Pooneh Maghoul

Polytechnique Montréal · Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering

Remote northern communities in Canada face energy challenges due to their reliance on fossil fuels. Small modular reactors (SMRs) show promise as a sustainable solution to this issue, as they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable development. However, SMRs require specific structural and geotechnical design paradigms for imple...

Inspired by the bending vibration observed in the biological locomotions such as those found in snakes, horned lizards, and sandfish, we have developed a novel vibro probe utilizing bending resonance modes to study the bending vibration effects in assisting penetration into granular materials. This approach contrasts with traditional probes that re...

Prediction of permafrost stability is associated with challenges, such as data scarcity and climate uncertainties. Here we present a data-driven framework that predicts permafrost thaw threat based on present ground ice distributions and ground surface temperatures predicted via machine learning. The framework uses long short-term memory models, wh...

In this study, we aim to comprehensively review and compile the physical and mechanical properties of lunar regolith. We draw data from Apollo-era resources and post-Apollo missions up to 2023. The information gathered includes direct in-situ measurements from manned missions, laboratory tests on samples returned to Earth from Apollo, Luna, and Cha...

During structural vibration, fatigue cracks, especially at their initial stage, introduce a repetitive crack open-close breathing-like phenomenon. Breathing cracks cause irregularities, bi-linearity, or perturbations in the vibration response of a structural system. Entropy can be used to quantify the irregularity or bi-linearity in those responses...

Stability of ground slopes is of paramount importance in geotechnical engineering. Several mitigating methods have been proposed in the literature and applied in practice. In this study, the effect of nano-bio-treated columns, as green cement inclusions, on the stability of a clayey slope is investigated by conducting two centrifuge Ng model tests....

Education 4.0 can play a significant role in the future of geotechnical engineering education. It can provide personalized and equitable learning experiences and be used to develop skills for the fourth industrial revolution in geotechnical engineering. In this paper, we explore the application of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) mod...

Meteorological data are essential in precision agriculture in the Canadian Prairies and are often associated with spatiotemporal discontinuity and scarcity. Reanalysis data products aim to address this challenge and have recently gained popularity. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ ERA5, and its high-resolution land component,...

The adverse effects of thawing permafrost on transportation infrastructure in northern regions are exacerbated by climate change. To address this issue, remote sensing techniques can be employed to track deformations in these structures over time. This will allow us to identify regions that are most vulnerable to permafrost degradation, and impleme...

The integration of laboratory testing into engineering mechanics courses has been constrained by various factors, including limited time for each session and a large number of students in soil mechanics courses. Expensive equipment and the need for maintenance further restrict students' hands-on experience. However, virtual reality (VR) and augment...

The ability to quantitatively and non-invasively characterize complex multiphase geomaterials is still a major challenge to the engineering, construction, and geophysical fields. In the context of accelerating climate change, construction on permafrost requires remedial measures and appropriate characterization of permafrost (e.g., ice content, unf...

A soil triaxial device has been developed for testing on frozen samples. The temperature can be adjusted between-57℃ and + 80℃ by a computer aided temperature control unit. Temperature variations could occur while isotropic or anisotropic consolidation stresses are being applied to simulate real conditions. It is not possible to measure the volume...

In northern regions, the long-term serviceability of infrastructure founded on frozen ground is adversely affected by climate warming. Rates of change in temperature, which are not identical spatially and temporally, can remarkably dictate the magnitude and evolution of permafrost degradation. Investigating such impacts requires a non-isothermal ra...

Due to climate change, thawing permafrost affects transportation infrastructure in northern regions. Tracking deformations over time of these structures can allow identifying the most vulnerable sections to permafrost degradation and implement climate adaptation strategies. The Sentinel-2 mission provides data well-suited for multitemporal analysis...

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are increasingly recognized as safer and more flexible alternatives to conventional nuclear power plants in today's industry. Their safety and flexibility, coupled with their lower time and capital investment requirements, make SMRs an ideal choice for clean energy in Canada's remote communities. These communities are...

