Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100059
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,204,762.00
Summary
New Frontiers in offshore geotechnics: securing Australia's energy future. Offshore gas lies at the heart of Australia's prosperity, with $120 billion of infrastructure under construction, however its future requires new technology to safely build offshore foundations in our weak and problematic soils. This project will provide engineers with science-based tools to unlock the natural gas 'stranded' in our deep oceans.
Study of Coupled Water-Gas-Sediment (three-phase) Flows through Jointed and Stratified Rock. Coupled Water-Gas-Sediment Flows through Rock Joints project outcomes are expected to surpass the current knowledge on ground/slope stability and water inundation, enhance engineering solutions of the associated problems and provide vital improvements to public safety. The research team will publish the research outcomes through peer-reviewed journals and conferences, nationally and internationally, rais ....Study of Coupled Water-Gas-Sediment (three-phase) Flows through Jointed and Stratified Rock. Coupled Water-Gas-Sediment Flows through Rock Joints project outcomes are expected to surpass the current knowledge on ground/slope stability and water inundation, enhance engineering solutions of the associated problems and provide vital improvements to public safety. The research team will publish the research outcomes through peer-reviewed journals and conferences, nationally and internationally, raising Australia’s scientific profile within the civil engineering and mining community. The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Institution of Engineers seminars will be organised to promote discussion with the practitioners while the Australian geotechnical community will gain expertise through the PhD program. Read moreRead less
Physics-informed hydrodynamic model for clay across scales. This project aims to develop a predictive model for the macroscopic behaviour of clay by combining direct observations of microscopic and mesoscopic mechanisms with rigorous physical principles. The project expects to track clay aggregates as they expand or shrink under variable loads and moistures using novel X-ray and optical methods. A key anticipated result is the development of a robust hydrodynamic model for clay that rationalises ....Physics-informed hydrodynamic model for clay across scales. This project aims to develop a predictive model for the macroscopic behaviour of clay by combining direct observations of microscopic and mesoscopic mechanisms with rigorous physical principles. The project expects to track clay aggregates as they expand or shrink under variable loads and moistures using novel X-ray and optical methods. A key anticipated result is the development of a robust hydrodynamic model for clay that rationalises the observed phenomena. Expected outcomes include the accurate predictions of clay dynamics, either fast during landslides or slow under drying and wetting. As much of Australia experiences droughts and floods, this project should benefit the longevity and safety of critical infrastructure situated on clay.Read moreRead less
Solving the scale effect for rock discontinuities. This project aims to create a ground breaking approach for the scale-free prediction of shear strength of large in-situ rock discontinuities. Failure of rock slopes or rock cliffs can have disastrous consequences for human life, infrastructure and the economy. The stability of a fractured rock mass is controlled by the presence and characteristics of discontinuities, and any rigorous stability assessment requires quantification of discontinuity ....Solving the scale effect for rock discontinuities. This project aims to create a ground breaking approach for the scale-free prediction of shear strength of large in-situ rock discontinuities. Failure of rock slopes or rock cliffs can have disastrous consequences for human life, infrastructure and the economy. The stability of a fractured rock mass is controlled by the presence and characteristics of discontinuities, and any rigorous stability assessment requires quantification of discontinuity shear strength. The issue of rock instability affects both the civil and mining sectors. Developing a design methodology that addresses the scale effect for rock slope stability will provide safer civil environments and will allow the optimisation of resource extraction. This project will have significant economical and societal benefits which will apply not only to Australia but also internationally.Read moreRead less
Building Australia's Offshore Oil and Gas Industry on Solid Foundations: characterising multilayered soils for offshore foundation design. This project aims to characterise soils with multilayers for offshore foundation designs. The commonly used site investigation tools, cone, T-bar and ball penetrometers, will be studied using advanced large deformation finite element analysis and novel centrifuge technics. The outcome of this study will provide guidelines to interpret soil layer information a ....Building Australia's Offshore Oil and Gas Industry on Solid Foundations: characterising multilayered soils for offshore foundation design. This project aims to characterise soils with multilayers for offshore foundation designs. The commonly used site investigation tools, cone, T-bar and ball penetrometers, will be studied using advanced large deformation finite element analysis and novel centrifuge technics. The outcome of this study will provide guidelines to interpret soil layer information and soil design parameters from site investigation data, that is, penetrometers’ penetration resistance profiles. The guidelines will fill the knowledge gap in this area and will provide offshore design engineers with more reliable soil parameters for safer and more economical foundation designs.Read moreRead less
