Daniel Barreto

Background

About Daniel Barreto

Dr Barreto has over 20 years work experience in Geotechnical Engineering including analysis and design of foundations for marine structures, bridges, embankments, retaining structures and pavements. He also has significant experience in slope stability assessments, ground investigation and soil laboratory testing. Daniel has a very strong academic background, including 5 years (MSc & PhD) of experimental and numerical research on the behaviour of granular materials at Imperial College London. He is an expert in the use of the Distinct Element Method (DEM) in Geotechnical Engineering and his current research interests include particle size distribution and particle shape effects on granular material behaviour, as well as the use of AI and machine learning techniques to enhance DEM simulation. Having worked at Edinburgh Napier University since 2009, he teaches various undergraduate and postgraduate geotechnical modules. He is also the Lead of the Geomechanics Micro-to-Macro Research Group (GM2M - His research has been published extensively, and he is contributing author for the textbook "Geotechnical Engineering Design" published by Wiley in 2015. He is also UK member for the technical committee TC105 (Geomechanics micro to macro) of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and (Emeritus) member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland. Dr Barreto has been member of the Editorial Panel for Geotechnique, and Computers and Geotechnics, amongst others. Dr Barreto's research has been funded by Scottish Funding Council, the British Council, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, as well as several industrial partners. Currently Dr Barreto is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Leverhulme Trust (2023-2024). This Fellowship has enabled Dr Barreto to focus on research related to machine learning and DEM for the simulation of soils whilst providing funding for a replacement academic. Last but not least, Dr Barreto is the Action Chair of the Open Network on DEM Simulations This is a 4-year project funded by COST that provides approximately €600k to support networking activities amongst 200+ ON-DEM members from all European states, and a vast range of research fields, backgrounds and experience. ON-DEM aims to promote the industrial utilisation of open-source DEM codes and the scientific advances required for the next generation of DEM simulation of large-scale problems.