Divisions

Introduction

The Highways & Traffic Engineering Division was established in 01/2001 from the former Road and Bridge Division back in 1986. After 15 years history, the Division has been increasingly developing to fulfill high demands of undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, innovation, and technology transfer in Transportation and Construction Engineering.

Currently, there are 17 lecturers including 5 PhDs, 6 MScs, 5 PhD students (in France, USA, Germany-Singapore, Japan) and 01 laboratory manager. Among them, 02 are Associate Professors, 02 are high-ranking lecturers and 01 is senior lecturer. Staffed by the academics who are strong in teaching as well as research and professional experiences, the Division has always completed all responsibilities and duties in teaching, research and innovation.

The Division laboratory is well-equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to support teaching and research, which were funded by the TRIG and Increasing Research Capability projects.

Specialization – Education

The Division is responsible for 2 majors in the undergraduate program: Construction of Highway & Urban Street and Urban Streets & Traffic Engineering; and another Transportation & Construction Engineering major in the graduate program. The modules and subjects are as follows:

• Introduction to Transportation and Construction Engineering,
• Highway Geometric Design,
• Pavement Analysis and Design,
• Roadbed Construction,
• Pavement Construction,
• Construction Control and Management,
• Road Management and Experiments,
• Highway and Urban Street Aesthetics,
• Information Technology in Road Construction,
• Road Special Subject,
• Urban Traffic and Street Design,
• Road Constructions,
• Specialized English for Transportation and Construction Engineering,
• Transportation and Urban Planning,
• Traffic Safety and Engineering;
• Road Geometric and Landscape Design,
• Urban Street Planning and Design,
• Project Management for Road Construction,
• Innovative Materials and Technologies in Road construction,
• Roadbed-Pavement Constructions;
• Automatic Road Design,
• Road Network Analysis,
• Airfield Planning and Design,
• Embankment Stabilization over special areas,
• Intelligent Transportation Systems,
• Student supervision during Civil Labor Practice, Perception Practice, Graduation Practice, Subject and Graduation projects;

The Division staffs also participate in teaching and supervising graduate students in other civil departments in DUT.

Vision and Mission

Contributing to train and educate high qualified human resources in Transportation and Construction Engineering, providing scientific and technological services; and fulfilling the demand of socioeconomic development of Danang city, central and highland regions and Vietnam. The Division is also focusing on the development and increase of staff capability, investment in state-of-the-art facilities to support teaching, research and technology transfer.

Scientific Research

Division lecturers and researchers are enthusiastic in scientific supervising undergraduate and graduate students. Students have achieved high prizes in the national Students Conducting Research Awards from the Ministry of Education, VIFOTEC Awards and LoaThanh Awards dedicated to construction majors in Vietnam annually.

Scientific research and technology transfer is the Division strength. All Division lecturers and researchers are greatly positive and ambitious in conducting research. There have been 04 research projects in the Ministry of Transportation level, 02 research projects in the Province-City level, 18 research projects in the basic level, 2 patents and other 2 patents for useful solutions. Study results have been presented in national and international conferences, including 178 published conference and journal papers in France, USA, Germany, Australia, Japan, Korea and Thai Lan, etc.

Study results have been applied in practice, in teaching and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students. Representative research projects are:

• Traffic planning and strategy development for urban network in big cities, such as Danang, Nhatrang, BuonMeThuoc, etc. from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Cao Tho;
• The application and usage of MSE with reinforced retaining walls in consideration of environmental erosion and constructions lifespan; The utilization of ashes and slags from thermoelectricity plant for soft soil stabilization, roadbed and subgrade stabilization; Slope stabilization towards green and sustainable development from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chau Tuong Linh.
• Patented products and successful technology transfer: Methods for artificial Granite manufacturing using cement as binder material; Methods for trash-racks manufacturing using High Performance Concrete; Methods for high-grade self-leveling bricks using self-compacted concrete; Machine for self-leveling bricks from self-compacted concrete based on pouring-shaking technology from MSc. Nguyen Bien Cuong
• Other studies on underground and surface erosion from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Hai.

The Division coordinated with FRBE to organize successfully the “National Conference on Transportation Infrastructure with Sustainable Development – TISDC 2014”, The Vietnam-France conference on “Construction and Sustainable Development - CIGOS-1.2010” and “CIGOS-1.2015”.

