KU Leuven - Brussel, Belgium
apply before May 19, 2023
Tasks: Engineering, IT & Programming, Research
Topics: Digitalization, Innovative Constructions
Type: Full-time
Experience required: Intermediate
Language: English is sufficient
The Department of Architecture of KU Leuven invites applicants to apply for a fully funded PhD fellowship position in the domain of Structural Design.
The researcher will become a member of the unit “Design and Engineering of Construction and Architecture (DECA)” on the Sint-Lucas campus in Brussels and will be part of a university that is systematically highly ranked by independent accreditation committees for the quality of its research and education.
You will investigate and develop interactive and digital structural design methodologies to facilitate the structural design process. The aim of the investigated methodologies and developed digital interfaces (tools) is to enable structural designers to design resilient structures (buildings, bridges, structures…) in an informed way and to support decision-making. Resilient structures in this perspective are structural systems that have structural redundancy for future changes in the applied external loads or changes in the structural layout itself. The methodology should not only be able to inform designers when designing new structures, but should also be applicable to existing buildings to determine the extent to which these buildings are able to cope with future changes and what the best strategies might be. An in-depth observation of the workflows and design methodologies in contemporary engineering firms and offices, together with their feedback on the ongoing research will lead to an applicable design methodology for the design of resilient structures and a proof-of-concept tool for practitioners.