Field Data based Predictive Maintenance and Enhanced Track Design Procedure. Providing improved railroad design and maintenance solutions with accurate and timely assessment of track performance is vital to reduce the disruption of services, excessive maintenance costs and degradation over time. This project aims to develop a predictive maintenance model based on extensive wayside measurements to monitor and predict the nature of track instability. This will also be supplemented by mathematical ....Field Data based Predictive Maintenance and Enhanced Track Design Procedure. Providing improved railroad design and maintenance solutions with accurate and timely assessment of track performance is vital to reduce the disruption of services, excessive maintenance costs and degradation over time. This project aims to develop a predictive maintenance model based on extensive wayside measurements to monitor and predict the nature of track instability. This will also be supplemented by mathematical modelling to corroborate large-scale laboratory observations with past and real-time field monitoring records. This project will deliver tangible strategies and tools to increase track longevity and assist decision-makers in planning and prioritising corrective maintenance to ensure improved safety and passenger comfort.Read moreRead less
Water availability and demand: better forecasts, better management. This project aims to improve Australia’s capability in the provision and use of water forecasts for managing water resources. The current water forecasts are not fully utilised by water agencies as they are not sufficiently comprehensive and advanced. This project expects to achieve a step change in the uptake and utility of hydro-climate forecasts through an extensive partnership of leading researchers and operational agencies ....Water availability and demand: better forecasts, better management. This project aims to improve Australia’s capability in the provision and use of water forecasts for managing water resources. The current water forecasts are not fully utilised by water agencies as they are not sufficiently comprehensive and advanced. This project expects to achieve a step change in the uptake and utility of hydro-climate forecasts through an extensive partnership of leading researchers and operational agencies of hydro-climate forecasting, with federal, state and regional water agencies.Read moreRead less
Bridge performance assessment through advanced sensing and modelling. Bridge performance assessment through advanced sensing and modelling. This project aims to create cyber infrastructure to manage and maintain civil infrastructure, specifically bridges. Current sensor data interpretation approaches are not good at assessing the performance of civil infrastructure or evaluating the reserve capacity; in particular, they do not adequately account for high levels of systematic modelling uncertaint ....Bridge performance assessment through advanced sensing and modelling. Bridge performance assessment through advanced sensing and modelling. This project aims to create cyber infrastructure to manage and maintain civil infrastructure, specifically bridges. Current sensor data interpretation approaches are not good at assessing the performance of civil infrastructure or evaluating the reserve capacity; in particular, they do not adequately account for high levels of systematic modelling uncertainties. This project intends to ease the current scientific data interpretation bottleneck. Expected outcomes are better infrastructure management and maintenance planning, fewer redundant interventions, modified infrastructure and improved future design.Read moreRead less
Microplastics in Landfills and Surrounding Environments. This project aims to build a risk-based framework for managing micro- and nano-plastic particles in landfills and surrounding environments. It expects to develop a new experimentally validated theory of micro/nano-plastic transport in soils, focussing on lining systems used in landfills worldwide to protect aquifers from contamination. The project will use state-of-the-art experimental, theoretical and computational approaches to generate ....Microplastics in Landfills and Surrounding Environments. This project aims to build a risk-based framework for managing micro- and nano-plastic particles in landfills and surrounding environments. It expects to develop a new experimentally validated theory of micro/nano-plastic transport in soils, focussing on lining systems used in landfills worldwide to protect aquifers from contamination. The project will use state-of-the-art experimental, theoretical and computational approaches to generate new knowledge on micro/nano-plastic fate in lining systems and their effects on the mobility of heavy metals and organic pollutants. This should provide significant benefits including safe plastic containment and groundwater protection from landfill waste, a major reservoir of plastic in the environment.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100909
