Dr Zuhal Ozdemir

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering

Lecturer in Structural Engineering

z.ozdemir@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5419

Room F121, Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)

Full contact details

Dr Zuhal Ozdemir
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Room F121
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD

Profile

My work helps to protect structures and their inhabitants in the event of an earthquake, by ensuring construction regulations take into consideration the seismic response of buildings, and the correct mitigation measures are in place.

Dr Zuhal Ozdemir

Dr Zuhal Ozdemir obtained her PhD in 2010 from Kandilli Observatory (Turkey) and the University of Lille (France).

She then joined the Structural Mechanics Division of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven as a postdoctoral researcher. She joined our Department as a research associate, before becoming a Lecturer in 2012.

Over the past ten years she has worked on interdisciplinary research projects dealing with the dynamics of structures and materials.

Her main expertise is in earthquake engineering, nonlinear FEA (Finite Element Analysis), structural dynamics, high strain rate testing of materials and the static and dynamic behaviour of cellular solids.

Research Themes

Hazards

Infrastructure

Materials

Research interests

One area of Zuhal’s research focuses on the assessment of the dynamic response of materials and structures under earthquake and impact loads using numerical methods.

She closely works with the members of our Blast Engineering Research group to conduct dynamic tests on materials to characterise their response under high amplitude and short duration loading conditions, and then she models the response numerically to validate experimental results.

She devises analytical solutions to develop simple design methodologies for materials when subjected to high dynamic loads. This work is applied in earthquake and impact engineering; in earthquake events, buildings can be subject to seismic pounding, which can cause serious damage to the structures and pose danger to inhabitants.

Zuhal numerically models this kind of impact response so that building regulations can be written to define the distances between structures, and mitigation techniques can be suggested.

Zuhal also researches the behaviour of irregular structures with complex geometries in plan and elevation. Irregular structures like L or T-shaped buildings have more damage potential than the regular, symmetrical ones, so Zuhal’s work helps to suggest building code recommendations about the influence of irregularities on the seismic response of buildings, and what kind of mitigation guidelines should be implemented.

Publications

Journal articles

Abuzayed IHA, Ozdemir Z & Askes H (2022) Time domain homogenisation of elastic and viscoelastic metamaterials. Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials.
Horton TA, Hajirasouliha I, Davison B & Ozdemir Z (2021) Accurate prediction of cyclic hysteresis behaviour of RBS connections using Deep Learning Neural Networks. Engineering Structures, 247, 113156-113156.
Horton TA, Hajirasouliha I, Davison B, Ozdemir Z & Abuzayed I (2021) Development of more accurate cyclic hysteretic models to represent RBS connections. Engineering Structures, 245, 112899-112899.
Horton TA, Hajirasouliha I, Davison B & Ozdemir Z (2021) More efficient design of reduced beam sections (RBS) for maximum seismic performance. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 183, 106728.
Mohsenian V, Filizadeh R, Ozdemir Z & Hajirasouliha I (2020) Seismic performance evaluation of deficient steel moment-resisting frames retrofitted by vertical link elements. Structures, 26, 724-736. View this article in WRRO
Sianko I, Ozdemir Kilinc Z, Khoshkholghi S, Garcia R, Hajirasouliha I, Yazgan U & Pilakoutas K (2020) A practical probabilistic earthquake hazard analysis tool: case study Marmara region. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering. View this article in WRRO
Ozdemir Kilinc Z, Tyas A, Goodall R & Askes H (2017) Energy absorption in lattice structures in dynamics: Nonlinear FE simulations. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 102, 1-15. View this article in WRRO
Ozdemir Kilinc Z, Hernandez-Nava E, Tyas A, Warrena, JA, Fay SD, Goodall R, Todd I & Askes H (2016) Energy absorption in lattice structures in dynamics: Experiments. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 89, 49-61. View this article in WRRO
Tyas A & Ozdemir Z (2014) On backward dispersion correction of Hopkinson pressure bar signals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 372(2023), 20130291-20130291.
Ozdemir Z, Coulier P, Lak MA, François S, Lombaert G & Degrande G (2013) Numerical evaluation of the dynamic response of pipelines to vibrations induced by the operation of a pavement breaker. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 44, 153-167.
Ozdemir Z, Souli M & Fahjan YM (2012) Numerical evaluation of nonlinear response of broad cylindrical steel tanks under multidimensional earthquake motion. Earthquake Spectra, 28(1), 217-238.
Erchiqui F, Ozdemir Z, Souli M, Ezzaidi H & Dituba-Ngoma G (2011) Neural networks approach for characterisation of viscoelastic polymers. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 89(5), 1303-1310.
Tezcan SS & Ozdemir Z (2011) A refined formula for the allowable soil pressure using shear wave velocities. Open Civil Engineering Journal, 5(1), 1-8.
Tezcan SS, Keceli A & Ozdemir Z (2010) Allowable bearing pressure in soils and rocks through dynamic wave velocities. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 47(4), 143-152.
Ozdemir Z, Souli M & Fahjan YM (2010) FSI methods for seismic analysis of sloshing tank problems. Mecanique et Industries, 11(2), 133-147.
Ozdemir Z, Souli M & Fahjan YM (2010) Application of nonlinear fluid-structure interaction methods to seismic analysis of anchored and unanchored tanks. Engineering Structures, 32(2), 409-423.
Tezcan SS, Ozdemir Z & Keceli A (2009) Seismic technique to determine the allowable bearing pressure in soils and rocks. WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, 104, 253-263.
Tezcan SS, Ozdemir Z & Keceli A (2009) Seismic technique to determine the allowable bearing pressure for shallow foundations in soils and rocks. Acta Geophysica, 57(2), 400-412.
Tezcan SS, Keceli A & Ozdemir Z (2006) Allowable bearing capacity of shallow foundations based on shear wave velocity. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 24(1), 203-218.
Tezcan SS, Kaya E, Engin Bal I & Özdemir Z (2002) Seismic amplification at Avcilar, Istanbul. Engineering Structures, 24(5), 661-667.
Tezcan SS, Kaya E, Bal IE & Ozdemir Z (2002) Seismic amplification at Avcilar, Istanbul. International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications, 26(1), 1-14.

