Civil Engineering Research

Materials, Structures and Geosystems

Civil engineering research at Duke focues on structures and mechanics inquiry organized around three broad themes.

Areas of research:

Computational Mechanics: research is advancing efficient and precise algorithms to enable rigorous solutions to heretofore intractable problems involving contact, friction, visco-elastic hyper-elasticity, and fluid-structure-soil interaction.

Geomechanical Modeling and Characterization: research is focused on the development of mathematical models incorporating interactions among the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of soils and rocks, and on noninvasive techniques for interrogating and characterizing sub-surface properties.

Dynamics and Control: research is focused on solving problems related to nonlinear dynamic behavior of structural systems, in the measurement, modeling, and control of these systems, and in reliability of systems subjected to the extreme loads imparted by hurricanes and earthquakes.

Opportunities for Study

PhD, MS

Doctoral and Master of Science study in civil engineering is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on a broad slate of faculty in the Pratt School of Engineering. Students have considerable flexibility in crafting a graduate program that suits individual interests. The civil engineering study track is:

MEng

The department also offers a program of study towards the Masters of Engineering (M.Eng) in Civil Engineering. This 30-credit degree program includes course work towards departmental requirements, an area of specialization, business and management fundamentals, and an internship or applied research experience. There are currently three areas of specialization offered within this degree program:

  • Computational Engineering
  • Systems Engineering and Optimization
  • Geo-Systems
BSE

Undergraduates interested in civil engineering have opportunities to study and conduct research in the Civil Engineering major, particularly the Structures and Mechanics study track.

Civil Engineering Faculty

Wilkins Aquino
Associate Professor
Computational mechanics, including computational inverse problems and their applications in engineering and biomedicine, chemo-mechanics, machine learning in mechanics, multiscale problems, fluid-structure interaction, acoustics-structure interaction, and generalized finite element methods.
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Fred K. Boadu
Associate Professor
My research seek to develop an understanding of how the engineering, environmental and petrophysical properties of porous media (soils, fractured rock, biological tissues) affect measurable geophysical responses, and subsequently develop methodologies by which these properties can be obtained from...
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John E. Dolbow
Yoh Family Professor of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Modeling quasi-static and dynamic fracture of structural components, the evolution of interfaces with nonlinear constitutive laws, and developing models for stimulus-responsive hydrogels
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Henri P. Gavin
Associate Professor and Bass Fellow
Structural dynamics, structural control, and related applications of controllable materials, especially the use of electrorheological and magnetorheological dampers for structural vibration suppression. This work encompasses rheology, non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, visco-elasticity, non-linear...
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Jay Golden
Associate Professor of the Practice for Sustainable Systems Analysis (primary appt: Earth and Ocean Sciences) and Faculty Director Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Systems Analysis, Director of the Duke Center for Sustainability & Commerce
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Tomasz A. Hueckel
Professor
mechanics of materials, theoretical soil mechanics, rock mechanics, and environmental geomechanics, theory of plasticity
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Brian P. Mann
Jeffrey N. Vinik Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Nonlinear dynamics and vibration utilizing analytical, numerical, and experimental techniques. Fundamental investigations of phenomenon and application areas where dynamical systems theory plays an important role.
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Joseph C. Nadeau
Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Theoretical and applied mechanics, micromechanics, composite materials, and probabilistic methods
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Henry Petroski
Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor
Structural engineering; design; interrelationship between success and failure in design; nature of invention; history of engineering and technology
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Guglielmo Scovazzi
Associate Professor
Finite element methods, computational fluid and solid mechanics, multiphase porous media flows, computational methods for fluid and solid materials under extreme load conditions, turbulent flow computations, instability phenomena.
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Lawrie Virgin
Professor
Experimental verification of low-order nonlinear dynamical behavior (including chaos) using mechanical models. The interaction between dynamics and buckling including secondary bifurcation. Time series analysis in the context of condition monitoring...
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Adjunct Civil Engineering Faculty

Lyesse Laloui
Adjunct Professor
Natural and man-made systems with coupled phenomena. Environmental Geomechanics, Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering, Mechanics of Multiphase Porous Materials. Area of activities at Duke University: Thermo-mechanical behavior of soils, soil desiccation and shrinkage.
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Peter E. Malin
Adjunct Professor (primary appt: NSOE & Earth Sci - Earth & Ocean Sciences)
Seismic propagation in planetary crusts, Borehole investigation of seismic sources and signals, and Environmental Geology
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