Biography

 

Ir Professor Francis T.K. AU (區達光)

BSc(Eng), MSc(Eng), PhD, CEng, MICE, FIStructE, FHKIE, RPE, MASCE, SFHEA, Qualification of Class 1 Registered Structural Engineer (PRC)

Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

 

Francis T.K. Au obtained his B.Sc.(Eng.) degree with first class honours, M.Sc.(Eng.) degree with distinction and Ph.D. degree from The University of Hong Kong. He joined Maunsell Consultants Asia as an engineer upon graduation with his first degree, where he was involved in new town projects, highway projects as well as marine engineering projects. He returned to the University of Hong Kong in 1988 after having 7 years of practical experience in the industry. He is engaged in research in bridge engineering and concrete structures. He has been involved in various projects, including the structural health monitoring system of the Lantau Fixed Crossing, vibration tests of bridge segments of Tsing Ma Bridge, vibration tests of Ting Kau Bridge, study of marine construction industry, road surface failure on bridges, development of bridge design software and shrinkage problems of large podium structures. He was the recipient of HKIE Transactions Prize 2002 (Civil), Best Teacher Award 2003-04, Faculty of Engineering, HKU, OVM Paper Award for Prestressing 2009 (Class 1) of China Civil Engineering Society and OVM Paper Award for Prestressing 2012 (Class 2) of China Civil Engineering Society.

 

HKU Scholars Hub

 

 

Contact Information

 

Address:

 

Department of Civil Engineering

The University of Hong Kong

Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

Telephone:

(852) 2859-2650

Fax: 

(852) 2559-5337

E-mail: 

francis.au@hku.hk

 

 

Education

 

·         B.Sc.(Eng.) (First Class Honours), The University of Hong Kong

·         M.Sc.(Eng.) (Distinction), The University of Hong Kong

·         Ph.D., The University of Hong Kong

 

 

Professional Affiliations

 

·         Fellow, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers

·         Registered Professional Engineer (Civil and Structural), Hong Kong

·         Fellow, The Institution of Structural Engineers, U.K.

·         Member, The Institution of Civil Engineers, U.K.

·         Member, American Society of Civil Engineers, U.S.A.

·         Chartered Engineer, U.K.

·         Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy, U.K.

·         Qualification of Class 1 Registered Structural Engineer of P.R.C. (中華人民共和國一級註冊結構工程師資格)

 

 

Professional Experience

 

·         Engineer, Maunsell Consultants Asia Limited (now part of AECOM), Hong Kong (1981 - 88)

·         Lecturer / Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong (1988 - 98)

·         Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong (1998 - 2010)

·         Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong (2010 - date)

 

 

Teaching Activities

 

·         BEng  CIVL2112 Structural analysis

·         BEng  CIVL3112 Prestressed concrete structures

·         BEng  CIVL4101 Capstone design project

·         BEng  CIVL4102 Project

·         MSc(Eng)  CIVL6001 Project

·         MSc(Eng)  CIVL6008 Bridge engineering

 

 

Honours and Awards

 

·         Senior Morrison Scholarship (1978-1981)

·         Esso Scholarship (1978-1981)

·         Walter Brown Memorial Prize in Mathematics (1979)

·         Ho Fook Prize in Engineering (1979)

·         Tai Tung-Ngok Prize in Civil Engineering (1981)

·         Wing Lung Bank Ltd. Prize in Civil Engineering (1981)

·         Williamson Prize (1981)

·         HKIE Transactions Prize 2002 (Civil) (listed with L.G. Tham and M. Tong)

·         Best Teacher Award 2003-04, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

·         第三届欧维姆优秀预应力论文奖一等奖（中国土木工程学会北京詹天佑土木工程科学技术发展基金会欧维姆预应力技术发展专项基金; 2009; 杜进生，区达光，张佑启，关国雄，无粘结预应力混凝土梁的延性分析) (OVM Paper Award for Prestressing 2009 (Class 1) of China Civil Engineering Society for the paper “J.S. Du, F.T.K. Au, Y.K. Cheung and A.K.H. Kwan, Ductility Analysis of Prestressed Concrete Beams with Unbonded Tendons, Engineering Structures, Volume 30, Issue 1, 13-21, 2008”)

