Dr Panos Kloukinas

Module coordinator

CIVI1129 - Geotechnics, Level 6 (year 3 BEng), Standard double term (15 credit units)

GEOL1028 – Advanced Geotechnical Engineering, Level 7 (Year 4 MEng, MSc). Spring term (15 credit units)

Tutor for Mechanical Engineering cluster

MATH1145 – Engineering Mathematics2, Level 2 (year 2 BEng), Standard double term (15 credit units)

• 2017 ICE South West Region, civil engineering project awards.
• Showcase Award for "Nuclear research seismic studies", by the University of Bristol (awarded as research team member)

Member of various professional and scientific bodies and association related to Civil and Earthquake Engineering, such as:

Reviewer in established journals, such as Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering, Elsevier, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering - ASCE, Journal of Engineering Mechanics – ASCE, Geotechnique -ICE.

Dr Kloukinas has contributed to the field of seismic resilience of structures and critical infrastructure, as well as the resilience of vulnerable communities and systems in developing countries. The specific topics are of high importance in a rapidly changing world characterised by continuously emerging needs, increasing levels of demand and severe environmental challenges, which are either triggered or escalated by the climate change. In these conditions, Engineering has an important role to play reducing the risks and uncertainties, by creating new knowledge and by providing novel solutions and technology. Dr Kloukinas is currently working on developing novel testing methods and low-cost engineering solutions applicable to developing countries.

Key funded projects

EDF "Graphite Core PLEX: Rig Work for Seismic Behaviour with Extensive Component Failures", EDF Energy – Atkins – University of Bristol, Research Associate (2014-2017).

https://southwestnuclearhub.ac.uk/2018/10/19/plex-agr-nuclear-graphite-core

Sponsored by EDF-Energy Ltd, the PLEX (Plant Life Extension) project initiated in 2008, with a £6.5M investment to date. The main objective of the project is the validation of EDF's numerical modelling systems (GCORE, SOLFEC etc). This is vital as many of the UK's older, graphite core reactors are reaching the end of their estimated life cycle and new nuclear plants are yet to be available. Validation is carried out by testing a quarter scale physical model of a nuclear core (built by the PLEX team) on the shaking table in the Earthquake and Large Structures Lab, to reveal important insights into an aged graphite core's seismic behaviour and integrity. Information from the experimental programme now provides essential validation of the complex numerical models that are used to underpin the AGR seismic safety case arguments for life extension to 2023 of the oldest AGR stations. The project is led by the University of Bristol (UoB) in close collaboration with EDF and Atkins, who manage the GCORE modelling system for EDF. Tests carried out by the PLEX team on the physical model in the lab are mirrored in the numerical model by the Atkins team. The bespoke rig contains over 40,000 components and 3,200 sensors in a package measuring approximately 2.5x2.5x2.0m. The rig development involved integration of high precision structural engineering and manufacturing, innovative electronic sensor development, cutting edge data analysis and experimental techniques. This is a unique, highly innovative and technically challenging earthquake engineering project that has provided vital evidence to underpin the seismic safety assessment of EDF Energy's ageing Advanced Gas‐cooled Reactor (AGR) nuclear power station fleet.

Key outcomes of the project are:

• A better understanding of the behaviour within an ageing graphite core in the case of a seismic event.
• Reassurance in the output of the EDF numerical modelling systems.
• Evidence supplied by the University feeds into the Safety Case presented quarterly to the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
• Evidence that a graphite core near the end of its design life can still be operated and shutdown safely after a seismic event.
• Justification of plant life extension.

EPSRC Global Challenges Research Fund – PREPARE (EP/P028233/1)

Title: "Enhancing PREParedness for East African Countries through Seismic Resilience Engineering"

(Senior Research Associate, University of Bristol, 2017 - 2/2019; Co-I and partner, University of Greenwich, 3/2019 – to date).

https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FP028233%2F1

PREPARE is a 3-year EPSRC-Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project (May 2017 to October 2020, with total award value of £1.38M), which tackles the global challenge of improving the earthquake disaster preparedness for East African countries by developing integrated earthquake impact assessment tools in close partnerships with local governmental and academic institutions. The project addresses the key scientific challenges in characterising the earthquake rupture potential in the East African Rift zone and applies advanced seismic resilience engineering methods to evaluate seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry structures in East Africa (both experimentally and numerically) and to develop effective low-cost solutions for enhanced community resilience. The PREPARE team brings in a unique set of expertise and skills in earthquake, geotechnical, infrastructure engineering, engineering seismology, geodesy, and geology. Through collaboration with local partners in East Africa, PREPARE will transform novel scientific results into practical guidelines and outputs to achieve improved seismic risk reduction. The research objectives of PREPARE are fivefold: (1) to develop integrated seismic risk assessment tools for East African countries. The tools treat alternative hypotheses and uncertainties associated with hazard, exposure, and vulnerability components comprehensively and consistently; (2) to co-produce a variety of seismic hazard-risk maps and seismic design guidelines in close collaboration with local governmental and academic partners. As part of co-production, bilateral visits of researchers and staff are arranged to consolidate long-term relationships; (3) to improve the knowledge on tectonic behaviour of major fault systems in East Africa by gathering new field data (geology and GPS) and by analysing the regional seismicity data. The new findings will be used to update the fault-based seismic hazard model; (4) to develop bespoke seismic vulnerability models of unreinforced masonry (brick) constructions in East Africa through an extensive experimental programme (i.e. material testing of local bricks and pull-over testing of real-scale brick walls) and advanced structural modelling; and (5) to investigate the effectiveness of low-cost engineering solutions to improve the seismic resilience of the buildings and infrastructure in East Africa.

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