MSc & PhD IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Challenge your creative and technical abilities to configure and design facilities for future living environment under the following research areas:

Materials This research area aims to investigate the properties, manufacturing processes, and design & development of construction materials, particularly; concrete, steel and earth materials with the use of the most advanced techniques such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescent, (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). At present, the research focuses on the production of durable concrete using locally available agricultural waste materials; such as, rice husk ash, and oil palm husk ash. Upon completion the outcome of the research will benefit construction companies and assist the protection of the environment. Structures and Construction The Structures and Construction research group mainly focuses on investigating the improvement of construction methods & procedures, maintenance and rehabilitation of structures particularly structures exposed to marine environment; such as offshore structures, bridges and coastal structures. One example of such work is the investigation on strengthening or improvement techniques for bridge girders lost strength due to corrosion or any deterioration process. Currently the group is involved in several activities namely Structural Strengthening and Retrofitting of flexural members and columns using carbon fiber laminates, effectiveness of epoxy jointed connections and joints in structural steel members, behavior of floating breakwater made of high-density polyethylene material for coastal protections. The outcome of this research will benefit particularly the construction industry in order to maintain mega structures till the desired service life. Transportation Design and Materials The area of transportation design and materials mainly focuses on the design and characterization of new highway materials; such as effects of fillers on the properties of bituminous mixes and the effectiveness of cold emulsion as highway material. Studies are also conducted on the design issues in transportation engineering, which includes design of high-speed multi-lanes highways. The group is also looking to focus on the pavement rehabilitation methods and intelligent transportation design, as well as traffic management. At present, two major research projects are carried out namely ‘The correlation between compaction degree of asphalt concrete and performance life’ and ‘Combination of Asphaltic Concrete Bituminous Mix and Hot-rolled Asphalt in Road Surfacing Structure’. The outcome of them will benefit the Department of Public Works and the private highway operators. Environmental Management The research area of Environmental Management focuses on water and wastewater research. The group experts are involved in the areas such as disinfections of water and wastewater, solid and sludge management, soft-structures in coastal engineering and coastal pollution. A research work which is currently on going in this area is ‘Removal of Heavy Metals from Industrial Waste Water by using Activated Carbon’. The outcome of this research is to benefit waste water treatment plant. Structural Analysis This research area’s major emphasis is to improve the analytical and computational techniques for structural design. The area focuses on application of computer software, modeling of structures and optimization procedures. The 26 December 2005 Tsunamis in South East Asian water and subsequent earth quake waves as felt at various locations in the Peninsular Malaysia have resulted in concerns being raised by the professionals regarding the awareness of the effects of earth quake waves on the structures particularly tall buildings. An analytical study using commercially available software is currently initiated with the title "Response of 100 m to 200 m tall buildings to high and medium level earthquakes and suggested modifications in design". With the outcome of this study many consultants, construction professional, authorities, and the entire nation may benefit in terms of awareness of the effects of earthquakes on buildings, design modifications, standards and specifications. Safety and Management This area mainly focuses on the safety related issues in the construction industry. The emphasis is on fire protection, hazard/risk analysis and management, HSE in offshore engineering. It is a growing area worldwide in order to assure the safety of personal, environment and properties at construction sites and within the developments. Outcome of this research area should benefit the construction industries. IT in Construction, Environment and Transportation The main thrust in this research will be on how information technology (IT) may improve construction, transportation industries and environment management. In construction, IT aspects such as e-portal, paperless administration and remote monitoring will be studied/investigated for the improvement of construction industries. Similarly for transportation, IT aspects such intelligent transportation system, intelligent vehicle location and traffic management system will be the thrust research area in order to improve the transportation industries. In environmental management, the advantages of spatial analysis will be utilized for the efficient environmental protection management due to certain environmental hazards such as oil spill, sinkhole collapse and urban heat. The research works that has been carried out in this research area are ‘The Sinkhole Risk Assessment of Residential Area using GIS’, and Enhancement of GPS Positioning in Vehicle Tracking System using WIFI (Wireless Fidelity) and Neural Network. From the first research work a GIS application has been developed that could model sinkhole risk based on certain spatial data. Besides paper work from this research has also been published. The outcome of this research will benefit the construction and transportation industry and the authorities responsible for the environment such as JAS (Jabatan Alam Sekitar).