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Faculty of Applied ScienceDepartment of Civil Engineering

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Faculty

Professor and Department Head
Dr. Bernard Laval
Bio

Dr. Bernard Laval joined the Department of Civil Engineering in June 2002, and currently serves as the Department Head. Additionally, Dr. Laval served as the Associate Head for the Undergraduate Program from 2012-2015 and 2016-2017. His background in Engineering Physics (University of British Columbia) provides him with a very versatile technological base. He has a Masters in Physical Oceanography (McGill University) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering (University of Western Australia).  From 1995-1998 Bernard worked as a research scientist developing Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (submersibles) for use as instrument platforms for the study of lakes and coastal waters.  Dr. Laval has over 20 years of experience in applied fluid mechanics of inland and coastal waters and has authored several publications on field instrument and numerical model development, as well as description and theory of transport processes in lakes and estuaries.

Research Area / Group
Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Hydrotechnical Engineering
Research Interests

Field and 3D numerical modeling techniques to describe the spatial and temporal variations of physical processes and their impacts on transport in lakes and coastal waters.

Courses
CIVL 215

Fluid Mechanics I

Fluid properties, hydrostatics, kinematics, and fluid dynamics: energy and momentum methods with applications. Dimensional analysis, modelling, introduction to flow in pipes and forces on immersed objects.

CIVL 315

Fluid Mechanics II

Two dimensional flow around immersed objects; velocity and pressure fields; lift and drag on cylinders and aerofoils; fluid loads on structures and structural response; pumps and turbines; analysis and design of pipeline systems; unsteady flow in pipes; frictionless waterhammer analysis.

CIVL 416

Environmental Hydraulics

Application of hydraulic engineering principles to problems of environmental concern. Pollutant transport and dispersion. Mixing in rivers and lakes. Theory of jets and plumes. Design of outfall diffusers.

CIVL 542

Physical Limnology

Physical processes that affect the behaviour of lakes, including reservoirs, water filled mine pits, mine tailings ponds and other standing water bodies. Impacts of these processes on water quality, and methods used in the rehabilitation of lakes.

CIVL 543

Turbulent Fluid Dynamics

Physical and mathematical models of turbulent flow suitable for engineering estimates and predictions.

Latest Publications

2019

I. Hatam, Pettcrew, E. L., French, T. D., Owens, P. N., Laval, B., and Baldwin, S. A., “The bacterial community of Quesnel Lake sediments impacted by a catastrophic mine tailings spill differ in composition from those at undisturbed locations – two years post-spill”, Scientific Reports, vol. 9, pp. 2705-2716, 2019.
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2018

S. Brenner and Laval, B., “Seiche modes in multi-armed lakes”, Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 63, pp. 2717-2726, 2018.
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2017

A. K. Hamilton, Laval, B., Mueller, D. R., and Copland, W. F. Vincent, “Dynamic response of an Arctic epishelf lake to seasonal and long-term forcing: implications for ice shelf thickness”, The Cryosphere, vol. 11, 2017.
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2015

V. A. Petryshyn, Lim, D. S. S., Laval, B., and Tripati, A. K., “econstruction of limnology and microbialite formation conditions from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry”, Geobiology, vol. 13, 2015.
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G. B. Kirillin, Forrest, A. L., Graves, K., Fischer, A., Englehardt, C., and Laval, B., “Axisymmetric circulation driven by marginal heating in ice-covered lakes”, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 2893-2900, 2015.
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E. L. Petticrew, Albers, S., Baldwin, S., Carmack, E. C., Dery, S. J., Gantner, N., Graves, K., Laval, B., Morrison, J., Owens, P. N., Selbie, D. T., and Vagle, S., “Initial observations of the impact of a catastrophic mine tailings impoundement spill into a large oligotrophic lake: Quesnel Lake, British Columbia”, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 42, no. 9, pp. 3347-3355, 2015.
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2014

A. L. Brady, Laval, B., Lim, D. S. S., and Slater, G., “Autotrophic and heterotrophic associated biosignatures in modern freshwater microbialites over seasonal and spatial gradients”, Organic Geochemistry, vol. 67, pp. 8-18, 2014.
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E. Carmack, Vagle, S., Morrison, J., and Laval, B., “Space-for-time proxy for climate change in deep lake in the Canadian cordillera: Seasonality along a latitudinal climate gradient”, Journal of Great Lake Research, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 608-617, 2014.
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2013

D. Schulze-Makuch, Lim, D., Laval, B., Turse, C., Resendes, M., de Sousa, A., Chan, O., Pointing, S. B., Brady, A. L., Reid, D., and Irwin, L., “Pavilion Lake Microbialites: Morphological, Molecular, and Biochemical Evidence for a Cold-Water Transition to Colonial Aggregates”, Life, vol. 3, pp. 21-37, 2013.
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Y. Imam, Laval, B., Pieters, R., and Lawrence, G. A., “Strongly damped baroclinic response to wind in multi-basin reservoirs”, Limnology and Oceanography, 2013.
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View more publications
Contact
blaval@civil.ubc.ca
T:
604.822.2204
Personal Website:
http://efm.civil.ubc.ca/
Location:

CEME - Room 2002E

Department of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Applied Science
2002 - 6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Tel 604 822 2637
Fax 604 822 6901
E-mail info@civil.ubc.ca
Website www.civil.ubc.ca
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