Containment and Reduction of Rework in Transport Mega Projects. Mega transport projects (>$1 billion) are poorly managed during their construction with significant cost and schedule overruns and benefit shortfalls regularly being experienced. Having to perform rework has been identified as a major factor that contributes to these unintended consequences. As there has been limited research that has empirically examined rework causation, an inability to develop effective rework containment and red ....Containment and Reduction of Rework in Transport Mega Projects. Mega transport projects (>$1 billion) are poorly managed during their construction with significant cost and schedule overruns and benefit shortfalls regularly being experienced. Having to perform rework has been identified as a major factor that contributes to these unintended consequences. As there has been limited research that has empirically examined rework causation, an inability to develop effective rework containment and reduction strategies prevails. This research aims to develop a theoretical model that can be used to develop robust containment and reduction strategies to mitigate the adverse economic, productivity and safety consequences that materialize from performing rework during the construction of mega transport projects.Read moreRead less
Rare Event Simulation: Protecting vital infrastructure from flood extremes. This research aims to develop Rare Event Simulation to quantify the future risk of very rare to extreme floods. Expected outcomes include a framework for the design and maintenance of critical Civil Engineering infrastructure such as dams, extrapolation of extreme storm events beyond the observed record, and an assessment of change in rare flood risk across Australia. The significance of this world-first research lies in ....Rare Event Simulation: Protecting vital infrastructure from flood extremes. This research aims to develop Rare Event Simulation to quantify the future risk of very rare to extreme floods. Expected outcomes include a framework for the design and maintenance of critical Civil Engineering infrastructure such as dams, extrapolation of extreme storm events beyond the observed record, and an assessment of change in rare flood risk across Australia. The significance of this world-first research lies in adapting rare event simulation techniques that have only been applied to computer system failure before, to water engineering design. With Australian riverine flooding projected to cause $170 billion in losses by 2050, the benefit of this proposal in reducing future infrastructure damage costs and liability is overwhelming.Read moreRead less
The effects of cyclic loading on partially saturated soils. This project aims to predict the settlement and strength of the upper, partially saturated layer of the ground when it is subjected to cyclic loading. Most of our critical infrastructure is built on or in this layer, but currently we cannot reliably predict the ground response of partially saturated soils to the cyclic loads that arise from earthquakes, traffic and construction processes. The project is expected to develop a new numeric ....The effects of cyclic loading on partially saturated soils. This project aims to predict the settlement and strength of the upper, partially saturated layer of the ground when it is subjected to cyclic loading. Most of our critical infrastructure is built on or in this layer, but currently we cannot reliably predict the ground response of partially saturated soils to the cyclic loads that arise from earthquakes, traffic and construction processes. The project is expected to develop a new numerical model that can predict the effects of cyclic loads, and provide updated engineering guidance to ensure the integrity of infrastructure dependent on partially-saturated soils. Improved predictions of the processes involved resulting from this project will have significant economic benefits, as well as ensuring the safety and security of infrastructure and reduced maintenance costs.Read moreRead less
Anisotropic behaviour of natural soft soils. This project aims to improve current engineering analysis methods, which often fail to predict the performance of infrastructure built on natural soft soils. This project expects to develop a theoretical and mathematical framework to describe the response of soft soils to complex loading patterns imposed by transport and energy infrastructure. This will be informed by advanced laboratory experiments that transcend the capabilities of routine testing m ....Anisotropic behaviour of natural soft soils. This project aims to improve current engineering analysis methods, which often fail to predict the performance of infrastructure built on natural soft soils. This project expects to develop a theoretical and mathematical framework to describe the response of soft soils to complex loading patterns imposed by transport and energy infrastructure. This will be informed by advanced laboratory experiments that transcend the capabilities of routine testing methods. The expected outcome of the project is a series of tools for the engineering analysis of earthworks and foundations built on soft soils that will underpin the construction of civil infrastructure on ground often too poor to be considered for other use.Read moreRead less
Real-time bridge performance evaluation based on crowdsourcing and learning. This project aims to develop a novel strategy utilizing the real-time measurements from moving vehicles and bridges for evaluating the safety and operational performance of bridges based on transfer learning and vehicle-bridge interaction model. This is the first essential study on integrating the bridge-moving load models with transfer learning to extract common knowledge from simulation experiments to support the asse ....Real-time bridge performance evaluation based on crowdsourcing and learning. This project aims to develop a novel strategy utilizing the real-time measurements from moving vehicles and bridges for evaluating the safety and operational performance of bridges based on transfer learning and vehicle-bridge interaction model. This is the first essential study on integrating the bridge-moving load models with transfer learning to extract common knowledge from simulation experiments to support the assessment of damaged status in practice. The project will provide an engineer-friendly low cost monitoring system for its deployment, management and maintenance of existing transport infrastructure. The innovative techniques developed enable the safe operation and reliable evaluation and maintenance of transport infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Structural