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Dr. Dermot O'Dwyer
Associate Professor, Civil Struct & Env. Eng.

Biography

Dermot O'Dwyer graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in Civil Engineering from UCG in 1989. In 1991 he completed a research masters on the limit-state analysis of masony vaults. From 1991-1993 he worked as a structural engineer design structures varyling from water towers and treatment tanks to multi-storey apartments and industrial buildings in a variety of materials. He became a chartered engineer in 1993. In 1993 he joined Irish Rail. Within Irish Rail he worked in the technical office working on a range of topics from the development of new switch geometries to budget planning. While in Irish Rail he was secunded to the Light Rail office. In 1995 he joined the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in Trinity College Dublin. He was awarded a PhD in 2001 for the thesis "The Application of Genetic Algorithms to Civil Engineering Optimisation Problems".

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Dermot O'Dwyer, The development in the design of beams from 1820-1860, Iron, Steel and Buildings: Studies in the History of Construction Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Construction History Society, Queens College, Cambridge University, April 2020, edited by James WP Campbell et. al. , Construction History Society, 2020, pp73 - 82 Conference Paper, 2020

Ron Cox & Dermot O'Dwyer, Dublin-Belfast Main Line 1837-1857, Papers from the Second International Early Main Line Railways Converence, Early Main Line Railways 2: Papers from the Second International Early Main Line Railways Conference, York, UK, June 2018, edited by Michael Chrimes , 2019, pp1 - 10 Conference Paper, 2019

Dermot O'Dwyer, The Drainage of the Fucine Lake in Antiquity and in the Nineteenth Century, Studies in the History of Services and Construction: The Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of the Construction History Society, Queens' College Cambridge, 6-8 April 2018, edited by James W.P. Campbell et al. , The Construction History Society, 2018, pp157 - 170 Conference Paper, 2018

Dermot O'Dwyer, Jay Cummins and Ronald Cox, John Rennie's Dublin cast-iron trusses, Proceedings of the First Construction History Society Conference, First Conference of the Construction History Society, Queens' College, Cambridge, 11-12 April 2014, edited by James W P Campbell et al. , Short Run Press, Exeter, 2014, pp313 - 322 Conference Paper, 2014

Triona Byrne and Dermot O'Dwyer, Repair of masonry arch bridges with respect to longitudinal cracking and load assessment, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Construction Materials and Structures, First International Conference on Construction Materials and Structures, Johannesburg, South Africa, 24-26 November 2014, edited by Stephen O Ekolu, Morgan Dundu and Xiaojian Gao , IOS Press, 2014, pp1181 - 1189 Conference Paper, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer and Ronald Cox, Old Ennisnag Bridge, Proceedings of the First Construction History Society Conference, First Conference of the Construction History Society, Queens' College, Cambridge, 11-12 April 2014, edited by James w p Campbell et al. , Shport Run Press, Exeter, 2014, pp301 - 311 Conference Paper, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer, Book Review, Review of Structural Design in Building Conservation, by Dimitris Theodossopoulos , Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering History and Heritage, 166, (February 2013 EH1), 2013, p1 Review, 2013

Dermot W. O'Dwyer, Disaster and success: design lessons from history, Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering History and Heritage, 166, (3), 2013, p177 - 186 Journal Article, 2013 URL

Water and Drainage in, editor(s)Ronald Cox & Philip Donald , Ireland's Civil Engineering Heritage, Cork, Ireland, The Collins Press, 2013, pp67 - 86, [Dermot O'Dwyer] Book Chapter, 2013

Dermot O'Dwyer, Old Ennisnag Bridge, Stonyford, Co. Kilkenny, History Ireland, 20, (2), 2012, p29 - 29 Journal Article, 2012

V Janssens, D.W. O'Dwyer, M.K. Chryssanthopoulos, Assessing the Consequences of Building Failures, Structural Engineering International, 22, (1), 2012, p99 - 104 Journal Article, 2012

V. Janssens, D.W. O'Dwyer & M.K. Chryssanthopoulos, Assessing the Consequences of Building Failures, Structural Engineering International, 22, (1), 2012, p99-104 Journal Article, 2012 DOI TARA - Full Text

Dermot O'Dwyer and Ronald Cox, George Semple and the Reconstruction of Essex Bridge in Dublin 1753-1755, 4th International Congress on Construction History, Paris, 03/07/2012 - 07/07/2, edited by Robert Carvais? , 2012, pp10 Conference Paper, 2012

