UNSW CIES Annual Report 2012

Page 1

Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) Annual Report 2012 Never Stand Still

Faculty of Engineering

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering


©2013 Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) School of Civil and Environmental Engineering UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 AUSTRALIA Address Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) School of Civil and Environmental Engineering The University of New South Wales UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 AUSTRALIA Enquiries T +61 (0)2 9385 6853 F +61 (0)2 9385 9747 E i.calaizis@unsw.edu.au (Irene Calaizis - Centre Manager) W http://www.cies.unsw.edu.au Project Coordinator & Editor Irene Calaizis With grateful thanks to providers of text, stories and images Design Heléna Brusic helena@unsw.edu.au UNSW P3 Design Studio, www.p3.unsw.edu.au Ref: 53622 Photography Professional photography by Emeritus Professor Mike Gal Grateful thanks also to : Kurt Douglas, Mary O’Connell, Shutterstock


contents 2

Executive Reports

Director’s Report .................................................................................. 2 Our Vision ............................................................................................... 3 The Centre .............................................................................................. 4 Centre Management .......................................................................... 5

6

Key Activities

Key Centre Activities .......................................................................... 6 Centre Activity Highlights ................................................. 6 Selected Research Projects in 2012 ................................ 9 Research Funding ................................................................. 13 Research Publications - 2012 ............................................ 15 Industry Activities ................................................................. 16 Postgraduate Research Students .................................... 17

20 Research Research and Teaching areas of Key Centre Members .......... 20

53 Appendices Appendices ............................................................................................ 53 Research Publications – 2012 ........................................... 53 International Visitors ............................................................ 57 Postgraduate Research Students .................................... 60

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DIRECTOR’S report I am honoured to address you as the new Director of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES), a position I commenced in January 2013. Professor Stephen Foster has moved into the role of Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, however he and his team will continue to contribute to the research efforts of CIES. I thank Steve immensely for all his PROFESSOR BRIAN UY, BE hard work in guiding PhD UNSW, CPEng, CEng, PE, MIEAust, MASCE, MIStructE, the Centre to its curMICE, MAICD rent position where we are considered to be one of the national and international leading research centres for Infrastructure Engineering. This is best highlighted by the recent Australian Research Council, Excellence in Research Australia1 rankings in 2010 and 2012 for civil engineering and the 2012 and 2013 QS rankings2 in civil and structural engineering. Professor Nasser Khalili has also stepped down as one of our Deputy Directors to concentrate more fully on his Associate Dean (Research) role, however he and his research team in Geotechnical Engineering will continue to contribute to the research activities of CIES. Professor Chongmin Song has taken on one of the Deputy Director roles of CIES and his expertise in computational mechanics across the breadth of disciplines in civil and structural engineering will be very valuable in shaping future directions of CIES. CIES also continues to draw on the immense wealth of experience of Foundation Director and Laureate Fellow of CIES Scientia Professor Mark Bradford as our Research Director and Emeritus Professor Ian Gilbert as one of the original Deputy Directors. This team together with our Centre Manager, Ms. Irene Calaizis forms the nexus of much of the management activity of CIES, however our team comprises some 100 researchers, including some 30 academic staff, 10 support staff and over 60 PhD students, making it

CIES ANNUAL ANNUAL REPORT REPORT 2012 2012 PAGE PAGE 22 CIES

the largest research centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety in Australia. I take this opportunity to thank each of our staff and students for their commitment and dedication to excellent research outcomes in the Infrastructure Engineering field. This report serves as a brief expose of their activities and outcomes throughout the 2012 period. This year was punctuated by some significant highlights with Professor Mark Bradford winning the John Connell Gold Medal for Structural Engineering which was presented by the Structural College Board of Engineers Australia in Perth. Dr Michael Man, was also awarded the prestigious Mike Crisfield Prize at the 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics in Manchester. During 2012, CIES has played a leading role through Professor Bradford in the CSIRO Flagship Cluster announced in late 2012 and this year also marked the commencement for CIES in the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, which received initial funding from 2012-2019. CIES also hosted some significant international for a, most notably the inaugural CIES Symposium in October, 2012 and also played a leading role in coordinating the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials in Sydney in December. CIES was fortunate to welcome some new staff this year including Dr Hamid Valipour who returned to UNSW after a period of time on lecturing staff at UTS. Associate Professor Arnaud Castel also joined CIES from the University of NiceSophia Antipolis in September 2012. CIES also farewelled an important colleague and friend this year, with the sad passing of Professor Brian Shackel. I do hope you enjoy reading about all these important activities and events of the Centre and I look forward to reporting on more exciting research and successes in the future.

1 Australian Research Council, Excellence in Research for Australia Rankings http://www.arc.gov.au/era/ 2 QS Rankings http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings


our

VISION As an internationally recognised research centre our vision is in to provide outcomes that improve the design, construction and maintenance of economic, effective and safe civil engineering infrastructure that enhances the quality of human life in a sustainable way.

