MOSTAFA A. FODA, Professor

PICTURE OF PROF. FODA
 
 

Civil and Environmental Engineering
510 Davis Hall
(510) 643-6647
foda@ce.berkeley.edu

Office Hours (Fall 2002): Tues & Thurs 12:30-2 p.m.

Courses (Fall 2002):


 

Education

M.Eng. Fluid Mechanics, McGill University, Canada, 1977.
Sc.D. Coastal Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980.

Teaching and Research

Professor Foda teaches an undergraduate course in elementary fluid mechanics and a graduate course in physical oceanography with an emphasis on the dynamics of continental shelf waters. He also teaches a graduate course in coastal engineering that covers topics on nearshore processes, shoreline evolution, and coastal structures. His research focuses on sea bed and porous media dynamics in general. Recent research involves theoretical and experimental work on the stability of marine pipes as they interact with water waves and the porous, erodible sea bed. Other topics include the fundamental problem of the interaction of water waves with deformable sandy and muddy beds. Of particular interest are the fluidization processes induced by wave motion near the mudline. Wave propagation through fluid-filled porous media is another problem of current interest, with the objective being to examine the various processes of fluid-solid interaction that may lead to the spectacular phenomenon of soil liquefaction.

Seabed mechanics
Here we study the nature of energy transfer across the mudline, from propagating ocean waves to upper-stratum marine sediments. Previous linear interaction models have failed to describe the spectacular energy transfer that sometimes takes place under storm wave conditions. We have shown that nonlinear dynamics are responsible for this transfer of energy to the seabed. This research, which was the first to consider nonlinearity in the problem of fluid flow above a compliant bed, has highlighted the significant effects of nonlinear dynamics in the sea-seabed interaction problem.

For more information on current research activities in environmental fluid mechanics, click here.

Recent Publications

Foda, M.A. (1989) Side-band damping of water waves over a soft bed. Fluid Mech., 201, 189.
Foda, M.A., Law, A. W.-K. and Chang, Y.-H. (1990) Wave-induced breakout of half-buried marine pipes. J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Eng., 116, 267.
Foda, M.A. (1991) A Kelvin-Helmholtz instability mechanism for seismic faulting. Proc. Royal Soc., Lond., Series A, 435, 233.
Foda, M. A., Hunt, J. R. and Chou, H-T. (1993) A nonlinear model for the fluidization of marine mud by waves. J. Geophys. Res., 98, 7039.
Foda, M.A. (1994) Landslides riding on basal pressure waves. J. Continuum Mech. and Thermodynamics, in press,6, 61.