Civil and Environmental Engineering

Pressing fire safety challenges exist in both the built and natural environment with climate change effects leading to increased extreme weather events in many regions increasing wildfire risk. Similarly, sustainable development efforts are one of the drivers of increased adoption of bio-based, sustainable construction materials some of which may also introduce novel fire hazards. This PhD position provides the opportunity to contribute to ongoing efforts at the Edinburgh Fire Research Centre to apply fundamental principles of physics, chemistry and engineering to characterize the combustion behaviour of wildland vegetation and bio-based materials.  

This PhD position would suit motivated candidates from a wide range of academic backgrounds (e.g. Applied Science/Maths/Physics, Engineering, Geosciences etc.) who are interested in applying their existing skillset to problems in fire science, fire engineering and/or wildland fire science.

The project will include the opportunity to gain expertise in the development and use of a variety of established and novel measurement instrumentation to monitor and characterize the variation in structure of a fuel as it burns. For example, utilizing established methods to quantify the spatial and temporal variation of solid fuel temperatures (e.g. colour pyrometry) and burning rate (continuous mass loss measurements). Alongside developing novel approaches to characterising and quantifying the variation in fuel structure (volume, geometry) and the resulting influence on linked physical properties (e.g. drag force, radiative absorption).

The results obtained will be used to support the development of improved fire behaviour modelling tools and to improve our existing theoretical descriptions of fire spread in porous fuels. This in turn, will support ongoing global efforts to develop improved decision support tools to aid land managers and fire agencies in developing land management and fire management strategies in the natural environment, and to support fire safety engineering design efforts in the built environment.

During this project, you will be part of The Edinburgh Fire Research Centre within the Institute for Infrastructure and Environment. You will join a vibrant community of PhD students, postdoctoral research associates and academics working in various aspects of fire science and engineering. This is a collaborative and friendly environment and strong teamwork and communication skills are therefore required.

More information on the Edinburgh Fire Research Centre - http://www.fire.eng.ed.ac.uk/research

Examples of the effects of fuel structure on combustion behaviour in wildland fires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqXRsMbz18&t=387s

Existing Wildfire Research projects at The University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service & partners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEO_8oXtbes&t=4s

The University of Edinburgh is committed to equality of opportunity for all its staff and students, and promotes a culture of inclusivity. Please see details here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity

Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.

The School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh invites applications for a fully funded PhD scholarship on the digitalisation of buildings. The successful candidate will explore innovative methodologies to digitalise collections of existing buildings with the purpose of understanding and managing their environmental performance.

Most existing buildings in European countries predate the adoption of high energy efficiency standards, and a significant proportion were built well before architectural design processes were digitalised or energy conservation regulations introduced. The result is a diverse stock for which limited information exist. Even in cases where information is available, it tends to be patchy, out of date, or exists in physical documents that cannot be readily consumed by modern processes for facility management.

At the same time, pressure is mounting for a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon stock that meets end-user demands at the lowest possible costs. Here, many proposals have been put forward, from simple methods to advanced, real-time coupling with building simulations and a wide range of algorithms. However, they presume the right information is available at an adequate quality to inform such advanced workflows.

Your research will develop strategies to digitalise collections of buildings with the view to support asset owners. In particular, the work will explore digitalisation for energy management, linking with ongoing activities around building energy modelling and digital twins. The project will research solutions using the buildings of the University of Edinburgh. It will be conducted in close partnership with our Estates Department, who develop and maintain more than 550 buildings across Scotland. Together, these buildings represent key challenges of the building sector at large, like different uses, level of information, vintage, construction techniques, energy systems or services.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, and we wish to particularly encourage applications from groups underrepresented at this level.

To apply to this opportunity, you will need to:

• Meet entry requirements
• Prepare documentation required for conditional admission in the PhD programme. Please note that this requires a formal 2-page research proposal (guidelines).

We are available to discuss and give feedback before a full application is sent through the system provided full drafts are available. We will shortlist candidates for interview and the scholarship will be then allocated based on the assessment by the panel.

A comprehensive training programme will be provided comprising both specialist scientific training and generic transferable and professional skills, as well as mentorship. The PhD candidate will have numerous training options, within the University of Edinburgh and project partners. Depending on the experience of the candidate, options include (1) building physics, (2) introduction to data science or (3) geospatial data analysis.

The candidate will also have the opportunity to become a teaching assistant following formal training, as well as opportunities to contribute to wider training and outreach activities. Further training in both academic and interdisciplinary skills will be available as part of Edinburgh’s Institute for Academic Development.

The University of Edinburgh is committed to equality of opportunity for all its staff and students, and promotes a culture of inclusivity. Please see details here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity

Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.

A background related to building services engineering, construction management or architecture would be an advantage for the project.

Today's urban landscape is defined largely by steel and concrete buildings, bridges and roads, which have started to degrade at an increased rate in the last 30 years due to corrosion of steel, degradation and scour, creep and cracking of concrete. The expenses for concrete building rehabilitation and maintenance are immense: €200B was spent on restoration of concrete structures alone in 2018 (for the EU27 countries).

The proposed research addresses these problems by focusing on circular concrete columns, which are critically important structural elements in construction of buildings, parking garages and bridges or piers. In these applications there are many advantages in using precast or in-situ cast concrete filled fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) tube columns using self-compacting concrete (SCC): The columns are – compared to conventional RC columns – lighter in weight, do not need a formwork nor concrete compaction (SCC), and the FRP tube can be designed to (partially or totally) replace the need for a transverse and longitudinal steel reinforcement. In addition, concrete filled carbon FRP (CFRP) tubes (CFFTs) confine the inner concrete core increasing the strength and ductility of the column and its durability in harsh environments.

The mechanics of conventional circular FRP-confined concrete columns has been studied by many researchers, who have confirmed that the load carrying capacity, stiffness, and ductility of such elements is similar to circular columns repaired by full wrapping with externally bonded FRP sheets and fabrics. This project will build on the available knowledge and will use a proprietary, highly expansive SCC, which will be restrained after casting by prefabricated CFRP tubes.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) have successfully developed the highly expansive SCC based on a combination of calcium sulfo-aluminate expansive agent, super absorbent polymers, shrinkage reducing agent, and short PP fibers, and have proven that a self-prestress of high-modulus CFRP is feasible.

The use of this SCC in CFFT columns is an ideal application for the expansive concrete in which the FRP tube would protect it from humidity variations hence guaranteeing a stable state and constant internal confinement pressure in the FRP tube. This will be monitored by hoop strain monitoring with the aid of novel embedded distributed fibre optic sensors (DFOS) in the CFRP tube wall.

The project will also make use of novel pseudo-ductile hybrid FRP wrap materials, also developed at Empa, thus combining multiple material innovations to develop new types of structural elements with previously unknown performance and mechanics.

Laboratory for Mechanical Systems Engineering: https://www.empa.ch/web/s304

The University of Edinburgh is committed to equality of opportunity for all its staff and students, and promotes a culture of inclusivity. Please see details here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity

Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. Ideal candidate must have background in either Civil, Structural or Mechanical Engineering.

Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.