Research staff

Athanasios graduated from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2013 with a Diploma in Civil Engineering (5-year studies). Thereafter, he obtained his Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Geotechnical and Offshore Engineering with distinction at the University of Dundee. In 2021 he successfully completed his doctoral studies at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich). Athanasios specialises in the field of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, focusing on Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) effects. As part of his doctoral thesis Athanasios studied the response of various foundations typologies subjected to large tectonic deformations with the goal of developing innovative design solutions applicable to both new and existing structures.

Simone received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD) in 2014. Thereafter, she obtained her master in civil engineering from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich) in 2017. Simone was awarded the Culmann-​Prize for her master’s thesis at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering with the title "Investigation of 3D printed geomaterials". After spending time in engineering practice and as research assistant at ETH, she started her doctoral studies at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering in January of 2020. Simone’s research focuses on the development of a novel self-​driven probe. The device will be used for in-​situ soil assessment focusing on the retrofit of existing infrastructure. The research is part of a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Ralf graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology as Dipl. Ing. in 2002. In May 2004 he started working at the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering, with the first task being the co-​design and development of the E-​Learning Platform GEOTip. Ralf replaced in 2008 the retired head of laboratory and started as a lecturer of the course "Theoretical and Experimental Soil Mechanics". In the meantime, he has also been responsible for the construction of a new geotechnical drum centrifuge lab and for the coordination of the institute’s workshop.

Liam studied at the University of Dundee, attaining his Masters of Engineering (MEng) in Civil Engineering, Design and Management in 2016. During his studies, Liam worked on developing novel protection schemes for high value structures at risk of damage by tectonic faulting. Liam also attained extensive experience in structural and product design through his masters thesis, using composite materials and just-​in-time production techniques for a new multi-​million dollar art gallery concept. Starting at ETH in 2016, Liam’s research focuses on the interaction between geotechnical structures and hydraulic catastrophes such as Tsunamis. Liam has designed a plethora of new experimental equipment from the new Miniaturised Tsunami Generator to a new sand raining system for model preparation and is an active contributor to the new Geotechnical Centrifuge Centre, providing the design for various new equipment including a Laminar box and in-​flight robot among others.

Konstantinos (Kostas) graduated from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2013 with a Diploma in Civil Engineering. Subsequently, he obtained the research-​​oriented Master of Science (M.Sc.), in Geotechnical Earthquake and Offshore Engineering with distinction at the University of Dundee. In 2021, he successfully defended his dissertation at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zürich. Konstantinos specialises in the field of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, focusing on soil liquefaction. As part of his doctoral thesis Konstantinos examined the effect of Structure-Soil-Structure interaction (SSSI) under liquefied conditions, through fully-​​​coupled, effective stress, time history numerical analyses employing advanced constitutive models.

Alexandru graduated from the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest in July 2009 with a Diploma in Civil Engineering. After several months working at ROMAIR Consulting in Bucharest, he came to Zurich and started his doctoral studies at ETH. Alexandru’s research focuses on soil dynamics and earthquake engineering including a variety of topics such as: nonlinear soil response during seismic loading; seismic response of alpine valleys; seismic performance of slopes, embankments and retaining structures; and seismic retrofit of existing pile foundations. Currently, he is a senior scientist and lecturer at the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering.

Lampros Sakellariadis graduated in 2013 from the School of Civil Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and in 2014 he received his Master’s degree with distinction from the University of Dundee in the field of Geotechnical Engineering. Following his MSc Studies, he worked as research assistant in the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics at NTUA in the research project “SYNERGY 2011: Development of Earthquake Rapid Response System for Metropolitan Motorways”. In 2015-2016, he was involved in the design team of the Piraeus Underground station (Extension of Athens Metro) as associate engineer at OTM SA Engineering Consulting Company. In 2021, he successfully defended his dissertation at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zürich, which was part of the project “AGB2017/001: Development of reliable methods for optimized retrofit design of bridge pile groups” funded by the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO). Currently, he is working as a post-doctoral researcher within the project “Performance-based design for the retrofit of piled foundations of road and rail bridges subjected to seismic loading” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). His research examines experimentally (centrifuge modelling) and numerically (Finite Element analysis) the nonlinear behaviour of pile foundations under static and dynamic combined loading conditions.

Max Sieber attended the BSc and MSc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (ETHZ), graduating in July 2016. During his studies two internships (Locher Ingenieure, Zürich & MWV Bauingenieure, Baden) helped to gain professional experience. In March 2017 he returned to ETHZ to start his doctoral studies at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering. The research subject of Max’s doctoral studies is the soil-​structure interaction during seismic shaking with focus on a novel design concept, which is termed rocking isolation. The aim of his studies is to develop and assess simplified analysis methods that can compete rigorous 3D finite element analyses of the entire soil-​foundation-structure system. Furthermore, in the framework of an SNF project, he works on the statistical characterization of the rocking motion of uplifting structures, which is a strongly nonlinear, not to say chaotic, problem, where deterministic methods fail. Besides his research activities his professional passion and strong point lies in teaching duties, where he could contribute to various courses of the chair or help supervising bachelor and master students with their thesis.

Qi graduated from Tongji University in 2018 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. From 2018 to 2020 he studied at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, where he completed his M.S. courses. From 2020, he continued his doctoral studies and research at the Institute of Tunnel and Underground Engineering, Tongji University. In July 2022, he successfully applied for a scholarship grant from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to conduct a two-year visiting PhD research at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zürich from November 2022. His doctoral research focuses on the seismic response of a ground-penetrating ultra-shallow buried shield tunnel. He has already designed and completed a large-scale shaking table test and some preliminary 3D FEM analyses of the soil-tunnel system. He is interested in conducting rigorous 3D FEM analyses in Abaqus software.
 

Shiran Xu received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Central South University (CSU) in 2018. Thereafter, he started his doctoral studies in structural engineering at Tongji University. His research initially focused on the performance of novel reinforced structures subjected to debris flow. He currently investigates the seismic performance of self-centering frames, considering soil-structure interaction via experimental and numerical means. After successful completion of large-scale shaking table tests at Tongji University, during his visiting period at ETH Zurich he will focus on experimental data processing and numerical analyses.  

Eva Brunschweiler received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from ETH Zürich, graduating in July 2022. After gaining some practical experience as a geotechnical engineer in the Swiss industry, she returned to ETH Zürich to start her doctorate in October 2023. Eva’s research focuses on soil-structure-interaction (SSI) of monopile foundations of offshore wind turbines in liquefiable soil, subjected to seismic and environmental (wind and wave) loading. Her research combines centrifuge model testing at the ETH Zürich Geotechnical Centrifuge Center (GCC) and numerical analyses, employing advanced constitutive models.