Dr Brabha Nagaratnam

Associate Professor

Department: Mechanical and Construction Engineering

Dr. Brabha Nagaratnam is an Associate Professor or Reader at the Faculty of Engineering and Environment. She is also the Programme Leader for the Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship Programme at Northumbria University. She is a structural engineer with a sustainable and value engineering background. Her career commenced in the construction industry working in structural design firms mostly in Malaysia and Ireland, 5 years prior to joining academia. She started her academic career at Technological University Dublin in 2006. She then continued her academic career at Curtin University Malaysia from 2010 before joining Northumbria University as an Assistant Professor in 2017.

Her research interest is in innovative and sustainable construction materials i.e primarily concrete materials such as ultra-high performance, green concrete, self-compacting concrete, fibre reinforced concrete, analysis and design of structures, fire safety and structural investigations, and repair and strengthening. She believes that all future builds should have as little impact on the environment as possible and use as many natural materials, in order to keep wastage at a minimum. Since, she has expanded her experimental research portfolio including lightweight steel structures, modular building construction and other structural materials.

She is also an active researcher with numerous publications in Q1 Journals and is currently a reviewer for the International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials, Journal of Construction and Building Materials and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Selected GRANTS:

1) Principal Investigator - European Regional Development Fund NU/Lynx Precast on Self Compacting Concrete Floor Slabs Containing Fibres (2019 to 2022)

2) Principal Investigator - European Regional Development Fund NU/Bespoke Concrete on Ultra High-Performance Concrete Thin Slabs (2020 to 2023)

3) Principal Supervisor - Knowledge Transfer Partnership with ESS Modular Construction, Ireland on Innovative Modular Building Connections (2020 to 2022).

4) Principal Investigator - Knowledge Transfer Partnership (Redbrooks/Northumbria University) Development of Composite Structures - Long Span Flooring Systems”. (2020)

5) Co-Investigator - ERDF Industrial Intensive Innovation Programme (IIIP) (NU/The Home Engineers) (2020 to 2023)

6) Co-Investigator - ERDF Industrial Intensive Innovation Programme, James Christopher Consulting Ltd, Newcastle (2019 to 2022)

7) Co-Investigator - Collaborative PhD Project, Northumbria University – Extraspace Solutions Ltd (2019 to 2022)

RESEARCH SUPERVISION:

10/2020-9/2023 (exp. completion): Muhamad Sifan, Durability of Ultra High Performance Concrete. (ERDF-Bespoke Concrete Funded) Principal Supervisor

01/2021-01/2024 (exp. completion): Heshachanaa Rajanayagam. Development of Innovative Modular Bracing and Connections. Principal Supervisor

2018-2022 (expected completion): Jeffri Ramli, Experimental and Numerical Studies of Steel Fibre Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete Walls. (ERDF-Lynx Funded) Principal Supervisor

10/2018-9/2021 (completed): Thadshajini Suntharalingam. 3D Printed Concrete Structures with increased Structural Performance: Experimental and Numerical Study. (RDF Funded) Principal Supervisor

Completed. Tsao Kee Ern. MSc. Conflict Management Strategies for Project Leaders in Construction Industry. Principal Supervisor

2/2021-1/2024 (exp. completion). Armin Jamali. Porosity of Ultra-High Performance Concrete. (RDF Funded) Co-Supervisor

10/2020–09/2023 (exp. completion). Elilarasi Kanthasamy. Development of innovative modular construction beam. (ERDF – Home Designers) Co-Supervisor

10/2018–09/2021 (Completed) Gatheeshgar Perampalam. Optimum design of cold-formed steel beams for modular building applications. Co-Supervisor

10/2018-6/2021 (Completed): Hisham Hafez. Life Cycle Analysis of Concrete Using Supplementary Cementitious Material. (RDF Funded) Co-Supervisor

2019 - 2022 (exp completion). Ross Dobson. Structural Behaviour of Composite Light Weight Structures. Principal Supervisor

10/2019–09/2022 (exp. completion). Kurugamage Dilini Nuwanthika Perera. Fire Performance of Affordable and High-Quality Modular Building Systems. Co-Supervisor

