Research Associates:
Marialuigia Sangirardi (email: marialuigia.sangirardi@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BSc in Civil Engineering, Technical University of Bari (Italy)
MSc in Structural Engineering, Technical University of Bari (Italy)
PhD in Civil (Structural) Engineering Technical University of Bari, (Italy) and University of Minho (Portugal)
Marilù’s research interests include modelling of masonry mechanical behaviour, computer vision-based structural monitoring, constitutive modelling formulation, numerical simulations of boundary value problems, with emphasis on historical constructions, retrofitting techniques and soil-structure interaction.
She serves as reviewer for international journals in preservation, structural engineering, and mechanics.
She has been working as research fellow in UMinho - ISISE (Portugal), La Sapienza, and Roma Tre (Italy). She joined the Department of Engineering Science of Oxford University to work on the mechanical identification of historic masonry, developing an innovative in-situ testing method.
Yiyan Liu (email: yiyan.liu@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BSc in Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University (China)
MSc in Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics, Sheffield (UK)
DPhil in Engineering Science, University of Oxford (UK)
Yiyan worked as a tunnel engineer at Jacobs and Geotechnical Data Manager at HS2 for six years before joining Oxford. His DPhil (co-supervised with Harvey Burd and Ben Gilson Arup) was on the development of displacement, strain and crack monitoring of assets using point cloud data. Yiyan is continuing working on this subject as a postdoc. The aim of his project is to transform his research code into widely applicable and easy-to-use software for site applications. He is planning to demonstrate the use of these techniques to monitor masonry buildings tunnelling works for the Athlone Main Drainage Scheme project.
Research students:
Yixiong Jing (matric. Jan 2020)
(email: yixiong.jing@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BEng in Civil Engineering, Harbin
Institute of Technology (China)
MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Kyoto University (Japan)
Jing's MSc research explored the seismic performance of skew bridges considering the effects of pounding. During this time, developed a new interest in deep learning applications in bridge engineering and maintenance. His DPhil (co-supervised by Brian Sheil) is exploring the application of deep learning techniques to assist bridge geometry characterisation and defect identification.
Zheng-You Zhang (matric. Oct 2021)
(email: zhengyou.zhang@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk)
BEng with First Class Honours in Civil
Engineering, University of Canterbury
(New Zealand)
MSc in Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of
Technology (United States)
During his undergraduate final year project, Zheng-You and his supervisors developed a calibration method for a novel elemental damping model, to be used in the practical assessment of building response under earthquakes. This work resulted in a conference paper. During his graduate study, Zheng-You explored how to apply the interval finite element method to account for the uncertainty in structural joints. His DPhil research, co-supervised by Manolis Chatzis, is on the earthquake engineering of rocking structures, with a focus on improving analytical and numerical models that are used to describe rocking interfaces.
Miles Judd (matric. Oct 2021)
(email: miles.judd@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Munich (Germany)
During his BSc at the Technical University of Munich, Miles researched “High-speed camera-based Operational Modal Analysis” using contactless, vision-based sensing technologies, thereby accumulating knowledge in Digital Image Correlation techniques (DIC). He is now working as a DPhil student on the project “Masonry in-situ testing and material identification (MINT)” which aims to estimate mechanical properties of existing masonry assets using DIC and the Virtual Fields Method (VFM). His DPhil is co-supervised by Marialuigia Sangirardi.
Jiaxu Zuo (matric. Oct 2021)
(email: jiaxu.zuo@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Technology
BEng in Mechatronic Systems (Honours),
Australian National University
MSc in Biomedical Engineering, University of Bristol
Jiaxu’s MSc project was about software development and image feature extraction in relation to video compression and processing. Her DPhil, co-supervised by Brian Sheil, will address monitoring historic ceiling structures using acoustic emission sensors. With the help of machine learning techniques. she will develop enable early warning systems to help building owners manage these ceilings.
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Janet Botha (matric. Oct 2022)
(email: janet.botha@eng.ox.ac.uk)
BEng in Civil Engineering, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
In her final year project at Edinburgh, Janet experimentally assessed the viability of a novel fibre-reinforced powder prepreg system for strengthening concrete structures. Janet also worked as a research intern on the RC3 project on the development of a risk model to predict damage to traditional timber buildings in Madagascar due to cyclones. Janet’s undergraduate studies were supported by the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program. Her DPhil research aims to assess the impact of climate change on masonry buildings at risk of damage due to soil subsidence/heave driven by climate and trees. By modelling the entire process of damage to buildings using finite elements and incorporating a multi-scale model, she aims to predict potential damage to buildings in the UK. She is co-supervised with Harvey Burd (Oxford) and supported by the Rhodes Trust.
Yilong Yang (matric. Oct 2022)
(email: yilong.yang@mansfield.ox.ac.uk)
MEng with First Class Honours in Engineering, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
Yilong's MEng research investigated the use of Deep Learning to extract diagnostic information from 3D models (point clouds) of human hearts reconstructed from MRI images. The research culminated in a conference paper titled "3D Shape-Based Myocardial Infarction Prediction Using Point Cloud Classification Networks." His DPhil degree, under the joint supervision of Gunes Baydin and Bora Pulatsu, employs 3D computer vision, deep learning, and discrete element simulation methodologies to analyse masonry structures. He aims to develop improved point cloud algorithms for masonry quality evaluation, defect detection and displacement monitoring.