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the

CENTRE The Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety is focused on high-level research in structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, engineering materials and computational mechanics. Specifically, we apply our skills to engineering and safety assessments and with the risk management of buildings, bridges, dams, roads and other infrastructure when subjected to both in-service conditions and overload (or limit) conditions, such as may occur in fire, earthquake, cyclone or blast situations, or when structures are exposed to hostile environments. The centre aims to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration across the Faculties of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment at UNSW and to foster international and interdisciplinary research partnerships.

CIES: QQ Is an established world-class interdisciplinary research team, supported by advanced analytical, computational and experimental techniques and facilities, and underpinned by structural and geotechnical engineering expertise, in the field of infrastructure engineering and mechanics. QQ Provides a forum for research engineers and scientists from various disciplines to exchange ideas and to develop and lead collaborative research programs. QQ Provides a platform for the submission of highly-competitive nationally peer-assessed research grant funding applications, specifically through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery and Linkage Project schemes and for the development of proposals for research funding from industry. QQ Promotes the application of research outcomes and deliverables to industry. QQ Contributes to the education and training of high-quality postgraduate students in a wide range of relevant disciplines in engineering and applied science, and provides an outstanding research and learning environment.

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centre

MANAGEMENT Centre Staff

The UNSW Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety was managed in 2012 by an Executive Committee comprising of the CIES Director, Research Director, two Deputy Directors and the Centre Manager. The committee met on a regular basis to discuss strategy, performance and research opportunities.

Dr Wei Gao BE HDU, ME PhD Xidian, MIIAV, MAAS Dr Carolin Birk BE DEng Dresden Dr Hossein Taiebat BSc Isfahan M.E.S. PhD Syd Dr Zora Vrcelj BEW’gong, PhD UNSW Dr Ehab Hamed, BSc MSc PhD Technion Dr Hamid Vali Pour Goudarzi BSc MSc Tehran, PhD UNSW Dr Arman Khoshghalb BE ME Sharif Uni of Tech, PhD UNSW

In addition, input to CIES management is provided by the CIES Academic Group. Other Research Staff

Dr Zhen-Tian Chang, BE ME Hunan PhD UNSW Professor Stephen Foster, BE NSWIT, Dr Xiaojing Li, BEng Wuhan PhD UNSW MEngSc PhD UNSW, MIEAust Dr Michael Man, BE PhD UNSW Dr Tian Sing Ng, BE PhD UNSW Research Director: Dr Liao-liang Ke, BE Wuhan, PhD Beijing Scientia Professor Mark Bradford, BSc Jiatong BE PhD Syd DSc UNSW, FTSE PEng CPEng Dr Ghaofeng Zhao, BSc MSc CUMT, PhD CEng FIEAust FIStructE MAICD MASCE EPFL MACI Dr David Kellerman BE, PhD UNSW Dr Ean Tat Ooi, BE UTM, PhD NTU Deputy Directors: Dr Maziar Ramezani, BSc MSc Semnan Emeritus Professor Ian Gilbert, BE PhD Iran, PhD Sains Malaysia UNSW CPEng FIEAust MACI Dr Xinpei Liu BE SCUT, MEngSc MPhil Professor Nasser Khalili, BSc Teh MSc PhD UNSW Birm PhDUNSW Dr Huiyong Ban BE PhD Tsinghua University, Beijing Centre Manager: Dr Sundararajan Natarajan BE Mech Eng, PhD Cardiff Irene Calaizis, BCom UNSW

Director:

Academics:

Technical Team

Associate Professor Chongmin Song, BE ME Tsinghua, DEng Tokyo Professor Yong Lin Pi, BE Tongji ME Wuhan PhD UNSW CPEng MIEAust A/Professor Mario Attard BE PhD MHEd UNSW, MIEAust, CPEng A/Professor Arnaud Castel BE, MEngSc, PhD Toulouse Dr Adrian Russell BE, PhD UNSW, PGCert Bristol Dr Kurt Douglas BE Syd. PhD UNSW, MIEAust

John Gilbert Greg Worthing Ron Moncay

Emeritus Professors: Francis Tin-Loi BE PhD Monash, CPEng, MIEAust

Don Kelly (School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering) Visiting Professorial Fellow:

A/Prof Brian Shackel, BE Sheff, MEngSc PhD UNSW, CPEng FIEAust

UNSW Members: Professor Alan Crosky

School of Materials Science & Engineering A/ Professor Gangadhara Prusty School of Mechanical Engineering

Management Board The Management Board meets throughout the year to oversee and monitor the progress of the Centre and to assist the Director in developing strategies to ensure that the goals and objectives of the Centre are realised. The membership of the 2012 Management Board for the Centre was: Professor Graham Davies, Dean, Faculty of Engineering (Chair) Professor Stephen Foster, Director , CIES. Scientia Professor Mark Bradford, Director of Research, CIES. Professor David Waite, Head, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Ian Gilbert, Deputy Director, CIES Professor Nasser Khalili, Deputy Director, CIES Professor Deo Prasad, Faculty of the Built Environment Professor Chris Rizos, Head, School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems

Somasundaram Valliappan BE Annam, MS Northeastern, PhD DSc Wales, CPEng, FASCE, FIACM In Attendance: CIES Centre Manager Ms Irene Calaizis

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key centre

ACTIVITIES CENTRE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS

CIES Researchers lead the UNSW Engineering* ARC Discovery grants for 2012 In the 2012 round of successful ARC Discovery grants, CIES researchers were awarded 4 grants, making this the largest achievement from any group in UNSW Engineering –under the ARC Engineering Field of Research category. (*Based on ARC FoR Code “Engineering”) This result is significant given that ARC Discovery Projects are awarded to: QQ Support excellent basic and applied research by individuals and teams QQ Enhance the scale and focus of research in the National Research Priorities QQ Expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capability QQ Encourage research and research training in high-quality research environments QQ Enhance international collaboration in research QQ Foster the international competitiveness of Australian research.

