of instabilities in geo-materials and geotechnical engineering" - Funded by the Research Grant Committee of University of Newcastle as a University Research Fellowship (5 years, AU$506,270).

  • Other projects: Five travel and small grants totaling AU$15,000 awarded by the Research Grant Committee of University of Newcastle.