Unit of Assessment: Civil and Construction Engineering

REF impact found 51 Case Studies

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Assurance of Durable Concrete Structures Using Novel Testing Technologies Developed at QUB

Summary of the impact

By ensuring the durability of notable concrete structures in China, such as the Bird's Nest National Stadium Beijing, Dayawan Nuclear Power Station, Harbin-Dalian Railway Bridges, Qingdao Bay Bridge and Beijing-Tianjin Railway Bridges using Autoclam Permeability System and Permit Ion Migration test, developed by Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and sold by a QUB spin-out Amphora Non-destructive Testing Ltd., the savings in future repair costs are estimated to be hundreds of millions of Chinese Yuan (RMB) (the repair expenditure for the three-year period 2009-'11 was RMB 10.2 billion).

Research on permeability and diffusivity testing of concrete on site since 1993 has led to the incorporation of both the Autoclam and the Permit in a corporation standard issued by the Central Research Institute of Building and Construction (CRIBC), China and the test protocol of Permit in a Chinese railway standard.

The training of construction professionals (including more than 200 senior managers from the Chinese construction industry) since 2008 has impacted on improved sales of Autoclam Permeability System and Permit Ion Migration Test, securing around £500k commercial income, and generating new employment in the UK. Since 2008 these test instruments have been sold to 12 countries.

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering

Changing policy and practice for contaminated land and groundwater

Summary of the impact

Our research on the natural processes that reduce pollutant concentrations in the subsurface has enabled the UK to adopt "Natural Attenuation" as a management policy and has changed professional practice at many contaminated sites. The massively reduced costs of this approach over active clean-up of sites in 2008-13 has saved a minimum of £100M for the UK. Our research has also influenced European practice, saving hundreds of millions of Euros. The beneficiaries are typically chemical industries of all sizes, from refineries to small repackaging plants and petrol station owners, but also local authorities and the State in cases where they would bear the cost of clean-up.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Other Chemical Sciences
Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management
Engineering: Environmental Engineering

Development of thin membrane isolators for attached housing enhancing building performance, wellbeing of occupants, resource efficiency and reducing costs.

Summary of the impact

Edinburgh Napier University was the first to develop thin membrane vibration isolators (2005) to allow party walls in new attached homes to be built off raft foundations. This led to the first Proof of Concept for the construction industry (2008) for perimeter isolators for blockwork apartments. Several patents have been granted leading to nine products manufactured by Icopal-Monarfloor, based in Manchester (UK), part of the Icopal global group. Over 15,000 homes have been built using these innovative isolators, delivering cost savings to the industry of over £80 million resulting in economic, environmental and quality of life benefits.

Submitting Institution

Edinburgh Napier University

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering

6: Economic impacts of transport investments for appraisal and decision making

Summary of the impact

This case study describes impacts on the professional practice of transport appraisal, and on investment planning at national and local levels, arising from an approach developed over the period 2005-2013 to estimate the Wider Economic Impacts (WEIs) of transport investments. The research instigated an important reform of the UK approach to Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and provided key empirical evidence that has been formally incorporated in the UK Department for Transport (DfT) web based CBA guidance (WebTAG) since 2009. Governments and public authorities throughout the world subsequently adopted the models and techniques proposed as decision support tools for infrastructure investment and planning. Since 2007 Imperial staff and their industrial collaborators have applied the approach to approximately 150 Billion US Dollars of international transport investment, and its use and impact are now widespread globally. It is now a standard textbook approach for assessing the WEIs of transport investment. Recent applications of the approach in the UK include the official economic evaluations of CrossRail (2010) and High Speed 2 (2010, 2012).

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Economics: Applied Economics, Econometrics

5. Improved flood risk management through advances in rainfall modelling, experimental evidence, and catchment and urban modelling

Summary of the impact

Our research and resulting impacts extend across a wide range of  flooding problems, from localised urban floods to river bas in flooding. The under pinning research ranges from extending the evidence base, to improved rainfall estimates, and to advances in hydrological and hydraulic models. The impact of our research has been through the creation and application of new methodologies (e.g. AOFD) and software tools (e.g., TSRSim) for the design and analysis of flood management systems in the UK and internationally, via joint projects with consulting engineering companies, and through the influence of our research on national and regional policies towards improved land use management practices (e.g., Glastir, Wales).

