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Denis Mitchell

Title: 
Emeritus Distinguished James McGill Professor
Academic title(s): 

Eng, Ph.D.

 

Denis Mitchell
Contact Information
Email address: 
denis.mitchell [at] mcgill.ca
Degree(s): 

B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
 

Areas of expertise: 

Behaviour and design of concrete structures

 

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

2000-Present

  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Gzowski Medal, June 2002
  • CSA-International, 2002 Award of Merit, June 2002
  • Chair appointment, “James McGill Professor”, McGill University, January 2004
  • Elected Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, March 2004
  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Gzowski Medal, June 2004
  • Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, November 2004
  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, A.B. Sanderson Award, June 2005
  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, National Lecture Tour - The Collapse of the Concorde Bridge, Sept/Oct 2008
  • Institution of Structural Engineers, Henry Adams Award, June 2009
  • Dedicated Service Award, from CSA Standards Association, April 2011
  • Faculty of Engineering, McGill University "Research Excellence Award", May 2011
  • Induction into "Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction", University of Toronto, November 2011
  • American Concrete Institute, Design Award, March 2012
  • American Society of Civil Engineers, Outstanding Paper Award, “The Concorde Overpass Collapse”, Sept. 2012.
  • Concrete Institute of Australia, “Shear Design and Evaluation of Concrete Structures”, National Lecture Series, March 2014.
  • American Concrete Institute, Design Award, “Two-Way Slab Parking Structures in Canada – Multiple Factors Can Affect Service Lifeand Safety”, April 2015.
  • Elected Fellow of The Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), presented in London, February 2016.
  • Appointed “Distinguished James McGill Professor”, McGill University, May 2019.
  • Elected Fellow of the Euro Academy of Science, December 2019.

     

1976-1999

  • American Concrete Institute's Raymond C. Reese Structural Research Medal, April 1976
  • American Concrete Institute's Reese Structural Research Award, February 1981
  • Prestressed Concrete Institute's Martin P. Korn Award, October 1981
  • Elected Fellow of the American Concrete Institute in 1981
  • American Society of Civil Engineers' T.Y. Lin Award, October 1982
  • Engineering Class of '51 Award for Outstanding Teaching, Faculty of Engineering, 1987
  • American Society of Civil Engineers' T.Y. Lin Award, October 1987
  • Elected Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, 1987
  • Minister of State (Science and Technology), Networks of Centres of Excellence competition award for research on "High Performance Concrete," November 1989
  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Gzowski Medal, May 1992
  • American Society of Civil Engineers' 1996 Moisseiff Award, April 1996
  • American Concrete Institute’s Structural Research Award March 1998
  • Chair appointment “The William Scott Professor of Civil Engineering”, McGill University January 1999
  • Elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, April, 1999


     
Selected publications: 

2012

  • Tehrani, P. and Mitchell, D. "Effects of Different Column Heights on the Seismic Response of Bridges in the Transverse Direction", Can. J. Civil Eng., in press, 2012.
  • Habibi, F., Redl, E., Egberts, M., Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. “Assessment of CSA A23.3 Structural Integrity Requirements for Two-Way Slabs”, Can. J. Civil Eng., in press, 2012.
  • Layssi, H, Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. "Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Poorly Detailed Shear Walls", ASCE J. of Composites for Construction, in press, 2012.
  • Aoude, H., Belghiti, M., Cook, W.D., Mitchell, D. “Response of SFRC Beams with and without Stirrups”, ACI Structural Journal, in press, 2012.
  • Yang, J-M., Lee, J.H., Yoon, Y-S., Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. “Influence of Steel Fibers and Headed Bars on the Serviceability of High-Strength Concrete Corbels”, ASCE Structural J., in press, 2012.
  • Tehrani, P. and Mitchell, D. "Seismic Response of Bridges Subjected to Different Earthquake Types Using IDA", Journal of Earthquake Eng., submitted, Jan., 2012.

2011

  • Mitchell, D., Marchand, J., Croteau, P. and Cook, W.D. “The Concorde Overpass Collapse – Structural Aspects”, ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Nov/Dec., 2011, pp. 545-553.
  • Layssi, H, Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. "Seismic Retrofit and Repair of Deficient Concrete Shear Walls", ASCE, J. of Composites for Construction, submitted Dec. 2011.
  • Tehrani, P., Goda, K., Mitchell, D., Atkinson, G.M. and Chouinard, L.E. “Seismic Performance of Bridges on South-Western British Columbia”, J. of Earthquake Eng. and Structural Dynamics”, submitted Mar. 2011.
  • Mitchell, D., Huffman, S., Tremblay, R., Saatcioglu, M., Palermo, D., Tinawi, R. and Lau, D. “Damage to Bridges due to the February 27, 2010 Chile Earthquake”, submitted to Can. J. Civil Eng., July, 2011.
  • Tremblay, R., Mitchell, D. and Tinawi, R. “Damage to Industrial Structures due to the February 27, 2010 Chile Earthquake”, submitted to Can. J. Civil Eng., submitted, Nov., 2011

2010

  • Adebar, P., Bazargani, P., Mutrie, J., and Mitchell, D. “Safety of Gravity-Load Columns in Shear Wall Buildings Designed to Canadian Standard A23.3”, Can. J. Civil Engineering, V 37 N. 11, November 2010, pp. 1451-1461.
  • Mitchell, D., Cook, W.D. and Peng, T. “Chapter 14 – Importance of Detailing”, ACI SP -273, Further Examples for the Design of Structural Concrete with Strut-and-Tie Models, October 2010, pp. 237-252.
  • Mitchell, D., Paultre, P., Tinawi, R., Saatcioglu, M., Tremblay, R. and Elwood, K. “Evolution of Seismic Design Codes in the National Building Code of Canada”, Can. J. Civil Engineering, V. 37, N9, September 2010, pp. 1201-1211.
  • Yang, J-M., Yoon, Y-S., Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. “Punching Shear Behavior of Two-Way Slabs Reinforced with High-Strength Steel”, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 107, No. 4, July/Aug 2010, pp. 468-475.
  • Lee, J.-H., Yoon, Y.-S., Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. "Improving Punching Shear Behavior of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Reinforced Slabs," ACI Structural Journal, Vol 106, No 4, July-August 2009, pp. 427- 434.

