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EDWARD KAVAZANJIAN, JR.
Associate Professor
Interim Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering
office: ECG-252
phone: (480) 727-8566
email: edkavy@asu.edu
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Dr. Edward Kavazanjian, Jr., P.E., G.E., has extensive experience in both research and practice in geotechnical engineering. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Kavazanjian served on the faculty at Stanford University for seven years and then spent 20 years in engineering practice. In 2004, he returned to teaching and research at Arizona State University and became Interim Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in July 2006. His major project experience includes investigation, analysis, design, and construction services for landfills and other waste containment facilities, highway and mass transit systems, water resource development, port and harbor structures, and residential, commercial, and industrial development. He is recognized for his research on the mechanical properties of solid waste, design of waste containment systems, geotechnical aspects of earthquake engineering, and the behavior of soft clay soils.
Dr. Kavazanjian was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences / National Academy of Engineering National Research Council study committees on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering for the New Millennium: Opportunities for Research and Innovation and on Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Barriers. He is co author of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) design guidance document on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering for Highways and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) design guidance on Seismic Design of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Facilities. Dr. Kavazanjian has delivered keynote and state of the art addresses at various International Conferences and Symposiums, including most recently Geosynthetic Barriers for Environmental Protection at the 8th International Conference on Geosynthetics in Yokohama in November 2006 and Waste Mechanics, Field Measurement of Waste Properties at the GeoShanghai International Conference in June 2006. Dr. Kavazanjian is currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of Governors of the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Dr. Kavazanjian's geotechnical engineering experience includes transportation, underground construction, port and harbor, and water resource projects. His expertise includes geotechnical aspects of earthquake engineering, ground improvement, and the behavior of soft clays. In transportation engineering, Dr. Kavazanjian's experience includes bridges, tunnels, highways, and rail transit systems. He managed geotechnical services for design of the Melinda Road Overcrossing and Los Alisos Undercrossing on the Foothill Transportation Corridor in Orange County. Dr. Kavazanjian was geotechnical consultant for final design for the Badger Avenue Bridge in Wilmington California. He also served as project manager for geotechnical design services for Caltrans seismic retrofit projects. For the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), he managed geotechnical design and construction services for the commuter rail maintenance facility at Taylor Yard in Los Angeles and directed geotechnical investigations and analyses for the San Gabriel fly-over embankment and bridge structure. He also managed geotechnical services for the Kearney Connection fly-over embankment in Kearney, New Jersey, Aviation Parkway in Tucson, Arizona, and the approaches to the Second Elizabeth River Tunnel in Norfolk, Virginia.
Dr. Kavazanjian's underground construction experience includes the environmental assessment and preliminary design for the Sepulveda Tunnel under the runways at Los Angeles International Airport. He was also responsible for final geotechnical design for the Vermont-Santa Monica Metro Rail station in Los Angeles. He managed geotechnical investigations for the Aviation Corridor drainage tunnel in Tucson, Arizona and the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. Dr. Kavazanjian directed numerical analysis of the PATH tubes under the Hudson River and the Midtown Tunnel under the East River in New York for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He also conducted geotechnical analyses for the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the U.S. and Canada, the Niagara Power Expansion Project in New York, the Second Elizabeth River Crossing in Norfolk, Virginia, the proposed EuroRoute English Channel crossing, and the Post Office Square project in Boston.
Dr. Kavazanjian's Port and Harbor experience includes work on pile-supported decks, marginal wharves, dredging plans, and backlands development in New York, New Jersey, Newport News, Los Angeles and San Diego. For the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey he directed, geotechnical analyses for the capacity evaluation and rehabilitation of Pier 44 on the Hudson River and design analyses for a tieback bulkhead on the Passaic River. At the Newport News Naval Shipyard, he evaluated pile load test results, investigated the failure of a construction cofferdam, and developed a revised dredging plan for the Trident Land Level Ship Building Facilities. In Los Angeles, Dr. Kavazanjian directed the surcharging of the hydraulic fill for the Pier 300 42-Acre Site Ground Modification project. He was also responsible for the seismic hazard analyses, the Palos Verdes fault rupture potential assessment, the geotechnical investigation, and the seismic deformation analyses of retaining dikes for the Pier 300 Container Wharf Design project. He was lead geotechnical engineer for geotechnical services during construction of Firestation 111, including the pile-supported deck, dredging, and underwater fill and rip-rap placement. For the Port of Long Beach, Dr. Kavazanjian managed the geotechnical investigation and analysis for the Pier G Bulk Handling Facility. His San Diego experience includes seismic hazard and geotechnical analyses for the B Street Pier Rehabilitation and the tunnel feasibility assessment and liquefaction analysis for the Second Harbor Entrance Geotechnical Feasibility Study.
