Dr Robert Davies
Lecturer - Teaching and Research
- daviesre11@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 0043
- W/2.34, Queen's Buildings - West Building, 5 The Parade, Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 3AA
- Welsh speaking
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
Croeso! (Welcome in Welsh 😊)
I am a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering, Cardiff University. I teach across our degree schemes and carry out interesting research on new construction materials as a member of the Materials for Life research unit. I am keen to ensure that what we do in academia is relevant and linked in with industry. Indeed, my post is sponsored by Costain a large UK based contactor and multi-disciplinary innovations solutions provider.
I am a Chartered Civil Engineer and have broad range of experience since graduating from Cardiff University in 2004. I hope that my passion, enthusiasm, and curiosity for all things engineering is contagious! To find out more about me, visit a tab of interest to you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you wish to find out more.
Cofion gorau/ Best wishes,
Rob
Biography
Career overview
- Lecturer, School of Engineering, Cardiff University (2016 - present)
- Research Associate, School of Engineering, Cardiff University (2013 - 2016)
- PhD in Engineering, Cardiff University (Awarded in 2014)
- Research Student, School of Engineering, Cardiff University (2010 - 2013)
- Chartered Engineer with Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng MICE) (Awarded in 2008)
- Civil Engineer, Halcrow Group Limited, Cardiff (2004 - 2010)
- Master’s degree in Civil Engineering (MEng (Hons)), Cardiff University (2000 - 2004)
Honours and awards
- ICE Wales Cymru Studies and Research award for Materials for Life (M4L) (2016)
-
PhD studentship under the prestigious President’s Research Scholarship in collaboration with Alun Griffiths Contractors Ltd (2010)
Professional memberships
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (2019 - present)
- Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng MICE) (2008 - present)
Academic positions
- Lecturer, Cardiff University (2016 - present)
- Research Associate, Cardiff University (2013 - 2016)
- PhD Student and Postgraduate Demonstrator, Cardiff University (2010 - 2013)
Committees and reviewing
- ICE Supervising Civil Engineer at Cardiff University (2020 - Present)
- Journal reviewer, Cement and Concrete Composites (2019 - Present)
- Grant reviewer, EPSRC - Research Leadership EOI Panel member (2018)
- Journal reviewer, Construction and Building Materials (2017 - Present)
- COST Action network proposer for ”Self-healing As preventive Repair of COncrete Structures (SARCOS)” and European wide network (CA15202) (2015 - 2021) https://www.cost.eu/
- ICE Wales Cymru Elected Member Committee (2015 - 2018)
Publications
2021
- Sweeney, J. et al. 2021. Concrete crack closure and reinforcement using high performance shape memory polymers (SMP). Presented at: Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020) International Conference, Online/Cardiff, 20-22 Sept 2021 Presented at Maddalena, R. and Wright-Syed, M. eds.Proceedings Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020). Cardiff: Cardiff University pp. 306-310.
- Sweeney, J. et al. 2021. Injection moulding of ‘Spheritet’ component for concrete reinforcement. Presented at: Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020) International Conference, Online/Cardiff, 20-22 Sept 2021 Presented at Maddalena, R. and Wright-Syed, M. eds.Proceedings Resilient Materials 4 Life 2020 (RM4L2020). Cardiff: Cardiff University pp. 302-305.
