Direct strength method of design of simple and complex thin-walled shapes for combined actions. The Direct Strength Method project will allow structural design engineers, and companies manufacturing cold-formed steel building products to innovate more widely. It will enhance the Australian and American standards for cold-formed steel design improving safety in building structures.
Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interacti ....Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interaction effects. The new DB method could allow buildings in regions of lower seismicity to be designed for robustness, gravity and wind loading and then checked using displacement principles for seismic compliance, which will dramatically simplify and improve the current seismic design process.Read moreRead less
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
Built-up cold-formed steel structures. The building industry is seeing a rapid uptake of joining two or more cold-formed steel sections to form large built-up sections with high carrying capacities. The joining consists of screws, or similar fasteners, placed intermittently along the member. The ease of joining encourages innovation in forming versatile new built-up section shapes in expanding areas of application. The project will provide guidelines and numerical tools for the efficient structu ....Built-up cold-formed steel structures. The building industry is seeing a rapid uptake of joining two or more cold-formed steel sections to form large built-up sections with high carrying capacities. The joining consists of screws, or similar fasteners, placed intermittently along the member. The ease of joining encourages innovation in forming versatile new built-up section shapes in expanding areas of application. The project will provide guidelines and numerical tools for the efficient structural design of built-up sections through experimental and theoretical research, studying the new failure modes pertaining to built-up sections, the increase in strength achievable from composite action and the optimum arrangement of fasteners. Read moreRead less
Shallow foundations in unsaturated soils: mechanistic design through numerical modelling, analysis and experimental investigation. This project will close the knowledge gap of how shallow foundations perform in variably saturated soils. It will integrate expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics, theory of elasto-plasticity, numerical modelling, limit analysis and experimental investigation. It will achieve a rigorous understanding of footings founded on unsaturated soils subjected to monotonic lo ....Shallow foundations in unsaturated soils: mechanistic design through numerical modelling, analysis and experimental investigation. This project will close the knowledge gap of how shallow foundations perform in variably saturated soils. It will integrate expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics, theory of elasto-plasticity, numerical modelling, limit analysis and experimental investigation. It will achieve a rigorous understanding of footings founded on unsaturated soils subjected to monotonic loading using a recently developed experimental testing facility, and analyses using finite elements, the method of characteristics and zero extension line theory. Impact and adoption in industry will be direct through world first design tools which incorporate the influence of suction on bearing capacity, settlement and safety.Read moreRead less
Seismic performance of precast concrete buildings for lower seismic regions. This project aims to develop a displacement-based method of assessing precast concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity for risk of collapse and seismic performance. The project will investigate the system behaviour and vulnerability of buildings laterally supported by precast concrete geometric walls, which are currently poorly understood but dominate Australian construction. The modelling produced is expected ....Seismic performance of precast concrete buildings for lower seismic regions. This project aims to develop a displacement-based method of assessing precast concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity for risk of collapse and seismic performance. The project will investigate the system behaviour and vulnerability of buildings laterally supported by precast concrete geometric walls, which are currently poorly understood but dominate Australian construction. The modelling produced is expected to allow such buildings to be simply checked for seismic compliance using displacement principles, rather than the more complex force based methods with direct benefits for building costs and community safety.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
Design Optimisation and Advanced Manufacturing of Structural Connections. This project aims to establish a new approach to designing and fabricating complex connections in spatial structures by taking advantage of latest technologies in topological optimisation and additive manufacturing. The project intends to develop new optimisation algorithms considering special constraints of additive manufacturing and to determine a cost-effective process for fabricating large metal connections. Expected o ....Design Optimisation and Advanced Manufacturing of Structural Connections. This project aims to establish a new approach to designing and fabricating complex connections in spatial structures by taking advantage of latest technologies in topological optimisation and additive manufacturing. The project intends to develop new optimisation algorithms considering special constraints of additive manufacturing and to determine a cost-effective process for fabricating large metal connections. Expected outcomes of the project include a new methodology and an advanced digital design tool, validated by experiments, for designing and fabricating efficient structural components. This should provide significant benefits to the construction industry in terms of performance enhancement, weight reduction and waste minimisation.Read moreRead less
Improved seismic resilience against life-safety hazard of masonry buildings. This project aims to develop a cost-effective technique to mitigate the safety risk posed by the many unreinforced brick masonry parapets and walls which are vulnerable to seismic shock. Every Australian city has many streets lined with older unreinforced brick masonry buildings (now cafes, pubs, boutique shops) which feature parapets. The project will provide benefits to society by reducing the potential for parapet co ....Improved seismic resilience against life-safety hazard of masonry buildings. This project aims to develop a cost-effective technique to mitigate the safety risk posed by the many unreinforced brick masonry parapets and walls which are vulnerable to seismic shock. Every Australian city has many streets lined with older unreinforced brick masonry buildings (now cafes, pubs, boutique shops) which feature parapets. The project will provide benefits to society by reducing the potential for parapet collapse and therefore reduce the total number of fatalities in an earthquake. Building owners and engineers will be benefit from the design guidance provided by this project, which will lead to a suite of fully-tested and low-cost retrofit techniques.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100130
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,000.00
Summary
An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions. An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions: This project aims to develop Australia's most advanced earthquake shaking table. Earthquakes are a problem of great significance to Australia. Infrastructure in civil, transport, mining and energy sectors may be at an unacceptable risk of damage under earthquake loading as current design practices do not account for the interaction between infrastructure ....An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions. An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions: This project aims to develop Australia's most advanced earthquake shaking table. Earthquakes are a problem of great significance to Australia. Infrastructure in civil, transport, mining and energy sectors may be at an unacceptable risk of damage under earthquake loading as current design practices do not account for the interaction between infrastructure and the ground under such loading. The shaking table will simulate earthquakes and enable controlled testing of three-tonne models of foundation and soil-structure interaction systems typical of Australia's infrastructure. The discoveries made are expected to be integral to the modernisation of Australia's seismic design standards so that earthquake-induced damage and risk exposure can be minimised.Read moreRead less