Dr. Riwaj (Ribu) Dhakal

Assistant Professor

Geotechnical Engineering, Earthquake Engineering

Office: CEME 2007

Email: riwaj.dhakal@ubc.ca

Phone: 604-822-6948

Website: https://www.ribudhakal.com/

Biography

Riwaj (Ribu) Dhakal, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. He completed his Bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) focusing on geotechnical earthquake engineering. He subsequently completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and worked as a geotechnical engineer specializing in soil liquefaction for several years in New Zealand. His honors include several best paper and oral presentation awards, a Fulbright scholarship to the University of California Berkeley, and the Otto Glogau award from NZSEE, one of the most prestigious earthquake engineering awards in New Zealand. His primary research interests are in liquefaction assessment through simplified, laboratory, and advanced numerical methods; seismic behavior of shallow and deep foundations; and soil material and site characterization. He has worked on several projects related to bridge foundations, highway infrastructure, and building design. He has also been hired as an expert in consulting projects related to development of liquefaction assessment tools for practice and updating geotechnical provisions in New Zealand’s national seismic loading standard.

Research Interests

Geotechnical earthquake engineering, soil liquefaction, numerical modeling of systems, geotechnical field investigation, soil-structure interaction, laboratory testing of soils

Courses

CIVL 311 Soil Mechanics II

CIVL 574 Experimental Soil Mechanics

Awards & Recognitions

  • 2023, Otto Glogau Award for best paper, New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering
  • 2019, Fulbright Science and Innovation Graduate Award, Fulbright New Zealand

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

    1. Dhakal, R., Ntritsos, N. & Cubrinovski, M. (2025). Evaluation of Liquefaction Ejecta Potential from Case Histories and Insights from Nonlinear Dynamic Analyses, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 152(1), https://doi.org/10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-14090.
    2. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2025). Key Considerations for a Simplified Evaluation of Liquefaction-Induced Settlement, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2025.109669.
    3. Cubrinovski, M. & Dhakal, R. (2025). Simplified Procedure for Estimating Liquefaction-Induced Settlement, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2025.109626.
    4. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2025). Liquefaction Response of Reclaimed Soils from Effective Stress Analysis, Soils and Foundations, 65(5), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2025.101677.
    5. Cappellaro, C., Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2024). Liquefaction Hazard of Wellington Reclamations Based on Simplified Analyses, Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, 57(2), 97-116, https://doi.org/10.5459/bnzsee.1675.
    6. Roy, J., Rollins, K.M., Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2023). A Comparative Study between the DPT and CPT in Evaluating Liquefaction Potential for Gravelly Soil at the Port of Wellington, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 149(11), https://doi.org/10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-10769.
    7. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M. & Bray, J.D. (2022). Evaluating the Applicability of Conventional CPT-Based Liquefaction Assessment Procedures to Reclaimed Gravelly Soils, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 155: 107176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2022.107176.
    8. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M. & Bray, J.D. (2020). Geotechnical Characterization and Liquefaction Evaluation of Gravelly Reclamations and Hydraulic Fills (Port of Wellington, New Zealand), Soils and Foundations, 60(6): 1507-1531, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2020.10.001.
    9. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M., Bray, J.D. & de la Torre, C. (2020). Liquefaction Assessment of Reclaimed Land at CentrePort, Wellington, Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, 53(1), 1-12, https://doi.org/10.5459/bnzsee.53.1.1-12

Published Data

    1. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2025). Spreadsheet Tools for a Simplified Evaluation of Liquefaction-Induced Settlement. DesignSafe-CI, https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-j0nj-3270.

