• constitutive modelling of the behaviour of structural materials (i.e. concrete, steel, fibre-reinforcement, fibre-reinforced concrete, lightweight concrete etc);
• numerical and experimental investigation of the behaviour of reinforced concrete and composite structural forms under load ranging from static (monotonic and cyclic) to dynamic (seismic, impact, blast);
• formulation of nonlinear finite element analysis strategies for the investigation of the nonlinear behaviour of reinforced concrete structures subjected to loads ranging from static to dynamic (seismic, impact, blast);
• developing alternative design and structural assessment methods for RC structural forms under seismic and under high-rate loading (associated with impact and blast problems)
• investigation of the effect of steel fibres on the response of various reinforced concrete configurations under static loading applied monotonically or seismic loading;
• investigation of the effect of infill walls on the dynamic response of frames; and,
• investigation of the effect of the rocking motion on structural response (i.e. of multi-drum columns encountered in ancient monuments).

Dr D.M. Cotsovos holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Civil Engineering Department of University of Patras, an MSc in “Structural Design and Analysis” from the Civil Engineering Department National Technical University of Athens and a Ph.D. from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College London; for which he received the 2005 Unwin Award.

At Imperial College London, as a PhD student, he was involved in research concerned with the development of a FE package capable of providing realistic predictions for the response of concrete structural forms under seismic and high rate loading. This package was successfully used to investigate the behaviour of structural concrete under increasing loading rates (usually associated with impact and blast) and to study the response of a number of RC structural configurations under high rates of concentrated loading.

As a researcher, at the National Technical University of Athens, he was involved in research concerned with (a) the analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures under impact or blast loading, (b) the development of guidelines for the design and analysis of reinforced concrete military structures and (b) the investigation of the behaviour of the railway reinforced concrete infrastructure under dynamic loading caused by high speed trains.

At the Office of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Academy of Athens, he was involved in research investigating experimentally and numerically the response of reinforced concrete walls under seismic loading as well as the effect of rocking on the dynamic response of various systems under seismic excitation (i.e. multi-drum columns encountered in ancient monuments).

He has also worked as a project manager and supervisor engineer of various high profile sites concerned with ground investigation as well as structural works. Additionally, he was the Principal Assistant to the Expert Witness in a multi-million litigation case investigating the structural integrity of jet-grouted piles constructed in order to enable further dredging of the Southampton Port. He has also been involved in a number of projects concerned with the structural assessment, analysis and design of structures.

concrete, nonlinear analysis, finite element method, structural dynamics, high rate loading, seismic design, fibres, design methods

Lecturer in Structural Engineering