Lecturers

Jian-Hua Yin studied and graduated (Jan 1978 to Dec 1981) from Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering (later merged with Chongqing University) and Chongqing Institute of Communications (later renamed as Chongqing Jiaotong University) with a BEng in Port and Waterway Engineering in 1983. He received an MSc degree from Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984, and a PhD from The University of Manitoba, Canada in 1990. Dr Yin has a mix of industrial and academic experiences. After worked in consulting firms and a research center in Canada and Hong Kong, he joined Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 1995 as an Assistant Professor. He was a Chair Professor of Soil Mechanics of PolyU from 2013 to 2024. Currently, he is a Distinguished Research Professor of PolyU. He is Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering.

Professor Yin serves as a Vice-President of International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) (founded in USA) since 2005, a Co-Editor of International Journal of Geomechanics (ASCE). He received “Mao Yi-Sheng Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Youth Award” in 2000, “John Booker Medal” in 2008, “Chandra S. Desai Excellence Award” in 2011, and “Outstanding Contributions Medal” in 2017 from all IACMAG. He delivered the high-status 2011 “Huang Wenxi Lecture” in Chinese Mainland and the “4^th Distinguished Lecture” of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division of Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2024. He proposed firstly a non-linear rheology theory for soils in 1989-1990, from which one/three-dimensional (1D/3D) Elastic Visco-Plastic (EVP) models were developed. His 1D/3D EVP models and applications in consolidation analysis of soils by Yin and Graham (1996 published in Géotechnique) were considered a main milestone contribution in Geotechnique in last 60 years (1948–2008). His fully coupled numerical methods incorporating Yin and Graham’s EVP models and a simple method, i.e. a simplified Hypothesis B method, both for consolidation analysis/settlement calculation of soils have been adopted in “Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual” (5^th edition) (2023). His invention of a transducer for direct measurement of effective stress in saturated soil has solved “a centennially unsolved case” and was considered “an unprecedented achievement in the field of soil mechanics following Terzaghi’s seminal work”, cited from a Chief Editor’s Editorial of a journal “Smart Construction and Sustainable Cities” published by Springer Nature in 2023.

• Bachelor of Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong Institute
• Master of Science, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Manitoba

• Member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers