EPSRC FIBE3 CDT PhD Studentship with Tracey Concrete: Next Generation Low-carbon Crack-resistant Precast Shaft and Tunnel Segments

Overview

The Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge offers a four-year (1+3 MRes/PhD) studentship through the Cambridge EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Unlocking Net Zero. The project is funded in collaboration with Tracey Concrete, a precast manufacturer extending its tunnelling range from jacking pipes and cover slabs into shaft segments and wanting lower-carbon materials with better performance and durability.

Tunnels and shafts, typically 5 to 25 metres in diameter, are built from interconnected segments that must survive demanding manufacture and aggressive ground conditions. They are cast in low-workability mixes, handled at an early age and assembled into rings that meet millimetre-level tolerances and stay watertight. Cutting embodied carbon needs more alternative binder blends and alternatives to steel fibre, but neither can be used if it increases cracking, length change or surface defects.

What you will do

The project will investigate commercially available and emerging low-carbon binder blends with sustainable fibres, advanced additives and admixtures to develop low-carbon, crack-resistant concrete mixes for shaft and tunnel segments. Control of early-age volume change is central, and the additives will be assessed for compensating these changes without harming strength, watertightness or durability. Work combines material characterisation, mix development, kinetic and thermodynamic modelling, fibre dispersion, workability, surface finish, restrained shrinkage, dimensional stability, strength, permeability and durability, with laboratory work combined with industrial trials at Tracey Concrete.

Who can apply

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain by the start date, at least a high 2.1 degree, preferably at Master's level in civil engineering, with a strong interest in cementitious materials and experimental work. Fully funded studentships covering fees and maintenance are available to eligible home students in the first instance, and a limited number of international students can be considered for funding at a later stage of recruitment.

How to apply

Applications are made online through the university's applicant portal, stating the project title and supervisor's name. A 20 GBP application fee applies. Early applications are strongly encouraged because an offer may be made before the deadline.

Key dates

The closing date is 14 April 2027.