IIE Research Projects

Research Projects at the Institute for Infrastructure and Environment (IIE). You can search keywords within Project Titles.

We also have a number of Infrastructure and Environment PhD opportunities for postgraduate students looking to join the School.

Search keywords within Research Project titles
Project Title Principal Supervisor Project Summary
Wastewater Bioremediation from Filamentous Algae

Dr Andrea JC Semiao, Dr Michele Stanley (SAMS), Dr John G Day (SAMS)

This Ph.D. aims to investigate the potential of filamentous green macroalgae (Chlorophyta) to bioremediate wastewaters. This will examine the ability of the macroalgae to sequester excess nutrients in effluent streams, as well as its biosorption and bioaccumulation capacity for heavy metals; with an end goal of using the biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy or for metal reclamation.

Geobag Revetments for river bank reinforcement in Bangladesh

Dr Martin Crapper

This project aims at the production of guidelines for the safe design of revetments, which are often constructed manually by local farmers, with little engineering input.

Intelligent Egress: Real time modelling based upon sensor data to steer evacuation in case of fire

Dr Stephen Welch

Intelligent egress is a novel approach to enhancing evacuations from fire emergencies.  It combines sensor-linked simulations and route-planning tools to provide real-time information to occupants on efficient egress.  The specific issues associated with disabilities and mobility impairment are addressed.  Mechanisms to provide “way finding” information to relevant end users are being studied.  Detailed guidance and recommendations on use of such systems will be developed.

TRANSFER: Evaluation and Optimization of Fuel Treatment Effectiveness with an Integrated Experimental/Modeling Approach #2

Prof Albert Simeoni

Over the past ten years, ca. US$ 5.6 billion has been spent on hazardous fuel reduction to treat an average of ca. 2.5 million acres per year across the United States. These expenditures represent one of the primary strategies for the mitigation of catastrophic wildland fire events. At the local scale, the placement and implementation of fuel reduction treatments is complex, involving trade-offs between environmental impacts, threatened and endangered species mitigation, funding, smoke management, parcel ownership, litigation, and weather conditions. Because of the cost and complexity involved, there is a need for implementing treatments in such a way that hazard mitigation, or other management objectives, are optimized.

Modelling and measurement for oil and gas multi-phase flows - SPH-DEM fluid-particle simulation and validation

Dr Filipe Teixeira-Dias

The exploration and development of deeper wells with heavier and more viscous oils, requiring greater operating pressures and more fracture to fissures to release the oils. This results in significantly increased sand content that has the potential to bring about a fundamental shift in flow behaviour. This project aims to investigate the potential – and develop – a coupled smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and discrete element method (DEM) model to simulate high-pressure multi-phase flows with support from an extensive experimental programme and industrial collaboration.

High Performance Computing Support for United Kingdom Consortium on Turbulent Reacting Flows (UKCTRF)

Dr Stephen Welch

The proposed UK Consortium on Turbulent Reacting Flows will perform high-fidelity computational simulations (i.e. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (RANS), Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS)) by utilising national High Performance Computing (HPC) resources to address the challenges related to energy through the fundamental physical understanding and modelling of turbulent reacting flows. Engineering applications range from the formulation of reliable fire-safety measures to the design of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly internal combustion engines and gas turbines.

FireComp: Modelling the thermo-mechanical behaviour of high pressure vessel in composite materials when exposed to fire conditions

Dr Stephen Welch

Hydrogen is expected to be highly valuable energy carrier for the 21st century as it should participate in answering main societal and economical concerns. To exploit its benefits at large scale, further research and technological developments are required. In particular, the storage of hydrogen must be secured. Even if burst in service of pressure vessels in composite material is very unlikely, when exposed to a fire, they present safety challenges imposing to correctly size their means of protection.

Engineering the Byzantine water supply: procurement, construction and operation

Dr Simon Smith

This innovative research combines construction process modelling and contemporary network software to gain new insights to conceptualise the construction and distribution of the city’s hydraulic networks.

Challenging RISK: Achieving Resilience by Integrating Societal and Technical Knowledge

Professor Luke Bisby

This project is concerned with socially integrated mitigation of multiple structural risks in the urban environment, with a focus on the linked risks of earthquake and fire. Fire is the largest contributor to building damage following earthquakes. To date, this research area has largely been ignored as it crosses the boundaries between the knowledge areas of earthquake and fire safety engineering. The combination of factors adds to the challenges in risk estimation already existing in each distinct area. There is currently no universally accepted method for accounting for the effect of strengthening practices on building vulnerability to earthquakes (let alone earthquakes followed by fire). In the case of fire safety engineering, few credible techniques for damage estimation or risk-based design currently exist due to a lack of requisite input data. This project will develop, through large scale structural testing and computational analysis, new technical engineering solutions to these problems. And, for the first time, these technical engineering solutions will be developed explicitly accounting for the social context within which they are to be enacted.

Behaviour, attitutde and perception of safety risk in a nationally and culturally diverse workforce

Dr Simon Smith

Considering the cultural and national backgrounds of construction workers and management to understand attitudes and perception of construction safety risk.

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