Dr. Ghani Razaqpur,       B.Sc. (American University of Beirut),       M.Sc. (Hawaii),       Ph.D. (Calgary), P.Eng., FCSCE Professor, Civil Engineering Structures and Earthquake Engineering Geotechnical and Materials Engineering Office JHE 301/B Extension 24746 Email address razaqpu@mcmaster.ca Research Fields: Infrastructure Durability and Sustainability, Infrastructure Security, Advanced Numerical Modelling, Design of FRP Reinforced Structures, Concrete Design and Analysis		Dr. Ghani Razaqpur Centre for Effective Design of Structures

Specific Research Interests and Activities:

Infrastructure Durability and Sustainability
The aging of the infrastructure and its current deficiencies and deficit have opened up new areas of study. There is strong agreement that the problem can only be solved by adequate investment not only in repair and rehabilitation, but also in more advanced and relevant research to meet the special requirements of infrastructure sustainability. The focus of our research is on condition assessment, materials and structures modelling techniques, damage detection and monitoring and innovative repair and rehabilitation technologies. The work on FRP is focused on the flexural, shear and bond behaviour of FRP reinforced concrete structures. The punching shear behaviour of slab-column connections reinforced with FRP is of particular interest.

Infrastructure Security
Infrastructure security has become an important concern of many nations. Protecting people and important assets from natural or man-made disasters has become the priority of many countries and of civil engineering professionals. Blast resistance of structures is a key component of asset protection. Studies are currently underway to develop effective techniques for assessment of blast resistance of structures and to increase their resistance whenever necessary.

Geotechnical and Materials

To predict the service-life of a structure under variable environmental and loading conditions, one must develop accurate and robust predictive techniques. Our studies are concerned with predicting the deterioration of concrete structures due to thermal, moisture, chlorides, and carbonation effects and due to corrosion of steel reinforcement. Advanced analytical techniques based on finite element analysis are developed to predict the effects of these phenomena on durability of concrete structures, and to estimate their service-life.

The short- and long-term characteristics of steel, concrete, fibre-reinforced polymers, geogrids and geotextiles are studied in the laboratory, including their strength, stiffness, creep, shrinkage, thermal and moisture absorption characteristics. The data is used to derive design parameters for codes and standards.

Stresses induced by frost-heave in chilled gas pipelines that traverse discontinuous permafrost can cause the pipelines to rupture. Advanced numerical techniques are developed to predict the extent of frost heave and its effect on pipeline deformations and stresses.

Recent Publications:

Espander, R., Lotfi, V. and Razaqpur, A.G., " Earthquake Analysis of Concrete Arch Dams," Journal of European Association for Earthquake Engineering, No. 2, 2004, pp. 46-57.

Razaqpur, A.G., Isgor, B.O.S., Greenaway, S., Selley, A., "Concrete Contribution to the Shear Resistance of FRP Reinforced Concrete Members," Journal of Composites for Construction, American Society of Civil Engineers, Sept/Oct 2004, pp 452-460.

Isgor, O.B., Razaqpur, A..G. "Finite Element Modeling of Coupled Heat Transfer, Moisture Transport and Carbonation Processes in Concrete Structures," Journal of Cement and Concrete Composites, Vol 26, No. 1, 2004, pp. 57-73.

Espander, R., Lotfi V., Razaqpur, G., "Influence of effective parameters of non-orthogonal smeared crack approach in seismic response of concrete arch dams," Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 30, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 890-901.

Razaqpur, A.G., Nofal, M., and Vasilescu, A., "An Improved Quadrilateral Finite Element for Analysis of Thin Plates". Journal of Finite Element in Analysis and Design, Vol. 40, No. l, Nov. 2003, pp. 1-23.

Razaqpur, A.G,, Isgor, O.B. "A Rational Method for Calculating Deflection of Continuous FRP Reinforced Concrete Beams " SP-210, American Concrete Institute, 2003, pp. 191-208.

Chidiac, S.E, Maadani. O. Razaqpur, A.G. and Mailvaganam, N.P., "Correlation of Rheological Properties to Durability and Strength of Hardened Concrete," Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 15, No. 4, July/August 2003, pp. 391-399.

Hassan, Y., A.O. Abd El Halim, A.G. Razaqpur, W. Bekheet, and M. Farha, "Effects of Runway Deicers on Pavement Materials and Mixes: Comparison with Road Salt," Journal of Transportation Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, Vol. 128(4), July/August 2002, pp. 385-391.

Please contact Dr. G. Razaqpur for more information.