EPSRC FIBE3 CDT PhD studentship with M Group: Low whole life carbon cementitious repair materials for future infrastructure

This is a four-year (1+3 MRes/PhD) studentship funded through the Cambridge EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Unlocking Net Zero (FIBE3 CDT). Further details can be found at net-zero-fibe-cdt.eng.cam.ac.uk

The project is funded in collaboration with M Group, a leading essential infrastructure services provider operating within the Transport, Energy, Water and Telecommunications sectors. A core business is transport infrastructure repair and maintenance delivering innovative and sustainable solutions aligning with M Group's ambitious environment strategy.

As the construction phase of new infrastructure is responsible for significant carbon emissions, the focus is now shifting towards the upkeep and life extension of existing infrastructure, to help deliver the sector's lower carbon targets. In the current largely traditional construction practices, around half of all construction spend continues to be on repair and maintenance, of mainly concrete assets, and most such repairs are carbon intensive and inefficient. Poor material performance and durability remain the main causes of around half of failed cementitious repairs within the first 10 years and our changing climate will only exacerbate this.

The project will explore a range of advanced and low carbon cementitious repair materials (grouts, mortars and concrete) together with tailored functional additives and admixtures with the aim of developing sustainable and more resilient and longer lasting repair solutions.

The project will address a number of current challenges with commercially available cementitious repair materials and focus on a number of low hanging fruit applications. It will capitalise on case studies of major improvement, repair and renewal projects from M Group including National Highways frameworks, the Lewes derailment repairs, Redbridge Causeway environmental refurbishment and soil nailing grout applications to prevent landslides. A main driver in many cases is minimising asset closure time. The project will combine advanced material characterisation, mix design development, coupled thermodynamic and reactive transport modelling, accelerated ageing, mechanical and durability testing and potentially large-scale trials and validation. A range of repair scenarios will be considered together with appropriate design and performance requirements.

For project-specific enquiries, please e-mail Professor Abir Al-Tabbaa at aa22@cam.ac.uk or Dr Rami Alghamri at rja75@cam.ac.uk. For general enquiries, please email cdtcivil-courseadmin@eng.cam.ac.uk.

Applicants should have (or expect to obtain by the start date) at least a high 2.1 degree preferably at Masters level in Civil Engineering and with strong interest in cementitious materials and experimental work.

Fully-funded studentships (fees and maintenance) are only available for eligible home students in the first instance. A limited number of international students can be considered for funding at a later stage in the recruitment process. Further details about eligibility and funding can be found at: MResPlusPhD

Applications should be made online via the University of Cambridge Applicant Portal: Egegpdfib stating project title and supervisor's name.

Please note there is a £20 application fee.

Early applications are strongly encouraged as an offer may be made before the stated deadline.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.