Soft modes in glasses: chemical control of relaxation and mechanical response. The unusual dynamical and mechanical properties of viscous liquids and glasses underpins many existing and emerging technologies, from lubrication to the strength and fragility of bulk metallic glasses. An improved understanding of how macroscopic properties such as viscous flow, ductility and fracture emerge from the microscopic interactions between atoms and molecules will provide the enabling scientific knowledge f ....Soft modes in glasses: chemical control of relaxation and mechanical response. The unusual dynamical and mechanical properties of viscous liquids and glasses underpins many existing and emerging technologies, from lubrication to the strength and fragility of bulk metallic glasses. An improved understanding of how macroscopic properties such as viscous flow, ductility and fracture emerge from the microscopic interactions between atoms and molecules will provide the enabling scientific knowledge for exploiting the properties of such materials on the nanoscale. National expertise in this area will help establish and strengthen international collaboration with leading research institutes in the field.Read moreRead less
Centre for Mathematical and Statistical Modelling of Complex Systems. This Centre, formed by a group of high-profile researchers, brings expertise from linked but hitherto disparate areas together. It will place Australia at the forefront of research into complex systems.
The mission of the Centre is to stimulate research in mathematical and statistical modelling of complex systems and to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques. The specific objectives are
- to formulate and ana ....Centre for Mathematical and Statistical Modelling of Complex Systems. This Centre, formed by a group of high-profile researchers, brings expertise from linked but hitherto disparate areas together. It will place Australia at the forefront of research into complex systems.
The mission of the Centre is to stimulate research in mathematical and statistical modelling of complex systems and to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques. The specific objectives are
- to formulate and analyse mathematical and statistical models for natural and artificial complex systems,
- to use these models to develop an understanding of the behaviour of these systems
- to incorporate this understanding into strategies for management and control.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354716
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Energetically Open Systems Research Network Study. Conceptual frameworks arising in the physical sciences, such as non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, synergetics, chaos and dynamical systems theory, are seminal in the emerging science of complexity. This study will lay the groundwork for a network to link Australian and overseas research on these fundamental concepts, and their application within the context of entropy-producing systems vital to the long-term sustainabilit ....Energetically Open Systems Research Network Study. Conceptual frameworks arising in the physical sciences, such as non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, synergetics, chaos and dynamical systems theory, are seminal in the emerging science of complexity. This study will lay the groundwork for a network to link Australian and overseas research on these fundamental concepts, and their application within the context of entropy-producing systems vital to the long-term sustainability of the earth - oceans, atmosphere, biosphere, CO2-free energy production, space and solar environment. The network would facilitate the development of young investigators and be linked into wider complex systems networks such as the CSIRO Centre for Complex Systems Science.Read moreRead less
Deep ocean thermodynamics and climate change. This project aims to obtain new insights into the thermodynamic and transport properties of mixtures containing water, particularly at high pressures, that impact directly on our understanding of climate change processes. The project will involve the use of a polarisable potential for water which has recently been demonstrated to yield predictions of high accuracy. It will be used to model saline water mixtures containing carbon dioxide, resulting in ....Deep ocean thermodynamics and climate change. This project aims to obtain new insights into the thermodynamic and transport properties of mixtures containing water, particularly at high pressures, that impact directly on our understanding of climate change processes. The project will involve the use of a polarisable potential for water which has recently been demonstrated to yield predictions of high accuracy. It will be used to model saline water mixtures containing carbon dioxide, resulting in valuable data for thermodynamic properties of the world's oceans. These data are of crucial importance for accurate climate change predictions and as such the project will have an important impact on understanding our changing environment.Read moreRead less
Maximum entropy modelling and Bayesian inference in turbulent fluid mechanics. Fluid turbulence, characterised by fluctuating properties such as velocity and density, remains one of the great unsolved problems of science, due to the difficulty of calculating the Reynolds stresses created by the turbulence. This project will bring a new technique, the maximum entropy method of Jaynes, to this challenge, for the formulation and closure of theoretical and reduced-order numerical models of turbulent ....Maximum entropy modelling and Bayesian inference in turbulent fluid mechanics. Fluid turbulence, characterised by fluctuating properties such as velocity and density, remains one of the great unsolved problems of science, due to the difficulty of calculating the Reynolds stresses created by the turbulence. This project will bring a new technique, the maximum entropy method of Jaynes, to this challenge, for the formulation and closure of theoretical and reduced-order numerical models of turbulent flows. Several well-characterised case study flows, of importance to human society, will be examined. Turbulent flow models will also be constructed by maximum-entropy and Bayesian methods directly from experimental data. The project will substantially enhance our ability to predict the behaviour of turbulent flows.Read moreRead less
