Bottom-up multiscale modelling of expansive soils in natural environments . Expansive soils, highly sensitive to the environment, undergo dramatic strength and volume changes. This project aims to advance our understanding of expansive soils under different temperatures, hydraulic conditions, mechanical loads, and aqueous salinities. The project expects to use a combination of multidisciplinary knowledge, multiscale experiments and numerical simulations. The outcomes are a new multiscale model a ....Bottom-up multiscale modelling of expansive soils in natural environments . Expansive soils, highly sensitive to the environment, undergo dramatic strength and volume changes. This project aims to advance our understanding of expansive soils under different temperatures, hydraulic conditions, mechanical loads, and aqueous salinities. The project expects to use a combination of multidisciplinary knowledge, multiscale experiments and numerical simulations. The outcomes are a new multiscale model and advanced analysis/design tool for evaluating the performance of expansive soils under different conditions. The outcomes should provide the efficient way to mitigate the significant damage caused to infrastructure by expansive soils and facilitate the application of expansive soil products in waste disposal systems.Read moreRead less
Robust cement-based sensors for smart automation in future infrastructure. Infrastructural health and operation monitoring are core parts of managing built assets. The project aims to develop robust cement-based sensors with integrated self-sensing and hydrophobicity, and to optimise their robustness and resilience for smart automation in future infrastructure. The new sensors are expected to more accurately assess structural health, monitor traffic-flow, decrease the costs of operation and main ....Robust cement-based sensors for smart automation in future infrastructure. Infrastructural health and operation monitoring are core parts of managing built assets. The project aims to develop robust cement-based sensors with integrated self-sensing and hydrophobicity, and to optimise their robustness and resilience for smart automation in future infrastructure. The new sensors are expected to more accurately assess structural health, monitor traffic-flow, decrease the costs of operation and maintenance through enhanced piezoresistivity and serviceability, and gain insights into intrinsic self-sensing and integral water repellency. The outcomes will improve predictions of performance and service, with major reductions in asset management costs through significantly more-efficient operation and maintenance.Read moreRead less