Dr. George Markou was born in Cyprus in 1979. During his studies at the NTUA (1999-2004), he managed to be the recipient of numerous academic awards and scholarships. After he completed his undergraduate studies with honors (2004), he was accepted into the Master of Science 2-year program (NTUA), which he managed to finish in 1 year (2005). In 2005, he was accepted as a Ph.D. candidate (NTUA) under the supervision of Prof. Manolis Papadrakakis in the field of computational mechanics. During his Ph.D. dissertation, Dr. Markou was the recipient of 2 scholarships and 1 research fund. In January 2009, he started working as a special staff at the Frederick University of Cyprus for the Civil Engineering Department, where he taught several courses. In January 2011, he received his Ph.D. title, while continued to work, as a special staff at the Frederick University and was also working as a Civil Engineering consultant.
Dr. Markou also worked as a Civil Engineer since 2004 and he is a registered Professional Engineer (Pr.Eng.) since 2009. As a Civil Engineer, Dr. Markou designed more than 30 projects, which mainly involved seismically resistant residential and commercial RC buildings with the use of the Cyprus, New Greek Earthquake Design Code and Eurocodes. In addition to that, he was also involved with the design of retaining walls, swimming pools and wooden roof systems.
As an academic, he worked as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the ALHOSN University in Abu Dhabi at the Civil Engineering Department for 6 years (2011–2017). He also worked as an Associate Professor at the Civil Engineering Department of the UCSC University in Chile and as a Research Visitor at the University Of Sheffield, UK in 2018. He joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria on the 1st of September 2018, where he is currently appointed as an Associate Professor in the division of Structures.
His research interests cover a large field of scientific subjects such as FEM software development, FRP material model development and modeling, seismic assessment of building and bridge reinforced concrete structures through numerical simulations, soil-structure interaction, modeling of fiber reinforced concrete, modeling of retrofitted structures, fluid-structure interaction, large-scale problems and parallel processing. Dr. Markou is also the software architect of the research finite element analysis software ReConAn FEA.
A summary of his publications can be found on his Researchgate and Google Scholar profiles.
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/
Advances in the Civil Engineering scientific field evolved very fast the last four decades due to the use of numerical methods in an attempt to accurately model and analyze the behavior of our structures. This ability was provided mainly through the use of the Finite Element Method which is considered to be one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. Furthermore, the development of new materials such as fibre reinforced polymers and their use in our structures increased the demand of numerically and experimentally investigating the mechanical behavior of our structures. Therefore, developing new design formulae through the use of state-of-the-art modeling is now a modern reality.
One of the main objectives of the research work performed and presented in the list below, aims towards the improvement of our build environment through the development of accurate algorithmic implementations that will provide objective and computationally efficient numerical models in order to develop safer structures and designs. Developing high performance and accurate algorithms that will provide the ability to study the mechanical behavior of our structures under ultimate limit state conditions, will allow the scientific community to derive answers and propose improved design methodologies for earthquake resistant structures or structures that use emerging materials. Furthermore, this technology can be used to assess the carrying capacity of existing structures thus providing us with the necessary tools in obtaining numerical results that will be computationally accurate and objective.
Since he was introduced for the first time to the “research world” (Sep. 2003), Dr. Markou managed to get involved in different scientific fields and work with numerous scientists from around the world. The list of his research interests is provided below:
It is undeniable that our world is heading towards a CAD-based design era that will one day utilize our engineers with the ability to enter the minimum required data within a software, whereas the corresponding software will provide within a few seconds the technical drawings, the environmental report, the cost estimation and the technical specifications that will make the under study structure a high quality product for the consumer. In addition to that, the development of software applications that will be able to assess any type of design that foresee the use of new immersed materials will also be something common in the not so far future. Finally, the assessment of the capacity of existing buildings through non-destructive tests and state-of-the-art nonlinear static/dynamic modeling is a research goal that will provide engineers with the ability to propose retrofitting techniques, technical interventions and form strategies towards developing a safer environment for our society.
