Ramin Motamed
Professor
- Phone: (775) 784-6960
- Email: motamed@unr.edu
- Building: SEM
- Room: 222
- Mailstop: 0258
- Website: Dr. Motamed's Google Scholar Profile
- Website: Dr. Motamed's LinkedIn Profile
Dr. Ramin Motamed is a professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno.
His main areas of research are shake table tests on deep and shallow foundations; liquefaction and laterally spreading grounds; mitigation measures for foundations in liquefiable soils; nonlinear site response analysis; soil-structure interaction using instrumented structures and downhole array data; and LRFD of drilled shafts. He leads projects in these areas sponsored by the federal and state agencies as well as the industry.
Dr. Motamed received his Ph.D. in 2007 at the University of Tokyo where he carried out research on the behavior of pile foundations in liquefiable soils using the E-Defense shake table facility.
Prior to joining the University, Dr. Motamed was a senior engineer with Arup in San Francisco, and he is a registered professional engineer in the states of California and Nevada.
- Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan 2007
- M.S. in Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran 2002
- B.S. in Civil Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran 2000
- Professional Engineer, State of California
- Professional Engineer, State of Nevada
- Member, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
- Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Member, Deep Foundations Institute (DFI)
- Member, Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER)
- Member, United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research (USUCGER)
Prospective graduate students
I am looking for qualified and motivated graduate students. Preferred qualifications will depend on the nature of research projects and specific information will be posted here as new positions become available.
Research interests
- Shake table tests on deep and shallow foundations
- Liquefaction and laterally spreading grounds, mitigation measures
- Site response analysis and soil-structure-interaction
- LRFD for deep foundations
- Analysis and interpretation of ground motions for soil-structure system response evaluation
Current research projects
- Evaluation of Soil-Structure Interaction in the Seismic Design of Buildings
- Local Site Effects and Reducing Uncertainties in Ground Motion Prediction Equations by Incorporating Site Period
- Lateral Analysis and LRFD of Large-Diameter Drilled Shafts
- Validation of Advanced Modeling Techniques Using Instrumented Building and Downhole Array Data
- Shake Table Tests on Shallow Foundations in Liquefiable Soils
- Development of Site-Specific Vertical Ground Motions
- Helical Piles for Underpinning of Shallow Foundations on Soils Susceptible to Liquefaction
- Evaluation of Nonlinear Soil Response Using Geotechnical Downhole Arrays
- Exploration of Scaling Effects Based on Small and Large Diameter Drilled Shaft Load Test Data
- Calibration of Resistance Factors for LRFD of Axially Loaded Drilled Shafts in Las Vegas Valley
Selected publications
- Alam, Md., K., and Motamed, R. (2024) "Experimental Evaluation of Optimizing Sheet Pile Installation Depth and Distance to Mitigate Liquefaction-Induced Foundation Settlements" DFI Journal - The Journal of the Deep Foundations Institute, Volume 18, Issue 1, April 2024. DOI: 10.37308/DFIJnl.20230809.291
- Orang, M.J., and Motamed, R. (2023) "Dynamic Behavior of Helical Piles in Dry and Liquefiable Soils using Scaled Shake Table Tests" DFI Journal - The Journal of the Deep Foundations Institute, Volume 17, Issue 2, August 2023. DOI: 10.37308/DFIJnl.20210430.236
- Boushehri, R., Stanton, K., Motamed, R., Ellison, K., and Almufti, I. (2023) "Nonlinear Time-Domain Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis of a Mid-Rise Building Benchmarked Against Earthquake Recordings: A Case Study of the BRI's Annex Building" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 172, September 2023, 108031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2023.108031
- Agbemenou, A.K.H., Motamed, R., and Talaei-Khoei, A. (2023) "A Predictive Analytics Model for Designing Deep Underground Foundations using Artificial Neural Networks" Decision Analytics Journal, Volume 7, June 2023, 100220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100220
- Yazdi, M., Anderson, J.G., and Motamed, R. (2023) "Reducing the Uncertainties in the NGA-West2 Ground Motion Models by Incorporating the Frequency and Amplitude of the Fundamental Peak of the Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio of Surface Ground Motions" Earthquake Spectra, Volume 39, Issue 2, Pages 1088-1108. https://doi.org/10.1177/87552930221146807
- Saxena, S., Motamed, R., and Ryan, K. (2022) "Contrasting Subsurface Models for Physics-Based Regional-Scale Numerical Simulations in Japan Using a Rigorous Validation Scheme" Journal of Japan Association for Earthquake Engineering, Volume 22 Issue 6 Pages 6_1-6_21. https://doi.org/10.5610/jaee.22.6_1
- Bhuiyan, F.M., Motamed, R., Siddharthan, R.V., and Sanders, D. (2022) "Evaluation of a unified p-y method for lateral analysis of large-diameter drilled shafts using NVShaft" Transportation Geotechnics, Volume 36, September 2022, 100813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2022.100813
- Boushehri, R., Motamed, R., Ellison, K., and Stanton, K. (2022) "Estimating Epistemic Uncertainty in Soil Parameters for Nonlinear Site Response Analyses: Introducing the Latin Hypercube Sampling Technique" Earthquake Spectra. https://doi.org/10.1177/87552930221101413
- Toth, J.A.W., Motamed, R., and Panorska, A. (2022) "A New Method for Extrapolating the Load-Displacement Response of Drilled Shaft Foundations for Interpretation of Side Capacity" Soils and Foundations, Volume 62, Issue 3, June 2022, 101154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2022.101154
- Yazdi, M., Motamed, R., and Anderson, J.G. (2022) "A New Set of Automated Methodologies for Estimating Site Fundamental Frequency and Its Uncertainty Using Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio Curves" Seismological Research Letters, (2022) 93 (3): 1721–1736. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220210078
- Jahed Orang, M., Boushehri, R., Motamed, R., Parayancode, A., and Elgamal, A. (2021) "An Experimental Evaluation of Helical Piles as a Liquefaction-Induced Building Settlement Mitigation Measure" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 151, December 2021, 106994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2021.106994