10/2018-9/2021 (Completed): DM Madhushan Priyankara Dissanayake. Structural Behaviour of Stainless-Steel Beams Subjected to Shear, Bending, and Combined Bending and Shear Actions. Co-Supervisor

10/2019-9/2022(exp. completion): Deighton Widdowfield Small. Development of Innovative Timber Panels and Connections for Non-Standard Arrangement. Co-Supervisor

2018-2021 (Completed) Khizar Abid “Geomechanical Evaluation of the Depleted Reservoir for CO2 Sequestration and Storage. Co-Supervisor

Campus Address

Ellison Building ELB117
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Brabha

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Development and prospectives of lightweight high strength concrete using lightweight aggregates, Sifan, M., Nagaratnam, B., Thamboo, J., Poologanathan, K., Corradi, M. 2 Jan 2023, In: Construction and Building Materials
A new four stage model of capillary pressure in early age concrete: Insights from high capacity tensiometers, Jamali, A., Mendes, J., Nagaratnam, B., Lim, M. 1 Nov 2022, In: Cement and Concrete Research
Finite Element Modelling to predict the Fire performance of Bio-inspired 3D Printed Concrete wall panels exposed to realistic fire, Suntharalingam, T., Upasiri, I., Nagaratnam, B., Poologanathan, K., Gatheeshgar, P., Tsavdaridis, K., Perera, D. 24 Jan 2022, In: Buildings
Flexural behaviour and design of hollow flange cold-formed steel beam filled with lightweight normal and lightweight high strength concrete, Sifan, M., Gatheeshgar, P., Navaratnam, S., Nagaratnam, B., Poologanathan, K., Thamboo, J., Suntharalingam, T. 1 May 2022, In: Journal of Building Engineering
Integration of origami and deployable concept in volumetric modular units, Beatini, V., Gatheeshgar, P., Rajanayagam, H., Poologanathan, K., Suntharalingam, T., Perera, D., Kanthasamy, E., Nagaratnam, B. 10 Nov 2022, In: Scientific Reports
Numerical Investigation on Fire Performance of LSF and Steel Modular Floor Panels, Perera, D., Upasiri, I., Poologanathan, K., O’Grady, K., Nagaratnam, B., Kanthasamy, E., Rajanayagam, H. 18 Oct 2022, In: Buildings
Shear performance of lightweight concrete filled hollow flange cold-formed steel beams, Sifan, M., Gatheeshgar, P., Nagaratnam, B., Poologanathan, K., Navaratnam, S., Thamboo, J., Corradi, M. 1 Dec 2022, In: Case Studies in Construction Materials
A-State-Of-The-Art review on modular building connections, Rajanayagam, H., Poologanathan, K., Perampalam, G., Varelis, G., Sherlock, P., Nagaratnam, B., Hackney, P. 1 Dec 2021, In: Structures
A whole life cycle performance-based ECOnomic and ECOlogical assessment framework (ECO2) for concrete sustainability, Hafez, H., Kurda, R., Al-Ayish, N., Garcia-Segura, T., Cheung, W., Nagaratnam, B. 10 Apr 2021, In: Journal of Cleaner Production
Behaviour of Lightweight Concrete Wall Panel under Axial Loading: Experimental and Numerical Investigation toward Sustainability in Construction Industry, Rahman, M., Ting, T., Lau, H., Nagaratnam, B., Poologanathan, K. 6 Dec 2021, In: Buildings

PGR Supervision

Thadshajini Suntharalingam 3D Printed Concrete Structures with increased Structural, Fire and Energy Performance: Experimental and Numerical Study Start Date: 01/10/2018 End Date: 25/03/2022
Heshachanaa Rajanayagam Development of innovative MODular building system with enhanced Fire, Environmental, Structural and Thermal performance (MOD-FEST) Start Date: 18/01/2021
Sifan Mohamed Muhamad Ibrahim Development of Ultra High Performance Concrete and Lightweight High Strength Concrete. Start Date: 01/10/2020
Jeffri Ramli Strengthening of shear walls using fibre-reinforced self-compacting concrete Start Date: 01/10/2018
Ross Dobson Start Date: 01/10/2019 End Date: 08/01/2020