Structural Design
Our research applies fundamental structural engineering understanding to complex real-world and sometimes out-of-this-world challenges. We explore new structural materials and find better ways to use old ones. We develop novel structural systems and work to extend the lives of those we already have. We envision buildings and infrastructure that serve people better and cost the world less. Since structural considerations are only ever part of the story, we work closely with colleagues in cognate disciplines and industrial collaborators to develop integrated, realisable structural solutions.
Structural Mechanics
Our mechanics research develops the fundamental understanding that underpins structural engineering at all scales and all levels of complexity. We explore the behaviour of lightweight structures capable of sustaining large global deformations and ageing concrete structures where small deformations can provide early warning of impending failure. We investigate the way buckling can control the surface textures of foils and the way that synchronisation of crowds can affect the excitation of bridges. We develop models that help us understand the interaction between a fruit-fly’s wing and the air it moves through, and between the enormous mono-pile foundation of a wind turbine and the soil against which it bears. While structural mechanics often finds its most prominent expression in civil engineering, our work contributes to understanding and applications in a range of cognate disciplines including materials engineering, bio-engineering, aeronautical and space engineering.
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