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Innovative Soft-computing for Condition Assessment of Large Infrastructure. Health conditions of large infrastructure, such as bridges, have been difficult to determine due to their large scales, associated incomplete data and high uncertainties in measurement and system identification. This project will develop an innovative condition assessment method based on the advancements in structural dynamics analysis, multi-objective topology and soft-computing techniques, for reliably evaluating the h ....Innovative Soft-computing for Condition Assessment of Large Infrastructure. Health conditions of large infrastructure, such as bridges, have been difficult to determine due to their large scales, associated incomplete data and high uncertainties in measurement and system identification. This project will develop an innovative condition assessment method based on the advancements in structural dynamics analysis, multi-objective topology and soft-computing techniques, for reliably evaluating the health conditions of large infrastructure. The outcomes will enhance the current practices in infrastructure asset management to deliver timely retrofitting and extended life cycle. The development will provide benefits to Australia by enhancing operational efficiency and preventing catastrophic failure of infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While th ....Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While this risk is poorly understood, it could significantly affect the long-term reliability of water supply and potable water treatment costs. Addressing this knowledge gap is expected to develop effective management responses to ensure the long term sustainable use of these water resources.Read moreRead less
Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade ....Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade tiles or panels, laser sensing technology, deep learning algorithms and drone technology. Outcomes of this project are critical for implementing the new technology for enhanced safety to community and the development of new procedures for driving down maintenance costs of the external façade of high-rise buildings.Read moreRead less
Containment and Reduction of Rework in Transport Mega Projects. Mega transport projects (>$1 billion) are poorly managed during their construction with significant cost and schedule overruns and benefit shortfalls regularly being experienced. Having to perform rework has been identified as a major factor that contributes to these unintended consequences. As there has been limited research that has empirically examined rework causation, an inability to develop effective rework containment and red ....Containment and Reduction of Rework in Transport Mega Projects. Mega transport projects (>$1 billion) are poorly managed during their construction with significant cost and schedule overruns and benefit shortfalls regularly being experienced. Having to perform rework has been identified as a major factor that contributes to these unintended consequences. As there has been limited research that has empirically examined rework causation, an inability to develop effective rework containment and reduction strategies prevails. This research aims to develop a theoretical model that can be used to develop robust containment and reduction strategies to mitigate the adverse economic, productivity and safety consequences that materialize from performing rework during the construction of mega transport projects.Read moreRead less
Condition-Based Maintenance Optimisation for Queensland’s Railways. Rail maintainers currently use time-based (scheduled) approaches to balance the costs and benefits of inspections and maintenance. Changing to condition-based maintenance has the potential to reduce costs and improve track condition. This project aims to enable this approach for rail by developing: 1) new track degradation prediction techniques combining Big Data and engineering knowledge; 2) new on-board sensing capabilities fo ....Condition-Based Maintenance Optimisation for Queensland’s Railways. Rail maintainers currently use time-based (scheduled) approaches to balance the costs and benefits of inspections and maintenance. Changing to condition-based maintenance has the potential to reduce costs and improve track condition. This project aims to enable this approach for rail by developing: 1) new track degradation prediction techniques combining Big Data and engineering knowledge; 2) new on-board sensing capabilities for frequent, low-cost track monitoring; 3) novel inspection and maintenance optimisation methods to efficiently allocate resources. The knowledge generated by this project is expected to decrease maintenance costs, safety risk, and track closures and therefore enhance the affordability and reliability of rail travel.Read moreRead less
Early-age cracking in concrete structures: mechanisms and control. This project aims to generate a comprehensive set of reliable data to examine all key factors governing the risk of early-age cracking in concrete structures, including a novel concept concerning zero-stress temperature. Expected outcomes include improved models for fundamental concrete properties from very early ages and tensile stresses due to restrained deformation accumulated from early stage, as well as guidelines for effect ....Early-age cracking in concrete structures: mechanisms and control. This project aims to generate a comprehensive set of reliable data to examine all key factors governing the risk of early-age cracking in concrete structures, including a novel concept concerning zero-stress temperature. Expected outcomes include improved models for fundamental concrete properties from very early ages and tensile stresses due to restrained deformation accumulated from early stage, as well as guidelines for effective crack control in concrete structures. It is expected these guidelines will enable significant cost savings and a more sustainable construction industry.Read moreRead less