Faculty
Dr. Wijewickreme joined the UBC Civil Engineering Department in January 2001. His general field of specialty is geotechnical engineering with specific expertise in the fields of earthquake geotechnical engineering and pipeline geotechnical engineering. Dr. Wijewickreme received his Ph.D. and M.A.Sc. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1990 and 1986, respectively. Immediately prior to joining UBC, Dr. Wijewickreme served in the geotechnical consulting practice in British Columbia, Canada, where he acquired some 11 years of industry experience in the fields of seismic design and pipeline geotechnical engineering.
Dr. Wijewickreme pioneered the establishment of new Pipeline Integrity Institute (PII) at UBC in 2015 with industry funding, and is the Co-Director of the institute. He has received numerous awards, including the Horst Leipholz Medal of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (2013) for outstanding contributions to engineering mechanics research and practice, the Canadian Geotechnical Journal's Editor's Choice Award (2011), and is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He was the President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) for the two year term (2017-2018), and he also served as the Vice President Finance of the CGS between 2013 and 2017.
"Soil: the abundant, recyclable construction material on earth. Next time you build, think geotechnical!"
- Dharma Wijewickreme, March 30, 2010
Soil-Pipeline Physical Modeling at UBC ASPIReTM Facility
Pipeline Subject to Ground Movement at a Reverse Thrust Seismic Fault Crossing
Response of soils under earthquake loading with particular emphasis on liquefaction of silts; Advanced Soil Pipe Interaction Research (ASPIReTM) program with physical modeling to solve pipeline engineering problems; and advanced laboratory geomaterial characterization research to solve earthquake geotechnical engineering problems.
CIVL 311 | Soil Mechanics IIConsolidation and shear strength of soils, with application to settlement and stability analysis of embankments, retaining walls, shallow footing and pile foundations. |
CIVL 574 | Experimental Soil MechanicsField and laboratory experimental studies of advanced aspects of soil behaviour; compressibility; shear strength; pore water pressure; dynamic tests; advanced instrumentation and measurement techniques; research reports required. |
CIVL 581 | Soil DynamicsSeismic loading and its effect on earth structures; dynamic response of single, and multi-degree of freedom systems and continuous systems; behaviour of soil under dynamic loading; pore pressure generation and liquefaction effects; seismicity and seismic design parameters; dynamic analysis of earth structures; seismic design of soil-structure systems. |
2020
2019
2018
2017

CEME - Room 2037
Civil and Mechanical Engineering Building
The University of British Columbia
6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4
Canada