Professor Ana Ivanovic

Biography

• MEng Honours degree, 1st class, in Civil Engineering with major in Geotechnics and Foundations, School of Civil Engineering, Belgrade, Yugoslavia obtained in 1997.
• Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering, Dept of Engineering, University of Aberdeen obtained in 2001.

Research Overview

My main area of research is in the study of the dynamic behaviour of ground anchorage systems and particularly the numerical and physical modelling of such systems. Another area of interest is the research of the impact of trawling gears on the benthos and fuel efficiency. I am also interested in determination of safe burial depth of pipeines in Arctic region.

Current Research

My main research is split into two main streams.  The first area is focused on the study of the dynamic behaviour of ground anchorage systems and particularly the numerical and physical modelling of such systems. Part of this work has focused on mining support systems and a main concern of the mining industry has been determination of the total length which I have investigated by means of numerical and laboratory analyses.   This work has been supported by EPSRC and industrial funding.

The second stream that my recent research is related to the impact of trawling on the benthos (seabed). A combination of Finite Element (FE) modelling and complementary laboratory experiments of the interaction between the sea-bed and a range of trawling gears have been developed in order to allow quantitative assessment of the physical damage induced by fishing gear designs.  This research led to the investigation of the similar theme related to oil and gas industry, icebergs influencing the seabed which has been focused on laboratory investigation and has been in collaboration with Technip, UK.  Both trawling and iceberg research has been tested under fully saturated conditions representing real conditions.

The trawling work has attracted funding from the EU, Norwegian Reserch Council and Fisheries Innovation Scotland while the arctic research has had support from industry. In addition I have been involved in a number of other industry collaborative research.

Funding and Grants

Current Projects

09/2016 – 09/2018 :  NERC Industrial CASE studentship to examine the biogeochemical effects of benthic trawling (Co-I with Dan J Mayor of National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, as PI)  approx. £45k 

01/2016-01/2018 : “The development of the engineering application knowledge to deploy the patented 'DeepBuoy' pumpable buoyancy technology” KTP project funded by Innovate UK and Aubin Group, £145,744 (Co-I with Dr Richard Neilson as PI),

01/2015 – 08/2015 : “Modelling of physical impact of demersal fishing gears on the seabed”, Funded by Fisheries Innovation Scotland (FIS)  £94,337 (PI).

10/2012 – 06/2016 : “BENTHIS (a Benthic ecosystem fisheries impact study)” EU FP7 grant; PI for 132k Euros, approx. £104k   (part of  6M Euro BENTHIS project with 12 other European participants).

Completed Projects

09/2011 – 01/2015 - “Modelling of trawl gear components”; funded by  Marine Scotland - Science, Fisheries Research Station, Aberdeen;   £22k; (PI)

11/2012 – 12/2015 -  “Enhanced Gravity Foundations on Rock for Marine Energy Generators”;  joint ETP studentship with Dr Michael Brown (University of Dundee) and Neil Morgan (Lloyds Registrar, Aberdeen);approx. £45k (Co-I)

11/2012 – 06/2013  Technip UK OED - £22k – to support the research on iceberg interaction with the seabed research.  (PI)

10/11 – 07/12  Technip UK OED - £6,951 – to support the research on iceberg interaction with the seabed research. (PI)

08/2011 – 01/2012 Royal Academy of Engineering – Industrial Secondment Grant £18k

10/2009 – 10/2012 “Modelling of Large Soil Strain Motions in Pipeline/Seabed Interactions”. NSRI studentship  (PI,  with Dr R.D. Neilson as Co-I).

01/09 – 01/12 “New fuel and catch efficient active fishing gear concepts based on trawl and seine” EC grant (part of a larger project led by SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture (SFH, Trondheim, Norway). PI for  £45k.   The work is collaborative with Dr FG  O’Neill of Marine Scotland - Science, Aberdeen.

05/08 – 05/11 “Investigation of the Design of Anchorage Head and Bond Length for Assessing Multi-strand Anchorages” EPSRC, EP/E050301/1, £267k. (PI, with Dr R.D. Neilson as a Co-I).

10/2007 – 10/2010 “The fundamental understanding of the behaviour of soil nails placed in retaining walls using the centrifuge modelling technique and numerical modelling” NRP scholarship,  PI for £30k. (with A Brennan from Dundee University as a Co-I)

03/2008 - 01/2008 “Commercialisation of a system for the assessment of total length of a ground anchorage”. University of Aberdeen, Approx. £34k commercialisation grant entitled: (with R.D. Neilson)

02/2006 – 04/2009 “Development of Fishing Gears with Reduced Effects on the Environment” (part of the 2M Euro DEGREE project with 12 other participants). EC grant PI for a 220k Euros (approx. £145k). Collaborative with Drs Barry O’Neill of the Marine Lab, Fisheries Research Station, Aberdeen and Leonie Robinson of the University of Liverpool. (with Dr RD. Neilson)

11/2003 - 06/2006      “Behaviour of soil nails placed in retaining walls using the centrifuge modelling technique and numerical modelling”, EPSRC (GR/S21335/01).  £267k EPSRC grant Co-I with Prof A.A. Rodger as PI, Prof M. C. Davies (University of Dundee), Dr R.D. Neilson and A. J. Starkey as Co-I

02/2003 – 03/2006 “Investigation on the determination of the total bolt length using the current GRANIT system” Amec, £36k (with Prof A.A. Rodger and Dr R.D. Neilson) (MSc student – Mr Ruggero Trevisan)

12/2003 – 07/2004 “Recoding the program for anchorage systems written in Matlab into C++Grant holder of a £18.4k commercialisation grant funded by the University of Aberdeen.

02/2003 – 03/2006 “Fundamental understanding of anchorage behaviour in particular the detection of the free length of prestressed anchorages.” University funded PhD Studentship £36k.

03/2008-01/2009 “Commercialisation of a system for the assessment of total length of a ground anchorage”. University of Aberdeen approx. £34k commercialisation grant . This is a 9 months project with a view of developing a new technology for enhancing the GRANIT system. (with R.D. Neilson)

Consultancies

2011                Kessock Bridge Cable Tension Study, A field study testing the tension at the prestressed cables. Scotland Transerv.

2011                Ice scour laboratory study. Technip, UK

2012                Uplift resistance of pipelines in sand. Technip, UK

2014                CPD ‘OffshoreGeotechnics’ through ASRANet, Shell (May 2014), DOS Subsea (Sept 2014)

Teaching Responsibilities

Undergraduate teaching:

• Geotechnics 2 (EG40JE)
• Individual BEng and MSc projects

Postgraduate teaching:

MSc Subsea Engineering programme:

• Pipelines and Soil Mechanics (EG55F2/G2) 
• Individual MSc projects