UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez explains how biogeotechnical engineers leverage solutions from lifeforms like worms, trees, and bacteria. It starts with fundamental, cross-disciplinary work with biologists. Then, at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM), centrifuge tests fill an important gap between laboratory ideas and full-scale field tests. For instance, by replicating ground stress and increased gravity in a centrifuge, geotechs can model and test designs at greater soil depths and across soil types. The NHERI CGM facility functions as a testbed for the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University.

Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/

Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro

Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/

Using centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

Follow the Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/100063111107077/

Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: [email protected]