Dr Mian Xie

I am a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at London South Bank University (LSBU). I joined LSBU in 2025, having previously taught at University College London (UCL) as an Associate Lecturer in Mathematical Modelling & Analysis II for second-year civil engineering students. I am currently the module leader for Advanced Mathematics and Materials & Geology.

My academic background is in civil engineering, computational mechanics, geotechnical engineering and earthquake engineering. I completed my PhD in Civil Engineering at UCL, where my research focused on developing advanced numerical methods for modelling landslides, soil–water interaction and large deformation geotechnical problems. I also hold an MSc in Earthquake Engineering with Disaster Management from UCL and a BEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham.

My teaching is informed by both research and engineering practice. Before entering academia, I worked as a Graduate Engineer at Tony Gee and Partners in Hong Kong, contributing to structural modelling, design and retrofitting projects including Hong Kong Airport Terminal 2 and Yau Ma Tei Police Station. I am particularly interested in helping students connect mathematical theory, material behaviour and geotechnical processes with real civil engineering challenges.

My research focuses on computational geomechanics, large-deformation modelling and the assessment of geohazards, particularly landslides, liquefaction, soil–water interaction and landslide-generated waves.

I develop advanced numerical methods for simulating the complete evolution of a landslide, from its initiation under earthquake or rainfall loading, through large-deformation movement, to its interaction with rivers, reservoirs or coastal waters. This enables the assessment of both the primary landslide hazard and secondary consequences such as wave generation, tsunami propagation and coastal inundation.

A central theme of my work is the Material Point Method, a computational approach well suited to problems involving extreme deformation and complex interactions between soil and water. My research has contributed stabilised formulations, B-spline implementations, modified F-bar techniques, advanced constitutive modelling and semi-implicit two-phase methods. Together, these developments improve the accuracy and computational efficiency of simulations involving landslides, liquefaction, seepage, free-surface flow and intense soil–water interaction.

My work has applications in coastal and environmental resilience. In particular, the numerical framework can be used to investigate landslide-generated tsunamis, coastal slope failure and the vulnerability of infrastructure under extreme wave loading. It also provides a basis for examining how higher sea levels may influence coastal inundation, increase exposure to wave hazards and affect the resilience of coastal communities and infrastructure.

At LSBU, this research connects with work on Environmental Resilience and Coastal Futures, including climate adaptation, coastal resilience and sustainable infrastructure. My expertise in coupled soil–water modelling can support interdisciplinary research that combines numerical simulation with experimental data, field observations and emerging AI-assisted approaches.

The wider practical applications of my research include slope-stability assessment, dam safety, offshore and coastal infrastructure, hazard zoning, disaster-risk reduction and infrastructure planning in landslide-prone regions. I am also interested in developing accessible and open computational tools that can support both academic research and professional engineering practice.

Advanced Mathematics

Materials & Geology

Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics

Module Leader for BEA_5_415 Advanced Mathematics (Sep 2025 – Present)

Module Leader for BEA_4_529 Materials and Geology A (Sep 2025 – Present)

Module Leader for BEA_4_531 Materials and Geology C (Sep 2025 – Present)

Co-Investigator, “Validation of a stabilised, semi-implicit MPM-coupled model using experimental landslide data from Chengdu University of Technology,” State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection Open Fund, Project SKLGP2025K001, May 2025–April 2028.

• Responsible for numerical modelling and contributing to an international collaborative project validating advanced Material Point Method formulations using experimental landslide data from Chengdu University of Technology.
• The project received RMB 80,000 to support research collaboration, experimental work and research visits.