2012 ARC Discovery Grants were awarded to the following CIES members: Professor Mark Bradford: “Thermal-induced unilateral plate buckling of concrete pavements: design and evaluation” The project addresses the upheaval buckling of concrete pavements, which is caused by increasingly frequent heat spells. It will consider both the vulnerability assessment of existing pavements, and the design of new pavements made from low-carbon geopolymer concretes (which are lighter than conventional pavements) against upheaval buckling.

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Professor Stephen Foster; Dr Hamid Valipour: “Progressive collapse resistance of reinforced concrete framed structures with membrane action” The past ten years, or so, has seen increasing emphasis on extreme event scenarios such as blast, impact and earthquake and more regular and intense cyclonic wind events. This study investigates the reserve of strength in reinforced concrete framed structures to withstand such forces. Dr Ehab Hamed; Professor Stephen Foster: “Nonlinear long-term behaviour and analysis of high strength concrete panels” This project investigates the nonlinear long-term response of high-strength concrete panels. As these panels find widespread use in many civil and industrial engineering applications, the outcomes of this project will enhance the understanding of their long-term behaviour and will provide a theoretical basis for their analysis and design. Associate Professor Chongmin Song; Emeritus Professor Francis Tin-Loi; Professor Wilfried Becker (overseas collaborator): “Scaled boundary finite-element approach for safety assessment of plates and shells under monotonic and shakedown loadings” This project develops an advanced numerical tool for the safety assessment of plate and shell structures under practical loading regimes. This tool permits timely decision making and is of vital assistance to engineers and government authorities on safe and cost-effective management of infrastructure asset.


CENTRE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS 2012 CIES Symposium On 10th October 2012, CIES held its second Symposium. The revised format for the event and its underlying objective, was to enhance the research profile within the local construction industry and to showcase research activities of the Centre. It is planned that this will be the first in a series of such events to be held annually. The theme for 2012 focussed on “Sustainability in Civil Infrastructure: Design, Construction and Resilience” with an impressive line up of international and national leaders in the field of Sustainable Infrastructure research and practice. On offer to our Industry participants as well as academic colleagues was the opportunity to review trends in infrastructure sustainability (to keep abreast of current and future developments and opportunities); to network with leading researchers and professionals as well as inspiration for and, opportunities for collaboration on future research projects

The presenters included Professor David Nethercot (Imperial College London), Professor Jin-Guang Teng (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Professor John Wilson (Swinburne University of Technology Melbourne), Professor Robert Melchers (University of Newcastle), Professor Michael Neuman (UNSW), Professor Brian Uy (UWS), Professor S. Travis Waller (UNSW). CIES Director Professor Steve Foster and Research Director Mark Bradford were also speakers at the Symposium. Deputy Director Professor Ian Gilbert chaired a number of the sessions as well as a very stimulating panel discussion which involved all of the day’s speakers and provided a very thought provoking conclusion to the day’s proceedings As part of promoting the Centre, this event provided an excellent opportunity to showcase our PhD students’ research activities by way of poster display for each of their research projects.

1. L-R Professors Ian Gilbert, Mark Bradford, David Nethercot (Imperial College London) and Rob Melchers (Univ of Newcastle) 2. L-R PhD students, Sanchayan Sriskandarajah, James de Burgh and Ankit Agarwal assisting at the registration desk 3. Dean’s Welcome – Professor Graham Davies

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CENTRE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS John Connell Gold Medal awarded to Scientia Professor Mark Bradford CIES Director of Research and Founding Director, Scientia Professor Mark Bradford, has been awarded the John Connell Gold Medal by Engineers Australia’s Structural College for 2012. The John Connell Gold Medal is awarded to an eminent structural engineer who has made a significant contribution to the standing and prestige of the structural engineering profession. Professor Bradford’s medal was presented by Richard Eckhaus, Chairman of the Structural College of Engineers Australia, at the Australasian Structural Engineering Conference in Perth. Professor Bradford was also one of the three keynote speakers at the Conference, his presentation wasentitled “Innovative applications and behaviour of composite slabs with deep trapezoidal sheeting”, which was based on research work undertaken in two ARC Linkage Grants awarded to Professors Ian Gilbert, Stephen Foster and himself, and supported by BlueScope Lysaght, BOSFA, Fielders Australia and Prestressed Concrete Consultants Pty Limited.

