Institute for Infrastructure Engineering

The Institute for Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Western Sydney invites applications from excellent doctoral candidates to undertake an exciting project funded by the Australian Research Council.

ARC Research Scholarships in Engineering (4 x students)


Discovery Postgraduate Research Awards (2 available)

The Behaviour and Design of Composite Columns Coupling the Benefits of High Strength Steel and High Strength Concrete for Large Scale Infrastructure

About the Project
High strength steel casings in composite columns have the ability to enable high strength concrete to be more efficiently utilised and can delay crushing and improve ductility considerably as well as significantly reducing column dimensions in buildings and other infrastructure systems. The doctoral students will be involved in the research of high strength concrete filled steel tubes and very high strength concrete filled polygonal sections.

For more information, please see The Behaviour and Design of Composite Columns Coupling the Benefits of High Strength Steel and High Strength Concrete for Large Scale Infrastructure (opens in a new window)

Discovery Postgraduate Research Award

Human Response to Wind-Excited Building Vibration

About the project
Tall buildings are prone to wind-induced vibration, causing discomfort to occupants and degradation of work performance. This research is multi-disciplinary, bringing together inputs from engineering, physiology and psychology, and aiming to identify the factors affecting motion sickness and understand the significance of compensatory behaviour on human comfort and work performance in wind-excited tall buildings. This research will be based on experimental manipulation of the effects of low-frequency planar vibration on people in a motion simulator, general population surveys on prior experience of and reaction to building motion, and field survey of occupants in wind-excited buildings. The successful candidates may have the opportunity to participate in research components of the project in Hong Kong and New Zealand.

For more information, please see Human Response to Wind-Excited Building Vibration (opens in a new window)

Discovery Postgraduate Research Award

Hybrid Stainless-Carbon Steel Composite Beam-Column
Joints at Elevated Temperatures

About the Project
Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns fabricated from carbon steel have long been used in the construction industry. With an aim to substantially improve the maintenance, stainless steel tubes have been proposed to replace carbon steel tubes in this project. To promote the application of stainless steel CFST columns, conventional carbon steel beams will continue to be used and innovative connections need to be developed to connect the beams to the columns. The doctoral student will be involved in the research of the fire performance of these innovative joints. This research project is an inter-disciplinary integrating structural engineering and fire safety engineering.

For more information, please see Hybrid Stainless-Carbon Steel Composite Beam-Column Joints at Elevated Temperatures (opens in a new window)

To download the application form, please see Application for Admission & Scholarship 2012 - Higher Degree Research (opens in a new window)
The Application closing date is 31 March 2012.