Survival from earthquake inspires an ethnic Chinese postgraduate to soil research in Australia

SYDNEY, Jan. 21-- Wang Shengzhe, a postgraduate from the University of Sydney's School of Civil Engineering, who previously worked as a structural engineer, takes up a research degree into soil movement after experiencing the earthquake in the New Zealand capital Wellington in 2013.

“Our safety could be dependent on understanding the behaviour of just a few grains of sand,” says Wang. So, in his research he focuses on how soils respond under extreme conditions and the manifestation of soil liquefaction.

“By adequately understanding the liquefaction potential of soils when planning cities and suburbs, we will know exactly where and where not to construct our facilities and place our most critical infrastructure,” He emphasizes.

Professor Luming Shen, Wang's PhD supervisor says Wang's research will be first of its kind to systematically investigate the effect of particle size distribution, particle shape and water content on the behaviours of porous media under impact loading.