Publications

"Copyright of the papers rests with a variety of different parties. They are made available solely on the same basis that I would supply a single copy of a paper to an individual. It is up to you to ensure that your use of a paper does not infringe copyright law" (Guy Houlsby)

 

Doctoral dissertation

  • Nguyen, H. C. (2020). Micromechanics of shear wave propagation and non-linear stiffness of granular materials (Doctoral dissertation, PhD thesis, Imperial College London). Prof. Catherine O'Sullivan supervised this thesis. My PhD thesis was examined by two leading experts in my research field: Prof. Jamie Standing (Imperial College London) and Prof. Matthew Coop (University College London).

Book Chapters

  • Nguyen, H.C. (2021a). Upper bound analysis of seismic stability of tunnels using cell-based smoothed finite element. In Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground. 2nd Edition (pp. 337-342). CRC Press.

  • Nguyen, H.C. (2021b). The use of adaptive smoothed finite-element limit analysis to seismic stability of tunnels. In Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground. 2nd Edition (pp. 330-336). CRC Press.

Preparing for Submission to Peer-Reviewed Journals

  • Nguyen, H.C., & He, X. (2025). Gaussian-based surrogate models for geotechnical stability analysis of spatial random soils. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. In progress.
  • Nguyen, H.C., & Shiau, J. (2025). Assessing the bearing capacity of strip footings on slopes in spatially random soils using Gaussian processes and Bayesian Inference. Géotechnique Letters. In progress.
  • Nguyen, H.C., He, X., Nazem, M., Chen, X., Xu, H., Sousa, R., & Kowalski, J. (2025). Gaussian process emulators for the undrained bearing capacity of spatially random soils using cell-based smoothed finite element method. JRMGE. Accepted.
  • Xu, H., Nguyen, H.C., Nazem, M., He, X., Chen, X., Sousa, R., & Kowalski, J. (2025). A novel hybrid surrogate model for the stability and post-failure analysis of spatially variable slopes using a smoothed sequential limit analysis. JRMGE. Under review.
  • Xu, H., Nguyen, H.C., Shiau, J., He, X., Nazem, M. & Zhao, Q.  (2025). Probabilistic analysis of the stability and post-failure responses of a tall tunnel in spatially variable soils using advanced hybrid deep-learning surrogate models. Underground Space. In progress.
  • Xu, H., Nguyen, H.C., Shiau, J., He, X., Nazem, M. & Zhao, Q.  (2025). A novel approach coupling advanced deep-learning and cell-based smoothed finite element method for estimating circular tunnel stability of spatially random soils. Underground Space. In progress.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Nguyen, H.C., Zhang, X., & Nazem, M. (2024). A mixed smoothed finite element limit analysis formulation for collapse loads. Acta Geotechnica (2024): 1-23.

  • Nguyen, H.C., Xu, H., Nazem, M., Sousa, R., Kowalski, J., & Zhao, Q. (2024). Deep-learning surrogate models for the stability of a wide rectangular tunnel. Computers and Geotechnics 179 (2025): 106946.

  • Zhang, Y., Zhang, X., Nguyen, H.C., Li, X., & Wang, L. (2023). An implicit 3D nodal integration based PFEM (N-PFEM) of natural temporal stability for dynamic analysis of granular flow and landslide problems. Computers and Geotechnics, 159, 105434.

  •  Nguyen, H.C. (2023). A mixed formulation of limit analysis for seismic slope stability. G´eotechnique Letters, 13(1), 54-64.

  •  Nguyen, H.C., & Vo-Minh, T. (2022). Calculation of seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip founda- tions using the cell-based smoothed finite element method. Acta Geotechnica, 17(8), 3567-3590.

  • Nguyen, H.C. (2022). Discrete element method analysis of non-linear stiffness for granular media. Computers and Geotechnics, 13(1), 54-64.

  • Vo-Minh, T., & Nguyen, H.C. (2022). Seismic stability of a circular tunnel in cohesive-frictional soils using a stable node-based smoothed finite element method. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 130, 104606.

  • Nguyen, H.C., & Vo-Minh, T. (2022). The use of the node-based smoothed finite element method to estimate static and seismic bearing capacities of shallow strip footings. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 14(1), 180-196.

  • Nguyen, H.C., O’Sullivan, C., & Otsubo, M. (2018). Discrete element method analysis of small-strain stiffness under anisotropic stress states. G´eotechnique Letters, 8(3), 183-189.

Conference Papers

  • Nguyen, H.C., Kowalski, J. & Sousa, R. (2024).Gaussian process emulator for the stability of spatially variable slopes. 9th International Symposium for Geotechnical Safety and Risk (ISGSR), Oslo, Norway on 24th – 27th August 2025. Accepted.

  • Nguyen, H.C., Kowalski, J., Xu, H., Xu, H., Chen, X. & Sousa, R. (2024).Data-intelligent surrogate models for bearing capacity of spatially variable soils. International Geomechanics Conference,18 – 20 November 2024, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Accepted.

  • Nguyen, H.C. (2021). Evolution of lateral earth pressure coefficient at rest with interparticle friction: a numerical study. In EPJ Web of Conferences (Vol. 249, p. 08015). EDP Sciences.

  • Nguyen, H.C. (2020). The safety factor and failure mechanism in geotechnical engineering: a numerical study. In Advances in Computer Methods and Geomechanics: IACMAG Symposium 2019 Volume 1 (pp. 121-129). Springer Singapore.

  • Nguyen, H.C. & O’Sullivan, C. (2019). Linking macro-scale yielding and micro-scale response. In EPJ Web of Conferences (Vol. 92, p. 14008). EDP Sciences.

  • Nguyen, H.C., Otsubo, M. & O’Sullivan, C. (2017). An appraisal of the influence of material fabric and stress anisotropy on small-strain stiffness. In EPJ Web of Conferences (Vol. 140, p. 12005). EDP Sciences.

Grants and Awards

  • The Emerging Scholars Forum 2025 (NTU Singapore, with an honorarium of SGD 4200)

  • Imperial College Dean’s Fund from Imperial College London, 2017-2020.

  • Imperial College Trust for IS-Glasgow 2019 from Imperial College London, 2019.

  • Old Centralians’ Trust for IS-Glasgow 2019 from Imperial College London, 2019.

  • Newton PhD scholarship from British Council, 2016-2019.

  • Imperial College Dixon scholarship from Imperial College London, 2016-2019.

  • The Christ Church Sir John Aird Graduate Sholarship in Enginnering, 2015 (Christ Church Oxford).

  • The Christ Church Sir John Aird Graduate Sholarship in Enginnering, 2014 (Christ Church Oxford).

  • KADEEN-SS Scholarship, 2012.

  • Lawrence S. Ting Scholarship, 2010. 

     

 

I had the privilege of spending several years at Imperial College London, where Professors David Potts and Jamie Standing inspired me to study tunnels by applying numerical methods and AI. Working as a freelance research scientist and consultant alongside Professor Rita Sousa at New York University has significantly advanced my research career.