Joe Tom, UIUC

Prof. Joe Tom

Assistant Professor – Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Title:

From trenching mechanics to hydrodynamics and back again

Abstract:

This presentation aims to overview recent work exploring some of the fundamental mechanisms driving seabed trenching beneath dynamic offshore infrastructure – such as subsea pipelines and the mooring chains that form part of anchoring systems for floating facilities. First, we will draw links between vortex dynamics associated with an oscillating cylinder and the modes of sediment transport observed to correspond with such cylinder movement. The ability for flow dynamics alone to form a seabed trench over certain ranges of cylinder motion will be illustrated, and the parametric ranges for which theoretical solutions can be used to predict trenching are described. Finally, we will explore how structure-soil-fluid interactions (i.e. water entrainment) can change the geotechnical properties of fine-grained seabed sediments, and consider the implications of this on sediment transport associated with trench formation.

Biography:

Joe Tom is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he sits within the Geotechnical Engineering group. His current research interests including scour and stability of coastal/seabed infrastructure, the soils mechanics of soil strength changes due to whole-life cyclic loading and novel foundation and anchor concepts. Prior to joining Illinois in January 2020, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at the University of Western Australia, where he received his PhD in 2018. Prior to this, he worked as a geotechnical engineer at Advanced Geomechanics (now Fugro) in Perth, Australia, following an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis and a BS in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University.