Dr Ryan Hoult at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.
A former Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC PhD student has traded in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula for the Swiss border as he conducts earthquake research abroad.
Dr Hoult sent some results of his research to A/Prof Katrin Beyer from the Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics Laboratory after he built a connection with her when she travelled to Melbourne in 2016.
“She [Katrin] said ‘the results look great’, and that she was working on a new project and wanted me to be the front man for it,” Dr Hoult says.
After studying numerical modelling through his PhD, Dr Hoult says he is looking forward to putting those skills to the test when he conducts experimental work at the Institute.
Dr Hoult has moved to Switzerland where he is enjoying the vast landscapes.
Seventeen researchers make up the earthquake engineering and structural dynamics group, where they are working in collaboration with South American universities to mitigate against earthquake risk.
“Their buildings codes are actually lacking over there quite surprisingly, considering they get a lot of earthquakes,” Dr Hoult says.
Many South American high rise buildings are built on small surface areas, and without appropriate reinforcement detailing these buildings can perform poorly during an unexpected earthquake, potentially leading to collapse.
Australia also has similar structured buildings to South America where there has been no testing conducted on their structure.
“There are actually some similarities between the South American structures we are looking at here, and the structures in Australia.
”The Australian concrete structures code [AS 3600] has allowed designers to detail reinforced concrete walls with a relatively low amount of reinforcement. This is designed for a relatively low earthquake return period, which has resulted in the reinforced concrete buildings of Australia to be vulnerable to a rare earthquake event,” Dr Hoult says.
The university is situated in Lausanne, just across from Lake Geneva, which forms the border between France and Switzerland.
“I wish I paid more attention during French class in high school to be honest,” said Dr Hoult.
Ryan says adjusting to the language barrier and being away from his family will be the hardest parts of living abroad but he is looking forward to the challenge and conducting research.