Co Supervisor: Prof Steeve Chung Kim Yuen, University of Cape Town

This PhD project offers you the opportunity to undertake cutting edge blast engineering research to inform the development of strategies to protect buildings and their occupants from the threat of explosions in built up areas. You will work as part of a multidisciplinary research network (The IBRN - IBRN ) focused on a range of blast engineering and injury research challenges, with opportunities to design and undertake your own programme of experimental work overseas.

Explosions remain a serious threat to buildings and their occupants due to the occurrence of terrorist attacks, armed conflicts, and large-scale accidents. Such events have highlighted a key knowledge gap: we do not yet understand the effects of blast waves propagating in complex urban environments. As a result, it remains challenging to predict blast loading in built-up areas, which reduces our ability to predict structural damage and injury risk. Specifically, the effects of structural openings (i.e. windows and doors) on blast wave propagation and the loading experienced within internal spaces is not well understood. New knowledge and predictive methods are needed to inform risk assessments, structural protection requirements and develop blast injury mitigation strategies.

In this PhD research project, you will investigate the influence of structural openings on blast wave propagation and internal loading effects. Using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses, you will formulate advanced numerical frameworks to scrutinise how structural openings influence blast wave propagation and the associated risk of structural damage and injury. There will also be opportunities for you to design and conduct physical blast experiments at reduced scale using specialist facilities at the University of Cape Town. Using the data from your findings in conjunction with real-world blast injury data, you will generate new understanding and fast-running prediction methods that take into account the effects of structural openings and provide recommendations for injury mitigation.

Outcomes of this project will be of direct relevance to the blast engineering research community, protective design engineers, security consultants and humanitarian organisations, contributing towards improved protection and reduced harm.