Infrastructure and Environment

A 3.5-year fully funded PhD studentship is available at the School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, in the field of Transport Engineering and Planning. This is an open call for highly motivated candidates eager to contribute to cutting-edge research in transport systems, mobility, and infrastructure.

Potential areas of study include (but are not limited to):

• Big Data and AI in Transport
• Traffic Operations, Modeling, and Simulation
• Infrastructure Resilience and Adaptation
• Urban Mobility and Multimodal Transport
• Equitable and Inclusive Transport Planning

The PhD topic will be refined based on the selected candidate’s strengths and research interests, ensuring alignment with the broader objectives of the School of Engineering and the supervisor’s expertise.

Minimum entry qualification: an Honours undergraduate degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in Transport Engineering or Planning, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline. 

- a Master’s degree is preferred but not mandatory. 

- programming experience (Python, R, C++, or similar) is desirable but not essential.

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

Tuition fees + stipend are available for Home/EU and International students

Further information and other funding options.

Existing buildings entail a third of the energy consumption in the world and contribute a similar share of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they have been shown to have a large potential for improvement in both fronts. Just enhancing operations of what is already in place is estimated to reduce energy and operational emissions by 20% on average.

A significant area of work has focused on whole-building analysis and simulation to rigorously understand performance of existing assets. Here, building audits are combined with holistic physics-based models to improve understanding of what is built and devise ways to improve operations and devise retrofit packages. However, such an approach requires specialist knowledge and can easily become onerous given time, interrelationships of physical processes, and resources needed. In addition, it does not link well with metering and building management systems buildings have in place as they only monitor buildings partially.

This project seeks to investigate the role of progressive energy modelling to assist facility managers understand and improve the performance of existing assets. Building systems can be modelled in a wide range of ways, and it is possible to isolate components for dedicated analyses. Then, they can be extended to include further parts relevant to the system. As an example in HVAC systems, heating/cooling generation via heat pumps or boilers could be analysed with a dedicated model, aided by monitoring points typically implemented, like supply/return temperatures or partial loads. Once it is verified that the system works as expected, the model can be extended to represent further parts of the whole system, like losses in distribution systems, emitters, or links with ventilation systems.

Compared to whole-building simulation, this is a bottom-up modelling approach that conceives buildings as a jigsaw of systems that have a closer correspondence with established monitoring practices in facility management. It simplifies complexity, offers faster feedback cycles, retains meaning to explore alternative ways of operating buildings, and could be done in a way that paves the way to whole-building modelling as required.

We are seeking for applicants wishing to advance the state of the art in this area, exploring model complexity, model interoperability and influence and acceptability for facility management and decision making.

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 performance simulation and building services engineering would be an advantage for the project. The project will require development of building simulation models, off-the-shelve and bespoke ones, and data mining: familiarity or willingness to learn programming languages like Python, Julia, or R will be essential.

This project is competing for one of the twelve studentships ring-fenced for the strategic partnership in Engineering between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt. Awards will be made on a competitive basis and there will be a first sift panel by the prospective supervisory team, and a second sift panel at school-level. Funding is offered for 3.5 years with an enhanced stipend of £21,400 (10% above the standard UKRI rate) and fees as well as £5,000 for support budget for the whole programme.

Further information and other funding options.

Asphalt recycling gained prominence since the 1970s, partly initiated by the oil crisis influencing the availability of bitumen as binder material. Since then, recycled and reclaimed asphalt continued to be part of the mix used in road and pavements providing a cost effective and environmentally friendly option with a potential to decarbonising the industry. Recent examples of roads using recycled asphalt include: 50% recycled asphalt was used in paving a section of M25 between junctions 25 and 26 and a section of A388 Bournemouth Spur Road, Dorset was paved using all the old road materials.  

Rolled asphalt pavement comprises of different courses primarily the wearing, binder, base, subbase and capping layer. The degree of compaction determines the stiffness and strength of material along with its resistance to deformation and durability of the mixture. Compaction of the asphalt along with the binder results from the operation of the paving/construction equipment to impart systematic static, shearing and vibrational loads to achieve the required properties of each of the aforementioned course. The pavement is expected to withstand the design traffic load.  

