Laboratory and Theoretical Investigation of Soft Clay Behaviour under Cyclic Loading Stabilised by Prefabricated Vertical Drains. Coastal Australia is under increasing pressure from rapid population growth that requires continual capital investment in civil infrastructure such as road and rail links, ports and buildings. Many regions have soft compressible clays that present challenges for infrastructure design and construction. The use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) in stabilising soil ....Laboratory and Theoretical Investigation of Soft Clay Behaviour under Cyclic Loading Stabilised by Prefabricated Vertical Drains. Coastal Australia is under increasing pressure from rapid population growth that requires continual capital investment in civil infrastructure such as road and rail links, ports and buildings. Many regions have soft compressible clays that present challenges for infrastructure design and construction. The use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) in stabilising soil can reduce construction and maintenance costs, and increased soil strength will enhance the performance of infrastructure. In this project, the soil behaviour under cyclic loads stabilised by PVDs will be thoroughly investigated. Extensive laboratory testing will result in more efficient design and construction on soft soils, including roads, railways and airport runways.Read moreRead less
Derivation of Emissions Models for Commercial Vehicles. This research project will develop emissions models for commercial vehicles that are capable of modelling changes in driver behaviour. Second by second emissions data from certification tests will be disaggregated into their component phases of acceleration, cruise, deceleration and idle. The emissions characteristics of these phases will be established and analysed to produce empirical models of emissions per unit time versus mode of opera ....Derivation of Emissions Models for Commercial Vehicles. This research project will develop emissions models for commercial vehicles that are capable of modelling changes in driver behaviour. Second by second emissions data from certification tests will be disaggregated into their component phases of acceleration, cruise, deceleration and idle. The emissions characteristics of these phases will be established and analysed to produce empirical models of emissions per unit time versus mode of operation. These models will then be able to describe the changes in emission characteristics under different commercial vehicle operating modes for a range of commercial vehicle types.Read moreRead less
Behavioural responses to transport congestion: peak spreading and the more efficient usage of transport infrastructure. Transport networks in cities such as Sydney are at or near capacity. It is no longer socially, environmentally or financially sustainable to continue supplying additional transport infrastructure to meet increased demand. An alternative is to make better use of existing infrastructure by spreading demand more evenly across the day. This project will test behavioural responses t ....Behavioural responses to transport congestion: peak spreading and the more efficient usage of transport infrastructure. Transport networks in cities such as Sydney are at or near capacity. It is no longer socially, environmentally or financially sustainable to continue supplying additional transport infrastructure to meet increased demand. An alternative is to make better use of existing infrastructure by spreading demand more evenly across the day. This project will test behavioural responses to increased congestion and quantify the phenomenon of peak spreading. It will assess economic costs and benefits of using congestion as a signal to encourage more efficient network usage, and examine other tools (e.g. time-based transport pricing) to encourage more efficient use of transport infrastructure.Read moreRead less
High Strength Steel Protection Bollards. Terrorist attacks cost Australians much human grief and millions of dollars. Prevention of an attack is paramount. Passive road bollards are commonly used to stop a vehicle approaching and/or entering security sensitive infrastructure. Thin-walled tubes are used to manufacture such bollards. However there is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour, and in particular high strength alloy steel bollards, when subjected to impact loads. The investigators wi ....High Strength Steel Protection Bollards. Terrorist attacks cost Australians much human grief and millions of dollars. Prevention of an attack is paramount. Passive road bollards are commonly used to stop a vehicle approaching and/or entering security sensitive infrastructure. Thin-walled tubes are used to manufacture such bollards. However there is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour, and in particular high strength alloy steel bollards, when subjected to impact loads. The investigators will apply their extensive knowledge in thin-walled tubular structures to establish the most economical means of designing high strength bollards. This knowledge will be transferred into design standards and Australia's limited defence resources.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100550
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$356,446.00
Summary
Preserving our rivers: environmental water use in a changing climate. This project aims to develop an 'active management' tool to improve the robustness and transparency of environmental water management. Managing Government investment on environmental water requires decisions on when and where to use water, involving complex trade-offs between competing benefits. This project will develop a tool to address shortcomings in currently available approaches based on the assumption of stationary clim ....Preserving our rivers: environmental water use in a changing climate. This project aims to develop an 'active management' tool to improve the robustness and transparency of environmental water management. Managing Government investment on environmental water requires decisions on when and where to use water, involving complex trade-offs between competing benefits. This project will develop a tool to address shortcomings in currently available approaches based on the assumption of stationary climate, leading to more environmental benefit for less water, and greater resilience in the face of a changing climate.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0233830
