Measuring and modelling the mechanical response of soils incorporating recycled tyres. Civil engineers use backfill to refill excavated areas around new structures. They have found recently that rubber chips and shredded rubber make excellent backfill when combined with a small percentage of cement to make ‘rubber soil’. The widespread use of rubber soil therefore offers a tremendous opportunity to make use of a serious waste product to achieve important engineering outcomes. However, too little ....Measuring and modelling the mechanical response of soils incorporating recycled tyres. Civil engineers use backfill to refill excavated areas around new structures. They have found recently that rubber chips and shredded rubber make excellent backfill when combined with a small percentage of cement to make ‘rubber soil’. The widespread use of rubber soil therefore offers a tremendous opportunity to make use of a serious waste product to achieve important engineering outcomes. However, too little is known about the technology. This project will model the behaviour of rubber soil in order to introduce it as an environmentally sustainable, cost-effective and technically sound choice of geomaterial for both standard and non-standard geotechnical structures.Read moreRead less
Impact of rolling dynamic compaction. The project will lead to improved understanding and greater use of rolling dynamic compaction (RDC). RDC is a relatively new compaction technique that can be used to improve soft and derelict ground prior to the construction of roads, railways, subdivisions and structures. This project will also lead to greatly reduced ground improvement costs.
A multi-agent system for stakeholder management in off-site construction. This project aims to investigate a socio-technology model for stakeholders and informatics to improve off-site construction (OSC) productivity in infrastructure construction. A multi-agent system for OSC could drive down cost, but requires highly integrated collaboration among stakeholders. The project’s quantitative approaches include large-scale social network analysis, multi-agent consensus modelling and an optimisation ....A multi-agent system for stakeholder management in off-site construction. This project aims to investigate a socio-technology model for stakeholders and informatics to improve off-site construction (OSC) productivity in infrastructure construction. A multi-agent system for OSC could drive down cost, but requires highly integrated collaboration among stakeholders. The project’s quantitative approaches include large-scale social network analysis, multi-agent consensus modelling and an optimisation algorithm for collaborative planning. The project outcomes are expected to secure long-term economic benefits by enhancing performance in complex projects.Read moreRead less
Composite tubular construction subject to impact and blast loading. This project will advance the knowledge of composite tubular members and connections under impact and blast loading. It will provide confident design methodology against impact and blast loading for buildings designated as prominent targets or items of critical infrastructure, to save lives and reduce losses.
Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive t ....Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive the best performing metaconcrete and verify its static and dynamic load resistant capacities. The expected outcomes of the project will lead to innovative extreme-loading resistant designs and provide significant benefit to the Australian construction industry, general public and economy.Read moreRead less
Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining lif ....Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining life of the building. The only related research involves reinforced concrete which suggests that a reduction of at least 33 per cent could be expected. Hence, this project will quantify the long-term strength of FRP reinforced brickwork to enable engineers to safely apply this new cost-effective retrofit technique.Read moreRead less
Next generation transport infrastructure using high performance materials. This project aims to provide structural engineers with the tools required to develop ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete materials and to utilise their unique material properties in design. Recent feasibility studies have shown that the replacement of conventional concrete and steel transport infrastructure with ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete has the potential to revolutionise the sector. Fo ....Next generation transport infrastructure using high performance materials. This project aims to provide structural engineers with the tools required to develop ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete materials and to utilise their unique material properties in design. Recent feasibility studies have shown that the replacement of conventional concrete and steel transport infrastructure with ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete has the potential to revolutionise the sector. For these cost savings benefits to be realised, guidelines for the low cost development and testing of new materials, and for the application in structural design are required. This project is expected to deliver these guidelines and potentially maximise the impact of government spending on road and rail infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Infrastructure on reactive soils: fundamental advances and validation. This project aims to advance fundamental knowledge on the complex behaviour of reactive soils in the context of resilient geotechnical infrastructure. This research falls within the research priority “Environmental Change”, as geotechnical infrastructure need to sustain the impact of ever more frequent and more intense climatic actions. Attention will focus on the effect of suction on volume change and shear strength of react ....Infrastructure on reactive soils: fundamental advances and validation. This project aims to advance fundamental knowledge on the complex behaviour of reactive soils in the context of resilient geotechnical infrastructure. This research falls within the research priority “Environmental Change”, as geotechnical infrastructure need to sustain the impact of ever more frequent and more intense climatic actions. Attention will focus on the effect of suction on volume change and shear strength of reactive soils, two poorly understood features, and will produce a swelling model and a soil-deformable structure interaction model. After validation by a case study, the models will have the potential to empower industry to produce geotechnical infrastructure that can better sustain climatic actions.Read moreRead less
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
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