Dr Helen Fairclough
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Lecturer in Structural Engineering
+44 114 222 5753
Full contact details
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
F113
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research aims to develop next-generation digital design tools and discover new, resource-efficient structural forms.
Dr Helen Fairclough
Helen graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2015 with an MEng in Structural Engineering. She then joined the department as a PhD student, working in partnership with Expedition Engineering in London. Her work evaluated existing structural optimization methods against real-world projects and developed new techniques to overcome issues with clarity and buildability.
After her PhD, Helen spent time working at the spin-out software company LimitState. Here, she focused on integrating structural optimization techniques into design tools aimed at practicing engineers. She was lead developer of LayOpt, a simple and freely accessible web-app that allows users to quickly find structural forms with minimal material usage. She also contributed to the Peregrine plugin, which integrates structural optimization into workflows using the popular Rhino/Grasshopper CAD system.
Helen then re-joined the department as a post-doctoral researcher working on projects including the 'Digital Design Tools for Long Span Structures' project. Through the methods she developed, new structural forms were identified. When compared with current long span bridge forms (e.g. suspension or cable-stayed designs) with the potential to allow significant material savings and to increase the length of span that is possible.
She was appointed as Lecturer in Structural Engineering in 2022. Her research uses computational and mathematical methods to enable resource-efficient structural design. The tools she develops have a wide range of applications, from long span bridges to additively manufactured components, and across a spectrum of traditional and low-carbon materials.
- Research interests
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Minimum material structures
Form finding
Design of long span structures
Integration of digital tools into design workflows
Structural design using low carbon materials
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Adaptive member adding for truss topology optimization: application to elastic design. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, 67(7).
- Layout optimization of structures with distributed self-weight, lumped masses and frictional supports. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, 65(2).
- LayOpt : an educational web-app for truss layout optimization. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. View this article in WRRO
- A simple layout optimization formulation for load-carrying tensegrity structures. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. View this article in WRRO
- Layout optimization of simplified trusses using mixed integer linear programming with runtime generation of constraints. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, 61(5), 1977-1999. View this article in WRRO
- Optimisation-driven conceptual design : case study of a large transfer truss. The Structural Engineer, 97(10), 20-26. View this article in WRRO
- Theoretically optimal forms for very long-span bridges under gravity loading. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 474(2217), ---. View this article in WRRO
- Adaptive topology optimization of fail-safe truss structures. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.
- Layout optimization of long-span structures subject to self-weight and multiple load-cases. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.
Conference proceedings papers
- Fast, interactive digital design tools to inform decision making in bridge design. IABSE Reports, 10 April 2024 - 12 April 2024.
- Optimization-driven Conceptual Design of Long Span Bridges. IABSE Symposium, Nantes 2018: Tomorrow’s Megastructures, 19 September 2018 - 21 September 2018.
- Influence of member failure time on dynamic load redistribution in pinned planar trusses. Proceedings of the The 4th International Conference on Structural Safety Under Fire & Blast Loading (CONFAB 2024). London, UK, 9 September 2024 - 9 September 2024. View this article in WRRO
Preprints
- Adaptive member adding for truss topology optimization: application to elastic design, Research Square Platform LLC.
- Adaptive member adding for truss topology optimization: application to elastic design. Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, 67(7).
- Research group
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Structural Engineering & Materials
Computational Mechanics and Design / Intelligent Infrastructure groups
- Grants
- PhD opportunities
If you're interested in a PhD project please contact Helen at the above email. Current PhD opportunities in the department can be viewed here.