The deformation of tailings dams due to creep has been identified as a significant threat to their stability and overall life-cycle performance. In northern regions, tailings dams constructed mostly on traditionally frozen foundations, are subject to hazards resulting from per-mafrost degradation due to climate non-stationarity. Due to the rapid ra...

Harsh environments are external conditions that present a heightened or unusual challenge to geotechnical engineering construction, geo-infrastructure operation, and geological disaster prevention. In the context that the construction and excavation activities of geotechnical engineering projects get deeper into the ground and cover a longer geomet...

Some lunar regions present better conditions to store water and other volatiles inside frozen traps at high latitudes [1]. The information collected can be interpreted as 1-10% ice in the near subsurface strata, some in the form of arctic like permafrost, but these results are still controversial [2]. The principal regions of present interest are P...

The ability to quantitatively and non-invasively characterize complex multiphase geomaterials is still a major challenge to the engineering, construction, and geophysical fields. In the context of accelerating climate change, construction on permafrost requires remedial measures and an appropriate characterization of permafrost (e.g., ice content,...

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is one of the popular pipeline trenchless construction techniques for sites where surface excavations and conventional trenching are not desirable. An integral part of the pipeline design and construction process is to perform stress analysis on the HDD overbends, which can be subjected to significant cross-sec...

With the start of the Artemis missions and the requirement to build bases on the moon, the seismic mapping of the lunar surface against diverse seismic sources is now far more crucial than ever. Different constructions for the moon have been simulated and designed in recent years using various methods and materials [1-4]. However, no seismic study...

The two-dimensional (2-D) basin-scale seismic site response of the Kitimat valley, located in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, was investigated. The valley was subjected to a synthetic ground motion corresponding to a realistic local crustal earthquake of moderate magnitude consistent with the prevailing seismic hazard in the Kit...

In permafrost regions, the long-term serviceability of infrastructure founded on highly plastic foundation is adversely affected by slow-rate, time-dependent deformations (i.e., viscous or creep behavior) of permafrost subject to climate change. Investigating such deformations in a Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) framework requires a coupled non-isot...

Fatigue cracks are inevitable in the service life of engineering structures and can cause unexpected severe structural failures if left unattended. During structural vibrations, fatigue cracks, specifically at the initial stage, exhibit a repetitive open-close breathing-like phenomenon. Breathing cracks cause irregularities, bi-linearity, or pertur...

The non-destructive testing (NDT) plays a crucial role in geotechnical engineering and geophysical applications, especially in the design of earthquake-resistant foundations, geotechnical field investigation, and material characterization and detection of underground anomaly. Currently, the existing signal interpretation methods in NDT measurements...

Sound transmission loss (STL) occurs as waves propagate through a structure. In order to reduce the sound transmission through a cylinder with better STL, an acoustic quieting process needs to be implemented. One efficient ways to minimize sound transmission is using piezoelectric materials, which can be applied to reduce transmitted noise in diffe...

Fatigue cracks are inevitable in the service life of engineering structures. They can cause unexpected severe structural failures if left unattended. During structural vibration, fatigue cracks, especially at their initial stage, introduce a repetitive crack open-close breathing-like phenomenon. Breathing cracks cause irregularities, bi-linearity,...

The seismic site response of the Kitimat valley located in the North Coast region of British Columbia in Canada is carried out using the SiteQUAKE FEM/BEM numerical code. The two-dimensional (2-D) seismic response of this sedimentary valley is evaluated with particular attention to the combined effects of topography, geology, and geotechnical prope...

This paper verifies an elastic-thermoviscoplastic constitutive model of saturated soft clay. The model was formulated to describe the influence of temperature and strain rate in the Critical State soil mechanics framework. The coupled thermoplastic and viscoplastic E-TVP model accommodated the effect of temperature by defining a relationship betwee...

In this paper, the seismic response of lava tubes was estimated. Several dimensionless numerical analyses were carried out for various dimensionless geometries. The effects of key influencing factors such as the depth of the lava tubes, the gravitational effect of the Moon, and the frequency content of the incident motion on the dynamic response of...

