Smart engineering

With our partners in China and the UK we have established a Smart Engineering Research and Development Group which aims to provide a holistic approach to smart engineering.

The Smart Engineering Research and Development Group has been developed out of a long-term successful co-operation between the School of Engineering and our international partners, buildingSMART international, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), China State Construction Engineering Group (CSCEG) and Dalian University of Technology (DUT). It will bring together the research and development strengths of all of the partners in one integrated research centre.

Our aims

The main aims of the group are to:

• collaborate with partners on joint research projects
• support the MSc programme – Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Smart Engineering
• undertake a series of annual events such as conferences, forums and seminars
• conduct continuing professional development for industry in BIM
• support a BIM summer school
• engage in staff and student exchanges between Cardiff University and group partners
• provide consultancy services and other innovative activities for industry.

Our research

The main focus of the centre will be based around the three pillars of contemporary engineering science - theory, experimentation, and computation.

The group will conduct research, development and innovation, as well as education and training activities. The activities will be multi-disciplinary and will include engineering, computing and technology. The main areas for research, development and training include:

• high performance computing
• smart grid
• cloud computing
• big data
• artificial intelligence
• knowledge engineering (ontology)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• sensors
• automation control
• multi-agent systems
• Building Information Modelling (BIM)
• immersive virtual reality.

Our research vision

Our research aims to develop a new generation of smart engineering computing platforms, underpinned by:

• high power computing
• inter-linked domain knowledge (ontology)
• artificial intelligence algorithms
• BIM-based standardisation across sectors throughout the project life cycle.

This will support:

• massive scale and smart engineering data and information
• knowledge processing
• engineering optimisation
• novel holistic decision making for a wide range of engineering applications.

Research applications

These research and training activities will have applications across:

• urban planning and development
• water and environmental engineering and management
• structural engineering
• onsite construction and project management
• civil engineering infrastructure such as roads, bridges, dams and tidal lagoons
• design and analysis
• construction
• monitoring and operation
• building services and facility (asset) management
• energy infrastructure
• sustainability
• resilience and disaster management for cities and the built environment.