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Featured Faculty: Carlos Carranza-Torres
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Interests: Design of underground and surface excavations in rock masses. Strength and deformability of intact rock and rock masses. Analytical and Numerical Modelling in rock and soil mechanics.
Courses Taught: Statics ENGR 2015 (Statics), ME 5335 (Introduction to Finite Element Analysis).
Website: http://www.d.umn.edu/~carranza/
Dr. Carranza-Torres joined the new Department of Civil Engineering at UMD in the fall of 2008 after having spent 10 years working as a geotechnical engineering specialist in design of excavations in civil and mining engineering projects. He has worked in the design team of various large underground excavation projects in US and overseas, among them, support design of mined caverns for Grand Central extension, 7th Line extension and 2nd Avenue Subway projects in New York; Admiralty Station in Hong Kong and Airport Link highway project in Brisbane, Australia. He has also worked in the design team of open pit and underground excavations for mining projects, among them, expansions for El Teniente mine and for Chuquicamata mine in Chile.
Dr. Carranza-Torres research interest is focused on the development of rational-and-practical techniques for understanding the mechanics of deformation of ground and support in surface and underground excavations in rock masses, in relation to the many different practical variables affecting the performance of a support design. The theoretical-practical nature of Dr. Carranza-Torres' research is illustrated by his first two journal publications as faculty at UMD:
Dr. Carranza-Torres is scheduled to teach several geotechnical engineering courses in the new Civil Engineering program, among them, Engineering Geology, Rock Mechanics, Soil Mechanics and Design of Excavations in Rock. His philosophy in preparing and delivering these courses is that of providing students with a needed theoretical knowledge as well as with a much valued practical treatment of the course contents — this as a means of ensuring that students easily transition and succeed in the highly competitive U.S. and international geotechnical engineering fields.Carranza-Torres C. (2009) "Analytical and Numerical Study of the Mechanics of Rockbolt Reinforcement around Tunnels in Rock Masses". Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 42: 175-228.
Carranza-Torres C. and M. Diederichs (2009) "Mechanical analysis of circular liners with particular reference to composite supports. For example, liners consisting of shotcrete and steel sets". Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 24-5: 506-532.