What are some good civil engineering research

topics?
From Quora (https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-civil-engineering-research-topics)

11 Answers

Chuck Matthews, Studied organization theory; experience in engineering, quality, &

manufacturing
Answered Aug 18, 2016 · Author has 1.5k answers and 1.1m answer views

Research topics is an often-asked question. I have to agree with many of the other answers
here. You need to focus on your area of interest or passion. There is no comprehensive list
or menu to choose from.

Every once in a while we hear about research being conducted, mainly through the
professional publications. I have also looked across web sites for engineering schools across
the country. This might be a good source for you as well.

When I answer this question, though, I usually comment about my perspective on the
nature of the research, since I assume the questioner is not really just looking for a list. So,
that being the case…

One of my family members was working with a professor on graduate-level research

concerning non-wood materials used in ship-building. Apparently, even modern ships use
quite a bit of wood, and there is an idea that we can lower maintenance costs and extend the
useful life of a ship without repairs and retrofits by using materials other than wood – and
yet have the properties that wood provides.

In the area of environmental engineering, I am aware of some research into detection of bad
chemicals. For example, the current methods for detecting polyethylene in the environment
lead to error and are difficult to execute. The research is into providing a commercially-
viable option for determining “horizontal and vertical distributions of PCBs and PAHs” in
soil and sediments.

There seems to be quite a bit of research into determining chemical absorption in all kinds
of areas. River sediments (water sources) seem to be common, but I am also aware of
research into chemical distribution in snowpacks and watersheds.

An interesting, emerging area is use of tides and hydrodynamics to generate power or to

drive systems that benefit communities. I don’t have a lot of information on this, but it has
often been fascinating to read about it. The model-based aspect of the project has to do with
prediction of tides and cross-currents, which the study assumes to be predictable. One
project is being conducted in Singapore.
If you’ve read the news over the last few years, you may have noticed quite a few mudslides
in Washington, California, and other areas of the Western U.S. Analysis of clay-based soil
structures is emerging – and arguably critical – to designing infrastructure and protecting
communities.

As water-distribution and sewage infrastructure ages, research is needed in how to

remediate/renovate the underground pipes in the near future. I believe this is going to be
one of the critical (even if it seems mundane) issues of the 21st Century. How do you
efficiently distribute the infrastructure to cover a community? How do you monitor the
system? What preventive measures are needed once you upgrade the system? What is the
relationship between aging systems and public health risks?

There is a need for research from a civil engineering perspective in climatology (consider
global climate change), geology and groundwater (consider the practice of fracking), and
better practices for assessing risk with respect to bridges, roads, and highways.

I don’t think there is a shortage of opportunities. Good luck!

Georgios Bekas, 8 years of experience. Licensed Civil Engineer.

Answered Aug 24, 2016 · Author has 1k answers and 805.9k answer views

Application of CFD, BEM/FEA in underesearched areas.

Non-linear analysis of structures.

New realizations in complex structures and materials.

Sustainability.

Real life experiments regarding the efficiency of a model.

OR and optimization techniques in the maintenance of structures, transportation modeling

or any function of the profession.

Simulation of cracks in ANSYS or ABAQUS.

Heterogeneous soils.

Bridge design.

Anything related to software creation to solve a structure.

Pushover analysis.
Fiber reinforced concrete.

Serguei Joa, Structural Engineer at Bouygues Batiment International, Cuba.

Answered Aug 22, 2016 · Author has 85 answers and 53.4k answer views

The good ones, for me are the ones that have a lot to be discovered. But you need to know
what do you like to do when researching:

You like computer simulation?

You like to perform laboratory tests (soil, Concrete)?

Do you like to do construction Schedules and Quantity Evaluation?

Do you like to plan and organize constructions Sites?

Then the second issue:

The university where you are planning to develop your research: if there is no computer
power (cluster for parallel processing) you will be likely to end up with frustrating hours in
front of a regular computer that after hours of calculations gives you a “Fatal Error”.

If your university has no laboratories for tests, you will be spending most of your time
travelling with your samples from place to place…and delaying your research results…

My point is: You have to be careful and realistic with your choice and at the same time
dedicate fully to a subject you could enjoy (in long term period).

good luck

Sumanth Reddy, Cement and concrete fanatic | Graduate student in Structural engineering
Answered Dec 4, 2013 · Author has 280 answers and 806.6k answer views

I'd like to add on what Jinal Doshi already said.

You don’t find topics on the internet or from someone. Even if you do and work on that, it
wouldn't have much impact.
Find you interest. If structural engineering interests you, if you are amazed by how a simple
beam/column is behaving under different load cases. Or if you are intrigued by how a
material that is so strong in compression, just falls apart at minimal tension. What ever it
might be (I'm more into structural so more of those examples)

Once you find what motivates you to study about that, then I'd start with developing my
understanding about it and finding the gaps in research through literature review.
Remember it is very hard to go through all those hundreds of papers and develop a
perspective on a topic if you're not motivated by that itself. Some suggested me to go with
historical developments like how it has evolved to the present state that it is in. I'd say even
that is a decent approach but I couldn't handle the curiosity so pursue differently.

Once you find those gaps and decide to work on a particular topic, you can appreciate the
beauty of your contribution and so does the scientific community.

I realize that having a paper against your name will add to your profile but then again
having a quality paper will help you even better. If you have time, then visualize everything
until you find what intrigues you and from then on. Its very easy....

