User:Jenny Norrman (Chalmers)/sandbox

Minna Karstunen, born in Finland 1965, is Full Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE) at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Her field of expertise is constitutive and numerical modelling and soft soil engineering.

= Biography =

Minna Karstunen completed her Master's studies in Technology in 1991 at Helsinki University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Surveying, Espoo, Finland. After working a period as geotechnical engineer in industry (YS-Engineering Ltd), she returned to Helsinki University as lecturer and research engineer.

In 1993, she started her PhD research at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Wales Swansea, UK, where she was independently funded as an Academy of Finland Research Scholar. In 1996, she joined Glasgow University as Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering and in 1998 she finished her PhD-studies. In 2005, she started as Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Strathclyde at the Department of Civil Engineering and remained at USTRAT until 2013, promoted as Reader in Civil Engineering in 2007 and as Professor in Geotechnical Engineering in 2012.

In 2012, Minna Karstunen started as Full Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Chalmers, shifting over her academic basis from Strathclyde during about a year. At Chalmers, she is leading her own research group in Geotechnics.

Karstunen has been coordinating a number of EC funded Research Training Networks, including SCMEP (Soft Soil Modelling for Engineering Practice) RTN in 2000-2004 and AMGISS (Advanced Modelling of Ground Improvement on Soft Soils) Marie Curie RTN in 2005-2009. In addition, she coordinated an EC/FP7 funded Industry-Academia Pathways and Partnerships project GEO-INSTALL (2009-2014) and an EC/FP7 International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (GEO-EXCEL). Minna Karstunen was also a partner in EC/FP7 IAPP project CREEP coordinated by NTNU, Norway 2012-2016.

= Recognitions and awards =


 * Member of the Royal Society of Art and Sciences in Gothenburg (KVVS), December 2015.
 * Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, November 2013.
 * AMGISS Marie Curie RTN (2005-2009) was selected by the EC to be included in its publication “Marie Curie Inspiring Researchers Actions” under Chapter “Recognised Achievements” in 2009 (published by EC/Director-General for Research in 2010).
 * Oskari Vilamo Foundation award for best PhD in Civil Engineering in 1999.

= Editorial duties =


 * Co-editor for the Proceedings of the International Conference on Creep and Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials, Gothenburg, Sweden, 24-25 August 2015
 * Co-editor for the Proceedings of the Conference on Installation Effects in Geotechnical Engineering, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 23-25 March 2013
 * Géotechnique Editorial Panel 2009-2012 – the top journal in the field
 * Editorial Board of European Journal of Environment and Civil Engineering, 2008-
 * Main editor for Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Geotechnics of Soft Soils – Focus on Ground Improvement, September 3-5, 2008, University of Strathclyde
 * Co-editor for the Proceedings of the 1st Int. Workshop on Geotechnics on Soft Soils – Theory and Practice, Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands, 17-19 September 2003 & Chair of the Scientific Committee.
 * Member of International Advisory Board for 7th International Workshop on Bifurcation, Instabilities and Degradation in Geomechanics, June 13-16, 2005 Chania, Crete.

= Bibliography =

Minna Karstunen has published over 100 journal and conference papers and scientific reports related to constitutive and numerical modelling of soils in the leading geotechnical journals.

Recent selected outputs


 * Invited keynote paper on work on consistent Class A and C predictions and which sets out an international best practice: Amavasai A., Sivasithamparam N., Karstunen M. & Dijkstra J. (2018). Consistent Class A & C predictions of the Ballina Test Embankment. Computers and Geotechnics 93, 75-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2017.05.025.
 * A paper which explores the use of optimisation techniques to derive soil model parameters in a theoretical sound way for a complex 4D constitutive model, Creep-SCLAY1S: Gras J-P, Sivasithamparam N., Karstunen, M. & Dijkstra J. (2017). Permissible range of model parameters for natural fine-grained material. Acta Geotechnica, 1-12. https://doi.org/101007/s11440-017-0553-1.
 * A paper which introduces a novel 4D (3D plus time dimension) constitutive model for soft soils that is robustly implemented in a commercial FE code. The work is the culmination of several years’ work lead by Minna Karstunen as part of two EC/FP7 Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways projects (GEO-INSTALL 2009-2013 & CREEP 2012-2016): Sivasithamparam N., Karstunen M. & Bonnier P. (2015). Modelling creep behaviour of anisotropic soft soils. Computers and Geotechnics 69: 46–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2015.04.015.
 * A paper that exploits a novel 3D constitutive model for soft soils, developed by Karstunen and co-workers (Karstunen et a. 2005) to model the effects of stone column installation on the subsequent predicted settlements. The work is pioneering in that it demonstrates how the installation effects that current design methods assume to be beneficial are not necessarily so in soft sensitive clays, and how the installation process significantly changes the orientation of the fabric: Castro, J., Karstunen M. & Sivasithamparam N. (2014). Influence of stone column installation on settlement reduction. Computers and Geotechnics 59: 87-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2014.03.003.
 * Invited paper in a special issue, based on an invited lecture by Karstunen at the related conference. The invited lecture and paper has had major practical impact, as it resulted in the development of a correct, more advanced 4D model: Karstunen M., Rezania M., Sivasithamparam N. & Yin Z.-Y. (2014). Comparison of anisotropic rate-dependent models for modelling consolidation of soft clays. ASCE International Journal of Geomechanics 15(5): A4014003. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000267.