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Discrete Element Modeling of High-Speed Railway Embankment |
Prof. Xuecheng Bian
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The aim is to develop a new understanding of the micromechanics of railway trackbed subjected to dynamic loads induced by high speed trains. This should lead to safer design of high-speed railway systems which require less maintenance and, therefore, are more sustainable.
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Development and use of an advanced ZVI nanomaterial for water treatment applications |
Dr Andrea Joana Correia Semiao, Dr Blanca Antizar-Ladislao
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Miss Underwood's doctoral research seeks to develop and test new nano-composite materials for the use in water treatment. She wishes to improve upon the existing nano zero-valent iron technologies as well as to explore how specific nanotechnologies can be applied in an economic and incentivized fashion for successful technological adoption.
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Dense suspension rheology through DEM simulations |
Dr. Jin Sun
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Mud, slurry, coffee, paints, cements, batteries and many other everyday materials have particles suspended in a liquid. We need to understand the flow behaviour to handle, and process such materials for traditional and innovative applications. Our research seeks to understand the common features of the flow behaviour of different materials using simple particle based simulations. In particular, we focus on dense suspensions where the particles occupy more than 50 % by volume of the solution.
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DEM model calibration and validation for cohesive soil-machine interactions |
Prof. Jin Ooi
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The modelling of cohesive soils is a challenging task of great importance in many earth moving processes. In these cases, the understanding of the interaction soil-machine is vital to try to optimize the process and avoid problems. This project aims to investigate the capabilities of DEM cohesive contact models to capture with a sufficient level of accuracy the mechanical behaviours involved in soil-machine interactions.
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Community-Based Waste-Water Treatment in International Development |
Dr Martin Crapper
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A project, funded by PhD scholarships from the Islamic Development Bank and EPSRC (via the Doctoral Training Grants) is underway looking at the efficiency of meso-scale waste stabilization ponds to treat municipal waste water, with resource recovery from fish farming and selling sludge for fertilizer. The ultimate aim is to demonstrate systems that can be adpoted and run by communities, particularly in urban West Africa. The pilot project is based in Cotonou, Benin.
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Challenging RISK: Achieving Resilience by Integrating Societal and Technical Knowledge |
Professor Luke Bisby
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This project is concerned with socially integrated mitigation of multiple structural risks in the urban environment, with a focus on the linked risks of earthquake and fire. Fire is the largest contributor to building damage following earthquakes. To date, this research area has largely been ignored as it crosses the boundaries between the knowledge areas of earthquake and fire safety engineering. The combination of factors adds to the challenges in risk estimation already existing in each distinct area. There is currently no universally accepted method for accounting for the effect of strengthening practices on building vulnerability to earthquakes (let alone earthquakes followed by fire). In the case of fire safety engineering, few credible techniques for damage estimation or risk-based design currently exist due to a lack of requisite input data. This project will develop, through large scale structural testing and computational analysis, new technical engineering solutions to these problems. And, for the first time, these technical engineering solutions will be developed explicitly accounting for the social context within which they are to be enacted.
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Cardington Test Reports (PiT Project) |
Professor Asif Usmani
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As part of a DETR funded PiT (Partners in Technology) project the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering (previously the Structures in Fire Group) conducted extensive computational and analytical studies of the behaviour of steel-framed composite structures in fire conditions. This work was undertaken in collaboration with Corus PLC and Imperial College London. The results were presented in the form of a main report, which identified the main findings, together with numerous supplementary reports which explored various phenomena in detail. The reports produced at Edinburgh are available for download as indicated below.
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Bioenergy from waste for sustainable heat and power production |
Dr Efthalia Chatzisymeon, Prof Tina Düren (University of Bath), Dr Blanca Antizar Ladislao
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This research project is investigating ways to increase the bio methane potential of food waste through a combination of laboratory and desk based studies. The aim being to increase sustainable heat, power and biofertiliser production through anaerobic digestion.
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Behaviour, attitutde and perception of safety risk in a nationally and culturally diverse workforce |
Dr Simon Smith
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Considering the cultural and national backgrounds of construction workers and management to understand attitudes and perception of construction safety risk.
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Bacterial Removal from Recycled Water from Aquaculture Activities |
Dr Efthalia Chatzisymeon
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This project aims to explore the feasibility of the UV technique to clean the reused shellfish processing water.
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