Dr Taehwan Kim | UNSW Research

Fields of Research (FoR)

Civil Engineering, Chemical Characterisation of Materials, Structural Engineering

SEO tags

Cement and Concrete Materials

Environmentally Sustainable Construction

Construction Materials Performance and Processes

Stone, Ceramics and Clay Materials

Biography

Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Taehwan Kim is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CVEN) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a position he has held since June 2016. He received his BS and MS from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea and PhD from Purdue University, US. After gaining PhD, Dr Kim worked as a research associate at Oklahoma State University until June 2016. He was involved in and contributed to several interdisciplinary research projects, including innovative characterisation techniques and advancement of the understanding of reactions occurring in cementitious materials. After joining UNSW Sydney, he is branching out to different research areas (rheology of materials, fundamental chemical reactions in cementitious materials, reuse of industrial wastes in construction materials) and to collaborate with various researchers within/outside CVEN.

Research Interest

Advanced and sustainable infrastructure materials
Thermodynamics in cementitious materials and the modelling of their chemical process
Advanced materials characterisation techniques
Fundamental understanding of chemo-physical reactions in cementitious materials
Microstructure evolution of cementitious materials
Utilize natural and waste materials to develop the low carbon foot-print materials

Courses

CVEN3304 Concrete Structures

CVEN9824 Advanced Materials Technology

Looking for Students for projects related to:

Candidates are expected to have a Master's degree in one of the following fields: Civil (materials or structures), materials science, chemistry, or related fields. Candidates with Bachelor's degree that includes a substantial research component are able to be considered. The candidates should have strong motivation in fundamental studies of materials and well-developed background of cementitious materials. Candidates with background in synthesis of calcium based materials, characterization techniques (including SEM-EDS, CT, XRF, XRD, NMR and FTIR) or computational thermodynamics are encouraged to apply.

My Grants

2023 - 2025 CRC Project "Creating construction materials from thermal treatment facility wastes" with A. Hajimohammadi, A. Kashani, and N. Khalili. Industry: Enviropoacific Services Pty limited, Flexiroc Australia Pty Ltd, and Membrane Systems Asutralia Pty Ltd.
2022 - 2024 ARC Discvery "Self-Healing Concrete for Mitigation of Chloride Induced Steel Corrosion" with A. Castel and W. Li
2021 - 2023 ARC Linkage "Decarbonizing built environments with hempcrete and green wall technology" with A. Castel, S. Wilkinson, C.G. da Rocha, F. Torpy, P. Irga, Y. Gan, A. Hajimohammadi, M. Karimi, D. Moreau, K. Marosszdky, W. Srubar
2021 - 2023 E3Sixtry Solar: Circular Solar Trial, NSW EPA "Investigation the reuse of glass from waste photovoltaic modulus for construction application", with A. Hajimohammadi
2021 BHP's Tailings Challenge consrotium proposal (Leading Theme 3: Repurposing), (with Application leader: S. Kara, S. Saydam)
2020 - 2023 NSW EPA "Next generation sustainable concrete trialling recycled glass in geopolymer concrete"with A. Hajimohammadi and S. Foster
2020 - 2022 An Innovation Connection Grant by XL Concrete "Development of Sustainable Concrete with Glass Waste Mixes" with A. Kashani and S. Foster

My Qualifications

Ph.D. (Civil Engineering), Purdue University, IN, USA

M.Sc. (Civil and Environmental Engineering), KAIST, South Korea

B. Sc. (Civil and Environmental Engineering), KAIST, South Korea

My Research Activities

Current Members

PhD Students (Primary/Joint supervisor):

Ram Pal (2024 ~ present, Primary Supervisor): Investigation of reaction kinetics and phase assemblage of alkali-activated materials. (with Dr Ailar Hajimohammadi)

Ahmed Alnahhal (2023 ~ present, Primary Supervisor): Investigation of recycling wastes from waste/contaminated soil treatment. (with Dr Ailar Hajimohammadi)

Zuobang Yao (2021 ~ present, Primary Supervisor): Investigation of converting mine wastes as cementitious materials. (with Dr Ali Kashani)

Emad Golafshani (2022 ~ present, Joint Supervisor): Developing a sustainable mix design of concrete containing waste materials using machine learning and metaheuristic optimization algorithms (With Dr Ali Kashani)

Rizwan Hameed (2023 ~ present, Joint Supervisor): Carbonated steel slag as a supplementary cementitious materials (With Dr Ali Kashani)

PhD Students (Secondary supervisor):

Md. Ibrahim Mostazid (2023 ~ present): Evaluation and development of durability testing methods for alkali-activated system (Primary: Prof Stephen Foster, Joint: A/Prof Ailar Hajimohammadi)

Research Associate/Visiting Research Fellow (Primary supervisor):

Dr Haemin Song (2022 ~ present): Understanding the pore structures of Hempcrete and their effects on thermal and acoustic properties, Self-healing concrete using the crystal admixtures

Alumni

Jiehong Li (2020 ~ present, Joint supervisor): Mechanical properties and durability of fibre-reinforced foam concrete (Assistant Professor at Chongqing University of Science and Technology, China)

Abdelrahman Hamdan (2019 ~ 2023, Primary supervisor): Effect of chemical oxides on the reaction kinetics of alkali activated materials. (Post Doctoral Fellow at Princeton University, USA)

Sumaiya Afroz (2019 ~ 2023, Primary supervisor): Durability of low-carbon concrete in severe environment. Shrinkage of low-carbon concrete. (Assistant Professor at BUET, Bangladesh)

Yingda Zhang, PhD (2018 ~ 2022, Primary supervisor): Prevention of early age cracking in concrete through mix design parameters (Assistant Professor at Xihua University, China)

Mohammed Alnahhal, PhD (2018 ~ 2022, Primary supervisor): Rheology and durability of alkali-activated materials made of rice husk ash-derived sodium silicates (Research Associate at UNSW Sydney)

Quang Dieu Nguyen, PhD (2016 ~ 2020, Secondary-supervisor): Durability properties of low-carbon concrete incorporating alternative supplementary cementitious materials and manufactured aggregate (Research Associate at UTS, Australia)

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