Biography

Klaus Thoeni holds a Ph.D. and a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering of Graz University of Technology in Austria and has been working with advanced numerical methods (BEM, FEM, DEM) and their application to underground excavations, rock mechanics and structural analysis for more than 6 years.

In July 2010, he moved to Australia and took a position as research associate at the University of Newcastle. Since then, he has been working on the ACARP project "Improved Management of the Rock Fall Hazard at the Base of Highwalls”. He has also joined the development team of the open-source software YADE ( http://yade-dem.org/doc ), which is an efficient numerical tool for simulating the dynamic behaviour of geomaterials by using the Discrete Element Method.

Prior to this, he was a research associate at the Institute for Structural Analysis at Graz University of Technology where he focussed on the European project SeRoN ( http://www.seron-project.eu ). He was strongly involved in the initial stage of the project the identification and classification of critical infrastructures (D100, D200).

He obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in September 2009. During his Ph.D., he worked as a full time research and teaching assistant at the same institution. As a teaching assistant, he taught structural analysis (statics and dynamics of structures) and numerical methods (FEM, BEM) and he supervised several bachelor and master projects. As a researcher, he was strongly involved in the integrated European project TunConstruct ( http://www.tunconstruct.org ) and the application of the Boundary Element Method to anisotropic material, piezoelectricity and non-linear problems. He was in the development team of the research software BEFE++ ( http://www.befepp.com ), which is a new generation numerical analysis tool for underground excavations.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Technology, Graz University of Technology, Austria, 2009

Research

Research keywords

• Coal Mining
• Coupling of Numerical Methods
• Nonlinear Boundary Element Analysis
• Numerical Methods (FEM, BEM, DEM)
• Rock Mechanics
• Rockfall analysis

Research expertise

Dr Thoeni's areas of expertise are in numerical methods (BEM, DEM, FEM) and their application in structural analysis, rock mechanics and coal mining. He has extensive knowledge in the analysis of tunnelling and underground excavation problems with the Boundary Element Method and Finite Element Method (including the coupling of the methods) and in the simulation of rock fall protection systems with the Discrete Element Method. Other areas of general interest are stereo photogrammetry, programming, parallel processing and open source software (Linux).

Languages

• English
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• ARC Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical and Materials Modelling

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Ordine Ingegneri della Provincia di Bolzano

Appointments

Awards

Research Award.

Administrative

Administrative expertise

Dr Thoeni was second deputy head of the Institute for Structural Analysis at Graz University of Technology. He was computer and network administrator and fire warden.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• BEM
• Computer programming with Matlab/Octave
• FEM
• Statics and dynamics of structures
• Structural analysis

Teaching expertise

Dr Thoeni was strongly involved in teaching structural analysis (statics and dynamics of structures) and numerical methods (FEM, BEM) at the Institute for Structural Analysis at Graz University of Technology, where he supervised several bachelor and master projects.