Mitigating Vehicular Crashes into Masonry Buildings . Around 2000 vehicles crash annually into school, home and shop buildings located at close proximity to heavily trafficked roads in Australia and cause significant distress to occupants of building and vehicle. The impacted walls mostly of masonry, suffer severe damage often with vehicle intrusion into the building. Despite this, the intrusion mechanism is not understood and no effective mitigation strategies exist at present. This project wi ....Mitigating Vehicular Crashes into Masonry Buildings . Around 2000 vehicles crash annually into school, home and shop buildings located at close proximity to heavily trafficked roads in Australia and cause significant distress to occupants of building and vehicle. The impacted walls mostly of masonry, suffer severe damage often with vehicle intrusion into the building. Despite this, the intrusion mechanism is not understood and no effective mitigation strategies exist at present. This project will uncover the mechanics of vehicle intrusions through masonry walls and develop novel mitigation strategies using high energy absorbing auxetic composite render and innovative vibration isolation at wall edges. These innovations will lead to new theories that can save lives in the building and vehicle.Read moreRead less
Safety and robustness of tall timber buildings under extreme dynamic events. This project aims to develop innovative and robust structural connections in tall mass timber buildings by characterising their mechanical behaviour under dynamic loads induced by extreme events like earthquakes or progressive collapse. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the safe, economic, and efficient design of mass timber buildings. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced robustness design ....Safety and robustness of tall timber buildings under extreme dynamic events. This project aims to develop innovative and robust structural connections in tall mass timber buildings by characterising their mechanical behaviour under dynamic loads induced by extreme events like earthquakes or progressive collapse. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the safe, economic, and efficient design of mass timber buildings. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced robustness design guidelines for the engineering community. This should lead to significant benefits, such as contributing to uptake of viable low-cost timber housing solutions in response to population growth and contributing to net zero emissions in Australia by 2050, and transition to safer and resilient infrastructure in urban development.Read moreRead less
Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based ....Nano-engineered catalysts for sustainable fuel production from waste . This project aims to address two major problems simultaneously-reducing the burden of non-recyclable waste currently going to landfill in Australia, and offsetting Australia’s reliance on imported diesel to support industry and transport needs. While approximately 95% of diesel consumed in Australia is imported, vast quantities of carbon-based waste ends up in landfill. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a mixture of plant-based waste (including food, garden, paper, and wood) and fossil-fuel derived materials (plastics). Using an innovative and environmentally-sustainable catalytic process, the outcomes of this project are aimed alleviating Australia’s dependence on diesel fuel imports and better waste management solutions in Australia.Read moreRead less
Microfluidics with core-shell beads: handling liquids like solids. Reducing waste of consumables in chemical reactions promises to solve environmental problems as well as enable novel applications in space. This project aims to establish a revolutionary fluid handling technology that lowers waste in the labs and in satellites. The project deciphers the fundamental physics behind our recent discovery of encapsulating a tiny liquid content in a solid shell, allowing for handling liquid samples lik ....Microfluidics with core-shell beads: handling liquids like solids. Reducing waste of consumables in chemical reactions promises to solve environmental problems as well as enable novel applications in space. This project aims to establish a revolutionary fluid handling technology that lowers waste in the labs and in satellites. The project deciphers the fundamental physics behind our recent discovery of encapsulating a tiny liquid content in a solid shell, allowing for handling liquid samples like solid particles. Examples of the benefit of this project are more precise detection of bacteria on earth and compact reactors in space. The research outcomes are instrumental for promoting a clean environment, good health, and creating new business opportunities, particularly in space industry, for Australians.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100357
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,118.00
Summary
Catalyst design for converting carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. This project aims to use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives global climate change, into valuable chemicals via catalytic reduction. This project expects to facilitate the selective production of valuable ethylene from carbon dioxide reduction by developing novel cocatalyst materials derived from metal-oxo cluster molecules. Expected outcomes include fundamental understanding of the ....Catalyst design for converting carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. This project aims to use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives global climate change, into valuable chemicals via catalytic reduction. This project expects to facilitate the selective production of valuable ethylene from carbon dioxide reduction by developing novel cocatalyst materials derived from metal-oxo cluster molecules. Expected outcomes include fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationship in new catalytic systems, and technological breakthroughs in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The success of this project will bring significant environmental and economic benefits, and position Australia at the frontier of global transition to a low-carbon economy.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100817