- Zogh, P., Motamed, R., and Ryan, K. (2021) "Empirical Evaluation of Kinematic Soil-structure Interaction Effects in Structures with Large Footprints and Embedment Depths" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 149, October 2021, 106893, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2021.106893
- Mojtahedzadeh, N., Ghalandarzadeh, A., and Motamed, R. (2021) "Experimental Evaluation of Dynamic Characteristics of Firoozkuh Sand using Cyclic Triaxial Tests" International Journal of Civil Engineering, Springer, June 2021, pp. 125-138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40999-021-00644-6
- Jahed Orang, M., Motamed, R., Parayancode, A., and Elgamal, A. (2021) "Large-Scale Shake Table Tests on a Shallow Foundation in Liquefiable Soils" Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 147, Issue 1 (January 2021), https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002427
- Bahadori, H., Hasheminezhad, A., Motamed, R., and Motamedi, H. (2020) "Shaking table tests on shallow foundations over geocomposite and geogrid-reinforced liquefiable soils" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 128, January 2020, 105986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2019.105896
- O'Riordan, N., Almufti, I., Lee, J., Ellison, K., and Motamed, R. (2018) "Site response analysis for dynamic soil-structure interaction and performance-based design" ICE Proceedings Geotechnical Engineering, Volume 172 Issue 1, February, 2019, pp. 76-86 https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeen.17.00209
- Li, G., Motamed, R., and Dickenson, S. (2018) "Evaluation of One-Dimensional Multi-Directional Site Response Analyses Using Geotechnical Downhole Array Data" Earthquake Spectra. February 2018, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 349-376. https://doi.org/10.1193/010617EQS005M
- Stanton, K., and Motamed, R. (2017) "Estimation of axially loaded drilled shaft settlement in cemented soil conditions with an Artificial Neural Network" Journal of GeoEngineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 45-58, June 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.6310/jog.2017.12(2).1
- Stanton, K., Motamed, R., and Elfass, S. (2017) "Robust LRFD resistance factor calibration for axially loaded drilled shafts in Las Vegas" Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 143, Issue 6, June 2017. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001664
- Li, G., and Motamed, R. (2017) "Finite element modeling of soil-pile response subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading in a large-scale shake table experiment" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 92 (2017) 573-584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2016.11.001
- Motamed, R., Stanton, K., Almufti, I., Ellison, K., and Willford, M. (2016) "Improved Approach for Modeling Nonlinear Site Response of Highly Strained Soils: Case Study of the Service Hall Array in Japan" Earthquake Spectra, May 2016, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 1055-1074. https://doi.org/10.1193/121714EQS212M
- Almufti, I., Motamed, R., Grant, D.N., and Willford, M. (2015) "Incorporation of velocity pulses in design ground motions for response history analysis using a probabilistic framework" Earthquake Spectra, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, August 2015, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 1647-1666. https://doi.org/10.1193/032113EQS072M
- Motamed, R., Towhata, I., Honda, T., Tabata, K., and Abe, A. (2013) "Pile group response to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading: E-Defense large shake table test" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 51, August 2013, pages 35-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2013.04.007
- Motamed, R., and Towhata, I. (2010) "Shaking table tests on pile groups behind quay wall model undergoing lateral spreading" Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 136, No. 3, pp. 477-489. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000115
- Motamed, R., and Towhata, I. (2010) "Mitigation measures for pile groups behind quay wall models undergoing lateral flow of liquefied soil: shaking table results" Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 30, Issue 10, October 2010, Pages 1043-1060. (listed as Top 25 Hottest Articles) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2010.04.016
- Motamed, R., Sesov, V., Towhata, I., and Anh, N.T. (2010) "Experimental modelling of large pile groups in sloping ground subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral flow: 1-G shaking table tests" Soils and Foundations, Vol.50, No.2, pp. 261-280. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.50.261
- Motamed, R., Towhata, I., Honda, T., Yasuda, S., Tabata, K., and Nakazawa, H. (2009) "Behaviour of pile group behind a sheet pile quay wall subjected to liquefaction-induced large ground deformation observed in shaking test in E-Defense project" Soils and Foundations , Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 459-476.
- Ghodrati Amiri, G., Razavian Amrei, S.A., and Motamed, R. (2007) "Uniform hazard spectra for different northern part of Tehran, Iran" Journal of Applied Sciences 7 (22): 3368-3380.
- Motamed, R., Ghalandarzadeh, A., and Towhata, I. (2007) "Seismic microzonation and damage assessment of Bam City, Southeastern Iran". Journal of Earthquake Engineering, Volume 11, Issue 1, 93 -115, Taylor & Francis.
Courses taught
- CEE 442/642 Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering
- CEE 443/643 Foundation Engineering Design
- CEE 479/679 Earthquake Engineering
- CEE 745 Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
- CEE 746 Advanced Foundation Engineering
- CEE 748 Advanced Geotechnical Laboratory
Research Group Members
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Postdoc
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Ph.D. Students
- Reza Mohammadi, 08/2022-present (LinkedIn)
- Md Kausar Alam Anik, 08/2021-present (LinkedIn)
- Mohammad Yazdi, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Peiman Zogh, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Reza Boushehri, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Fahim Mashroor Bhuiyan, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Swasti Saxena, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Milad Jahed Orang, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Joseph Toth, 01/2017-present (LinkedIn)
- Gangjin Li, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
- Kevin Stanton, (graduated) (LinkedIn)
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MS Students – (with thesis)