Associate Professor Annan Zhou
Professor
Details
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College: School of Engineering
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Department: School of Engineering
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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annan.zhou@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
Dr Annan Zhou is a Professor in Geomechanics and Civil Geotechnical 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).
Awards:
2021: RMIT Research Excellence Award (Technology), RMIT
2020: The CGJ Editor’s Choice, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2018: The ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture Award, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
2016: The CGJ Editor’s Choice, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2016: The CGJ Outstanding Reviewer, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2015: The ISSMGE Early Career Researcher International Best Paper Award on Unsaturated Soils, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
2015: The Hugh Trollope Medal, Australian Geomechanics Society
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).
Awards:
2021: RMIT Research Excellence Award (Technology), RMIT
2020: The CGJ Editor’s Choice, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2018: The ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture Award, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
2016: The CGJ Editor’s Choice, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2016: The CGJ Outstanding Reviewer, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
2015: The ISSMGE Early Career Researcher International Best Paper Award on Unsaturated Soils, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
2015: The Hugh Trollope Medal, Australian Geomechanics Society
Academic positions
- Vice-President
- The International Society of Environmental Geotechnology
- , Australia
- 2020 – 2025
Supervisor projects
- Study on characteristics of cuttings transport and friction in horizontal microhole drilling
- 26 Aug 2024
- Research on the Extraction of Shale Gas by CO2 and Geological Storage Mechanism of CO2 in Shale Nanopores Based on Molecular Simulation
- 3 Jul 2024
- Leveraging Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Improved Flood Prediction and Mitigation in Urban Environments
- 19 Jun 2024
- Multi-scale investigation of mechanical properties and moisture migration mechanisms in water-repellent soils
- 20 Mar 2024
- Automatic Detection of Tunnel Defects Based on Terrestrial Laser Scanning.
- 18 Mar 2024
- Shield Tunneling Control Study based on Composite Stratum Instability Mechanism and Physics-informed Reinforcement Learning
- 7 Mar 2024
- Combined effects of solution environment and dry-wet cycle on the geotechnical materials
- 7 Feb 2024
- Reliability Analysis of Underground Structures with Statistical Moments and Al/ML based Surrogate Models
- 18 Dec 2023
- Seismic performance of monopile-supported wind turbines (MWTs) with considering wind-structure-ground interaction
- 11 Sep 2023
- Soil cracking subjected to hydromechanical coupled loads and its modelling
- 2 Aug 2023
- Rheological behaviour of saturated and unsaturated soils and its modelling
- 4 Jul 2023
- Investigation and Application of Advanced Materials in Engineering Structures
- 8 Mar 2023
- Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils and its application to urban infrastructure risk assessment
- 23 Jan 2023
- Risk Assessment and Prediction of Urban Geological and Waterlogging Disasters
- 7 Jun 2022
- TBA
- 4 May 2022
- Geotechnical Risk Assessment of Natural Slopes in Sri Lanka.
- 14 Feb 2022
- A Study of Mechanisms Controlling the Slope Stability in South Gippsland, Victoria
- 8 Feb 2022
- Macro- and micro-modelling of cone penetration tests in soils
- 1 Dec 2021
- Probabilistic Stability Analysis of Reinforced Soil Retaining Structures under Static and Seismic Conditions
- 23 Aug 2021
- Sustainable Planting of Trees in Suburban Environments on Shrinkable Clays
- 20 Aug 2021
- Numerical modelling of multi-phase media by meshless methods
- 12 Aug 2021
- Geological Features Identification Methods for Shield Tunnelling in Soil-Rock Mixed Ground
- 16 Jul 2021
- Stabilisation of High and Low Reactive Clays Utilising Glass Waste and Polymer for Application in Road Pavement Subgrade
- 8 Jul 2021
- Fracture Failure of Mild Steel and Its Application in Steel Pipeline
- 23 Jun 2021
- Experimental Study of Recycled Waste Material and Polymer-based Materials for Expansive Clay Stabilisation in Road Pavement Subgrade
- 14 Oct 2020
- Enhancing Efficiency in Probabilistic Slope Stability Analysis using Machine Learning Techniques.
- 14 Sep 2020
- Analysis of Soil Penetration Problems: Parametric Studies and Inverse Analysis
- 21 Aug 2020
- Use of recycled materials for the stabilization of unsuitable soils and sub-grades
- 22 Jan 2020
- Stabilization of Unsealed Mine Haul Roads Using MSWI Fly Ash under Seasonal Moisture Variation
- 25 Oct 2019
- Application of Recycled Ceramic Aggregate as Internal Curing Material in High Performance Concrete
- 21 Aug 2019
- Swelling Mechanism and Swelling Behaviour of Expansive Clay and Clay Minerals
- 14 Feb 2019
- Performance of Fibre Reinforced Concrete at Elevated Temperatures
- 31 Jan 2019
- Hybrid Machine Learning Algorithms and Optimisation Techniques as New Solution for Geotechnical Problems
- 1 Oct 2018
- Numerical Modelling of Micro and Macroscopic Hydromechanical Behaviour of Unsaturated Soils
- 1 Aug 2017
- Rate Dependent Behaviour of Unsaturated Soil with Different Over-Consolidation Ratios & its Constitutive Modelling
- 2 Mar 2015
- Failure analysis of underground pipeline subjected to corrosion
- 21 Jul 2014
Teaching interests
Supervisor interest areas:
- Unsaturated soils
- Soil mechanics
- Constitutive modelling
- Numerical methods
- Multiscale modelling
- Soil-structure interaction
- Georisk assessment
Supervisor projects:
- Expansive soil behaviour at nanoscale and molecule simulation under thermo-chemo-hydro-mechanical loads
- Meso-mechnical behaviour for unsaturated soils and multi-phase DEM modelling
- Performance analysis and optimisation of monopile-supported wind turbines subjected to various wind and operation loads and different ground conditions
- Hybrid machine learning algorithms and optimisation techniques as new solution for geotechnical problems
- Numerical implementation of advanced soil constitutive models: finite element method and applications
Programs:
- CIVE1178 - Geotechnical Engineering
- CIVE1177 - Concrete Structure I
- Unsaturated soils
- Soil mechanics
- Constitutive modelling
- Numerical methods
- Multiscale modelling
- Soil-structure interaction
- Georisk assessment
Supervisor projects:
- Expansive soil behaviour at nanoscale and molecule simulation under thermo-chemo-hydro-mechanical loads
- Meso-mechnical behaviour for unsaturated soils and multi-phase DEM modelling
- Performance analysis and optimisation of monopile-supported wind turbines subjected to various wind and operation loads and different ground conditions
- Hybrid machine learning algorithms and optimisation techniques as new solution for geotechnical problems
- Numerical implementation of advanced soil constitutive models: finite element method and applications
Programs:
- CIVE1178 - Geotechnical Engineering
- CIVE1177 - Concrete Structure I
Research interests
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.
Research keywords
Unsaturated Soils, Soil Mechanics, Constitutive Modelling, Numerical Methods, Multiscale Modelling, Geotechnical Risk Assessment
Research keywords
Unsaturated Soils, Soil Mechanics, Constitutive Modelling, Numerical Methods, Multiscale Modelling, Geotechnical Risk Assessment
