Hybrid Lightweight Structural Systems for Resilient and Reusable Mass Housing (Fully Funded PhD)

These projects are open to students worldwide, but have no funding attached. Therefore, the successful applicant will be expected to fund tuition fees at the relevant level (home or international) and any applicable additional research costs. Please consider this before applying. 

The legally binding UK government target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 cannot be achieved without minimizing the carbon footprint of the construction sector. Over one-quarter of the world`s annual steel production is used in the construction of buildings, but a study based on steel-framed designs for schools, offices and residential buildings, sourced from leading UK design consultancies, reveals the average material utilisation ratio for typical steel buildings is below 50% of their capacity. This suggests steel content in buildings could be significantly reduced by designing for minimum material, which would annually avert 214 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. To reduce steel consumption in construction, the development of novel, materially efficient and sustainable lightweight structures is essential. There’s a global need for housing as populations grow which creates tension with our need to cause less emissions by building less or more efficiently.

Light steel frame (LSF) structures made of cold-formed steel (CFS) stud-walls and joisted floors are gaining growing popularity in modern construction practice worldwide, both in new developments and as a cost-effective and low-carbon solution for vertical extensions to existing buildings. The ease of offsite manufacturing utilising LSF structures offers many benefits compared to traditional methods, including: (a) improved quality and productivity, reduced material use, less wastage and savings of 30-50% in total construction time and associated costs; (b) flexibility for more tailored design solutions complying with the Design for Manufacture and Assembly approach; and (c) scalability for the technologies around automated construction. LSF systems can, therefore, directly contribute towards meeting the UK Government’s ambitious house building commitments and reducing the initial cost of construction and whole life cost of assets, and CO2 emissions by 33% and 50%, respectively. However, the current use of LSF structural systems is limited due to critical drawbacks such as low local buckling resistance of thin-walled CFS elements, low lateral stiffness and robustness of typical LSF systems and limitations of current design and optimisation approaches to exploit their full capacity. These challenges should be addressed before LSF systems can be widely used both in the UK and overseas.

The aim of this project is to develop a reusable, cost effective and resilient hybrid LSF system which addresses the identified drawbacks of the conventional systems suitable for multi-storey mass housing developments. This will involve integrated computational modelling using FE packages ABAQUS and CSI SAP2000 and large-scale experimental work to be conducted at Aberdeen Structures Laboratory leading to a design framework for the developed system.

Essential Background:

Decisions will be based on academic merit. The successful applicant should have, or expect to obtain, a UK Honours Degree at 2.1 (or equivalent) in civil engineering.

Desirable knowledge:

MSc in Civil/Structural engineering.

Relevant engineering background, a very strong understanding of structural behaviour, and in particular steel structures. Individual applying for this post should possess an excellent written and oral communication skills in English, and willing to publish high quality journal papers.

Application Procedure:

Formal applications can be completed online: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pgap/login.php.

You should apply for Engineering (PhD) to ensure your application is passed to the correct team for processing.

Please clearly note the name of the lead supervisor and project title on the application form. If you do not include these details, it may not be considered for the studentship.

Your application must include: A personal statement, an up-to-date copy of your academic CV, and clear copies of your educational certificates and transcripts.

Please note: you DO NOT need to provide a research proposal with this application.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don’t hesitate to contact us at pgrs-admissions@abdn.ac.uk