Other Activities with related Association:

Division staffs are the core members of Danang Road and Bride Engineering Association, The Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering - VSSMGE and VSSMGE branch in Vietnam Center. The Division has cooperated with FRBE, DUT and the associations to organize professional learning courses for civil engineers in Central and highland regions, together with national and international conferences.

Research Groups

In order to meet the high requirements of teaching and research, two Teaching-Research Teams were established: Teaching-Research Team in Traffic Engineering (TRT-TRAENG) and Teaching-Research Team in Highway Material Technology (TRT-HMT).

• The TRT-TRAENG research interests are: approaches for road and urban street geometric designs; traffic control and management; green and sustainable development of transportation towards minimizing climate changes; and the application of ITS in maintenance and management of highway and road networks.
• The TRT-HMT focuses on: innovative materials and technologies for road embankment over soft-soil areas, excavation on sliding areas and high embankment; methods and technologies for manufacturing novel materials and sustainable components based on local climate and available materials; new materials and technologies in construction of flexible, rigid and semi-rigid pavement for roadway and airfield; new methods for quality evaluation of construction, and management of roadway and airfield.

The TRTs are also active in research collaboration with industrial organizations and other research groups for innovation and technology transfer with numerous applications in practice. Besides, TRT members have contributed to develop research ideas, review and participate in road network planning and design in Danang city, central and highland regions.

Division staffs and research interests

Future plans in Staffs development – Research and International Cooperation

• Increasing teaching and research staffs obtained national and international MSc and PhD degrees, focusing on the development of future generation;
• Continuing to send staffs to study abroad, both long-time postgraduate and short-time internship;
• Inviting members from professional associations, universities and institutes to give speech to under- and graduate students;
• Cooperating with related professional associations, universities and institutes to supervise graduate students;
• Cooperating with international universities from France, USA, Germany, Australia, Japan and Korea in teaching and research.

Future plans in Education:

• Cooperating with international universities in undergraduate and graduate education; improve Professional Master program beside the existing Science Master program;
• Opening PhD program in Transportation and Construction Engineering;
• Providing vocational training in majors of supervision, design, survey, construction control and management, traffic safety evaluation.

Future plans in Teaching and Research Equipment

• Increasing teaching and research facilities and apparatuses from different funds such as the Research Capability Improvement project and other related research projects. Special items to focus are: devices to measure tensile strength and deformation of roadbed-pavement constructions; surveying equipment in traffic engineering; software for physical and numerical modelling of constructions and vehicle operation;
• Improving strategical and sustainable cooperation with industrial organizations, especially with software manufacturers, in teaching, research and technology transfer;
• Sharing teaching and research equipment in cooperation with other departments, lab centers and institutes within the DU, and other national and international entities in research and technology transfer.

Dean

Dr. Pham Ngoc Phuong

Establishment and Development: The Division of Fundamental Technology was established in 2002 based on the Fundamental Technology group (1986) of the Faculty of Bridge and Road Engineering, University Science and Technology - University of Danang. Currently, there are 11 staffs in the division, including 03 staffs with doctoral degrees, 06 staffs with master degrees, 02 staffs doing Ph.D. and 02 staffs studying Master program in Vietnam and abroad.

Subjects: The Division of Fundamental Technology is responsible for some courses such as Geology, Geology practice, Geodesy, Geodetic Practice, Soil Mechanics, Foundations and Foundation Projects for both the full-time and part-time students in the Central and the Highlands regions. In addition, the staffs of the Division also participate in teaching and supervising graduate students in Civil Engineering, Water resource engineering, Bridge and Road Engineering, Architecture and Project management.

Objective and mission: The objective is to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country in general and the Central regions in particular, and is to expand the scale and to improve the quality of training. The DUT always tries to increase the quality and quantity of human resources, and invest new equipment for the geo-laboratory to meet the mission of training, conducting research projects, contributing to the development of society.

Professional work: In the past years, the division has always accomplished the tasks of the University and Faculty such as: conducting a high volume of teaching, participating in workshops, doing researches, applying many modern technologies in teaching and in practice, providing all related material on the internet to support for e-learning process, publishing some books such as: Geodesy (1992), Soil Mechanics (2005), Foundations (2010), Geotechnical Engineering (2013). These activities help to improve the staff’s professional qualifications.

