MSc / PhD CIVIL ENGINEERING
KPT/JPS(KA 8417)12/12 (MSc)
KPT/JPS(KA 8421)12/12 (PhD)

Civil Engineering Material

Research interest in the area of Civil Engineering Material is driven by a focus on properties, manufacturing processes, design and development of construction materials. Particularly; development of construction materials like concrete, steel and earth materials and using advanced techniques such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescent, (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for analyses are our expertise in this area. As part of an effort to develop new construction materials, our research team investigates the possibility of production of durable concrete using locally available agricultural waste materials; such as, rice-husk ash, oil-palm-husk-ash. Research in this area also focuses on investigating new materials and techniques for the repairs and rehabilitation of structures. With regard to highway materials, our research focus is on the design and characterization of new highway materials; such as effects of fillers on the properties of bituminous mixes and the effectiveness of cold emulsion as highway material.

Structural Engineering

Our major research emphasis in this area is to improve the analytical and computational techniques for structural design. Improving the analytical and computational techniques for structural design, application of computer software, modeling of structures, optimization procedures, effects of earth quake, waves on structures particularly tall buildings are also of interest to us. Our group members also strive to integrate deepwater research activities within different disciplines in the University Teknology Petronas. In response to recent concerns and awareness regarding the effects of tsunami and earth quake on engineering structures our research group has initiated studies on response of tall buildings to high and medium level earthquakes to enable suggesting in design modifications, standards and specifications.

Construction Management and IT

To arrive at methods to cope with difficulties associated with rapid development in construction industry in Malaysia, our research group involved in the Construction Management and IT research area promotes Industrialised Building System (IBS) to increase the current level of quality, productivity, safety and to significantly reduce the excessive reliance on unskilled workers. Use of Construction Information Technology (CIT), in particular, artificial intelligence to aid decision-making and improving efficiency of works on construction sites, application of fuzzy expert systems for risk contingency allocation, investigating problems pertaining to the productivity, efficiency and management of the construction process, sustainability aspects, life cycle assessment of construction projects with emphasis on current and global issues like shareholder value, natural resource use, climatic change and biodiversity, which is in-line with PETRONAS’s corporate Sustainability framework are also of interest to this group.

Offshore Structures

Most of the petroleum resourcesavailable on land or near shore areas have been exhausted and the remaining sources available now are only in offshore areas where the water depth is more than 300 m (deep water) or 1500 m (ultra-deep water). In line with this view our research interests on offshore structure are driven by a focus on improving technologies relevant to deep water platforms and offshore exploration. This includes analysis, design, construction, maintenance of offshore platforms, including floating production, storage and offloading. Improving the analytical and computational techniques for offshore structural design, application of computer software, modeling of structures, optimization procedures, effects of earth quake, wave on structures are of immense interest to this group. The group also strives to integrate deepwater research activities within different disciplines in the Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

Highway & Transportation Design

Our research activities in Highway & Transportation Design area focuses on design and characterization of new highway materials; such as effects of fillers on the properties of bituminous mixes, effectiveness of cold emulsion as highway material, pavement rehabilitation methods and intelligent transportation design as well as traffic management. Design of high-speed multi-lane highways is also performed. Our research activity on transportation aspect focuses on intelligent transportation system, intelligent vehicle location and traffic management system.

At present, two major research projects are in progress, (i) Correlation between degree of compaction of asphalt-concrete and performance life; (ii) Combination of Asphaltic Concrete Bituminous Mix and Hot-rolled Asphalt in Road Surfacing Structure. Outcome from these research projects are expected to benefit the Public Works Department and private highway operators.

Environmental Engineering

Our research focus in Environmental Engineering covers a wide range of study areas that includes water treatment, wastewater treatment and solid waste management. Specific fields of interests/research are disinfection, adsorption, coagulation-flocculation, electrochemical treatment, advance oxidation, biological (aerobic and anaerobic) treatment, composting, recycling, waste disposal and waste management.  Available laboratory analytical equipment includes atomic absorption spectrophotometer, ion chromatograph, total organic carbon analyzer, and direct reading spectrophotometer. Other equipment such as GC, XRD, XRF, SEM are available in other departments on campus and are generally shared.

Currently research is in progress on heavy metals removal using low cost adsorbents and coagulants, leachate treatment and, industrial (pharmaceutical, textile, palm oil, printing, refinery wastewater, etc.) wastewater treatment. Different treatment processes viz., physical, chemical and biological, are being used for these studies. Studies are being conducted on water disinfection (in-situ generation of chlorine), arsenic removal (photocatalytic oxidation), fluoride removal and coagulation and flocculation processes. Research on waste generation, recycling potential, collection route and time optimization, and treatment of solid waste is underway. Studies are also being conducted on solidification and stabilization of waste and reuse of waste as building material.

Water Engineering

Our research interest/ focus in the Water Engineering area encompasses coastal engineering, breakwaters, impact of environmental loads on offshore structures, energy dissipation and scour phenomenon below stilling basins, hydrology, hydraulic structures, floods, groundwater, river engineering, sediment transport processes in rivers, soil erosion, rainfall induced-landslides, spatial and temporal variability issues related to hydrologic data; capillary barriers for landfill cover; storm water management, and non-point-source (NPS) pollution modeling.

Our water engineering group enjoys a number of modeling software and laboratory facilities that includes; flumes, weather station, wave-basin, physical model testing facilities, an advanced wave tank with multi element wave maker and a fluid mechanics laboratory of about 1800 ft 2 floor space.

Geotechnical Engineering

Our research interest in the Geotechnical Engineering area includes issues related to geotechnical risk management, reducing uncertainty in site characteristics, geohazard management and application of artificial intelligence in interpreting geotechnical testing results. Other research interest in this area includes application of geophysical survey methods in combination with standard geotechnical testing method to develop robust site information from limited tests and developing methods to infer soil behavior from observed responses.

Geomatic, GIS and GPS

Our research activities/ interest in the Geomatic, GIS and GPS includes application of GPS, precise positioning, GIS analysis and remote sensing to monitor structural deformation, in-car navigation, landslide, sinkhole risk mapping, flood damage analysis, and pipeline suitability analysis. Research in this area also focuses on DTM, DEM generation using RTK GPS and close photogrammetry. Research effort from this group has lead to the development of a GIS application capable of modeling sinkhole risks based on certain spatial data.