Research

Interests

Experimental testing, and analytical and numerical modeling of:

l     Reinforced concrete, metallic and timber structural elements externally bonded with fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites,

l     Anchorage of externally bonded FRP strengthening systems,

l     Concrete beams reinforced with FRP bars,

l     Strength, ductility and serviceability of reinforced concrete flexural members reinforced with high-strength, low-ductility steel reinforcement,

l     Buckling of steel or FRP elements restrained by concrete in composite steel- or FRP-concrete assemblages, and

l     Sustainable development of the built environment.

 

Grants

Over USD 1 million in total research funding (including funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grants scheme + the Hong Kong Research Grants (RGC) Council’s General Research Fund; GRF).

 

Publications

Journal: 45 refereed journal publications, > 760 independent journal paper citations (> 920 total cites), h-index (independent cites) = 11 (= 13 for total cites). (Scopus; April 2012)

 

Conference: 75 refereed conference papers.

 

Scholarly Books, Book Chapters, Design Guidelines and Edited Works

l     Teng, J.G., Chen, J.F. and Smith, S.T. (2009) Guest Editors, Special Issue on Bond Behaviour of Externally Bonded FRP Reinforcement, Advances in Structural Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 6.

l     Oehlers, D.J., Seracino, R. and Smith, S.T. (2008) Design Guideline for RC Structures Retrofitted with FRP and Metal Plates: Beams and Slabs, HB 305-2008, Standards Australia, Australia, ISBN 0 7337 7831 3.

l     Teng, J.G., Smith, S.T. and Chen, J.F. (2008) “Flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites”, Chapter 4, Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Civil Infrastructures using Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites, Hollaway, L.C. and Teng, J.G. (Eds), Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, U.K., pp. 112-140, ISBN 978-1-84569-448-7.

l     Teng, J.G., Smith, S.T. and Chen, J.F. (2008) “Design guidelines for fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP)-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) structures”, Chapter 7, Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Civil Infrastructures using Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites, Hollaway, L.C. and Teng, J.G. (Eds), Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, U.K., pp. 195-214, ISBN 978-1-84569-448-7.

l     Smith, S.T. (2007) First Asia-Pacific Conference of FRP in Structures, APFIS 2007, Hong Kong, 12-14 December, 1144 pp, ISBN 978-962-8014-14-9.

l     Teng, J.G., Chen, J.F., Smith, S.T. and Lam, L. (2002) FRP-Strengthened RC Structures, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., ISBN 0471487066, 245 pp. (translated into Chinese in 2005 and Korean in 2006)

 

Refereed Journal Publications (Selected)

l     Zhang, H.W. and Smith, S.T. “Influence of FRP anchor fan configuration and dowel angle on anchoring FRP plates”, Composites Part B: Engineering, doi:10.1016/j.compositesb.2011.11.072.

l     Wang, Z.Y., Wang, D.Y., Smith, S.T. and Lu, D.G. “CFRP-confined square RC columns. II: cyclic axial compression stress-strain model”, Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE, accepted July 2011, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CC.1943-5614.0000246.

l     Wang, Z.Y., Wang, D.Y., Smith, S.T. and Lu, D.G. “CFRP-confined square RC columns. I: experimental investigation”, Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE, accepted July 2011, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CC.1943-5614.0000245.

l     Loo, M.K.Y., Foster, S.J. and Smith, S.T. “Fatigue behaviour of CFRP-repaired corroded RC beams”, ACI Structural Journal, accepted April 2011.

l     Wang, Z.Y., Wang, D.Y., Smith, S.T. and Lu, D.G. (2012) “Experimental testing and analytical modelling of CFRP-confined large circular RC columns subjected to cyclic axial compression”, Engineering Structures, Vol. 40, pp. 64-74.

l     Zhang, H.W. and Smith, S.T. (2012) “FRP-to-concrete joint assemblages anchored with multiple FRP anchors”, Composite Structures, Vol. 94, No. 2, pp. 403-413.

l     Zhang, H.W., Smith, S.T. and Kim, S.J. (2011) “Optimisation of carbon and glass FRP anchor design”, Construction and Building Materials, FRPRCS9 Special Edition, doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.11.100. (Invited Paper)

l     Smith, S.T., Hu, S., Kim, S.J. and Seracino, R. (2011) “FRP-strengthened RC slabs anchored with FRP anchors”, Engineering Structures, Vol. 33, Issue 4, pp. 1075-1087.

l     Smith, S.T. and Kim, S.J. (2010) “Deflection calculation of FRP-strengthened RC flexural members”, Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, Special Edition on Fibre Reinforcement in Concrete Structures, Vol. 11, No. 2, 75-86. (Invited Paper) (2011 Warren Medal, Engineers Australia)

l     Smith, S.T., Kim, S.J. and Zhang, H.W. (2010) “Behaviour and effectiveness of FRP wrap in the confinement of large concrete cylinders”, Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 573-582.

