PhD position: “Getting more out of Structures through monitoring and simulation”

In recent years, developed societies, Switzerland amongst them, have been faced with the problem of continuous urbanization and excessive energy consumption, closing in on exhaustion of available resources. In view of this, the notions of sustainability and resilience have become paramount in the way developed societies plan ahead and manage resources. This sub-project forms part of a wider Joint project termed “Concrete Solutions”, within the context of the National Research Program, NRP70 “Energy Turnaround”, seeking to deliver resource efficient solutions. This project will look into ways of extending the lifetime of existing structures through novel intervention methods and via collection of appropriate sensory information. Both laboratory specimens and large-scale field structures will serve as test cases. The aspect of monitoring, i.e. the collection of information from structural response, allows for a deeper knowledge of the system itself and therefore a realistic verification of structural safety. Additionally, a better assessment of the structure’s operating condition may enable the extension of the nominal lifetime of existing building stock. This in turn, contributes to the significant reduction of building materials, energy consumption and CO2 emissions, which are detrimental in currently standard approaches that require full replacement of structures once they fulfill their design expectancy, regardless of their actual condition. On a second level, this work package, WP5, will deal with the simulation and experimental assessment of the novel building approaches proposed within the “Concrete Solutions” Project, with a focus on Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UPFRC) elements. The supervisor is Prof. Dr. Eleni Chatzi at the Chair of Structural Mechanics, Institute of StructuralEngineering, ETH Zürich. The work will be carried out in close collaboration withProf. Dr. Eugen Brühwiler at the Structural Maintenance and Safety Laboratory, EPFL. The planned duration is three years. This work is funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Research Grant #407040_154060.

The ideal candidate should have a Masters degree in Civil Engineering (or related discipline) and a strong background in Structural Mechanics and Finite Element modelling. Experience in signal processing/probabilistics and good programming abilities would also be beneficial. Mastering the English language is required (German is an asset).