Mastering these research challenges is of great importance and form some of the main research objectives of Dr. Markou’s work. Towards achieving these goals, the development of a strong international research team that will extend and enhance the pre-mentioned research work (M.Sc., PhD students, Post Docs and Research Assistants) has been the task of the last two years. If you are dynamic, enthusiastic and self-motivated individual that loves modeling or programming click here so as to communicate with me directly.
Markou, G. and Bakas P.N. (2021), Prediction of the Shear Capacity of Reinforced Concrete Slender Beams without Stirrups by Applying A.I. Algorithms, Computers and Concrete, Vol. 28, No. 6 (2021) 433-447.
Markou, G., Garcia, R., Mourlas, C., Guadagnini, M., Pilakoutas, K. and Papadrakakis, M. (2021), A New Damage Factor for Seismic Assessment of Deficient Bare and FRP-Retrofitted RC Structures, Engineering Structures, 248 (2021), 113152.
Markou, G. (2021), A New Method of Seismic Retrofitting Cost Analysis and Effectiveness for Reinforced Concrete Structures, Engineering Structures, 246 (2021), 113083.
Gravett, Z.D., Mourlas, C., Taljaard V.L., Bakas P.N., Markou, G. and Papadrakakis, M. (2021), New Fundamental Period Formulae for Soil-Reinforced Concrete Structures Interaction Using Machine Learning Algorithms and ANNs, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 144 (2021), 106656.
Gravett, Z.D. and Markou, G. (2021), State-of-the-art Investigation of Wind Turbine Structures Founded on Soft Clay by Considering the Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction Phenomenon – Optimization of Battered RC Piles, Engineering Structures, 235, 112013.
Markou G. and Roeloffze W. (2021), Finite Element Modelling of Plain and Reinforced Concrete Specimens with the Kotsovos and Pavlovic Material Model, Smeared Crack Approach and Fine Meshes, International Journal of Damage Mechanics, 2021;30(6):845-871, https://doi.org/10.1177/1056789520986601.
Mourlas, Ch., Khabele, N., Bark, H.A., Karamitros, D., Taddei, F., Markou, G. and Papadrakakis, M. (2020), The Effect of Soil-Structure Interaction on the Nonlinear Dynamic Response of Reinforced Concrete Structures, International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219455420410138.
Rosado‐Tamariz, E., Genco, F., Campos‐Amezcua, A., Markou, G. and Batres, R. (2020), Enhanced dynamic simulation approach towards the efficient mining thermal energy supply with improved operational flexibility, International Journal of Energy Research, https://doi.org/10.1002/er.6089.
Markou, G. and Genco, F. (2019), “Seismic Assessment of Small Modular Reactors: NuScale Case Study for the 8.8 Mw Earthquake in Chile”, Nuclear Engineering and Design, 342(2019), pp. 176-204.
Mourlas, C., Markou, G. and Papadrakakis, M. (2019), “Accurate and Computationally Efficient Nonlinear Static and Dynamic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures Considering Damage Factors”, Engineering Structures, 178 (2019), pp. 258–285.
Markou, G., Mourlas, C. and Papadrakakis, M. (2019), “A Hybrid Finite Element Model (HYMOD) for the Non-Linear 3D Cyclic Simulation of RC Structures”, International Journal of Computational Methods, 16(1), 1850125: 1-40.
