CNRE Scholarships

Supervisor: Dr Yi Wang

Transport infrastructure investments are substantial and long-term, with significant implications that are not easily reversed. While these developments aim to enhance economic growth and efficiency, they require careful consideration of their impact on the resilience of transport networks, particularly in terms of redundancy. Redundancy is a critical aspect of network resilience, especially in pre-disaster planning, as it ensures that the network can continue to function during disruptive events. This project seeks to explore the pivotal role of redundancy in fostering resilient transport network planning. By developing and applying assessment metrics and computational methods, the project will produce evidence-based results to inform the planning and upgrading of transport networks.

Contact: y.wang@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Dr Ke Jiang

Stainless steel is regarded as an excellent alternative to conventional carbon steel in certain structural applications due to its superior mechanical properties and outstanding corrosion resistance. Its remarkable ductility, which facilitates substantial energy dissipation, combined with its strain hardening behaviour, maximizes the resistance of structures during hazards. Built-up section, which offer more flexibility in customized cross-sections and ease of fabrication, are increasingly used in cold-formed steel structures. However, effective usage of cold-formed stainless steel requires a thorough understanding of structural behaviour. This project will conduct an extensive parametric study using Finite Element (FE) modelling to simulate the behaviour of stainless steel built-up section members. 

Contact: ke.jiang@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisors: Dr Craig McConnochie, Assoc Prof Markus Pahlow

Over recent years New Zealand has experienced several catastrophic floods, and this pattern is expected to worsen due to climate change. Rapid and reliable flood forecasts are necessary to minimise the damage of such floods. This experimental (lab and field) project will help to develop a method for river discharge and surface velocity measurement using Raspberry Pi based cameras. Unlike traditional methods of discharge measurement, these are affordable and low maintenance, so can be deployed across a catchment to provide a comprehensive understanding of the catchment hydrology and to improve flood forecasting and in turn increase warning times.

Contact: craig.mcconnochie@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Dr Giuseppe Loporcaro

Earth-made constructions are one of the oldest building engineering technologies developed for human dwellings. Earth-based houses have been and are still used in many parts of the world including New Zealand. Although earth-based materials such as adobe, cob and rammed earth have many advantages (cost, high thermal mass, availability), they also come with many disadvantages, most notably poor mechanical properties. On the other hand, 3D printing is a novel technology in construction mainly applied to cementitious materials.

This research aims to combine one of the most ancient materials (earth-based) with new technology (3D printing) exploring mātauranga Māori. The objective consists of developing 3D-printed earth-based mixes to be used in building envelopes. The mix will need to possess suitable fresh (printability and buildability), mechanical (compressive strength) and thermal properties. Specimens will be printed elements using the UC-made 3D concrete printer. The first part of the research will consist of

This research will build upon the previous work conducted at the University of Canterbury. Experimental testing will be performed to investigate the fresh and hardened properties of printable mixes as well as manufacture prototype large-scale elements such as urban furniture and façade elements

To apply for this scholarship, please submit the following documents:

• Your current resume
• A cover letter highlighting the reasons why you want to participate in this project.

Contact: giuseppe.loporcaro@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Dr. Derek Li

Water usage monitoring in New Zealand faces significant challenges, with only 50% of usage currently metered. This limits the ability to manage and conserve water effectively. In contrast, the electrical sector has piloted advanced signal analysis to identify different types of electricity consumption, resulting in up to 10% savings. This research project aims to investigate the unique pressure signals generated by different water appliances within pipelines. By characterizing these signals, we can develop smart water technologies capable of identifying specific water usage activities. This innovation introduces a new dimension to water data, enabling improved management and conservation strategies for a more sustainable future.

Necessary skills: Pipeline hydraulics (ENCN242), experiment, fundamental coding

Contact: derek.li@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Gabriele Chiaro

Gravel-rubber mixtures (GRM) have been identified as ideal materials for many geotechnical engineering applications due to their excellent mechanical properties and energy absorption, the high supply of both materials, and relatively low cost. In addition, the reuse of granulated tyre rubber greatly helps reduce the use of virgin construction materials made from non-renewable resources. Nevertheless, from an engineering viewpoint, the durability of such materials is not yet fully understood. That is, studies on GRM have only focused on fresh rubber granules, and the mechanical performance of GRM made of aged rubber granules has not been investigated yet. To address this matter, in this project, a series of direct shear or triaxial tests will be carried out on dry specimens of GRM made using thermically-aged rubber granules. Mixtures with volumetric rubber content of 25, 40 and 55% will be prepared at 95 % degrees of compaction and sheared under 30, 60 and 100 kPa normal stress. From the test results, the shear strength characteristics (e.g., friction angle) of the mixtures will be obtained and then compared to existing experimental results available for GRM made with fresh rubber granules. Consequently, the effect of ageing on the mechanical response of GRM will be accurately quantified and possible implications for their use in long-term geotechnical applications examined. 

