Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100101
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$744,697.00
Summary
New generation facility for impact testing. This project aims to develop a new generation, national-impact testing facility to study the impact response of civil and mechanical structures and components. This project expects to seek simultaneous, realistic impact scenarios with very high velocities, which were previously impossible. This will enhance the capability for innovative research on real-time behaviour of components/systems under high amplitude impacts to augment their protection throug ....New generation facility for impact testing. This project aims to develop a new generation, national-impact testing facility to study the impact response of civil and mechanical structures and components. This project expects to seek simultaneous, realistic impact scenarios with very high velocities, which were previously impossible. This will enhance the capability for innovative research on real-time behaviour of components/systems under high amplitude impacts to augment their protection through advanced materials. This project is essential for research on rational design philosophies and effective retrofitting of high-risk buildings, infrastructure and armoured vehicles. Benefits include the saving of lives and property through new knowledge from credible impact testing.Read moreRead less
Thin-walled Structures Subjected to Impact and Blast Loading. Terrorist attacks have cost Australians much human grief and billions of dollars. Containing the consequences of a blast or impact is crucial to survival and restricting damage to critical civilian/defence infrastructure. Thin-walled structures are used extensively in such infrastructure. There is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour when subjected to impulse and blast loads. The investigators will establish the most economical m ....Thin-walled Structures Subjected to Impact and Blast Loading. Terrorist attacks have cost Australians much human grief and billions of dollars. Containing the consequences of a blast or impact is crucial to survival and restricting damage to critical civilian/defence infrastructure. Thin-walled structures are used extensively in such infrastructure. There is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour when subjected to impulse and blast loads. The investigators will establish the most economical means of designing passive blast protection into thin-walled structures and hence, Australia's critical infrastructure. This knowledge will be transferred into design standards and Australia's limited defence resources.Read moreRead less
An innovative light weight composite panel system for high speed modular construction. This project aims to develop an innovative composite panel system using aerated geopolymer and a thin high strength steel casing. The new panel system aims to have a number of significant enhancements compared to traditional panels in terms of load resistance, much lower carbon footprint and life-cycle costs. It aims to offer desirable properties, such as being light-weight, easy to construct, economical, recy ....An innovative light weight composite panel system for high speed modular construction. This project aims to develop an innovative composite panel system using aerated geopolymer and a thin high strength steel casing. The new panel system aims to have a number of significant enhancements compared to traditional panels in terms of load resistance, much lower carbon footprint and life-cycle costs. It aims to offer desirable properties, such as being light-weight, easy to construct, economical, recyclable and reusable. A significant gap in knowledge exists in the material and system behaviour of the aerated geopolymer and its fire performance. It is intended that a comprehensive research program will be carried out to address those challenges and to provide design guidelines to rapidly progress these technologies in Australia and overseas.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101913
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Free-forming and function-integrated composite structures for future green building construction. The free expression of structure in space is a constant pursuit for architects while being a complex task for engineers. Fibre-reinforced polymer sandwiches provide an ideal way to address this challenge. This project aims to develop a novel free-forming system using such elements and explore their thermal-energy-light multifunctional integration.
Investigation of Geopolymer based Concretes for the Construction of High Fire Risk Infrastructures. Geopolymer concretes are emerging new materials promising superior fire resistance and durability and potentially cheaper than the widely used high strength concretes, which also consume high levels of Portland cements. Production of 1 ton of Portland cement releases 1 ton of green house gases. Further, the 6.5 million tons/year of cement currently produced in Australia is insufficient to meet the ....Investigation of Geopolymer based Concretes for the Construction of High Fire Risk Infrastructures. Geopolymer concretes are emerging new materials promising superior fire resistance and durability and potentially cheaper than the widely used high strength concretes, which also consume high levels of Portland cements. Production of 1 ton of Portland cement releases 1 ton of green house gases. Further, the 6.5 million tons/year of cement currently produced in Australia is insufficient to meet the industry demand. This project investigates the use of fly ash to make geopolymer concrete, without using any Portland cement, to find usage for part of the 11 million tons/year of fly ash produced as a waste from coal power stations in Australia.Read moreRead less
Development of an Alkali Activated Slag based Construction Material for High Fire Risk Infrastructures. This project will develop an alkali-activated slag (AAS) based construction material for tunnel construction. In tunnels, conventional concretes are likely to 'spall' in a hydrocarbon fire accident, possibly resulting in a tunnel collapse. The project is set to develop a spalling-resistant AAS as an alternative to conventional Portland cement, which is responsible for 6.5 million tons of gre ....Development of an Alkali Activated Slag based Construction Material for High Fire Risk Infrastructures. This project will develop an alkali-activated slag (AAS) based construction material for tunnel construction. In tunnels, conventional concretes are likely to 'spall' in a hydrocarbon fire accident, possibly resulting in a tunnel collapse. The project is set to develop a spalling-resistant AAS as an alternative to conventional Portland cement, which is responsible for 6.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia per year, whereas AAS is based on slag, an industrial waste product. The project also seeks to provide better understanding of the spalling phenomenon so that the engineers can design fireproofing for conventional concrete tunnels with confidence.Read moreRead less
Performance based assessment of building cladding against hailstorms. Hailstorms cause billions of dollars of damage in Australia and hailstorm events are increasing in frequency with climate change. Robust cladding to resist extreme weather events is imperative for new and existing building stock. This project will develop technology to accurately assess the performance of aluminium cladding, glass facades and skylights under severe hailstorm events. The research outcomes will enable cost-effec ....Performance based assessment of building cladding against hailstorms. Hailstorms cause billions of dollars of damage in Australia and hailstorm events are increasing in frequency with climate change. Robust cladding to resist extreme weather events is imperative for new and existing building stock. This project will develop technology to accurately assess the performance of aluminium cladding, glass facades and skylights under severe hailstorm events. The research outcomes will enable cost-effective design of robust cladding solutions and the evaluation of the performance of existing cladding. This will benefit asset managers, homeowners, the insurance industry and the building and construction industry, and help save billions of dollars of economic loss.Read moreRead less
Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers i ....Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies. Read moreRead less
Design of barriers for impact. This project aims to quantify the resistant capacity of rigid reinforced concrete barriers. These barriers can protect lives and property on hill slopes, but construction of the foundation is costly to protect against boulder impacts. Free-standing reinforced concrete barriers without a foundation could be cheaper and effective in countering impact, but need research to accurately quantify their impact resistant capacity. The expected outcome is a new technology to ....Design of barriers for impact. This project aims to quantify the resistant capacity of rigid reinforced concrete barriers. These barriers can protect lives and property on hill slopes, but construction of the foundation is costly to protect against boulder impacts. Free-standing reinforced concrete barriers without a foundation could be cheaper and effective in countering impact, but need research to accurately quantify their impact resistant capacity. The expected outcome is a new technology to make the built environment safer and more sustainable and affordable.Read moreRead less
Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, ow ....Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies.Read moreRead less