Design guidelines for safety-critical controllers in high-risk environments. This project aims to generate novel product design guidelines for developing safer controllers for use by potentially stressed individuals in high-risk situations. It will do this by generating specific insights and verifying generalisable solutions from the context of total artificial heart recipients –who must engage with critical controllers constantly. This project expects to generate new knowledge in design by esta ....Design guidelines for safety-critical controllers in high-risk environments. This project aims to generate novel product design guidelines for developing safer controllers for use by potentially stressed individuals in high-risk situations. It will do this by generating specific insights and verifying generalisable solutions from the context of total artificial heart recipients –who must engage with critical controllers constantly. This project expects to generate new knowledge in design by establishing a new research topic around an under-examined user cohort. Expected outcomes of this project include interaction design theory developments and improved controller design techniques. This should provide significant benefits and competitive advantages by lowering stress and improving safety across a range of contexts.Read moreRead less
Promoting Child and Carer Wellbeing and Placement Stability in Kinship Care. Kinship care is the fastest growing out-of-home care placement in Australia, yet least supported. This project aims to implement and evaluate an attachment and trauma-based program for kinship carers, explore its suitability for cultural adaptation for Indigenous families and co-design practical resources to promote program sustainability and trauma-informed practice. This project is Australia’s first randomised trial o ....Promoting Child and Carer Wellbeing and Placement Stability in Kinship Care. Kinship care is the fastest growing out-of-home care placement in Australia, yet least supported. This project aims to implement and evaluate an attachment and trauma-based program for kinship carers, explore its suitability for cultural adaptation for Indigenous families and co-design practical resources to promote program sustainability and trauma-informed practice. This project is Australia’s first randomised trial of a tailored program for kinship carers and expects to generate vital knowledge on evidence-based support. Via implementing an innovative program for kinship carers in statutory child protection, this project should build capacity for research-based practice and benefit family wellbeing and placement outcomes in kinship care.Read moreRead less
Experimental investigation and constitutive modelling of reactive soils. This project aims to develop the fundamental knowledge, a mechanical framework and practical engineering design tools needed to minimise the effects of reactive soils on infrastructure. Reactive soils undergo significant swelling and weakening upon wetting or intrusion by salt-rich groundwater and shrinkage upon drying. This can result in damage to buildings and infrastructure beyond a state of repair. This project will dev ....Experimental investigation and constitutive modelling of reactive soils. This project aims to develop the fundamental knowledge, a mechanical framework and practical engineering design tools needed to minimise the effects of reactive soils on infrastructure. Reactive soils undergo significant swelling and weakening upon wetting or intrusion by salt-rich groundwater and shrinkage upon drying. This can result in damage to buildings and infrastructure beyond a state of repair. This project will develop tools, models and theories to detect weaknesses in the design of infrastructure and its foundations built on problematic reactive soils, assess the impact and implement effective remedial measures to improve performance. The project is expected to increase efficiency through improved design and reduced damage, and save infrastructure owners, government and private, tens of millions of dollars each year.Read moreRead less
Redefining museum experience as an immersive networked narrative. The Project aims to investigate the contemporary emergence of novel forms of immersive and networked narrative in museum settings. It expects to reformulate our understanding and experience of a multi-located collection and the ways in which it can be aesthetically explored. To do so, it will experimentally apply an artistic system that transforms the display, engagement and organisation of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' ....Redefining museum experience as an immersive networked narrative. The Project aims to investigate the contemporary emergence of novel forms of immersive and networked narrative in museum settings. It expects to reformulate our understanding and experience of a multi-located collection and the ways in which it can be aesthetically explored. To do so, it will experimentally apply an artistic system that transforms the display, engagement and organisation of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' collection across its venues. Anticipated is a demonstration of how users can explore this distributed collection in concert with a database system, with benefits that impact the aesthetic scope and scale of museum experiences.Read moreRead less
Closing the Gap in Pipe Condition Assessment using Hydro-Acoustic Waves. Worldwide, the deterioration of water distribution pipeline infrastructure is driving an unsustainable explosion in maintenance and repair costs. In collaboration with industry leader Detection Services, this project will develop new methods to detect pipe condition faults at a scale and precision not currently possible. The outcome will be an advanced, yet practical, technology that provides critical information on pipe co ....Closing the Gap in Pipe Condition Assessment using Hydro-Acoustic Waves. Worldwide, the deterioration of water distribution pipeline infrastructure is driving an unsustainable explosion in maintenance and repair costs. In collaboration with industry leader Detection Services, this project will develop new methods to detect pipe condition faults at a scale and precision not currently possible. The outcome will be an advanced, yet practical, technology that provides critical information on pipe condition using new innovative active hydro-acoustic signal generators and sensors, combined with state-of-the-art signal analysis methods. The unprecedented cost-effectiveness of the technology will ensure a broad use in the water industry for targeted and efficient action, creating jobs and saving costs.Read moreRead less
