Multi-Scale Model-Based Simulation of Glass Fragmentation under Blast Loading. It is estimated that most injuries from bomb blasts can be attributed to airborne sharp glass fragments. The proposed project will help us gain better understanding of glass failure mechanism under impact/blast loading. The results from the proposed project are expected to help in developing more effective blast-resistant transparency, ensuring the reliability and quality of buildings and facilities, mitigating injury ....Multi-Scale Model-Based Simulation of Glass Fragmentation under Blast Loading. It is estimated that most injuries from bomb blasts can be attributed to airborne sharp glass fragments. The proposed project will help us gain better understanding of glass failure mechanism under impact/blast loading. The results from the proposed project are expected to help in developing more effective blast-resistant transparency, ensuring the reliability and quality of buildings and facilities, mitigating injury or death due to flying glass fragments, and eventually enhancing public safety and security.Read moreRead less
Origami structures and materials: energy absorption and impact mechanics. This project will devise novel structures and advanced metamaterials to mitigate injury and death from impact or blast loading, using traditional origami folding concepts of design. This technology will have applications to many industries and occupations including vehicle manufacture and the military, as well as personal and public safety. Experiments and advanced numerical simulations will be performed and then analytica ....Origami structures and materials: energy absorption and impact mechanics. This project will devise novel structures and advanced metamaterials to mitigate injury and death from impact or blast loading, using traditional origami folding concepts of design. This technology will have applications to many industries and occupations including vehicle manufacture and the military, as well as personal and public safety. Experiments and advanced numerical simulations will be performed and then analytical models of structural plasticity and impact dynamics will be established to capture the physics involved. The findings will provide an insight into the fundamental mechanics of structures and metamaterials, as well as guidelines for their optimum design.Read moreRead less
Thin-walled Structures Subjected to Impact and Blast Loading. Terrorist attacks have cost Australians much human grief and billions of dollars. Containing the consequences of a blast or impact is crucial to survival and restricting damage to critical civilian/defence infrastructure. Thin-walled structures are used extensively in such infrastructure. There is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour when subjected to impulse and blast loads. The investigators will establish the most economical m ....Thin-walled Structures Subjected to Impact and Blast Loading. Terrorist attacks have cost Australians much human grief and billions of dollars. Containing the consequences of a blast or impact is crucial to survival and restricting damage to critical civilian/defence infrastructure. Thin-walled structures are used extensively in such infrastructure. There is a lack of knowledge about their behaviour when subjected to impulse and blast loads. The investigators will establish the most economical means of designing passive blast protection into thin-walled structures and hence, Australia's critical infrastructure. This knowledge will be transferred into design standards and Australia's limited defence resources.Read moreRead less
Sandwich Structures with Folded Core under Impact and Blast Loading. This project aims to support the development of new materials resistant to impacts. Novel sandwich panels making use of Miura-ori folded cores have superior performance relative to monolithic solid plates, in terms of stiffness and strength. They have great potential to be used in commercial and military vehicles as well as protective structures, which can be subjected to impact and blast loading. This project aims to systemat ....Sandwich Structures with Folded Core under Impact and Blast Loading. This project aims to support the development of new materials resistant to impacts. Novel sandwich panels making use of Miura-ori folded cores have superior performance relative to monolithic solid plates, in terms of stiffness and strength. They have great potential to be used in commercial and military vehicles as well as protective structures, which can be subjected to impact and blast loading. This project aims to systematically investigate the impact and blast response of such sandwich panels by establishing theoretical models and conducting experiments and advanced simulations. The findings may provide an insight into the fundamental mechanics of sandwich panels with folded cores under impact and blast loading, as well as guidelines for optimum design of these novel structures.Read moreRead less
Investigation of Geopolymer based Concretes for the Construction of High Fire Risk Infrastructures. Geopolymer concretes are emerging new materials promising superior fire resistance and durability and potentially cheaper than the widely used high strength concretes, which also consume high levels of Portland cements. Production of 1 ton of Portland cement releases 1 ton of green house gases. Further, the 6.5 million tons/year of cement currently produced in Australia is insufficient to meet the ....Investigation of Geopolymer based Concretes for the Construction of High Fire Risk Infrastructures. Geopolymer concretes are emerging new materials promising superior fire resistance and durability and potentially cheaper than the widely used high strength concretes, which also consume high levels of Portland cements. Production of 1 ton of Portland cement releases 1 ton of green house gases. Further, the 6.5 million tons/year of cement currently produced in Australia is insufficient to meet the industry demand. This project investigates the use of fly ash to make geopolymer concrete, without using any Portland cement, to find usage for part of the 11 million tons/year of fly ash produced as a waste from coal power stations in Australia.Read moreRead less
Development of an Alkali Activated Slag based Construction Material for High Fire Risk Infrastructures. This project will develop an alkali-activated slag (AAS) based construction material for tunnel construction. In tunnels, conventional concretes are likely to 'spall' in a hydrocarbon fire accident, possibly resulting in a tunnel collapse. The project is set to develop a spalling-resistant AAS as an alternative to conventional Portland cement, which is responsible for 6.5 million tons of gre ....Development of an Alkali Activated Slag based Construction Material for High Fire Risk Infrastructures. This project will develop an alkali-activated slag (AAS) based construction material for tunnel construction. In tunnels, conventional concretes are likely to 'spall' in a hydrocarbon fire accident, possibly resulting in a tunnel collapse. The project is set to develop a spalling-resistant AAS as an alternative to conventional Portland cement, which is responsible for 6.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia per year, whereas AAS is based on slag, an industrial waste product. The project also seeks to provide better understanding of the spalling phenomenon so that the engineers can design fireproofing for conventional concrete tunnels with confidence.Read moreRead less
A bio-inspired lightweight composite system for blast and impact protection. This project aims to develop a lightweight armour system that protects structural elements from extreme loads. Every day around the world, accidental and deliberate loads cost billions of dollars in damage and loss of life. The project’s composite system can concentrate material into areas most needed under impact loads and absorb and mitigate energy under blast. The anticipated outcomes of this project should be direct ....A bio-inspired lightweight composite system for blast and impact protection. This project aims to develop a lightweight armour system that protects structural elements from extreme loads. Every day around the world, accidental and deliberate loads cost billions of dollars in damage and loss of life. The project’s composite system can concentrate material into areas most needed under impact loads and absorb and mitigate energy under blast. The anticipated outcomes of this project should be directly applicable to designing, assessing and strengthening structures, including civilian buildings, defence structures, bridges and offshore and industrial facilities.Read moreRead less
Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers i ....Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies. Read moreRead less
Design of barriers for impact. This project aims to quantify the resistant capacity of rigid reinforced concrete barriers. These barriers can protect lives and property on hill slopes, but construction of the foundation is costly to protect against boulder impacts. Free-standing reinforced concrete barriers without a foundation could be cheaper and effective in countering impact, but need research to accurately quantify their impact resistant capacity. The expected outcome is a new technology to ....Design of barriers for impact. This project aims to quantify the resistant capacity of rigid reinforced concrete barriers. These barriers can protect lives and property on hill slopes, but construction of the foundation is costly to protect against boulder impacts. Free-standing reinforced concrete barriers without a foundation could be cheaper and effective in countering impact, but need research to accurately quantify their impact resistant capacity. The expected outcome is a new technology to make the built environment safer and more sustainable and affordable.Read moreRead less
Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, ow ....Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies.Read moreRead less