Geo-Resources and Geotechnical Laboratory

Our Team

Director

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Dr. Bruno Gonçalves da Silva

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Education:

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- PhD - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016

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- MSc - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2009

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- BSc, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2004

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Employment:

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- NJIT, Newark - Assistant Professor

- Arup, New York - Geotechnical Engineer

- Nolan's Associates, UK, Structural Engineer

- ViaTunel PGF, Portugal, Structural Engineer

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Interests:

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I am a geoscientist and geotechnical engineer whose research interests are the experimental and numerical study of the multi-scale damage processes of rocks and rock-like materials subject to loading conditions of interest to field-scale applications in the subsurface energy, environmental and civil engineering fields.

Current Graduate Students

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​Catarina Baptista Pereira

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PhD candidate, MS Petroleum Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal; BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal

Research: Influence of fluid diffusivity on hydraulic fracturing processes

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Ehsan Mehryaar 

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PhD candidate, BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Iran.

Research: Thermal-induced spalling of tunnel liners

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Mohab Hussein

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PhD candidate, BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Research: Use of Artificial Intelligence-based methods to enhance driven pile design

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Di Zhang (co-advisee)

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PhD candidate, MSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology; BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, China Agriculture University

Research: Numerical simulations of the micro-mechanical properties of shale

Former PhD advisees

Gayani Gunarathna, PhD (2020)

Currently Geotechnical Engineer at WSP USA

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Thesis Title: Stress-state and injection-rate dependent damage processes during the hydraulic fracturing of granite. (link)

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Haroon Afzal

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus

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Tola Chen

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus

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​Zachary Keator

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus

Jas Ahuja

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Visual analyses and interpretation of hydraulic fracturing tests in rocks

Elisee Doh

Undergraduate Researcher

Research: Specimen preparation and thermal testing of concrete sections

​Josue Deidan

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Analysis and interpretation of acoustic emission data from hydraulic fracturing tests

Edisberto Cardona, Jr

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Visual analyses and interpretation of hydraulic fracturing tests in rocks

Marco Fernandez

Undergraduate Researcher

Research: Estimation of roughness of lab-scale hydraulic fractures in granite using micro-CT scan and SEM observations

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Karina Tapia

BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at Neglia Engineering Associates)

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Effect of fractures, fracture filling and rock saturation in the attenuation and speed of propagation of P- and S-waves

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Inderdeep Grewal

BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at Advantage Engineering Associates P.C.)

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Development of a MATLAB code to automatically identify the development of hydraulic fractures based on visual data

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Ricardo Ayala

BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at AECOM )

Undergraduate researcher

Research: Experimental evaluation of the effect of injection rate in the hydraulic fracturing pressures in granite

Former undergraduate members

Current undergraduate members