Walk-quality: A multi-criteria design platform to facilitate active travel. This seminal cross-disciplinary study aims to combine key ‘walk-quality’ urban design factors: pedestrian accessibility, slope, thermal comfort, pedestrian risk, and pollution, into a design decision platform to enable systematic evaluation of precincts and test ‘what-if’ future scenarios.
With 60% of Australians not meeting recommended physical activity targets costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually, the projec ....Walk-quality: A multi-criteria design platform to facilitate active travel. This seminal cross-disciplinary study aims to combine key ‘walk-quality’ urban design factors: pedestrian accessibility, slope, thermal comfort, pedestrian risk, and pollution, into a design decision platform to enable systematic evaluation of precincts and test ‘what-if’ future scenarios.
With 60% of Australians not meeting recommended physical activity targets costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually, the project envisions development of acutely lacking spatio-temporal analysis and design tools to help prioritise urgently needed active transport infrastructure investment.
Anticipated ‘walk-quality’ improvements to facilitating active journeys have vital foreseeable community benefits through increased incidental physical activity.Read moreRead less
Anisotropic behaviour of natural soft soils. This project aims to improve current engineering analysis methods, which often fail to predict the performance of infrastructure built on natural soft soils. This project expects to develop a theoretical and mathematical framework to describe the response of soft soils to complex loading patterns imposed by transport and energy infrastructure. This will be informed by advanced laboratory experiments that transcend the capabilities of routine testing m ....Anisotropic behaviour of natural soft soils. This project aims to improve current engineering analysis methods, which often fail to predict the performance of infrastructure built on natural soft soils. This project expects to develop a theoretical and mathematical framework to describe the response of soft soils to complex loading patterns imposed by transport and energy infrastructure. This will be informed by advanced laboratory experiments that transcend the capabilities of routine testing methods. The expected outcome of the project is a series of tools for the engineering analysis of earthworks and foundations built on soft soils that will underpin the construction of civil infrastructure on ground often too poor to be considered for other use.Read moreRead less
Structural Fuses for Safer and More Economical Bridge Construction. This project aims to develop a novel structural system leading to more economical concrete bridge construction by utilising a customised structural fuse. A significant margin of safety is required in structural design to account for accidental over-loading and to reduce the risk of structural collapse. Such a margin leads to more material usage. Incorporation of a fuse into the structure that is triggered upon over-loading will ....Structural Fuses for Safer and More Economical Bridge Construction. This project aims to develop a novel structural system leading to more economical concrete bridge construction by utilising a customised structural fuse. A significant margin of safety is required in structural design to account for accidental over-loading and to reduce the risk of structural collapse. Such a margin leads to more material usage. Incorporation of a fuse into the structure that is triggered upon over-loading will cause a safer failure mode and prohibit further increase of loading, both of which result in a reduced structure without undermining safety. The project is expected to advance structural theory, and also provide significant benefits to the construction industry via cost reduction and more eco-friendly constructions.Read moreRead less
Early-age cracking in concrete structures: mechanisms and control. This project aims to generate a comprehensive set of reliable data to examine all key factors governing the risk of early-age cracking in concrete structures, including a novel concept concerning zero-stress temperature. Expected outcomes include improved models for fundamental concrete properties from very early ages and tensile stresses due to restrained deformation accumulated from early stage, as well as guidelines for effect ....Early-age cracking in concrete structures: mechanisms and control. This project aims to generate a comprehensive set of reliable data to examine all key factors governing the risk of early-age cracking in concrete structures, including a novel concept concerning zero-stress temperature. Expected outcomes include improved models for fundamental concrete properties from very early ages and tensile stresses due to restrained deformation accumulated from early stage, as well as guidelines for effective crack control in concrete structures. It is expected these guidelines will enable significant cost savings and a more sustainable construction industry.Read moreRead less
Coupled effects of stress and temperature changes on concrete structures. The coupled effects of stress and temperature changes that concrete structures are commonly subject to are significant and need to be properly accounted for. However, existing engineering models accounting for these effects remain essentially empirical, necessarily limiting their predictive capability. This research aims to examine such coupled effects using an innovative approach combining original physical-based analytic ....Coupled effects of stress and temperature changes on concrete structures. The coupled effects of stress and temperature changes that concrete structures are commonly subject to are significant and need to be properly accounted for. However, existing engineering models accounting for these effects remain essentially empirical, necessarily limiting their predictive capability. This research aims to examine such coupled effects using an innovative approach combining original physical-based analytical study with novel tests and advanced numerical work. Expected outcomes include a robust yet simple engineering model, and guidelines for rational design of structures (incl. concrete spalling in fire) with due account for such coupled effects, thereby enabling to achieve more robust structures at substantial cost saving.Read moreRead less