| Assoc Prof Tan Soon Keat
Deputy Executive Director, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute
Associate Professor
Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
Email: CTANSK@ntu.edu.sg
Phone: (+65)6790 5321/5320
Office: N1-B1a-03 |
| Education |
- PhD University of Auckland 1984
- ME University of Auckland 1981
- BE University of Auckland 1979
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| Biography |
Dr TAN Soon Keat was born in 1955 in Penang. After graduating from Chung Ling High School (1973) and Han Chiang High School (1975) in Penang, Dr Tan pursued his study at the University of Auckland, graduating with BE(Civil) in 1978, ME(Civil) in 1980 and PhD (Engineering) in 1983 . He is a member of the Institute of Engineers, Singapore and Professional Engineer, Singapore.
Dr Tan practiced as a consultant/modeller of passive solar energy system during the period of 1983-1984. He was a member of the team that drafted the design guideline for low energy dwellings and industry buildings in Auckland, New Zealand in 1984. The guideline was intended to promote energy savings through innovative selection of building materials, furnishing, lightings as well as heat storage masses to reduce heating cost for the buildings. The guideline also called for appropriate orientation of the building and insulations. Ventilation is achieved through innovative airflow design leveraging on creative interior and exterior design while retaining pleasing architectural finishes.
Dr Tan joined Nanyang Technological Institute in 1984 as a Lecturer, and became Associate Professor in 1999. Beside teaching and conducting research, Dr Tan also contributed to the development of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) as Laboratory-staff-in-charge, facilitator for the Clean Water Programme which subsequently lead to the establishment of the Singapore Stanford Partnership (SSP) programme between NTU and Stanford University. During the formative years of NTU, Dr Tan lead the development of the hydraulics, hydrology, coastal and wind tunnel laboratories in the School of CEE. Dr Tan was also a key person in the development of BEng (Mechanical) with specialisation in marine and offshore engineering (2004), launch of the MSc (Offshore Engineering) in 2004, BSc and MSc (Maritime Studies) in 2004, at NTU. He initiated the Maritime Professorship programme in 2004.
Dr Tan is Director, NTU-MPA Maritime Research Centre, an inter-school research centre since its inception in 2001. This centre operates, on the average, $1M a year, over the periods of 2001-2010. In 2007, Dr Tan liaised with DHI (Singapore) and Environment and Water Industry Council to establish the DHI-NTU Centre as a multi-million dollars Centre of Competence under the umbrella of Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institue (NEWRI) of NTU. He was the first Co-Director of the centre. The DHI-NTU Centre has a target funding volume (NTU's segment) of more than $13M, and the target was surpassed in 2010. In 2010, Dr Tan assumed the position of Deputy Executive Director of NEWRI. His current mission includes the development of PhD programme in NEWRI, and the immediate task of moving of various centre of competences and research units to the Clean Tech Park by mid-2012. Over the years, Dr Tan has established close academic and research links with universities in Vietnam, China, Australia, United States of America and United Kingdom.
Dr Tan has published more than 40 papers in international journals, in the areas of hydrology, hydraulics and coastal engineering. The Maritime Research Centre, under his direction, is developing niche expertise in hydraulics (sediment transport and bank protection), hydrodyamic analysis and design in harsh environment. Dr Tan has also provided consultancy services to more than 60 companies in Singapore, in such areas as surge analysis, drainage and hydraulic design, physical and numerical modelling of hydraulic and coastal processes.
Dr Tan also acts as reviewer for internally renowned journals and sits on steering committee for research institutions in Singapore and overseas universities. He regularly conducts training and executive workshops for senior government officials and professional engineers in water resources engineering and coastal engineering. He is a member of the expert panel on flood and drainage in Singapore. |
| Research Interests |
Dr Tan's research interests include application of geographical information system (GIS) in water resources, numerical simulation of flow for hydraulics and coastal engineering applications. His current research projects include hydrodynamic consideration of mega underwater structures and application of wetland technologies in the removal of pharmaceutical products from wastewater streams.
Dr Tan specilaises in urban water management and has developed the catchment – drainage GIS map of NTU campus. The GIS map is designed to facilitate rainfall-runoff modeling as well as water quality modeling. While rainfall-runoff modelling is generally well-established, water quality modeling is not, especially in the estimate of the source concentration of the pollutants. Current research focus in the community is in the establishment of the total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) in rainwater runoff. The difficulty lies in the fact that TN and TP varies with time, space as well as the intensity of rainfall. Dr Tan has a PhD project on TN and TP as contaminant in rainwater runoff.
