The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in pa ....The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in particular, children's exposure to ultrafine particles, thus reducing life long impacts, health care cost and productivity losses. The research will also place Australia at the forefront of international progress towards better methods for achieving environmental and public health sustainability.Read moreRead less
Monitoring and Maintaining the Structural Health of Bridges Using Vibration Characteristics. Bridges form an important part of our physical infrastructure system and in Queensland alone there are nearly 3000 bridges with an annual maintenance cost in excess of 20 million dollars and a replacement value in excess of 2 billion dollars. It is necessary to ensure that these bridges function safely and efficiently at all times. Bridge failure will cause disruption to normal lives and expensive repa ....Monitoring and Maintaining the Structural Health of Bridges Using Vibration Characteristics. Bridges form an important part of our physical infrastructure system and in Queensland alone there are nearly 3000 bridges with an annual maintenance cost in excess of 20 million dollars and a replacement value in excess of 2 billion dollars. It is necessary to ensure that these bridges function safely and efficiently at all times. Bridge failure will cause disruption to normal lives and expensive repairs. Towards this end, this project will develop an innovative structural health monitoring system to monitor and maintain the structural health of our bridges. The project outcomes will have immediate applications in Australia and overseas with economic and social benefits to the community.Read moreRead less
Travel time budget analysis from multi-day and multi-year data. This research will investigate whether people have stable budgets for daily travel time and travel cost expenditure. Stable budgets have enormous implications for how various transport policies and investments are likely to affect the way people choose to travel and will likely change various policy and investment decisions related to transport.
Laboratory and Theoretical Investigation of Soft Clay Behaviour under Cyclic Loading Stabilised by Prefabricated Vertical Drains. Coastal Australia is under increasing pressure from rapid population growth that requires continual capital investment in civil infrastructure such as road and rail links, ports and buildings. Many regions have soft compressible clays that present challenges for infrastructure design and construction. The use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) in stabilising soil ....Laboratory and Theoretical Investigation of Soft Clay Behaviour under Cyclic Loading Stabilised by Prefabricated Vertical Drains. Coastal Australia is under increasing pressure from rapid population growth that requires continual capital investment in civil infrastructure such as road and rail links, ports and buildings. Many regions have soft compressible clays that present challenges for infrastructure design and construction. The use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) in stabilising soil can reduce construction and maintenance costs, and increased soil strength will enhance the performance of infrastructure. In this project, the soil behaviour under cyclic loads stabilised by PVDs will be thoroughly investigated. Extensive laboratory testing will result in more efficient design and construction on soft soils, including roads, railways and airport runways.Read moreRead less
Development of advanced lithium ion battery and battery management system for electric /hybrid electric vehicle applications. This project represents a significant scientific and economic development for Australia as it aims to create advanced, high performing, energy storage devices with a focus on safety, that will provide enormous benefits for the environment. An added advantage will be the establishment of local and national expertise in the area of electrochemical energy storage systems, th ....Development of advanced lithium ion battery and battery management system for electric /hybrid electric vehicle applications. This project represents a significant scientific and economic development for Australia as it aims to create advanced, high performing, energy storage devices with a focus on safety, that will provide enormous benefits for the environment. An added advantage will be the establishment of local and national expertise in the area of electrochemical energy storage systems, that will place Australia at the forefront of lithium ion battery research and development. Flow-on benefits will also be created for Australian organizations involved in the manufacturing of electric vehicles and portable devices.Read moreRead less
A Scenario Planning Tool - Improving the Bikeability of Our Cities. This project aims to produce a data framework and interactive planning support tool, in collaboration with Australian government agencies, to explore various bicycle infrastructure scenarios and assess their potential impacts. This will be a game changer for the transport sector, as the lack of data-driven approaches focused on active mobility has restricted the development of evidence-based business cases for cycling infrastruc ....A Scenario Planning Tool - Improving the Bikeability of Our Cities. This project aims to produce a data framework and interactive planning support tool, in collaboration with Australian government agencies, to explore various bicycle infrastructure scenarios and assess their potential impacts. This will be a game changer for the transport sector, as the lack of data-driven approaches focused on active mobility has restricted the development of evidence-based business cases for cycling infrastructure investment, when compared to motorised transport. Benefits from this project to the nation include more informed and optimised investment in cycling, increase in cycling modal share, reduction of emissions and congestion, and improvement of safety and health outcomes from cycling.Read moreRead less