l     Smith, S.T. and Kim, S.J. (2009) “Strengthening of RC slabs with cutouts using FRP composites”, Construction and Building Materials, Special Issue on FRP Composites, Vol. 23, pp. 1578-1590. (Invited Paper)

l     Smith, S.T. and Gravina, R.J. (2007) “Prediction of debonding failure in FRP flexurally strengthened RC members using a local deformation model”, Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 184-191. (Invited Paper)

l     Gilbert, R.I. and Smith, S.T. (2006) “Strain localization and its impact on the ductility of reinforced concrete slabs containing 500 MPa reinforcement”, Advances in Structural Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 117-127. (Invited Paper)

l     Teng, J.G., Chen, J.F., Smith, S.T. and Lam, L. (2003) “Behaviour and strength of FRP-strengthened RC structures: A state-of-the-art review”, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Structures and Buildings, Vol. 156, No. 1, pp. 51-62. (2004 Howard Medal, ICE)

l     Smith, S.T. and Teng, J.G. (2002) "FRP-strengthened RC structures. I: Review of debonding strength models", Engineering Structures, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 385-395.

l     Smith, S.T. and Teng, J.G. (2002) "FRP-strengthened RC structures. II: Assessment of debonding strength models", Engineering Structures, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 397-417.

l     Smith, S.T. and Teng, J.G. (2001) "Interfacial stresses in plated beams", Engineering Structures, Vol. 23, No. 7, pp. 857-871. (Highly Cited)

l     Smith, S.T., Bradford, M.A. and Oehlers, D.J. (1999) “Numerical convergence of simple and orthogonal polynomials for the unilateral plate buckling problem using the Rayleigh-Ritz method”, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Vol. 44, pp. 1685-1707.

 

Other (Selected)

l     Smith, S.T. (2011) “Anchorage of externally bonded FRP strengthening systems”, 7th National Conference on Infrastructure Applications of FRP Composites, Hangzhou, China, 15-16 October. (Published in Industrial Composites, Vol. 41, No. 464, pp. 28-37) (Keynote Paper)

l     Smith, S.T. (2010) “Strengthening of concrete, metallic and timber construction materials with FRP composites”, Proceedings, Fifth International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering, CICE 2010, Beijing, China, 27-29 September, pp. 13-19. (Keynote Paper)

l     Smith, S.T. (2009) “FRP anchors: recent advances in research and understanding”, Proceedings, Second Asia-Pacific Conference on FRP in Structures, APFIS 2009, Seoul, Korea, 9-11 December, pp. 35-44. (Keynote Paper)

l     Smith, S.T. (2010) “The teaching of sustainable development to undergraduate engineering students at The University of Hong Kong”, Proceedings (CD-Rom), First International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization, ICSU2010, Hong Kong, China, 15-17 December.

 

Speaking

·      4 Keynote Lectures

·      > 45 Conference Presentations

 

Supervision (Graduate Research Students)

1 Smith Primary Supervisor; 2 Smith Co-supervisor

 

Completed

Rijun SHRESTHA 1   PhD (2010)

Behaviour of RC Beam-Column Connections Retrofitted with FRP Strips

 

Seo Jin (Paul) KIM 1   PhD (2010)

Strengthening of RC Slabs with Penetrations using Unanchored and Anchored FRP Composites

 

Kam-Yoke (Mindy) LOO 2   PhD (2010)

Fatigue Behaviour of CFRP-repaired Corroded RC Beams

 

Shenghua HU 1   MPhil (2012)

Strengthening of FRP-Strengthened RC Slabs with FRP Anchors

 

Current

Jing WAN 1   PhD

Bond Strength of FRP-to-Timber

 

Jiaqi YANG 1   PhD

Strengthening and Repair of Timber Structures

 

Huawen ZHANG 1   PhD

Strength and Behaviour of FRP Anchors in FRP Strengthening Systems for Concrete Structures

 

Hing Lun YIP 2   MPhil

Tall Buildings

 

 

Advanced Structural Materials Research at HKU

Dr Smith’s group consists of postdoctoral fellows as well as PhD and MPhil students and Research Assistants who undertake experimental testing and analytical and numerical modeling of FRP-to-concrete, -metal and -timber structural systems. The group has considerable computing power at their disposal as well as advanced structural testing facilities (i.e. wide variety of servo-controlled actuators and reaction frames, universal testing machines, environmental chambers, and a wide variety of measuring instruments such as non-contact speckle interferometer measuring equipment).

 

 

Research Positions and Sabbatical Opportunities

Dr Smith is always on the lookout for outstanding postdoctoral fellows and graduate (i.e. MPhil and PhD) research students. Hong Kong is also the ideal place to undertake a sabbatical leave. Please make contact (stsmith@hku.hk) should you wish to pursue such opportunities.