In water resource development, Dr. Kavazanjian has worked on dam rehabilitation, sewage treatment plant expansion, storm drain and water supply pipeline design, and safety analysis of existing dams. Dr. Kavazanjian managed investigation, design, and construction for the rehabilitation of Trout Run Dam in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, including the relining of the low level outlet conduit, installation of a low permeability membrane and slurry wall cutoff upstream and prefabricated bench drains downstream, and rehabilitation of the downstream toe drain. On the Hyperion Treatment Plant Expansion in El Segundo, California, Dr. Kavazanjian directed the construction dewatering assessment for the full Secondary Digester project. He was also responsible for design of storm drains and outfalls for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey PATH maintenance facility in Kearney, New Jersey, and for the geotechnical investigation for storm drains in the City of Diamond Bar.
Dr. Kavazanjian's geotechnical engineering experience on ground improvement projects includes design and construction of reinforced earth walls, mini-piles, stone columns, deep dynamic compaction, prefabricated vertical drains and surcharge fills, vacuum-induced consolidation of cohesive soil, and grid cell reinforcement of soft subgrades. On the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) Commuter Rail project, Dr. Kavazanjian directed design and construction of the stone column supported reinforced earth embankment for the 4000 foot San Gabriel Flyover viaduct. He also managed design and construction of the SCRRA Taylor Yard Maintenance Facility in Los Angeles, including deep dynamic compaction of the building footprint for densification of uncertified fill and potentially liquefiable soil. For rehabilitation of the Coney Island Maintenance Facility for the New York Transit Authority, he developed contract specifications and drawings for 30 and 40 ton mini-piles ("root" piles) installed inside the active shop area and monitored compressive and tensile load tests on production piles. For the rehabilitation of Trout Run Dam in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, he directed grouting from within a 30 in. diameter low level outlet conduit 110 ft beneath the crest and installation of a low permeability membrane and bentonite-cement cut-off wall upstream for seepage control. For the U.S. Army Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Dr. Kavazanjian conducted laboratory testing and numerical analysis of grid cell reinforcement for pavement subgrade stabilization. Dr. Kavazanjian also was responsible for design and/or construction of surcharge fills for the Second Elizabeth River Tunnel in Newport News, Virginia, the PATH Main Repair Facility in Kearney, New Jersey, the Pier 300 42 acre site in the Port of Los Angeles, and the Port of Long Beach Pier G Bulk Handling Facility. At Newport News and the Port of Los Angeles, prefabricated vertical drains were installed to accelerate surcharge settlement. Work at the Pier 300 site included design, construction, and monitoring of a vacuum-induced consolidation test section using vertical drains capped by a sand blanket and impervious membrane.
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
Dr. Kavazanjian's earthquake engineering experience includes work as principal investigator on federally funded earthquake hazard mitigation research projects and as lead engineer for seismic design on major infrastructure development projects in the United States and abroad. Dr. Kavazanjian is the lead author of the guidance: document on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering for Highways for the Federal Highway Administration and the lead instructor of the National Highway Institute training course of the same name. Dr. Kavazanjian has authored and co-authored numerous papers on geotechnical aspects of earthquake engineering in refereed journals and conference proceedings, served on National Science Foundation review panels for earthquake hazard mitigation projects and research centers, and co-chaired a session on liquefaction at the Ninth World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. He currently serves on the Earthquake Investigation Committee of the ASCE Technical Council of Lifeline Earthquake Engineering. He served on the Organizing Committee for the Port of Los Angeles Seismic Workshop and as co chairman of the Risk Sub-Committee. In February 2002, Dr. Kavazanjian addressed the ASCE Geo-Institute International Congress on Deep Foundations on Proposed AASHTO Guide LRFD Specifications for Seismic Design of Highway Bridge Foundations. In January 1999, Dr. Kavazanjian organized and moderated the workshop on New Approaches to Liquefaction Analysis at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. He addressed the 1992 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board on Geotechnical Aspects of Seismic Design for Highway Systems and the 1990 Southwest Regional Conference of the Society of American Military Engineers on Geo-aspects of Seismic Design. . .
In addition to his work on seismic design of waste containment facilities cited previously, Dr. Kavazanjian's research work on earthquake engineering includes pore pressure development during seismic loading, seismic slope stability and slope deformation analyses, liquefaction potential mapping, seismic safety of dams, probability and reliability applied to geotechnical aspects of earthquake engineering, and frictional base isolation using geosynthetic materials. Dr. Kavazanjian served as principal investigator on a USGS sponsored project for liquefaction potential mapping of downtown San Francisco. He was also principal or co-principal investigator on NSF sponsored research on pore pressure development during non-uniform loading, non-stationary random vibration theory for site response analyses, the seismic stability and deformation of infinite slopes, and the use of geosynthetics for base isolation of structures. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Army Engineers Waterways Experiment Station on reliability and probability applied to geotechnical problems and to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on probabilistic evaluation of the seismic safety of earth dams.
