Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100119
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Unlocking the changing strength of fine-grained soils in numerical analyses. This project aims to numerically simulate strain-softening-hardening in fine-grained soils. Fine-grained soils soften during deformation and harden as excess pore pressures dissipate. Models exist that allow strain-softening and hardening in finite element simulations, but suffer from mesh-dependency. Regularisation methods can alleviate mesh-dependency, but an appropriate characteristic length for the regularisation is ....Unlocking the changing strength of fine-grained soils in numerical analyses. This project aims to numerically simulate strain-softening-hardening in fine-grained soils. Fine-grained soils soften during deformation and harden as excess pore pressures dissipate. Models exist that allow strain-softening and hardening in finite element simulations, but suffer from mesh-dependency. Regularisation methods can alleviate mesh-dependency, but an appropriate characteristic length for the regularisation is needed and difficult to determine. This project will use image-based soil deformation measurement and aspects of the finite element method to determine appropriate regularisation techniques, characteristic lengths and constitutive relations. Reliably modelling strain-softening and hardening in finite element simulations is expected to reduce uncertainty in design and make civil infrastructure cheaper.Read moreRead less
Understanding vibratory piles in sand: installation and lateral response. This project aims to address uncertainties in the design of vibro-driven piles. This promising alternative to impact-driven piles offers faster installation and requires no noise mitigation. The project expects to generate new knowledge of the effect of the installation process in sand on in-service pile response by integrating findings from innovative experiments and numerical modelling. This is particularly important for ....Understanding vibratory piles in sand: installation and lateral response. This project aims to address uncertainties in the design of vibro-driven piles. This promising alternative to impact-driven piles offers faster installation and requires no noise mitigation. The project expects to generate new knowledge of the effect of the installation process in sand on in-service pile response by integrating findings from innovative experiments and numerical modelling. This is particularly important for highly sensitive structures such as offshore wind turbines, which provide a rapidly increasing share of global energy supply. Expected outcomes include practical recommendations for vibro-piles in sand. This should provide sizeable benefits by unlocking vibro-piles as a viable method to reduce offshore wind farm costs.Read moreRead less
Design guideline for suction caissons supporting offshore wind turbines. This project aims to develop an industry guideline for suction caisson foundations, that are a new form of fixed platform anchor, for offshore wind turbines. The project expects to generate new knowledge of caisson response during installation and over millions of wind/wave load cycles, by integrating field experience with measurements from innovative experiments. The expected outcomes of this project include new methods to ....Design guideline for suction caissons supporting offshore wind turbines. This project aims to develop an industry guideline for suction caisson foundations, that are a new form of fixed platform anchor, for offshore wind turbines. The project expects to generate new knowledge of caisson response during installation and over millions of wind/wave load cycles, by integrating field experience with measurements from innovative experiments. The expected outcomes of this project include new methods to guide suction installation in difficult soil layering and predicting rotation and stiffness over a turbine’s operational life. The benefits of these scientific advances will contribute to the economic and reliable design of suction caisson foundations and a more rapid take-up of offshore wind energy.Read moreRead less
Automatic construction monitoring through semantic information modelling. This project aims to develop computational algorithms and methods for automatic as-built construction monitoring through semantics-based Building Information Modelling (BIM). Construction as–built monitoring is crucial for the cost, time, quality and safety of projects. Methods for generating as-built status are primarily manual. There are gaps in sophistication of automation, and recognition for semantic construction info ....Automatic construction monitoring through semantic information modelling. This project aims to develop computational algorithms and methods for automatic as-built construction monitoring through semantics-based Building Information Modelling (BIM). Construction as–built monitoring is crucial for the cost, time, quality and safety of projects. Methods for generating as-built status are primarily manual. There are gaps in sophistication of automation, and recognition for semantic construction information during the process is low. The project is expected to provide efficient and accurate solutions for as-built construction monitoring.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100195
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Using Sandwich Pipe for Pipeline Vibration Control. Pipelines are important structures but are vulnerable to different types of damage. This damage is often associated with pipeline vibration. It is important to control adverse vibrations to reduce the risk of catastrophic damage. This project proposes using sandwich pipe to suppress different sources of vibrations that may be experienced during the lifetime of the pipeline. Analytical, numerical and experimental investigations will be carried o ....Using Sandwich Pipe for Pipeline Vibration Control. Pipelines are important structures but are vulnerable to different types of damage. This damage is often associated with pipeline vibration. It is important to control adverse vibrations to reduce the risk of catastrophic damage. This project proposes using sandwich pipe to suppress different sources of vibrations that may be experienced during the lifetime of the pipeline. Analytical, numerical and experimental investigations will be carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. The project aims to develop direct applications for designing pipelines to suppress different sources of vibration and to guarantee the safety of pipelines.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101296
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,552.00
Summary
