Scalable daytime radiative cooling for buildings and the built environment . This project aims at the development of a scalable daytime radiative cooling technology suitable for large deployments in the built environment that will help mitigating the urban heat island effect, and reduce future cooling energy needs in buildings. The main outcomes of the project will consist of the development of radiative coolers that will be able to operate in the built environment under Australian climatic cond ....Scalable daytime radiative cooling for buildings and the built environment . This project aims at the development of a scalable daytime radiative cooling technology suitable for large deployments in the built environment that will help mitigating the urban heat island effect, and reduce future cooling energy needs in buildings. The main outcomes of the project will consist of the development of radiative coolers that will be able to operate in the built environment under Australian climatic conditions, and of clear guidelines for their large deployment. The technology is based on a passive cooling strategy requiring no energy for its operations. The outcomes of the project will also have a beneficial impact on the Australian building and construction industry.Read moreRead less
Elastocaloric cooling systems for buildings and the built environment. This project aims to develop elastocaloric cooling systems that will find application in buildings and the built environment. The main aims of the projects are to establish a new technology capable of enhancing the efficiency of traditional cooling systems used for building applications and of reducing the contribution of structural and architectural components to the urban heat island effect. This work will be supported by a ....Elastocaloric cooling systems for buildings and the built environment. This project aims to develop elastocaloric cooling systems that will find application in buildings and the built environment. The main aims of the projects are to establish a new technology capable of enhancing the efficiency of traditional cooling systems used for building applications and of reducing the contribution of structural and architectural components to the urban heat island effect. This work will be supported by a new theoretical platform that will incorporate the elastocaloric cooling behaviour into the structural, thermal and energy performance of the building components, as well as by prototype testing. The outcomes of the project will lead to new building cooling technologies, increasing efficiency of traditional cooling building systems.Read moreRead less
Fluorescent daytime radiative cooling for urban heat mitigation . This project aims to develop a fluorescent daytime radiative cooling technology suitable for the mitigation of urban overheating in the built environment and for the reduction of future cooling energy demands in buildings. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area to enable the exploitation of fluorescent materials for urban heat mitigation and cooling of buildings. Expected project outcomes consist of the establi ....Fluorescent daytime radiative cooling for urban heat mitigation . This project aims to develop a fluorescent daytime radiative cooling technology suitable for the mitigation of urban overheating in the built environment and for the reduction of future cooling energy demands in buildings. The project expects to generate new knowledge in this area to enable the exploitation of fluorescent materials for urban heat mitigation and cooling of buildings. Expected project outcomes consist of the establishment of the new cooling technology for application on coloured surfaces, typically used in the urban built environment, and on white surfaces for boosting the cooling power of current daytime radiative coolers. This should lead to significant benefits for the Australian building and construction industry.
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Innovative tools to improve station design and management of crowds in emergency and panic conditions. This project aims to understand how crowds behave in panic and emergency situations in order to plan evacuation procedures and create the safest designs for our major infrastructures such as large public transport hubs and urban environment.
Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interacti ....Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interaction effects. The new DB method could allow buildings in regions of lower seismicity to be designed for robustness, gravity and wind loading and then checked using displacement principles for seismic compliance, which will dramatically simplify and improve the current seismic design process.Read moreRead less
Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive t ....Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive the best performing metaconcrete and verify its static and dynamic load resistant capacities. The expected outcomes of the project will lead to innovative extreme-loading resistant designs and provide significant benefit to the Australian construction industry, general public and economy.Read moreRead less
Built-up cold-formed steel structures. The building industry is seeing a rapid uptake of joining two or more cold-formed steel sections to form large built-up sections with high carrying capacities. The joining consists of screws, or similar fasteners, placed intermittently along the member. The ease of joining encourages innovation in forming versatile new built-up section shapes in expanding areas of application. The project will provide guidelines and numerical tools for the efficient structu ....Built-up cold-formed steel structures. The building industry is seeing a rapid uptake of joining two or more cold-formed steel sections to form large built-up sections with high carrying capacities. The joining consists of screws, or similar fasteners, placed intermittently along the member. The ease of joining encourages innovation in forming versatile new built-up section shapes in expanding areas of application. The project will provide guidelines and numerical tools for the efficient structural design of built-up sections through experimental and theoretical research, studying the new failure modes pertaining to built-up sections, the increase in strength achievable from composite action and the optimum arrangement of fasteners. Read moreRead less
Shallow foundations in unsaturated soils: mechanistic design through numerical modelling, analysis and experimental investigation. This project will close the knowledge gap of how shallow foundations perform in variably saturated soils. It will integrate expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics, theory of elasto-plasticity, numerical modelling, limit analysis and experimental investigation. It will achieve a rigorous understanding of footings founded on unsaturated soils subjected to monotonic lo ....Shallow foundations in unsaturated soils: mechanistic design through numerical modelling, analysis and experimental investigation. This project will close the knowledge gap of how shallow foundations perform in variably saturated soils. It will integrate expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics, theory of elasto-plasticity, numerical modelling, limit analysis and experimental investigation. It will achieve a rigorous understanding of footings founded on unsaturated soils subjected to monotonic loading using a recently developed experimental testing facility, and analyses using finite elements, the method of characteristics and zero extension line theory. Impact and adoption in industry will be direct through world first design tools which incorporate the influence of suction on bearing capacity, settlement and safety.Read moreRead less
Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining lif ....Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining life of the building. The only related research involves reinforced concrete which suggests that a reduction of at least 33 per cent could be expected. Hence, this project will quantify the long-term strength of FRP reinforced brickwork to enable engineers to safely apply this new cost-effective retrofit technique.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100130
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,000.00
Summary
An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions. An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions: This project aims to develop Australia's most advanced earthquake shaking table. Earthquakes are a problem of great significance to Australia. Infrastructure in civil, transport, mining and energy sectors may be at an unacceptable risk of damage under earthquake loading as current design practices do not account for the interaction between infrastructure ....An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions. An earthquake shaking table to investigate soil-structure interactions: This project aims to develop Australia's most advanced earthquake shaking table. Earthquakes are a problem of great significance to Australia. Infrastructure in civil, transport, mining and energy sectors may be at an unacceptable risk of damage under earthquake loading as current design practices do not account for the interaction between infrastructure and the ground under such loading. The shaking table will simulate earthquakes and enable controlled testing of three-tonne models of foundation and soil-structure interaction systems typical of Australia's infrastructure. The discoveries made are expected to be integral to the modernisation of Australia's seismic design standards so that earthquake-induced damage and risk exposure can be minimised.Read moreRead less