Dr. Kavazanjian's consulting experience includes seismic hazard studies, seismic performance analyses, and risk and reliability analysis. From 1999 - 2002, he was Project manager for the geotechnical investigation and assessment of over 1400 residential property sites for re-adjustment of damage claims resulting from the Northridge earthquake under the auspices of a Special Master appointed by the court adjudicating the claims. He has been the engineer in responsible charge for numerous strong shaking seismic hazard studies in Southern California, including the Badger Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation and the Pier 300 Container Wharf for the Port of Los Angeles, the Harbor Generating Station Repowering Project for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, seismic retrofit of bridges on the State Street line for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) Commuter Rail system, the Bolo Station Waste By-Rail Landfill project in the Mojave Desert, and the rehabilitation of the B Street Pier in San Diego. He has directed assessments of displacement potential for active faults for the Pier 300 project and at Alquist-Priolo special study zone sites for the proposed SCRRA Simi Valley Commuter Rail station and for the Alamitos Bay Development in Long Beach. He provided senior technical review of the seismic hazard assessment for the proposed EuroRoute English Channel crossing, for the Lake Gaston Water Supply Pipeline in Virginia and for the Eagle Mountain Landfill in Riverside, California.
Dr. Kavazanjian's design experience includes seismic retrofit of over 20 bridges for Caltrans and SCRRA in Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles. He has was responsible for seismic deformation analyses for the Pier 300 retaining dikes in the Port of Los Angeles and for foundation performance analyses for the Tallmadge Bridge Cable-Stayed Replacement structure in Savannah, Georgia and the 60 meter diameter gravity caissons for the proposed Rion-Antirion bridge crossing in Greece. He helped develop seismic design guide specifications for high rockfill embankments for the Ankara Motorway and performed preliminary seismic design for the Istanbul Metro sunken tube crossing of the Bosporus in Turkey. He has managed numerous liquefaction potential and site response analyses in Northern and Southern California. Dr. Kavazanjian also served as geotechnical consultant for a comprehensive multi-hazard analysis of Ogden, Utah (including earthquake, flood, and debris flows) and directed the seismic risk assessment for the state of Alaska Supreme Courthouse Expansion project.
Prior to returning to academia and joining the ASU faculty in 2004, Dr. Kavazanjian was a Principal in a geoenvironmental consulting firm and was extensively involved in the design, permitting, and closure of landfills. He has been responsible for static and seismic analysis of numerous municipal solid waste and hazardous waste landfills for compliance with state and federal regulations, including landfills in the states of Washington, Virginia, New York, Tennessee, and South Carolina as well as in northern and southern California. In municipal solid waste landfill engineering, he served as project manager for over $8 million of engineering support services at the City of Los Angeles Lopez Canyon Landfill from 1993 to 2000. At Lopez Canyon, he was responsible for permitting, design, construction management, and quality assurance services for development of Disposal Area C, including installation development of alternative designs for both the side slope liner and final cover systems, design and construction services for the partial closure of Disposal Areas A and B, including permitting, construction, and monitoring of an evapotranspirative soil cover for the unlined areas, community relations, landfill gas migration control, noise and groundwater monitoring, and support for preparation of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents for landfill closure. At the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, Dr. Kavazanjian has been involved in design and construction of the County Extension Landfill, closure of the City Landfill, and permitting for the City/County Landfill. At the Shafter-Wasco and Bena Landfills in Kern County, California, Dr. Kavazanjian managed construction quality assurance services during liner construction and provided technical support on an as-needed basis. At Bena, he was also a member of the Master Planning team for landfill expansion, directing GeoSyntec support services for Master Plan preparation, and served as technical director for design of Phase 1 of the expansion. Dr. Kavazanjian was project director for preparation of the closure plan and closure design drawings and quality assurance service during construction for closure of Kern County's Lebec Landfill, including geosynthetic liner - based final cover and passive landfill gas venting system. Dr. Kavazanjian's southern California municipal solid waste landfill experience includes the Azusa, Puente Hills, Spadra, Calabasas, and Chiquita Canyon Landfills in Los Angeles, the Olinda Alpha and Frank R. Bowerman Landfills in Orange County, the Heaps Peak, Newberry, Lucerne, Milliken, and Yucaipa Landfills in San Bernardino County, and the Badlands and Eagle Mountain Landfills in Riverside County.
