PhD Studentship: Innovative Steel-Timber (CLT) Composite Floor System

Start date: 6th October 2025

Project Title: Innovative Steel-Timber (CLT) Composite Floor System

Research area and project description:

Composite steel and concrete floors have proved popular over the last thirty years within the UK, which has largely accounted for the dominance of steel frames within the multi-storey office market. In the interests of achieving net zero carbon by 2050, there is a need to reduce embodied carbon within buildings. Therefore, the replacement of concrete slabs with Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels is a logical step to reduce the embodied carbon and sequester carbon within the structure itself. To demonstrate the performance of this technology at full-scale, a 12 m span beam was load tested to destruction at the University of Warwick in 2024. The results from the tests demonstrated that the floor system performed much better than expected, with the measured resistance and stiffness exceeding earlier predictions. The potential impact of this new floor system on multi-storey buildings has recently been recognized by the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) and was the recipient of the 2024 Award of Excellence in Innovation.

Through generous support from WSP UK Ltd, the objective of this project is to extend the research conducted to date by validating numerical models against test data, before undertaking parametric studies to investigate the sensitivity of the key variables that affect the flexural performance of composite steel and CLT beams. In addition, the effect of long-term creep and shrinkage of the floor will be investigated. It is planned that the results from this research will form the basis for industry-standard design guides so that this technology can be exploited in practice and, in future, may be incorporated within the next generation of the structural Eurocodes.

Scholarship:

The award will cover the full tuition fee plus a tax-free stipend, currently £20,780, paid at the prevailing UKRI rate for 3.5 years of full-time study.

Eligibility:

The candidate should have a good 2.1 Bachelors or Masters degree in Engineering and have an interest in and/or a good understanding of numerical modelling and testing of structures. Prior knowledge of finite element methods and programming (e.g. C++, Python, or MATLAB) is desirable but not mandatory.

How to apply:

Candidates should submit a formal application: www.warwick.ac.uk/pgrengineering via the above ‘Apply’ button.

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