Robert Driver

Biography

2010 to present, Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta 2006 to present, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta 2004, Visiting Research Scientist, ATLSS Research Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 2000 to 2006, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta 1997-2000, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 1997-2000, Visiting Research Scholar, ATLSS Research Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1997, Research Engineer, Centre for Engineering Research, Edmonton, Alberta 1994, Structural Design Engineer, BP-TEC Engineering Group, Edmonton, Alberta 1990-1992, Structural Design Engineer, Robert Halsall and Associates, Toronto, Ontario 1987-1990, Structural Engineer, Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Toronto, Ontario.

Research Interest

His research interests lie primarily in the field of steel structures engineering, including member, connection, and system behaviour, as well as steel-concrete composite structures and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures using innovative steel solutions. I have recently begun investigations into multi-hazard approaches to structural survivability and robustness, as well as resistance to progressive collapse. My past research activity includes the development of torsional design provisions for wide-flange beams, which have been included in the Canadian steel design standard and cited in standard textbooks. I have also conducted research into optimizing the use of high performance steel in bridge plate girders that has resulted in the development of a corrugated web configuration and an internally stiffened double-plate web. The corrugated web results have been used in a highway bridge in Pennsylvania, USA. I conducted the first ever large-scale test of a multi-storey steel plate shear wall (and several subsequent tests) to confirm its outstanding performance under extreme cyclic loading. This research is also referenced extensively in the Canadian and American national steel design standards and is used world-wide. My work on bolted and welded connections is widely cited and has influenced North American design codes and standards in several areas. Research Currently in Progress global robustness in steel structures; reliability of fillet welded connections; seismic rehabilitation of concrete frames using steel confinement collars, including behaviour of collared columns under cyclic shear-dominant loading; protective structures and bevaviour under blast-loading; harmonization of bolted connection design provisions for codification; progressive collapse mitigation in buildings; performance of steel plate shear walls in low and moderate seismic regions; large-scale testing of steel plate shear walls with partially encased composite columns; optimization and dynamic behaviour of steel plate shear walls.