Dr. Silva is now Faculty Emeritus. He can be reached via email: silva@oce.uri.edu
Armand J. Silva, joined the University of Rhode Island in 1976 as professor of ocean and civil Engineering. He established the Marine Geomechanics Laboratory (MGL) in 1977 and was named Director in 1980. Dr. Silva was Chairman of Ocean Engineering from 1984 to 1992. The extensive laboratory facilities have been developed specifically for use with marine sediments and include several unique capabilities not normally available. Prior to his URI appointment, Dr. Silva was professor and head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institue. External funding has come from Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research, Shell Oil Company, National Science Foundation, Naval Underwater Systems Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sandia National Laboratories, United States Geological Survey, Argonne National Laboratories, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, and the Naval Research Laboratory. Total research funding for MGL during the last 18 years is about $6 million. The output of the MGL in terms of graduates, theses, reports, presentations, and publications has been very high. Dr. Silva has a total of over one hundred (100) reports and manuscripts with over thirty (30) refereed publications. From 1987 to 1989, Dr. Silva was Chairman of the National Research Council/Marine Board Committee on Seabed Utilization in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Recent Graduates
Horst Brandes received his master of science degree in 1984 and his doctoral degree in ocean engineering in 1992. His Ph.D. dissertation was on Finite Element Modeling of Time-Dependent Deformations in Marine Clays. Dr. Brandes is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Rhode Island assisting Dr. Armand J. Silva with research.
Ramachandran Krishnamohan completed his masters of science degree in ocean engineering in 1990. His thesis work was on Strain-Stress Properties and Stress History of Marine Sediments from the Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon Area. Mr. Krishnamohan is currently working on his Ph.D. degree at Texas A&M.
Alexis Gavrisheff received his masters of science degree in 1992 with a thesis on Hydraulic Conductivity and Consolidation Testing Using Constant Flow Methods. Lt. Gavrisheff is currently serving in Washington, D.C. with the Department of the Navy.
Carl Uchytil completed his masters of science degree in ocean engineering in 1992. His thesis work involved Geotechnical Analysis of Dredge Mounds. Lt. Uchytil of the Coast Guard is currently stationed in Miami, Florida.
Wen-Miin Tian completed his doctoral degree in ocean engineering in 1992. His thesis work involved Long-Term Creep Behavior of Cohesive Marine Sediments Under Drained Conditions. Dr. Tian currently assists Dr. Armand J. Silva with research as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate.
Recent Publications
Silva, A.J.; Geotechnical Properties and Processes of Deep Ocean Sediments as Related to Ocean Waste Disposal, Orlando, Florida, January, 1989, STP 1087, p. 113-155.
M.M. Zizza and Silva, A.J.; Strength and Stress-Strain BEhavior of Clays from the Nares Abyssal Plain, Marine Geotechnology, V. 7, pp. 221-244, 1988.
Dadey, K.A. and Silva, A.J.; Consolidation and Strength of Pliocene-Pleistocene Sediments from Sites 646 and 647, ODP Leg 105. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Vol. 105, pp. 791-796, 1989.
Silva, A.J., Brandes, H. Sadd, M., Karamanlidis, D., and Tian, W-M.; Experimental and Analytical Study of Creep Deformations of Submarine Slopes. OCEANS '89, Seattle, Washington, September, Vol. 5, pp. 1530-1535, 1989.
Silva, A.J., Tian, W.-M., Sadd, M.H., and Brandes, H.G.; Creep Behavior of Fine-Grained Ocean Sediments. Proceedings Seventh International Conference on Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, Cairns, May 6-10, 1991; in Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, G. Beer, J.R. Booker, and J.P. Carter (eds.), pp. 683-688.
Silva, A.J., Mairs, H.L., and Brandes, H.; Geotechnical Stratigraphy and Stress State of Nares Madeira Abyssal Plain Clays, Advances in Underwater Technology Ocean Science and Offshore Engineering, V. 18, Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Seabed Sediments, Graham & Trotman, Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 99-114, 1989.