Dr. Sama specializes in geotechnical engineering, foundation analysis and design, and geotechnical earthquake engineering. His project experience includes landslide investigations, failure analysis and performance evaluation of foundations and retaining walls, and post-earthquake reconnaissance and assessment. His prior research has dealt with the numerical modeling of soil and rock behavior, and the characterization of localized failure patterns, such as faulting in rocks and slip surface formation behind slopes and earth-retaining structures. In addition, he has performed laboratory experiments seeking to understand the effects of specimen preparation, fines content, and stratification on the liquefaction behavior of sandy soils.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Sama was a research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He has served as instructor for soil mechanics laboratory courses and has assisted in the teaching of the fundamentals of geotechnical engineering, foundation engineering, and computational geomechanics.
Sama KM. Some stability characteristics of three-invariant plasticity models. GeoCongress 2006, Atlanta, GA, 2006 (Poster presentation with P.F. Sanz).
Borja RI, Sama KM, Sanz PF. On the numerical integration of three-invariant elastoplastic constitutive models. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 2003; 192(9–10):1227–1258.
Borja RI, Lin CH, Sama KM, Masada GM. Modeling non-linear ground response of non-liquefiable soils. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics 2000; 29:63–83.
Borja RI, Lai T, Regueiro R, Sama KM. Modeling strain localization in soil-nailed excavations. XI Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1999.
Amini F, Sama KM. Behavior of stratified sand-silt-gravel composites under seismic liquefaction conditions. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 1999; 18:445–455.
Amini F, Sama KM. Effect of sample preparation on the liquefaction behavior of layered sand-gravel mixtures. 11th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1998.