Mosongo Marcus, 10 years as an academic writer

Answered Dec 2, 2015

follow this guide it can be of help

Writing Research Paper Structure

1. Title Page (Include name, date, course name and number, Instructor name)
2. Abstract (less than 250 words)
3. Introduction (introduce the topic and on how the research topics affects the
environment/elements) (at least 1 page)
4. Problem Statement (include a general problem, specific problem, and what problem we
are trying to focus) (at least 1/2 page)
5. Purpose of the Study (add that this is a quantitative method and comparative analysis
along with independent and independent variables) (at least 3/4 page)
6. Research Questions (at least 2 questions) (at least 1/2 page)
7. Hypotheses (at least 2 with one alternative (this type states that there is a difference)
and one null (this type states that there is no difference) (at least 1/2 page)
6. Literature Review (background of related theories and company empirical history that
ties to the research topic) (at least 3 pages)
7. Methods (show the process on how the data is obtained) (at least 1 1/2 pages)
8. Data Analysis (findings of the data) (at least 3 3/4 pages)
9. Conclusion (summarize the study) (at least 1/2 page)
10. Reference Page
11. Appendix (Supplement information that is relevant to the research)

or you can contact dbk.writing@gmail.com he can be of great help

Jeniffer Terry, Creator

Answered Sep 13, 2017

If you begin to do this, you should definitely know, that research paper in civil
engineering can be quite a difficult task, and you may need some assistance.
However, the topics in this industry can be really interesting and exciting to work with.

However, there are really hardly any proper topics on the web. Actually, you should really
take your engineering interests as the base, and work on what you really love. Actually, here
is one topic I have found on the website of University of Sheffield:

3D COMPUTATIONAL LIMIT ANALYSIS OF MASONRY STRUCTURES

I hope it can be of some use for you!

Sean Dean, Bridge Engineer

Answered Mar 24, 2016 · Author has 360 answers and 3.2m answer views

The guys who have already answered have made some really good points, and I tend to
agree with them, that in short nobody here can just give you a research topic or title right
here for you to start on. Or at least it is very unlikely...

So let's talk about how we can get to the point where we would have a research topic,

1. What do you do? Are you currently a civil engineer? Are you studying civil
engineer? Are you practicing as one? If the answer to one of those questions
is yes, then congratulations because you've done the hard work. Engineers want to
learn and are interested about what other engineers are working on. So write
about what you are working.
 2. If you are not sure that your work would be worthy of a research topic then talk to
your peers and mentors. They may have something that they are working on
that you could join in with.
3. If you are outside of industry or academia, then google some institutions that are
involved in some of your favourite aspects of civil engineering and contact them.
Let them know why you are contacting them and that you would like help with a
research topic. This would go so much better, if you offer some of your own time
and help, instead of just asking for something.
4. What are you interested in? Is it dam construction? Transport modelling?
Then read up on these, if you enjoy it, it will be easy. You could do a literary
review of recent papers.
5. If that all fails, think of something interesting, or even with some humour, as
long as it is well thought out and of interest, you well get a good response from
this.

File:Sydney harbour bridge new south wales.jpg

As has been said previously and in this answer, the best advice I can give you is to use
something that you have already worked on and something that interests you.

Hope that helps, just let me know if you've got any more questions :)

Abhishek Hete, Civil Engineer from IIT-KGP, specialized in Transportation Engg.

Answered Nov 20, 2015 · Author has 84 answers and 78.8k answer views

Well, the answer to this question is sabotaged by the fact that you need to have a
specialization of your interest in mind. Just speaking about a random research topic in vast
domain of CIVIL ENGINEERING is not very wise.
However, to start with here's what you can do.
read papers from research journals like ASCE, TRB, Elsevier science direct, Taylor and
Francis online and and many more. Explore the topics of your interest, download the
relevant papers and get understanding of the subject and then attempt build a strong
knowledge base from which you can think of a step ahead of those research papers and
propose your own research work, and then develop the testing program with help of proper
mentor-ship. Finally when you think you are done doing something worthwhile, think of a
paper.

some of the good topics according to me are

1. clay mineralogy and related problems
2. traffic simulations and related analysis
 3. structural analysis (FEM or Discreet element analysis) of critical structures
4. hydro-geological survey and related analysis
and many more to this endless list

hope this helps you to find a start somewhere

Russell John Torres

Answered Feb 2, 2018 · Author has 398 answers and 123.6k answer views

Here are some good civil engineering research topics:

 Buildings that are constructed to withstand earthquakes.

 How buildings are demolished and what materials are used to complete the task.
 The development of a wind power system.
 The study and construction of landfills.
 The construction and design of dams.

Samih Abbas, Mtech Structural Engineering, Kannur University (2016)

Answered Jun 11, 2017 · Author has 60 answers and 30.4k answer views

Industry and research should go hand in hand but unfortunately the truth is that research
goes just as academical course study without much application in real industry.

One of the problem that this kind of research is that it result in unemployment of the
researcher in industry. The primary aim of research is to develop something which could be
useful to the industry. But the isolation between industry and academy has resulted just in
unnecessary cost implications which never addressed the problems faced by industry. Some
of the premium institution's like IIT are an exception to the above said. But they too are not
able to produce the desired result.

The present researcher's actually take a foreign journal. Make a note of these journal in
which some materials will never be available in our country. To be frank the researcher is
day dreaming of an uncompletable project.
There are many interesting and usable research topic in civil engineering that could
be useful. My primary suggestion is to before starting an research contact some people in
industry so that we can produce a very constructive idea for research.

Jinal Doshi, Structural engineer and founder of structural madness

Answered Dec 1, 2013 · Author has 617 answers and 2.7m answer views

If you are doing research just for the sake of presenting a paper then please don't do it..!!

A good research in any topic with your efforts and passion will give you more exposure and
opportunities than doing a research on a topic suggested by others. So just peep inside
yourself what you wish to work on and carry that work ahead. That's the best way to do
research.