About Dr. Viau
Biography
Christian Viau, Ph.D., P.Eng. is an Assistant Professor of Structural Engineering at the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering of Carleton University. His expertise lies in timber engineering, where he studies the response of timber structures, assemblies, elements, and connections when subjected to blast explosions, earthquakes, impacts, and other hazardous loads.
He is a voting member of the CSA S850 Technical Committee on Blast Resistant Buildings, a subcommittee member of the CSA O86 Technical Committee on Engineering Design in Wood, and subcommittee member of the CSA S6 Technical Committee for the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code. Was was an active participant of the European Union COST Action CA20139 “Holistic design of taller timber buildings” and also served as Vice-Chair of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Wood Structures Committee.
Dr. Viau serves on the Senate Academic Governance Committee (SAGC) and has served on the Carleton University Senate and Senate Executive Committee. He is a Vice-Chair of the Faculty of Engineering & Design EDI Council and is a full member of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Prior to joining Carleton, Dr. Viau was an Assistant Professor of Structural Engineering at the Dept. of Civil Engineering of the Royal Military College of Canada. Before this, he was a part-time professor at the Dept. of Civil Engineering of the University of Ottawa, where he received his Bachelor’s of Applied Science, Master’s of Applied Science, and Ph.D. During his free time, Dr. Viau enjoys running, staying active, and enjoying the sights and sounds of Ottawa, his hometown.
Current Research Interests
- Mass-timber structural components and systems
- Finite-element modelling of wood structural members (e.g. ABAQUS, LS-DYNA)
- Timber connections
- Behaviour of mass-timber structures under impacts and blast loads
- Behaviour of masonry walls under impact loads
- Behaviour of mass-timber assemblies subjected to earthquakes
- Multi-hazard design framework (e.g. fire and blast) for the built infrastructure