sudheer prabhu

I am a Senior Staff Engineer based in Geosyntec Consultant's (Geosyntec) Richmond, Virginia office. I specialize in Numerical Methods and Constitutive modelling in geotechnical engineering and Geotechnical Instrumentation. During my tenure at Geosyntec Consultants, I have actively used advanced software including FLAC, PLAXIS, and SLIDE to solve complex geotechnical problems including stability of MSE berms, consolidation and settlement calculations. I have also developed geotechnical monitoring plans and geotechnical reports for several projects and has been actively involved in the installation and developing data monitoring at several projects. During my tenure, I have also developed site boring plans and overseen boring operations for several sites. 

I received my Master’s degree in geotechnical engineering in 2015 from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and my thesis was on the topic of “Laboratory and Numerical Analysis of Soil Liquefaction”. During my Master’s , I had developed the laboratory testing plan and tested soil samples in triaxial tests, cyclic triaxial tests, bender element tests and resonant column. Based on these laboratory experiments, advanced numerical models UBCSAND (in PLAXIS) and PM4SAND (in FLAC) were calibrated. The calibrated models were used to capture the field response in terms of settlements and pore pressures during earthquakes.

 After my Master’s study, I joined Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as a Senior Research Fellow to prepare guidelines for the usage of geosynthetics in pavements as part of project funded by Ministry of Science (Govt. of India). Dr. Prabhu actively organized several laboratory and field experiments to understand the effect of geosynthetics on flexible pavements. The laboratory test results were then used to calibrate and validate numerical models (in FEM) capable of capturing the pavement response. 

After an year’s experience at IISc, I joined The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) for my doctoral degree in 2016 where my dissertation was on the topic of “Mechanical Behavior of Sand subjected to Impact Loading” where During my doctoral studies, I had used the FEM package LS-DYNA and Discrete Element package PFC3D to model and understand the effect of water content and particle crushing in sand during high strain rates events (e.g., explosions, pile driving etc.). During my tenure at Penn State, I have been actively involved in projects funded by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Larson Transportation Institute (LTI). 

Through the years, I have also published several articles in internationally renowned journals and has also presented in international conferences. Due to my achievements in the field of geotechnical engineering, I was awarded several college level and national level scholarships including the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) fellowship and the ADSC-International Association of Foundation Drilling (IAFD) fellowship. 

Dr. Sudheer Prabhu is a Senior Staff Engineer base in Geosyntec’s Columbia, Maryland office. Dr Prabhu specializes in Numerical Methods and Constitutive modelling in geotechnical engineering and Geotechnical Instrumentation. During his tenure at Geosyntec Consultants, he has used several advanced software including PLAXIS and SLIDE to solve complex geotechnical problems including slope stability, consolidation and settlement. Dr. Prabhu is also involved in installing and analyzing geotechnical instrumentation data and has been involved in the geotechnical aspects of landfill design and permit application.

Dr. Prabhu received his Master’s degree in geotechnical engineering in 2015 from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Dr. Prabhu’s thesis was on the topic of “Laboratory and Numerical Analysis of Soil Liquefaction” which focused on liquefaction in loose and medium dense sands. During the Master’s studies, Dr. Prabhu tested several soil samples using advanced soil tests including triaxial tests, cyclic triaxial tests, bender element tests and resonant column tests. The laboratory test results were further used to calibrate advanced constitutive soil models used in geotechnical earthquake engineering in Finite Elements package PLAXIS and Finite Difference package FLAC. After his Master’s, Dr. Prabhu joined Indian Institute of Science as a Senior Research Fellow where he conducted several laboratory tests to understand the effect of geosynthetics on flexible pavements. Dr. Prabhu further used these laboratory test results to calibrate and validate several numerical models.

After an year at IISc, Dr. Prabhu joined Penn State for his doctoral degree in 2016. Dr. Prabhu’s dissertation was on the topic of “Mechanical Behavior of Sand subjected to Impact Loading”. Dr. Prabhu used the Finite Element package LS-DYNA and Discrete Element package PFC3D to understand the effect of water content and particle crushing in sand during high strain rates events including explosions. Dr. Prabhu designed and conducted several projects funded by PennDOT and Larson Transportation Institute. He is also the recipient of several college level and national level scholarships including the GSI fellowship and the ADSC fellowship.

Ph.D., Geotechnical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 2021

M.S., Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 2015

B.S., Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India, 2013