Floating Forest – a breakwater for protecting the Australian coastline. This project aims to develop structural, materials and foundation solutions for a large floating forest that will act as a mega breakwater and windbreaker to protect the Australian coastline from strong waves and winds caused by climate change. This requires the evaluation of structural and environmental loads, concepts and optimal structural solutions, design, materials and foundation. The newly developed floating structure ....Floating Forest – a breakwater for protecting the Australian coastline. This project aims to develop structural, materials and foundation solutions for a large floating forest that will act as a mega breakwater and windbreaker to protect the Australian coastline from strong waves and winds caused by climate change. This requires the evaluation of structural and environmental loads, concepts and optimal structural solutions, design, materials and foundation. The newly developed floating structure will lead to future construction applications on the Australian harsh sea conditions that call for stringent requirements on infrastructures.Read moreRead less
Index coding for multimedia content distribution networks. The project aims to develop new bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes to reduce network congestion. A large portion of the increasing internet traffic is due to video content browsing and distribution. This creates serious strains on the current network infrastructure, which is designed to support conventional data. It is crucial to explore new avenues to reduce the network congestion due to large file downloads. The project aims to t ....Index coding for multimedia content distribution networks. The project aims to develop new bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes to reduce network congestion. A large portion of the increasing internet traffic is due to video content browsing and distribution. This creates serious strains on the current network infrastructure, which is designed to support conventional data. It is crucial to explore new avenues to reduce the network congestion due to large file downloads. The project aims to tackle this problem by exploring new index coding techniques that are robust to failures in wireless and wired network links. Using advanced mathematical tools from algebraic number theory and module theory, the project aims to design optimally bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes that enable timely and reliable content distribution to end users.Read moreRead less
Spatial network analysis for multimodal urban transport systems: a planning decision support tool. This research explores and assesses the development and use of accessibility tools for integrated land use and transport planning. It will establish international benchmarks for sustainable accessibility providing evidentiary support for government decision making and investment in sustainable urban development and public transport infrastructure.
New Generation of Secure Wireless Communications for Constrained Devices. This project aims to develop novel physical-layer security techniques to safeguard the ‘Internet of things’ (IoT). The IoT will involve billions of resource-constrained devices connected to the environment and managed though a range of wireless connections. Standard wireless security solutions are unsuitable for these devices due to the high cost of communication and computation. The project aims to develop a novel wireles ....New Generation of Secure Wireless Communications for Constrained Devices. This project aims to develop novel physical-layer security techniques to safeguard the ‘Internet of things’ (IoT). The IoT will involve billions of resource-constrained devices connected to the environment and managed though a range of wireless connections. Standard wireless security solutions are unsuitable for these devices due to the high cost of communication and computation. The project aims to develop a novel wireless security approach based on the physical-layer properties of wireless channels, to secure communications for the IoT. The fundamental advances of the first two years will be followed by a software-defined radio demonstration of the new technology. Expected project outcomes would provide innovative solutions to safeguard future commercial deployment of the IoT.Read moreRead less
Cementitious gel: the missing link in understanding the ageing of built infrastructure. Exposure of built reinforced concrete infrastructure to coastal environments causes premature ageing, unplanned remediation and reduced safety. Enhanced forecasting, achieved by advanced methods, including Helium Ion Microscopy and modeling interactions between cement gel, chloride and water, will deliver proactive management of ageing assets.
A complex systems approach to granular rheology: interconnecting topology, stability, dynamics and function. The response of granular materials (e.g. soil, rocks) to applied stresses and strains will be characterised in detail. Information mined from experimental and simulation tests will be used to develop robust predictive models of granular behaviour, crucial for effective earthquake mitigation as well as greener mining and construction technologies.
Involving local communities in defining town character in Victorian coastal towns. Many Australian coastal towns are experiencing rapid growth from tourism. In such places it is common to hear residents complain that the ?character? of their town is being lost due to inappropriate development. Local planning authorities are now attempting to respond to these concerns by undertaking studies to define what it is people feel is being lost. This project will involve local communities in defining tow ....Involving local communities in defining town character in Victorian coastal towns. Many Australian coastal towns are experiencing rapid growth from tourism. In such places it is common to hear residents complain that the ?character? of their town is being lost due to inappropriate development. Local planning authorities are now attempting to respond to these concerns by undertaking studies to define what it is people feel is being lost. This project will involve local communities in defining town and neighbourhood character in affected rural coastal areas of Victoria. Questions concerning residents' conceptualisation of town character and relationships between psychological and biophysical attributes associated with the notion of town character will be explored.Read moreRead less
Thermal Upheaval Buckling of Functionally Graded Pavement Slabs. Upheaval buckling or blowup of concrete pavements due to high environment temperature is a serious problem in transportation infrastructure which quite often leads to road failure or even traffic hazards. The proposed project presents a combined theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation on the effective enhancement of thermal buckling capacity of pavement slabs with or without initial imperfection by using light and gre ....Thermal Upheaval Buckling of Functionally Graded Pavement Slabs. Upheaval buckling or blowup of concrete pavements due to high environment temperature is a serious problem in transportation infrastructure which quite often leads to road failure or even traffic hazards. The proposed project presents a combined theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation on the effective enhancement of thermal buckling capacity of pavement slabs with or without initial imperfection by using light and green functionally graded concrete materials with reduced usage of plain Portland cements for less carbon dioxide emissions. The research outcomes will contribute significantly to the society by offering a novel environmental friendly pavement solution with greatly improved road safety.Read moreRead less
New paradigms for urban public transport planning in Australia: assessing the capacity of institutions and infrastructure. Current urban transport policies cannot be sustained in the face of climate change, peak oil and economic instability: dramatic increases in public transport use will require new standards of service delivery. This project will use international experience to shape new approaches to planning public transport in our largest cities.
An innovative mechanism for optimising freeway traffic efficiency, safety, and sustainability via variable speed limit control. Congestion, safety, and emissions are three major traffic problems threatening the Australian economy. This project aims to develop a novel approach to collectively handle these problems for freeway traffic using variable speed limits (VSL). The project tasks address modelling, VSL controller design and automatic fine tuning of VSL controllers.