Contact: gabriele.chiaro@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Dr Matthew Hughes

This project will address Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) and Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and how it can inform infrastructure asset management. Relevant infrastructure systems will be identified, and aspects of sustainability and resilience will be explored concerning infrastructure, climate change, and natural and technological hazards, using asset management approaches. The successful candidate will have familiarity with Te Ao Māori and Te Reo Māori, and have competency in Geographic Information Systems.

Contact: matthew.hughes@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Peer (co-supervised with Dr Jannik Haas)

The South Pacific, like many other regions in the world, is facing a massive energy transition. Our research team is currently investigating the energy transition pathway for Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands using scenario-based energy systems analysis. In this project, you would join our team of postgraduate and academic researchers to support our investigations. This project will include literature review, data analysis and preparation, visualisation, and can include work developing additional scenarios for analysis. This research is computational and will likely include the use of Python to support your work. Students interested in large-scale modelling and data analysis are encouraged to apply. 

Contact: rebecca.peer@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Peer (co-supervised with Dr Jannik Haas)

The energy transition in Aotearoa New Zealand has a unique cultural context that has yet to be captured in energy transition pathway planning. This project will support ongoing work to understand Māori perspectives on energy transitions, including perspectives on economic, environmental, and social impacts. As a summer research student in this work, you will join our team of postgraduate and academic researchers investigating the energy transition. This project will include literature review, life cycle analysis, and work supporting consultation processes with iwi and hapū Māori. Students who whakapapa Māori are particularly encouraged to apply, although the project is open to any interested student. Work on this project may include the use of life cycle analysis tools like SimaPro, but familiarity with this tool is not required. 

Contact: rebecca.peer@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Dr Matthew Hughes

This project will compile and generate spatial data describing the spatio-temporal evolution of land cover and infrastructure in selected regions of Aotearoa New Zealand. The time frame addresses the landmass prior to human settlement through to the modern day. Existing datasets will be used, and there may be a need to generate spatial data of historical land cover and infrastructure based on archival documents. The successful candidate will be proficient in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and willing to upskill in some GIS applications.

Contact: matthew.hughes@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisors: Dr Hamish Mackey, Assoc Prof Ricardo Bello-Mendoza

Many areas, both in New Zealand rural settings and in developing nations are isolated from centralized treatment infrastructure for water supply, wastewater treatment and stormwater management. In such cases, simple filter technologies can be an effective technique for water purification. Biochar has emerged as an attractive carbonaceous material due to its strong adsorption ability and carbon sequestration capacity. However, charcoal is similar in composition to biochar but can be easier and less expensive to produce. This project aims to, therefore, quantify any differences between these two materials, as well as differences in commonly available charcoal products based on their compositions for water purification of water contaminants, including nitrates, E. coli and organics.

Contact: hamish.mackey@canterbury.ac.nz

Supervisor: Prof Tim Sullivan

New Zealand has a long tradition of building standalone timber-framed houses. The 2010-11 Canterbury earthquake sequence caused extensive damage to housing, with losses estimated to be $16B in the residential sector. Recent changes in government legislation have led to a surge in medium-density housing solutions, which often are timber-framed, and fall outside the scope of NZS3604 hence their performance remains relatively uncertain and potentially less resilient when compared to typical single- and two-storey NZS3604 timber-framed houses. This project aims to contribute to assessing and reducing the seismic vulnerability of housing in New Zealand through two phases: (i) conducting experimental testing of typical components of timber-framed walls in order to enable a better understanding of the non-linear behaviour of typical components used in New Zealand residential construction and (ii) use of Timber3D, an advanced numerical modelling tool, for assessment of the seismic performance of timber-framed structures. This will contribute to furthering performance-based earthquake engineering for New Zealand timber-framed housing.

In addition to the above, structural analysis methods used in practice often make simplifying assumptions about higher mode effects. To improve our ability to account for these effects, the difference between pushover and non-linear time-history analysis results will be examined and new expressions developed. This work will involve running analytical models developed by others and post-processing the results. A range of structural systems will be examined. 

Contact: timothy.sullivan@canterbury.ac.nz