Fibre reinforced polymer retrofitting of reinforced concrete flexural members. A cost-effective and durable technique for retrofitting reinforced concrete beams and slabs is to adhesively bond new advanced fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites to their surfaces. The potential plating market in Australia for bridges is $350 million, however, the technique can also be applied to strengthening other structures such as buildings. Tests have shown that FRP plates or sheets can debond prematurely, ....Fibre reinforced polymer retrofitting of reinforced concrete flexural members. A cost-effective and durable technique for retrofitting reinforced concrete beams and slabs is to adhesively bond new advanced fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites to their surfaces. The potential plating market in Australia for bridges is $350 million, however, the technique can also be applied to strengthening other structures such as buildings. Tests have shown that FRP plates or sheets can debond prematurely, which at present severely limits the application. The aim of this research project is to quantify the debonding mechanisms, strengths and ductilities of adhesively bonded FRP plated beams to provide design rules that can be used in practice.Read moreRead less
Development of efficient, robust and architecturally-flexible structural systems using innovative blind-bolted connections. The aim of the proposed project is to develop structural systems that have sufficient stiffness, strength, and ductility to withstand code-specified loads and that will be competitive in the marketplace. The development of demonstrable cost-effective structural systems is essential if these types of systems are to be widely adopted in practice, thus allowing Australian manu ....Development of efficient, robust and architecturally-flexible structural systems using innovative blind-bolted connections. The aim of the proposed project is to develop structural systems that have sufficient stiffness, strength, and ductility to withstand code-specified loads and that will be competitive in the marketplace. The development of demonstrable cost-effective structural systems is essential if these types of systems are to be widely adopted in practice, thus allowing Australian manufacturers of blind bolts and steel tubes to achieve a greater market share.Read moreRead less
Earthquake protection of masonry buildings using fibre reinforced polymer strengthening. The importance of this research is highlighted, both nationally and internationally, by the work of the insurance industry which reported that the economic risk posed by a moderate earthquake in any of the capital cities in Australia is of the order of billions of dollars (Blong, 1993). For example, a 'design magnitude' earthquake in Sydney is predicted to cause, just in domestic construction, over $10 bill ....Earthquake protection of masonry buildings using fibre reinforced polymer strengthening. The importance of this research is highlighted, both nationally and internationally, by the work of the insurance industry which reported that the economic risk posed by a moderate earthquake in any of the capital cities in Australia is of the order of billions of dollars (Blong, 1993). For example, a 'design magnitude' earthquake in Sydney is predicted to cause, just in domestic construction, over $10 billion damage and more than 5000 deaths. Most of this damage would be associated with unreinforced masonry construction such as low-rise apartment buildings. The damage bill for the entire built environment (with business interruption costs) could easily be an order of magnitude greater.Read moreRead less
Blast resistance of flexural ultra-high performance concrete members. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has high material strengths, high material deformation and high toughness, making it an ideal material for resisting blast effects. Since there are great differences between the mechanical properties of UHPC and conventional concrete, traditional guidelines need to be significantly adapted to accommodate UHPC. This project will facilitate the development of design procedures for reinforce ....Blast resistance of flexural ultra-high performance concrete members. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has high material strengths, high material deformation and high toughness, making it an ideal material for resisting blast effects. Since there are great differences between the mechanical properties of UHPC and conventional concrete, traditional guidelines need to be significantly adapted to accommodate UHPC. This project will facilitate the development of design procedures for reinforced UHPC members. It will enable design engineers to take advantage of the desirable properties of UHPC for anti-terrorism. The application of this project will lead to saving lives, reducing the extent of injury and minimizing social and economic disruption.Read moreRead less
Ductile FRP retrofit of concrete frames subject to static and earthquake loading. Australia needs to spend at least $500 million annually on the repair and upgrading of concrete structures alone just to maintain our existing civil infrastructure. Furthermore, it has been estimated that more than 500 deaths and $10 billion damage will be caused by a moderate earthquake in Sydney or Melbourne. Most of this damage will be due to the collapse of buildings. This research will develop a new form of ....Ductile FRP retrofit of concrete frames subject to static and earthquake loading. Australia needs to spend at least $500 million annually on the repair and upgrading of concrete structures alone just to maintain our existing civil infrastructure. Furthermore, it has been estimated that more than 500 deaths and $10 billion damage will be caused by a moderate earthquake in Sydney or Melbourne. Most of this damage will be due to the collapse of buildings. This research will develop a new form of ductile plating that will reduce the cost of retrofitting concrete bridges and buildings. This project will also help train two PhD students and one Research Associate and further enhance the existing collaboration between Australia and Italy.Read moreRead less