Research: The lecturers of the division have participated in many scientific research projects at all levels: 05 university-level research projects, 06 Danang University-level research projects, 01 Danang city-level project. In addition, the lecturers in the division have published more than 60 papers in national and international journals, workshops, and conferences. Some staffs have participated in many international conferences such as GEOTEC (Hanoi-2011), Young Engineers Asia 7thAYGEC (Japan-2012), Young Engineers Conference International 5thiYGEC (France-2013), 19SEAGC (Malaysia-2016) and one of them received the award from the Southeast Asian Academic Institute MCCC-AAET. Professional Association: The lectures of the division Fundamental Technology have also participated in the Vietnam Geosciences and Engineering Association - VSSMGE and the Central VSSMGE Branch. In recent years, the division has cooperated to the VSSMGE, the faculty and the DUT to organize short courses on soil mechanics, foundations and geotechnics for construction engineers in Centre & Central Highland provinces. The lecturers in the division also organized the Vietnam Geotechnical Day in Danang city. Research team: In the trend of integration and development of the DUT, the division is preparing to set up research group, namely: New technology in Geotechnical - NT.GEOTEC. The group will conduct researches and apply advanced techniques and technologies in design, construction, survey and experiment in the field of geotechnical engineering, transportation, irrigation, meeting the demand of sustainable development of infrastructure system.

New major development: Currently, the division and the Faculty of Roads and Bridges Engineering are developing a project to open new major, namely Geotechnical Engineering. This specialized field will train for engineers in survey, design, construction, geotechnical engineering for construction, traffic, irrigation and underground works. The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Head of division

Dr. Do Huu Dao

The division of Construction Materials was established in 1977 as a division in the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering. Afterward, the division was merged with the division of Basic Civil Engineering and Geotechnics in the Faculty of Road and Bridge Engineering in 1995. In 2009, the division of Construction Materials was established again in the Faculty of Road and Bridge Engineering. Currently, there are 2 doctors (who received degrees in universities in Japan and South Korea), 2 MScs, 1 Ph.D. (in France), 1 engineer as the organic staff, and 1 doctor and 2 MScs as the visiting lecturers.

In charge of modules related to the theory and experiment in the Construction Materials area for all Construction Engineering Students at The University of Danang - University of Science and Technology. In addition, the division also charges with the modules of working practice, experiential internship, graduate internship, Problem-based learning (PBL) project, and graduate project in the Construction Materials area.

 Since 2007, the Division of Construction Materials has started to educate and research the areas of Construction Materials and Structural Components Engineering. Currently, the program of “Construction Materials Engineering and Technology” which is mainly in charge of the Division, has 50-70 students every year. The main objective of this program is "Educate engineers having working capacity, research, invention, design technology and control the manufacturing process of the constructions materials". The graduate engineers are competent and knowledgeable to work in the fields of Construction such as Civil, Bridges, Roads, and State Hydraulic Works ..., as well as expertise in the field of construction materials.

The program of “Construction Materials Engineering and Technology” is the first in Central Vietnam, and the third in Vietnam continues the National University of Civil Engineering and the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology in education and research in the field of construction materials. Currently, with the efforts of the Division and the attention of the Faculty and University, the program has been stable and developed. Currently, about 700 engineers had been graduated from the program as the bachelor level. Most of them had suitable jobs and good feedback after graduating 6 months. There are also students who graduated from the master's program, and five of them became lecturers in the Construction Materials field.

In the laboratory of the Division, there is various equipment which use for education and research activities on the construction materials and structural components. The Division laboratory conducted experiments for educating a thousand students in Construction Engineering with various topics such as Concrete, Asphalt, and ceramic materials, or testing and controlling the quality of other materials or components.

Scientific research and technology transfer activities of the Division also have remarkable achievements. Every year, there are a lot of research projects on the construction materials fields ordered from the University of Danang, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam, the Provincial People's Committee, and domestic and foreign companies. The staff in the Division have participated in scientific conferences with several articles published in national and international journals. Students got a lot of Certificate of Scientific Research students and obtained achievements: encouraged prize in national talented young scientists (2012), First Prize in the University of Dining (2012, 2014), the second prize from the University of Danang, University of Science and Technology (2016), etc.

In the future, the Division has oriented to continue developing the research and education of Construction Materials fields for meeting the needs of society in the period of "industrialization" of the country. In addition, the expansion and strengthening of international cooperation in education and scientific research are also an important orientation of the Division.