·         第四届欧维姆优秀预应力论文奖二等奖（中国土木工程学会北京詹天佑土木工程科学技术发展基金会欧维姆预应力技术发展专项基金; 2012; 杜进生，区达光，体外FRP筋的极限应力分析) (OVM Paper Award for Prestressing 2012 (Class 2) of China Civil Engineering Society for the paper “J.S. Du and F.T.K. Au, Estimation of Ultimate Stress in External FRP Tendons, Proceedings of ICE, Structures and Buildings, Volume 162, Issue SB4, 213-220, 2009”)

 

 

Selected Consultancy

 

·         Buckling and wind analyses of structural steelwork

·         Structural health monitoring systems for Tsing Ma Bridge, Kap Shui Mun Bridge and Ting Kau Bridge (esp. the temperature monitoring aspect); Tsing Lung Bridge

·         Vibration monitoring of Ting Kau Bridge and segments of Tsing Ma Bridge

·         Road surface bonding problems in tropical areas

·         Miscellaneous problems related to concrete pavement

·         Vibration problems of buildings

·         Cracking problems of concrete building

 

 

Selected Services

 

A.    Professional and Government Bodies

·         Elected ordinary committee member, Joint Structural Division of HKIE and IStructE (2001-07)

·         Structural Representative, Education & Examinations Committee, HKIE (2004-07; Deputy Chairman 2006-07)

·         Member, Structural Discipline Advisory Panel, HKIE (2005-10, 2011-)

·         Member, Structural Engineers Registration Committee Panel (cu{vUưȩe|eμ/span>) and Structural Engineers Registration Committee (cu{vUưȩe|) under Section 3(5) of Buildings Ordinance (January 2006 V December 2007)

·         Chairman, Education & Examinations Committee, HKIE (2007-10)

·         Ex-officio Member, Accreditation Board, HKIE (2007-10)

·         Ex-officio Member, Qualification & Membership Board, HKIE (2007-10)

·         Expert Witness (2008)

·         Member of jury in the event entitled My Vision of Cross Bay Link - Design Ideas Invitation Event organised by the Civil Engineering and Development Department, Hong Kong Government (2009)

·         Member of Jury Panel in the event entitled Weaving New City-Fabric V Call for Noise Mitigation / Retaining Structure Design for Tsuen Wan Bypass organised by the Civil Engineering and Development Department (2012)

·         Member, Accreditation Board, HKIE (2015-)

 

B.    Journals and Other Learned Societies

·         Member of the Editorial Board, The Open Construction and Building Technology Journal (ISSN 1874-8368 (2008 -)

·         Editorial Advisor / Member of Editorial Advisory Board for Journal of Sound and Vibration (April 2009 -)

·         Member of Editorial Board of Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An International Journal (2013-)

·         Member of Editorial Board of Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, An International Journal (2014-)

·         Associate Editor of Journal of Bridge Engineering, ASCE (2018-)

 

C.    Organization of International Conferences

·         Treasurer and member, Organizing Committee, The Fifth International Conference on Tall Buildings, Hong Kong, December 9-11, 1998

·         Member, Organizing Committee, Workshop on Research and Monitoring of Long Span Bridges, Hong Kong, 26-28 April 2000

·         Member, Technical Sub-committee, International Bridge Conference on Bridge Engineering, Challenges in the 21st Century, 1-3 November 2006, Hong Kong, organized by HKIE Civil Division (2005/06)

·         Member, Organizing Committee, International Conference 2008, Language Issues in English-medium Universities: A Global Concern, 18-20 June 2008, The University of Hong Kong, China

·         Member of Organizing Committee, Chairman of Technical Committee and Member of Fund Raising Committee, The Seventh International Conference on Tall Buildings, Hong Kong, 29-30 October 2009

·         Member of Organizing Committee of The Twelfth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC-12), 26-28 January 2011, Hong Kong

