Research Groups

Building Materials Research Group

The Building Materials Research Group (BMRG) conducts basic and applied research on conventional and advanced construction building materials, such as cement, concrete, industrial byproducts, inhibitors, coatings, repair materials, metallic and non-metallic reinforcing bars etc. It possesses expertise, facilities and resources to conduct a wide range of studies in the area of building materials. The laboratories in the group are well equipped for conducting field and laboratory evaluation of the building materials. The group also utilizes advanced laboratories available in the Research Institute and in the academic departments of the university to undertake its research activities.

BMRG has highly qualified researchers and engineers. The group works closely with the faculty members from the Civil and Mechanical Engineering departments of the university on funded projects. It has conducted several applied research projects for several public and private sector companies over the last two decades.
 

Corrosion Research Group

The principal objective of Corrosion Research Group is to find solutions to mitigate the specific corrosion and materials degradation problems of Saudi Industries in an aggressive and hostile environment, characterized by an extremely hot climate, high humidity, high salinity, and air pollution.

The corrosion laboratories in the Center incorporate up-to-date scientific instrumentation that uses AC and DC electrochemical techniques for both applied and fundamental research on corrosion and materials degradation. High-temperature and high-pressure autoclaves, and controlled hydrodynamic systems are available to evaluate the effect of temperature and fluid flow on corrosion of materials in industrial plants. The laboratories in this group also include salt spray and humidity chambers to study corrosion properties of coated materials under controlled environments, NDT equipment to measure coating properties, slow strain rate facilities to study stress corrosion cracking in corrosive environments, and equipment to study fracture mechanics. The laboratories have the capability to conduct corrosion and materials development studies including: monitoring of corrosion in static and dynamic conditions, accelerated and freely corroding systems, using electrochemical techniques, investigation of corrosion problems in various environments, such as atmospheric, desalination, sewer, underground and chemical, evaluation of inhibitors and coatings under high temperature-pressure environments, designing, testing and evaluation of CP systems, study of stress corrosion cracking in chemical and petrochemical plant environments, investigation of reinforcing steel corrosion in concrete under accelerated and freely corroding conditions, testing of mechanical properties of materials and failure analysis.
 

Engineering Analysis Group

The Engineering Analysis Group (EAG) provides engineering solutions to Kingdom’s industry in the areas of finite element modeling of structural and mechanical systems, renewable energy, computer-aided modeling of structures, computational fluid dynamics, energy conservation, thermal performance, experimental investigations and monitoring and full-scale load testing of structures.

EAG is currently involved in research projects involving 3-D finite element modeling, experimental determination of thermal conductivity of insulating and masonry building materials, finite element analysis of failure in structural and mechanical systems, design of wind farm and wind-diesel/photovoltaic hybrid power system, full-scale load testing of thrust anchor blocks with automated remote monitoring using a wide variety of sensors, feasibility of wind, solar and geothermal sources of energy for electricity generation, soil-structure interaction study, thermal performance assessment of buildings, computational fluid dynamics based solutions for industrial problems. The group has state of the art facilities, expertise and FE software to conduct research in the above-mentioned areas.
 

High Voltage Engineering Group

The High Voltage Engineering Group (HVEG) conducts basic and applied research in the areas of electrical insulation, transmission line magnetic and electrical fields and high voltage equipment performance. HVEG has specialized high voltage laboratory, which is equipped to conduct standardized testing on insulators, cables, transformers and other high voltage electrical equipment. The Group has conducted many field and laboratory studies to evaluate the performance of ceramic and composite insulators with respect to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's environment and performed various studies on underground cable performance. HVEG comprises of highly qualified researchers and engineers and have standardized high voltage testing facilities. The Group works closely with the Power Engineering Group at the Center for Engineering Research and with the faculty members from electrical engineering Department and other university specialists.

HVEG has specialized high voltage laboratory (HVL), which is equipped to conduct standardized testing on insulators, cables, transformers and many other high voltage electrical equipment. The list of tests that the HVL can conduct include: Insulator pollution testing in accordance with IEC60507, Dry and Wet insulator testing, Accelerated aging test for polymeric insulators in accordance with IEC61109, Partial Discharge measurement, Transformer oil testing, Capacitance and dissipation factor measurement, lightnin
 

Materials Characterization Laboratories Group

The facilities at Materials Characterization Laboratories are designed to extract detailed macro- and micro-structural information in order to fully characterize materials. This characterization in turn is interpreted in terms of materials evaluation and performance. The services provided include: micro-structural evaluation, chemical composition analysis, phase determination, surface analysis, image analysis, macro- and micro-hardness measurement and metallographic sample preparation of materials. The labs are equipped with scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, X-ray fluorescence analyzer, electron probe micro-analyzer and transmission electron microscope
 

Metrology and Standards Group

Metrology and Standards Group (MSG) of the Center for Engineering Research (CER) provides calibration and related services to private industry, commerce and government organizations. MSG is a primary level calibration and testing facility of the KFUPM and its sole mission is to fulfill the calibration needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and GCC countries in the areas of ionizing radiation, optics, mechanical and electrical disciplines covering wide range of test and measuring instruments.

MSG measurement standards are traceable to standards maintained by the Saudi Arabia Standards Organization (SASO), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States of America, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia, Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany and other laboratories, or referenced to relevant physical principles.

MSG is fully accredited by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO). It is also approved by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and a member of the US National Conference of Standards Laboratories (NCSL). It operates under Total Quality Management (TQM) and in conformity with International Standards Organization (ISO) Standards 9000, 10012 and ISO/IEC Guide 17025. MSG has three sections providing calibration and testing services for a wide range of mechanical, electrical and radiation equipment.

Radiation Section

The section is made up of three laboratories, namely: Ionizing Radiation Laboratory, TLD Dosimetry Laboratory and Photometry/ Radiometry/Acoustics Laboratory.

Mechanical Section

This section is made up of the following laboratories: Temperature, Dimensional, Mass, Pressure, Force and Flow, Vibration and Liquid Flow.

Electrical Section

The section is made up of three laboratories: AC/DC, Microwave and Time and Frequency.
 

Power Engineering Group

The capabilities of Power Engineering Group (PEG) span research and consulting services in electric power systems. The activity areas cover generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electric power. Expertise encompasses a wide range of power engineering studies including: electricity market restructure, generation and transmission planning, power system performance analysis, power system economics, production costing, power quality, feasibility studies, electric equipment asset management, distribution system performance evaluation and analysis and electric energy conservation.