This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to spend the months of May and June in London, United Kingdom, working on a structural engineering research project at Imperial College under the supervision of Dr. Ashraf El Damatty, the Chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western and Dr. Adam Sadowski, a lecturer at Imperial.
Photo: The Queen's Tower at Imperial's Kensington Campus
Imperial College is the top civil and structural engineering university in the UK and is typically ranked among the top five worldwide. During my time there I interacted with talented individuals who were working on unique and interesting projects in a variety of engineering disciplines. The campus is located in South Kensington, in the heart of London, just steps away from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. I was able to walk to campus every day through the exquisite and upscale neighbourhoods of Kensington. In my spare time I explored as much of the dynamic city of London as possible.
Photo: Visit to Buckingham Palace
My research at Imperial College focused on the structural analysis and design of liquid-filled conical tanks. This is an important subject since a number of conical tanks collapsed in the past in North America and Europe. Dr. El Damatty and his research team worked on this subject for a number of years and developed a methodology for designing such structures to resist various types of loading including hydrostatic, earthquake and seismic. Dr. Sadowski is also an expert in metal shell structures, especially on the effect of the imperfections and residual stresses resulting from welding. This collaboration allowed me to combine the North American and European expertise in analyzing and designing metal shell structures. This research gave me the experience and knowledge necessary to complete my undergraduate thesis, which I am currently completing at Western.
Photo: Skempton Building, home to the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College
The highlight of this research project was experiencing every day life in London, UK, a dynamic city that I otherwise may not have ever spent a lot of time in. Researching at one of the top structural engineering universities in the world was an excellent learning opportunity, allowing me to interact with many talented researchers. I greatly appreciate the opportunity, and would like to thank everyone who made it possible, especially Dr. El Damatty, Dr. El Ansary, and Dr. Sadowski. I would recommend everyone to take advantage of the international opportunities made available by the Department of Civil Engineering at Western.
what a great experience! Thanks for sharing Joseph.
Posted by: Margaret Cooper | 04/14/2016 at 02:48 PM