Chin Leo received his education at the University of Adelaide, University of Queensland and University of Sydney. He obtained his PhD from the University of Sydney in 1994 and is currently a Professor at the University of Western Sydney, Australia.
Early in his research career, he studied groundwater and contamination problems in soils. During this period, he developed several numerical models for contaminant migration in porous media. Since early 2000s, he has been involved in poromechanics research dealing with consolidation, sedimentation-consolidation of soft soils, tunnel closure, vibrations of piles and foundations embedded in porous media. He made research contributions in this area on the theoretical or computational side of continuum mechanics. Another area of his research deals with characterization and remediation of geomaterials, namely: EPS geofoam, red mud, high power ultrasound remediation of contaminated soils and characterization of compacted sites using unorthodox techniques, such as by microtremor measurements. In this area of research, his contributions are in relation to laboratory (triaxial, true triaxial, consolidation, high power ultrasonics etc), and field experimental work, including a significant computational component.
His research interest may be broadly summarised as follows:
- Poromechanics (including soft soils and constitutive models)
- Soil dynamics and foundations
- Characterization of geomaterials (in particular EPS geofoam and thermo-mechanical behaviour of clays)
- Groundwater and contamination problems in soil
- Remediation of contaminated soil
He has professional experience in design and supervision of infrastructure projects, including soil investigation, slope stability, deep excavations and geotechnical issues of soft soils. He has published over 80 journal publications and has led research projects funded by Australian Research Council, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, NSW Environmental Protection Authority and NSW Roads and Maritime Services.