Improving airborne electromagnetic surveying for minerals and groundwater. Groundwater is vital in many parts of Australia due to low surface water availability while much of Australia’s mineral wealth is obscured by conductive cover. Airborne surveys are key to mapping minerals and water over large areas. This project aims to enhance the resolution of airborne electromagnetic surveying technology by developing advanced new aircraft transmitters and receivers. The project expects to enable compl ....Improving airborne electromagnetic surveying for minerals and groundwater. Groundwater is vital in many parts of Australia due to low surface water availability while much of Australia’s mineral wealth is obscured by conductive cover. Airborne surveys are key to mapping minerals and water over large areas. This project aims to enhance the resolution of airborne electromagnetic surveying technology by developing advanced new aircraft transmitters and receivers. The project expects to enable complex groundwater structures to be mapped more accurately and increase the depth to which conductive ore bodies can be detected. Expected outcomes include the discovery of new economic mineral and water resources. This should provide significant benefits to the mining and agricultural industries.Read moreRead less
Prediction and control of fluid-structure interactions. Fluid-flows create a pressure that can deform the surface of a structure or cause it to vibrate; an extreme example is the fluttering of a flag. Flow-induced vibration of the external panels of vehicles causes damage, noise and can adversely affect performance. This project will develop a wholly new approach for the analysis of these interactions. The versatility and completeness of the approach permits a step-change in the design of panels ....Prediction and control of fluid-structure interactions. Fluid-flows create a pressure that can deform the surface of a structure or cause it to vibrate; an extreme example is the fluttering of a flag. Flow-induced vibration of the external panels of vehicles causes damage, noise and can adversely affect performance. This project will develop a wholly new approach for the analysis of these interactions. The versatility and completeness of the approach permits a step-change in the design of panels, reducing material and manufacturing costs without compromise to safety and performance - an immense benefit for the myriad engineered products or structures that feature flow over a deformable surface. Read moreRead less
ACTIVE CONTROL OF SURFACE OCEAN SHIPS. This research is to design nonlinear robust adaptive control systems using active actuators (flaps, fins and rudders) for course keeping and path tracking of surface ocean ships, which are inherently nonlinear and with uncertainties. The outcome of the research will lead to the development of non-linear control strategies, which result in simple-to-implement and effective controllers. These controllers are robust to the environmental disturbances and uncert ....ACTIVE CONTROL OF SURFACE OCEAN SHIPS. This research is to design nonlinear robust adaptive control systems using active actuators (flaps, fins and rudders) for course keeping and path tracking of surface ocean ships, which are inherently nonlinear and with uncertainties. The outcome of the research will lead to the development of non-linear control strategies, which result in simple-to-implement and effective controllers. These controllers are robust to the environmental disturbances and uncertainties, adapt to unknown parameters of the ship and actuators. Only a few control gains are required to be tuned. The success of this project will significantly increase the international competiveness of Australian shipbuilding industry.Read moreRead less
Development of Canonical Mist Filter Models. Over one million tonnes of oil (mist) is wasted every year – and emitted to the atmosphere through inefficient filtration. Over 50 per cent of energy usage in most process industries is for filtration and separation processes, yet mist filters and separators are largely designed by trial and error, resulting in sub-optimal, inefficient designs. Recent advances by the research team have, only now, made it possible to develop accurate models for such sy ....Development of Canonical Mist Filter Models. Over one million tonnes of oil (mist) is wasted every year – and emitted to the atmosphere through inefficient filtration. Over 50 per cent of energy usage in most process industries is for filtration and separation processes, yet mist filters and separators are largely designed by trial and error, resulting in sub-optimal, inefficient designs. Recent advances by the research team have, only now, made it possible to develop accurate models for such systems. This work intends to be the first to develop accurate, broadly applicable models for all processes in mist filters, thereby providing immense process efficiency benefits, together with improved worker and environmental protection, and less wastage of dwindling oil resources.Read moreRead less
TRANSIENT VIBRATION IN PIPELINE SYSTEMS. Although the threat of transient vibration to the safety of pipeline systems has been widely recognised, neither the coupling characteristics in transient wave propagation are clearly understood, nor accurate tools are available for analysing them. The aims of this project are to develop effective analytical and experimental methods, to study the interactions between transient waves of different types at pipe joints and bends, and to experimentally charac ....TRANSIENT VIBRATION IN PIPELINE SYSTEMS. Although the threat of transient vibration to the safety of pipeline systems has been widely recognised, neither the coupling characteristics in transient wave propagation are clearly understood, nor accurate tools are available for analysing them. The aims of this project are to develop effective analytical and experimental methods, to study the interactions between transient waves of different types at pipe joints and bends, and to experimentally characterise the transient excitations. The understanding and techniques developed from this project hold promise in providing reliable tools for safe design of complex pipeline systems in petroleum, chemical and refinery industries.Read moreRead less