Zelda Spijkerman, Nikolaos Bakas, George Markou and Manolis Papadrakakis, “Predicting the Shear Capacity of Reinforced Concrete Slender Beams Without Stirrups by Applying Artificial Intelligence Algorithms”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
Dewald Gravett and George Markou, “A New Parallel Algorithm for the Optimum Embedded Rebar Mesh Generation for Large-Scale Reinforced Concrete Structures”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
Vicky-Lee Taljaard, Dewald Z. Gravett, Christos Mourlas, Nikolaos Bakas, George Markou and Manolis Papadrakakis, “Development of a New Fundamental Period Formula by Considering Soil-Structure Interaction with the Use of Machine Learning Algorithms”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
Dewald Gravett and George Markou, “Investigation of Wind Turbine Structures Founded on Soft Clay – Optimization of Battered Piles”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
Nikolaos Bakas, George Markou, Dimos Charmpis and Kyriakos Hadjiyiannakou, “Performance and scalability of deep learning models trained on a hybrid supercomputer: Application in the prediction of the shear strength of reinforced concrete slender beams without stirrups”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
Nikolaos Bakas, Neofytos Christofi, John Bellos, Dimitrios Antoniou and George Markou, “Links of Aesthetic value of Multi-Curvature Artifacts, with their Structural Behavior, utilizing Machine Learning Algorithms”, COMPDYN 2021, 27-30 June 2021, Streamed from Athens, Greece.
(Plenary) Manolis Papadrakakis, Christos Mourlas and George Markou, “Seismic Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Structures based on State-of-the-art 3D Detailed Nonlinear Finite Element Simulations”, 3rd International Conference on Computational Engineering and Science for Safety and Environmental Problems, 8-11 December 2020, Kobe, Japan. https://www.compsafe2020.org/index.html
Mourlas, C., Gravett, D.Z., Markou, G., and Papadrakakis, M., “Investigation of the Soil Structure Interaction Effect on the Dynamic Behavior of Multistorey RC Buildings”, VIII International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, COUPLED PROBLEMS 2019, 3-5 June 2019, Sitges, Catalonia, Spain.
Markou, G., Mourlas, C., Garcia, R., Pilakoutas, K. and Papadrakakis, M., “Cyclic Nonlinear Modeling of Severely Damaged and Retrofitted Reinforced Concrete Structures”, COMPDYN 2019, 7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 24-26 June 2019, Crete, Greece.
Gravett, D.Z., Mourlas, C., Markou, G., and Papadrakakis, M., “Numerical Performance of a New Algorithm for Performing Modal Analysis of Full-Scale Reinforced Concrete Structures that are Discretized with the HYMOD Approach”, COMPDYN 2019, 7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 24-26 June 2019, Crete, Greece.
Mourlas, C., Markou, G., and Papadrakakis, M., “3D Detailed Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Frames Considering accumulated damage during static cyclic and dynamic analysis – new validation case studies”, COMPDYN 2019, 7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 24-26 June 2019, Crete, Greece.
| Duration, Funding Ag. and Funding | Title | Total Funding (€) | Role and Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 - 2005, (1 Year) Government funding (Greece). | Analysis of a Fluid Structure Interaction Problem with the Finite Element and Finite Volume Methods | Researcher in Computational Mechanics – Programming – Running Analysis. | |
| 2004 – 2005, (1 Year) Greek Aviation Industry | Fluid-Structure Interaction of a wing | Young Researcher | |
| 2008 - 2011, (3 Years) National Technical University of Athens. | Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures with the Finite Element Method | 21,690 | Young Researcher. Conduct the research project. |
| 2010 - 2011, (1 Year) Interserve Ltd - for MOD UK. | Seismic assessment of Reema Panel Buildings - Episcopi D- Block Pilot Study and Option Study | Analysis through FEA software. Simulation and modeling consulting. | |
| 2012-2018 (6 Years) – Ideas: The European Research Council (ERC) - FP7 | Mastering the computational challenges in numerical modeling and optimum design of CNT reinforced composites [MASTER] | 2,496,000 | Supervising the research work package titled Dynamic Analysis of Composite Materials with Dumping |
| 2015-2017, SECRETE, Erasmus Mundus, EU | Ph.D. Title: Development of Fragility Curves in Cyprus for RC Structures | 36,000 | Supervisor |
| 2019-2020, RDP, A1B553, University of Pretoria | Ph.D. Title: Reinforced Concrete Modelling and Design – Developing the state-of-the-art. | Leading Investigator | |
| 2021-2022, NRF South Africa | SMART R-INFRASTRUCTURE | 11,000 | Leading Investigator |
| 2021-2022, EuroCC (The Cyprus Institute) | Developing Design Formulae for Reinforced Concrete Structures Through the Use of Large-scale Simulations and AI Algorithms | 20,000 core hours | Leading Investigator |
Co-supervisor to the following BSc Thesis at the NTUA:
Co-supervisor to the following M.Sc. Thesis at the Frederick University of Cyprus:
Co-supervisor to the following M.Sc. Theses at the NTUA and AUS:
SAICE National Research Competition 2020 Award
Hussein Ali Bark receiving his 1st place price:
RC 5-storey models prior to failure. von Mises strain contour of (Left) initial framing system and (Right) retrofitted framing system:
If you are a self-motivated, dynamic and enthusiastic individual that has a passion for programming and/or modeling of structures through the use of numerical methods, and you are looking to work as a researcher under my supervision (M.Sc., Ph.D. or Post-Doc), then send me an email expressing your intensions. Please include your most recent CV and a short cover letter describing your major achievements during your undergrad and/or graduate studies (i.e. publications, technical reports, awards or any other academic or professional achievements). I will try to respond to your emails, but do understand that due to my increased professional obligations there is a chance that I will not always be able to respond on time.
