skip to Main Content

Amin Rafiei

Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Office: Holmes Hall 340
Phone: (808) 956-6628
E-mail: arafiei@hawaii.edu

Weblink
Google Scholar
Personal website: amin-rafiei.com

Areas of Specialty and Research Interest

  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Marine Geotechnics applied to Ocean Renewable Energy Foundations and Coastal Resilience
  • Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
  • Slope Instability and Geohazard Assessment
  • Numerical and Experimental Geotechnics

Education

  • Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2019
  • M.Sc. in Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, 2015
  • B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, 2012

Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, August 2022 – Present.
  • Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Scholar, University of New Hampshire, 2020-2022
  • Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Scholar, North Carolina State University, 2020

Courses Taught (in the last five years)

  • CEE 355 Geotechnical Engineering I (F’22, F’23)
  • CEE 696 Marine Geotechnics (S’ 23)
  • CEE 455 Geotechnical Engineering II (S’23)
  • CEE653 Advanced Soil Mechanics (F’24)

Professional Activities

  • Member, Offshore Technology Conference ASCE Committee
  • Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Member, Marine Energy Council (MEC)

Awards and Honors

  • Sustainability Award, University of New Hampshire, 2021
  • International GSI Fellowship Grant from Geosynthetic Science Institute, 2019
  • Mentor Teaching Fellowship, North Carolina State University, 2018
  • Graduate Study Scholarship, North Carolina State University, 2015-2019

Research Grants

  • Amin Rafiei (Co-P.I.) “Coupled Fluid-Structure-Soil Interaction (FSSI) Design for Marine
    Energy Foundations: Numerical Investigations”, funded by Department of Energy–Marine Energy
    Program, 2024-2028.
  • Amin Rafiei (Co-P.I.) “RAPID/Collaborative Research: Investigating the Liquefaction
    Susceptibility of Calcareous Sand in Hawaii with an Enhanced NHERI@UTexas Large Mobile
    Shaker”, funded by National Science Foundation–CMMI Division, 2023-2024
  • Amin Rafiei (Co-P.I.) “Geo-hazard Assessments of Wave-Driven Submarine Landslides”, funded
    by University of Hawaii Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship–Undergraduate Research
    Opportunities Program, 2023
  • Amin Rafiei (Co-P.I.) “Mitigation of Wave-Induced Liquefaction within Seabed Supporting the
    Foundations of Marine Renewable Energy Devices: Modeling Progressively-Developed Pore
    Water Pressure Due to Cyclic Wave Loading”, funded by North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute
    –NCOREP Program, 2020-2021

Selected Publications

  1. Rafiei A., “Analysis of Wave-Driven Residual Pore Water Pressure and Liquefaction in Sloping Seabed Supporting Marine Structures Considering Effect of Initial Static Shear Stresses”, ASCE
    Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironemntal Engineering (in press).
  2. Rafiei A., Rahman M.S., Gabr M.A., “Evaluation of Wave-Induced Instability of Nearly Saturated Sandy Slopes under Partially Undrained Condition: A Case Study of Landslide in Fraser River Delta
    Front”, Journal of Computers and Geotechnics, 2023. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105496.
  3. Rafiei A., Rahman M.S., Gabr M.A., and Ghayoomi M., “Analysis of Wave-Induced Submarine Landslides in Nearly Saturated Sediments at Intermediate Water Depth”, Journal of Marine
    Georesources & Geotechnology, 2021. DOI: 10.1080/1064119X.2021.2001610.
  4. Rafiei A., Rahman M.S., Gabr M.A., “Response and Instability of Sloping Seabed Supporting Small Marine Structures: Wave-Structure-Soil Interaction Analysis”, ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics
    and Arctic Engineering, 2021, DOI: 10.1115/1.4052864.
  5. Rafiei A., Rahman M.S., Gabr M.A., “Coupled Analysis for Response and Instability of Sloping Seabed under Wave Action”, Elsevier Journal of Applied Ocean Research, 2019, DOI:
    10.1016/j.apor.2019.04.017.
  6. Rafiei A., Vahdani S., Badiei P., “Forced Vibration of Dam and Reservoir Using SBFEM”, International Journal of Technical Research and Applications, Special Issue 9 (Nov-Dec 2014), PP. 09-11.
  7. Rafiei, A., and Al Ababneh, A., “Shear Slide Analysis of Sloping Seabed Caused by Waves Using  Random Finite Element Method”, Geotechnical Frontiers, Louisville, KY, 2025 (in press).
  8. Rafiei, A., and Hassan, F., “Wave-Induced Evaluation of Residual Pore Water Pressure around Marine Structures under Anisotropic Geostatic Stress Conditions.” Geotechnical Frontiers. Louisville, KY,
    2025 (in press).
  9. Rafiei A., Gabr M.A., Rahman M.S., “Analysis of Wave-Driven Progressive Buildup of Excess Pore Water Pressure in Sands Supporting Marine Hydrokinetic Devices”, Offshore Technology Conference,
    Houston, Texas, 2023, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4043/32639-MS.
  10. Rafiei A., Gabr M.A., Rahman M.S., Ghayoomi M., “Cyclic Response and Instability Analysis of Seabed with Cohesionless Soils due to Surging Waves”, OMAE 2021, DOI: 10.1115/OMAE2021-62635.
  11. Rafiei A., Rahman M.S., Gabr M.A., “Coupled Analysis of Wave, Structure, and Sloping Seabed Interaction: Response and Instability of Seabed”, Geo-Congress, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2019, DOI:
    10.1061/9780784482124.019.
  12. Rafiei A., Gabr M.A., Rahman M.S., “Wave-Induced Instability of Seabed beneath Geotextile Sand Containers”, Geosynthetics Conference, Houston, Texas, 2019.

 

Back To Top