Clogging of Permeable Reactive Barrier when treating Acidic Groundwater. Proper understanding of soil-water interaction is vital for sustainable development of floodplains, and to halt acid mine drainage caused by the oxidation of pyritic soil. Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) offer a cost-effective solution to neutralize acidified groundwater. The project aims to quantify the clogging potential of PRB’s granular medium by coupling geotechnical fundamentals with integrated hydro-bio-geochemical ....Clogging of Permeable Reactive Barrier when treating Acidic Groundwater. Proper understanding of soil-water interaction is vital for sustainable development of floodplains, and to halt acid mine drainage caused by the oxidation of pyritic soil. Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) offer a cost-effective solution to neutralize acidified groundwater. The project aims to quantify the clogging potential of PRB’s granular medium by coupling geotechnical fundamentals with integrated hydro-bio-geochemical processes. Time-dependent clogging will be evaluated through geotechnical laboratory & field testing. Expected outcomes are enhanced PRB design methods and sound geotechnical field monitoring to provide significant industry benefits, such as mine-site rehabilitation, increased productivity and infrastructure longevity.Read moreRead less
Field Data based Predictive Maintenance and Enhanced Track Design Procedure. Providing improved railroad design and maintenance solutions with accurate and timely assessment of track performance is vital to reduce the disruption of services, excessive maintenance costs and degradation over time. This project aims to develop a predictive maintenance model based on extensive wayside measurements to monitor and predict the nature of track instability. This will also be supplemented by mathematical ....Field Data based Predictive Maintenance and Enhanced Track Design Procedure. Providing improved railroad design and maintenance solutions with accurate and timely assessment of track performance is vital to reduce the disruption of services, excessive maintenance costs and degradation over time. This project aims to develop a predictive maintenance model based on extensive wayside measurements to monitor and predict the nature of track instability. This will also be supplemented by mathematical modelling to corroborate large-scale laboratory observations with past and real-time field monitoring records. This project will deliver tangible strategies and tools to increase track longevity and assist decision-makers in planning and prioritising corrective maintenance to ensure improved safety and passenger comfort.Read moreRead less
A novel method to stabilise expansive soils by alkali-activation . This project aims to address durability and sustainability issues with traditional lime-based methods used to stabilize expansive soils by alternatively advancing an alkali-activation approach. It expects to generate new knowledge in using alkali-activation to suppress the swelling potential of expansive soils which have been deleterious to roads, pavements and overlying structures. Expected outcomes of this project include deve ....A novel method to stabilise expansive soils by alkali-activation . This project aims to address durability and sustainability issues with traditional lime-based methods used to stabilize expansive soils by alternatively advancing an alkali-activation approach. It expects to generate new knowledge in using alkali-activation to suppress the swelling potential of expansive soils which have been deleterious to roads, pavements and overlying structures. Expected outcomes of this project include development of a long-term durable treatment with reduced carbon footprint and use of waste materials. This should provide significant benefits commercially and critical insights to overcome expansive soils which cover approximately one-fifth of Australia’s surface area and six out of eight of its largest cities.Read moreRead less
Accelerating Consolidation and Closure of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. All mining operations involve the production of waste. Many regard such waste (tailings) and their environmentally acceptable storage as constituting the largest waste problem on Earth because of the enormous damage and loss-of-life that have resulted from failures of tailings storage facilities. This project focuses on a dewatering technology, electro-osmosis (EO), which has yet to be fully operationalised, for improvin ....Accelerating Consolidation and Closure of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. All mining operations involve the production of waste. Many regard such waste (tailings) and their environmentally acceptable storage as constituting the largest waste problem on Earth because of the enormous damage and loss-of-life that have resulted from failures of tailings storage facilities. This project focuses on a dewatering technology, electro-osmosis (EO), which has yet to be fully operationalised, for improving the strength, stability and settlement characteristics of the tailings. Sophisticated testing will be undertaken at three scales (lab, meso and, most importantly, field), as well as the development of generic numerical models, to create practical guidelines to facilitate the implementation of EO in mines around the world.Read moreRead less
Experimental investigation and constitutive modelling of reactive soils. This project aims to develop the fundamental knowledge, a mechanical framework and practical engineering design tools needed to minimise the effects of reactive soils on infrastructure. Reactive soils undergo significant swelling and weakening upon wetting or intrusion by salt-rich groundwater and shrinkage upon drying. This can result in damage to buildings and infrastructure beyond a state of repair. This project will dev ....Experimental investigation and constitutive modelling of reactive soils. This project aims to develop the fundamental knowledge, a mechanical framework and practical engineering design tools needed to minimise the effects of reactive soils on infrastructure. Reactive soils undergo significant swelling and weakening upon wetting or intrusion by salt-rich groundwater and shrinkage upon drying. This can result in damage to buildings and infrastructure beyond a state of repair. This project will develop tools, models and theories to detect weaknesses in the design of infrastructure and its foundations built on problematic reactive soils, assess the impact and implement effective remedial measures to improve performance. The project is expected to increase efficiency through improved design and reduced damage, and save infrastructure owners, government and private, tens of millions of dollars each year.Read moreRead less
Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental ....Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental protection against PFASs and establishment of new approaches for predicting functional containment lifetimes of liner systems. These outcomes are expected to benefit the waste and remediation industries by influencing next-generation design regulations to ensure long-term environmental protection from PFAS.Read moreRead less
Advancing the Engineering of Minipile Systems to Frontier Applications. This project aims to develop new knowledge on the performance of battered minipile systems used in a wide range of applications from solar panels to traffic signs. Minipiles provide concrete-free foundation systems, yet their behaviour under more complex loading such as wind, is yet to be fully understood. This project will examine the loading conditions experienced during installation and throughout service life. This will ....Advancing the Engineering of Minipile Systems to Frontier Applications. This project aims to develop new knowledge on the performance of battered minipile systems used in a wide range of applications from solar panels to traffic signs. Minipiles provide concrete-free foundation systems, yet their behaviour under more complex loading such as wind, is yet to be fully understood. This project will examine the loading conditions experienced during installation and throughout service life. This will include complex full-scale laboratory tests and advanced computer modelling to verify the performance against expected cyclic loading. New design approaches will be developed for this emerging foundation system, enabling more widespread adoption of this technology in the building and construction industry.Read moreRead less
Optimisation of shallow geothermal systems for Australian schools. This project aims to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by optimising shallow geothermal systems in Australian schools. Shallow geothermal systems use the ground as a heat source and sink for heating and cooling. Their application to schools has the potential to harness energy from untapped resources such as sport grounds, reduce energy consumption by up to 75% and increase comfort and productivity of ....Optimisation of shallow geothermal systems for Australian schools. This project aims to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by optimising shallow geothermal systems in Australian schools. Shallow geothermal systems use the ground as a heat source and sink for heating and cooling. Their application to schools has the potential to harness energy from untapped resources such as sport grounds, reduce energy consumption by up to 75% and increase comfort and productivity of our children at school. An expected outcome of this project is to create a full scale physical model along advanced optimisation models which will allow better understanding of energy efficiency gains, and lead towards improving geothermal design techniques tailored to educational buildings.Read moreRead less
Paving the way to greener roads and healthier waterways. Waste tyre permeable pavement is emerging as an effective stormwater surge mitigation solution. Yet, its behaviour under traffic loads and varied environmental conditions are not fully understood which undermines industry confidence in this technology. This project aims to advance the engineering of waste tyre permeable pavements by creating new knowledge on their mechanical and hydrological performance. The project will develop design gui ....Paving the way to greener roads and healthier waterways. Waste tyre permeable pavement is emerging as an effective stormwater surge mitigation solution. Yet, its behaviour under traffic loads and varied environmental conditions are not fully understood which undermines industry confidence in this technology. This project aims to advance the engineering of waste tyre permeable pavements by creating new knowledge on their mechanical and hydrological performance. The project will develop design guidelines, identify the governing mechanisms and develop a performance prediction framework based on laboratory and field tests, and advanced numerical modelling. The mechanisms of performance from micro to macro level will be identified, generating knowledge for industry to support widespread uptake.Read moreRead less
Evaluating potential static liquefaction of tailings to prevent failures. This project aims to reduce risk in the mining industry from failing mine tailings by producing a methodology for predicting the susceptibility of these tailings to static liquefaction. The impact of a mine tailing failure is catastrophic to the downstream community. The project brings together a number of industry partners committed to assisting with verification and adoption of characterisation and designed tools develop ....Evaluating potential static liquefaction of tailings to prevent failures. This project aims to reduce risk in the mining industry from failing mine tailings by producing a methodology for predicting the susceptibility of these tailings to static liquefaction. The impact of a mine tailing failure is catastrophic to the downstream community. The project brings together a number of industry partners committed to assisting with verification and adoption of characterisation and designed tools development in this project. This proposal will integrate results from laboratory element, centrifuge and calibration chamber tests with numerical modelling and in-situ tests to produce a methodology for predicting the susceptibility to static liquefaction.Read moreRead less