Dr Ben Bridgens
Lecturer in Structural Engineering

  • Email: ben.bridgens@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 6409
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 5322
  • Address: School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
    Room 2.13/2.14
    Drummond Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK

Background

Dr Ben Bridgens is a Lecturer in Structural Engineering in the School of Civil Engineering & Geosciences at Newcastle University. He specialises in the modelling, analysis and testing of woven composite materials, design of tensile membrane structures & exploitation of woven materials in new applications. His research has led to a new approach to the analysis of membrane structures in which material testing and computational mechanics are understood to be fundamentally linked, and must be developed and implemented in tandem. His research is informed by five years working at Arup (www.arup.com) where he carried out concept to detailed structural design of a wide range of fabric structures including the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and National Tennis Centre Reception Building (London) and gained Chartered Civil Engineer status. This experience enables him to closely align his research and teaching with the requirements of the design engineer. Dr Bridgens works as a consultant providing specialist testing, analysis & design services for major international engineering firms.

Roles and responsibilities

Infrastructure Theme Leader and member of Undergraduate Civil Engineering Programme Strategy Group (Sept. 2009 - ).

Deputy Degree Programme Director for MSc in Structural Engineering  (Dec 2009 - )

Represent GEST Group on Post-Graduate Staff Student Committee.

Qualifications

PhD Structural Engineering (Newcastle University, 2005)

MEng Civil Engineering (Durham University, 2000)

Memberships

CEng MICE Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Industrial experience

October 2004 – August 2008: Structural Engineer, Arup, Newcastle Office. Lead engineer responsible for all stages of structural design (from concept to detailed design and site supervision). Specialist knowledge of fabric materials, fabric structures design, detailing and analysis; provision of fabric structures advice to Arup worldwide. Responsible for bidding for work, negotiating with Clients, setting up contracts & project management (financial, resource & Quality Assurance),

 

Research Interests

Material testing, modelling and design of functional woven fabrics and flexible composites. Development and optimisation of medical mesh implants. Analysis and design of tensile fabric structures for architectural and industrial applications.

Postgraduate Supervision

Chris Iliffe (A predictive model for the design of functional textiles)

Nicola Bartle (A probabilistic material framework for the analysis of fabric structures)

Alex Colman (A pragmatic approach to determining the mechanical behaviour of structural fabrics)

Chih-Heng Wang (The Applications of Digital Photogrammetry in Detecting Deformation in Structures)

 

Esteem Indicators

Member of the Scientific Committee for Structural Membranes 2013, one of the Thematic Conferences of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS),
Reviewer for 'Engineering Structures', 'International Journal of Space Structures', 'Journal of Reinforced Plastics & Composites' 

Deputy Chairman of the Tensinet Analysis & Materials working group,

Session chair and member of the Scientific Committee for Structural Membranes 2011 - 5th International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures, Barcelona,

Invited to present a two-day seminar to a major glass fibre & composite manufacturer at their US Research & Development site, July 2011,

Invited to present two one-day seminars on architectural fabrics to the Taiwanese Textile Research Institute, September 2009 & October 2011,

Invited speaker at HKIE/IStructE Joint Structural Division Annual Seminar: Innovative Light-weight Structures and Sustainable Facades, Hong Kong, 7 May 2008

Institution of Structural Engineers Guthrie Brown Award 2005

International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures 2nd Hangai Prize (for a young researcher showing innovative ideas related to the field of lightweight structures)

Research Impact

‘Measurement & Analysis Systems’ is a University spin-out company which is currently being set up to exploit the commercial potential of Dr Ben Bridgens’ and Prof. Peter Gosling’s work on the testing, analysis and design of flexible composite materials and structures. Contact: info@ma-sys.co.uk

Undergraduate Teaching

CEG1301 Engineering mechanics & materials (50% of 20 credits)

CEG2303 Construction Materials (Module Leader, 60% of 10 credits)

CEG3304 Architecture for structural engineers (Module Leader, 50% of 10 credits)

CEG3305 Computational Engineering Analysis (4 credits of 20 credit module) 

CEG8099 Supervision of undergraduate Stage 4 investigative projects 

Contributions to:

Design of sustainable engineering systems 1 - sketching & visual communication

Design of sustainable engineering systems 3 - architectural building design

Design of sustainable engineering systems 3 - architecture

Postgraduate Teaching

CEG8307 MSc Structural Engineering Field Class (20%)

CEG8399 MSc Research Methods (20%)

CEG8399 Supervision of MSc research projects