Speaker Prof. Pierre-Yves HICHER Professor of the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France Abstract In this seminar, Prof. Pierre-Yves Hicher will introduce A multi-scale approach for modeling the mechanical behavior of soils. The deformation of a representative volume of the material is generated by mobilizing particle contacts in all orientations. Thus, the stress–strain relationship can be derived as an average of the mobilization behavior of these local contact planes. The local behavior is assumed to follow a Hertz–Mindlin’s elastic law and a Mohr–Coulomb’s plastic law. Essential features such as continuous displacement field, inter-particle stiffness, and fabric tensor are discussed. The predictions of the derived stress–strain model are compared to experimental results for sand under ...

Speaker Prof. Hieng Ho LAU Deputy Dean and Associate Professor of School of Engineering & Science Curtin University Sarawak Campus, Malaysia Abstract Back-to-back C-channels built-up compression members are popular in the construction industry particularly for spanning over large space area, and carrying high loads while maintaining low self-weight. However, current design standards do not provide comprehensive design guidelines for complex section such as back-to-back C-channels built-up section. There is little literature available for the design calculation of back-to-back C-channels built-up columns. Current design methods, i.e. the Effective Width Method (EWM) and the Direct Strength Method (DSM) are unable to accommodate such complex section. Thus, enhancement to these design methods is necessary to improve the design of back-to-back C-channels built-up columns. ...