Faculty of Engineering
Research project description
In recent years, the rapid pace of climate change has been evident by increasing intensity and frequency of weather extremes, which has an adverse impact on the safety and operability of infrastructure systems. Current design codes assume that climate-induced loads are stationary, i.e., their occurrence pattern and intensity do not change over time. However, this assumption is not likely to be valid in the future, since the climate change is causing temporal variations in the frequency and intensity of weather extremes, such as rain, snow and ice storms, and high wind events.
This project will develop a reliability-based approach to evaluate the safety of earthwork used to support railway and highway systems. This research involves the integration of a non-stationary model of extreme precipitation with geo-technical hazard assessment models.
Fields of research
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Climate change
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Geo-technical hazards
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Slope instability
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Structural reliability
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Stochastic processes,
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Earth slopes in bridges, railways, and highways
Qualifications and ideal student profile
Prospective graduate student researchers must meet or exceed the minimum admission requirements for the programs connected to this opportunity. Visit the program pages using the links on this page to learn more about minimum admission requirements. In addition to minimum requirements, the research supervisor is looking for the following qualifications and student profile.
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Master's degree with specialization in geo-technical engineering
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Strong background in earth slope stability assessment and monitoring of earth slopes
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Understanding of methods of structural reliability analysis
Faculty researcher and supervisor
- Mahesh Pandey
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
View faculty profile →
NSERC-UNENE Chair in risk-based life cycle management of engineering systems lab website →
Graduate programs connected to this project
Important dates
Impact of Climate Change on the Risk of Earth Slope Failures in Transportation Systems is accepting expressions of interest for the winter 2027 term.
If you are interested in the fall 2026 intake, please contact the faculty researcher and supervisor.