Securing Australian floating wind developments with helical anchors. This project will reduce the cost of offshore floating wind energy by uniting leading academic expertise and innovative industry partners to develop the knowledge and practical tools that will enable the deployment of helical anchors as a cheap and reliable anchoring system for floating wind. Helical anchors are seen as the most promising solution to anchor wind turbines, but their deployment has been limited by uncertainties a ....Securing Australian floating wind developments with helical anchors. This project will reduce the cost of offshore floating wind energy by uniting leading academic expertise and innovative industry partners to develop the knowledge and practical tools that will enable the deployment of helical anchors as a cheap and reliable anchoring system for floating wind. Helical anchors are seen as the most promising solution to anchor wind turbines, but their deployment has been limited by uncertainties associated with the torque and vertical force required for installation in complex seabeds, and their performance under environmental loading. The project will address these specific points through a combination of physical, numerical and analytical modelling, using data and design scenarios provided by industry.
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Fostering lifelong connections for children in permanent care. The out-of-home care sector in Australia is undergoing transformation to ensure children who cannot be restored to birth families exit care to permanent families. New South Wales is leading the way on these reforms. The emerging Australian policy model, permanency with lifelong connection to birth families, is distinctly different from the policy models in similar Western nations. While the Australian policy goal is clear, practices ....Fostering lifelong connections for children in permanent care. The out-of-home care sector in Australia is undergoing transformation to ensure children who cannot be restored to birth families exit care to permanent families. New South Wales is leading the way on these reforms. The emerging Australian policy model, permanency with lifelong connection to birth families, is distinctly different from the policy models in similar Western nations. While the Australian policy goal is clear, practices for achieving this goal are under-developed. This action research project will engage the New South Wales out-of-home care sector to design and trial relationship-building practices that promote positive relationships between children and their birth families.Read moreRead less
Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental ....Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental protection against PFASs and establishment of new approaches for predicting functional containment lifetimes of liner systems. These outcomes are expected to benefit the waste and remediation industries by influencing next-generation design regulations to ensure long-term environmental protection from PFAS.Read moreRead less
Bayesian back analysis for settlement prediction of soft soils. The settlement of road embankments built on soft soils can take many years which has created additional challenges for road design and construction. Despite many years of experience with the Pacific Highway Upgrade, industry partners have seen many examples where embankments have settled more than expected during construction and after road opening. This causes potential delay delivering projects, ponding, potential aquaplaning and ....Bayesian back analysis for settlement prediction of soft soils. The settlement of road embankments built on soft soils can take many years which has created additional challenges for road design and construction. Despite many years of experience with the Pacific Highway Upgrade, industry partners have seen many examples where embankments have settled more than expected during construction and after road opening. This causes potential delay delivering projects, ponding, potential aquaplaning and unexpected maintenance. This project aims at developing useful tools for industry to better predict the settlement of embankment built on soft soils. The intended outcomes can help to increase the safety level of road transportation system of Australia, reduce construction and maintenance costs.Read moreRead less
Enhanced productivity of coal seam gas wells by continuous gas circulation. This project aims to develop foam assisted continuous gas circulation for dewatering new and existing coal seam gas wells. The potential benefits of this new method include enhanced gas production, better well control, reduced costs and better environmental effectiveness. The proposed solution eliminates the need for mechanical pumps which are currently used for dewatering, and which fail regularly due to gas and solids ....Enhanced productivity of coal seam gas wells by continuous gas circulation. This project aims to develop foam assisted continuous gas circulation for dewatering new and existing coal seam gas wells. The potential benefits of this new method include enhanced gas production, better well control, reduced costs and better environmental effectiveness. The proposed solution eliminates the need for mechanical pumps which are currently used for dewatering, and which fail regularly due to gas and solids accumulation within the production wells. Continuous gas circulation could achieve significant savings in downtime and maintenance costs. In addition, reducing onsite maintenance will minimise access requirements for maintenance rigs which disrupt rural activities where the wells are located, thus easing local traffic and reduce the environmental impacts that are associated with well workovers.Read moreRead less