Dr Thomas Reynolds
- Chancellor's Fellow
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About
Tom is a Chancellor's Fellow in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.
Tom graduated from the University of Oxford in 2005, and worked in engineering consultancy with White Young Green and Adams Kara Taylor. He was involved in civil and structural engineering design for projects ranging from a new sea lock in Swansea to the Masdar Institute building with Foster and Partners in Abu Dhabi before deciding to return to study for a PhD at the University of Bath in 2010. He then continued there as a Research Associate on a one-year BRE-sponsored project investigating the serviceability of tall timber buildings under static and dynamic wind load. He was then Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Leverhulme Trust sponsored Natural Material Innovation project, working in Michael Ramage's Natural Materials and Structures research group.
Research
Tom looks for opportunities to use a deeper understanding of natural materials to create better buildings using those materials.
Tom investigates stiffness and damping in connections in timber structures, and the results give an insight into the behaviour of structures such as bridges and multi-storey buildings under dynamic loads like wind and footfall.
Modern multi-storey timber buildings, using engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber, have been constructed in the past few years and present a serious renewable alternative to conventional construction systems for buildings of ten storeys and more. Tom’s research includes measurement of the lateral vibration of some of these structures to inform the design of the tall timber buildings of the future.
Working with various structural engineering consultants, Tom has been able to apply research on dynamics of structural systems to real projects, assessing and designing for the loads imposed by resonance, pendulum behaviour and impact.