38 < OUR RESEARCH UNSW Centre for Infrastructure, Engineering & Safety Report 2019
Some Research Highlights QNew Q geotechnical research to significantly reduce infrastructure costs
Billions of dollars are spent each year across Australia building infrastructure. High rates of infrastructure spending are expected to continue to meet the needs of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing population, which is expected to double by the year 2060 (ABS, 2008). Safety of structures and humans is of crucial importance to engineers and engineering design. Where behaviour and properties of materials are not well understood, engineers will, of necessity, adopt a conservative approach to design to maintain this safety, sometimes at considerable financial cost to the public. CIES researchers with industry support have recently completed a very successful ARC Linkage Project (LP140101078): Experimental investigation and constitutive modelling of weak rocks subject to mechanical and moisture degradation. Weak rocks are geomaterials that fall in the boundary between soils and rocks in terms of mechanical properties. Such geomaterials constitute a major portion of the shallow rocks in Australia. Despite their prevalence, the characteristics of weak rocks have been poorly understood mainly due to problematic sampling, lack of proper investigation measures - such as experimental equipment and methods, and the complex mechanical behaviour such materials show. Indeed, the lack of understanding and predictive tools for the behaviour of weak rocks have over the years led engineers to adopt a conservative and often expensive approach to design.