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L-R: Mr Richard Eckhaus - Chair of the Structural College & Professor Mark Bradford


CENTRE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Dr Michael Man awarded the prestigious Mike Crisfield Prize Dr Michael Man, a Research Fellow in the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was awarded the prestigious Mike Crisfield Prize at the 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACME) in Manchester, UK 2012. This prize was set up in honour of the late Professor Mike Crisfield who was a leading researcher in computational mechanics and held the FEA chair in computational mechanics in the Aeronautics Department at Imperial College, London. The prize was awarded to the best presenter amongst all post-graduate research students and post-doctoral researchers at the annual ACME conference.

Dr Michael Man (left) with Professor Carlo Sansour, the President of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering –UK.

Michael presented his paper titled “A Semi-Analytical Technique for Plate Bending Analysis with Pade Expansion” (The co-authors of the paper are Chongmin Song, Wei Gao and Francis Tin-Loi - all of CIES). The development of this new technique has so far led to two A* international journal publications. The continuous extension of this technique assures to bring a highly accurate and efficient numerical tool to the analysis and design of smart composite structures under static and dynamic actions.

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CENTRE ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS CIES – A major supporter of ACMSM22 ACMSM22 – the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials was held in Sydney 11-14 December, 2012. The theme for this year’s conference was: “Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation” The first ACMSM conference was held in 1967 at the University of New South Wales and since then another 21 of such biennial conferences have been hosted by various universities across Australia and New Zealand. ACMSM conferences provide a forum for academics, researchers and practitioners to discuss and review latest developments in the broad area of structural mechanics and materials. These conferences place strong emphasis on participation from research students. CIES was strongly represented on the local organizing committee with the active participation of A/Prof Mario Attard (co-chair), Prof Chongmin Song (co-chair), Dr Ean Tat Ooi, Dr Michael Man and Dr David Kellermann. Presenters included many of our academic team as well as presentations by our PhD students.

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CIES RESEARCH UPDATES CIES – Leading research in innovative and advanced building systems CIES Director of Research and Founding Director Scientia Professor Mark Bradford is leading research in the areas of innovative and advanced building systems. A research project entitled “An innovative and advanced systems approach for full life-cycle, low-emissions composite and hybrid building infrastructure” is funded by the Australian Research Council through a prestigious Laureate Fellowship awarded to Professor Bradford. The topic is of high relevance in contemporary engineering practice and provides a very timely solution to a major contemporary engineering challenge facing Australia. This project will develop a ‘green’ sustainable composite steelconcrete building frame system that reduces greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life-cycle of building construction, usage, maintenance and deconstruction. It will eliminate the use of ordinary Portland cement, which is a major carbon

dioxide producer, by using geopolymer concrete made from fly-ash, and will use economic thin-walled, high-strength steel sections. High-strength steel and reduced slab sizes not only result in less material usage for the building itself, but they reduce the size of the footings needed to support the structure. Deconstructability will also form part of the research, which will also consider bolted beam to column joints which can be deconstructed, and using steel hollow section columns as a strength-enhancing repository for concrete made from recycled aggregates. The Laureate Fellowship team consists of two post-doctoral research fellows – Professor Yong Lin Pi and Dr Xinpei Liu, two PhD students, as well as final-year honours students from the School.

A typical push test set up to obtain the strength and stiffness characteristics of pretension bolted shear connectors – 2 views Typical failure mechanism of a double panel push test simulating the precast concrete slabs in the full scale beam.

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CIES RESEARCH UPDATES Building materials of the future - Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) Columns. CIES researchers have completed a series of tests in the Heavy Structures Laboratory at Randwick to improve our understanding of high-performance concrete columns that are subjected to impact loading - more particularly, that of high strength concrete (HSC) and reactive powder concrete (RPC) columns that are subjected to the combined effect of impact and axial forces. Reinforced concrete structures during their construction stage and service life may experience severe loadings such as impact and blast. The behaviour of reinforced concrete structures under such high rate loading is not thoroughly understood and the conventional design guidelines for these structures are mostly empirical. In the first part of the research, an experimental program was conducted to consider the effect of axial force, loading eccentricity and the use of steel fibre reactive powder concrete, as a replacement for conventional strength concretes, on the impact performance of concrete members. The program included tests on 16 specimens with three types of columns and beams: HSC, RPC, and HSC core and RPC shell. In the

second part of this research, the experimental tests were used to validate a numerical model based on the software LS-DYNA and the model then extended to consider the effect of higher axial forces in a parametric study. Research outcomes: The experimental results showed that axial force and its eccentricity has a significant influence on both the impact performance and the failure mode. The degree of influence was dependent on the magnitude of the axial force and its eccentricity. The RPC specimens exhibited a better impact performance with smaller mid-span displacements and sustained a greater number of impacts to failure compared to the other types of columns tested. Numerical results showed that using reactive powder concrete provides significant enhancement for the impact resistance of members compared to the high strength concrete. They also show that axial force and its eccentricity cannot be ignored when assessing the impact resistance of a member as they influence both the resistance during the impact and the residual capacity of a member to withstand static axial loads after impact without collapse.

1. Test set up 2. High strength concrete (HSC) column after 3rd impact of 500 kg mass from 1.8 metres 3. Steel fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete column after 3rd impact of 500 kg mass from 1.8 metres.