Refereed Conference Papers

    1. Dhakal, R., Plata, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2024). Liquefaction Response of a Pile-Supported Wharf on Liquefiable Gravelly Reclamations from 2D Nonlinear Dynamic Analyses, 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy, 30 June – 5 July 2024.
    2. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2024). Comparative Liquefaction Assessment of Gravelly Reclamations using the CPT, DPT, and Shear-Wave Velocity, 7th International Conference on Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization, Barcelona, Spain, 18-21 June 2024, https://doi.org/10.23967/isc.2024.086.
    3. Rollins, K., Roy, J., Walburger, A., Amoroso, S., Dhakal, R., Minarelli, L. & Marenghi, L. (2024). Interpretation of CPT tests in liquefiable gravel, 7th International Conference on Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization, Barcelona, Spain, 18-21 June 2024, https://doi.org/10.23967/isc.2024.282.
    4. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2024). Liquefaction Response of Gravel-Sand-Silt Reclamations from 1D Effective Stress Analysis, Japanese Geotechnical Society Special Publication, 10(46): 1706-1711, https://doi.org/10.3208/jgssp.v10.OS-35-01.
    5. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2023). CPT-based evaluation of liquefaction-induced settlement for reclaimed gravelly soil, Canadian Conference – Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering 2023, Vancouver, Canada, 25-30 June 2023.
    6. Dhakal, R. & Cubrinovski, M. (2023). CPT-based Evaluation of Relative Density for Reclaimed Gravel-Sand-Silt Mixtures, 14th Australia and New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, Cairns, Australia, 2-5 July 2023.
    7. Dhakal, R., Bray, J.D. & Cubrinovski, M. (2022). Sensitivity of CPT-based liquefaction assessment to sleeve friction depth correction, 20th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 2021, Sydney, Australia, 1-6 May 2022.
    8. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M. & Bray, J.D. (2022). Input Ground Motion Selection for Site Response Analysis at the Port of Wellington (New Zealand), 4th International Conference on Performance-based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering (PBD-IV), Beijing, China, 15-17 July 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11898-2_64.
    9. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M. & Bray, J.D. (2022). Application of the CPT for Liquefaction Assessment of Gravelly Reclamations at the Port of Wellington, 5th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing, CPT’22, Bologna, Italy, 8-10 June 2022, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003308829-133.
    10. Cappellaro, C., Cubrinovski, M. & Dhakal, R. (2022). Liquefaction risk analysis of reclaimed soil deposits in central Wellington, 20th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 2021, Sydney, Australia, 1-6 May 2022.
    11. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M. & Bray, J.D. (2021). Liquefaction of Reclaimed Soils in the Port of Wellington, New Zealand, 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan, 27 September – 2 October 2021.
    12. Cubrinovski, M. & Dhakal, R. (2021). Identification and Mitigation of Seismic Hazards from Inherited Vulnerabilities, 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan, 27 September – 2 October 2021.
    13. Cappellaro, C., Cubrinovski, M. & Dhakal, R. (2021). Risk Analysis of Native and Reclaimed Soil Deposits in Central Wellington, NZSEE Annual Technical Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 14-16 April 2021.
    14. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M., Bray, J.D. & de la Torre, C. (2019). Site Characterization for Liquefaction Assessment of Gravelly Reclamations at CentrePort, Wellington, 7th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Rome, Italy, 17-20 June 2019.
    15. Cubrinovski, M., Ntritsos, N., Dhakal, R. & Rhodes, A. (2019). Key aspects in the engineering assessment of soil liquefaction, 7th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Rome, Italy, 17-20 June 2019.
    16. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M., Bray, J.D. & de la Torre, C. (2019). Liquefaction Assessment of Reclaimed Gravelly Soils at CentrePort, Wellington, 2019 Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand, 4-6 April 2019.
    17. Dhakal, R., Cubrinovski, M., Bray, J.D. & de la Torre, C. (2019). Site Characterisation and Liquefaction Assessment for the Reclaimed Soils in CentrePort, Wellington, 13th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, Perth, Australia, 1-3 April 2019.
    18. Bray, J.D., Cubrinovski, M., Dhakal, R. & de la Torre, C. (2019). Seismic Performance of CentrePort, Wellington, Eighth International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 24-27 March 2019, https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784482100.009.