Due to payload limitations in space missions, light and compact investigation tools should be developed for subsurface exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of high-frequency vibrations on reducing the overhead load required for the penetration of a typical probe into granular media. The Discrete Element...

This paper examines the accuracy of a new elastic-thermoviscoplastic (E-TVP) constitutive model developed based on Critical State Soil Mechanics. The model can be used for simulating the temperature dependent, and strain-rate dependent behavior of clay soils. The study compares the E-TVP behavior of a single soil element with previously published t...

The adverse effects of climate warming on the built environment in (sub-)arctic regions are unprecedented and accelerating. The planning and design of climate-resilient northern infrastructure, as well as predicting deterioration of permafrost from climate model simulations, require characterizing permafrost sites accurately and efficiently. Here,...

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a nature-based soil stabilization technique, which has been developed for the past 20 years. Nevertheless, the application of the MICP method for stabilization of clays has received less attention in the literature as it is necessary to boost its effect in various ways to ensure its effi...

The ground is a natural grand system; it is composed of myriad constituents that aggregate to form several geologic and biogenic systems. These systems operate independently and interplay harmoniously via important networked structures over multiple spatial and temporal scales. This paper presents arguments and derivations couched by the authors, t...

Typical subsurface investigation tools used on Earth are not applicable for subsurface exploration of the Moon and other extraterrestrial bodies due to payload limitations in space missions. Instead, light and compact subsonic projectile probes can be considered as an alternative subsurface investigation tool in such exploratory missions to overcom...

A series of full-scale experiments was conducted to estimate lateral soil constraints on pipes buried in dense sandy slopes at different burial depths. The experimental data indicated that the soil force on the pipe increases with increase in the slope grade and burial depth ratio. The lateral soil force against relative pipe displacement response...

This presentation deals with the identification and tracking of linear infrastructure from satellite imagery of northern Canada in order to estimate deformation of infrastructure affected by permafrost degradation. The purpose is to perform semantic segmentation of linear infrastructure such as roads or railways utilizing deep learning models for m...

Ground surface temperature is an essential parameter in permafrost studies. Long-term forecasts of ground surface can provide valuable insights on the stability of permafrost concerning climate change. The current methods for the estimation/calculation of ground surface temperature have their challenges and limitations. At the Sustainable Infrastru...

A series of full-scale experiments were conducted to estimate lateral soil constraints on the pipes buried in dense sandy slopes at different burial depths. The experimental data indicated that the soil force on the pipe increases with increasing the slope grade and burial depth ratio. The lateral soil force versus relative pipe displacement respon...

A two-dimensional infinite length porous slab is employed to simulate biomimetic porous scaffold. The pores of slab are saturated with a relatively low and high viscous fluids such as air and bone marrow. Ultrasonic waves based on the Biot-JKD formulation travel through the porous slab and create viscous exchanges between the skeletal frame and the...

The study of wave propagation in biomimetic porous scaffold requires the inclusion of some complex physics such as the interaction of the ultrasonic wave with pore fluid, solid phase, and porous material. Also, due to viscous interactions between the pore fluid and skeletal frame, the dynamic tortuosity as a fractional function of frequency in the...

This paper describes a three-dimensional (3D) analytical solution for the acoustic response of cancellous bone-like porous materials saturated with a viscous fluid. The effect of dynamic tortuosity, especially in clinically relevant ultrasound frequency ranges, is considered to investigate the effect of viscous interaction between the fluid and sol...

This study investigated the long-term effect of horizontal Ground-Source Heat Exchangers (GSHEs) on mitigating permafrost thaw settlement. In the conceptual system, a fan coil was used to chill the recirculating fluid in the linear High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) ground loop system. A fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical finite element framework...

Soils' responses to cyclic and dynamic loadings due to construction-induced ground vibration or earthquakes are governed by the dynamic properties of the foundation soil, including shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and damping. Several factors such as the soil type, rate and number of cycles in cyclic loadings, effective stress, and over-consolidatio...