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CIES RESEARCH UPDATES CIES – Further “cementing” our expertise in concrete structures Associate Professor Arnaud Castel joined CIES from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (UNS) in September 2012 bringing with hime his internationally recognized expertise in the areas of concrete technology and concrete structures. Arnaud is an expert in the durability of concrete structures in aggressive environments, life cycle assessment and sustainability of structures. Prior to joining CIES as a full-time member of the academic staff, A/Prof Castel had spent a full year sabbatical at UNSW within CIES (2010-2011), collaboration on two existing research projects with CIES researchers. His expertise complements existing expertise within the Centre and increases the Centre’s research capabilities. Arnaud’s appointment will facilitate growth in both the breadth and depth of CIES

research and will greatly enhance the capability of CIES in the development of solutions to the provision of durable and sustainable infrastructure in Australia. The performance of modern structures is also influenced by problematic material attributes that can compromise the safety and appearance of structures, such as the low permeability of some concretes and the resulting chloride infusion that may lead to corrosion of reinforcement. A/Professor Castel is an internationally respected scholar in these areas. Assessing the ramifications of the impacts of extreme actions on structures and accounting for the problematic attributes of modern construction materials are relatively recent research areas that will be of increasing importance for structural engineering research over the coming decades.

A/PROF CASTEL

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VALE CIES Visiting Professorial Fellow: Associate Professor Brian Shackel

DR. BRIAN SHACKEL, BE Sheff, MEngSc PhD UNSW, CPEng, FIEAust, Consulting Professor

Dr. Brian Shackel, Consulting Professor and friend to many in the concrete block paving industry, lost his battle with cancer on Nov. 18, 2012.

Brian graduated from the University of Sheffield, England in 1962 and soon after joined the Department of Main Roads, New South Wales, Australia. He was appointed Shire Engineer to Central Darling Shire, the largest local government area in New South Wales in 1964. In 1966, Brian accepted a Teaching Fellowship at the University of New South Wales where he earned a masters and doctorate in civil engineering. Soon after Brian was appointed as Lecturer in the Postgraduate School of Highway and Traffic Engineering and commenced his distinguished 35 year academic career at UNSW. In 1978, Brian undertook a sabbatical at the National Institute for Transport and Road Research in South Africa and was subsequently seconded to that institute as the Senior Research Officer until 1981. Brian returned to UNSW in 1981 when he joined the Department of Geotechnical Engineering as Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil Engineering, serving several terms as Head of that Department over the next decade. Brian was promoted to Associate Professor in 1989 and about that time was appointed as the Inaugural Director of the UNSW Munro Centre for Civil & Environmental Engineering. Brian taught pavement engineering at the undergraduate and postgraduate level at UNSW for more than 35 years and was one of the leading researchers in the area, acclaimed internationally for his outstanding research contributions. In addition to his theoretical research, Dr. Shackel conducted leading-edge experimental studies in pavement engineering, including accelerated trafficking tests of more than 200 full-scale pavements. These included flexible and rigid freeway pavements, heavy duty industrial pavements, and concrete block pavements. He also supervised field and laboratory trials of several new forms of pavement. His work influenced industry associations around the world including those in Australia, Japan, North America, Europe, South America, and South Africa. He travelled extensively and lectured in some 24 countries worldwide, including repeated visits to North America and Europe. Throughout his career, Brian was Visiting Professor at numerous acclaimed universities around the world including: Tokyo University, School of Civil Engineering and

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Nihon University in Japan, and the Technical Universities of Delft, The Netherlands; Vienna, Austria; and in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has published over 100 research papers on the mechanics and pavement engineering of which more than 60 are on Interlocking Concrete Block Paving. His book The Design and Construction of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavements, Elsevier Applied Science, London (1990), was translated into several languages and is the seminal work in the area. It is widely acknowledged as the most widely used and valuable resource on concrete block paving. Brian is also the author of the LOCKPAVE software program which is widely used for design and specification of concrete block paving by paving block associations throughout the world. Brian was also a member of the Small Element Pavement Technologists Group since its inception in 1988. Dr. Shackel consulted on numerous projects around the world including major road, airport, and industrial projects. He is known for his work on heavy-duty pavements such as ports, industrial pavements, port container handling facilities and airport pavements. Above all, he was passionate and dedicated to communicating new technologies and designs. He never tired of discussing interlocking and permeable interlocking concrete pavements. Early on, he identified and promoted the benefits of permeable pavements in stormwater management, a topic of increasing importance to municipal, state and federal governments. Brian had many interests that he was able to cultivate due to his speaking engagements around the world, often in cities that were famous for his areas of interest. He could often be found in antique markets adding to his impressive collections of old cameras and rare books. Brian often managed to time his speaking engagements in cities around the world to coincide with some of his favorite opera performances. His love of opera was insatiable, often accepting last minute tickets in the standing sections if the more comfortable seats were not available. However, his love of opera was matched by his love of fine wine, a topic he knew a great deal about. He was a long-term member of the NSW Wine and Food Society serving several terms as Cellar Master. Brian did not shy away from a technical debate should it be needed, but his humour was infectious and his company was highly valued by all who knew him. His contributions to the industry have been great. He will be sadly missed as a friend to many and as an outstanding advocate for the concrete block pavement industry.