Roaming around the Transition State: A New Mechanism of Chemical Reactions. Gas-phase reaction mechanisms are at the core of some of the most important problems facing Australia at present: atmospheric models for CO2 are central to climate change; models of isotope exchange are essential to learn about past climates from Antarctic ice cores; and models of combustion are used to optimise energy efficiency. The mechanisms used in these models rely on accurate chemistry. A newly discovered chemica ....Roaming around the Transition State: A New Mechanism of Chemical Reactions. Gas-phase reaction mechanisms are at the core of some of the most important problems facing Australia at present: atmospheric models for CO2 are central to climate change; models of isotope exchange are essential to learn about past climates from Antarctic ice cores; and models of combustion are used to optimise energy efficiency. The mechanisms used in these models rely on accurate chemistry. A newly discovered chemical mechanism has the potential to change many of the reactions that we currently use in these chemical models. This project will determine how important this new mechanism is, and what its impact is on gas-phase reaction models.Read moreRead less
THE STABILITY OF GLASS-FORMING ALLOYS: SIMULATION STUDIES. Many of the properties that make common glass so valuable as a material can also be achieved in amorphous metals. The 'trick' is to avoid crystallization as the molten state is cooled. Recently, novel combinations of metals have been found to slow down crystallization enough to produce stable amorphous alloys. Developing these new materials depends on an accurate atomic level understanding of how crystallization is frustrated in glass-fo ....THE STABILITY OF GLASS-FORMING ALLOYS: SIMULATION STUDIES. Many of the properties that make common glass so valuable as a material can also be achieved in amorphous metals. The 'trick' is to avoid crystallization as the molten state is cooled. Recently, novel combinations of metals have been found to slow down crystallization enough to produce stable amorphous alloys. Developing these new materials depends on an accurate atomic level understanding of how crystallization is frustrated in glass-forming alloys. This project's aim is to use computer simulations to provide the first microscopic picture of the atomic order that stabilzes the amorphous alloys with regards to both crystallization and mechanical stress.Read moreRead less
Atomistic Mechanisms of Stress Relaxation in Amorphous Materials. Amorphous materials represent a major thrust in the search for new materials. Metallic glasses have very high strength and can be cast to much finer tolerances than regular (polycrystalline) metals. Ceramic glasses are finding increasing applications in data storage, photoelectronics and fibre optics. The greatest obstacle to the application of amorphous solids is their brittleness. The goal of this project is to use accurate comp ....Atomistic Mechanisms of Stress Relaxation in Amorphous Materials. Amorphous materials represent a major thrust in the search for new materials. Metallic glasses have very high strength and can be cast to much finer tolerances than regular (polycrystalline) metals. Ceramic glasses are finding increasing applications in data storage, photoelectronics and fibre optics. The greatest obstacle to the application of amorphous solids is their brittleness. The goal of this project is to use accurate computer simulations to provide detailed pictures of how atomic motions relax stress in very different types of glasses and, through this insight, explore ways of modifying the mechanical properties of these materials.Read moreRead less
Fluctuation Effects in Non-Crystallising Liquids. Understanding the behaviour of liquids colder than their freezing temperature is important in areas as diverse as metal alloy preparation, prevention of cell damage in plants and animals at low temperatures, extending the working temperature range of new high voltage automotive batteries and controlling drug delivery in pharmaceuticals. Advances in these areas would represent important new manufacturing opportunities in industries already establi ....Fluctuation Effects in Non-Crystallising Liquids. Understanding the behaviour of liquids colder than their freezing temperature is important in areas as diverse as metal alloy preparation, prevention of cell damage in plants and animals at low temperatures, extending the working temperature range of new high voltage automotive batteries and controlling drug delivery in pharmaceuticals. Advances in these areas would represent important new manufacturing opportunities in industries already established in Australia. In this project the fundamental physical chemistry of supercooled liquids is developed and applied to a number of these technological challenges.Read moreRead less
Ultra-sensitive 3D molecular assays using total body PET and deep learning. Recent advances in biomedical engineering have led to the development of Total Body Positron Emission Tomography (TB-PET), the most sensitive imaging device to date. Despite these impressive engineering advances, computational methods lag far behind and model-based approaches cannot deal with the complexity or volume of data these systems produce. We will develop new computational methods based on deep learning and stati ....Ultra-sensitive 3D molecular assays using total body PET and deep learning. Recent advances in biomedical engineering have led to the development of Total Body Positron Emission Tomography (TB-PET), the most sensitive imaging device to date. Despite these impressive engineering advances, computational methods lag far behind and model-based approaches cannot deal with the complexity or volume of data these systems produce. We will develop new computational methods based on deep learning and statistical methods that fully exploit the richness and complexity of the data generated by TB-PET, enabling 3D quantitative assays of molecular processes throughout the entire human body with unparalleled sensitivity. The technology we create will open up new capability for the study of complex physiological systems.Read moreRead less