James M. Tinjum, Ph.D., P.E.

Assistant Professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Primary Address:
833 Extension Building
432 North Lake Street
Madison, WI 53706-1498

Secondary Address:
2214 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1691

Tel: 608/262-0785
tinjum@epd.engr.wisc.edu

Program Affiliations

- Engineering Professional Development
- Geological Engineering
- Civil and Environmental Engineering


Education and Certification

- BS (1993), University of Wisconsin
- MS (1995), University of Wisconsin
- PhD (2006), University of Wisconsin

Fields of Interest

- energy geotechnics
- unsaturated soil mechanics
- continuing geotechnical engineering education
- stabilization and remediation of metal-contaminated material
- beneficial use of industrial byproducts
- rail substructure material testing and modelling

Selected Awards and Honors

- Dwight D. Eisenhower Research Fellow (2002-2005)
- Severson Geotechnical Award, UW-Madison Geo Engineering Program (2004)
- Southwest Branch (Wisconsin Section) - President (2002/03)
- ASCE Zone III Practitioner Advisor of the Year (2003)
- ASCE Wisconsin Section Outstanding Young Engineer (2002)
- Large Project Engineering Achievement Award-ASCE Wisconsin Section (2002)
- United Engineering Foundation Fellow for Soft Ground Technology Conf. (2000)

Typical Consulting Projects

- Dynamic Slope Stability for Flyash Landfill Closure in Seismic Zone, St. Louis (MO)
- Soft Ground Foundation Review and Expert Opinion/Litigation, Crystal Lake (IL)
- Foundry Byproduct Remediation and Expert Opinion/Litigation, Racine (WI)
- Chromium Ore Processing Residue (COPR) Remediation and Research, Baltimore (MD)
- Wind Energy Geotechnical Report Review and Laboratory Testing, various sites

Expertise Summary

My overall consulting background and research/teaching interests are inter-disciplinary, covering facets of geotechnical, environmental, transportation, geological, and energy engineering. From a broad perspective, I conduct research in energy geotechnics (wind energy site civil, geotechnical, and structural design; installation of geothermal heating and cooling systems), the beneficial reuse of industrial byproducts (e.g., cement kiln dust, flyash, and lime for subgrade improvement and cementitious stabilization of pavement layers; life cycle analysis of incorporating byproducts such as foundry sand, recycled pavement and concrete in transportation infrastructure), remediation of metals-contaminated sites, and rail substructure material testing and modeling. I developed these research interests as a consulting engineer for 10+ years at two internationally prominent engineering firms and through discussions and interactions with practitioners participating in my national continuing engineering short course programs. Examples of ongoing and planned research projects (2012) include:

- Foundation response and soil stress dissipation for 1.65-MW wind turbine generator (sponsored by the Department of Energy)
- Installation and monitoring of Deep Insulated Single Hole (DISH) geothermal system (collaboration with Wisconsin Well & Water Systems, LLC; Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, WGNHS; and Advanced Custom Geothermal, LLC)
- Measurement of the deep geothermal gradient in Wisconsin (collaboration with WGNHS, sponsored by the Department of Energy)
- Leaching standard work group (with Vanderbilt University and the US Environmental Protection Agency)
- Characterization of cementitiously stabilized layers for use in pavement design and analysis (sponsored by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program)
- Thermal conduction mechanisms in unsaturated soil for sustainable energy practice (sponsored by the Department of Energy and UW Graduate School)
- Increasing rail freight loads with strategic injections of polyurethane into ballast layers (sponsored by the National Center for Freight & Infrastructure Research and Education)

Courses Taught

- Wind Energy Site Design and Construction
- Remediation Geotechnics