Anirban De

My primary research interest is in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. I just concluded a study sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to understand the effects of surfac blasts on underground structures and evaluate various methods to mitigate such damage.  Both numerical analyses and physical model tests using a geotechnical centrifuge are part of this study.  In a prior study, also sponsored by the NSF,  I was able to measure strains induced on a model underground tunnel or a pipeline due to blasts  at the ground surface, using geotechnical centrifuge modeling techniques.

I have conducted research into various aspects of landfill design, such as geosynthetics, slope stability, seismic response, settlement, and contaminant migration. I was part of another recently-concluded study (also funded by the NSF) in which we attempted to characterize the effects of an earthquake on layered soil below ground surface, using instruments embedded in the ground.  The study included field experiments, centrifuge model studies, and numerical model analyses. 

In addition to research in my technical fields, I also conduct research in pedagogy, aimed at curriculum development through active learning, as well as recruitment and retention of students in engineering.  I am currently serving as a co-PI on a Scholarship in STEM grant from NSF and previously served on a curriculum development grant.

Book: Authored

1. "Geotechnical Site Characterization" published by Momentum Press, New York, 217 pages, ISBN: 978-1606505328, 2016.

 Book: Edited

1. "Geoenvironmental Practices and Sustainability: Linkages and Directions" edited by G. L. Sivakumar Babu, Krishna R. Reddy, Anirban De, and Manoj Datta, published by Springer,  290 pages, ISBN: 978-981-10-4076-4, 2017.

Book Chapters

1. "Ground Improvement for Geoenvironmental Engineering Practice" in Geoenvironmental Engineering Site and Contaminant Characterization, Containment Facilities, Solid Waste Materials, and Contaminated Ground Interventions ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice No. 159,  edited by Dimitrios Zekkos, published by ASCE,  pages 339-351,  2024.
2. "Site Characterization of Landfills Through In Situ Testing" in Geoenvironmental Practices and Sustainability: Linkages and Directions edited by G. L. Sivakumar Babu, Krishna R. Reddy, Anirban De, and Manoj Datta, published by Springer,  pages 99-106,  2017.

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

1. "Effects of aging and tempearature on milling-induced stresses and cracks in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavements", by Kaoutar Diouri, Anirban De, Eshan V. Dave, Jo Sias, and Rajib B. Mallick, in Construction and Building Materials, (Elsevier), Vol. 313, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.125493, 2021.
2. "Pore-pressure development near tunnel due to underwater explosion from centrifuge tests", by Anirban De, Anthony Niemiec, and Thomas F. Zimmie, in International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, ICE, Vol. 21, No. 5, doi: DOI: 10.1680/jphmg.19.00037. 2021.
3. "Physical and Numerical Modeling to Study Effects of an Underwater Explosion on a Buried Tunnel”, by Anirban De, Anthony Niemiec, and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 143, No. 5, 2017.
4. “Effects of surface explosion on underground tunnel and potential mitigation measures”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, (Springer), Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 74-90. 2016
5. “Numerical and physical modeling of geofoam barriers as protection against effects of surface blast on underground tunnels”, by Anirban De, Alberto N. Morgante, and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Geotextiles and Geomembranes, (Elsevier), Vol. 44, pp. 1-12. 2016.
6. “Numerical simulation of surface explosions over dry, cohesionless soil”, by Anirban De, in Computers and Geotechnics (Elsevier), Vol. 43, pp. 72-79, 2012.
7. “Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Settlement: Postclosure Perspectives”, by Hari D. Sharma and Anirban De, in Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 133, No. 6, pp. 619-629, June 2007.
8. “Centrifuge Modeling of Surface Blast Effects on Underground Structures”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Geotechnical Testing Journal, ASTM, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 427-431, September 2007.
9. “CPT-based seismic stability assessment of a hazardous waste site”, by Neven Matasovic, Edward Kavazanjian, Anirban De, and R. Jeffrey Dunn, in Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Special Issue, (Elsevier), Vol. 26, No. 2-4, pp. 201-208, February-April 2006.
10. “Estimation of Dynamic Interfacial Properties of Geosynthetics”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Geosynthetics International, Earthquake Engineering Special Issue, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 17–39, 1998.
11. “Application of Geotechnical Centrifuge Testing to Evaluate Unconventional Highway Materials”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Transportation Research Record, National Research Council, Washington D.C., No. 1577, pp. 96-100, 1997.
12. "Accelerated Groundwater Transport Studies Using a Geotechnical Centrifuge", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Mahadzer B. Mahmud, and Anirban De, in Transportation Research Record, National Research Council, No. 1434, Washington, D.C.,  pp. 47-54, 1994.
13. "Accelerated Physical Modelling of Radioactive Waste Migration in Soil", Thomas F. Zimmie, Mahadzer B. Mahmud, and Anirban De, in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 683-691, October 1994. 

