Research

The education and research areas of the Department of Civil Engineering employ a total of about 120 people who conduct annually about 100 different research projects and development undertakings. The Unit's research activity builds on a comprehensive approach, i.e. the combining of theory and practice to ensure the effectiveness of research results.

In the key research areas, the Unit's research teams are tightly networked with domestic and international research teams of their field and maintain close contacts with them. The staff is actively involved in the preparation of various norms and design guidelines as well as in bodies and organisations that guide sector development. Implementation of various experimental building projects and, for instance, development of sector design software are also part of the activities.

The Unit's research staff divides between four research areas. The pages of the research areas contain further information about the staff and on-going and finished research.

Earth and foundation structures focusses particularly on infrastructure construction, but also invests resources in the development of the foundation structures of buildings. Research is conducted by three teams on track structures, earth constructions and foundation structures. The teams have available first rate laboratory and measurement services as well as tailored structure monitoring systems.

Structural engineering focusses on structures and their behaviour, mechanics of structures, hygrothermal performance of building materials and structures, physical phenomena affecting indoor air quality, life-cycle engineering of structures, metal construction and fire engineering of structures. The research of the structural engineering unit is often based on experimental testing in laboratory and field conditions and calculational modelling.

Construction management and economics concentrates on the operational processes and business activity of construction companies, the construction products industry and project management companies as well as the life-cycle, energy and environmental economy of real estate. An increasingly important research area is the real estate business including the related facility and user services and living business.

Information technology in civil engineering focusses on measurement, data management and virtual technologies of the built environment. Measurement technology consists of geodetic and construction surveying based on calculation methods and practical applications. Data management involves application of softwares related to building processes and property management as well as data transfer between them and definitions of use cases. Virtual technologies incorporate BIM based applications of measurement and data management.