High Strength Steel Protection Bollards. Terrorist attacks cost Australians much human grief and millions of dollars. Prevention of an attack is paramount. Passive road bollards are commonly used to stop a vehicle approaching and/or entering security sensitive infrastructure. Thin-walled tubes are used to manufacture such bollards. However there is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour, and in particular high strength alloy steel bollards, when subjected to impact loads. The investigators wi ....High Strength Steel Protection Bollards. Terrorist attacks cost Australians much human grief and millions of dollars. Prevention of an attack is paramount. Passive road bollards are commonly used to stop a vehicle approaching and/or entering security sensitive infrastructure. Thin-walled tubes are used to manufacture such bollards. However there is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour, and in particular high strength alloy steel bollards, when subjected to impact loads. The investigators will apply their extensive knowledge in thin-walled tubular structures to establish the most economical means of designing high strength bollards. This knowledge will be transferred into design standards and Australia's limited defence resources.Read moreRead less
In-road microwave system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. In-road microwave system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. This project aims to develop a cost-effective, in-road microwave radar system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. The ever increasing number of vehicles on our roads makes conventional approaches to traffic management less effective and prohibitively expensive. The new system will integrate chip-enabled license plate technology wit ....In-road microwave system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. In-road microwave system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. This project aims to develop a cost-effective, in-road microwave radar system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. The ever increasing number of vehicles on our roads makes conventional approaches to traffic management less effective and prohibitively expensive. The new system will integrate chip-enabled license plate technology with novel microwave radar techniques to produce real-time data that supports immediate intervention for improved road safety, vehicle identification and driver validation. Multiple sensors will also provide uniquely rich data to improve traffic management decisions, road infrastructure planning and operation. This research could significantly reduce the effect of traffic incidents and congestions across Australia.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354894
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Innovative risk analysis, assessment, rehabilitation and strengthening of aging critical civil infrastructure. Much essential civil engineering infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, dams, pipelines and pavements was commissioned many decades ago, and sustaining the integrity of this infrastructure in developed nations as it ages is now considered to be a major challenge to the engineering and scientific community. Australia is not spared by the ramifications of its aging civil assets, and ....Innovative risk analysis, assessment, rehabilitation and strengthening of aging critical civil infrastructure. Much essential civil engineering infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, dams, pipelines and pavements was commissioned many decades ago, and sustaining the integrity of this infrastructure in developed nations as it ages is now considered to be a major challenge to the engineering and scientific community. Australia is not spared by the ramifications of its aging civil assets, and identification and rectification procedures that are often ad-hoc now represent a sizeable proportion of the GDP. This Research Network draws together the leading Australian research groups in engineering and applied mechanics in a coordinated program to address this most important cost to the community.Read moreRead less
Characterisation of granular base and sub-base pavement materials under cyclic loading. Pavement construction is a high cost item in road construction. Until very recently, pavements were designed based on empirical rules and restrictive material prescriptions. With the introduction of rational mechanistic pavement design methodology, it has become necessary to reliably characterise the behaviour of road foundation materials under cyclic loading. This project is focused on the characterisati ....Characterisation of granular base and sub-base pavement materials under cyclic loading. Pavement construction is a high cost item in road construction. Until very recently, pavements were designed based on empirical rules and restrictive material prescriptions. With the introduction of rational mechanistic pavement design methodology, it has become necessary to reliably characterise the behaviour of road foundation materials under cyclic loading. This project is focused on the characterisation of unbound granular base and sub-base materials. Since these are geo-materials, geotechnical concepts such as the influence of stress path will be used. This project will lead to better roads at lower cost, and significant leap in know-how in pavement design and material specification.Read moreRead less