- Davies, R., Jefferson, A. and Gardner, D. 2021. Development and testing of vascular networks for self-healing cementitious materials. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 33(7) (10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0003802)
- Litina, C. et al. 2021. Evaluation of methodologies for assessing self-healing performance of concrete with mineral expansive agents: an interlaboratory study. Materials 14(8), article number: 2024. (10.3390/ma14082024)
- Wang, Y., Pullin, R., Pearson, M., Davies, R. and Holford, K. 2021. Detection and evaluation of vascular network based self-healing concrete using acoustic emission. Presented at: World Conference on Acoustic Emission 2019 (WCAE), Guangdong, China, 5-8 November 2019 Presented at Shen, G., Zhang, J. and Wu, Z. eds.Advances in Acoustic Emission Technology: Proceedings of the World Conference on Acoustic Emission—2019, Vol. 259. Springer Proceedings in Physics Springer; 1999, (10.1007/978-981-15-9837-1_25)
2020
- Selvarajoo, T., Davies, R., Freeman, B. and Jefferson, A. 2020. Mechanical response of a vascular self-healing cementitious material system under varying loading conditions. Construction and Building Materials 254, article number: 119245. (10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.119245)
- Selvarajoo, T., Davies, R. E., Gardner, D. R., Freeman, B. L. and Jefferson, A. D. 2020. Characterisation of a vascular self-healing cementitious material system: Flow and curing properties. Construction and Building Materials 245, article number: 118332. (10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.118332)
2018
- De Belie, N. et al. 2018. A review of self-healing concrete for damage management of structures. Advanced Materials Interfaces 5(17), article number: 1800074. (10.1002/admi.201800074)
- Davies, R. et al. 2018. Large scale application of self-healing concrete: design, construction and testing. Frontiers in Materials 5, article number: 51. (10.3389/fmats.2018.00051)
- Teall, O., Pilegis, M., Davies, R., Sweeney, J., Jefferson, T., Lark, R. and Gardner, D. 2018. A shape memory polymer concrete crack closure system activated by electrical current. Smart Materials and Structures 27(7), article number: 75016. (10.1088/1361-665X/aac28a)
- Gardner, D., Lark, R., Jefferson, A. and Davies, R. 2018. A survey on problems encountered in current concrete construction and the potential benefits of self-healing cementitious materials.. Case Studies in Construction Materials 8, pp. 238-247. (10.1016/j.cscm.2018.02.002)
- Jefferson, A. and Davies, R. 2018. A coupled chemo-mechanical damage-healing model for cementitious materials. Presented at: EURO-C 2018: Computational Modelling of Concrete and Concrete Structures, Bad Hofgastein, Austria, 26 February-1 March 2018 Presented at Meshke, G., Pichler, B. and Rots, J. G. eds.Computational Modelling of Concrete Structures: Proceedings of the Conference on Computational Modelling of Concrete and Concrete Structures (EURO-C 2018), February 26 - March 1, 2018, Bad Hofgastein, Austria. London: CRC Press pp. 285-288., (10.1201/9781315182964-35)
2017
- Davies, R. and Jefferson, A. 2017. Micromechanical modelling of self-healing cementitious materials. International Journal of Solids and Structures 113-4, pp. 180-191. (10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2017.02.008)
2016
- Davies, R. et al. 2016. Multi-scale cementitious self-healing systems and their application in concrete structures. Presented at: The 9th International Concrete Conference 2016 - Environment, Efficiency and Economic Challenges for Concrete, Dundee, UK, 4 - 6 July 2016.
- Davies, R. and Jefferson, A. 2016. Micromechanical modeling of self-healing cementitious materials. Presented at: 9th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures, Berkeley, CA, USA, 29 May - 1 June 2016.
- Pilegis, M., Davies, R., Lark, R., Gardner, D. and Jefferson, A. 2016. Challenges of self-healing concrete scale-up and site trials. Presented at: 9th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures, Berkeley, CA, USA, 29 May -1 June 2016.
- Davies, R. and Jefferson, A. 2016. Micromechanical solutions for simulating atuogenous healing in cementitious materials. Presented at: 24th UK Conference of the Association for Computational Mechanics in Engineering, Cardiff, UK, 31 March - 1 April 2016.
2015
- Davies, R., Pilegis, M., Kanellopoulos, A. and Sharma, T. 2015. Materials for Life (M4L): combining multi-scale healing techniques in cementitious materials. Presented at: Fifth International Conference on Self-Healing Materials, Durham, NC, USA, 22-24 June 2015.
- Davies, R. E., Jefferson, A., Lark, R. and Gardner, D. 2015. A novel 2D vascular network in cementitious materials. Presented at: fib Symposium 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark, 18-20 May 2015.
- Davies, R. and Jefferson, A. 2015. The simulation of inelastic matrix strains in cementitious materials using micromechanical solutions. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 133 (10.1016/j.engfracmech.2014.10.010)
2014
- Davies, R. E. 2014. Micromechanical modelling of self-healing cementitious materials. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2013
- Isaacs, B., Lark, R. J., Jefferson, A. D., Davies, R. E. and Dunn, S. 2013. Crack healing of cementitious materials using shrinkable polymer tendons. Structural Concrete 14(2), pp. 138-147. (10.1002/suco.201200013)
2012
- Davies, R. E. and Jefferson, A. D. 2012. The simulation of time dependent behaviour of cement bound materials with a micro-mechanical model. Presented at: Numerical Modeling Strategies for Sustainable Concrete Structures, Aix-en-Provence, 29 May-1 June 2012.
