Skip to main content
Overview

Professor Charles Augarde

Professor, Head of Department

BSc MSc DPhil CEng FICE


Affiliations
AffiliationRoom numberTelephone
Professor, Head of Department in the Department of EngineeringE375 (Higginson) 42504

Biography

Personal webpage

Charles Augarde is Head of Department and Professor of Civil Engineering in the Department of Engineering. 

After graduating in Engineering from Lancaster University in 1986 he spent six years in industry, working for Manchester City Engineer's Dept on road, bridge and sewer design and construction, achieving Chartered Engineer (CEng) status in 1992. He then studied for an MSc in Structural Engineering at Heriot-Watt University (1993) and a DPhil (=PhD) at Oxford University (1997), where he was also a College Lecturer at Keble College. After his DPhil, and a brief period as a lecturer in structural engineering at the University of Westminster, he returned to Oxford as a Departmental Lecturer in Engineering Science (1997-2001) and a College Lecturer at St Anne's College. Charles joined Durham in 2001 as a Lecturer, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007, Reader in 2011 and Professor in 2013. he took over as Head of Department in August 2022.

Research and Teaching

Charles's main research interest is numerical modelling of geotechnical and structural engineering problems using finite element, meshless and scaled boundary methods, examining ways to improve efficiency and accuracy including novel solution methods. Charles is also interested in unsaturated soil mechanics particularly as applied to sustainable earthen construction materials, such as "rammed earth", both for new build and for the conservation of heritage earth structures. 

Charles is currently on the editorial boards for the international journals Acta GeotechnicaTheoretical & Applied Fracture Mechanics, Underground Space, Computers and Structures, and Geotechnique and is a fomer member of the editorial board of Geotechnique Letters. Charles was President of the UK Association for Computational Mechanics (UKACM) 2016-2019, and is a member of committees TC103 and TC301 of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). He is also a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. For more information, go to his personal webpage.

In the Department Charles currently (2022-3) teaches numerical methods at L2 and contributes to Civil Desing at L3. Charles has held many admin roles at Durham including Deputy Head (Postgraduate) of the Science Faculty, and in Engineering, Deputy Head of Department, Chair of the Board of Examiners, REF Impact Officer, Undergraduate Admissions Tutor and Director of Postgraduate Research.

Research interests

  • Computational Mechanics
  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Meshless Methods
  • Finite Elements
  • Computational Fracture
  • Earthen Construction

Awarded Grants

  • 2019: Offshore renewables civil infrastructure: development of computational tools(£23965.00 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
  • 2018: Computational Geomechanics Workshops(£700.00 from )
  • 2017: A New Partnership in Offshore Wind(£767499.35 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
  • 2017: Computional Geomechanics Workshops(£1320.00 from )
  • 2017: H2020-BESTOFRAC: Enviornmentally best practices and optmisation in hydrolic fracturing for shale gas/oil devleopment(£171202.57 from European Commission)
  • 2017: Reinforcement of concrete beams with continuous glass fibre rop(£800.00 from )
  • 2016: Screw piles for wind energy foundation systems(£324807.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2015: H2020-TERRE(£199093.59 from European Commission)
  • 2015: Numerical Methods for modelling hydraulic fraucture in concrete-like-materials(£12000.00 from The Royal Society)
  • 2014: Seabed Ploughing: modelling for infrastructure installation(£284476.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2013: Sub-micron X-ray Computed Tomography Facility at Durham University - equipment part(£461506.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2013: Sub-micron X-ray Computed Tomography Facility at Durham University - non equipment part(£12592.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2013: iSmart(£240833.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2011: Use of rammed earth in Aboriginal communities of Australia(£1561.50 from Australian Research Council)
  • 2010: 9th World Congress: Novel Discretization Techniques for Moving Discontinuities and Singularities(£2006.00 from )
  • 2007: FINITE DEFORMATION GEOMECHANICS(£337809.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2006: NOVEL STRUT DESIGN(£300.00 from Institute of Structural Engineers)
  • 2006: UNSATURATED SOIL GEOTECHNICS(£19265.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2005: IDENTIFICATION OF MODEL PARAMETERS(£115513.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2005: THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF ENGINEERS:BURSARY(£3000.00 from The Worshipful Company of Engineers)
  • 2004: DEVELOPING THE SCALED BOUNDARY(£12123.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2004: ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOWSHIP-DR Y ZHANG(£2000.00 from The Royal Society)
  • 2003: PARAMETRIC STUDIES OF MULTIPLE TUNNELS(£94995.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2003: PARAMETRIC STUDIES OF MULTIPLE TUNNELS(£94995.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2003: PARAMETRIC STUDY OF MULTIPLE TUNNELS(£10000.00 from )
  • 2002: PRE-CONDITIONERS FOR FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING(£72144.00 from Epsrc)
  • 2001: MODELLING SKEW ARCHES(£1593.93 from The Royal Society)

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

  • Science: Education, industry & the community: computer modelling
  • Engineering: Other contexts: civil engineering, tunnels, bridges
  • Geological hazards: geotechnical engineering, ground conditions, tunnelling
  • Engineering: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • Mechanics: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • Environment: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • Landscape & buildings: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • European & other international expertise: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • Europe: History & Archaeology: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • History & Archaeology: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
  • Medieval history: Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)

Publications

Authored book

  • Jaquin P.A. & Augarde, C.E. (2012). Earth building: History, science and conservation. BREPress.

Chapter in book

Conference Paper

Conference Proceeding

Doctoral Thesis

  • Augarde, C.E. (1997). Numerical modelling of tunnelling processes for assessment of damage to buildings. Dept of Engineering Science. University of Oxford. PhD.

Edited book

  • Toll, D.G, Augarde, C.E., Gallipoli, D. & Wheeler, S.J. (2008). Unsaturated Soils. Advances in Geo-Engineering, Proceedings of the 1st European Conference, E-UNSAT 2008. Taylor and Francis.

Journal Article

Presentation

Report

Supervision students