Novel test and design methods for base course reinforced flexible pavements. This project aims to develop the mechanics of geosynthetic-reinforced flexible pavements as an urgent need for the Australian pavement industry to build more sustainable and economical roads. Novel laboratory test apparatus and in-situ test programs, and mathematical models will be developed, for the first time, to capture the responses of reinforced base courses in a complete and optimised way to determine the paramete ....Novel test and design methods for base course reinforced flexible pavements. This project aims to develop the mechanics of geosynthetic-reinforced flexible pavements as an urgent need for the Australian pavement industry to build more sustainable and economical roads. Novel laboratory test apparatus and in-situ test programs, and mathematical models will be developed, for the first time, to capture the responses of reinforced base courses in a complete and optimised way to determine the parameters for pavement design and performance evaluation. The outcomes will enable reliable prediction of reinforced pavement behaviour, leading to better-performing geosynthetic products and more resilient pavements, reduced material usage and damage in pavements, and less environmental impact and maintenance cost.Read moreRead less
Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australi ....Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australians. The project is significant because it adopts a sector-wide view to systematically define social risk, co-create a social risk management framework and implement it via a new social risk management toolkit. This should lessen harm to communities, reduce delays and costs and benefit national infrastructure delivery.Read moreRead less
Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by ....Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by modifying the levels of road and rail crossings and providing guard rails in the recesses of these modified level crossings. The theories are intended be developed using nonlinear dynamic computational methods and laboratory experiments. The outcomes are expected to enable reduction in the severity of level crossing accidents and hence save lives and costs of derailment.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC170100006
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,937,625.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure. The ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure aims to transform Australia’s rail construction and maintenance technologies through specialist training of industry-focused researchers. Generation of new knowledge and close collaboration with companies within the rail supply chain will result in enhanced rail capacity and supply chain efficiency across the rail network. This will include in ....ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure. The ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure aims to transform Australia’s rail construction and maintenance technologies through specialist training of industry-focused researchers. Generation of new knowledge and close collaboration with companies within the rail supply chain will result in enhanced rail capacity and supply chain efficiency across the rail network. This will include increased axle loads and higher speeds, greater safety margins, reduced construction and maintenance costs, and a body of competent railway professionals in the nation’s work force.Read moreRead less
Safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry: A Collaborative Response. The management and regulation of heavy vehicles, particularly in relation to safety, is recognised as an urgent issue at all levels of government across Australia. In the absence of research that identifies the key determinants of heavy vehicle crashes, countermeasures will continue to be based on anecdote. The proposed study will determine the role key risk factors, namely scheduling and sleep-related factors, play in heavy vehicl ....Safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry: A Collaborative Response. The management and regulation of heavy vehicles, particularly in relation to safety, is recognised as an urgent issue at all levels of government across Australia. In the absence of research that identifies the key determinants of heavy vehicle crashes, countermeasures will continue to be based on anecdote. The proposed study will determine the role key risk factors, namely scheduling and sleep-related factors, play in heavy vehicle crashes and will identify cost-effective strategies to reduce the growing economic burden associated with these crashes.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC230100001
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions. The Centre will build skills and capability to test and deploy safe, socially acceptable, automated vehicles (AV) for rural, regional and remote Australian public roads, where manufacturing, agriculture, mining and defence industries face significant challenges of driver shortages, rising costs, long distances, rough roads, and environmental impacts. The centre will unite technology providers, regulators, government and end ....ARC Training Centre for Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions. The Centre will build skills and capability to test and deploy safe, socially acceptable, automated vehicles (AV) for rural, regional and remote Australian public roads, where manufacturing, agriculture, mining and defence industries face significant challenges of driver shortages, rising costs, long distances, rough roads, and environmental impacts. The centre will unite technology providers, regulators, government and end users with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers to create new human-AV systems, datasets, frameworks, case studies, platforms, and a vastly upskilled workforce. This will reduce transport costs, increase capacity, boost supply chain efficiency and resilience, improve road safety, and elevate Australian capability.Read moreRead less
Seismic analysis of cracking and deformations in concrete gravity dams. This project aims to establish a rational predictive capability for the responses of concrete gravity dams subject to extreme design earthquakes. This will include the development of innovative numerical methods for effective modelling of crack propagation and closure, large slips on crack faces and weak interfaces, dam-reservoir interaction, dam-foundation interaction and automatic mesh generation. The expected outcomes of ....Seismic analysis of cracking and deformations in concrete gravity dams. This project aims to establish a rational predictive capability for the responses of concrete gravity dams subject to extreme design earthquakes. This will include the development of innovative numerical methods for effective modelling of crack propagation and closure, large slips on crack faces and weak interfaces, dam-reservoir interaction, dam-foundation interaction and automatic mesh generation. The expected outcomes of the project will be a significantly improved prediction tool. It is also anticipated that the project will result in improvements in dam and public safety, and more efficient use of funds for dam safety upgrades and management.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$270,000.00
Summary
Test-bed for Wide-Area Software Defined Networking Research. Test bed for wide-area software defined networking research: This project aims to develop a wide-area test bed, spanning ten organisations, for conducting research and experimentation in the emerging disruptive technology of Software Defined Networking (SDN). SDN is likely to bring long-term transformation to the networking industry, much like cloud computing did, by enabling dynamic virtualised elastic network services under software ....Test-bed for Wide-Area Software Defined Networking Research. Test bed for wide-area software defined networking research: This project aims to develop a wide-area test bed, spanning ten organisations, for conducting research and experimentation in the emerging disruptive technology of Software Defined Networking (SDN). SDN is likely to bring long-term transformation to the networking industry, much like cloud computing did, by enabling dynamic virtualised elastic network services under software control. The test bed will empower Australian researchers in network technologies and dependent applications (for example, multimedia and security) to collaboratively develop and demonstrate novel ideas at scale. This is expected to benefit Australia by giving our researchers international recognition in this nascent area, and developing a national talent pool for local industry.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC230100015
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Whole Life Design of Carbon Neutral Infrastructure. This Centre aims to transform the capability of civil infrastructure stakeholders to design, construct, operate and dispose of infrastructure in a carbon neutral way. By training industry-embedded PhDs and postdocs in the methodology and technology required to design out excess carbon of infrastructure in its whole life, this Centre expects to lead the world in sustainable infrastructure design, enabling a new generation ....ARC Training Centre for Whole Life Design of Carbon Neutral Infrastructure. This Centre aims to transform the capability of civil infrastructure stakeholders to design, construct, operate and dispose of infrastructure in a carbon neutral way. By training industry-embedded PhDs and postdocs in the methodology and technology required to design out excess carbon of infrastructure in its whole life, this Centre expects to lead the world in sustainable infrastructure design, enabling a new generation of infrastructure design in Australia and internationally. Achieving carbon neutral infrastructure in its whole life will bring significant far-reaching benefits, including equipping industry with tools required to meet Australia’s emission reduction targets as well as economic, commercial, environmental, and social gains.Read moreRead less
Erosion of embankment dams and dam spillways. In excess of $250M is spent annually to maintain, upgrade, improve safety and monitor performance of Australian dams. Improved methods for assessing both spillway and internal erosion, the cause of 50 per cent of embankment dam failures and incidents requiring repairs, will be developed, maximising dam safety and minimising maintenance expenditure.