Warmer temperatures, extreme droughts, and more intensive convective storms are accelerating deterioration of earthworks, degrading resilience. Climate change is a major national security risk. UK critical infrastructure faces a climate adaptation deficit that will cost up to £1 billion/year by 2050. There is an urgent need to understand why, and anticipate when, earthworks failures occur to enable targeted and timely preventative actions.
This PhD will take advantage of the new National Engineered Slope Simulator (NESS) facility; a large-scale, configurable, climate-controlled clay slope testing facility. The long-term experiments will deploy large (5×3×2 m; 45-tonne) compacted clay samples, which are subjected to accelerated wetting/drying cycles to deteriorate hydromechanical performance.
Depending on the selected PhD candidate’s strengths and interests, the project could take one of four directions:
- Deliver a step-change in understanding of weather and climate change impacts on earthwork hydromechanical performance, which focuses principally on large- and element-scale laboratory testing.
- Develop novel diagnostic techniques for asset condition appraisal and deterioration detection, which will use extensive laboratory measurements to establish data fusion and AI analytics.
- Advance capability to forecast deterioration and failure, which will use large-scale testing, numerical simulations, and probabilistic techniques.
- Enhance understanding of intervention behaviour (e.g., drains, soil nailing) and establish strategies to optimize type, timing, and distribution of interventions to balance added capacity, life extension, cost, and carbon.
This project is one of five PhDs in Resilient Infrastructure. The successful candidate will be part of a growing community of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers and academics who are extending the boundaries of knowledge and delivering transformative solutions to real-world problems. The other projects in Resilient Infrastructure are:
- Progressive collapse analysis of steel structures
- Performance-based optimization of novel lightweight steel frame systems for resilient modular constructions
- Assessment of moisture-induced damage effects in timber buildings
- Impact of recycling and coating on nanoplastic emission from textile products
Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, IT equipment and other support services. University fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, including online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account inflationary pressures.
The School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering's studentship competition offers the chance for UK and International applicants who are interested in undertaking a PhD to have their full-time studies paid for.
The studentship is for 3 years and provides a tax-free stipend of £18,622 per annum (2023/24 rate) for the duration of the studentship plus university tuition fees.
Studentships will be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who have applied to advertised projects starting with the reference 'ABCE24'.