Novel, Structurally Superior Forms of Glass for Structural Glazing

By combining innovative designs with recent advances in glass products and technologies, it is possible to tailor energy-efficient buildings, whether concentrating daylight and/or capturing the Sun’s energy. However, exploration of the full potential of glass in buildings is currently being held back by inefficient designs because of the low tensile strength and brittle material behaviour of glass. Although tempered glass and laminated glass are used in contemporary structural glazing, both types of glass have inherent structural limitations. When fails tempered glass shatters into small dice of a few millimetres in size whereas laminated glass is structurally inefficient in some applications such as at stress concentration features. The present project aims to develop methods to use glass with a second material as a means of ensuring high strength and safe failure characteristics compared to commercially available construction-sector glass. 

Applicants must have obtained or be about to obtain a First class UK honours degree, or a combination of a 2.1 bachelor's honours degree and a master's degree awarded with Merit (or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK), in Civil Engineering or a relevant discipline. Please contact Dr Mithila Achintha at [Email Address Removed] with any informal queries about the research project. The admissions team at [Email Address Removed] will be able to help with any queries around the application process.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact. We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status.

We also support applications from those returning from a career break or other roles. We consider offering flexible study arrangements (including part-time: 50%, 60% or 80%, depending on the project/funder).