Research and Consultancy in Civil Engineering

The Department of Civil Engineering has staff expertise and the facilities to perform high quality research, recognised around the world. We also provide professional consulting and testing services on a wide range of engineering issues.

The Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering has one of largest structural engineering laboratories in the southern hemisphere. This has lead to established theoretical and experimental research strengths in the behaviour of steel and other metal structures, particularly in stability. Our lab is in constant demand due to the wide range of testing machines we have available.
The Centre for Geotechnical Research has expertise in the behaviour and design in many types of foundation systems, soil and rock mechanics, and also contaminant flow.
In the area of the Environment Fluids we have facilities and staff researching in the areas of Wind Engineering, Coastal Engineering, Ocean Technology & Sustainable Ocean Resources.
In addition, Wind Engineering Services is a specialised branch of the Fluids group internationally recognised for its research and industrial consulting activities in the field of wind engineering.
In the field of Project Management we are on the cutting edge of research, and have extensive links with industry.

The Department runs regular research seminars on current topics, and many of our publications are available for free download in PDF.

For information on our consulting services please browse our information on structural engineering (CASE), geotechnical engineering (CGR) or wind engineering (WES).

Potential research partners can examine the section on our possible research partnerships.

If you are interested in being a research student for a Masters or PhD visit our future students page.

Research highlight - Buckling in stainless steel sections

Postgraduate student Maura Lecce and Professor Kim Rasmussen are researching the "Distortional Buckling of Stainless Steel Sections".

Maura's experiments involve the design of a test rig that can measure the initial and buckling deformations of complex stainless steel shapes under compression.

The collected data is then used in finite element modelling simulations of the behaviour of a wider range of columns.

Professor Kim Rasmussen has been researching the fundamental behaviour of non-linear metallic materials - such as aluminium, stainless steel and cast iron.