Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH200100010
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy. This project aims to create new knowledge to reduce waste going to landfills and transform reclaimed waste into new materials for use in construction and other manufacturing sectors. It integrates multisector input and multidisciplinary academic research to address ten challenging waste streams. Expected outcomes are smart materials, socio-technical change, accelerated t ....ARC Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy. This project aims to create new knowledge to reduce waste going to landfills and transform reclaimed waste into new materials for use in construction and other manufacturing sectors. It integrates multisector input and multidisciplinary academic research to address ten challenging waste streams. Expected outcomes are smart materials, socio-technical change, accelerated testing methods, predictive modeling, circular life cycle costing and a trusted evidence base. Outcomes will lead to commercial benefits as well as jobs and a significant contribution to addressing the pressing environmental impacts of waste production, management, and re-use.Read moreRead less
Clogging of Permeable Reactive Barrier when treating Acidic Groundwater. Proper understanding of soil-water interaction is vital for sustainable development of floodplains, and to halt acid mine drainage caused by the oxidation of pyritic soil. Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) offer a cost-effective solution to neutralize acidified groundwater. The project aims to quantify the clogging potential of PRB’s granular medium by coupling geotechnical fundamentals with integrated hydro-bio-geochemical ....Clogging of Permeable Reactive Barrier when treating Acidic Groundwater. Proper understanding of soil-water interaction is vital for sustainable development of floodplains, and to halt acid mine drainage caused by the oxidation of pyritic soil. Permeable reactive barriers (PRB) offer a cost-effective solution to neutralize acidified groundwater. The project aims to quantify the clogging potential of PRB’s granular medium by coupling geotechnical fundamentals with integrated hydro-bio-geochemical processes. Time-dependent clogging will be evaluated through geotechnical laboratory & field testing. Expected outcomes are enhanced PRB design methods and sound geotechnical field monitoring to provide significant industry benefits, such as mine-site rehabilitation, increased productivity and infrastructure longevity.Read moreRead less
Innovative composite systems with enhanced resilience to extreme loads. The rapidly increasing global population (projected to be 9.8 billion by 2050) and global urbanisation have created a demand for the construction industry, thereby increasing the pressure on our planet’s limited resources for the construction industry. This high demand can yield detrimental effects to the environment due to the high carbon footprint of conventional construction materials, and is amplified by the threat of ac ....Innovative composite systems with enhanced resilience to extreme loads. The rapidly increasing global population (projected to be 9.8 billion by 2050) and global urbanisation have created a demand for the construction industry, thereby increasing the pressure on our planet’s limited resources for the construction industry. This high demand can yield detrimental effects to the environment due to the high carbon footprint of conventional construction materials, and is amplified by the threat of accidental or deliberate extreme loadings to buildings, which can trigger fatal progressive collapse events. The proposed project aims to develop an innovative structural system with that possesses superior structural resilience to extreme loads and progressive collapse using lightweight eco-friendly materials. Read moreRead less
Efficient geotechnical risk management of rock cliffs . Extreme events will significantly impact the severity of Australian rock cliff hazards in the coming years affecting infrastructure and public safety along major corridors and popular paths. Accurate prediction of their effect is crucial to analyse the associated rockfall risks and design mitigation measures. The project aims to provide a novel approach for the quantification of the rockfall risk by combining proximity remote sensing soluti ....Efficient geotechnical risk management of rock cliffs . Extreme events will significantly impact the severity of Australian rock cliff hazards in the coming years affecting infrastructure and public safety along major corridors and popular paths. Accurate prediction of their effect is crucial to analyse the associated rockfall risks and design mitigation measures. The project aims to provide a novel approach for the quantification of the rockfall risk by combining proximity remote sensing solutions, probabilistic models and quantitative risk analysis. The primary benefits lie in the ability to optimize protection reliability and costs and to deliver a rigorous method to support practitioners, government and emergency agencies to manage the risk, improve safety and properly allocate resources.Read moreRead less
A novel quantitative risk assessment framework for fractured rock slopes. Rock slope instabilities present grave risks to life and to the serviceability of major Australian infrastructure such as mines, roads and railways, and to coastal recreation areas. This project aims at developing tools for the quantitative risk assessment of fractured rock slopes based on rigorous rock mechanics, numerical methods and probabilistic methods.
The research outcomes will improve our understanding of natural ....A novel quantitative risk assessment framework for fractured rock slopes. Rock slope instabilities present grave risks to life and to the serviceability of major Australian infrastructure such as mines, roads and railways, and to coastal recreation areas. This project aims at developing tools for the quantitative risk assessment of fractured rock slopes based on rigorous rock mechanics, numerical methods and probabilistic methods.
The research outcomes will improve our understanding of natural and engineering rock slopes, reduce the uncertainties in the prediction of the safety of infrastructures, and thus minimize the loss and damage. The research outcomes can also be used to maintain workplace safety in mining environments and avoid disruptions to production.