Resolving the impact of pressure on hot and low-oxygen combustion. Despite the important role of renewable energy sources, combustion will remain essential for transportation into the foreseeable future. This project aims to investigate flames burning in a hot and low-oxygen environment. The objective is to better understand how these conditions could be applied to gas turbines. This project expects to generate new knowledge to enable a reduction in emissions, improvement in efficiency and incre ....Resolving the impact of pressure on hot and low-oxygen combustion. Despite the important role of renewable energy sources, combustion will remain essential for transportation into the foreseeable future. This project aims to investigate flames burning in a hot and low-oxygen environment. The objective is to better understand how these conditions could be applied to gas turbines. This project expects to generate new knowledge to enable a reduction in emissions, improvement in efficiency and increase in power output. Expected outcomes of this project include improved understanding of the governing physics to enable development of design tools for next-generation engines. This should provide significant benefits, such as reduced reliance on fossil fuels and a critical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.Read moreRead less
Better predictions of spray flames. This project aims to predict spray flames using experimental and computational modelling of the combustion near burning droplets in spray flames. Spray flames are the dominant source of energy for the transportation sector, and are expected to remain so well into the future. Limited understanding of combustion processes surrounding the burning of the droplets restricts further technological development. This project is expected to enable progress in design too ....Better predictions of spray flames. This project aims to predict spray flames using experimental and computational modelling of the combustion near burning droplets in spray flames. Spray flames are the dominant source of energy for the transportation sector, and are expected to remain so well into the future. Limited understanding of combustion processes surrounding the burning of the droplets restricts further technological development. This project is expected to enable progress in design tools for spray flame combustors operating on liquid fuels, including bio-fuels. The result will be lower pollutant emissions and lower the cost of design of new engines.Read moreRead less
Thermal enhancement strategies and development of a high-performance micro-scale heat exchanger for thermoelectric refrigeration with large cooling loads. Traditional refrigeration essentially utilises CFC-refrigerants which are potent atmospheric pollutants causing widespread ecological damage. Devoid of such adversities, electronic heat pumping mechanism of thermoelectric principle offers a practical ?CFC-free? alternative for conventional cooling methods. While the current thermoelectric te ....Thermal enhancement strategies and development of a high-performance micro-scale heat exchanger for thermoelectric refrigeration with large cooling loads. Traditional refrigeration essentially utilises CFC-refrigerants which are potent atmospheric pollutants causing widespread ecological damage. Devoid of such adversities, electronic heat pumping mechanism of thermoelectric principle offers a practical ?CFC-free? alternative for conventional cooling methods. While the current thermoelectric technology adequately meets light cooling demand, its potential for heavy-duty refrigeration is critically undermined by ill-developed methods for dissipating heat from thermoelectric modules to coolants, and remains grossly under-utilised. The proposed work will devise novel heat transfer techniques for raising thermoelectric cooling thresholds to suit large heat loads and develop a thermally enhanced micro-scale heat exchanger for application in commercial thermoelectric refrigeration.Read moreRead less
Constricted hydraulic fracture opening. This project aims to develop experimentally verified models for designing and monitoring of hydraulic fractures with constricted openings, to ensure adequate and robust hydraulic fracture control for example in petroleum production. Hydraulic fractures are often constricted by bridges that hold two sides of the fracture together. Failure to account for bridges and constriction of fractures can lead to premature screen-out (exceeding available pump pressure ....Constricted hydraulic fracture opening. This project aims to develop experimentally verified models for designing and monitoring of hydraulic fractures with constricted openings, to ensure adequate and robust hydraulic fracture control for example in petroleum production. Hydraulic fractures are often constricted by bridges that hold two sides of the fracture together. Failure to account for bridges and constriction of fractures can lead to premature screen-out (exceeding available pump pressure) of proppant and inadequate fracking control. The project results are expected to substantially increase the accuracy of design and monitoring of fracture opening, geometry and fluid flow to improve efficiency, safety and environmental security of the resource and energy extraction.Read moreRead less
Active control of vibration in marine riser systems. Effective control of vibrations of riser/drill rigs and vessels is an important measure of the technical quality, productivity, and environmental protection from pollution of the oil and gas industry in a country. The successful completion of this project promises to put the Australian oil and gas industry in a leading position in this area. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this project, the development of this section of the shipbuildi ....Active control of vibration in marine riser systems. Effective control of vibrations of riser/drill rigs and vessels is an important measure of the technical quality, productivity, and environmental protection from pollution of the oil and gas industry in a country. The successful completion of this project promises to put the Australian oil and gas industry in a leading position in this area. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this project, the development of this section of the shipbuilding industry will also stimulate the development in many other areas such as structure dynamics, control sensors, actuators, electronics and control.Read moreRead less