Professor Annan Zhou
Professor - Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Professor - Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Professor Annan Zhou obtained his PhD degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Newcastle in 2011, with an Australian Endeavor Scholarship. After his graduation, he joined RMIT as a tenured Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering and was promoted to a Senior Lecturer in 2014, an Associate Professor in 2018 and Professor in 2022.
The major research area of Professor Annan Zhou is Geomechanics and Civil Geotechnical Engineering, specifically including (1) Unsaturated soils and expansive soils, (2) Laboratory testing on soil behaviour and soil-structure (wind turbine-ground) interactions, (3) Critical state soil mechanics and constitutive modelling, (4) Robust and fast numerical methods for Geotechnical Engineering, and (5) Risk assessment/management for Civil Geotechnical infrastructure.
During his career so far, Professor Annan Zhou has won highly competitive ARC Fellowships twice (ARC DECRA Fellow, 2013-2015, and ARC Future Fellow, 2023-2026). The quality of his research has been recognized by being awarded several national/international awards like the AGS Hugh Trollope Medal (2014), the ISSMGE ECR International Best Paper Award (2015), the CGJ Editor’s Choice (2016, 2020), the ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecturer Award (2018), RMIT Research Excellence Award (2021), Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Supervision Excellence (2022) and the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) John Booker Medal (2022).
As a Chief Investigator, Professor Annan Zhou has secured several national competitive research grants including ARC DE, FT, DP, and LP etc. From 2014 to 2016, he was appointed to be a RMIT University Research Committee Board Member to represent the ECR academics over the University. Since 2015, he serves as an Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member for Acta Geotechnica (Springer), Canadian Geotechnical Journal (NRC), Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (Elsevier), Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (ASCE), Underground Space (Elsevier), Environmental Geotechnics (ICE) and Soils and Foundations (JGS).
The Vice-President (Australia and Pacific, 2020-2025) of The International Society of Environmental Geotechnology (ISEG, found in 1992).
Professor Annan Zhou’s research contributes to better understanding and modelling of the fundamental constitutive behaviour of unsaturated soils. Any soil can be unsaturated with water due to either evaporation or engineering processes like excavation. Unsaturated soils have been widely blamed for many geotechnical problems like slope failures, dam collapses, pavement cracking, and foundation failures since they can produce large deformation and even suddenly lose strength in wetting events. Prof Annan Zhou has established a new modelling framework cross multiscale (micro-/meso-/macro-scales) to tackle the most fundamental issues in unsaturated soil mechanics. Within this framework, many unanswered questions and seemingly conflicting behaviours related to strength, deformation, soil-water interaction of unsaturated soil can be reasonably explained and effectively modelled. Based on the novel multiscale modelling framework and robust numerical techniques, he has developed advanced numerical tools for better design and assessment of infrastructure involving unsaturated soils in Australia and worldwide.
Unsaturated Soils, Soil Mechanics, Constitutive Modelling, Numerical Methods, Multiscale Modelling, Geotechnical Risk Assessment
Publications
Projects
Awards
Computers and Geotechnics, 43, pp.178-187
Zhou, A.*, Sheng, D., Sloan, S.W. and Gens, A. (2012).
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 53(6), pp.974-987
Zhou, A.*, Huang, R. and Sheng, D. (2016).
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 368, pp.113-183
Liu, X., Zhou, A.*, Shen, S.L., Li, J. and Sheng, D (2020).
ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE130101342)
Chief Investigator (DECRA Fellowship): Zhou, A.N.
2013 - 2015
ARC Discovery Project (DP140101547)
Chief Investigator: Li, C.Q., Setunge, S. and Zhou, A.N.
2014 - 2016
ARC Discovery Project (DP200100549)
Chief Investigator: Nazem, M., Zhou A. N. and Moridpour, S.
2020 - 2023
Award date: 2021
Recipients: Annan Zhou
Award date: 2018
Recipients: Annan Zhou
Award date: 2015
Recipients: Annan Zhou
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.