Professor Hoult graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in 1999 from the University of Toronto. He did his master's research on the effect of confinement on reinforced concrete columns and graduated with a Master's of Applied Science in 2001 also from the University of Toronto.
He then spent a year working as a structural designer for Halsall Associates where he worked on a number of projects involving steel, concrete and masonry design.
He then travelled across the pond to conduct doctoral research under the supervision of Dr. Janet Lees at the University of Cambridge. He matriculated (it's a word, look it up) at Peterhouse in 2002. His research investigated the use of a carbon fibre reinforced strap system for enhancing the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams (see Dr. Hoult's Publications for further details). He received his PhD in May 2006.
Dr. Hoult went back to work for Halsall Associates where he spent another year as a structural designer. He then crossed the pond for a second time and spent three happy years as a Research Associate under the supervision of Prof. Campbell Middleton. During this time he developed his interest in structural health monitoring using wireless sensor networks and fibre optic sensors.
Dr. Hoult came to Queen's in September 2009 where he has continued his research into structural monitoring among other things (see his research page). He is also the faculty advisor to the Conrete Toboggan Team and the Bridge Building Team as well as a reviewer for a number of international journals among other things.
Education
| 2006 |
Ph.D., Engineering, 2006
University of Cambridge, UK |
| 2001 |
MASc, Structural Engineering, 2001
University of Toronto, Canada |
| 1999 |
BASc, Civil Engineering, 1999
University of Toronto, Canada |
Teaching
Professor Hoult will be teaching CIVL 231(Solid Mechanics II) and CIVL 431 (Infrastructure Rehabilitation) in the Winter term. CIVL 231 builds upon fundamental courses in mechanics and deals with concepts such as Mohr's circle and virtual work. CIVL 431 investigates the reasons for rehabilitation including increased demand, deterioration and extreme events as well as potential techniques for rehabilitation such as retrofitting and monitoring.
Professor Hoult teaches two graduate courses in alternating years: CIVL 831 (Assessment and Monitoring of Infrastructure) and CIVL 835 (Assessment and Monitoring of Infrastructure).
You can find Dr. Hoult's publications at his Google Scholar Page!
Professor Hoult's research interests include testing and modeling of reinforced concrete, deteriorated infrastructure performance, buried infrastructure, and structural monitoring. One of the challenges faced by society as a whole is how to use resources more efficiently and effectively. Reducing CO2 production is an important aspect of this challenge and as structural engineers our goal should be to optimize the use of these precious resources including reducing CO2 production. Dr. Hoult's research investigates the behaviour of complex structural systems so that new structures can be designed more efficiently and existing structures can be assessed more accurately.
Testing and Modeling of Reinforced Concrete
Research in this area includes the behaviour of shear critical structures, buried reinforced concrete pipes and the use of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) for structural applications. By combining new sensor technoligies such as distributed fibre optic strain sensors and digital image correlation with full-scale experiments, research students working in this area are helping to develop a better understanding of how new and existing reinforced concrete infrastructure behave.
Deteriorated Infrastructure Performance
Research in this area includes the behaviour of corroded reinforced concrete structures, corroded steel pipes, corroded steel members, and cast iron pipes. One of the most significant questions facing engineers today is "how much deterioration is too much deterioration?" This is not an easy question to answer as most structures are complex and highly redundant systems (there are a number of ways for a load applied to a structure to get to the ground). Research students working is this area develop techniques for creating controlled yet realistic deterioration and testing these deteriorated structures to failure to determine what is too much deterioration.
Buried Infrastructure
Dr. Hoult works closely with colleague Dr. Ian Moore in this area to better understand the performance of both new and deteriorated buried infrastructure assets such as steel culverts and reinforced concrete pipes. Large-scale experiments are conducted using the unique Buried Infrastructure Lab, which enables the testing of pipes under shallow burial conditions while being subjected to additional surface loading. Here again, the use of cutting edge sensor technologies allows an understanding of pipe behaviour that is only possible due to the facilities available at Queen's.
Structural Monitoring
Dr. Hoult's research group takes advantage of cutting edge structural monitoring technologies in almost every research project. However, some projects focus on monitoring to help assist in the assessment of new and existing infrastructure assets. With recent advances in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), fibre optic sensing, and digital image correlation (where Hoult collaborates with colloeague Dr. Andy Take), monitoring technologies offer the opportunity to enable pervasive monitoring. These systems could give engineers the data required to both keep existing structures in service longer and to optimize the design of new structures. Dr. Hoult's research in this area investigates the use of WSNs for long-term monitoring of existing structures as well as the development of new sensors and analysis techniques. The use of fibre optic sensors to determine distributed strain profiles and overall structural performance is another area of ongoing interest.
Ongoing and Potential Projects
Please feel free to contact Dr. Hoult about potential projects in each research area.