In the drive towards net zero carbon emission, there is an urgent need to significantly increase the use of the 100% recyclable Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in pavement construction.  This poses significant challenges in the design and optimisation of the production and construction processes for which this current project seeks to address. For instance, is it possible to better characterise the RAP in terms of material properties to provide a more accurate initial assessment of its recycling readiness? Is it possible to match to assess, based on the RAP's material characteristics and the prevailing loading regimes, whether it would meet the required highway standards?  

The aim of the project is to develop a deeper understanding of the RAP pavement construction and establish an experimentally calibrated numerical model to predict the compaction mechanics of recycled asphalt pavements during construction as well as operational period. The model will integrate the mechanics at different length scales. Experimental programme will include time-resolved (4D) X-ray tomography to capture the micromechanics of the granular assembly.  

This PhD project is advertised as a part of the Edinburgh Research Partnership in Engineering, a joint partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. The successful candidate will be supervised by a team consisting of academics from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University (HWU). The Heriot-Watt University supervisor for this project will be Dr Elma Charalampidou. Some of the experiments involving micro x-ray CT system will be undertaken at HWU.

The selection process is in two phases:

Stage 1: Interested candidates should contact Dr Amer Syed at Amer.Syed@ed.ac.uk by 7 February 2025 with their CV and a covering email. Potential candidates will be invited to an interview. Selected candidate will progress to Stage 2.

Stage 2: Selected candidate will complete a formal application to the University of Edinburgh by 12 February 2025. This application will be assessed by a panel for funding. Please note that this studentship attracts enhanced stipend, while the exact details yet to be finalised, for 2024, it was £21,400 per annum.

Home and overseas students are encouraged to apply. 

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.

Tuition fees + stipend are available for Home/EU and International students.

Further information and other funding options.

From sandcastles to powder metallurgy, granular materials are ubiquitous in engineering and natural environment.  Understanding their behaviour under a range of loading conditions is essential in ensuring the structural integrity of the granular system e.g., landslides, chemical/pharmaceutical applications such as compacted tablets, food processing etc.  

The mechanical response of a granular assembly depends on the interaction of the individual grains.  In most of the natural and engineering systems, this interaction is further complicated by the presence of fluids and temperature gradient resulting in convective mass transport. The thermomechanical behaviour of the granular assembly depends on the temperature/concentration gradient, viscosity of the fluid, variation in fluid saturation, compressibility of the fluid etc. The presence of fluid would also influence the relative motion of the particles, especially in case of particles with varying size and shapes, and directly contribute to the nature of compaction and flow of the granular assembly.  

The aim of the project is to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanics of granular assemblies subjected to convective mass transport and to formulate a multiscale multiphysics model to predict the thermomechanical behaviour of granular assemblies. The model will be developed and calibrated using high quality experimental data acquired at multiple length scales.  Custom designed experiments will be conducted in an x-ray CT environment to study the micromechanics of the underlying processes using time resolved x-ray tomography (in 4D).

There are four application areas for this project and the successful candidate would be able to select one of these areas.  

Geological/geophysical application:  Geothermal systems, particularly Enhanced Geothermal Systems where the energy from underground hot rock/fractured rock is used to generate electricity.  

Steel production: Porous coke in the granular assembly of the blast furnace charge provides energy, heat and gas required to reduce the iron ore. Improved design of the granular assembly has potential to minimise the CO2 emission in the steel making process.  

Recycled Asphalt Pavements: Reclaimed and recycled asphalt are used in road pavements providing a cost effective and environmentally friendly option with a potential in decarbonising the industry.  

Powder bed fusion, a metal additive manufacturing technique: The nature of granular assembly of metal powder bed informs the quality of the finished product.  

This PhD project is advertised as a part of the Edinburgh Research Partnership in Engineering, a joint partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. The successful candidate will be supervised by a team consisting of academics from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University (HWU). The Heriot-Watt University supervisor for this project will be Dr Elma Charalampidou. Some of the experiments involving micro x-ray CT system will be undertaken at HWU.

The selection process is in two phases:

Stage 1: Interested candidates should contact Dr Amer Syed at Amer.Syed@ed.ac.uk by 7 February 2025 with their CV and a covering email. Potential candidates will be invited to an  interview. Selected candidate will progress to Stage 2.

Stage 2: Selected candidate will complete a formal application to the University of Edinburgh by 12 February 2025. This application will be assessed by a panel for funding. Please note that this studentship attracts enhanced stipend, while the exact details are yet to be finalised, for 2024, it was £21,400 per annum.