Removal of water-borne contaminant, particularly trace quantity of drugs and pharmaceutical products from waste-water streams is a challenge in the management of water resources, and in particular, raw water for water supply. A viable and feasible solution is to employ wetland technology as a means to remove these contaminants. Under the supervision of Dr Tan, a research team is carrying out a series of constructed wetlands experiments with raw water spiked with selected contaminants. The research work has produced meaningful results since its inception in 2009.
Currently Dr Tan is leading a research team to conduct research on the various hydrodynamics considerations for a mega underwater structure, looking at the effects of flow, wave and environmental loads on a single or group of surface protruding structures. The research team comprises 10 research fellows. The challenge of the project is that the structure is to be founded on the seabed, with living space on the seabed, or supported on legs or semi-submersible, and the columns also support a deck space above the water, making full use of the 3-dimensional space. The structure has to be of mega-size to make it economically viable. As such, the environmental loads, impact of flow and waves takes on a different dimension compared to a land-based structure or oil platforms. Of particular significance is the possibility of vortex-induced-vibrations, as well as trapping or building up of waves within the group of structures. Later research work includes selection of potential site for the construction of a pilot structure as well as the effects of such structure on seabed sedimentation, ecology as well as its impact on the environment. |
| Research Grant |
- JTC Corporation - NTU (2012-)
- JTC Corporation - NTU (2013-) [by JTC Corporation]
- MND RFP (2012-) [by Ministry of National Development (MND)]
- Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore - NTU (2005-) [by Ministry of Defense (MINDEF), Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)]
- Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore - NTU (2006-) [by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)]
- Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore - NTU (2006-) [by Ministry of Education (MOE)]
- NRF Competitive Research Program (2010-) [by National Research Foundation (NRF)]
- NTU Internal Funding - Sustainable Earth Office (2013-)
- NTU Internal Funding - Sustainable Earth Office (2013-) [by Nanyang Technological University]
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| Current Projects |
- Concept Study on Co-Location of Underground Utilities
- Development of an Optimum Liner Service Network Planning System.
- Empirical Study of Tidal Backwater Effects on Drainage Design at Jurong Island Ayer Chawan Basin
- Feasibility Study of Harvesting Rainwater in Selected Areas in Tuas and Jurong Island.
- Innovative Containment Design for Flash Flood Mitigation in an Urban Centre
- MPA-NTU Joint Collaboration on Maritime Innovation and Strategic Technology.
- Maritime Technology Development
- Maritime and Offshore Technology R & D (M4010306.030)
- Maritime and Offshore Technology R&D (M4060103.030)
- Novel bending stiffeners for easy transportation and installation in flexible risers of offshore floating structures
- Numerical Model to Predict Water Quality Around Effluent Discharge Points. (NTU/ENV)
- Pharmaceutical and nanoparticles removal from wastewater by means of constructed wetlands
- Pilot Field Trial on the Application of Soft Materials for Reclamation Fill Using Menard Vacuum Consolidation
- Sand Accretion Study
- Sustainable Urban Waste Management for 2020_Project 1: Communities As Renewable Resource Recovery Centres
- Sustainable Urban Waste Management for 2020_Project 2: Wastewater Treatment Plants As Urban Eco Power Stations
- Sustainable Urban Waste Management for 2020_Project 3: Rapid Land Reclamation of Closed Urban Dumping Grounds
- Underwater Infrastructure and Underwater City of the Future_Project 1: New Concrete, Reinforcing Materials & Structural Design Consideration
- Underwater Infrastructure and Underwater City of the Future_Project 2: Innovative Soil Treatment & Foundation Methods
- Underwater Infrastructure and Underwater City of the Future_Project 3: Hydrodynamic Consideration
- WATER AND ENERGY IN THE URBAN WATER CYCLE - IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT (NEWRI Proj)
| Selected Publications | - Vu T.T & Tan S.K. (2013). Towards a comprehensive design of silt screens in open configuration from the hydraulics perspective. 20th World Dredging Congress (WODCON XX).
- Wang X.K., Hao Z., Tan S.K. (2013). Vortex-induced vibrations of a neutrally buoyant circular cylinder near a plane wall. Journal of Fluids and Structures, 39, 188-204.
- Wei Xiaohua, Le Tuyet Minh, Dai Ying and Tan Soon Keat. (2013). Life Cycle Analysis on underwater MEGA Structure. Civil Engineering Research, .
- Vu T.T., Tan S.K. (2013). Velocity and turbulence characteristics around a silt screen. Proceedings of the ICE - Maritime Engineering , in press.
- Wang Xikun, Gong Kai, Gao Yangyang, Zhou Bo, Tan Soon Keat. (2013). Flow around a four-cylinder array in in-line arrangement. Civil Engineering Research, 26, 50-51.
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