V. Janssens and D.W. O'Dwyer, Progressive Collapse in Multi-Storey Steel Frames: The Effect of Varying Column Spacing, 11th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland, August 2 - 4, 2011 Conference Paper, 2011 TARA - Full Text

V. Janssens and D.W. O'Dwyer, Disproportionate Collapse in Building Structures., Joint Symposium on Bridge and Infrastructure Research in Ireland (BRI 10) and Concrete Research in Ireland (CRI 10), Cork, Ireland, edited by N Á Ní Nualláin, D Walsh, R West, E Cannon, C Caprani, B McCabe , 2010 Conference Paper, 2010 TARA - Full Text

D. O'Dwyer and V. Janssens, Modelling Progressive Collapse of Structures, The Tenth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Valencia, Spain, edited by B.H.V. Topping, J.M. Adam, F.J. Pallarés, R. Bru and M.L. Romero , Civil-Comp Press, 2010 Conference Paper, 2010 DOI

D. O'Dwyer and O. Bashorun, Structural Assessment of Cantilevered Stone Stairs, Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Valencia, Spain, 14/09/2010-17/09/201, edited by B.H.V. Topping, J.M. Adam, F.J. Pallarés, R. Bru and M.L. Romero , Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, Scotland, 2010, pp15 Conference Paper, 2010

V. Janssens and D.W. O'Dwyer, The Importance of Dynamic Effects in Progressive Collapse, 34th IABSE Symposium: Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, Venice, Italy, 2010 Conference Paper, 2010 TARA - Full Text

D.W. O'Dwyer and K. Bashorun, Estimation of the safe load capacity of cantilevered stone stairs, Joint Symposium on Bridge and Infrastructure Research in Ireland (BRI 10) and Concrete Research in Ireland (CRI 10), Cork, Ireland, 2010, edited by N Á Ní Nualláin, D Walsh, R West, E Cannon, C Caprani, B McCabe , 2010, pp157 - 164 Conference Paper, 2010

Dermot O'Dwyer, Olwakemi Bashorun, Analysis of Cantilevered Stone Stairs, Structural Faults + Repair - 2010, Edinburgh, 15 - 17th June 2010, edited by Mike Forde , E.C.S Publications, 2010 Conference Paper, 2010

Dermot O'Dwyer and Ronan Gallagher, Calculation of fatigue life for multiple track railway bridges, International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity , 3, (1), 2009, p1 - 27 Journal Article, 2009

Dermot O'Dwyer and David Hegarty, Suitability of simplified dynamic models for the fatigue assessment of railway bridges, Railway Engineering 2007, London, 2007, 2007, pp10 Conference Paper, 2007

Dermot O'Dwyer and Gavin Kerr, Damage identification via change in global dynamic response, Railway Engineering 2007, London, 2007, pp11 Conference Paper, 2007

Dermot O'Dwyer and David Hegarty, Vertical Response of Freight Wagons to Random Track Irregularities, Railway Engineering 2007, London, 2007, 2007, pp10 Conference Paper, 2007

D.W. O'Dwyer & R.P. Gallagher, Fatigue Analysis of Metal Multi-Track Railway Bridges, Railway Engineering 2007, London, 2007, 2007, pp10 Conference Paper, 2007

Dermot O Dwyer, Tigran Tchrakian, Roger West, Quasi-plastic Analysis of Slabs on Grade, The Eleventh International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing, Malta, 2007, 2007 Conference Paper, 2007

D.W. O'Dwyer, T. M. Logan-Phelan and E. A. O'Neill, The Development of a Web-based Virtual Environment for Teaching Qualitative Analysis of Structures, European Journal of Engineering Education, 32, (6), 2007, p695 - 709 Journal Article, 2007

Dermot O'Dwyer & Ronan Gallagher, Fatigue Analysis of Railway Bridges, Bridge & Infrastructure Research in Ireland Symposium 2006, Dublin, October 2006, 2006, pp11 - 20 Conference Paper, 2006

Dermot O'Dwyer & David Hegarty, The Effect of Model Simplifications on the Dynamic Response of Railway Bridges, Bridge & Infrastructure Research in Ireland Symposium 2006, Dublin, October 2006, 2006, pp63 - 71 Conference Paper, 2006

T. Tachrakian & D.W. O'Dwyer, Investigation of Structural Behaviour of Reinforce Concrete Slabs on Grade, Concrete Research in Ireland 05, Dublin, 2005, 2005, pp7 Conference Paper, 2005

T. Tachrakian & D.W. O'Dwyer, Investigation of Structural Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Slabs on Grade, Concrete Research in Ireland 05, Dublin, 2005, 2005, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2005