Fuses for Safer and More Economical Bridge Construction. This project aims to develop a novel structural system leading to more economical concrete bridge construction by utilising a customised structural fuse. A significant margin of safety is required in structural design to account for accidental over-loading and to reduce the risk of structural collapse. Such a margin leads to more material usage. Incorporation of a fuse into the structure that is triggered upon over-loading will ....Structural Fuses for Safer and More Economical Bridge Construction. This project aims to develop a novel structural system leading to more economical concrete bridge construction by utilising a customised structural fuse. A significant margin of safety is required in structural design to account for accidental over-loading and to reduce the risk of structural collapse. Such a margin leads to more material usage. Incorporation of a fuse into the structure that is triggered upon over-loading will cause a safer failure mode and prohibit further increase of loading, both of which result in a reduced structure without undermining safety. The project is expected to advance structural theory, and also provide significant benefits to the construction industry via cost reduction and more eco-friendly constructions.Read moreRead less
The Role of Energy Absorbing Rubber Grid on Ballast Track Performance. Breakage and excessive displacement of ballast lead to instability and regular maintenance of railways. The project aims to study the fundamental mechanics of ballast aggregates interacting with the apertures of recycled-Rubber Energy Absorbing Grids (REAG). The role of REAG on enhanced track performance by damping the cyclic wheel loading and impact will be quantified via rigorous mathematical methods complementing a compute ....The Role of Energy Absorbing Rubber Grid on Ballast Track Performance. Breakage and excessive displacement of ballast lead to instability and regular maintenance of railways. The project aims to study the fundamental mechanics of ballast aggregates interacting with the apertures of recycled-Rubber Energy Absorbing Grids (REAG). The role of REAG on enhanced track performance by damping the cyclic wheel loading and impact will be quantified via rigorous mathematical methods complementing a computer-based numerical model and validated by laboratory & field data. When placed within the rail substructure REAG will enable reduced ballast movement and breakage while attenuating noise/vibration. The research outputs will facilitate improved rail track design enabling enhanced longevity and reduced cost of maintenance.Read moreRead less
Assessing Water Supply Security in a Nonstationary Environment. About 25% of the global population currently has inadequate access to safe and secure water. This number is expected to rise to 50% by 2050 due to increased populations and reduced river flows. While a visible water crisis (such as the one in Cape Town in 2018) can culminate in the funding of new water supply infrastructure, a planned push for infrastructure augmentation often stalls due to contradictory projections of how much wate ....Assessing Water Supply Security in a Nonstationary Environment. About 25% of the global population currently has inadequate access to safe and secure water. This number is expected to rise to 50% by 2050 due to increased populations and reduced river flows. While a visible water crisis (such as the one in Cape Town in 2018) can culminate in the funding of new water supply infrastructure, a planned push for infrastructure augmentation often stalls due to contradictory projections of how much water will be available in the future. To address this, a novel alternative for assessing water security is proposed. Our approach assesses change using historical information on river flow and water demand, adapting these to form projections that exhibit greater reliability than currently existing alternatives.Read moreRead less
Opening a New Era of High-Performance Microwave Devices. We propose a conceptually new method of manufacturing high-performance microwave components at the low-cost and short lead time using liquid form conductors and 3D printing technology. Innovation consists in developing surface roughness free waveguide- and coaxial-based RF and microwave devices, in one-single-piece. This technique can be further extended to create high-performance reconfigurable RF and microwave devices such as filters, an ....Opening a New Era of High-Performance Microwave Devices. We propose a conceptually new method of manufacturing high-performance microwave components at the low-cost and short lead time using liquid form conductors and 3D printing technology. Innovation consists in developing surface roughness free waveguide- and coaxial-based RF and microwave devices, in one-single-piece. This technique can be further extended to create high-performance reconfigurable RF and microwave devices such as filters, antennas, directional couplers, phase shifters and switches by manipulating the locations of the liquid conductors. Furthermore, the method will enable the management of heat generated in high-power applications. Australian telecommunication industry and defence will benefit from the outcome of this project.Read moreRead less
Geopolymer concrete for thin-walled structures in marine environment. This project aims to develop ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete thin-walled structures for the critical infrastructure in the marine environment. It is expected that this project will develop novel design rules for ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete thin-walled structures based on experimental testing, numerical modelling, validation, and simulation. This project is expected to increase the durability of coasta ....Geopolymer concrete for thin-walled structures in marine environment. This project aims to develop ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete thin-walled structures for the critical infrastructure in the marine environment. It is expected that this project will develop novel design rules for ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete thin-walled structures based on experimental testing, numerical modelling, validation, and simulation. This project is expected to increase the durability of coastal infrastructures and significantly reduce the loss of their capacities due to corrosion-induced damage. The development of ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete thin-walled structures is a significant engineering discovery, which is in line with the Australian government 2030 vision for sustainable development.Read moreRead less