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Civil Engineering Dissertation Topics

Published by at January 10th, 2023 , Revised On August 17, 2023

Introduction

The importance of civil engineering works in the modern world cannot be understated, thanks to the growing public and commercial infrastructure requirement. The main focus of civil engineering is to develop a sustainable society where businesses can flourish.

Civil engineers in today’s world are keen to develop sustainable buildings, and therefore sustainable construction research topics are frequently researched by civil engineering students. 

To help you get started with brainstorming for civil engineering topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your civil engineering dissertation project.

These topics have been developed by PhD-qualified writers of our team, so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting a brief research proposal from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an introduction to the problem, research question, aim and objectives, literature review along with the proposed methodology of research to be conducted. Let us know if you need any help in getting started.

Check our example dissertation to get an idea of how to structure your dissertation.

You can review step by step guide on how to write your dissertation here.

 

2022 Civil Engineering Research Topics

Research Aim: Many big cities around the world have demolished a vast number of buildings that were functional with new structures. It not only has an economic impact but also results in the loss of urban culture, harms the environment, cause pollution, and also worsen the traffic situation. This study will evaluate the merits of building demotion and will provide economic, technical and environmental input.

Research Aim: Water, sanitation, wastewater systems, electricity, and rural infrastructure all impact human development outcomes. This study will examine rural housing at a low cost focusing on the improvement of water diversion, electricity grids and infrastructure services. It will also look into the policies made to avoid certain problems and help us understand how these things have influenced life in rural regions.

Research Aim: This study will examine the use of activated flash as a binder in pavement adjustments to allow acceptable tension reinforcing stresses to control cracking. Cracks usually emerge as a result of mechanical loads, adverse response and environmental impact, and the frequent cracking negatively impacts the performance of concrete. This study will focus on the appropriate measures that should be taken, designs, material and construction practices to extend the life without any loss.

Research Aim: Buildings are dependent on environmental conditions. This study will analyse the strengthening of the existing structure to protect it from the effects of climate change. Focusing on the material used for the protection, sustainability and strengthening of the building and the adaption of new construction standards. A milder temperature will lower the lifespan of building materials and impact the indoor climate of the building. More storms, snow or subsidence damage, water encroachment, and a bad indoor environment all contribute to a reduced building lifespan, raising the risk of collapse, worsening health, and significant loss of value in return.

Research Aim: The main goal of this study is to conduct a unique investigation of the use of manufactured nanomaterials of graphene for water purification. The project intends to undertake a comparison of the benefits and cost-effectiveness of graphene processes. Furthermore, this study also intends to give an evaluation of graphene nanomaterial’s impact on water treatment and will analyse many futures and emerging perspectives.

Covid-19 Civil Engineering Research Topics

Research Aim: This research will focus on identifying the impacts of coronavirus on civil engineering in the selected country.

Research Aim: This study will focus on identifying the damage caused to construction projects as the workers are staying away from the sites. What measures are taken to complete these projects and recover the loss?

Research Aim: This research aims at identifying the conditions faced by contractors and builders. What is their plan to deal with the COVID-19 crisis? How did it affect the business industry and tender opportunities?

Research Aim: This research is conducted to know about various safety measures taken by the government and private organisations for workers, contractors, and engineers working on construction sites.

Research Aim: Remote working has emerged as a ray of hope for mechanical engineers amid this pandemic. This research will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of remote working and also answer the question of whether it is a long-lasting solution or not.

Research Aim: This research will focus on the financial loss and labour crisis caused due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Research Aim: This research will focus on identifying the disruption of the supply chain, shortage of contractors, workers, and material, cancellation of contracts as a result of Covid-19.

Research Aim: This research will focus on predicting how the construction industry will transform after the COVID-19 pandemic. What challenges may it face, and what could be the possible ways to meet those challenges?

Civil Engineering Dissertation Topics for 2021

Research Aim: This research aims to study the role of computational mechanics and to model In civil engineering

Research Aim: This research aims to highlight the recent developments in Rock Mechanics

Research Aim: This research aims to address the need to assess bridges and propose innovative ideas for bridge constructions and designs.

Research Aim: This research aims to focus on the effective management of water resources during constructions

Research Aim: This research aims to address the issues of the instability of high-rise buildings and stress on ensuring their stability by highlighting the gaps in the literature review and providing a strong recommendation for researchers.

Civil Engineering Dissertation Topics for 2020

Research Aim: The main purpose of the research will be to use a reliability-based approach to performance by using two complementary approaches; macroscopic and action-oriented approach and microscopic and analysis-oriented approach to evaluate major risks and strategies that can be used to implement in complicated structural systems and designs.

Find 100s of dissertation topics in your other academic subjects in our free topics database.

Research Aim: This research study will explore the behaviour of steelworks at large deflection in a fire. The researcher will use a unified computing model to simulate the behaviour of steelworks and their impacts on the deflection in the fire. Several other factors will also be identified in the study, such as limiting temperature criteria, loading and unloading effects, and explosion load ratios.

Research Aim: Groundwater pollution plumes consist of degradable compounds and materials, which results in declining the overall natural processes and their effectiveness to marine life. There have been studies that aimed to explore the slow degradation processes of pollution plumes in groundwater. However, this is particular research will aim to explore different factors that cause groundwater pollution plumes and contributes to its slow degradation process. Finally, the study will propose a user-friendly model to degrade the groundwater pollution plume.