D.W. O'Dwyer, R.P. Gallagher and M. Hartnett, Fatigue analysis of Steel Railway Bridges via Superposition of Linear Response, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Lisbon, 2004, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2004

D.W. O'Dwyer, D. Hegarty and B. Basu, Mumerical modeling of railway-vehicle-track interaction with infinite beam track model, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Maintenance and Renewal of Permanent Way: Power and Signaling ; Structures and Earthworks, London, 2004, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2004

B. Basu, D.W. O'Dwyer and D. Hegarty, Identification of track quality from measured response data of the vehicle, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Maintenance and Renewal of Permanent Way; Power and Signalling; Structures and Earthworks, London, 2004, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2004

D. Hegarty, D.W. O'Dwyer and B. Basu, A numerical model for measuring the wheel-rail contact force resulting from a dipped joint, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Lisbon, 2004, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2004

R. Gallagher, D. O'Dwyer and M. Hartnett, Determination of the Fatigue Life of Metal Railway Bridges, IABSE Symposium, Structures for High-Speed Railway Transportation, Antwerp, Belgium, 2003, 2003, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2003

D. Ryan, D.W. O'Dwyer and A. O'Connor, Prediction of deflection in partially prestressed post-tensioned concrete beams constructed using high strength concrete,, CRI03 Concrete Research in Ireland, Belfast, 2003, 2003, pp27 - 36 Conference Paper, 2003

Railway Engineering, Brian Lalor, Encyclopedia of Ireland, Dublin, Gill & McMillan, 2003, pp911 - [D.W. O'Dwyer] Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 2003

M. Majka, M. Hartnett and D. O'Dwyer, The Influence of Hertzian Spring Stiffness on the Dynamic Response of a Bridge Model, 6th International conference on Computational Structures Technology, Prague, 2002, 2002, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2002

D.W. O'Dwyer and R. Gallagher, Dynamical Analysis of Railway Bridges, Transactions of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, 124, 2002, p76 - 85 Journal Article, 2002

M. Majka, M. Hartnett, C. Bowe and D. O'Dwyer., Dynamic Train-Track-Bridge Interaction on Example of the Boyne Viaduct, 6th International conference on Computational Structures Technology, Prague, 2002, 2002, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2002

R. Gallagher, D.W. O'Dwyer and M. Hartnett, The Application of Fatigue Models to Railway Bridges, 6th International conference on Computational Structures Technology, Prague, 2002, 2002, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2002

D.W. O'Dwyer, D.P. Hegarty and B. Basu, Modelling Vertical Response of Railway Freight Wagons due to Track Irregularities, 6th International conference on Computational Structures Technology, Prague, 2002, 2002, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 2002

D.W. O'Dwyer, A preliminary investigation into ferrocement permeability and sorptivity, Concrete Research in Ireland, Proceedings of the 2001 Colloquium, Galway, 2001, edited by E. Canon , Institution of Engineers of Ireland, Dublin, 2001, pp133 - 138 Conference Paper, 2001

R.C. Cox and D.W. O'Dwyer, The arch bridge in Ireland : 1600 - 2000, Proceedings of Arch '01, Third International Arch Bridge Conference, Paris, 2001, edited by C.Abdunur , Presse de l'École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, 2001, pp85 - 90 Conference Paper, 2001

D. O'Dwyer, R. Gallagher and M. Hartnett, Boyne railway viaduct - structural assessment, Procceedings of the 4th International Bridge Management Conference, Surrey, 2000, 2000, pp450 - 458 Conference Paper, 2000

D. O'Dwyer and R. Gallagher, Railway Bridge - Rolling Stock, Non-linear Dynamic Interaction, The Fifth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Leuven , 2000, edited by G. De Roeck & B.H.V. Topping , Civil-Comp, 2000, pp285 - 291 Conference Paper, 2000

D.W. O'Dwyer, Funicular analysis of masonry vaults, Computers and Structures, 75, (1-5 October-December), 1999, p187 - 197 Journal Article, 1999

D.W. O'Dwyer & E.J. O'Brien, Genetic Algorithm Convergence, The 5th International Converence on the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Civil and Structural Engineering, Oxford, 1999, 1999, pp6 - 19 Conference Paper, 1999

D.W. O'Dwyer and Eugene J. O'Brien,, Design of Double Layer Space Grids using Genetic Algorithms, The fourth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Advances in Engineering Computational Technology, Edinburgh, 1998, 1998, pp125 - 134 Conference Paper, 1998

D.W, O'Dwyer, The application of Groebner Bases to Truss Optimisation, The fourth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Advances in Computational Structural Mechanics, Edinburgh, 1998, 1998, pp399 - 404 Conference Paper, 1998

