Determination of unsaturated soil properties using cone penetrometer data. Unsaturated soils account for almost 40 percent of earth's land surface. Over 70 percent of Australia's land surface consists of unsaturated soils. The research proposed aims at providing a methodology for a realistic characterisation of unsaturated soils in the field. The developments in this research will be immediately applicable to many engineering problems of national interest including dams, embankments, foundatio ....Determination of unsaturated soil properties using cone penetrometer data. Unsaturated soils account for almost 40 percent of earth's land surface. Over 70 percent of Australia's land surface consists of unsaturated soils. The research proposed aims at providing a methodology for a realistic characterisation of unsaturated soils in the field. The developments in this research will be immediately applicable to many engineering problems of national interest including dams, embankments, foundations, highways and airfields. The work will also benefit Australia and the Australian research community through the development of a new expertise within Australia, which is likely to receive wide spread attention in both scientific and engineering communities.
Read moreRead less
A fully coupled elasto-plastic model for dynamic analysis of unsaturated soils. This research is concerned with an important and, as yet, unresearched class of problems in geomechanics dealing with dynamic analysis of unsaturated soils. The work is of significance as it will contribute to the progress of soil mechanics as a science, advancing it from the study of unsaturated soils to that of real soils, which are invariably unsaturated. The project should lead to cost savings in many geotechnica ....A fully coupled elasto-plastic model for dynamic analysis of unsaturated soils. This research is concerned with an important and, as yet, unresearched class of problems in geomechanics dealing with dynamic analysis of unsaturated soils. The work is of significance as it will contribute to the progress of soil mechanics as a science, advancing it from the study of unsaturated soils to that of real soils, which are invariably unsaturated. The project should lead to cost savings in many geotechnical engineering practices as it will provide a better understanding of the response of unsaturated soils to dynamic loading and provide a greater confidence in the prediction of the preformance of earth-structures.Read moreRead less
Experimental Investigation and Constitutive Modelling of Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling Effects in Unsaturated Porous Media. The research proposed in this project will benefit the Australian community through provision of a methodology for a more realistic and fully coupled modelling of flow and deformation in unsaturated porous media subject to thermal loading. The developments proposed in this research will be immediately applicable to many engineering problems of national interest, includin ....Experimental Investigation and Constitutive Modelling of Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling Effects in Unsaturated Porous Media. The research proposed in this project will benefit the Australian community through provision of a methodology for a more realistic and fully coupled modelling of flow and deformation in unsaturated porous media subject to thermal loading. The developments proposed in this research will be immediately applicable to many engineering problems of national interest, including storage of nuclear wastes, removal of contaminants using air sparging, steam drive/steam flooding, and in situ combustion. The work will also benefit Australia and the Australian research community through the development of a new expertise within Australia, which will have a high potential for export to other countries.
Read moreRead less
Sustainable usage of dredged clay materials as land reclamation fills. Millions of cubic metres of dredged materials are removed from river and sea beds every year in dredging projects. It is common to dump a significant portion of the dredged spoils into the sea which can result in serious environmental problems such as deterioration of water quality, damage to aquatic habitats, disruption of ecosystems and dispersion of fine clay particles in seawater. The proposed use of dredged clays as land ....Sustainable usage of dredged clay materials as land reclamation fills. Millions of cubic metres of dredged materials are removed from river and sea beds every year in dredging projects. It is common to dump a significant portion of the dredged spoils into the sea which can result in serious environmental problems such as deterioration of water quality, damage to aquatic habitats, disruption of ecosystems and dispersion of fine clay particles in seawater. The proposed use of dredged clays as land reclamation fill will lead to a substantial reduction in or even eliminate the need for dumping dredged clays into offshore dumping locations. The stabilized dredged clays have great potential if their geotechnical characteristics are adequately understood.Read moreRead less
The micro-thermo-mechanics of sand crushing in geotechnical collapse problems. Oil and gas exploration is a major industry in Australia. Collapse problems in the soil to which structures such as oil rigs are anchored are a major challenge, involving issues of safety, longevity and maintenance. Research on this topic has been devoted to non-crushable sands, but Australia's offshore seabed is rich in breakable calcareous sediments. We will create a novel theory and visualisation techniques that wi ....The micro-thermo-mechanics of sand crushing in geotechnical collapse problems. Oil and gas exploration is a major industry in Australia. Collapse problems in the soil to which structures such as oil rigs are anchored are a major challenge, involving issues of safety, longevity and maintenance. Research on this topic has been devoted to non-crushable sands, but Australia's offshore seabed is rich in breakable calcareous sediments. We will create a novel theory and visualisation techniques that will allow us to gain a deep understanding of sand crushing and will be a major step towards minimising the occurrence of catastrophic failures in the offshore oil and gas industry. Read moreRead less
Fundamental theoretical investigation of the chemomechanical properties of clays. Australia faces significant environmental challenges, one of the most important being soil degradation. The aim of this project is to develop new and state-of-the art mathematical models describing the behaviour of clays in soils. This proposal addresses five fundamental problems in clay soil behaviour that have so far remained unanswered. The primary outcomes of this project will be new theoretical insights into t ....Fundamental theoretical investigation of the chemomechanical properties of clays. Australia faces significant environmental challenges, one of the most important being soil degradation. The aim of this project is to develop new and state-of-the art mathematical models describing the behaviour of clays in soils. This proposal addresses five fundamental problems in clay soil behaviour that have so far remained unanswered. The primary outcomes of this project will be new theoretical insights into the chemomechanical properties of clay soils, so providing the understanding required to intelligently engineer and manage our natural and built environments.Read moreRead less
Microstructural Analysis and Modelling of Copper Ore Agglomerates for Heap Leaching. The efficient extraction of valuable metals from mined ore can be considered as a problem of global concern as the world's reserves of such metals quickly diminish. For low grade copper ore, heap leaching has long been recognized as the most efficient mineral recovery procedure. This project aims to apply X-ray microtomography and micromechanical modelling to quantify the critical leaching properties of ore aggl ....Microstructural Analysis and Modelling of Copper Ore Agglomerates for Heap Leaching. The efficient extraction of valuable metals from mined ore can be considered as a problem of global concern as the world's reserves of such metals quickly diminish. For low grade copper ore, heap leaching has long been recognized as the most efficient mineral recovery procedure. This project aims to apply X-ray microtomography and micromechanical modelling to quantify the critical leaching properties of ore agglomerates and to formulate optimal heap leaching strategies. This will allow for better utilization of the Australia's low grade ore reserves. The procedures and methodologies to be developed will be applicable to other types of ore including gold, uranium and nickel.Read moreRead less