Remembering NJIT's Bruno Gonçalves da Silva, a Rising Leader in Geotechnical Engineering

The NJIT community is mourning the loss this month of Bruno Gonçalves da Silva, an esteemed assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who launched a new field of study for the university, energy geotechnology, which includes novel experimental investigations into the hydraulic fracturing of rocks.

In his Geo-Resources and Geotechnical Laboratory, Gonçalves da Silva and his team focused on reducing the environmental impact and maximizing the financial potential of geothermal, as well as oil and gas, production, and better predicting and mitigating geotechnical-related hazards, such as earthquakes, triggered by natural or man-made causes, particularly related to the stability of rock slopes and underground openings. He developed experimental and modeling methods to simulate fracturing under real-world stress conditions.

“The passing of Dr. Gonçalves da Silva is a great loss not only to his family, friends, colleagues and students, but also to the discipline wherein he was increasingly recognized as a rising leader,” said Taha Marhaba, chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “He will be dearly missed.”

Gonçalves da Silva joined NJIT after earning a Ph.D. from MIT, where he studied fracture mechanics in rock and rock-like materials. Earlier, while pursuing a master’s degree, also at MIT, he focused on initiating and propagating fractures using numerical models. Before his graduate studies, he worked in private industry for nearly five years, as a geotechnical engineer at Arup, the global engineering and consulting firm, as a structural engineer in Portugal and the United Kingdom, and in highway design in Denmark.

Gonçalves da Silva was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant his first year at NJIT. He was ultimately the principal investigator on two NSF grants and another sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation – University Transportation Center Program.

Just over three years ago, a device he designed to study the fracturing processes of rock under real-world field stress conditions was the first scientific instrument fabricated in the newly opened Makerspace at NJIT. A goal of the device and related research was to explore the possibility of tapping the potentially limitless supply of renewable, carbon-free energy within the Earth’s crust that is buried under thick layers of crystalline rock. So far, success in harnessing the Earth’s own heat has been mostly limited to tapping the boiling hot water that bubbles up with little prompting close to the surface.

“The main challenge is to tap into deeper and less fractured hot rocks. This would make geothermal energy accessible in many more locations across the world. In order to achieve this goal, we need to fracture the rock in order to increase its permeability,” Gonçalves da Silva said at the time, noting his previous work as a doctoral student at MIT with a team of researchers who contended the U.S. alone could produce 100,000 megawatts of power within the next 50 years from what is called enhanced geothermal systems.

But engineers must first figure out, he aded, how to create networks of interconnected fractures that will increase the permeability of the crystalline rock without causing major earthquakes during the hydraulic fracturing operations. His device allowed him to independently apply stresses in three directions (one vertical and two horizontal) and to simultaneously monitor the fracturing visually and through acoustic emissions.

In addition to fracture mechanics in rock, he also studied the physical mechanisms involved in thermally-induced spalling, meaning the rupture or fragmentation, of concrete. These explorations are particularly relevant to the development of new construction and the design of materials that can be used to create resilient, fire-resistant tunnels. In one of his transportation projects, he worked on determining how fires spread in tunnels, as well as methods to maintain structural integrity when they occur.

“Bruno was hired five years ago to develop a new energy geotechnology program at NJIT, as he had done excellent research on the topic at MIT,” recalled Jay Meegoda, a professor of environmental engineering who also focuses on geotechnology. “Bruno worked very hard and received National Science Foundation funding to continue his research. His untimely death is a big loss for NJIT, Newark College of Engineering and our department.”

He was also a beloved mentor.

During his time at NJIT, Gonçalves da Silva taught undergraduate foundations engineering design, graduate advanced foundations engineering and rock mechanics courses. He helped students to develop problem-solving skills through innovative project-based assignments. Besides his applications of computing in the classroom, he integrated his industrial experiences into his classes to help students understand the practical applications of theories.

“He brought me here, and he was like a father to me in the United States,” recounted Catarina Baptista Pereira, one of his graduate students and, like him, a native of Portugal who shared his interest in both rock fracture mechanics and energy-related geotechnical engineering. “I’m very glad I was chosen by him – the amount of knowledge he gave us was incredible.”