D.W. O'Dwyer & Eugene J. O'Brien, Design and Analysis of concrete slabs using a modified strip method, The Structural Engineer, 76, (17), 1998, p329 - 333 Journal Article, 1998

Dermot W. O'Dwyer and Eugene J. O'Brien, Genetic Algorithm Encoding, Probabilities & Population Size, Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, Galway, 1998, Computational Mechanics Publications, 1998, ppcdrom- Conference Paper, 1998

D.W. O'Dwyer, Realignment of railway curves, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 123, (November), 1997, p234 - 240 Journal Article, 1997

Roger P. West Dermot W. O'Dwyer(ed.), Concrete Research in Ireland - Proceedings of the 1997 Colloquium, Trinity College Dublin, 1997, Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, 1997 Proceedings of a Conference, 1997

D.W. O'Dwyer, Modular Ferrocement Folded Plate Shells, Concrete Research in Ireland - Proceedings of the 1997 Colloquium, Trinity College Dublin, 1997, edited by Roger P. West and Dermot W. O'Dwyer , the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University of Dublin, Trinity Col, 1997, pp25 - 31 Conference Paper, 1997

Dermot W. O'Dwyer, Limit State Analysis of Masonry Vaults, Computational Structures Technology Conference, Budapest, 1996, Advances in Structur, 1996, pp35 - 44 Conference Paper, 1996

Dermot W. O'Dwyer and Eugene J. O'Brien, Use of Redundant Operators in Genetic Algorithms, Second International Conference on Application of Fuzzy Systems and Soft Computing, Siegen, 1996, 1996, pp449 - 456 Conference Paper, 1996

Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Ronald Cox & Dermot O'Dwyer, Called to Serve, Dublin, Engineers Ireland, 2014, 1 - 145pp Book, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer, Engineering: The Pre-Industrial Age (book review), Review of Engineering: The Pre-Industrial Age, by Dick Parry , The Structural Engineer, 92, (4), 2014, p1 Review, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer, Review of Traces of Peter Rice, by Kevin Barry , Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineering - Engineering History and Heritage, 167, (EH1), 2014, p1 Review, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer, Book review: Traces of Peter Rice, Review of Traces of Peter Rice, by Kevin Barry , Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineering - Engineering History and Heritage, 167, (EH1), 2014, p1 Review, 2014

Dermot O'Dwyer, Book review: William Dargan: An Honourable Life 1799-1867, Review of William Dargan: An Honourable Life 1799-1867, by Fergus Mulligan , Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering History and Heritage, 167, (EH1), 2014, p1 Review, 2014

D.W. O'Dwyer, Comments by D.W. O'Dwyer and K. Dubsky Trinity College Dublin, Gestión ambiental de la Universidad, Valencia, 2002, edited by Eduardo Peris Mora , 2002, pp79 - 83 Meeting Abstract, 2002

D.W. O'Dwyer, Design of Friction Buffer Layouts, Universities' Transport Studies Group, Dublin, 1997, 1997, pp9 Conference Paper, 1997

Research Expertise

Description

Railway Engineering - all aspects of permanent way and civil engineering infrastructure with a particular emphasis on bridge and track dynamics. Structural optimisation - application of optimisation methods ranging from linear and quadratic Programming methods to genetic algorithms Structural Masonry - the analysis and assessment of historic masonry structures including masonry vaults, arches, bridges and cantilevered stone stairs Engineering History and Heritage

Projects

  • Title
    • Railway Bridge Dunamics
  • Summary
    • Work on modelling the behaviour of railway bridges under load extended over a number of projects from 1996 to about 2006. These projects were funded largely by Irish Rail with some addition support from other agencies.
  • Funding Agency
    • Irish Rail
  • Date From
    • 1996
  • Date To
    • 2006
  • Title
    • Railway Bridge Dynamics
  • Summary
    • Work on modelling the behaviour of railway bridges under load extended over a number of projects from 1996 to about 2006. These projects were funded largely by Irish Rail with some addition support from other agencies.
  • Funding Agency
    • Irish Rail
  • Date From
    • 1996
  • Date To
    • 2006

Recognition

Representations

Member of the Railway Safety Advisory Council 2010

Irish Representative of the Institution of Civil Engineers' Panel for Historic Engineering Works (PHEW) 2008

Irish Representative on the Institution of Civil Engineers' Panel for Historic Engineering Works (PHEW) 2008

Memberships

Chartered Engineer, MIEI 1993

MICE 2008