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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Francis Ting

Francis Ting

Title

Professor

Office Building

Crothers Engineering Hall

Office

316

Mailing Address

Crothers Engineering Hall 316
Civil and Environ Engineering-Box 2219
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

As professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at South Dakota State University, I teach and conduct research in fluid mechanics and hydraulic engineering, supervise student research and capstone design projects and participate in professional and outreach activities both inside and outside the university.

I pursue a focused and sustained research program in breaking waves, bridge hydraulics and scour. In the first area, my primary effort has been to quantify the kinematics and dynamics of turbulent flows induced by breaking waves. My students and I have systematically measured and studied the breaking-wave-generated flow fields in solitary, regular and irregular waves using the laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques. In a current research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), we are employing a volumetric three-component velocimetry (V3V) system to conduct three-component, three-dimensional (3C3D) velocity measurements of sediment-laden flows under plunging waves to answer fundamental questions about sediment suspension and transport in the surf zone. Archived research data from completed studies (see Applications of Research) may be obtained through individual requests.

My research in bridge hydraulics and scour is focused on the hydraulics of bridge waterways with complex channel-floodplain morphology and bridge scour in cohesive soils. In 2010, I completed a research project to evaluate the Scour Rate in Cohesive Soils (SRICOS) method by comparing scour predictions with measured scour at three bridge sites in South Dakota. The SRICOS method produced scour estimates that are much closer to the measured scour than the traditional HEC-18 method, since it takes into account the slower rates of scour in cohesive soils. The study also identified several critical input parameters in the method. We recently completed a research study on compound channel flows in bridge waterways. We used the Surface Water Modeling (SMS) system to model two-dimensional (2D) flows around highway structures in different bridge settings (e.g., crossing at a sharp bend, severely contracted bridge opening) and compared the numerical results with field measurements. The objective of this research was to find a cost-effective way to calculate the flow parameters needed for scour prediction.

Education

  • B.S. in civil engineering (honors) | University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, United Kingdom | 1982
  • M.S. in civil engineering | California Institute of Technology | 1983
  • Ph.D. in civil engineering | California Institute of Technology | 1989

Academic Interests

  • Fluid mechanics

Academic Responsibilities

  • EM 331 Fluid Mechanics
  • CEE 331 Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
  • CEE 432 Hydraulic Engineering
  • CEE 492/592 Environmental Fluid Mechanics
  • CEE 492/592 Advanced Open-Channel Hydraulics

Committees and Professional Memberships

  • American Society of Civil Engineers
  • American Geophysical Union

Awards and Honors

  • 2002, 2012, Researcher of the Year, College of Engineering

Grants

  • Ting, F. Response of Bed Shear Stress in Open-Channel Flow to a Sudden Change in Bed Roughness. Mountain-Plains Consortium/South Dakota State University, June 2022 - July 2024.
  • Ting, F. Collaborative Research: Experimental and Numerical Study of Bed Shear Stress and Turbulent Boundary Layer Structure Induced by Breaking-Wave-Generated Vortices. National Science Foundation, July 2022 - June 2024.
  • Ting, F. Measurement of Turbulent Flow Characteristics and Bed Shear Stress in Laboratory Soil Erosion Tests. Mountain-Plains Consortium/South Dakota State University, May 2019 - July 2023.

Work Experience

  • 1995-2005, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, South Dakota State University
  • 1994-1995, assistant research scientist, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A and M University
  • 1990-1994, assistant professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University
  • 1989-1990, postdoctoral research fellow, Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware

Areas of Research

  • Breaking Waves
  • River Hydraulics
  • Bridge Scour

Publications

  1. Ting, F. C. K. and Kern, G. S. (2024). "Experimental study of coherent structures and bed shear stress on a smooth bed under a solitary wave." Coastal Engineering, Vol. 189, DOI: 0.1016/j.coastaleng.2024.104457.
  2. Ting, F. C. K. and Kern, G. S. (2022). "Finding the bed shear stress on a rough bed using the log law." Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, Vol. 148, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000707.
  3. Ting, F. C. K. and Beck, D. A. (2019). "Observation of sediment suspension by breaking-wave-generated vortices using volumetric three-component velocimetry." Coastal Engineering, Vol. 151, pp. 97-120.
  4. LeClaire, P. D. and Ting, F. C. K. (2017). "Measurements of suspended sediment transport and turbulent coherent structures induced by breaking waves using two-phase volumetric three-component velocimetry." Coastal Engineering, Vol. 121, pp. 56-76.
  5. Havaldar, S. N. and Ting, F. C. K. (2016). "Experimental measurements of forces on loose particle in motion over rough bed under waves using oblique particle image velocimetry." Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Vol. 138., 062002-1-11.
  6. Ting, F. C. K. and Reimnitz, J. (2015). “Volumetric velocity measurements of turbulent coherent structures induced by plunging regular waves." Coastal Engineering, Vol. 104, pp. 93-112.
  7. Zhou, Z., Sangermano, J., Hsu, T.-J. and Ting, F. C. K. (2014). "A numerical investigation of wave-breaking-induced turbulent coherent structures under a solitary wave." Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 119, pp. 6952-6973.  
  8. Rossell, R. P. and Ting, F. C. K. (2013). "Hydraulic and contraction scour analysis of a meandering channel: James River Bridges near Mitchell, South Dakota." Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 139, No. 12, pp. 1286-1296.
  9. Ting, F., Reimnitz, J., Auch, M. and Lai, W. (2013). "Volumetric three-component velocimetry measurements of turbulent flow under breaking waves." 10th International Symposium on Particle Image Velocimetry, Delft, The Netherlands, July 1-3, 2013.
  10. Ting. F. C. K. (2013). "Laboratory measurements of large-scale near-bed turbulent flow structures under plunging regular waves." Coastal Engineering, Vol. 77, pp. 120-139.
  11. Ting, F. C. K., Larsen, R. J. and Jones, A. L. (2011). "Hydrographs and estimates of scour depth excess for pier scour prediction use for ungauged streams with scour rate in cohesive soils method." Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2262, pp. 193-199.
  12. Larsen, R. J., Ting, F. C. K. and Jones, A. L.(2011). “Flow velocity and pier scour prediction in a compound channel : Big Sioux River Bridge at Flandreau, South Dakota.”  Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 137, No. 5, pp. 595-605.  
  13. Ting, F. C. K. and Nelson, J. R. (2011).  “Laboratory measurements of large-scale near-bed turbulent flow structures under spilling regular waves.” Coastal Engineering, Vol. 58, pp. 151-172.

Department(s)

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Ting's Research