Unlocking lab-to-field scaling in design for floating offshore structures. This project aims to develop rigorous, physics-based models to accurately predict hydrodynamics of floating offshore structures at different scales. The project will address the issue between laboratory-to-field scaling, a fundamental problem in fluid dynamics. This outcome will be achieved through the integration of numerical technology, with physical modelling and field data acquisition. The outputs from this project wi ....Unlocking lab-to-field scaling in design for floating offshore structures. This project aims to develop rigorous, physics-based models to accurately predict hydrodynamics of floating offshore structures at different scales. The project will address the issue between laboratory-to-field scaling, a fundamental problem in fluid dynamics. This outcome will be achieved through the integration of numerical technology, with physical modelling and field data acquisition. The outputs from this project will reduce risks and improve operability of existing offshore structures, and lead to more efficient design for potential floating offshore projects. This will benefit the whole community of floating offshore structures and cement Australia’s place as a pioneer in offshore industry and emerging renewable energy sector.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101116
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$300,000.00
Summary
Development of sandwich structures to mitigate blast and impact loading. Innovative sandwich structures with Prismatic Hexagonal-like form and polymeric foam material are proposed in this project and should lead to better designs for structure and personnel protection. Critical civil infrastructure such as government buildings might be subjected to severe blast/impact loads during their lifetime, which may lead to catastrophic consequences. Therefore, protective techniques are desired to increas ....Development of sandwich structures to mitigate blast and impact loading. Innovative sandwich structures with Prismatic Hexagonal-like form and polymeric foam material are proposed in this project and should lead to better designs for structure and personnel protection. Critical civil infrastructure such as government buildings might be subjected to severe blast/impact loads during their lifetime, which may lead to catastrophic consequences. Therefore, protective techniques are desired to increase the resistance capacity of critical structures against blast/impact loads. The expected outcome is to develop an innovative sandwich structure with new structural forms to mitigate blast/impact loads for better structure and personnel protections.Read moreRead less
Crusty Seabeds: From (Bio-)Genesis To Reliable Offshore Design. The project aims to make deep water oil and gas developments safer and cheaper by understanding better the unique seabed ‘crust’ conditions that occur in Australian waters. By studying the biogenic, structural and mechanical properties of deepwater crusts in more detail than can be done in ‘live’ oil and gas projects, this project expects to make a step change in the understanding of these seabed crusts. Expected outcomes of this pr ....Crusty Seabeds: From (Bio-)Genesis To Reliable Offshore Design. The project aims to make deep water oil and gas developments safer and cheaper by understanding better the unique seabed ‘crust’ conditions that occur in Australian waters. By studying the biogenic, structural and mechanical properties of deepwater crusts in more detail than can be done in ‘live’ oil and gas projects, this project expects to make a step change in the understanding of these seabed crusts. Expected outcomes of this project include developing new seabed investigation and design approaches for these soils. This should provide significant benefits, by facilitating the design and installation of low-risk, yet low cost seabed infrastructure (e.g. pipelines, risers, shallow foundations etc.) in these problematical seabed typesRead moreRead less
Solutions for rapid penetration into sand for offshore energy installations. This project aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the response of saturated sand in seabeds during rapid penetration by offshore site investigation tools and foundation construction. The research is using innovative physical and advanced numerical modelling techniques to quantify the significant increase in sand resistance caused by rapid penetration, enabling reliable design and reducing risk of material fail ....Solutions for rapid penetration into sand for offshore energy installations. This project aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the response of saturated sand in seabeds during rapid penetration by offshore site investigation tools and foundation construction. The research is using innovative physical and advanced numerical modelling techniques to quantify the significant increase in sand resistance caused by rapid penetration, enabling reliable design and reducing risk of material failure associated with the high impact forces. Expected outcomes of the project include a conceptual framework and scientific-based design tool to predict the geotechnical performance of offshore installations. The research will provide the necessary scientific advances to install, moor and service offshore wind and wave energy devices more economically and efficiently.Read moreRead less
Study of Blast Resistance Capacity of Basalt Fibre Strengthened Structures. This project plans to investigate the dynamic response of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) reinforced structures against blast loading. Critical infrastructures such as embassy buildings, high-rise building, bridges and defence facilities are intensively targeted by increasing terrorist activities or accidental explosions. BFRP is a promising material for such structures because it is cheaper than carbon fibre and ....Study of Blast Resistance Capacity of Basalt Fibre Strengthened Structures. This project plans to investigate the dynamic response of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) reinforced structures against blast loading. Critical infrastructures such as embassy buildings, high-rise building, bridges and defence facilities are intensively targeted by increasing terrorist activities or accidental explosions. BFRP is a promising material for such structures because it is cheaper than carbon fibre and has better physico-mechanical properties than glass fibre. However, there has been very limited study of the effectiveness of BFRP strengthening on structure blast-loading resistant capacities. This project aims to perform numerical and experimental studies to support the development of BFRP applications in strengthening structures against blast loads.Read moreRead less