Rate My Professor Shanmuganathan (Guna) Gunalan

Shanmuganathan (Guna) Gunalan is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University, specializing in civil and environmental engineering. His research centers on the behaviour and design of aluminium, steel, and timber structures, with a focus on facade engineering, fire performance, impact resistance, and sustainable disaster-resilient buildings. Gunalan is passionate about addressing challenges in the timber, aluminium, and facade industries through innovative solutions, including thermal performance and progressive collapse resistance. He employs finite element analysis, mechanical testing, and experimental investigations to advance structural stability and design standards for thin-walled structures.

Gunalan worked as a structural engineer prior to academia. He completed his PhD at Queensland University of Technology in 2008, investigating the structural behaviour and design of cold-formed steel wall systems under fire conditions. Subsequently, he served as a Research Fellow at QUT before joining Griffith University as a Lecturer, advancing to Senior Lecturer in January 2018 and Associate Professor thereafter. He teaches Engineering Mechanics and Structural Design courses, holds a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, and supervises PhD students. Gunalan contributes to funded projects such as ARC Linkage grants on hybrid timber-steel systems and tall frame timber buildings. With over 68 publications and nearly 1,000 citations, his influential works include 'Web crippling behaviour of stainless-steel sigma sections: End-two-flange load case' (2025), 'Performance evaluation and design of extruded aluminium wall cladding system subjected to wind driven debris impact' (2025), 'Dynamic Impact Performance of Solid Aluminium Cladding Panels Subjected to the Impact of Timber Projectile' (2024), 'Flexural Behaviour and Design of Extruded Aluminium Claddings' (2024), and 'Experimental study of load bearing cold-formed steel wall systems under fire conditions' (2013). His research impacts sustainable construction and extreme load design practices.