Long-term chemically induced crumbling of unsaturated brittle geomaterials. This project will investigate the crumbling of geomaterials such as soil and rock by analysing the microscopic mechanisms controlling their deterioration in acidic water. The project will help predict weathering processes using an experimentally validated theory and innovative pore-scale numerical simulations. Expected outcomes include a detailed knowledge of the multi-scale interactions between brittle geomaterials and ....Long-term chemically induced crumbling of unsaturated brittle geomaterials. This project will investigate the crumbling of geomaterials such as soil and rock by analysing the microscopic mechanisms controlling their deterioration in acidic water. The project will help predict weathering processes using an experimentally validated theory and innovative pore-scale numerical simulations. Expected outcomes include a detailed knowledge of the multi-scale interactions between brittle geomaterials and acidic water, leading to accurate forecasts of the long-term response of large-scale geotechnical structures. This project should provide significant benefits by improving soil management for mining remediation, increasing carbon dioxide storage efficiency, and preventing the deterioration of tailings dams.Read moreRead less
Combined strategies to extinguish underground coal fires and to extract geothermal energy. This project addresses two serious environmental issues that occur worldwide. Firstly, it aims to develop strategies to combat underground coal fires which are a serious environmental problem. It has been estimated that underground coal fires in China alone contribute 2 to 3 per cent of the total world output of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuel. Concentrations of CO2 and CO (carbon monoxide) o ....Combined strategies to extinguish underground coal fires and to extract geothermal energy. This project addresses two serious environmental issues that occur worldwide. Firstly, it aims to develop strategies to combat underground coal fires which are a serious environmental problem. It has been estimated that underground coal fires in China alone contribute 2 to 3 per cent of the total world output of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuel. Concentrations of CO2 and CO (carbon monoxide) of up to 2200 ppm and 1000 ppm, respectively, have been measured in gases produced by underground coal fires. Secondly, the project is a proof of concept to validate the feasibility of production of geothermal energy from burning coal seams. This aspect has the potential to harvest large amounts of geothermal energy which is currently wasted.Read moreRead less
Preventing extreme granular wear of geotechnical machinery. This project will investigate the mechanisms controlling the mechanical wear that is incurred while handling geomaterials such as sand, ore, coal and fragmented rock. The overarching aim is to help forecast and mitigate extreme wear conditions by analysing the microscopic forces that granular materials produce when in contact with moving metallic surfaces. The intended outcomes include a thorough understanding of these interfacial inter ....Preventing extreme granular wear of geotechnical machinery. This project will investigate the mechanisms controlling the mechanical wear that is incurred while handling geomaterials such as sand, ore, coal and fragmented rock. The overarching aim is to help forecast and mitigate extreme wear conditions by analysing the microscopic forces that granular materials produce when in contact with moving metallic surfaces. The intended outcomes include a thorough understanding of these interfacial interactions and an experimentally validated theory predicting wear rates for a range of materials and handling processes. The expected benefit of this project is to enhance the productivity and reliability of the mining and construction sectors by reducing wear-related machinery failures.Read moreRead less
A multi-scale theory of unsaturated porous media under extreme loading. Extreme loading induced by impacts, explosives or earthquakes generates stress wave propagation through unsaturated media; this can lead to rock fracturing and soil liquefaction and severely damage civil, mining and military infrastructures and operations. The project aims to develop a novel experimentally-validated theory, with associated models, for describing dynamic responses of unsaturated porous media subject to extrem ....A multi-scale theory of unsaturated porous media under extreme loading. Extreme loading induced by impacts, explosives or earthquakes generates stress wave propagation through unsaturated media; this can lead to rock fracturing and soil liquefaction and severely damage civil, mining and military infrastructures and operations. The project aims to develop a novel experimentally-validated theory, with associated models, for describing dynamic responses of unsaturated porous media subject to extreme loading. Our continuum framework will allow building constitutive models directly from saturation-dependent contact laws at the micro-scale. This will remove the need to use the site-dependent empirical models and thus give the derived constitutive models truly predictive capabilities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101116
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$378,616.00
Summary
Bringing granular mechanics to prevent fluid-driven soil erosion problems. This project aims to investigate the erosive behaviour of soils by exploring the interaction between evolving topography and overland water flow. It expects to generate new knowledge about the dominant granular mechanisms under different flow conditions using innovative high-speed X-ray imaging and detailed numerical simulations. Anticipated outcomes include a simple mathematical framework that takes these important facto ....Bringing granular mechanics to prevent fluid-driven soil erosion problems. This project aims to investigate the erosive behaviour of soils by exploring the interaction between evolving topography and overland water flow. It expects to generate new knowledge about the dominant granular mechanisms under different flow conditions using innovative high-speed X-ray imaging and detailed numerical simulations. Anticipated outcomes include a simple mathematical framework that takes these important factors into account, which will bridge geomechanics and fluid mechanics to provide valuable insight into long-term erosion and deposition rates. This should provide significant benefit by enhancing our ability to predict, and therefore prevent, intense soil loss or problematic build-up of sediment.Read moreRead less