Editor of conference proceedings containing peer-reviewed papers

1. "Sustainable Geoenvironmental Systems”, Geotechnical Special Publication 271 by the Geo-Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment edited by Anirban De, Krishna R. Reddy, Nazli Yesiller, Dimitrios Zekkos, and Arvin Farid, 1009 pages, ISBN (PDF): 9780784480144, 2016.
2. "Geotechnics for Sustainable Energy”, Geotechnical Special Publication 270 by the Geo-Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment edited by Arvin Farid, Anirban De, Krishna R. Reddy, Nazli Yesiller, Dimitrios Zekkos, 717 pages, ISBN (PDF): 9780784480137, 2016.
3. "Sustainability and Resiliency in Geotechnical Engineering”, Geotechnical Special Publication 269 by the Geo-Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment edited by Dimitrios Zekkos, Arvin Farid, Anirban De, Krishna R. Reddy, Nazli Yesiller, 731 pages, ISBN (PDF): 9780784480120, 2016.
4. "Sustainable Waste Management and Remediation”, Geotechnical Special Publication 273 by the Geo-Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment edited by Nazli Yesiller, Arvin Farid, Dimitrios Zekkos, Anirban De, Krishna R. Reddy, 775 pages, ISBN (PDF): 9780784480168, 2016.
5. "Sustainable Materials and Resource Conservation”, Geotechnical Special Publication 272 by the Geo-Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of Geo-Chicago 2016: Sustainability, Energy, and the Geoenvironment edited by Krishna R. Reddy, Nazli Yesiller, Dimitrios Zekkos, Arvin Farid, and Anirban De, 738 pages, ISBN (PDF): 9780784480168, 2016.

Articles in peer-reviewed conference proceedings

1. "A Study on the Effect of Milling on Stress Distributions in Asphalt Pavements" by K. Diouri, R. Bousselham, Anirban De, A. Hera, T. El-Korchi, and Rajib Mallick, in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements—Mairepav9, Zurich, Switzerland, 2020.
2. "Study of the effects of explosion on a buried tunnel through centrifuge model tests" by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, Volume 2, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG 2018), London, U.K., 2018.

3. “Hydrocode modeling of torpedo anchor installation in soils”, by M. Omidvar, M. Baksh, and Anirban De, Proceedings of: International Foundations Congress and Exhibition Expo, Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) 294, pp. 103-110. 2018. 

