Rate My Professor Mason Crumpton

Dr. Mason Crumpton is a Research Assistant in the School of Engineering at the University of Newcastle, Australia, within the Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical Science and Engineering and the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering with first-class honours and a Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering from the University of Newcastle. His PhD research centered on developing a highly efficient Adaptive Discontinuity Layout Optimisation (ADLO) computer program, utilizing novel mesh refinement techniques and optimisation algorithms to simulate collapse mechanisms in geostructures including footings, tunnels, and slopes. Subsequently, as a Research Associate in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment from March 2018 to April 2020, he contributed to advancing phase-field finite element technology for modeling fracture propagation through rock, aimed at analyzing underground openings and rock slopes.

Crumpton's research specializations include computational geomechanics, computational limit analysis, finite element method, geotechnical stability analysis, numerical modeling, and phase-field method. His Fields of Research are civil geotechnical engineering (40%) and numerical modelling and mechanical characterisation (60%). Key publications encompass the journal article 'A Shear Device with Controlled Boundary Conditions for Very Large Nonplanar Rock Discontinuities' (2022, Geotechnical Testing Journal, with Jeffery, Fityus, Huang, Giacomini, and Buzzi), conference papers such as 'Bearing capacity analysis of a strip footing on sand overlying clay using adaptive discontinuity layout optimization' (2019, with Sloan), 'Discontinuity layout optimization with adaptive node refinement' (2015, with Abbo and Sloan), and 'Upper Bound Rigid Block Analysis with rigid block subdivision' (2011, with Abbo, Podlich, Wilson, and Sloan), as well as reports 'User Friendly Computer Program for Modelling Fracture Induced Instabilities in Underground Mining Environments' (2023, with Kouretzis and Giacomini) and 'Modelling the onset of fracture-induced instabilities for underground mining operations' (2022, with Giacomini and Kouretzis). He served as investigator on two Australian Coal Research Limited grants totaling $401,170 in 2020 and 2022. Crumpton engages with the profession through the Newcastle Chapter of the Australian Geomechanics Society, where he was Chapter Chair and National Representative from 2016 to 2018 and is currently an elected local committee member.