• Sustainable Infrastructure and Geomechanical Research Lab (SIGLab)

    Dr. Maghoul Research Team

    Read more
  • GIANT LEAP: SIGLab joining Humanity's Return to the Moon - This Time to Stay!

    Read more
  • Patent: Systems and Methods for In-Situ Characterization of Permafrost Sites

    In our recently patented product, we have developed novel systems and methods to characterize a permafrost site using a hybrid inverse and multi-phase poromechanical approach.

    Read more
  • Patent: Systems and Methods for Ultrasonic Characterization of Permafrost, Frozen Soil and Saturated Soil Samples

    In our recently patented product, we have developed novel systems and methods to characterize permafrost and soil samples by using an integrated Bayesian-based Artificial Intelligence and multiphase poromechanics.

    Read more
  • SiteQuake: A Seismic Site Effect Software

    Our recently licensed software, SiteQUAKE, is a computational tool developed mainly for 2D seismic site effect analyses. The product benefits from a hybrid Finite Element/Boundary Element (FE/BE) numerical framework which can be widely used in various geotechnical engineering problems.

    Read more
  • OpenPoroBEM: A Boundary Element Code for Multiphase Porous Media

    Our recently licensed software, OpenPoroBEM, is an open-source Boundary Element Method (BEM) code for multiphase porous media subject to transient and dynamic loadings. The code can be used for dynamic (seismic site effects) and quasi-static analyses of bounded, unbounded, and half-space media.

    Read more
  • New Frontiers in Research Fund Award (Exploration Stream)

    Congratulations to the Faculty of Engineering team, led by Dr. Pooneh Maghoul: their research on assessing threats to critical northern infrastructure due to climate change by applying an AI-based Geomechanical model was awarded an Exploration Grant from the NFRF

    Read more

About SIGLab

The Sustainable Infrastructure and Geomechanical Research Lab (SIGLab), founded by Dr. Pooneh Maghoul, P.Eng. at the University of Manitoba, develops cutting-edge R&D programs related to the fundamental understanding and performance analysis of subsurface systems subject to complex loading within a multi-hazard context. This includes infrastructure which is resilient to climate change and geohazards on Earth and harsh environments in Space (low gravity conditions). These poromechanics-centered research programs deal with natural- and human-induced hazards, permafrost engineering, geostructural health monitoring, non-destructive testing, risk assessment, energy geostructures, geotechnical earthquake engineering and ground vibration, as well as bio-inspired self-burrowing (soft) robotics, bio-inspired subsurface sensing, and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on the Moon and beyond.

Poromechanics-Centered Multidisciplinary Research

Vision

Our vision (WHY we are doing this) is to merge diverse ideas to creatively bridge the traditional pillars of research to contribute towards tackling some of the 21st-century (civil) engineering challenges.  We believe the only way to achieve this dream is to apply diversity and inclusion, or what we call global engineering, to our approach and methodology.

Mission

Our mission is to train inspired young professionals who are well-prepared for a challenging professional career. We provide a psychologically safe and enjoyable learning environment that helps our team members develop not only the hard skills required to complete their research projects but also the soft skills to lead an engineering project.

Climate Resiliency of the Infrastructure

Geomechanics of Permafrost; Northern Infrastructure; Climate Warming; Threat Assessment; Remote Sensing & AI

read more

Space/Planetary Geotechnics

Regolith-Rover-Structure Interaction; Sustainable Construction; Seismic Geophysics; Granular Mechanics; Impact & Moonquake

read more

Non-Destructive Testing Development

Wave Propagation in Porous Materials; Ultrasonic NDT; Seismic NDT; Bone Characterization (Biomedical Application)

read more

Renewable Geothermal Energy

Energy Piles; Energy Geo-Structures; Soil-Structure Interaction; De-Icing & Snow Melting; Permafrost Stabilization; Thermosyphon

read more

Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering

Seismic Site Effect; Slope Stability; Construction-Induced Ground Vibration; Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction

read more

Buried Infrastructure & Utilities

Structural and Thermal Integrity of Buried Infrastructure; Soil-Pipeline Interaction; Constitutive Models; Natural Hazards

read more