ChadiEl Mohtar

Bio
Chadi El Mohtar’s research involves engineering pore fluids and soils for resilient response to adverse and unforeseen loading conditions, with minimal compromise to the performance under normal working loads. Particularly, his work has focused on advancing the fundamental understanding of viscous flow within porous media by relating rheological properties of fluids and suspensions to the mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of geomaterials. Over the course of his research career, he has expanded my work on pore fluid-soil micro-mechanics from ground improvement contexts to include mobilization of non-aqueous fluids within porous media in geo-environmental and petroleum engineering applications. As such, his research integrates the areas of rheology, deep-bed filtration, geotechnical, geo-environmental and petroleum engineering to better understand the progressive temporal and spatial variations during and post flow of complex fluids in porous media.

As a teacher, El Mohtar combines state-of-the-art field applications with academics so that students are prepared for the workplace. He has developed physical and computer models to simulate soil behavior so students can better visualize the various geotechnical phenomena.

Educational Qualifications
Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Geotechnical, Purdue University, 2008
M.S., Civil Engineering, Pavement/Geotechnical, Michigan State University, 2003
B. Eng., Civil Engineering, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon, 2001

Select Awards & Honors

• Richard S. Ladd Standards Development Award (2020)
• Faculty Grant Award – American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (2014)
• Arthur Casagrande Professional Development Award – ASCE (2014) 
• NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award (2012)
• Excellence in Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Fellow – ASCE (2010)

Related Websites
El Mohtar Research Group
Center for Transportation Research
Geotechnical Research Group

Select Publications