Welcome to the Structures Group

Introduction

A number of exciting new research projects at The University of Adelaide, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, have openings for post-graduate students interested in pursuing a PhD in structural engineering. Applicants would be expected to have a strong academic record in a suitable undergraduate engineering degree.

Projects starting in 2008 or already in progress:

A unified reinforced concrete model for flexure and shear
It is widely recognised that reinforced concrete structures need strengthening against man-made causes such as terrorist attacks and increased vehicular loads, as well as against natural hazards such as earthquakes. This research will develop a fundamentally new unified model for flexure and shear in reinforced concrete for inclusion in a frame analysis. This will allow: more accurate assessment of existing structures including critical infrastructure; where needed, the accurate assessment of the various available retrofitting techniques such as steel and fibre reinforced polymer plating; and more rapid development of new forms of reinforced concrete structures.

Earthquake protection of masonry buildings using FRP strengthening
This collaborative project between the Universities of Adelaide, Newcastle and Auckland aims to significantly reduce the risk posed by URM construction in existing structures by developing an innovative, aesthetically acceptable and cost-effective method for strengthening masonry buildings against earthquake attack. The researchers aim to ascertain whether near surface mounted (NSM) fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips can be used to provide the additional strength needed to safely withstand earthquake shaking without destroying the aesthetic appearance of masonry construction. In order to accomplish this, the fundamental bond-slip behaviour between NSM FRP strips and brickwork under cyclic loading must first be fully understood and quantified through experimental and analytical research at Adelaide.

Cyclic behaviour of FRP retrofitted RC structures under blast, fatigue and earthquake loading
This large, multi-faceted research proposal is driven by two opposing worldwide trends. The first is towards more extensive use of FRP technologies for strengthening critical infrastructure against man-made hazards such as terrorist bomb attacks as well as natural hazards such as earthquake and extreme winds. The second is a growing concern regarding the long term behaviour of FRP retrofitted structures, especially under cycling loading conditions which may result in previously unencountered failure mechanisms. The overall aim of this project is to develop radically new mechanics-based models for the behaviour of civil engineering structures reinforced with FRP and subjected to a wide range of dynamic loading including impact, blast, seismic and fatigue loading.

Blast resistance of ultra-high performance concrete members
Terrorist attacks using improvised explosive devices (IED) can result in building collapse and great loss of life. Protecting buildings from IED attack is both complex and expensive. New materials and structural systems are needed for cost-effective structural-engineering solutions. Since ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has high material strength, high material deformation and high toughness, these excellent mechanical characteristics of UHPC make it an ideal material for resisting blast effects. However, because there are great differences between the material properties of UHPC and conventional concrete, traditional guidelines need to be significantly adapted to accommodate UHPC. The overall research aim of this project is to develop design guidelines for UHPC beams, slabs, walls and columns against blast loads.

FRP confined concrete columns
This project involves experimental and analytical investigations into the behaviour of concrete columns confined with FRP wraps. The focus of current research is into the behaviour under cyclic loading (lateral and axial) of columns using FRP wraps for new construction whereby the pre-formed FRP wraps (circular and rectangular configurations) are treated as permanent formwork and the sole reinforcement for the columns. Key aspects under investigation are the cross-section details (cross-ties), cross-section aspect ratio, and unconfined concrete strength (i.e. how does performance vary with concrete compressive strength?).

Accurate modelling of laminated composite stiffened/sandwich panels
The use of fibre reinforced laminated composite is increasing steadily in various engineering applications. This is due to the many attractive features of the material including high strength/stiffness to weight ratio helping to achieve a light weight structure. This is extremely important in aerospace, marine, automotive, bridge and similar weight sensitive structures. The performance of such a structural panel can be improved by choosing a stiffened configuration of the panel by adding stiffening ribs to the skin or alternatively choosing a sandwich construction where an ultra light thick core material layer (e.g., foam, honeycomb, balsa, elastomer) is sandwiched between two thin strong/stiff laminated composite face sheets. A further improvement can be achieved by making these structures adaptive where piezoelectric layers are bonded/embedded to these structural panels, which are utilized to monitor and control the structural response. All these options lead to a group of challenging futuristic structures, which may be exposed to different types of loadings having a wide rage of variations. The objective of this research is to develop efficient numerical models for accurate prediction of the behaviour of these structures under different loading situations. It requires the understanding of finite element techniques, the mechanics of laminated composites, different advanced plate theories, structural control and some allied techniques for the study of static, dynamic and buckling response of these structures in both the linear and nonlinear range.

The Structures Group in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at The University of Adelaide consists of:

Professor Deric Oehlers
Associate Professor Mike Griffith
Associate Professor A Hamid Sheikh
Dr Chengqing Wu
Dr Togay Ozbakkaloglu
Dr Mohamed Ali
Dr Craig Willis

Further information about research areas of interest and opportunities in Structural Engineering at The University of Adelaide can be found on each of the above staff members pages on the School's website:

http://www.ecms.adelaide.edu.au/civeng/staff/