Alex Ng

Professor Alex Ng

Professor

School of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


(Alex) Ching-Tai Ng is a Professor in the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology at The University of Adelaide. He joined the University in 2011 as a Lecturer and has since been promoted to Professor. He served as the Director of Graduate Studies in the faculty from 2018 to 2022 and as the Deputy Head of School in 2017.

Prof. Ng earned his B.Eng. with First-class Honours and M.Phil. from the City University of Hong Kong, and his Ph.D. from The University of Queensland. His research interests include Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), nondestructive evaluation (NDE), smart sensing technologies, vibration testing, smart materials, system identification, advanced composite materials, and engineering reliability. He is particularly interested in applying SHM and NDE techniques to various engineering fields to address multidisciplinary research problems.

Prof. Ng exerts significant professional influence worldwide through his involvement in technical committees, conference organisation, and journal and competitive grant refereeing. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Engineering Structures (Elsevier) and has served as Associate Editor for Structural Health Monitoring (SAGE), Ultrasonics(Elsevier), and Alexandria Engineering Journal (Elsevier). He chaired the 10th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics (ACAM10) in 2021 and is the Co-Chair of the SPIE Conference on Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems in 2024 and 2025.

He is a Council Member of the International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII), an Executive Committee Member of the Australian Network of Structural Health Monitoring (ANSHM), and a Member of the National Committee on Applied Mechanics (NCAM), Engineers Australia. Prof. Ng received "The Nishino Prize" from the East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC) in 2016 and the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award in 2013. He has served as an assessor for international and national research grants in Australia (ARC), Hong Kong SAR (RGC), Switzerland (SNSF), Poland (NCN), and Chile (CONICYT).

My research interests include Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), nondestructive evaluation (NDE), smart sensing technologies, vibration testing, smart materials, system identification, advanced composite materials, and engineering reliability. SHM and NDE, in particular, are emerging and dynamic topics in structural engineering, crucial components in a wide range of engineering industries, and contributors to the decarbonization of the construction industry and the development of smart cities.

Effective and robust inspection and monitoring of the integrity of critical structural components are key requirements in all engineering fields due to increasing demands for cost-efficiency and safety in engineering infrastructure. My research aims to develop innovative technologies for diagnostic monitoring and prognosis of engineering structures, providing solutions to ensure structural safety and reduce maintenance costs.

I am seeking self-motivated students interested in pursuing a PhD or MPhil degree in the aforementioned research areas. Students interested in applying these techniques in various engineering fields are also welcome. Prospective candidates are expected to have a strong academic background. Successful applicants will be awarded a full scholarship covering tuition fees and a living allowance. Interested candidates should contact me directly via email.

Current projects include:

  • Development of advanced SHM/NDE techniques for integrity assessment of structures
  • Development of advanced actuation and sensing systems for condition assessment of structures
  • Development of diagnostic techniques for inspecting inaccessible areas of structures

Competitive Research Grants

  • Linkage Project (LP) - (1st Chief Investigator) (2022-2024)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Project: Beyond the Limits of Corrosion Detection in Inaccessible Areas
  • Discovery Project (DP) - (1st Chief Investigator) (2021-2023)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Project: Next Generation Nondestructive Inspection Using Guided-wave Mixing
  • Discovery Project (DP) - (2nd Chief Investigator) (2020-2022)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Project: Theory and Methods for Evaluation of Microstructural Fatigue Damage
  • Discovery Project (DP) - (2nd Chief Investigator) (2016-2018)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Project: Stress Evaluation with Non-linear Guided Waves
  • Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) -(Co-Chief Investigator) (2015)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Leading Organisation: The University of Adelaide

    Project: Development of a World-class Facility for Three-dimensional Dynamic Testing
  • Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) - (Sole Chief Investigator) (2013-2015)

    Agency: Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Project: In-situ Structural Safety Diagnosis for Composite Materials: Lamb Wave Diffraction Tomography Using Multi-frequency Data
  • Catalyst Research Grant - (Sole Chief Investigator) (2014-2016)

    Agency: Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology Government of South Australia

    Project: Cost Effective Stress Monitoring Techniques for Rail Tracks using Guided Waves

