Many large earth structures (e.g. slopes, dams, and artificial islands) are made up of sand or sandy soil. The stability of these structures is a major concern of the public as well as the professional. The bitter memories of the deadly slope failures in Hong Kong in 1972 remind us of the importance of proper stability evaluation. The difficulty in predicting the mechanical behavior of sand and sandy soil mainly comes from the granular nature of these materials. A sand or sandy soil is an assembly of numerous small grains of varying size, shape and even mineral composition. It can exist over a spectrum of states that corresponds to a variety of responses, ranging from fluid-like flow to solid-like strain hardening. The groundwater brings additional difficulty and uncertainty. This talk will present some results and findings yielded from our long-term research endeavor at HKU, which is aimed to advance scientific understanding of the complex behaviors of granular earth materials and thereby provide better engineering solutions. Focus will be placed on the fascinating roles played by the small constituent particles. The significance of these findings to engineering practice will be open to discussion.
Professor Jun Yang joined the HKU faculty after several years of research stays in Kyoto and Berlin, and is currently a full professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. His area of specialization is geotechnical and earthquake engineering. He has published extensively in leading journals in his fields and has been named by Clarivate among the world’s top 1% scholars by citations. His work has also been referenced in two design guides in the US. Among his honors are the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellowship, the NSFC Outstanding Overseas Young Scholar Award, the MOE Natural Science Award, the Zeng Guoxi Lectureship, and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was made a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2012, and also holds Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), UK, and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE).
Clean water and clean air are vital for public health. This project focuses on developing high-efficiency and environmentally sustainable filters for removing harmful air/water pollutants. The team has developed novel architectures and functionalities for the filters to achieve high permeance, high removal efficiency, and excellent reusability.
