Matiyas A. Bezabeh
Ph.D.
Professor Bezabeh specializes in the evaluation and design of timber and timber-hybrid structures for earthquakes and strong winds. Prior to joining McGill, he worked as a Scientist/Technical Coordinator at Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin (RWDI) Inc. At RWDI, he coordinated the technical teams tasked with finding solutions to challenges linked to the wind design of tall and complicated buildings. These solutions involved wind tunnel testing and dynamic structural analysis. He received his Ph.D. and M.A.Sc. from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, in 2021 and 2014, respectively. He developed a displacement-based seismic design guideline for a novel steel-timber hybrid structure as part of his M.A.Sc. project at UBC, which was funded by the NewBuilds network initiative. He spent four years as a visiting research student at Western University (UWO) and conducted numerous wind tunnel studies at Western's WindEEE Dome and Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL). His doctoral work developed new performance-based wind design frameworks for tall buildings. The frameworks are included in the new Modeling Guide for Timber Structures and the second edition of Canada's Technical Guide for the Design and Construction of Tall Wood Buildings published by FPInnovations. He also spent a semester at Kyoto University developing closed-form solutions for the seismic response of self-centering structural systems through the Mitacs-JSPS Fellowship. At the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE), he received the Young Scientist Excellence Award in 2018. He is currently a member of the ASCE's Performance-Based Wind Engineering Task Committee of the SEI Technical Activities Division.
Professor Bezabeh's research focuses on promoting resilient and sustainable urban development through tall timber buildings. In particular, he is interested in performance-based wind and seismic design of tall timber and hybrid buildings, seismic risk assessment of mass timber buildings, self-centering systems, uncertainty modeling and propagation, aeroelastic instability of structures, wind directionality, hybrid aeroelastic wind tunnel testing, the inelastic response of tall buildings with supplemental damping systems, and near-collapse behavior of structures subjected to strong non-synoptic wind systems.
- Ph.D., The University of British Columbia (2021)
- M.A.Sc., The University of British Columbia (2014)
- BSc., Addis Ababa University (2011)
- Timber structures
- Wind engineering
- Seismic design
- Performance-based wind design (PBWD)
- Nonlinear dynamic analysis
- Performance-based seismic design
- Experimental techniques in wind and earthquake engineering
- Young Scientist Excellence Award, World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE), 2018
- Mitacs Accelerated Ph.D. Fellowship, 2016-2019
- Mitacs-JSPS Fellowship, 2018
- University Graduate Fellowship, The University of British Columbia, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., & Tesfamariam, S. (2021). Nonlinear dynamic response of single-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to along-wind loads. II: Implications for structural reliability. Journal of Structural Engineering, 147(11), 04021178.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., & Tesfamariam, S. (2021). Nonlinear dynamic response of single-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to along-wind loads. I: Parametric study. Journal of Structural Engineering, 147(11), 04021177.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., Popovski, M., & Tesfamariam, S. (2020). Dynamic response of tall mass-timber buildings to wind excitation. Journal of Structural Engineering, 146(10), 04020199.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., & Tesfamariam, S. (2020). Performance-based wind design of tall buildings: Concepts, frameworks, and opportunities. Wind Struct, 31(2), 103-142.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Gairola, A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., Popovski, M., & Tesfamariam, S. (2018). Structural performance of multi-story mass-timber buildings under tornado-like wind field. Engineering Structures, 177, 519-539.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., Popovski, M., & Tesfamariam, S. (2018). Probabilistic serviceability-performance assessment of tall mass-timber buildings subjected to stochastic wind loads: Part I-structural design and wind tunnel testing. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 181, 85-103.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Bitsuamlak, G. T., Popovski, M., & Tesfamariam, S. (2018). Probabilistic serviceability-performance assessment of tall mass-timber buildings subjected to stochastic wind loads: Part II-structural reliability analysis. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 181, 112-125.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Tesfamariam, S., Popovski, M., Goda, K., & Stiemer, S. F. (2017). Seismic base shear modification factors for timber-steel hybrid structure: collapse risk assessment approach. Journal of Structural Engineering, 143(10), 04017136.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Tesfamariam, S., Stiemer, S. F., Popovski, M., & Karacabeyli, E. (2016). Direct displacement-based design of a novel hybrid structure: Steel moment-resisting frames with cross-laminated timber infill walls. Earthquake Spectra, 32(3), 1565-1585.
- Bezabeh, M. A., Tesfamariam, S., & Stiemer, S. F. (2016). Equivalent viscous damping for steel moment-resisting frames with cross-laminated timber infill walls. Journal of Structural Engineering, 142(1), 04015080.
- Performance-based wind design (PBWD) of tall buildings
- Seismic collapse risk assessment of mass-timber and hybrid buildings
- Probabilistic displacement-based design of mass-timber buildings
- Mitigation of excessive wind-induced motions in tall mass-timber buildings
- Nonlinear dynamic response of wind-excited tall buildings
- Experimental techniques in wind and earthquake engineering
- Uncertainty modeling and propagation
- Aeroelastic instability of structures
- Inelastic response of tall buildings with supplemental damping systems
- Near-collapse behavior and collapse mechanism of tall buildings under earthquake and extreme wind loads
- Editorial board member of the International Journal of Earthquake and Impact Engineering.
- Member of the ASCE Performance-Based Wind Engineering Committee of SEI Technical Activities Division.
- Member of the working groups 2 and 3, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action CA20139, Holistic Design of Taller Timber Buildings (HELEN).
- Member of the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee D07 (Wood) and E06 (Performance of Buildings).
- Mentor for Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology PhD (IBET-PhD) project.