2012 CIES RESEARCH FUNDING SUMMARY Researcher(s) MA Bradford

Research Topic An Innovative and Advanced Systems Approach for Full Life-Cycle, Low-Emissions Composite and Hybrid Building Infrastructure MA Bradford Thermal-induced unilateral plate buckling of concrete pavements: design and evaluation C Song; W Gao ; W Becker Non -deterministic fracture analysis of structures by extending the scaled boundary finite -element method N Khalili ; RK Niven; M Oeser CO2 sequestration in deformable, chemically interactive, double porosity media N Khalili; AR Russell Erosion of variably saturated soils - a fundamental investigation RI Gilbert Anchorage of reinforcement in concrete structures subjected to loading and environmental extremes RI Gilbert Time-dependent stiffness of cracked reinforced concrete Chongmin Song, Francis Tin- Scaled boundary finite-element approach for Loi, Wilfried Becker safety assessment of plates and shells under monotonic and shakedown loadings Ehab Hamed; Stephen Foster Nonlinear long-term behaviour and analysis of high strength concrete panels S Foster; Hamid Valipour Progressive collapse resistance of reinforced concrete framed structures with membrane action Y L Pi Interval nonlinear analysis of spatially curved structures with material and geometric uncertainties RI Gilbert; MA Bradford; R Time‑dependent in‑service behaviour of Zeuner; GR Brock composite concrete slabs with profiled steel decking Collaborating/Partner Organisation(s) Fielders Australia Pty Ltd; and Prestressed Concrete Design Consultants Pty Ltd Markus Oeser, Alan Pearson, Permeable Pavements with Concrete Surface Nasser Khalili, Brian Shackel Layers- Experimental and Theoretical Basis for Analysis and Design Behaviour of lifting inserts for precast Gianluca Ranzi (USYD), concrete construction Partner/Collaborating Raymond I Gilbert, Rodney Organisation: Mackay-Sim Universal Concrete Lifting Systems Univ of Melbourne, Xiaojing A new approach to structural design that (Jean) Li incorporates the effect of non structural components

Granting Organisation Value at 2012 ARC Laureate Fellowship 562,462 including Faculty of Engineering & UNSW support ARC Discovery

207,695

ARC Discovery

161,508

ARC Discovery

129,206

ARC Discovery

96,905

ARC Discovery

96,905

ARC Discovery

66,580

ARC Discovery

124,617

ARC Discovery

114,232

ARC Discovery

74,617

ARC Discovery

43,069

ARC Linkage

65,293

ARC Linkage

72,430

ARC Linkage

26,389

ARC Linkage

2,486

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2012 CIES RESEARCH FUNDING SUMMARY Researcher(s) L. Ge

Research Topic Integrated radar and optical satellite remote sensing for safeguarding carbon capture and storage

Stephen Foster; Ehab Hamed; Advanced composite Structures Zora Vrcelj

Stephen Foster; Ehab Hamed; Zora Vrcelj Carolin Birk Zora Vrcelj Wei Gao Gaofeng Zhao

Advanced composite Structures FRG Grant FRG Grant Goldstar Project ECR

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Granting Organisation Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (the AustraliaChina Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology Research & Development Grants) Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures Ltd (CRC-ACS) Faculty of Engineering

Value at 2012 40,040

25,000

Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Engineering TOTAL

20,000 15,000 40,000 21,984 $2,090,335

83,917


RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS FOR 2012 Research Publications are an important output of Centre related research activities. The Centre continues to have a consistently strong publishing output by our researchers including 4 book chapters, 76 refereed journal papers and 51 refereed conference papers. Full list appears in the Appendix on page 52.

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INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES CIES Advisory Committee The CIES Advisory Committee was established in 2011 to provide a mechanism for receiving input from industry stakeholders and the broader community on a wide range of planning issues. The CIES Advisory Committee provides industry’s views on the research directions of the Centre, on trends and directions within the profession, and on emerging technologies and opportunities in the broad research areas of civil engineering infrastructure. From time to time, particular briefs will be provided to the Advisory Committee to address specific issues that arise in

Engaging with Industry: 2012 CIA National Seminar Series - AS3600 Commentary CIES researchers, working with the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) presented a national series of seminars in November 2011, featuring Professors Ian Gilbert and Stephen Foster from UNSW, and Gil Brock of Precast Concrete Design Consultants. These full-day seminars provided guidance on the use of AS3600 in the design of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures for both strength and serviceability to an audience of industry participants. The seminars provided an opportunity to raise the profile of CIES as well as to network with industry contacts.

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the Centre and provide advice to the Director. In addition, the Committee may raise issues that it would like to see addressed by the Centre. The Committee is comprised of the CIES Directors and representatives from the following industries: Unicon, PSM Consult, Aurecon, BOSFA, BLUESCOPE. The committee is comprised of the CIES Directors and representatives from the following industries Aurecon (Kourosh Kayvani – Chair), BLUESCOPE (Alex Filonov), BOSFA (John Brown), PSM Consult (Garry Mostyn) and Unicon (Rod Mackay-Sim)


POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS Most academic staff involved with the Centre also supervise higher degree research (HDR) students. All new HDR income associated with Centre students is distributed to the Faculties and Schools in which they are enrolled. Since its inception, there has a been a steady growth in new PhD student enrolments associated with CIES member supervision.