Research Aim: This research is aimed to explore the role of advanced solution strategies that help the engineers and builders to carry out Non-linear FE analysis. In this study, the researcher will demonstrate the static and dynamic problems related to the non-linear effects of solid structures and systems.

Research Aim: In this study, the researcher will demonstrate the behaviour of concrete under the situation of triaxial compression. The researcher aims to understand the stiffness, volumetric and compressive behaviour of concrete which may cause the deformation in concrete when pressure is applied.

Civil Engineering Dissertation Topics

  • Research to Set up Remote Sensing Applications to Assist in the Development of Sustainable Enterprise
  • Research to Study and Develop Water Treatment Processes
  • Research to Study Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies
  • Research to Study Sustainable Engineering: New Objectives for Construction Projects
  • Research Regarding Micromechanics of Granular Materials.
  • Research to Transform a Manufacturing Plant to a Sustainable Enterprise.
  • Research to Study the Relationship Between Sustainability and Learning Organisation.
  • Research to Study the Impact of Sustainability Concepts on Organisational Growth and Development.
  • Research to Ensure Sustainable Heat Conservation Generated from Compressors within a Manufacturing Site.
  • Research to Study and Develop Waste Reduction Strategy to Achieve Sustainable Concepts
  • Research to Study Properties of Concrete to Achieve Sustainability.
  • Research to Study the Relationship between Lean Manufacturing and Sustainable Manufacturing.
  • Research to Study Sustainability and its Impact on Learning Organisation.
  • Development of Sustainable Homes with the Help of Renewable Energy Sources.
  • Seismic Design of Cold Formed Steel Structures in Residential Applications
  • Living Tree Buildings

Also Read: Human Resource Management Dissertation Topics

  1. Application of Ultra High Strength Concrete in LNG Terminals
  2. Mechanical Behaviour of Bridge Bearings of Concrete Bridges
  3. Winter Damage of Porous Asphalt
  4. Human Induced Lateral Vibration of Bridges
  5. The Optimization of Tripod Substructure and its Application to Two Different Topsides
  6. Traffic Induced Bearing Loads and Movements of a Steel Plate-girder Bridge
  7. Snap through of Large Shield Driven Tunnels
  8. A Timber Bearing Structure for ‘Concept House
  9. The Sustainable Refurbishment of BK City
  10. The Elevated Metro Structure in Concrete, UHPC, and Composite
  11. Covering A28 Highway at Amersfoort
  12. Numerical Modelling of Turbidity Currents in Submarine Channels
  13. Post-trenching with a Trailing Suction Hopper Dredge
  14. Morphological Impact of Coastal Structures
  15. Modelling Nearshore Currents Driven by Waves and Set-up Gradients
  16. Gaining New Insights Regarding Traffic Congestion, by Explicitly Considering the Variability in Traffic
  17. Dynamic Behaviour of Tunnel Elements 38 During the Immersion process
  18. Long-term Morphological M0delling of the Mouth of the Columbia River
  19. “Feasibility Study of a Climate Dike”
  20. Conditioning of Aggressive Water
  21. Swale Filter Drain System: The Inflow – Discharge Relation.
  22. Low Cost Disdrometer
  23. Observing Tidal Slack in the Scheldt Estuary
  24. Clogging of Permeable Pavements 53 in Semi-arid Areas
  25. Analyzing the Effects of Large-scale Green Roof Implementation in Singapore
  26. Accelerating the Introduction of Electric Bicycles
  27. A Critical Reappraisal of Some Problems in Engineering Seismology
  28. Systems and Sustainability: Sustainable development, Civil engineering and the Formation of the Civil Engineer
  29. Sustainable Engineering: The Future of Structural Design
  30. Environmentally Sustainable Construction Products and Materials – Assessment of release

Not Sure Which Dissertation Topic to Choose? Use Our Topic Planning Service

Also Read: Dissertation Topics in Engineering Management 

Important Notes:

As a civil engineering student looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment on existing civil engineering theories – i.e., to add value and interest in your research topic.

The field of civil engineering is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like constructionlaw, engineering management, healthcare, mental health, artificial intelligence, tourism, physiotherapy, sociology, management, marketing and nursing. That is why it is imperative to create a project management dissertation topic that is articular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best civil engineering dissertation topics that fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalizing your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Please take a look at some of our sample civil engineering dissertation topics to get an idea for your dissertation.

How to Structure your Dissertation on Civil Engineering

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

  • A Title Page
  • Acknowledgements
  • Declaration
  • Abstract: A summary of the research completed
  • Table of Contents
  • Introduction: This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems to be addressed. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
  • Literature ReviewThis chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic, in light of research questions to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area whilst identifying any research gaps. Break down of the topic, and key terms can have a positive impact on your dissertation and your tutor.
  • Methodology: The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter which usually includes research design, research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy.
  • Findings and Analysis: Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
  • Discussion and Conclusion: The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter, and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section of the paper is to draw a linkage between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regards to implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
  • References: This should be completed in accordance with your University’s requirements
  • Bibliography
  • Appendices: Any additional information, diagrams, graphs that were used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    To discover civil engineering dissertation topics:

    1. Investigate emerging technologies.
    2. Analyze infrastructure challenges.
    3. Explore sustainability and green solutions.
    4. Review recent research in journals.
    5. Consider urban planning or construction innovations.
    6. Opt for a topic aligning with your passion and career aims.

    About Carmen Troy

    Avatar for Carmen TroyTroy has been the leading content creator for ResearchProspect since 2017. He loves to write about the different types of data collection and data analysis methods used in research.