Jean-Louis Briaud, Ph.D., PE

Professor

Education

• Ph.D., Geotechnical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 1979
• M.S., Geotechnical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 1974

Short Biography

Dr. Briaud has worked on bridge scour for 30 years. He has worked on this topic with the Texas DOT and other State DOTs for 30 years and with NCHRP for 20 years. He is a geotechnical engineer with background knowledge in hydraulic and hydrology. Recognizing his limitations in those fields, he always teams up with experts in hydraulics and hydrology for projects. He was the principal investigator of the two NCHRP projects that developed simple but sound equations for predicting the pier, abutment, and contraction scour depths in cohesive soils. These equations are now an integral part of HEC-18. He has been a consultant on several large bridge scour and erosion projects such as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, the Katrina Hurricane-New Orleans levees erosion, and the Normandy cliffs under direct funding from the U.S. Congress.

Dr. Briaud's work has found its way into the current HEC-18 guidelines and in several other countries. The devices that he has developed to measure soil resistance to erosion are used worldwide (e.g., Korea, China, France), and the Briaud erosion classification is now used broadly to resolve problems, including in the courtroom. In an NCHRP project on soil erodibility, he is studying the erosion resistance of gravels as part of the work. His work products are guided by his father’s (a contractor) comment to his son that research should always be very useful to the client (the “So What” concept) and by Geoff Meyerhof’s comment to him that the work product should be simple (the “Too Complicated” concept). Useful and simple are the guiding principles of Dr. Briaud’s problem solving skills. His 40 years of research record show that he has accomplished this with reasonable success.