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Earth Sciences: Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences: Other Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Engineering: Environmental Engineering

3: Improvements to the Performance and Management of Mass Transit Systems in Major Cities

Summary of the impact

Methods have been developed to characterise and evaluate the performance of mass transit systems which have then been applied in 60 of the world's major cities. The financial benefit, as quantified by mass transit operators, is in excess of £0.5 Billion between 2003 and 2013. Examples of impact include cost savings for escalator renewal by London Underground (2009-ongoing), influencing fares policy in Hong Kong (2003, 2012) and the adoption of performance measurement systems, developed by Imperial, by Chinese metros (2010-ongoing). This impact has been enabled by the creation and subsequent facilitation of 5 global consortia comprising over 70 metro, suburban rail and urban bus operators.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Transportation and Freight Services

Innovative acoustic material enables economic growth while reducing waste and noise pollution

Summary of the impact

University of Bradford research has enabled a material manufacturing company, Armacell, to reuse up to 95% of its production waste to produce new, high-value acoustic products with up to 50% better acoustic performance than any competition products of similar size. We protected the developed IP through several international patents and set up a spin-off company, Acoutechs Ltd, to explore this technology commercially. These materials are now used to reduce noise levels below the recommended limits and to improve the general acoustic quality of spaces at home and work for the benefit of public health. The products generate an annual turnover of more than €4 million for Armacell and prevent more than 500 tonnes of plastic waste from going into landfill annually.

Submitting Institution

University of Bradford

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Biomedical Engineering, Interdisciplinary Engineering

Management of discolouration in drinking water distribution systems

Summary of the impact

Research, undertaken at the University of Sheffield since 2001, into the discolouration of drinking water occurring within distribution systems has had economic, policy and professional practice impacts on the water supply sector since 2008. This has resulted in improved levels of service, has safeguarded water quality delivered to the public and has delivered substantial economic savings. For example, in one of the few cases where monetary value is available, Wessex Water made 63% savings on two trunk main schemes with an initial estimated cost in excess of £1M. The 4 and 7 km lengths of these trunk mains represent less than 1% of the trunk mains being impacted by our research. Our research has resulted in a step change in the concept and approach to the management of discolouration in water distribution systems.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Information and Computing Sciences: Computer Software
Economics: Applied Economics

Managing full scale dynamic performance of civil infrastructure

Summary of the impact

Research in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield on dynamic performance and vibration serviceability has contributed to internationally applied guidance on building serviceability for floors, buildings, stadia and other structures and has led to the spin-out Full Scale Dynamics Ltd (FSDL). Based on our research FSDL provides applied research and consultancy services, and has delivered projects approaching £1m since 2008. FSDL has demonstrated significant reach through its work with blue chip clients nationally and internationally. Our research has impacted on leading national sport infrastructure (such as Premiership Football stadia and notably the Olympic 2012 Velodrome) and public companies to deliver economic benefits by providing evidence based compliance, demonstrating that stadia, hospitals, manufacturing plants and other public structures comply with safety and vibration serviceability standards. Interventions based on our research and implemented via FSDL have, on numerous occasions, avoided potentially serious economic and safety consequences due to the poor vibration performance of structures.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Engineering: Civil Engineering

£ millions saved by London Underground and Bridge Owners in UK and North America through research by QUB team

Summary of the impact

£80m has been saved since 2008 by London Underground (LU) and yet more by bridge owners in the UK as a direct result of using the Arching Action (AA) enhancements in strength predicted by our research. The associated disruption would have resulted in enormous congestion, losses economically of £ billions and negative social impact. Multi-million $ savings have also accrued in North America from the use of corrosion free deck bridges, which have minimum maintenance, as has our innovative flexible concrete arch (patented 2004) which has been used for over 40 FlexiArch bridges (£15m in contracts) since 2008.

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering

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