About

Associate Professor Sivakugan received his Bachellor's degree in Civil Engineering from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, with First Class Honours, and MSCE and PhD from Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA. His writings include eight books, seven book chapters, 150 refereed international journal papers, 100 refereed international conference papers, and more than 100 consulting reports.  His books (see Amazon.com), published through Cengage, Springer, Taylor&Francis, and J Ross, are adopted as text in many universities world-wide.

Siva has supervised 16 PhDs to completion, including two Cum Laudes, and has examined 50 Australian and overseas PhDs. He is a registered professional engineer of Queensland; a chartered professional engineer; and a Fellow of Engineers Australia, and American Society of Civil Engineers. He does substantial consulting work for the geotechnical and mining companies, and was a consultant to the World Bank. He is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering (Taylor & Francis, UK) and serves in the editorial boards of Canadian Geotechnical Journal, International Journal of Geosyntehtics and Ground Engineering (Springer), and Indian Geotechnical Journal (Springer). 

Teaching
  • CS2005: Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering (Level 2; TSV)
  • CS3002: Soil Mechanics and Geology (Level 3; TSV)
  • CS4001: Foundation Engineering and Rock Mechanics (Level 4; TSV)
Interests
Professional
  • Consultancy work in geotechnical and mining engineering.
  • Writing books for academics, researchers, professional engineers and students.
Research
  • Consolidation and shear strength of soils, seepage through soils, bearing capacity and settlement of shallow foundations, testing soils and rocks, backfilling underground voids in mining, computational geomechanics.
  • Mentoring and nurturing good quality PhDs with life-long commitment to excel in research.
Teaching
  • Inspiring the budding civil engineers through geotechnical engineering education.
  • Guiding our graduates in subject selection, vacation employment, and career prospects.
Experience
  • 2006 to 2013 - Associate Professor, James Cook University (Townsville)
  • 2003 to 2013 - Head, Civil & Environmental Engineering, James Cook University (Townsville)
  • 1998 to 2005 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville)
Research Disciplines
Socio-Economic Objectives
Honours
Fellowships
  • Fellow, Engineers Australia
  • Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers
Memberships
  • Australian Geomechanics Society
  • Chartered Professional Engineer
  • Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland
  • American Society of Civil Engineers
Other
  • The Associate Editor, International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Maney Publications (UK)
  • Editorial Board Member, Environmental Geotechnics, ICE (UK)
  • Editorial Board Member, Indian Geotechnical Journal, Springer
  • Ozreader, Australian Research Council. Assessed LP, DP, DECRA, Future Fellows, CoE and LE projects.
  • Assessor, European Science Foundation
  • Consultant for World Bank
Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Ameratunga J and Sivakugan N (2021) Replacement. In: Soft Clay Engineering and Ground Improvement. CRC Press, Abingdon, UK, pp. 117-136
  • Ameratunga J and Sivakugan N (2021) Ground improvement methods for soft clays. In: Soft Clay Engineering and Ground Improvement. CRC Press, Abingdon, UK, pp. 99-116
  • Ameratunga J and Sivakugan N (2021) Parameter derivation. In: Soft Clay Engineering and Ground Improvement. CRC Press, Abingdon, UK, pp. 67-97
  • Ameratunga J and Sivakugan N (2021) Geotechnical testing. In: Soft Clay Engineering and Ground Improvement. CRC Press, Abingdon, UK, pp. 49-65
  • Ameratunga J and Sivakugan N (2021) Basic soil mechanics. In: Soft Clay Engineering and Ground Improvement. CRC Press, Abingdon, UK, pp. 31-48
More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 236+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Siva Sivakugan from 2001 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Queensland Pacific Metals - Contract Research

Sustainable assessment of nickel production residue as engineered landfill.

Indicative Funding
$39,415 over 1 year
Summary
The residue left after leaching is a silica-rich sand material, which will be a washed, filtered and neutralised with magnesia, before being stockpiled on site for over 36 months. Numerous options for the end use of this leach residue have been investigated and were previously reported by JCU. These included re-use as a building product in bricks and as an engineered fill. The results favoured the material as a potential fill material and since these results were published numerous potential sites requiring fill in and around the Townville region have been identified. For this to be viable the mechanical and chemical properties of the material must be further investigated. If successful, the results of this test program should indicate eligibility for an End of Waste Code (EOWC).
Investigators
Peter To, Rabin Tuladhar and Siva Sivakugan (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Mining residue; Nickel; sustainable use

Queensland Pacific Metals - Contract Research

Sustainable use of tailings as land-fill and non-structural construction material - Phase 1

Indicative Funding
$30,000 over 1 year
Summary
The central aim of the project is the assessment of blended residue from Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) for sustainable use. Tailings can be processed to remove the acidic content or mixed with binder to become safe backfill or non-structural materials. TECH proposed to process annually 600,000 tons of high grenade Nickel and Cobalt ore. Phase 1 of the project will undertake physical, chemical, geotechnical and engineering strength tests on tailings from TECH to estimate the limits and to assess characteristics, including the acid-insoluble content of the tailings. The understanding will help to develop research in phase 2 and 3.
Investigators
Peter To, Siva Sivakugan, Yinghe He, Mohan Jacob and Rabin Tuladhar (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Tailings; Environmental Impact; Recycled Material; Backfill; Electro-Kinetic; Pyrolysis
Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current
  • Stresses within backfilled underground mine stopes and lateral loadings on the drive barricade (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • Stresses within hydraulic fills consolidating in underground mine stopes (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • Linked Simulation- optimization methodology for reactive contaminant source characterization and optimal design of monitoring networks in abandoned mine sites (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Strengthening of timber bridge girders through the use of fibre reinforced polymers (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Completed
Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.

  • 5+ collaborations
  • 4 collaborations
  • 3 collaborations
  • 2 collaborations
  • 1 collaboration
  • Indicates the Tropics (Torrid Zone)

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Email
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Location
  • 15.104, Engineering & Physical Sciences 1 (Townsville campus)
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