A unified reinforced concrete model for flexure and shear. The catastrophic Minnesota River Bridge collapse in the USA in 2007 highlighted the importance of accurately assessing, maintaining, upgrading and prolonging the design life of our aging infrastructure. The problem, which is just as severe in Australia, is further exacerbated by increasing man-made (terrorist) hazards and natural hazards such as earthquake, tsunami, flood and bushfire. Reinforced concrete and composite steel-concrete st ....A unified reinforced concrete model for flexure and shear. The catastrophic Minnesota River Bridge collapse in the USA in 2007 highlighted the importance of accurately assessing, maintaining, upgrading and prolonging the design life of our aging infrastructure. The problem, which is just as severe in Australia, is further exacerbated by increasing man-made (terrorist) hazards and natural hazards such as earthquake, tsunami, flood and bushfire. Reinforced concrete and composite steel-concrete structures comprise a very large part of Australia's bridge and building infrastructure. This project will provide a safe and more economical tool for engineers to both extend the working-life of existing infrastructure and design new infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Development of sophisticated structural design guidelines for the new building product known as Rapidwall. Rapidwall is an Australian made new composite building product made from formulated gypsum plaster and glass-fibre. This is a high-tech building product that has huge potential to be developed into a dominant building material in the future. It is economic, labor effective, eco-friendly, structural sound and fire, thermal resistant and has many advantages over the existing building material ....Development of sophisticated structural design guidelines for the new building product known as Rapidwall. Rapidwall is an Australian made new composite building product made from formulated gypsum plaster and glass-fibre. This is a high-tech building product that has huge potential to be developed into a dominant building material in the future. It is economic, labor effective, eco-friendly, structural sound and fire, thermal resistant and has many advantages over the existing building materials, such as concrete, steel and masonry. The lack of a technical design guidelines has fundamentally obstructed it from expanding its market share both in Australia and overseas. This proposal aims at developing a structural design manual for the new product.Read moreRead less
A New Generic Approach for Assessing Blast Effects on Reinforced Concrete Members. A framework allow for both flexural and shear response analysis using a new segmental approach is developed in this proposal. A blast test program is designed to validate the framework for reinforced concrete members. The validated framework is then used to derive normalised pressure impulse programs for reinforced members in unconfined and confined spaces. This project will provide design engineers guidelines for ....A New Generic Approach for Assessing Blast Effects on Reinforced Concrete Members. A framework allow for both flexural and shear response analysis using a new segmental approach is developed in this proposal. A blast test program is designed to validate the framework for reinforced concrete members. The validated framework is then used to derive normalised pressure impulse programs for reinforced members in unconfined and confined spaces. This project will provide design engineers guidelines for reliably and quickly assessing the effect of different kinds of blast loads on different types and properties and geometries of reinforced concrete structural members, saving computation time and efforts while providing increased realism and accuracy.Read moreRead less
Displacement-based assessment of the seismic resistance of unreinforced masonry buildings. Earthquakes have caused over $1,000 billion of damage and more than 100,000 deaths in the last decade. This devastation occurred mainly in unreinforced brick masonry (URM) buildings which constitute the bulk of the domestic building stock in low seismicity regions, including Australia. These buildings were designed to resist forces, not the displacements, caused by earthquake ground shaking. This projec ....Displacement-based assessment of the seismic resistance of unreinforced masonry buildings. Earthquakes have caused over $1,000 billion of damage and more than 100,000 deaths in the last decade. This devastation occurred mainly in unreinforced brick masonry (URM) buildings which constitute the bulk of the domestic building stock in low seismicity regions, including Australia. These buildings were designed to resist forces, not the displacements, caused by earthquake ground shaking. This project will develop a new displacement-based method for assessing the earthquake resistance of URM buildings. Research outcomes will be in the form of improved analytical methods for the design of new buildings and the seismic assessment and retrofit of existing buildings.Read moreRead less
Displacement-based earthquake design of unreinforced masonry walls in two-way bending. Current design of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings for earthquake loading is based on checking that the strength of walls and connections exceeds the earthquake-induced inertia forces. Conservative estimates of wall bending strength are used to account for the wide variability in the quality of masonry construction. This project proposes to develop a new "displacement-based" design methodology for URM wa ....Displacement-based earthquake design of unreinforced masonry walls in two-way bending. Current design of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings for earthquake loading is based on checking that the strength of walls and connections exceeds the earthquake-induced inertia forces. Conservative estimates of wall bending strength are used to account for the wide variability in the quality of masonry construction. This project proposes to develop a new "displacement-based" design methodology for URM walls which is less conservative and more direct, reliable and easier to apply the the force-based method. Hence, this method offers substantical cost savings over current techniques for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of URM walls in buildings.Read moreRead less