ProfessorTim Wilkinson

Associate Professor Tim Wilkinson's research into the behaviour of steel structural components is leading to the design of more efficient and economical buildings, bridges and other structures. As Associate Dean (Student Life) of the Faculty of Engineering, he also has a strong interest in improving teaching and learning outcomes in engineering.

"Structural steel is used as the 'skeleton' that supports buildings and bridges. Columns and beams of steel are held together with connections made from bolts and welds, and we need to ensure that these components and the connections between them do not buckle or break. As technology advances we are increasingly able to make thinner and stronger steel beams, but this can sometime induce new and different types of buckles to develop.

"My research considers how new shapes and strengths of steel beams will behave. Will they buckle in the same way as older, thicker beams, or do we need to consider new types of failure that we must avoid?

"Some of my work is carried out in our structures laboratory, using hydraulic machines that can place heavy loads onto beams and columns to simulate what they experience in a real building or bridge. I record how they behave under these loads, and then analyse these results on a computer.

"My research allows me to use a combination of engineering knowledge, mathematical skills and common sense to find solutions to engineering challenges, but it's my teaching that gets me most excited.

"I've taught more than 2000 civil engineering students over the past 20 years, and those students have gone on to design and build hundreds of buildings, bridges, roads and tunnels. I like to think that I've had an influence on them and given them some of the theoretical and practical grounding that has enabled them to become so successful."