Dr. Tae Yeon Kim
Dr. tae yeon kim Associate Professor Civil Infrastructure And Environmental Engineering

Contact Information
taeyeon.kim@ku.ac.ae +971 2 312 3561

Biography

Dr. Tae Yeon Kim is an Associate Professor of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering at Khalifa University. Prior to joining Khalifa University, he was an acting instructor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle and a postdoctoral fellow and a research associate in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. Dr. Kim has industrial experience as a senior engineer at Samsung Electronics. He received his Ph.D. from Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University in 2007.

Dr. Kim’s research interest is computational mechanics, additive manufacturing, and structural health monitoring of various materials and structures. He is particularly active in developing sensing systems for non-destructive evaluation of cementitious materials and fiber reinforced composites, computational methods for solid and fluid mechanics, the design for 3d printing of cementitious materials and durability and strength of cementitious materials with micro/nano reinforcements in hot climate conditions. Dr. Kim has published over 50 publications in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has served as the principal/co-principal investigator more than 10 projects sponsored by Khalifa University and Abu Dhabi government agencies.  Dr. Kim is a member of advanced digital & additive manufacturing (ADAM) center and emirates nuclear technology center (ENTC) at Khalifa University. 


Education
  • PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University (USA), 2007
  • MSc, Mathematics, Yonsei University (Korea), 2001
  • BSc, Mathematics, Hannam University (Korea), 1998

Teaching
  • Behavior and Analysis of Structures (PHED110)
  • Design of Concrete Structures (CIVE442)
  • Design of Steel Structures (CIVE341)
  • Dynamic Response of Civil Engineering Constructions (CHEG790)
  • Mechanics of Solids (CIVE225)
  • Non-Linear FE Analysis of Civil Engineering Structures (ECCE752)
  • Statics (CIVE200)

Affiliated Research Institutes/Centers
  • Advanced Digital & Additive Manufacturing Center
  • Emirates Nuclear Technology Center

Research
Research Interests
  • Computational solid and fluid mechanics
  • Computational contact and fracture mechanics
  • Nondestructive evaluation of cementitious materials and fiber reinforced composites
  • Durability and strength of cementitious materials with micro/nano reinforcements
  • Additive manufacturing of cementitious materials
  • Finite element methods and meshfree methods

Research Projects

Non-destructive Evaluation of Cementitious Materials using Highly Nonlinear Solitary Waves

This project is to develop a novel non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for accurate assessment of the strength of cementitious materials and detection of defects in cementitious materials.  The NDE technique will use highly nonlinear solitary waves (HNSWs) generated in a granular crystal sensor.  The dynamic interaction of HNSWs in a granular crystal sensor with cementitious materials is studied to evaluate their mechanical properties such as the compressive strength and the elastic modulus of fresh and hardened cementitious materials and the effect of micro/nano reinforcements on strength. Moreover, we explore the possibility of the detection of defects such as voids or cracks in cementitious materials using a granular crystal sensor. 

Thermo-Mechanical Tire-Pavement Interaction

This project is to reduce high level of traffic accident fatalities in Abu Dhabi by studying skid resistance of an asphalt pavement influencing rod driving safety. To achieve this goal, this research focuses on developing reliable experimental and computational techniques to account for the influence of asphalt pavement temperature on skid resistance measurements in UAE. This will be achieved on the basis of laboratory tests, field tests, and advanced computational techniques.  The particular advantage of this approach is that for any given pavement surface the influence of environmental and operating conditions on skid resistance can be evaluated and quantified.

Mechanical Properties and Durability of Cementitious Materials with Micro/Nano Reinforcements

This research is to investigate the effects of micro/nano reinforcements (e.g., carbon nanotube and graphene) on the mechanical properties and durability of cementitious materials (e.g., concrete and mortar) to extend the service life of the civil structures. Experiments are performed to verify the performance of micro/nano reinforcements to produce high-quality concrete/mortar that can improve poor ductility and resistance to cracking of traditional concrete. This goal will be achieved by evaluating the compressive strength and flexural strength of cementitious materials with the addition of reinforcements and determining the optimal quantity of reinforcements that can produce high values of strength properties based on the parametric study of mix proportions. Moreover, the effect of micro/nano reinforcements on chloride ion penetration into cementitious materials will be investigated under UAE environmental conditions.

Effect of Micro/Nano Reinforcements on Mechanical Properties of 3D Printed Cementitious Materials

This project will explore the development of cementitious-based 3D printable materials toward a goal to the design of new additively manufacturing for concrete infrastructure construction. Of particular interest of this research is the design of a cementite-based 3D printable material, with/without micro/nano-filaments, that has good mechanical properties, least sensitive to running conditions and curing quickly, and that can build small- and large-scale structures in UAE extreme environmental conditions via the 3D printing process. This research will be achieved as follows: 1) Development and testing of a 3D printed cementitious material with micro/nano-filaments for additive manufacturing; 2) 3D printing of small- and large-scale structures using a cable driven 3D structure printer; 3) Quantification of the printed structures from dimensional and strength points of view. 


Research Staff and Graduate Students:

Staff
Sangyoung Yoon Research Associate
Students
Remilekun Abduladi Shittu PhD
Mohd Mukarram Munawwer Ali Ali PhD
Yasmeen Ghassan Abdel Karim PhD
Ahmed Zuhair Alkhaffaf MSc
Hanan Mahmoud Al-Shorbaji MSc