Chapters

Sianko I, Garcia R, Ozdemir Z, Hajirasouliha I & Pilakoutas K (2019) Modelling of Earthquake Hazard and Secondary Effects for Loss Assessment in Marmara (Turkey), Springer Natural Hazards (pp. 67-81). Springer Singapore
Ozdemir Z, Fahjan YM & Souli M (2017) Numerical Simulation of Liquid Sloshing in Tanks, Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (pp. 49-79). Springer International Publishing

Conference proceedings papers

Gibson H, Akhgar B, Hajirasouliha I, Garcia R, Ozdemir Kilinc Z & Pilakoutas K (2017) A Situational Awareness Framework for Improving Earthquake Response, Recovery and Resilience. 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 9 January 2017 - 13 January 2017.
Garcia R, Hajirasouliha I, Pilakoutas K, Guadagnini M & Ozdemir Kilinc Z (2017) Analysis of substandard RC buildings strengthened with an innovative post-tensioned metal strapping technique. 16WCEE 2017, 9 January 2017 - 13 January 2017.
Ozdemir Z, Lak MA, Coulier P, François S, Lombaert G & Degrande G (2011) Numerical evaluation of the dynamic response of pipelines to vibrations induced by the operation of a pavement breaker. Advances in Environmental Vibration - Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Environmental Vibration, ISEV 2011 (pp 808-815)
Ozdemir Z, Lak MA, François S, Coulier P, Lombaert G & Degrande G (2011) A numerical model for the prediction of the response of pipelines due to vibrations induced by the operation of a pavement breaker. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 (pp 928-935)
Tezcan SS, Ozdemir Z, Keceli A & Erkal A (2007) Case studies: A rapid technique to determine allowable bearing pressure. Geotechnical Special Publication(175) (pp 66)

Website content

Garcia Lopez R, Ozdemir Kilinc Z, Hajirasouliha I & Pilakoutas K Website for RCUK-TUBITAK project on "Rapid Earthquake Risk Assessment and Post-Earthquake Disaster Management Framework for Substandard Buildings in Turkey".
Garcia R, Ozdemir Kilinc Z, Hajirasouliha I & Pilakoutas K Website for British Council-TUBITAK project on "Post-earthquake Disaster & Risk Management through a Rapid Response Framework for Industrial Zones in Turkey".

Preprints

OLENG M, Ozdemir Z & Pilakoutas K (2023) Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment framework for Uganda: A stochastic modelling approach, Research Square Platform LLC.
Sianko I, Ozdemir Z, Hajirasouliha I & Pilakoutas K (2022) Probabilistic Seismic Risk Assessment Framework: Case study Adapazari, Turkey, Research Square Platform LLC.

Research group

Concrete Structures

Blast & Impact

Earthquake Engineering Group

Professional activities and memberships

Eiffel excellence scholarship of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs 2008 - 2009.
Co-investigator of two Newton Fund projects

Potential PhD offerings: Unfortunately I am not seeking any PhD Students at this time, however please contact me if you are interested in doing a project in my research area.