Home and overseas students are encouraged to apply.

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.

Tuition fees + stipend are available for Home/EU and International students.

Further information and other funding options.

In the context of long-term monitoring applications, there are numerous structural states that exhibit similar behavior but cannot be generalized with a single model (whether data- or physics-based) due to the inherent time-variant nature of structural evolution. Addressing such scenarios necessitates methodologies with adaptable models that can capture the interdependencies between Environmental and Operational Variabilities (EOV) and Damage Sensitivity Features (DSF) at various stages of structural evolution. The challenge lies in determining when distinct structures can be considered pseudo-similar, thereby sharing the same underlying physical properties to better represent the dynamics and associated EOV dependencies. Similarly, the incorporation of physics-based models, with varying levels of fidelity, adds knowledge towards understanding structural changes, which is essential for incorporating interpretable constraints on DSF evolution.

In practice, there are two main Challenges: (i) Robust extraction of DSF for continuous monitoring which are insensitive to EOVs. These DSF should be interpretable during the entire evolution of the structural performance, and they should be able to accommodate dimensionality and complexity reduction of their associated non-linear time-variant nature. (ii) And there is a need of developing measures to quantify and propagate uncertainty towards the estimation of future stages of the structure evolution.

This project is supervised by Dr David Garcia Cava (School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh). It will involve regular interaction with collaborators from academia and industry. Interested candidates may contact the supervisor for further information (david.garcia@ed.ac.uk).

Personal website: https://dgarciacava.github.io/

This advert might close once a suitable candidate is found. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

References

1. García Cava, D., Avendaño-Valencia, L.D., Movsessian, A., Roberts, C., Tcherniak, D. (2022). On Explicit and Implicit Procedures to Mitigate Environmental and Operational Variabilities in Data-Driven Structural Health Monitoring. In: Cury, A., Ribeiro, D., Ubertini, F., Todd, M.D. (eds) Structural Health Monitoring Based on Data Science Techniques. Structural Integrity, vol 21. Springer, Cham
2. Rashid, D., Giorgio-Serchi, F., Hosoya, N., and Garcia Cava, D. (2024). Physics Informed Gaussian Process for Bolt Tension Estimation. Proceedings of the 10th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2024), June 10-13, 2024 in Potsdam, Germany. e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing

The University of Edinburgh is committed to equality of opportunity for all its staff and students, and promotes a culture of inclusivity: 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.

Applications are particularly welcome from candidates expecting to receive a first-class degree in mechanical engineering, physics, applied mathematics or a closely related subject.

Interests on: Structural mechanics and dynamics, Stochastic modelling and uncertainty quantification, understanding environmental and operational variabilities and their impact in structures and structures for renewable energy is particularly welcome.

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

Applications are welcomed from self-funded students, or students who are applying for scholarships from the University of Edinburgh or elsewhere.

Competition (EPSRC) funding may be available for an exceptional candidate but please note you must be a UK student or an EU student who has pre-settled/settled status and has lived in the UK for at least 3 years.

Further information and other funding options.

Unreinforced masonry (URM) load-bearing walls were commonly used in historic buildings but are weak in shear and vulnerable to cracking and damage during seismic events. Structural engineers often need to study and design solutions to improve the structural response of shear walls. To strengthen them, mortar coatings reinforced with composite (carbon, glass, basalt, etc.) grids are used to enhance their lateral load-caring capacity, ductility, and stiffness. This grid is typically applied on both sides of the shear walls to form a sandwich structure, with the masonry material in the middle and the grid-reinforced coatings to act as thin-but-stiff skins. Anchors between the “skins” are crucial in establishing mechanical bonds and providing strength between the reinforcing material and the URM wall, frequently complemented by chemical bonding. This integrated system ensures the capability to withstand various loads until it attains its ultimate load capacity.

Incorrect placement of the anchor can hinder the desired composite behaviour of the URM wall, leading to premature failure. The location and size of each anchor hole are crucial, as multiple anchor holes are required to secure the reinforcing material throughout the wall effectively. Effective coordination and integration of these elements are essential for achieving the best results. Choosing the proper layout is vital, as an incorrect choice could lead to early wall failure.

