My work is driven by scientific curiosity motivated by my desire to help create and maintain resilient infrastructure. My work revolves around the assessment and improvement of a wide range of infrastructure, from railway tracks to flood defences, particularly applications involving dynamic soil structure interaction and the complex soil behaviour under dynamic or cyclic loading. I combine this with my passion for the implementation and optimisation of processes. This leads to the development of tailored software applications for the assessment of infrastructure. I am interested in the developments in Machine Learning and its application to geotechnical engineering. I believe that the future of modelling is within hybrid models, that consist of a combination of numerical models and data operating under machine learning algorithms. These models will be able to learn and accurately predict the response of infrastructure.
Work Experience
Deltares
Since 2013 I work at Deltares. Currently I hold the position of senior researcher in the department of Safe and Resilient Infrastructure. I am also a member of the Young Scientific Council of Deltares. The Scientific Council acts as the scientific conscience of Deltares and represents the scientific expertise of Deltares.
My work includes the coordination of national and international research projects on geotechnical railway engineering and application of machine learning and big data in geotechnical engineering.
Currently, I am working on projects related to the assessment of railway track degradation, stability of railway embankments and prediction of railway induced vibrations, and on the development of data fusion, to combine open datasets to create full three-dimensional subsurface schematisations and parametrisations.
Chalmers University of Technology
In 2016 (January - April) I was a visiting researcher at Chalmers University of Technology. During this period I developed a novel constitutive model that accounts for the permanent deformations due to cyclic loading of soft soils. The model accounts for fundamental features of natural soft soil behaviour, such as anisotropy, bonding and rate-dependence.
University of Cambridge
In 2015 (September - December) I was a Marie-Curie Research Fellow at University of Cambridge. During this period I worked on the modelling of large deformation problems in geomechanics, using the Material Point Method for soil-water-structure interaction problems. The work included the development and validation of the double point formulation of the Material Point Method, in which the solid and liquid phases are modelled separately.
TNO
Between 2011 and 2013 I worked as research scientist at TNO. During this period I was involved in the European project CargoVibes. This project comprised the development of a new track system (ladder track) for the reduction of vibration propagation due to freight trains. Additionally, I was involved on experimental and numerical work related to railway induced vibrations and its effects on nearby dwellings. During this period I developed software for real-time data acquisition and processing and developed numerical tools for the analysis of soil structure interaction problems.
Education
PhD in Civil Engineering
Between 2007 and 2011 I did a PhD in Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology.
Thesis: Dynamics of railway transition zones in soft soils.
MSc Degree in Civil Engineering
Between 2005 and 2007 I did a MSc in Structural Engineering at University of Porto.
Thesis: Dynamic behaviour of piled slab for high-speed trains.
Degree in Civil Engineering
Between 2000 and 2005 I did a Degree in Civil Engineering at University of Porto.
It was a five-year programme (nowadays equivalent to MSc), with specialisation in Geotechnical Engineering.