The initial idea that led to the creation of ReConAn v1.0 Finite Element Analysis Program was to provide an Analysis Tool for Reinforced Concrete Structures, a program that would use state of the art Finite Element Technology combined with Computational Advanced Arithmetic Analysis methods. ReConAn v2.0 is now available and supports both 32 bit and 64 bit operating windows systems. The next version (v3.0) will be released soon and will integrate the latest developments such as dynamic analysis, FRP material models and other.
ReConAn is a general FEA program that is able to use several Finite Elements, Material Models and Solution Procedure. In addition to that, ReConAn has the ability to combine any Finite Element in a single FEM model, through kinematic compatibility equations.
It is well known that every FEA program consists of three different parts. The first and the third parts are those that deal with the visualization of the FE model and the results that the second part produces. For the creation and the visual representation of the FEA models, an interface was developed that gives ReConAn the ability to read all required FEA information from a neutral text type file that Femap v9.0+ produces.
Femap provides comprehensive functionality in an independent environment for modeling, simulation and review of product performance results. Geometry creation; Import or export of several file types; Meshing; User interface; Results; API.
ReConAn uses two post-processing programs. The first one is Femap, which provides all necessary post-processing tools that a FEA code should have, such as stress and strain contouring, virtual animation etc. The second post-processing program is ReConAn Eye which is encapsulated inside ReConAn main code structure. ReConAn Eye is based on pre-build OpenGL libraries f90gl. The need for the creation of a second post-processor lied within the inability of Femap to illustrate discontinuities (cracks). One of the material models that ReConAn includes in its material libraries, is that of the 3D smeared crack material model. The smeared crack approach gives the arithmetic ability of modeling materials that are dominated by crack phenomena such as concrete. Due to the fact that Femap cannot illustrate 3D cracks at a Finite Elements gauss point, the development of a visual tool that could do so was necessary. ReConAn Eye has the ability of 3D crack visualization in addition to its basic abilities (3D graphical FE model illustration, deformations - animation).
The generic code of ReConAn is written in the latest Fortran programming language and the development was done with the use of Microsoft Visual Studio.
ReConAn FEA has the following libraries:
Reconan Academic version which has no number node or element restrictions is available for download. The user manual is also available for download.
Video examples of Finite Element Models are available for download via Dropbox.
This software provides the user with the predictive tool for computing the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures with bare frames. The predictive model was trained to account for the geometry of the frame, the presence of shear walls, and the soil material properties. Therefore, the ability to account for the soil-structure interaction phenomenon is also available. The training was performed through the use of machine learning algorithms on a dataset that was generated through the use of Reconan FEA and 3D detailed modeling.
To download the free installation file of this software please click here.
Copyright © University of Pretoria 2024. All rights reserved.
Virtual Campus
Get Social With Us
Download the UP Mobile App