4. "Response of tunnel in saturated soil to an underwater explosion”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Poromechanics VI, Proceedings of the Sixth Biot Conference on Poromechanics, ASCE, Paris, France, pp. 1507-1515, 2017.  doi: 10.1061/9780784480779.187
5. "Physical modeling of geosynthetics using geotechnical centrifuges”, by Thomas F. Zimmie and Anirban De, in Geosynthetics, Forging a Path to Bona Fide Engineering Materials: Honoring Robert M. Koerner, Geotechnical Special Publications 275, pp.148-158. 2016. doi: 10.1061/9780784480182.014
6. "Pull-Out Capacity Analysis of Offshore Torpedo Anchors Using Finite-Element Analysis”, by David Pecorini and Anirban De, in Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth (2015) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference, Kona, Hawaii, pp. 1042-1047, 2015.
7. “Installation and Load Capacity of Torpedo Anchors in Offshore Applications”, by Anirban De, David Pecorini, and Alberto N. Morgante, in GeoCongress 2015, Geotechnical Special Publication, ASCE, pp. 792-801, San Antonio, Texas. 2015. doi: 10.1061/9780784479087.071
8. "Modeling the effects of surface blast on underground structures with or without protective barriers”, by Anirban De, Alberto N. Morgante, and Thomas F. Zimmie, in session titled “Performance of Transportation Geosystems Under Service and Extreme Loading Conditions”, Compendium of the 93rd Annual Meeting of Transportation Research Board in Washington D. C. 2014.
9. "Mitigation of blast effects on underground structure using compressible porous foam barriers”, by Anirban De, Alberto N. Morgante, and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Poromechanics V, Proceedings of the Fifth Biot Conference on Poromechanics, ASCE, Vienna, Austria, pp. 971-980, 2013.  doi: 10.1061/9780784412992.116
10. "Effects of Surface Explosions on Top of Earth Embankment Dams” by Anirban De and Sean Butler, published in GeoCongress 2013, Geotechnical Special Publication 231, ASCE, pp. 444-447, San Diego, California. 2013. doi: 10.1061/9780784412787.045
11. "Undergraduate Geotechnical Lesson Modules Based on New Orleans Levee Failures” by Anirban De, published in GeoCongress 2012, Geotechnical Special Publication 225, ASCE, Oakland, California. pp. 1273-1282, 2012. doi: 10.1061/9780784412121.131
12. "Modeling of Surface Blast Effects on Underground Structures” by Anirban De and Ryan Conry, Proceedings of GeoFrontiers 2011, Geotechnical Special Publication 211, ASCE, Dallas, Texas, page 1534-1543. doi: 10.1061/41165(397)157
13. "Physical Modeling of Explosive Effects on Tunnels” by Anirban De, Thomas F. Zimmie, Tarek Abdoun, and Anthony Tessari, Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, Frankfurt, Germany, pp. 159-167. 2010.
14. "Centrifuge Modeling of Explosion Craters Formed over Underground Structures”, by Anirban De, Proceedings of GeoCongress 2008: pp. 311-318. doi: 10.1061/40971(310)39
15. "Modeling the Geo-hazard Effects of Surface Explosions on Embankments and Underground Structures Employing the Geotechnical Centrifuge”, by Anirban De, Pickett T. Simpson, and Thomas F. Zimmie, presented at the Engineering of Geo Hazards, Specialty Seminar by ASCE Metropolitan Section and Geo-Institute, New York, New York, May 2007
16. "Modeling of Surface Blast Effects on Underground Structures” by Anirban De and Thomas. F. Zimmie, presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of GeoCongress 2006, ASCE, Atlanta, Georgia
17. "Centrifuge Experiments to Study Surface Blast Effects on Underground Pipelines", by Anirban De, Thomas F. Zimmie, and Karl E. Vamos, presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of Pipelines 2005, ASCE, Houston, Texas, August 2005.
18. "Experimental and Numerical Modeling of Geosynthetic Anchor Trench”, by Anirban De and Daniel Vellone, presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of GeoFrontiers 2005, ASCE, Austin, Texas, January 2005
19. "Undergraduate Geotechnical Education, 2004", by A. K. Ashmawy, P. J. Culligan, Anirban De, M. Mauldon, G. Mullen, F. C. Townsend, and A. Welker (all members of the Education Committee of the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research), presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of GeoFrontiers 2005, ASCE, Austin, Texas, January 2005.
20. "Site Characterization of Five Hazardous Waste Landfills", by Anirban De, N. Matasovic, and R. J. Dunn, published in the Proceedings of the International Site Characterization Conference, ISC’2,   Porto, Portugal, September 2004, Vol 2, pp. 1075-1080
