Michael Griffith

Biography

Dr Griffith is a Professor in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Adelaide where he has been since completing his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. He has authored or co-authored 2 book chapters and over 140 refereed papers in the field of earthquake engineering and structural dynamics and has attracted over $4 million competitive funding since 1990 for his research. His professional interests are in the field of earthquake engineering and include training practising engineers to work with Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams throughout Australia. His current research activity is on trying to develop improved methods for seismic assessment of unreinforced brick masonry buildings and the non-linear dynamic response of reinforced concrete frames and seismic retrofit of concrete columns using composite plating techniques. He is also currently involved with specialist consultant work for engineering firms in the field of earthquake engineering, is a member of the joint Australia-New Zealand Standards Earthquake Loading committee, and previously worked as a structural engineer in Berkeley, specialising in the earthquake analysis and design of piping systems in nuclear power plants.

Research Interest

Associate Professor Griffith has nearly 20 years research experience in the area of earthquake resistant design and analysis of structures, beginning with his PhD research at the University of California at Berkeley. During this time he has published over 140 refereed papers in this area and attracted over $4 million dollars in competitive research funding in Australia. In the field of earthquake engineering, Dr Griffith has been closely involved with the development of new technologies to improve the seismic resistance of both new and existing structures. His initial work in this field, based on his PhD research, was to demonstrate experimentally and theoretically the feasibility and reliability of seismic isolation as an effective seismic design strategy for a wide range of building heights and earthquake ground motions. His research at the University of Adelaide has focussed on developing methods to prevent earthquake induced damage, including collapse, of unreinforced masonry buildings and non-seismically designed reinforced concrete frames.