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Intelligent Transport and Vehicle Systems Research Laboratory. This proposal seeks funding to establish a world class Intelligent Transport and Vehicle Systems Research Laboratory. The Laboratory is aimed at developing and evaluating advanced traffic management and advanced vehicle technologies to improve the safety and efficiency of existing transport systems. The laboratory will comprise high-end computing and traffic simulation workstations with live real-time connections to a test-bed. The l ....Intelligent Transport and Vehicle Systems Research Laboratory. This proposal seeks funding to establish a world class Intelligent Transport and Vehicle Systems Research Laboratory. The Laboratory is aimed at developing and evaluating advanced traffic management and advanced vehicle technologies to improve the safety and efficiency of existing transport systems. The laboratory will comprise high-end computing and traffic simulation workstations with live real-time connections to a test-bed. The live link to the test-bed is a unique feature of the proposed facility. It will provide researchers with access to field data from sensors, videos and detectors to test prototypes of systems and evaluate their performance under live traffic conditions.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354894
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Innovative risk analysis, assessment, rehabilitation and strengthening of aging critical civil infrastructure. Much essential civil engineering infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, dams, pipelines and pavements was commissioned many decades ago, and sustaining the integrity of this infrastructure in developed nations as it ages is now considered to be a major challenge to the engineering and scientific community. Australia is not spared by the ramifications of its aging civil assets, and ....Innovative risk analysis, assessment, rehabilitation and strengthening of aging critical civil infrastructure. Much essential civil engineering infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, dams, pipelines and pavements was commissioned many decades ago, and sustaining the integrity of this infrastructure in developed nations as it ages is now considered to be a major challenge to the engineering and scientific community. Australia is not spared by the ramifications of its aging civil assets, and identification and rectification procedures that are often ad-hoc now represent a sizeable proportion of the GDP. This Research Network draws together the leading Australian research groups in engineering and applied mechanics in a coordinated program to address this most important cost to the community.Read moreRead less
Multidimensional evaluation of the overall benefits of voluntary travel behaviour change programs. Voluntary Travel Behaviour Programs (VTBC) offer considerable promise for the management of traffic congestion and reduction in greenhouse gas and air quality emissions from road transport. Research to date has identified two outstanding issues: (1) measurement and evaluation of actual behaviour change and (2) identification of the full benefits and impacts of VTBC. Empirical studies indicate that ....Multidimensional evaluation of the overall benefits of voluntary travel behaviour change programs. Voluntary Travel Behaviour Programs (VTBC) offer considerable promise for the management of traffic congestion and reduction in greenhouse gas and air quality emissions from road transport. Research to date has identified two outstanding issues: (1) measurement and evaluation of actual behaviour change and (2) identification of the full benefits and impacts of VTBC. Empirical studies indicate that many of the benefits fall outside the transport area, including a wide range of socio-economic benefits to individuals and the community. This project will develop a survey tool for assessing benefits and impacts of VTBC within a properly designed and tested evaluation framework.Read moreRead less
Characterisation of granular base and sub-base pavement materials under cyclic loading. Pavement construction is a high cost item in road construction. Until very recently, pavements were designed based on empirical rules and restrictive material prescriptions. With the introduction of rational mechanistic pavement design methodology, it has become necessary to reliably characterise the behaviour of road foundation materials under cyclic loading. This project is focused on the characterisati ....Characterisation of granular base and sub-base pavement materials under cyclic loading. Pavement construction is a high cost item in road construction. Until very recently, pavements were designed based on empirical rules and restrictive material prescriptions. With the introduction of rational mechanistic pavement design methodology, it has become necessary to reliably characterise the behaviour of road foundation materials under cyclic loading. This project is focused on the characterisation of unbound granular base and sub-base materials. Since these are geo-materials, geotechnical concepts such as the influence of stress path will be used. This project will lead to better roads at lower cost, and significant leap in know-how in pavement design and material specification.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100117
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$427,612.00
Summary
Multiobjective optimisation of reservoir operations under uncertainty. This project aims to address a crucial water resources management problem: how to manage reservoirs under uncertainty. This project expects to develop an optimisation-based framework to improve the delivery of water resources from optimised reservoir operational strategies. Expected outcomes include an innovative tool for multiobjective decision-making under uncertainty, and robust operational strategies catering for real-wor ....Multiobjective optimisation of reservoir operations under uncertainty. This project aims to address a crucial water resources management problem: how to manage reservoirs under uncertainty. This project expects to develop an optimisation-based framework to improve the delivery of water resources from optimised reservoir operational strategies. Expected outcomes include an innovative tool for multiobjective decision-making under uncertainty, and robust operational strategies catering for real-world operational situations, including conflicting objectives, natural variability in system inputs, and future uncertainty due to climate change and population growth. The improved decisions will protect lives and assets, and postpone expensive infrastructure upgrades by maximising benefits from current systems.Read moreRead less