Professor Xiangming Zhou
Head of Department - Civil & Environmental Engineering

Research area(s)

• Low carbon cementitious materials (geopolymer/alkali-activated cement, magnesium-based cement etc.)
• Concrete materials, mechanics (including rheology & fracture), and structures
• Concrete technology, such as extrusion, 3D printing, additive manufacturing etc.
• Smart and functional materials for infrastructure
• Valorisation of construction and demolition waste (CDW) and mining waste for construction
• Energy efficient cement-based materials and buildings
• Nanotechnolgy in construction materials
• Steel-concrete composite/hybrid structures
• Precast concrete segmental bridges
• Performance-based design of building structures under earthquakes & strong winds

Research Interests

• Sustainable concrete technology, such as extrusion / numerical modelling of extrusion systems for cement-based materials & products and development of elliptical ring test method for assessing cracking tendency of concrete and other cement-based materials
• Testing and modelling of fracture and shrinkage cracking of concrete and other cement-based materials at early ages
• Constitutive modelling of rheology of fiber-reinforced cement-based semi-solid materials at very early ages
• Computation mechanics in civil engineering structures and materials, multi-scale (nano-, micro-, meso- and macro-) modelling of fracture and structural behavior of cement-based materials and structures
• Sustainable low carbon cement materials such as geopolymer/alkali-activated cement and magnesium oxychloride (MOC) cement
• Energy efficient cementitious materials with phase-change materials (PCMs)
• Supplementary cementitious materials, such as aluminosilicate rich mining waste, GGBS, PFA and metakaolin, in concrete and other cement-based materials
• Applications of nanotechnology in cement and concrete
• Natural fiber reinforced cement-based materials: formulation, engineering properties & structural performance
• Performance-based multi-hazards mitigation of building structures under extreme loadings like earthquakes and strong winds
• Steel-concrete composite structures, earthquake engineering & seismic design
• Structural test, both static and dynamic, and numerical modelling of structures and structural components in test
• Precast concrete segmental bridges

Grants

Project details

• Horizon 2020, Energy Efficient Buildings (call EeB 04-2016) – “Green INSTRUCT – Green INtegrated STRUCTural Elements for Retrofitting and New Construction of Buildings”, project no. 723825, Project Coordinator, 01/10/2016 ~ 30/09/2020, project value €4,996,626 (EC contribution) with Brunel share of €783,800 (EC contribution), & Principal Investigator at Brunel. 