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Developments of Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers (EMATs) for Edge Wave Generation in Non-Destructive Testing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Longxin Zheng
    2024 Principal Supervisor Guided Wave Damage Detection of Civil Structures Using Data Driven Approaches Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Bo Yang
    2024 Principal Supervisor The Application of Ultrasonic Nondestructive Techniques for Safety Inspection of the Battery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Han Wu
    2024 Co-Supervisor Fracture of electrically conductive 3D printed concrete Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Kaiyuan Zhu
    2023 Principal Supervisor Space Compatible Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) Technology for Lunar Construction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Md Maruf Molla
    2022 Principal Supervisor Ultrasonic Guided Wave Technique for Inspecting the Inaccessible Areas of Structures Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Wayne Liang
    2021 Principal Supervisor Structural health monitoring and model updating using dynamic data for engineering structures Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zijie Zeng
    2021 Principal Supervisor Development of structural health monitoring technique for civil infrastructure Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yuqiao Cao
    2021 Principal Supervisor Damage Detection in Hollow Cylindrical Structures Using Nonlinear Guided Wave Techniques Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Min Gao
    2021 Principal Supervisor Nonlinear Ultrasonic Guided Wave for Next Generation Non-destructive Evaluation and Safety Inspection Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Tianyi Wang
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Mechanical Behaviour of Graphene-platelets Reinforced Macro Structural Elements Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Kelly Yee
    2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Fatigue Damage Evaluation in Thin-Walled Structures Using Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Hankai Zhu
    2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Quasistatic component generation of ultrasonic waves and its applications in materials evaluation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Chang Jiang
    2020 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Development of Damage Detection Techniques Using Guided Waves for Engineering Materials Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jinhang Wu
    2020 - 2024 Co-Supervisor An efficient spectral finite element model for health monitoring of composite structures using guided waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Yuan Feng
    2019 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Linear and Non-Linear Guided Waves for Damage Detection in Reinforced Concrete Structures Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ahmed Aseem
    2018 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Investigation of Edge Waves for Defect and Damage Detection Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr James Martin Hughes
    2018 - 2022 Co-Supervisor New Solutions in Finite Strain Elasticity with Applications to the Micromechanics of Weakly Nonlinear Particulate Composites and Damage Modelling Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr James David Vidler
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Guided wave mixing for damage detection in structural elements Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Juan Carlos Pineda Allen
    2018 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Development of Eco-Friendly and High Performance Construction Materials and Technologies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Aliakbar Gholampour
    2018 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Development of Next-Generation Construction Materials with Graphene Additives Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Van Dac Ho
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Damage Detection of Submerged Structures Using Linear and Nonlinear Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xianwen Hu
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Damage Detection in Steel Railway Bridges using Vibration Data and Machine Learning Approach Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Alireza Ghiasi
    2018 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Nondestructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring Techniques for Damage Detection of Cement-based Materials Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Tingyuan Yin
    2017 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Investigation of Linear and Nonlinear Torsional Guided Waves in Tubular Structures for Damage Detection Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Carman Yeung
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Damage Detection Using Second Harmonic Generation of Low-Frequency Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yi Yang
    2014 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Damage Identification in FRP-Retrofitted Concrete Structures Using Linear and Nonlinear Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Hasan Mohseni
    2014 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Investigation of Lamb Wave Propagation in Pre-stressed Plates with Applications to Structural Health Monitoring Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Munawwar Ahmad Mohabuth
    2014 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Blast Analysis of Normal Concrete, High Strength Concrete and Ultra-High Performance Concrete Members Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Juechun Xu
    2014 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Quantitative Structural Diagnosis of Plate-like Structures using Multi-frequency Lamb Wave Diffraction Tomography Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Gnana Teja Pudipeddi
    2013 - 2017 Co-Supervisor An Analytical Model for Two-layered Composite Beams with Partial Shear Interaction Based on a Higher Order Beam Theory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Jie Wen
    2013 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Spectral Finite Element Modelling and Damage Identification of Beam-like Structures Using Linear and Nonlinear Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Shuai He
    2013 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Damage Detection of Defects Using Linear and Nonlinear Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Reza Soleimanpour
    2012 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Innovative Multi-level Methodology Incorporating the Techniques of Finite Element Modelling and Multimodal Optimization for Concept Design of Advanced Grid Stiffened Composite Panels against Buckling Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Liang Huang
    2012 - 2016 Co-Supervisor A Method for Compensation of Changing Environmental and Operational Conditions for Structural Health Monitoring Using Guided Waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Pouria Aryan
    2011 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Axial Compressive Behavior of Actively Confined and FRP-Confined Concretes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jian Lim
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2019 - ongoing Council Council Member International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII) Canada
    2016 - ongoing Member National Committee on Applied Mechanics, Engineers Australia - Australia
    2014 - ongoing Member Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI), ASCE Dynamics Committee United States
    2011 - ongoing Board Member Australian Network of Structural Health Monitoring - Australia
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2013 - ongoing Member International Association for Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE) United States
    2012 - ongoing Member Global Science and Technology Forum -
    2011 - ongoing Member Australian Steel Institute (ASI) Australia
    2010 - ongoing Member ARC-Australian Research Network for Advanced Material (ARNAM) Australia
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2023 - ongoing Associate Editor Ultrasonics Elsevier United States
    2022 - ongoing Associate Editor Alexandria Engineering Journal Elsevier United States
    2022 - ongoing Editor-In-chief Engineering Structures Elsevier Australia
    2014 - ongoing Associate Editor Structural Health Monitoring An International Journal of (SHMIJ) - -
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83131237
  • Email: alex.ng@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134359
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Engineering North, floor Ground Floor
  • Org Unit: Civil Engineering

Connect With Me
External Profiles

Other Links