Pinnaduwa Kulatilake, PhD, PE, F.ASCE, M.SME
Biography
Prof. Kulatilake is a recipient of 2024 International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) Science Achievement Award. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the ISRM Commission on “Estimation of Rock Mass Strength and Deformability”. He has over 40 years of experience in rock mechanics & rock engineering applied to civil, mining, and geoengineering. He has taught 56 short courses covering all 6 continents. He has published more than 280 papers resulting in more than 8600 Google Scholar Citations with an H-index of 53 and an I10-index of 116. He is a recipient of 15 prestigious awards.
Education
- Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, October 1978-June 1981 (G.P.A.: 3.98/4.00).Major field: Geotechnical Engineering Minor fields: Probability and Statistics, Engineering Mechanics, Mathematics
- Master of Engineering in Soil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, August 1976-April 1978
- B.S. in Civil Engineering, Hons., University of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, Jan 1972-April 1976
Courses Taught
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CE 210: Mechanics of Materials
Axial load, shear and bending moment diagrams. Differential equations of beams. Study of stresses due to axial, bending, torsional loads, and combined loading. Mohr's circle of stress. Design techniques. Column design equations.
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CE 340: Design of Foundations
Sub-surface investigations and geotechnical reports; bearing capacity of soils, theory and design of shallow and deep foundations; settlement analysis; lateral earth pressure and cantilever retaining walls; slope stability analysis. Computer applications. Emphasis on design throughout. Written communication skills are required.
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CE 445: Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
Advanced topics in geotechnical analysis and design such as: advanced topics in settlement analysis (elastic, primary and secondary consolidation, Schmertmann Method, Casagrande Method), advanced topics in shear strength evaluation (pole method, stress paths, laboratory testing), advanced topics in slope stability (log-spiral, various methods of slices), introduction to geotechnical earthquake engineering (earthquake magnitude, earthquake motion, liquefaction). Computer analysis and design.
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CE 432: Senior Design Project II
A continuation of CE 431.
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CE 489: Licensure and Certification in Civil Engineering
All civil engineering students must enroll in this course as well as register, take and pass either the FE exam or mock FE exam before they can earn their B.S. in Civil Engineering from CBU. This course also requires students to earn one or more professional certifications. Pass/Fail grading.
Publications and Research Focus
Prof. Kulatilake is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, USA. Recently, he served as a Distinguished Professor of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering for three years (May 2019 – May 2022) at a University in China under the Distinguished Foreign Expert 1000 Talent Program funding from both the Chinese Government and a Province in China. Prof. Kulatilake has over 40 years of experience in rock mechanics & rock engineering, applications of probabilistic, statistical, and numerical methods to civil, mining, and geoengineering. He has performed research with 95 graduate students and visiting scholars to earn worldwide recognition for his research. He has published more than 280 papers. These papers have resulted in more than 8600 Google Scholar Citations with an H-index of 53 and an I10-index of 116. He has co-authored a book on “Rock mass stability around underground excavations in a mine.” He has edited five conference proceedings and served as the Guest Editor for two special issues in an international journal. All those activities led him to deliver more than 40 invited keynote lectures and 50 other invited lectures throughout the world. He is a recipient of 15 prestigious awards including two Peter Cundall Awards.
He has organized and run four successful international conferences as the Chair (two in Sri Lanka, one in the US, and the most recent one in Peru in Dec. 2024). The two most recent ones (Dec. 2023 and Dec. 2024) were ISRM Specialized Conferences.
Service and Community Engagement
Professor Kulatilake has secured invited/elected positions on the editorial boards of several journals. He is a paper reviewer for more than 30 geoengineering journals. He has been a research proposal reviewer for many US and international granting agencies. He has been a Visiting Professor/ research fellow at several top geomechanics institutes in the world. He has served for over 20 years as the primary or sole examiner for the geological engineering professional exam conducted by the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration. He has served as an external evaluator for promotion and tenure applications in the US and internationally.
