Areas of Expertise

Dr. Chopra has served as a high-level advisor to governmental organizations, on consulting boards for major projects related to concrete dams, as an individual consultant and peer reviewer for analysis, evaluation, and design of concrete dams and intake-outlet towers, and on peer review panels for performance-based design of buildings.

Advisory Boards

Dr. Chopra has served on advisory boards to various organizations, including: the Division of Safety of Dams, Department of Water Resources, State of California; and Panama Canal Authority.

Earthquake Analysis, Design, & Evaluation of Concrete Dams

Dr. Chopra has served as a consultant on the design of new dams and in the seismic evaluation of existing dams:

  • Seismic safety evaluation of existing arch dams: Pardee, Englebright, Mulholland, Juncal, Big Tujunga, Crystal Springs, and Pit 3 Dams (California); East Canyon Dam (Utah); and Valdecanas and Bolarque Dams (Spain)

  • Seismic safety evaluation of existing concrete gravity and buttress dams: Folsom, Scott, Lake Hume, Scotts Flat, and Thermalito Dams (California); Cleveland, Seymour Falls, and Seven Mile Dams (Canada); Old Aswan Dam (Egypt), River Mill Dam (Oregon), Gatun and Miraflores Spillways and Madden Dam (Panama); Mt. Bold and Barossa Dams (Australia), and Ruskin Dam (British Columbia, Canada)

  • Design of new concrete dams: Pamo Dam (San Diego); Sardar Sarovar Dam (India); Balambano and Karebe Dams (Indonesia); Miel I Dam (Colombia); San Vicente Dam Raise (San Diego); and Palomina Dam (Dominican Republic)

  • Seismic safety evaluation of locks and dams, Panama Canal

  • Design of new locks and spillway for Panama Canal Expansion project

Dr. Chopra has served as a consultant on several projects related to intake-outlet towers:

  • Design of the Alta Sinu Project (Colombia), La Vueltosa Project (Venezuela), San Carlos Project (Colombia), and the Guatape and Troneras towers (Colombia)

  • Seismic safety evaluation of Bucks storage, Crane Valley, Briones, Lake Mathews, and Lake Alamnor towers (California), and Moondara tower ( Australia)

Multistory Buildings: Performance-Based Engineering

Dr. Chopra has served as a peer reviewer for the design of several buildings, including: selection of design earthquake ground motions, nonlinear dynamics analysis, and performance-based design.

  • Park Tower, 45-story RC shear-wall building, San Francisco, California, 2018
  • Transbay Redevelopment Area, Block 6, 38-story reinforced concrete shear-wall building, San Francisco, California, 2018
  • Transbay “11A Project”, an 8-story building, San Francisco, California, 2013

He has also served as a peer reviewer for seismic evaluation and upgrading of buildings, including:

  • War Memorial Veterans Building, San Francisco, California
  • Moffitt Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, California

Research & Development

As an accomplished researcher for 50 years, Dr. Chopra is available to advise organization on programs of research and development on a wide range of topics in structural dynamics and earthquake engineering.