Teaching
I believe in enabling students to take responsibility for their own learning and giving them the tools they need for continual professional development through a range different complementary approaches across the degree scheme. My aim is to have students to say “Thank you, you taught me how to think”.
Teaching areas of interest include the use of digital teaching tools to enhance learning, learning by doing practical activities and group work interaction.
Current teaching administration roles
- Year 2 Tutor in Architectural Civil and Environmetnal (ACE) Engineering degree course
- Year In Industry Tutor in Architectural Civil and Environmental (ACE) Engineering degree
- Personal tutor across degree schemes
Current teaching duties
- Module Leader for Professional Engineering and Construction (Year 2) (2016 - present) 10 Credits
- Module Leader for Year 2 laboratories in civil engineering and delivering concrete laboratory (Year 2) (2017 - present)
- Module Leader for Flood Design (Year 4 and MSc) (2011 - 2015, 2019 - present) 10 Credits
- Teach on Field Studies module of the Natural and Built Environment on a week-long residential field course in Slapton (Year 2) (2016 - present)
- Teach on Design Feasibility which includes week-long residential field course in Dublin (Year 2) (2019 - present)
- Project Supervisor Major Projects (3rd year) 30 Credits
- Dissertation Supervisor Case Study & Dissertation (MSc) 80 Credits
I have a strong background in materials testing and numerical model development for cementitious materials. I currently work on the EPSRC Resilient Materials for Life Programme Grant with self-healing cementitious materials. You can find out more about this on our project website www.RM4L.com and https://gow.epsrc.ukri.org
This work on self-healing materials leads on from the Materials for Life project, where as a lead Research Associate, I developed expertise in creating vascular flow networks in concrete and addressed the challenges of the multiscale healing combining different healing techniques. I also helped to develop economic justification for self-healing concrete and coordinated the UK’s first self-healing concrete site trial, done in collaboration with project industrial partners, Costain.
My current research interests include creating sustainable concrete, recycling construction materials and developing adaptable prestress in concrete. This include using state of the art techniques such as Digital Image Correlation, Acoustic Emission, and durability testing. I am also the concrete lab manager at the School of Engineering. Our Materials for Life research unit gives an over view of our expertise and what we do.
Supervision
I am available to supervise 3rd year projects, MSc projects and PhD students. My supervision areas of interest include:
- Self-healing concrete
- Adaptable structures
- New construction materials
- Innovative infrastructure construction
- Durability of materials
Current funded opportunity: PhD title "The development of self-sensing, self-healing concrete structures and the quantification of their value in the context of enhancing the delivery of a major highway project. https://www.findaphd.com closing date 31st July 2021.
This 3 year studentship will develop self-sensing, self-healing concrete structures and will look to quantify value in the context of enhancing the delivery of a major highway project. This studentship will be directly linked to the EPSRC programme grant “Resilient Materials for Life (RM4L)”, which has already been recognised as ground-breaking by EPSRC and industry.
Current supervision
Past projects
- Co-Supervisor (33%) for Abdulrahim Abogdera - Creating Resilient Underground Structures Via Surface Self-Healing (current PhD student - started 2020)
- Co-Supervisor (50%) for James Oufan - Development of Self-healing Concrete for use in a major highways prject. (Current MPhil student - started 2019)
- Co-Supervisor (25%) for Abdulkarim Mimoun - Investigation Of Design Parameters And Flow Properties Of Self-Compacting Concrete (current PhD student - started 2018)
- Co-Supervisor (25%) for Yu (Zac) Wang - Damage Detection in Reinforced Concrete
and Self-Healing Concrete Structures using Non-Destructive Testing Techniques (current PhD student - started 2016)
Graduated
- Co-Supervisor (50%) for Tharmesh Selvarajoo - Characterisation of a Vascular Self-healing
Cementitious Material System (awarded 2019)