Number of PhD students supervised by CIES members

2009

2010

2011

2012

38

37

42

53

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RESEARCH and TEACHING areas of key centre members Name Dr Stephen Foster

Dr Mark Bradford

Dr Ian Gilbert

Dr Francis Tin Loi

Dr Nasser Khalili Dr Brian Shackel

Position within School Professor of Civil Engineering

Research Areas Analysis and design of reinforced concrete deep beams, corbels and nibs. High strength and reactive powder concretes. Nonlinear 2-D and 3-D modelling of concrete structures. Confined concrete structures. Federation Fellow, Scientia Structures subjected to elevated temperaProfessor and Professor of ture. Civil Engineering Steel, concrete and composite steelconcrete structures. Curved members, including members curved in plan and arches. Structural stability. Numerical techniques (FE, finite strip, non-discretisation methods). Time-dependent behaviour of concrete arches and domes. Emeritus Professor Serviceability of concrete and composite structures. Creep and shrinkage of concrete and time-dependent behaviour of concrete structures, including prediction of deflection and cracking. Impact of low-ductility reinforcement on strength and ductility of concrete structures. Nonlinear FE modelling of concrete structures. Structural applications of high strength and reactive powder concrete. Emeritus Professor Large-scale limit and shakedown analyses. Limit analysis in the presence of constitutive instabilities. Identification of quasibrittle fracture parameters. Smoothing of contact mechanics problems. Professor of Civil Numerical methods. Unsaturated soils. Engineering Remediation of contaminated soils. Flow and contaminant mitigation. Visiting Professor of Civil Segmental paving. Airport, industrial and Engineering heavy duty pavements. Accelerated trafficking studies. Repeated triaxial load tests.

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Teaching Areas Engineering mechanics and engineering design. Structural analysis and design. Concrete structures.

Engineering mechanics. Structural analysis and design. Steel and composite steel-concrete structures. Structural stability.

Engineering mechanics and engineering design. Structural analysis and design. Concrete structures.

Strength of materials. Structural analysis and design. Bridge engineering.

Numerical methods. Geotechnical engineering. Foundation engineering. Pavement and highway engineering. Soil mechanics.


RESEARCH AND TEACHING AREAS OF KEY CENTRE MEMBERS Name Dr Somasundaram Valliappan

Dr Mario Attard

Dr Yong-Lin Pi

Dr Chongmin Song

Dr Kurt Douglas

Dr Adrian Russell

Dr Hossein Taiebat

Dr Zora Vrcelj

Dr Wei Gao

Dr Hamid Valipour

Position within School Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering

Research Areas Stress analysis in soil and rock mechanics. Stability of large dams. Wave propagation. Fracture mechanics. Fuzzy analysis. Biomechanics. Smart materials and structures. Earthquake engineering. Associate Professor in Civil Finite strain isotropic and anisotropic hyEngineering perelastic modelling. Fracture in concrete and masonry. Crack propagation due to creep. Ductility of high-strength concrete columns. Structural stability. Advanced nonlinear mechanics. Members Associate Professor in Civil Engineering / Senior curved in plane, including beams curved in-plan and arches. Nonlinear FE techResearch Fellow niques. Thin-walled structural mechanics. Structural dynamics. Associate Professor in Civil Scaled boundary finite element method. Engineering Dynamic soil-structure interaction. Fracture mechanics. Elasto-plastic damage constitutive modelling.

Teaching Areas Numerical analysis. Continuum mechanics. Soil mechanics.

Mechanics of solids. Structural analysis and design. Design of concrete structures. Finite element analysis. Structural stability. Engineering mechanics and mathematics.

Computing. Foundation engineering. Pavement analysis and design. Numerical techniques.

Rock mechanics. Probabilistic evaluation of Geotechnical engineering. Engineering geology. Design concrete dams and landslides. Numerical of tunnels, slopes, retaining methods. walls Geotechnical engineering. Senior Lecturer Unsaturated soils. Fibre reinforced soils. Soil mechanics. Particle crushing in granular media. Wind turbine foundations. In-situ testing and constitutive modelling of soils. Applied geotechnics, FundaState Water Senior Lecturer Embankment dams, Erosion and piping, of Dam Engineering Numerical modellings, Slope stability mentals of geotechnics; Adanalysis. Fibre reinforced clays, Analysis of vanced foundation engineeroffshore foundations, Liquefaction analysis. ing, Ground improvement techniques, Embankment dams Engineering mechanics. Senior Lecturer Composite steel-concrete structures. Structural stability. Steel structures. Creep Structural analysis and deand shrinkage of composite structures. sign. Steel & composite strucStructures at elevated temperature. tures. Structural stability. Senior Lecturer Uncertain modelling and methods. Vehicle/ Dynamics. Structural analysis and design. bridge interaction dynamics. Wind and/ or seismic random vibrations. Stochastic nonlinear systems. Smart structures. Senior Lecturer Structural Mechanics, Constitutive model- Mechanics of Solids, Steel ling of concrete and timber, Finite element and Timber Design, Bridge modelling, Localisation limiters, progressive Design, Design of reinforced collapse analysis and structural dynamics. concrete