  http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/205463_en.html

  Project webpage: www.greeninstruct.eu
• British Council, International Science Partnerships Fund, “Nurturing Early Career Fellows in Climate Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment Research Agenda,” 01/03/2024~31/12/2025, project value: £174,816, Principal Investigator.
• EPSRC, European Commission Horizon Europe, “CellMembrane - Development of delignified nanocellulose based gas transfer membrane for artificial lungs applications,” project ref: 10093284 (UKRI), project value: £397,224.00, Co-Investigator (PI: Mizi Fan), UKRI link https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10093284. Horizon Europe grant agreement no.: 101130895, CORDIS link: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101130895
• UKRI, Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, “CSTO2NE - Biomimicry and carbon adsorbent eco-materials for a climate-neutral economy,” project no.: EP/X04145X/1, Principal Investigator, 01/01/2023~31/12/2026, project value: £198,215. (Part of the Horizon Europe-funded CSTO2NE project.)
• Royal Society, “Enhancement on carbon capture in recycling waste concrete for sustainable & resilient infrastructure,” project no.: IEC\NSFC\223146, Principal Investigator, 31/03/2023~30/03/2025, project value: £11,935.90 (co-funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, collaboration with Tsinghua University).
• Horizon 2020, MSCA Individual Fellowship, "Nano-engineered aluminosilicate cementitious materials," i.e. NEASCMs, project no.: 893469, Principal Investigator, 02/08/2021 ~ 29/02/2024 (including 7 months of abeyance), project value € 224,934.
• The UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Community Network+, EPSRC, “C-WELL: CO2 injection well integrity under operational thermo-hydro-mechanical loading,” 01/10/2023~30/06/2024, project value: £29,979, Co-Investigator (PI: Lee Hosking).
• Academy of Medical Sciences, Networking Grant, “Integrating digital transformation and circular economy for decarbonised construction & demolition waste diversion: enhancing Vietnam and UK’s research & practice (AIRINESS),” project no.: NGR1\1107, Co-Investigator, 04/03/2024 ~ 03/03/2025, project value: £24,980.
• Academy of Medical Sciences, Networking Grant, “Fuel Cell and Battery Vehicles – Enhancing Pathway Analysis for Future Transportation Systems,” project no.: NGR1\1999, Co-Investigator, 04/03/2024 ~ 03/03/2025, project value: £23,050.
• British Academy, "Design for adaptability, re-use and deconstruction of buildings, in line with the principles of circular economy - pump-priming collaborative fund to support brainstorming, networking, brokerage, consortium building, and proposal drafting,” project no.: PPHE24\100295, 25/03/2023~20/01/2024, project value: £9,760.00, Principal Investigator.
• British Council Researcher Links Workshop grant, "Valorization of Construction and Demolition Waste for Sustainable Infrastructure Development," project no. 2019-RLWK11-10130, Principal Investigator, 01/01/2020 ~ 31/12/2021, project value £24,000 (co-funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, collaboration with Tongji University with funding RMB 150,000 from NSFC to Tongji University). https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Projects/Project?id=bfdde5f7-d2f4-4c54-ba82-3b51d8cfea4a&language=en-GB
• British Council, UKIERI-DST, "A New Framework of High-value Added Zero-waste Recycling of Concrete from Construction and Demolition Waste," project no. IND/CONT/GA/18-19/24, Principal Investigator, 01/04/2019 ~ 30/09/2021, project value £64,002 (co-funded by India Government Department of Science & Technology, collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, with funding INR 4,997,200 from Indian DST to IIT-Madras). https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Projects/Recycling-of-concrete-from-construction-and-demolition-waste
• 国家自然科学基金面上项目（National Nature Science Foundation of China），项目名称：基于粘聚力时变特性的混凝土徐变断裂过程研究，(Study of Creep Fracture Process in Concrete based on Time-dependent Cohesive Characteristic)，项目编号：51878117，项目执行期： 2019年1月-2022年12月，项目资助额：直接经费60万，参与(Co-Investigator)（项目主持人；大连理工大学董伟）.
• Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Scheme – “Integrated Structural Health Monitoring and Damage and Integrity Assessment System with Model Updating from Field Measurement for Critical Civil Infrastructure,” Principal Investigator, invited fellow: Prof Zhimin Wu, Dalian University of Technology, 15 Sept 2016 ~ 14 Oct 2016, £6,000.
• Pera Technology, Consultancy, £2,400, PI, Jan 2016.
• European Commission Horizon2020, MARIE Skłodowska-CURIE Actions, Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), - “REMINE – Reuse of Mining Waste into Innovative Geopolymeric-based Structural Panels, Precast, Ready Mixes and Insitu Applications”, project no. 645696, Principal Investigator (at Brunel), 01/01/2015 ~ 31/12/2018, project value €567,000 (EC contribution) with Brunel share of €108,000 (EC contribution). https://reminemsca.wordpress.com/
• http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/194364_en.html
• European Commission 7th Framework Programme - “Nanotechnology Enhanced Extruded Fiber Reinforced Foam Cement Based Environmental Friendly Sandwich Material for Building Applications (FIBCEM),” FP7-NMP-2010-SMALL-4-262954, http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/101041_en.html, Scientific Manager (http://www.fibcem.com/Contact-28878.aspx) of the whole project and Work Package Leader. The project value is €3,780,608 (with European Commission contribution €2,747,570). PI at Brunel with the share of €784,571 (European Commission contribution ), 01 Dec 2011 ~ 30 Nov 2014. The project involves 10 partners from 5 EU member state countries http://www.fibcem.com/.
• Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellow Scheme, “Graphene-based Smart Skin Material/Sensors for Structure Health Monitoring”, project value £6,000, PI, invited fellow: Prof Zongjin Li, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, 2014.
• Engineering and Physical Science Research Council – “A Novel Method for Assessing Cracking Tendency of Concrete at Early Ages,” EP/I031952/1, project value £130,796 (with EPSRC contribution £102,136), PI, 01 Sept 2011 ~ 28 Feb 2014. http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/I031952/1.
• European Commission LIFE + Environment Policy & Governance, “Utilisation of Recovered Wood and Rubber for Alternative Composite Products (WOODRUB),” LIFE09 ENV/ES/000454, Co-I. The whole project value is €1,838,968 (with European Commission contribution €918,192) with €98,362 (£79,969) allocated to Brunel, 01 Sept 2010 ~ 31 Aug 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=3650.
• Engineering and Physical Science Research Council Summer Vacation Research Projects for Derrick Gordon – “Monitoring and Interpretation of Hydration Process and Strength Development of Low Carbon Geoement/Geopolymer Materials at Early Ages using Non-Contacting Resistivity Measurement,” PI, project value £2,565, 17 Jun 2012 ~ 16 Aug 2012.
• Brunel Research Initiative & Enterprise Fund - “A New Method for Investigating Shrinkage Cracking of Hardening Concrete: Experimental and Numerical Modeling”, LBK909(904/2009), PI, project value £15,000, 01 Nov 2009 ~ 30 Oct 2010.
• UK Royal Academy of Engineering International Travel Grant, PI, project value £900, May 2010.
• UK Royal Academy of Engineering International Travel Grant, PI, project value £500, May 2009.
• University of Greenwich Research and Development Fund - “A New Method for Investigating Restrained Shrinkage of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete,” PI, project value £5,000, 01 Aug 2007 ~ 31 Jul 2008.
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University Area of Strategic Development Fund - “Performance-based Design and Analysis of Smart Hybrid Building Structures in Moderate Seismic and Strong Wind Regions,” project Fellow, project value HK$736,000 (equivalent to around £60,000).