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A novel method to stabilise expansive soils by alkali-activation . This project aims to address durability and sustainability issues with traditional lime-based methods used to stabilize expansive soils by alternatively advancing an alkali-activation approach. It expects to generate new knowledge in using alkali-activation to suppress the swelling potential of expansive soils which have been deleterious to roads, pavements and overlying structures. Expected outcomes of this project include deve ....A novel method to stabilise expansive soils by alkali-activation . This project aims to address durability and sustainability issues with traditional lime-based methods used to stabilize expansive soils by alternatively advancing an alkali-activation approach. It expects to generate new knowledge in using alkali-activation to suppress the swelling potential of expansive soils which have been deleterious to roads, pavements and overlying structures. Expected outcomes of this project include development of a long-term durable treatment with reduced carbon footprint and use of waste materials. This should provide significant benefits commercially and critical insights to overcome expansive soils which cover approximately one-fifth of Australia’s surface area and six out of eight of its largest cities.Read moreRead less
New Systems for High Rise Steel Structures in Rising Factory Construction. This project will develop new and innovative ways of constructing steel structures using the rising factory concept. The rising factory is a 10 storey enclosure where the final high-rise building is safely constructed within a watertight envelope which rises as the building progresses. The project will perform the necessary research to make possible high-rise steel structural systems consisting of hot-rolled (heavy gauge ....New Systems for High Rise Steel Structures in Rising Factory Construction. This project will develop new and innovative ways of constructing steel structures using the rising factory concept. The rising factory is a 10 storey enclosure where the final high-rise building is safely constructed within a watertight envelope which rises as the building progresses. The project will perform the necessary research to make possible high-rise steel structural systems consisting of hot-rolled (heavy gauge) and cold-formed (light gauge) steel structural members and connections which can be used in the rising factory. The main benefits of the rising factory are the waterproof construction environment and the substantially increased safety as a result of no external cranes.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101563
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Scrubbing pollutant gases from air via biochar-foam concrete technology. This project aims to address the pressing need to curb carbon dioxide and sulfur oxide level in the air through direct air capture technology using foamed concrete with engineered biochar, prepared by pyrolysis of food waste. The expected outcome of the project would be a durable biochar-foam concrete technology that enhances uptake of the mentioned pollutants, thus reducing their concentration in the ambient environment. I ....Scrubbing pollutant gases from air via biochar-foam concrete technology. This project aims to address the pressing need to curb carbon dioxide and sulfur oxide level in the air through direct air capture technology using foamed concrete with engineered biochar, prepared by pyrolysis of food waste. The expected outcome of the project would be a durable biochar-foam concrete technology that enhances uptake of the mentioned pollutants, thus reducing their concentration in the ambient environment. It links to Australian Government’s Science and Research priority areas of Resources and Environmental Change through utilization of waste-stream and offering an adaptive measure to impacts of climate change. Deploying this technology would offer durable lightweight construction and healthy environment for urban residents.Read moreRead less
Time Dependent Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Structures. . The project aims to quantify the initial and long-term cracking and deformation of fibre reinforced concrete structures such as tunnel linings and slabs under sustained in-service loads and conditions. Concrete structures with and without conventional steel reinforcement and containing either steel or polypropylene fibres mixed in the concrete will be tested experimentally and modelled analytically and numerically. Expected outc ....Time Dependent Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Structures. . The project aims to quantify the initial and long-term cracking and deformation of fibre reinforced concrete structures such as tunnel linings and slabs under sustained in-service loads and conditions. Concrete structures with and without conventional steel reinforcement and containing either steel or polypropylene fibres mixed in the concrete will be tested experimentally and modelled analytically and numerically. Expected outcomes are benchmark experimental data on structural behaviour under sustained loads, development of reliable simulation models and robust design procedures for the control of time-dependent cracking and deformation in fibre reinforced concrete, with reduced maintenance costs and more sustainable concrete structures.Read moreRead less
Passive biofiltration processes for nitrogen removal from polluted waters. Traditional urban wastewater treatment is energy and resource demanding. By combining principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) with advanced pollutant removal processes, we will create necessary knowledge to underpin development of novel sustainable urban water treatment systems. This project aims to understand and utilise Simultaneous Nitrification, Anammox and Denitrification (SNAD) processes within passive pla ....Passive biofiltration processes for nitrogen removal from polluted waters. Traditional urban wastewater treatment is energy and resource demanding. By combining principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) with advanced pollutant removal processes, we will create necessary knowledge to underpin development of novel sustainable urban water treatment systems. This project aims to understand and utilise Simultaneous Nitrification, Anammox and Denitrification (SNAD) processes within passive plant-soil-based biofilters for cost-effective removal of nitrogen from a range of polluted urban water sources. The project will open a potential for a new technological advancements in urban water management, while simultaneously providing benefits to the environment and community through greening and waterway protection.Read moreRead less