21. "Slope Stability at a Hazardous Waste Site – Evaluation of the CPT Cone Factor Nk Using Dynamic Property Correlations”, by N. Matasovic, Anirban De, R. J. Dunn, and E. Kavazanjian, Jr., presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Berkeley, California, ASCE, January 2004, Vol. 2, pp. 478-484.
22. "Site Characterization, Design, and Construction for Closure of Four Hazardous Waste Landfills at a Superfund Site”, by Anirban De, R. J. Dunn, and N. Matasovic, paper accepted for poster presentation and full paper published in the Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, New York, New York, April 2004.
23. "A New MSW Landfill Well Below Groundwater in a Highly Seismic Region”, by R. J. Dunn and Anirban De, presented at the conference and published in the Proceedings of the Ninth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Sardinia 2003, September 2003.
24. "Optimization of a Geocomposite Drainage Layer for Closure of Four Hazardous Waste Landfills”, by R. J. Dunn and Anirban De, presented at the Seventh International Conference on Geosynthetics, Nice, France.  The full paper was published in the proceedings of the conference, titled Geosynthetics State of the Art Recent Developments, published by A. A. Balkema,  pp. 545-548. 2002.
25. An Innovative Geosynthetic Cover for a Deep Hazardous Waste Landfill in a Seismic Environment”, by R. J. Dunn and Anirban De, in Proceedings of Geosynthetics 2001, Portland, Oregon, Volume 1, pp. 77-90, 2001.
26. Estimation of Dynamic Frictional Properties of Geonet Interfaces”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Proceedings of Geosynthetics 99, Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 1, pp. 545-558, 1999.
27. A Study of Slip Displacements Caused by Dynamic Loading at Geosynthetic Interfaces”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics III, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 75, Panos Dakoulas, Mishac Yegian and Robert Holtz (editors), ASCE, Vol. 2, pp. 997-1007, August 1998.
28. Frictional Behavior of Landfill Liner Interfaces with Geonets”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Geosynthetics, Atlanta, Georgia, Vol. 1, pp. 443-446, 1998.
29. Landfill Stability: Static and Dynamic Geosynthetic Interface Friction Values”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Proceedings of Geosynthetics Asia ‘97, Bangalore, India 1997
30. Estimation of Slip Displacement Caused by Dynamic Loading at Geosynthetic Interfaces”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey, 1997.
31. Dynamic Shear Behavior of Geosynthetic Interfaces”, by Thomas F. Zimmie and Anirban De, in Proceedings of International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Hamburg, Germany, Vol. 3, pp. 1737-1740, 1997.
32. Factors Influencing Dynamic Frictional Behavior of Geosynthetic Interfaces”, by Anirban De and Thomas F. Zimmie, in Proceedings of Geosynthetics 97, Long Beach, CA, Volume 2, pp. 837-849, 1997.
33. Centrifuge Modeling to Study Stability of Dams”, by Thomas F. Zimmie and Anirban De, in Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, Seattle, WA, 1996.
34. Seismic Analysis of Landfills”, by R. Gunturi and Anirban De, in Environmental Geotechnology with Geosynthetics, (Rao and Banerjee, editors), pp. 266-274, 1996.
35. Geosynthetic Research Using the Centrifuge", by Thomas F. Zimmie and Anirban De, in Geotechnical News, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 30-33, September 1995.
36. Study of Geosynthetic Interface Friction", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Anirban De, and Mahadzer B. Mahmud, in Centrifuge '94 Conference, Singapore, pp. 301-306, August 1994.
37. Centrifuge Modelling to Study Dynamic Friction at Geosynthetic Interfaces", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Anirban De, and Mahadzer B. Mahmud, in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotextiles, Geomembranes and Related Products, Singapore, pp. 415-418, September 1994.
38. Use of a Geotechnical Centrifuge to Simulate Long Term Landfill Cover Performance", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Anirban De, and Mahadzer B. Mahmud, in Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, Morgantown, WV, pp. 1809-1814, May 1994.
39. Simulation of long term performance of landfill covers", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Mahadzer B. Mahmud, and Anirban De, in Centrifuge '94 Conference, Singapore, pp. 375-380, August, 1994. 
40. Application of Centrifuge Modeling to Contaminant Migration in Seabed Waste Disposal", by Thomas F. Zimmie, Mahadzer B. Mahmud, and Anirban De, in  Proceedings of the Fourth Canadian Conference on Marine Geotechnical Engineering, St. John's, Newfoundland, Vol. II, pp. 610-624, June, 1993.

