Staff

Puja Acharya

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Research Scientist

B.A in Architecture from Tribhuwan University, Institute of Engineering, Kathmandu, Nepal

Curriculum Vitae

Tel: +(354) 525 4137 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 Puja@hi.is

Jónas Elíasson, PhD

Research Professor

Degree in engineering University of Iceland, 1959
Civ. ing. (M.sc.) Technical University of Denmark, 1962
Lic. techn. (Ph.D) Technical University of Denmark, 1973

Main research areas: Fluid dynamics, natural hazards, earthquake engineering

Tel: +(354) 525 4141 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 Jonase@hi.is

Elínborg Gunnarsdóttir

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Manager, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre

Field of work: Bookkeeping

Tel: +(354) 525 4141 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 eborg@hi.is

Benedikt Halldórsson, PhD

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Director of Research, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
Research Professor, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental

BSc (1994) University of Iceland. Faculty of Science. Physics Department
MSc (1997) University of Iceland. Faculty of Engineering. Department of Civil Engineering
PhD (2004) University at Buffalo. State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA. Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Main research areas: earthquake and engineering seismology

Main research topics: Development and calibration of physical earthquake source models, quantification of source rupture processes, source complexity, earthquake scaling relations, seismic wave propagation, path effects, localised site effects and basin-generated surface waves. Earthquake strong ground motion modelling for seismological and earthquake engineering applications. Development and design of the ‘ICEARRAY’, a new small-aperture, strong-motion array in South Iceland. Spatial coherency of the seismic wavefield across arrays and array data processing. Effects of all the above characteristics of earthquake strong ground motions on the reliable estimation of earthquake hazard and seismic risk and the effects on earthquake resistant structures and lifelines, such as above-ground geothermal pipelines.

Curriculum vitae

Tel: +(354) 525 4132 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 skykkur@hi.is

Símon Ólafsson, PhD

Director, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
Research Professor, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre

Cand. Scient. (1981) University of Iceland
MSc (1990) University of Southern California, USA
PhD (1999) Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Main research activities: engineering seismology and earthquake engineering. Ongoing research projects are dealing with: strong-motion monitoring and modelling; source mechanics, parametric modelling and earthquake response spectra; signal processing; and system identification.

Ph.D. Thesis – Estimation of Earthquake-Induced Response

Tel: +(354) 525 4127 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 simon@hi.is

Rajesh Rupakhety, PhD

Director of Research, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
Research Professor, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre
Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering

E (Civil, 2004) Tribhuwan University, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Lalitpur, Nepal
MSc (Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, MEEES, 2008) University of Pavia and University of Patras
PhD (Earthquake Engineering, 2010) University of Iceland. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Main research areas:

(engineering seismology), earthquake engineering
(seismic design), soil structure interaction, signal processing of strong-motion data, and computer applications in advanced earthquake engineering problems.

Dr. Rajesh Rupakhety is an Associate Research Professor at the EERC. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from Tribhuwan Univeristy, Nepal; MSc in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from University of Pavia, Italy and University of Patras, Greece; and a PhD in Earthquake Engineering from University of Iceland. He has worked as a professional structural engineer designing and constructing buildings, roads, andelevated water towers. Areas of his main academic interest are solid and fluid mechanics, structural analysis and design, engineering seismology, and earthquake engineering. Within the fields of solid and fluid mechanics, he has hands on experience in design and construction of hydropower systems. He has professional and research experience in analysis and design of structures for seismic action. In engineering seismology, his research activities include processing of strong motion data, modelling of inelastic response spectra, theoretical and empirical ground motion modelling and prediction, modelling of ground motion random field, quantification of near-fault ground motion, local site effects and soil amplification, and most recently formulation of rotation-invariant ground motion parameters. He is also active in use of historical and macroseismic data, probabilistic and deterministic seismic hazard assessment, and seismic hazard assessment for facilities storing hazardous mining waste. Dr. Rupakhety is currently working on advanced structural dynamics research projects such as stochastic dynamic analysis of submerged floating tunnels, seismic response of large-span suspension bridges, and dynamic response of offshore structures to various environmental loads modelled as random fields. In earthquake engineering, Dr. Rupakhety is actively researching seismic design methods and codes, code limitations, and quantification of seismic design loads. His most current research activity is in developing a novel concept of ‘foundation fuse’ which consists of an yielding foundation that, at the cost of its controlled deformations, isolates the superstructure from shaking ground, thereby achieving significant reduction in seismic design forces. His primary teaching activities are in continuum mechanics, computational mechanics, finite element analysis, structural dynamics, stochastic processes and random vibration, earthquake engineering

Doctoral thesis

Tel: +(354) 525 4129 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 Rajesh@hi.is

Guðmundur Örn Sigurðsson, MSc

Research Scientist

Tel: +(354) 525 4653 gos12@hi.is

Sólveig Thorvaldsdóttir, PhD

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Research Scientist

Cand. scient. (1987) University of Iceland
MSE (1991) Johns Hopkins University
PhD (Civil Engineering, 2016) University of Iceland. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Main research interests: Disaster management (disaster cycle), natural hazards, their effects on the built environment and risk reduction.

Tel: +(354) 525 4133 , Fax: +(354) 525 4140 Solvth@hi.is

Associates

Athol J. Carr, PhD

Visiting Professor

Tel: +(354 )525 4141 athol.carr@canterbury.ac.nz

Jónas Thór Snæbjörnsson, PhD

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Visiting Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Cand. Scient. (1985) University of Iceland
MSc (1989) University of Washington, WA, USA
PhD (2002) Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Main research activities: structural mechanics and dynamics focusing on applications in earthquake and wind engineering. Ongoing research projects deal with: full-scale and model-scale investigations of wind induced loading and response of medium rise buildings in built-up environments; computational assessment of wind induced response; system identification of structures; damping and dynamic behaviour of foot-bridges; and traffic safety in wind environments.