Visitors:
Giulio L.S. Sacco (February-June 2024)
(email: giulioluciosergio.sacco@edu.unige.it)
For his PhD (supervised by Chiara Calderini and Carlo Battini at the University of Genoa) Giulio is exploring the application of TLS and SfM point clouds for structural assessments. His work investigates geometrical irregularities in masonry structures and aims to identify the structural deformations which caused the irregularities. At Oxford, he is developing algorithms which map (assumed) original geometries to current 3D models to determine historical full-field displacements and damage mechanisms present in the structure.
Rhea Wilson (May-September 2024)
(email: rheaswilson@cmail.carleton.ca)
Rhea's PhD (supervised by Bora Pulatsu at the University of Carleton) is on developing new constitutive models to simulate creep failures using Discrete Element modelling in masonry structures. She is conducting accelerated creep tests at Oxford on brick, mortar and masonry using DIC and acoustic emissions to provide an experimental basis for her computational work. Rhea is also interested in exploring the relationship between creep behaviour and microstructure and will be conducting micro-CT measurements on masonry constituents.
Idris Bedirhanoglu (January-December 2024)
(email: ibedirhanoglu@dicle.edu.tr)
As an academic visitor from Dicle University, Idris is contributing to the MINT: Masonry in-situ testing and identification project. He is preparing masonry samples, conducting mechanical characterisation work and constructing a core bench to enable core sampling in the laboratory. Idris is also conducting numerical simulations on several Gaziantep mosques which were damaged during the 2023 southeast Turkey earthquakes with his research students. These simulations will inform repair and strengthening activities.
Moslem Shahverdi (June-October 2024)
(email: moslem.shahverdi@empa.ch)
Moslem will be visiting Oxford from Empa (the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) during his sabbatical. During his visit, he will conduct thermomechanical testing and inverse identification of iron-based shape memory alloys. He will also investigate in-situ X-ray imaging of the activation of shape memory alloy fibres in additively manufactured concrete, in collaboration with James Marrow.
Recent graduates
Burcu Gulen (grad. Feb 2024)
BSc in Civil Engineering, ITU (Turkey)
MSc in Soil Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering, ITU (Turkey)
DPhil in Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK.
Burcu graduated as the highest ranking student for her BSc. Her MSc work was in the area of geotechnical earthquake engineering. Her experimental study investigated altering the fully saturated condition of loose sands to become partially saturated, in order to increase their liquefaction resistance. Her DPhil was on developing computationally efficient models to aid the prediction of excavation-induced damage in masonry assets. She was co-supervised with Harvey Burd (Oxford).
Huanian Zhu (grad. April 2024)
BSc in Civil Engineering, Zhejiang
University of Technology (China)
MSc in Civil Engineering, Tongji University (China)
DPhil in Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK.
Huanian's research is on earthquake engineering. During his MSc, he developed, tested and analysed asymmetrical viscous dampers which can be incorporated into slender braced frame structures. His DPhil work (co-supervised by Manolis Chatzis) is explored the fundamental dynamics of flexible rocking structures, and featured the development of new impact models, including bouncing and sliding. He also conducted shake table experiments on flexible rocking bodies. His DPhil work was supported by the China-Oxford scholarship.
Master's students:
- Dylan Squires. Material characterisation of Natural Hydraulic Lime mortars for restoration (co-supervised by Marialuigia Sangirardi). University of Oxford.
- Yunus Arca. The response of St George Sarilar Orthodox church to the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes (co-supervised by Medine Ispir). Istanbul Technical University.
- Kerem Kurnaz. The response of St Ilyas Orthodox church to the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes (co-supervised by Medine Ispir). Istanbul Technical University.
Former members and visitors:
Baran Bozyigit (Postdoc visitor, 2023), Anil Ozdemir (Postdoc visitor, 2022) Jack Ruelle (MEng, 2022, w/Powell), Yusuf Benkraouche (MEng, 2021, w/Selvakumaran), Jonathan Melia (MEng, 2021, w/Powell), Jingyi Huang (Summer Internship, 2021 w/Rossi), Yilong Yang (EUROP, 2021 w/Burd,Gulen), El-Amin Ahmed (MEng, 2021), Heng Ghee Ng (MEng, 2021 w/ Liu), Jingjing He (MEng 2021 w/Burd), Jasper Threadingham (EUROP, 2020), Yilong Yang (EUROP, 2020), Isabel Mason (MEng, 2020 w/ Burd), Ruth Faherty (MEng, 2020), Keong Yeoh (MEng, 2020), Baran Bozyigit (PhD Visitor, 2019), Paul Gredigui (MSc visitor, 2019), Eugene Wong (MPhil 2019, w/Viggiani, Franza), Jack Smith (MEng, 2019), Sally Croysdale (MEng, 2019), Luke Jackson (MEng, 2019), Antonio Luciano (MSc visitor, 2018, w/Bilotta), Marco Nunzio Pascariello (MSc visitor, 2018, w/Bilotta)