Theses and reports

1. "Study of Interfacial Friction of Landfill Geosynthetics: Static and Dynamic”, Ph. D. Thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 245 pages, 1996.
2. Engineering Applications to Common Utility Systems", M.S. Thesis, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, 102 pages, 1991.
3. Common Utility Placement Systems (CUPS)", Geotechnical Engineering Series, IIT-CE 91-02, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, 1991, (with S. K. Saxena).

• Manhattan College: Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering 2002-2008, Associate Professor 2008 to 2017, Professor 2017 to present, Associate Chair 2010 to 2015, Chair 2015 to present.
• The University of Sydney, Australia: Visiting Faculty Scholar at the School of Civil Engineering: July through November 2009 (on sabbatical leave)
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York: Visiting Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering: June through August 2004
• Geosyntec Consultants, Walnut Creek, California: Senior Staff Engineer: 1996-1999, Assistant Project Engineer: 1999-2001, Project Engineer: 2001-2002

Memberships

• American Society of Civil Engineers / Geo-Institute:
  • Fellow since 2016
  • Committees: Geoenvironmental, Body of Knowledge (2nd Edition), Body of Knowledge Educational Fulfillment, Geotechnical Committee of Metropolitan (NY) Section
• American Society for Testing and Materials:
  • Committees: D18, D34, D35
• International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
• Society of Sigma Xi

Honors

1. Received the 2017 Chi Epsilon - Excellence in Teaching Award from the Metropolitan District. 
2. Elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2016.
3. Inducted as Member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society in 2012.
4. Received ExCEEd Teaching Fellowship from ASCE to attend the Excellence in Civil Engineering Education Teaching Workshop at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York in 2003.

Grants from National Science Foundation (NSF)

1. "Collaborative Research: Mixed Reality Transformation of Engineering Education”, Funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) of the National Science Foundation, Award No.: 1915121 , Principal Investigator: Dr. Tarek Abdoun (RPI); Manhattan College Principal Investigator: Dr. Anirban De; Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Evangelia Ieronymaki and Dr. Mehdi Omidvar. Duration: 2019-2023.
2. "Manhattan College Engineering Scholarship Initiative (MCESI)”, Funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) of the National Science Foundation, Award No.: 1458294 , Principal Investigator: Dr. Zahra Shahbazi, Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Anirban De and Dr. Walter Saukin. Duration: 2015-2020.
3. “RUI: Understanding the Role of Flexible and Rigid Barriers in Mitigating Surface Blast Effects on Underground Structures ,” funded by the CMMI Division of the National Science Foundation, Award No.: 0928537; Principal Investigator: Dr. Anirban De. Duration: 2009-2013.
4. Collaborative grant with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI): “NEESR-II: Advanced Site Monitoring and Effective Characterization of Site Nonlinear Dynamic Properties and Model Calibration,” funded by the CMMI Division of the National Science Foundation, Award No.: 0830325. Principal Investigator: Dr. Mourad Zeghal, Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Tarek Abdoun and Dr. Anirban De. Duration: 2008-2014.
5. "Developing a Curriculum Incorporating the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge and Sustainable Design through an Active Urban Laboratory,” funded by the EEC Division of the National Science Foundation, Award No.: 0530606; Principal Investigator: Dr. Moujalli Hourani, Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Anirban De. Duration: 2005-2008.
6. Collaborative grant with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI): “Surface Blast Effects on Tunnels and Pipelines,” received Research Opportunity Award from the National Science Foundation for research in collaboration with RPI. Principal Investigator: Dr. T. F. Zimmie (RPI). Dr. Anirban De – Visiting Assistant Professor at RPI. Duration: Summer 2004.

Grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

1. "Robust Prediction of Ordnance Depth of Burial in Soils Using Field Calibrated Phenomenological Model & Probabilistic Simulations”, Funded by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), Award No.: MR19-1277 , Principal Investigator: Dr. Stephan Bless (NYU), Manhattan College Principal Investigator: Dr. Mehdi Omidvar; Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Anirban De. Duration: 2019 - 2023.

I also take a lot of interest in issues related to engineering education and preparing students for the engineering profession.  I recently served on the Body of Knowledge (2nd Edition) Committee organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). I served as the Faculty Advisor the ASCE Student Chapter at Manhattan College during 2009-2015.