2009

  • Lee, J.-H., Yoon, Y.-S., Cook, W.D. and Mitchell, D. "Improving Punching Shear Behavior of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Reinforced Slabs," ACI Structural Journal, Vol 106, No 4, July-August 2009, pp. 427- 434.
  • Paultre, P. and Mitchell, D. “Background to Seismic Design Provisions in CSA A23.3-04 for High-Strength Concrete”, Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 36, 2009, pp. 565-579.
  • Aoude, H, Mitchell, D. and Cook, W.D. “Behavior of Columns Constructed with Fibers and Self-Consolidating Concrete”, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 106, S34, May/June 2009, 9 p.
  • Aoude, H., Cook, W. and Mitchell, D. “Influence of Fibres in Improving Core Confinement and Cover Contribution in Columns”, Paper GC-069, Proceedings CSCE Annual General Conference, St. Johns, Newfoundland, May 27-30, 2009, 10 p.

2008

  • Collins, M.P., Mitchell, D. and Bentz, E.C. “Shear Design of Concrete Structures”, The Structural Engineer, Vol. 86, No. 10, May 2008, pp. 32-39.
  • Lee, J.H., Yoon, Y.S., Lee, S.H., Cook, W.D., Mitchell, D. “Enhancing the Performance of Slab-Column Connections”, ASCE Structural Journal, March 2008, 448-457.
  • Bentur, A. and Mitchell, D. “Materials Performance Lessons”, Journal of Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 38, No. 2, February, 2008, pp. 259-272.
  • Aoude, H., Beghiti, M. and Mitchell, D. “Predicting the Shear Resistance of SFRC Beams”, Paper GC-623-1, Proceedings CSCE Annual General Conference, Québec, QC, June 10-13, 2008, 7 p

2007

  • Abrishami, H.H., Elgohary, M., Mitchell, D. Bickley, J.A., Hooton, R.D. and Cook, W.D. “Implementation of Continuous-Cast Concrete Base Slab for Future CANDU NPP”, Transactions of International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Toronto, Aug 2007, Paper #H01/5, 8 p
  • Lee, J.H., Yoon, Y.S., Cook, W.D., Mitchell, D. “Benefits of Using Puddled HSC with Fibers in Slabs to Transmit HSC Column Loads”, ASCE Structural Journal, V. 133, N. 12, Dec 2007, 1843-1847.
  • Aoude, H., Cook, W. and Mitchell, D. ”Innovative Structural applications using SCC and SFRC, Recent Advances in Concrete Technology (RAC07), Washington, USA, September 19-21 2007, pp 565-572.
  • Aoude, H., Mitchell, D. and Cook, W. “Axial load response of columns containing SCC and steel fibres”, Proceedings of Fifth International RILEM Symposium on Self-Compacting Concrete, Ghent, Belgium, September 3-5 2007, pp 619-624.

2006

  • Tremblay, R. and Mitchell, D. “Collapse During Construction of a Precast Girder Bridge”, ASCE Journal of performance of Constructed Facilities, V. 19, N. 2, May, 2006, pp. 259-272.

     
Projects: 
  • Heavily involved with development of codes both nationally and internationally
  • Consulting and experience as an expert witness on projects such as the Montreal Olympic Stadium tower and roof structures, theVancouver Rapid Transit structures, the Algerian National Monument Tower, evaluation of cracking in a large concrete dam, seismicevaluation and retrofit of two precast concrete structures, evaluation of large bridge pier and cap beam showing signs of distress,seismic evaluation of two multi-storey shear wall buildings, and the evaluation of the collapses (silo, Souvenir Bridge, Concorde Bridgeand a parking garage slab structure)

     
Areas of interest: 
  • Behaviour of high-strength concrete components subjected to reversed cyclic loading
  • Exploring innovative techniques for seismic retrofit of bridges and buildings
  • Use of high-strength concrete in bridge and slab structures
  • Development of code requirements for concrete design and the seismic design of buildings and bridges

     
Professional activities: 
  • Chair of Canadian Standards Association Committee A23.3, responsible for the Standard for the Design of Concrete Structures
  • Chair of Sub-Committee on Seismic Design of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code
  • Chair of Subcommittee on Design Provisions of Canadian National Committee on Earthquake Engineering
  • Member of Standing Committee on Structural Design for the National Building Code of Canada
  • Member of American Concrete Institute and American Society of Civil Engineers Committee 445, Shear and Torsion
  • Member of Canadian Standards Association Committee on Repair of Concrete Buildings
  • Member of Canadian Standards Association Steering Committee on Structures (Design)
  • Member of Committee 318B - Building Code Committee of American Concrete Institute
  • Member of Committee 318G - Prestressed Concrete Code Committee of American Concrete Institute
  • Member and former Chair of American Concrete Institute Committee 408, Development of Reinforcement
  • Canadian Delegate to ISO Technical Committee TC71 on Concrete, Reinforcement Concrete and Prestressed Concrete.
  • Canadian Delegate to Fédération Internationale du Béton, Commission 7 on Seismic Design.
  • Program Leader of the Canadian Seismic Research Network
  • Member of Board of Directors of the American Concrete Institute

     
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