Dr. Kavazanjian also has extensive experience with closure design and construction for hazardous waste landfills. He was project manager for preliminary design, including the geotechnical investigation, conceptual design of the containment system, and chemical compatibility testing, and provided senior technical oversight for closure design and construction at McColl Superfund site in Fullerton, California. Dr. Kavazanjian was project manager for pre-design seismic studies under Consent Decree Number 3 (CD 3) for the OII Landfill Superfund site in Monterey Park, California. The pre-design studies at OII included a geophysical investigation, large diameter bucket auger borings, design and construction of an on-site laboratory for static and dynamic soil testing, large test trench, in-situ density evaluation, seismic hazard assessment, and static and dynamic finite element analyses of the waste mass. Dr. Kavazanjian directed seismic analysis for the five landfills at the Casmalia site near Santa Maria, California, including field measurement of shear wave velocity, seismic response analyses, and seismic deformation analyses. Dr. Kavazanjian was engineer in responsible charge for stabilization of the final cover for a Cement Kiln Dust pile, restoration of the borrow area, and the Department of Transportation Deck Extension in Metalline Falls, Washington. Dr. Kavazanjian's Superfund experience includes static and seismic stability analysis of fine, compressible tailings and design of bank stabilization measures for closure of the Big River Mine Tailings site in Desloge, Missouri, and design review of the geosynthetic cover system for closure of the Hardage site in Criner, Oklahoma. Dr. Kavazanjian's hazardous waste landfill experience also includes geotechnical analyses for a proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Martinsville, Illinois, and he was responsible for seismic analyses for the mixed waste on-site landfill at the Fernald site in Ohio. He also consulted on disposition of spent nuclear fuel sludge at the Hanford site in Eastern Washington.
Dr. Kavazanjian's geoenvironmental research work includes work on the mechanical properties of municipal solid waste, the performance of waste containment systems, and microbiological-based methods for improvement of soil. He currently serves as Principal Investigator on National Science Foundation (NSF) - sponsored collaborative research on the mechanical properties of municipal solid waste (with U.C. Berkeley and U. Texas, Austin). He has also served as principal investigator for a California Integrated Waste Management Board statewide study of the performance of municipal solid waste landfills, the joint GeoSyntec-University of California at Berkeley investigation of the performance of solid waste landfills in the Northridge earthquake of 17 January 1994, co-chaired a 1993 National Science Foundation workshop on seismic design of solid waste landfills, and served as principal investigator for a National Science Foundation-sponsored research project on measurement of shear wave velocity at municipal solid waste landfills in 1993. He is currently engaged in research on employing microbiological process to improve the mechanical properties of soil though mineral transformation and mineral precipitation.
Dr. Kavazanjian's experience in geoenvironmental engineering includes site characterization, remediation, and design for transportation projects and water resource developments. He was project manager for the Phase I environmental site assessment for the Alameda Transportation Corridor, a proposed 17 mile dedicated below-grade rail and truck corridor along an existing rail right of way from downtown Los Angeles to the harbor area. He served as project manager for the Phase I environmental assessment and Phase II environmental sampling and testing for the widening of the Sepulveda Tunnel under the runways at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). He also managed evaluation of an abandoned bio-remediation farm for the Remote Aircraft Parking Facilities Expansion at LAX. Other waste management projects in which Dr. Kavazanjian has been involved include preliminary design for the Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste Repository in Martinsville, Illinois and research on probabilistic analyses of toxic and hazardous waste problems for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE ACTIVITES:
Since October 2005, Dr. Kavazanjian has served on the Board of Governor's of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Geo-Institute (G-I). From 2000 - 2005, he served as chair of the G-I Technical Coordination Council, responsible for managing the activities of the 18 G-I technical committees, planning the G-I conference calendar, and coordinating other G-I technical activities including short courses and Webinars. Dr. Kavazanjian completed service on the U.S. National Academy of Sciences / National Academy of Engineering National Research Council Committee on Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Barriers and previously served on its Committee on Geotechnical and Geological Engineering for the New Millennium: Opportunities for Research and Innovation. He has also served as chair of the G-I Embankments Dams and Slopes Committee and the ASCE Geotechnical Division (the predecessor of the G-I) Safety and Reliability Committee. From 1980-1985, he served on the Board of Directors of the ASCE San Francisco Section Geotechnical Group and from 1989 - 1996 he served on the Board of the Directors of the Los Angeles Section Geotechnical Group, serving as Chairman from 1995-1996. Dr. Kavazanjian is currently a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Seismic Design of Bridges, where he serves as chair of the Subcommittee on Geoseismic Concerns, and was a member of the TRB Committee of Foundations for Bridges and Other Structures from 1998-2004. He is also a member of the Earthquake Investigation Committee and the Transportation Committee of the ASCE Technical Council on Lifeline Engineering.
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
- North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS)
- International Geosynthetics Society (IGS)
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)
- Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
- Unites States Society on Dams (USSD)