·         Member of International Scientific Committee, First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012), on 5-7 December 2012, Hong Kong

·         Member of International Scientific Committee of the 23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM23) on 9-12 December 2014 at Byron Bay, Australia

·         Member of International Scientific Committee of the Second International Conference on Performance-based and Life-cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2015), 9-11 December 2015 in Brisbane, Australia

·         Member of Scientific Committee, ICE HKA Annual Conference 2017, Strengthening Competence and Competitiveness for Internationalisation of Hong Kongs Construction Industry, 28 April 2017, Hong Kong

 

D.    Service as External Examiner

·         The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (13 PhD students and 2 MPhil students)

·         The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (3 PhD students)

·         The City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1 PhD student and 1 MPhil student)

·         The University of Melbourne, Australia (1 PhD student)

·         Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Australia (2 PhD students)

·         Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2 PhD students)

·         External Examiner for 4 programmes of HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (2008-11)

·         External Examiner for a programme of HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (2011-14)

 

 

Research Interests

 

·         Bridge structures

·         Vehicle-bridge interaction

·         Temperature distribution in bridges

·         In situ stitches of segmental bridges

·         Concrete structures

·         Beam-column joints

·         Time-dependent behaviour

·         Prestressed concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs

·         Structural fire performance of post-tensioned flat slabs

·         Seismic design of bridges in regions of low to medium seismicity

 

 

Selected Research Projects

 

·         An Investigation on the Effects of Temperature on Highway Bridges (1995-96)

·         Dynamic response of cable-stayed bridges under railway and highway loading (1996-98)

·         Rational detailing for beam-column joints of reinforced concrete frames in Hong Kong (2000-02)

·         3D visualization of wind effects on model buildings (2002-03)

·         Minimizing shrinkage cracks in concrete structures for better serviceability and durability with recommendations for enhancing design, detailing and construction (2003-05)

·         High strength reinforced concrete beam-column joints for Hong Kong practice (2003-06)

·         Ductility and deformability of high-strength concrete beams partially prestressed with conventional and non-conventional unbonded tendons (2004-07)

·         Establishment of Bridge Rating System for Ting Kau Bridge (2006 - 09)

·         Performance of in-situ concrete stitches in precast segmental bridge construction (2008-09)

·         Establishment of Bridge Rating System for Kap Shui Mun Bridge (2008-11)

·         Structural health monitoring of cable-stayed bridges taking into account time-dependent deformations (2009-11)

·         Full-range behaviour of concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs and external prestressing (2012-14)

·         Performance-based design of post-tensioned high-strength concrete flat slabs under fire (2013-15)

·         Practical guidelines for seismic design and rating of bridges in Hong Kong (2016-19)

 

 

Teaching Development Grant

 

·         Capstone Design Project in Transition to 4-year Undergraduate Curriculum (2013-15)

 

 

Publications

 

·                 Articles

·                 Conference Papers

 

 

Research Opportunities

 

·         Research Postgraduate Programmes: PhD and MPhil

Financial assistance is normally provided to MPhil and PhD students in the form of Studentship, Scholarship or Fellowship. That is why competition for admission is very keen. There is some uncertainty in the quota. The quota is also very tight.

The research proposal required in the application is a test of the ability of the applicant in identifying a suitable topic and developing a plan for execution. Any topics in related fields can be considered.

An applicant with (a) outstanding academic results from a reputable university; and (b) excellent English language capability may apply for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship.

Further information is available at:

http://engg.hku.hk/home/rpg/admission.htm

http://www.gradsch.hku.hk/gradsch/web/apply/index.htm

https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk/hkpfs/apply.html

 

·         Taught Postgraduate Programme: MSc(Eng)

Dissertation topics are made available to students before each academic year at the student intranet. Enquiries may be sent to me by e-mail.

 

·         Undergraduate Programme: BEng

Project topics are made available to students before each academic year at the student intranet. Enquiries may be sent to me by e-mail.

The research group is unable to provide research experience to students from other universities unless there is formal collaboration agreement with The University of Hong Kong.

 

 

Updated in February 2018