Student Spotlight: Morteza Shafiei, UMass Amherst

ARROW student Morteza Shafiei, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UMass Amherst, is studying the mechanical behavior of offshore and onshore glauconite sand. Glauconite sand is prevalent along the Atlantic Continental Shelf of the U.S. in areas of offshore wind development. Glauconite sand is susceptible to crushing under load and can transition from sand-like to clay-like behavior, posing risks to foundation installation and long-term performance.

His research focuses on the behavior of glauconite sand under both cyclic and static design loading conditions and on developing a method to mimic foundation installation in glauconite depositions to determine how crushing affects soil parameters and properties, how glauconite degrades, and how much it degrades using laboratory and in-situ testing. The results of his research are critical for predicting initial soil characteristics and reducing the need for extensive and costly testing and the possibility of pile-driving refusal, particularly in an offshore environment, where the costs of remediation can be orders of magnitude greater than for onshore projects.