This study investigated the long-term effect of Ground-Source Heat Exchangers (GSHEs) on mitigating permafrost thaw settlement. In the conceptual system, a fan coil was used to chill the recirculating fluid in the High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) ground loop system. A fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical finite element framework was employed to an...

The bender element (BE) test has been widely used for the dynamic characterization of soil specimens at low-shear strain levels (i.e. shear modulus, shear wave velocity). However, the actual behavior of the BE inside a soil specimen remains unknown. Thus, the current ASTM standard does not consider the interference of compressional and shear waves...

The adverse effects of climate warming on the built environment in (sub)arctic regions are unprecedented and accelerating. Planning and design of climate-resilient northern infrastructure as well as predicting deterioration of permafrost from climate model simulations require characterizing permafrost sites accurately and efficiently. Here, we propo...

Fatigue crack is usually inevitable in the service life of engineering structures and can cause unexpected severe failures if left disregarded. This work introduces a new crack localization method using spatially distributed wavelet entropy measurements. During structural vibration, fatigue closed cracks, especially at their initial stage, introduc...

Many space systems are equipped with chemical, optical, and microwave analytical tools to analyze surface or environmental conditions. However, some of the most valuable geophysical data regarding the subsurface structure of a planetary body are obtained from seismic and gravity measurements. Despite the need for this information, the gravity and s...

Mass and volume transportation restrictions prevent us from sending conventional heavy tools used on earth for Lunar or Mars subsurface investigation. Instead, compact and light portable probes for space exploration are required to overcome transportation limitations. On the other hand, while heavy equipment can provide the required penetration int...

Typical geotechnical rigs penetrate up to the required depth by employing heavy equipment to overcome the resistance force of the soil's layers. Due to mass and volume transportation restriction to remote surface areas, especially in space explorations , carrying heavy equipment to provide the required penetration depth is not a viable option. Inst...

Characterization of permafrost soils plays an important role in the design and monitoring of structures built on foundation permafrost. The ultrasonic test is one of the promising methods in the characterization of physical (e.g., ice content , unfrozen water content and porosity) and mechanical properties (e.g., shear and compression wave velocity...

This paper aims to study the combined effects of incident wave angularity and geometrical characteristics on the seismic spectral response of curved valleys filled with alluvium. The parametric studies were carried out using a numerical tool, called HYBRID, which combines the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Boundary Element Method (BEM) to model th...

The bender element (BE) test has been widely used for the characterization of soil specimens to determine the dynamic or low-strain shear modulus. However, the actual behavior of the BE inside the soil specimen still remains unknown. The current ASTM standard does not consider the interference of P waves in BE measurements, which can lead to signif...

The bender element (BE) test has been widely used for the dynamic characterization of soil specimens at low-shear strain levels. However, the actual behavior of the BE inside a soil specimen remains unknown. Thus, the current ASTM standard does not consider the interference of compressional and shear waves in BE testing, which can lead to significa...

Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems have recently gained popularity in providing heat to buildings. In this study, the short-term and long-term performance of closed-loop horizontal GHP systems in cold regions and the effectiveness of seasonal balancing were investigated. A period of 50 years was simulated to cover the life of a conventional system....

Non-destructive testing (NDT) plays an important role in material inspection and characterization. In geotechnical engineering, the popular seismic NDT includes Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves Method (MASW) and Continuous Surface Wave (CSW). A forward solver and a back-calculation algorithm are requi...

Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems have recently gained popularity in providing heat to buildings. In this study, the short-term and long-term performance of closed-loop horizontal GHP systems in cold regions and the effectiveness of seasonal balancing were investigated. A period of 50 years was simulated to cover the life of a conventional system....

Energy piles are bi-functional structural elements that are used to support the structural loads of a building and to operate as a geo-heat exchanger for shallow geothermal energy systems. In urban areas, energy piles can eventually be used to harvest the heat loss through the basement enclosure and re-inject the energy to the building for the heat...