Mitigating Vehicular Crashes into Masonry Buildings . Around 2000 vehicles crash annually into school, home and shop buildings located at close proximity to heavily trafficked roads in Australia and cause significant distress to occupants of building and vehicle. The impacted walls mostly of masonry, suffer severe damage often with vehicle intrusion into the building. Despite this, the intrusion mechanism is not understood and no effective mitigation strategies exist at present. This project wi ....Mitigating Vehicular Crashes into Masonry Buildings . Around 2000 vehicles crash annually into school, home and shop buildings located at close proximity to heavily trafficked roads in Australia and cause significant distress to occupants of building and vehicle. The impacted walls mostly of masonry, suffer severe damage often with vehicle intrusion into the building. Despite this, the intrusion mechanism is not understood and no effective mitigation strategies exist at present. This project will uncover the mechanics of vehicle intrusions through masonry walls and develop novel mitigation strategies using high energy absorbing auxetic composite render and innovative vibration isolation at wall edges. These innovations will lead to new theories that can save lives in the building and vehicle.Read moreRead less
Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by ....Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by modifying the levels of road and rail crossings and providing guard rails in the recesses of these modified level crossings. The theories are intended be developed using nonlinear dynamic computational methods and laboratory experiments. The outcomes are expected to enable reduction in the severity of level crossing accidents and hence save lives and costs of derailment.Read moreRead less
Making architectural identity: the architecture of John Andrews. The important Australian architect John Andrews had a career unique for its success, first in Canada and the United States and then in Australia. Research into his design work and how it has been understood will develop new knowledge of design practices of the 1970s, how architecture is understood in terms of nationality, and how design has become globalised.
Catastrophic Rock and Concrete Brittle Failures. Brittle rocks and concrete under extreme stresses fracture spontaneously and without pre-warning. In deep mining and tunnelling this causes fatalities, injuries and serious damage. Based on recent advances by the CIs in understanding the effect of biaxial loading and the free surface on catastrophic fracture propagation, the project aims to develop a new paradigm of monitoring, prediction and prevention of dangerous skin rock burst-type failures. ....Catastrophic Rock and Concrete Brittle Failures. Brittle rocks and concrete under extreme stresses fracture spontaneously and without pre-warning. In deep mining and tunnelling this causes fatalities, injuries and serious damage. Based on recent advances by the CIs in understanding the effect of biaxial loading and the free surface on catastrophic fracture propagation, the project aims to develop a new paradigm of monitoring, prediction and prevention of dangerous skin rock burst-type failures. A unique experimental methodology, measurements and analytical and numerical models will be employed to provide a better understanding of the fundamental processes in rock fracturing. This will lead to safer and more cost-effective deep rock engineering designs.Read moreRead less
Lightweight, durable and self-sustainable modular composites buildings. This project aims to establish a modular composites building system that is lightweight, integrated with power supply system and is highly resistant to harsh environments. Buildings today are designed and constructed using conventional craft-based labour-intensive methods and materials. This results in high cost and consequences for quality, safety, resource and environmental impact. By developing the modular building system ....Lightweight, durable and self-sustainable modular composites buildings. This project aims to establish a modular composites building system that is lightweight, integrated with power supply system and is highly resistant to harsh environments. Buildings today are designed and constructed using conventional craft-based labour-intensive methods and materials. This results in high cost and consequences for quality, safety, resource and environmental impact. By developing the modular building system using lightweight and durable fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and innovative connection methods for fast assembly, the project outcomes can largely lift productivity in construction industry and further provide self-sustainable civil infrastructure not only in urban and rural regions but also in remote areas.Read moreRead less
Optimum design of hydraulic structures in rural and urban Australia: dealing with floods and droughts. Australia's long-term forecast suggests the occurrence of longer and more frequent droughts, and more intense flood events. The project will study the fundamental hydrodynamic processes in hydraulic structures and aims to develop new innovative designs derived from process based approach for optimum operation in rural and urban Australia.
Multifunctional Structural Panels for Next-generation Infrastructure. This project aims to develop a multifunctional prefabricated structural panel for current and future infrastructure applications for both land and offshore environments. Prefabrication enables enhanced product control as well as the ability to rapidly construct whole structures or their components. The panels utilise an inner lightweight foam and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite core with strong outer panels made from ....Multifunctional Structural Panels for Next-generation Infrastructure. This project aims to develop a multifunctional prefabricated structural panel for current and future infrastructure applications for both land and offshore environments. Prefabrication enables enhanced product control as well as the ability to rapidly construct whole structures or their components. The panels utilise an inner lightweight foam and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite core with strong outer panels made from FRP sheets and high-strength concrete. The expected outcomes include experimental and numerical validation of the system, that will give designers and asset owners the confidence to adopt this new panel. The panel system presents an upward step change in construction technology and built infrastructure performance.Read moreRead less
Bed shear stress on beach sediment and coastal structures under wave run-up. The aim of this work is to obtain critical new information about the way waves interact with the coast and the damage they can cause to beaches and coastal protection structures. This new data will provide the basis for improved predictions of coastal erosion and better coastal engineering design in the face of sea-level rise and climate change.