gregory-lawrence | UBC Civil Engineering

Faculty

Professor

Dr. Gregory A. Lawrence

Dr. Greg Lawrence holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Environmental Fluid Mechanics and has been a faculty member at UBC since 1987. Focusing on the impact of the fluid mechanics of inland and coastal waters on water quality, chemistry and biology, Lawrence is investigating techniques to minimize the environmental impact of waste discharge; restoring and rehabilitating lakes and other water systems that have been polluted. Dr. Lawrence was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2011 and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering in 2012, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Camille Dagenais Award for his contributions to the development and practice of hydrotechnical engineering in Canada (2011), the BC Premier's Award (2010), and the Journal of Environmental Engineering Editor's Award (2001). Dr. Lawrence is also an instructor in the UBC Master of Engineering Leadership in Integrated Water Management.

Research Area / Group

Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Hydrotechnical Engineering

Research Interests

Environmental fluid mechanics, hydraulics, hydrodynamic stability and mixing, physical limnology, water quality management.

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 417	Coastal Engineering General discussion of waves; linear wave theory; finite amplitude waves; standing waves; seiches; harbour design; wave shoaling, refraction and diffraction; beaches and coasts; wave statistics; wave generation; wave forces on piles, walls and breakwaters; tides; instrumentation and modelling techniques.
CIVL 541	Environmental Fluid Mechanics Analysis of density stratified flows with application to water quality problems in inland and coastal waters.
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.

Latest Publications

2020

J. Olsthoorn, Bluteau, C. E., and Lawrence, G. A., “Under‐ice salinity transport in low‐salinity waterbodies”, Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 6544, no. 2, pp. 247 - 259, 2020.

D. Hurley, Lawrence, G. A., and Tedford, E., “Effects of Hydrocarbons on Wind Waves in a Mine Pit Lake”, Mine Water and the Environment, vol. 391294111753697165932125351843125443504274319, no. 3C554C4231056342152, pp. 455 - 463, 2020.

2019

W. Dong, Tedford, E. W., Rahmani, M., and Lawrence, G. A., “Sensitivity of vortex pairing and mixing to initial perturbations in stratified shear flows”, Physical Review Fluids, vol. 4, no. 6, 2019.

M. F. Schmid, Lawrence, G. A., Parlange, M. B., and Giometto, M. G., “Volume Averaging for Urban Canopies”, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, vol. 1736903631323516416241301213256160106303840148114971225661813333272218665661340132816167789760, no. 3, pp. 349 - 372, 2019.