Yuderka Trinidad

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Dr. Trinidad is an assistant professor in geotechnical engineering at Iowa State University, teaching courses related to numerical methods, foundations, and introduction to geotechnical engineering.  Before coming to Iowa State, she worked for seven years as a bridge engineer and was as a researcher at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. In the U.K, she supported the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded program ACHILLES: Assessment, Costing, and Enhancement of Long-Life, Long-Linear Assets. The Program focused on investigating the deterioration of long-linear infrastructure assets (road and rail embankments and cuttings) to improve their long-term performance. The project was a collaboration of five academic institutions (Newcastle, Durham, Loughborough, Leeds, Southampton), the British Geological Survey, and an Expert Advisory Board of United Kingdom (UK) infrastructure owners and their consultants. In April 2023, she became an affiliated lecturer for the mechanics of material, structures, and their environment, and fluid mechanics modules of the Engineering Mechanics master’s degree of the CALIOPE program. The program is a dual collaboration between the Dominican Republic Ministry of higher education and the government of France. Dr. Trinidad’s research interests revolve around the integration of advanced statistical theories with geotechnical analyses such as progressive failure of clay embankments, long-term degradation of dams, analysis and design of pile-reinforced slopes, hazard mitigation, risk assessments of slope stability, and soft soil engineering and predictions.

Education 

PhD, Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering (Minor in Statistics), Iowa State University, 2020 

MS, Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University, 2017

BS, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, 2009

Interest Areas 

• Risk assessment of slope stability
• Heterogeneity and uncertainty
• Probabilistic characterization of geomaterials
• Geotechnical asset management
• Experimental design and FSS
• Laboratory testing optimization
• Numerical modeling

Publications

Briggs, K., Trinidad González, Y., Powrie, W., Butler, S., Sartain, N. (2024). “Quantifying CPT cone factors in clays derived from weathered mudstone”. Quarterly Journal of engineering geology and hydrogeology.

Briggs, K., Trinidad Gonzalez, Y., Morsy, A., Smith, A., Hamalawi, A., Blake, A., Smethurst, J., Helm, P., Glendinning, S. (2023). The seasonal ratcheting of clay cut slopes in response to seasonal weather cycles: Geo-Resilience Conference Proceedings, Cardiff, UK, 28-29 Mar 2023.

Trinidad González, Y., Briggs, K., Glendinning, S. (2023). “Evaluating the likelihood of slope failure in ageing earthworks using Bayesian updating”. Infrastructure Asset Management. https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.23.00005

Trinidad González, Y., Briggs, K., Powrie, W., Butler, S., Sartain, N. (2022) The Spatial Variability of the Cone Tip Resistance of Weathered Mudstone Profiles from CPT testing: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium for Geotechnical Safety & Risk (ISGSR 2022), Newcastle, Australia, Dec. 14-16, 2022.

Trinidad González, Y., Briggs, K. & Schaefer, V. (2022). Slope Failure Prediction Combining Limit Equilibrium, Case Histories, and Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method: CGS Geohazards 8 conference proceedings, Quebec, Canada. Jun 12-15, 2022.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., and Rollins, D. K. (2022). Prediction of Slope Failure Through Integrating Statistical Design of Experiments and Artificial Neural Networks: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium for Geotechnical Safety & Risk (ISGSR 2022), Newcastle, Australia, Dec. 14-16, 2022.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., and Rollins, D. K. (2021). “Assessing Diagnostic Error of Factors of Safety of Slopes Applying Bayesian Inference”. International Journal of Geomechanics, 21(11), 04021203.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., and Rollins, D. K. (2021). “Statistical insights regarding fully softened shear strength.” Geotechnical and Geological Engineering.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., and Rollins, D. K. (2020). “Statistical assessment of factor of safety for pile-reinforced slopes.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 146(9). 

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., & Rollins, D. K (2021). Factors Controlling the Fully Softened Shear Strength: A Statistical Assessment.: Proceedings of the technical sessions of the international foundations congress & equipment expo ASCE, Dallas, Texas, May 10-14, 2021.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R., & Rollins, D. K (2021). Applications of Statistical Design of Experiments to Study the Factor of Safety of Unreinforced Slopes: Proceedings of the technical sessions of the international foundations congress & equipment expo ASCE, Dallas, Texas, May 10-14, 2021.

Trinidad González, Y., Schaefer, V. R. (2021). Case History-Based Comparative Analysis of Coupled and Uncoupled Approaches for Pile-Reinforced Slopes: Proceedings of the technical sessions of the international foundations congress & equipment expo ASCE, Dallas, Texas, May 10-14, 2021

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