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$458,460.00
Summary
Predicting internal erosion in dams using real-time coupled experiments. Internal erosion causes nearly half of embankment dam failures globally. This project aims to develop a mechanics-based understanding of internal erosion to overcome the limitations of existing empirical approaches that do not capture the underlying physics. By innovatively coupling computational and physical experiments in real-time, this project expects to generate new insights that identify the factors leading to the ini ....Predicting internal erosion in dams using real-time coupled experiments. Internal erosion causes nearly half of embankment dam failures globally. This project aims to develop a mechanics-based understanding of internal erosion to overcome the limitations of existing empirical approaches that do not capture the underlying physics. By innovatively coupling computational and physical experiments in real-time, this project expects to generate new insights that identify the factors leading to the initiation and continuation of internal erosion. The expected outcome of this project is a probabilistic framework able to predict the internal erosion process. This should significantly enhance and inform the design of erosion control measures and provide a holistic risk assessment for embankment dams.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100722
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,245.00
Summary
Enabling Novel Hydrogen Storage via Combustible Ice for a Low-Carbon Future. This project aims to develop a new method for sustainable hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is vital for decarbonising Australia's economy, yet finding an efficient way for hydrogen storage is a global challenge. This project seeks to encapsulate hydrogen effectively in water to produce hydrogen-carrying combustible ice for efficient large-scale hydrogen storage, taking the advantages of water as the safest and cheapest raw ma ....Enabling Novel Hydrogen Storage via Combustible Ice for a Low-Carbon Future. This project aims to develop a new method for sustainable hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is vital for decarbonising Australia's economy, yet finding an efficient way for hydrogen storage is a global challenge. This project seeks to encapsulate hydrogen effectively in water to produce hydrogen-carrying combustible ice for efficient large-scale hydrogen storage, taking the advantages of water as the safest and cheapest raw material. Expected outcomes are cutting-edge knowledge and a new pathway of hydrogen storage. This project would contribute to turning Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources into substantial economic and environmental benefits and promote Australia's competitive edge in the global transition toward a low-carbon future.Read moreRead less
Multifunctional Structural Panels for Next-generation Infrastructure. This project aims to develop a multifunctional prefabricated structural panel for current and future infrastructure applications for both land and offshore environments. Prefabrication enables enhanced product control as well as the ability to rapidly construct whole structures or their components. The panels utilise an inner lightweight foam and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite core with strong outer panels made from ....Multifunctional Structural Panels for Next-generation Infrastructure. This project aims to develop a multifunctional prefabricated structural panel for current and future infrastructure applications for both land and offshore environments. Prefabrication enables enhanced product control as well as the ability to rapidly construct whole structures or their components. The panels utilise an inner lightweight foam and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite core with strong outer panels made from FRP sheets and high-strength concrete. The expected outcomes include experimental and numerical validation of the system, that will give designers and asset owners the confidence to adopt this new panel. The panel system presents an upward step change in construction technology and built infrastructure performance.Read moreRead less
Design guidelines for safety-critical controllers in high-risk environments. This project aims to generate novel product design guidelines for developing safer controllers for use by potentially stressed individuals in high-risk situations. It will do this by generating specific insights and verifying generalisable solutions from the context of total artificial heart recipients –who must engage with critical controllers constantly. This project expects to generate new knowledge in design by esta ....Design guidelines for safety-critical controllers in high-risk environments. This project aims to generate novel product design guidelines for developing safer controllers for use by potentially stressed individuals in high-risk situations. It will do this by generating specific insights and verifying generalisable solutions from the context of total artificial heart recipients –who must engage with critical controllers constantly. This project expects to generate new knowledge in design by establishing a new research topic around an under-examined user cohort. Expected outcomes of this project include interaction design theory developments and improved controller design techniques. This should provide significant benefits and competitive advantages by lowering stress and improving safety across a range of contexts.Read moreRead less