Civil Engineering (PhD) – (Ph.D.)

Contents

Research Groups Dynamics Engineering

This area encompasses structural engineering, advanced composite materials and geomechanics. Based around BLADE (the £20-million Bristol Laboratories for Advanced Dynamics Engineering) and the Earthquake Engineering Research Centre (EERC), the group focuses on the non-linear performance and reliability of civil engineering infrastructure, with an emphasis on dynamic loading. It develops techniques for numerical analysis, physical testing of infrastructure in the field and laboratory structural and geotechnical material behaviour characterisation and modelling, structural vulnerability theory and overall non-linear dynamic performance assessment. This group is the largest in the UK with an interest in earthquake engineering.

The Earthquake Engineering Research Centre hosts one of Europe's leading academic experimental research facilities in earthquake engineering and structural dynamics. The Centre has made notable advances in several areas including the mechanisms of wind and pedestrian-induced vibrations, the non-linear dynamics of masonry and other buildings (including strengthening and using advanced composites), and the seismic response of large dams. Research in advanced composites links with the Faculty's Advanced Composites Centre for innovation and Science (ACCIS) and focuses on large-scale testing and advanced theoretical analysis of hybrid structures comprising any combination of conventional construction materials and novel materials, such as limecrete and fibre reinforced polymers, which have significant sustainability benefits for use in buildings and bridges.

Geomechanics research includes measurements of deformation properties using novel techniques of laboratory geophysics at very small strains, and fibre reinforcement of soils (related to ACCIS). It also covers the development of constitutive models that are applied in numerical analysis for simulation of prototype performance, which we have also monitored in the field. Much of the geomechanics work concerns soil dynamics, including soil-structure interaction in earthquake engineering and for foundations of offshore wind turbines.

Water, Environmental Management and Health

This area is based around the Water and Environmental Management Research Centre (WEMRC) and the Water and Health Research Centre (WHRC).

The WEMRC addresses the management of flood risks, with emphasis on technologies for measurement and modelling of rainfall events and the consequent flood flows and environmental impacts. It provides a focus for the study of water management issues in the UK and overseas from a systems point of view. Key expertise exists within the centre in numerical weather prediction modelling, radar hydrology, real-time flood forecasting systems, distributed hydrological modelling for land use management, hydroinformatics, flood risk management and other aspects of risk and uncertainty.

The WHRC was created to integrate the university-wide interests in all aspects of water and its impact on human health. It has a $13m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a low cost water quality monitoring device for use in developing countries - the AQUATEST project.

Systems and Safety

Based around the Safety Systems Research Centre [link in web] and the £5.7m, EPSRC-funded, Industrial Doctorate Centre in Systems Engineering, this group develops novel, holistic approaches for characterising and managing the safe and sustainable performance of complex systems, including human factors. Key areas of work include the safety and vulnerability of embedded software systems, systems thinking, sustainable systems, problem structuring methods, and the vulnerability and robustness of structures.