This project aims to identify the factors that influence the behaviour of URM walls strengthened with anchors and to evaluate the effectiveness of different anchor layouts in improving the strength and ductility of URM walls. The results of this study will be used to develop design guidelines for placing anchors in URM walls.

Research Aims:

• To identify the factors that influence the behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls strengthened with composited grids and anchors using numerical simulations.

• To evaluate the effectiveness of different anchor layouts in improving the strength and ductility of strengthened URM walls using numerical simulations.

• To develop a comprehensive methodology for optimizing anchor placement in URM walls, combining systematic numerical simulations with empirical laboratory data, aiming to establish a robust, evidence-based approach for enhancing seismic reinforcement in Unreinforced Masonry structures.

Methodology:

The project will initiate with a targeted literature review to identify critical factors influencing the reinforcement of URM walls with anchors. This sets the foundation for the research's analytical component. The study will primarily employ finite element modeling (FEM) and simulation, utilizing existing experimental data for model validation. A key focus will be on assessing different anchor layouts to enhance the strength and ductility of URM walls.

Complementing the simulations, experimental tests will be conducted to generate new data and validate simulation results. These tests aim to evaluate the effectiveness of various anchor layouts in real-world scenarios. Non-destructive evaluation techniques will be integrated into these tests to monitor damage progression and understand failure mechanisms.

The combination of simulation and experimental findings will lead to the development of practical design guidelines for effective anchor placement in URM wall reinforcement, contributing valuable insights for structural engineering in seismic areas.

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

Applicants should hold an Honours degree (2:1 or above) or its international equivalent in Civil or Structural Engineering, Materials Science, or a related discipline, with a Master's degree being advantageous. Key to this role is a robust understanding of structural engineering principles, particularly as they pertain to masonry structures and the use of composite materials in structural reinforcement.

Candidates must demonstrate strong research capabilities, including literature review, methodology development, and data interpretation.

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.

Applications are welcomed from self-funded students, or students who are applying for scholarships from the University of Edinburgh or elsewhere.

Further information and other funding options.

A plastic wear model for ductile materials was recently developed within the supervisor’s group, based on the discrete element method (DEM). An initial model developed for flat

surfaces [1] has since been extended to arbitrarily shaped closed surfaces representing abradable particles. Each particle is essentially a multi-sphere clump in which the non-interacting constituent spheres are arranged to form a hollow shell. A constituent sphere is displaced in the direction of the local normal to the surface once a material yield criterion has been met. This has been implemented in a fork of the open-source LAMMPS [2] code.

This implementation, which enables one form of permanent change of a particle’s shape, can be extended to another: plastic deformation. Even in dense sheared granular systems, the contact network is constantly changing, i.e., interparticle contacts are highly transient [3]. This raises the question of whether elasto-plastic contact models, e.g., [4-5], which retain no memory of plastic deformation once a contact has been lost in the simulation, are suitable for all scenarios.

This project will initially extend the simulation framework developed for particle abrasion to capture plastic deformation. This framework will then be applied to explore the role of plasticity in granular systems, and assess the scenarios in which simpler elasto-plastic contact models can give acceptable results.

Informal queries from potential applicants can be directed to Dr Kevin Hanley (k.hanley@ed.ac.uk).

References

[1] Capozza, R. & Hanley, K.J. (2022): A comprehensive model of plastic wear based on the discrete element method. Powder Technology, 410, 117864

[2] Thompson, A.P. et al. (2022): LAMMPS - a flexible simulation tool for particle-based materials modeling at the atomic, meso, and continuum scales. Computer Physics Communications, 271, 108171

[3] Hanley, K.J., Huang, X., O’Sullivan, C. & Kwok, F. C.-Y. (2014): Temporal variation of contact networks in granular materials. Granular Matter, 16, 41–54

[4] Luding, S. (2008): Cohesive, frictional powders: contact models for tension. Granular Matter, 10, 235–246

[5] Thakur, S.C., Morrissey, J.P., Sun, J., Chen, J.F. & Ooi, J.Y. (2014): Micromechanical analysis of cohesive granular materials using the discrete element method with an adhesive elasto-plastic contact model. Granular Matter, 16, 383–400

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.

Applications are welcomed from self-funded students, or students who are applying for scholarships from the University of Edinburgh or elsewhere.

Further information and other funding options.