Charles Wang Wai

NG

吳宏偉

PhD, University of Bristol

Biography

Professor Charles NG Wang-Wai is the Vice-President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) (HKUST(GZ)), overseeing graduate studies related affairs and all central research facilities on the GZ campus.

Prof. Ng is also the Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School, CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability and Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST, the Vice-President of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

Prof. Ng earned his PhD degree from the University of Bristol, the UK in 1993. After carrying out post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge between 1993 and 1995, he returned to Hong Kong and joined HKUST as Assistant Professor in 1995 and rose through the ranks to become Chair Professor in 2011. As a world authority on unsaturated soil mechanics and eco-geotechnical engineering, Prof. Ng is a Changjiang Scholar (Chair Professorship in Geotechnical Engineering), a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, the University of Cambridge. Prof. Ng has received numerous awards in China, including the 2002 Mao Yisheng Youth Award by the Chinese Institute of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, the 2007 Overseas Young Scholar Award by the National Science Foundation of China, the 2013 Scientific Advancement Technological Award (1st class) by the Ministry of Education, the 2015 Scientific Technological Advancement Award (2nd class) by the State Council of China, and the 2020 National Natural Science Award (2nd class) by the State Council of China. 

Internationally, Prof. Ng has also received many best paper awards including the Telford Premium Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), the Henry Adams Award from the Institution of Structural Engineers (UK), the first Tan Swan Beng Award from the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society, and the R. M. Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society three times. 

He is the Vice-Chairman of the Rock and Soil Mechanics Division of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, as well as a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. Currently, he is an Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. Prof. Ng was the elected President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering for the period from 2017 to 2022.

Research Projects

Green, Energy and Geo-environmental Engineering Projects

• Theme-based Project: Understanding debris flow mechanisms and mitigating risks for a sustainable Hong Kong (Theme-based/RGC)
• Performance of unsaturated earthen embankments subject to climate change: centrifuge and numerical modelling (GRF)
• Dissociation-induced deformation and instability of methane hydrate-bearing soils with various micro-structures (GRF/RGC)
• PCC 能量樁熱、力學工程特性及樁 - 土荷載傳遞機理研究 (A Fundamental Investigation of PCC Energy Pile and Load Transfer Mechanism) (NSFC)
• Performance of floating energy piled foundations in clay subjected to thermal cycles: three-dimensional centrifuge and numerical modelling (GRF/RGC)
• Hydro-mechanical behaviour of fine-grained soil contaminated by liquid hydrocarbon
• 填埋場植物 - 建築垃圾相互作用機理及生態覆蓋系統研發 (Vegetation-construction waste interaction and development of sustainable landfill cover) (NSFC)
• Hydro-mechanical behaviour of fine-grained soil contaminated by liquid hydrocarbon (GRF/RGC)
• Cyclic soil-root mechanical interaction for urban greening (GRF/RGC)

Material Behaviour and Fundamental Mechanisms

Cyclic thermo-mechanical behaviour of clay and sand with reference to energy piles (GRF/RGC)

Fundamental investigation of wetting-induced failure mechanisms of loess slopes (GRF/RGC)

Fundamental investigation of wetting-induced failure mechanisms of loess slopes (GRF/RGC)

Anisotropic stiffness of unsaturated soil under cyclic thermo-hydro-mechanical loads with principal stress rotations (GRF/RGC)

Centrifuge modelling of the influence of four types of fault movements on ground deformations

Soil-Structure Interaction Problems

Interaction among multiple circular and non-circular tunnels: three-dimensional centrifuge and numerical modelling (GRF/RGC)

Three-dimensional centrifuge modelling of multi-propped excavation on adjacent pile group and piled-raft foundation (GRF/RGC)

Experimental investigation of dynamics of granular flows obstructed by baffles using flume (GEO)

Centrifuge modelling for debris impact on flexible barrier (GEO)

Three-dimensional centrifuge modelling of tunnelling effects on pile groups in soft ground (GRF/RGC)

Three-dimensional centrifuge modelling of the effects of basement excavation on existing tunnels (GRF/RGC)
 

For other details of Professor Ng's research activities and accomplishments, please click this link.