Pells Sullivan Meynink Senior Lecturer

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RESEARCH AND TEACHING AREAS OF KEY CENTRE MEMBERS Name Dr Ehab Hamed

Position within School Lecturer

Dr Carolin Birk

Lecturer

Dr Arman Khoshghalb

Lecturer

Dr Gaofeng Zhao

Lecturer

Dr Zhen-Tian Chang Dr Xiaojing Li

Senior Research Fellow Research Fellow

Dr Michael Man

Research Fellow

Dr Tian Sing Ng

Research Associate

Dr Ean Tat Ooi

Research Associate

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Research Areas Viscoelasticity of concrete and composite materials, Creep buckling of concrete domes and shells, Strengthening of concrete and masonry structures with composite materials (FRP), Nonlinear dynamics of concrete structures. Numerical modelling of wave propagation in unbounded domains and in bounded domains containing discontinuities, Soil-structure interaction, fluid-structure interaction Longitudinal railway track-structure interaction Artificial boundary conditions for diffusion Fractional calculus Mechanics of unsaturated soils Numerical modelling of porous media Large deformation problems Meshfree methods Soil water characteristic curve Coupled flow-deformation Rock dynamics Microstructure constitutive model Computational methods Mutiphysical modelling Corrosion of reinforced concrete, concrete repair, structural analysis Algorithms for information extraction from optical and radar imagery for earth surface change detection Structural deformation monitoring using DInSAR, PSI and GPS techniques. Scaled boundary Finite Element Method for Plate/shell structures Damage identification using artificial neural networks Composite structures and piezoelectric materials Geopolymer concrete, fibre reinforced concrete, fibre reinforced plastic composites and natural fibre composites. Computational/numerical methods, scaled boundary finite element method, finite element method, fracture mechanics, functionally graded materials, elasto-plastic fracture

Teaching Areas Steel and Composite Structures

Structural Dynamics Engineering Mechanics Mechanics of Solids

Soil Mechanics Fundamental of Geomechanics

Pavement engineering Advanced Topics in Geotechnical Engineering Water & Soil Engineering

Engineering Mechanics: statics and dynamics

Engineering mechanics


RESEARCH AND TEACHING AREAS OF KEY CENTRE MEMBERS Name Dr Maziar Ramezani

Position within School Research Associate

Dr David Kellerman

Research Fellow

Â

Dr Xinpei Liu

Research Associate

Dr Huiyong Ban

Research Fellow

Dr Sundararajan Natarajan

Research Fellow

Research Areas Viscoelasticity of composite materials, Creep analysis, Fracture mechanics, Tribology, Impact mechanics, Stress analysis, Manufacturing Continuum Mechanics, Computational Mechanics, Advanced Composite Materials, Forming Analysis, Fibre Kinematics, Biomechanics, Orthotropic and Hyperelastic Material Modelling, Finite Deformation, Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis, Buckling and Stability Composite steel and concrete structures, Numerical modelling of structures, Nonlinear analysis and behaviour of curved members, Quasi-viscoelastic behaviour of concrete. High-performance and high-strength steel structures, flexural behaviour of steel-concrete composite beams, buckling behaviour of steel structures, residual stress. Method development (extended finite element method, iso-geometric analysis, mesh free methods), functionally graded materials, Thin-walled structures, Composite Materials, Computational Fracture Mechanics

Teaching Areas

Mechanics of Solids Engineering Mechanics Computational Mechanics

Structural Stability

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selected

RESEARCH projects 2012 Time-dependent stiffness of cracked reinforced concrete Principal Investigators: Professor Ian Gilbert, Dr Gianluca Ranzi (USyd), Dr Arnaud Castel (University of Nice) Funding Body: ARC Discovery Project Project Duration: 2011 – 2013 The deformation of a reinforced concrete member at service loads depends on the member’s stiffness and this depends on the deformational properties of concrete (including creep and shrinkage characteristics), the extent of cracking and the bond between the reinforcement and concrete. Bond between the concrete and the reinforcement causes a build-up of stress in the tensile concrete between the cracks and this changes with time as the concrete creeps and shrinks, and as additional cracks develop at the concrete-steel interface. This project aims to calibrate and quantify the time-dependent change in stiffness and will result in improved designs for serviceability and a clearer insight into the deformational characteristics and load carrying mechanisms in cracked reinforced concrete.

Figure 1: Slab specimens under sustained loads

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Stages 1 and 2 of the on-going experimental program commenced in 2011, with part of the work being undertaken at the University of New South Wales and part at the University of Sydney. In total 18 reinforced concrete prisms were tested in axial tension to monitor the instantaneous axial stiffness and the effect of early shrinkage on structural behaviour. In addition, 12 reinforced concrete slab specimens (Figure 1) and 6 larger reinforced concrete girders (Figure 2) were subjected to sustained transverse loads. The change in stiffness with time was monitored, including the gradual reduction in the contribution of the cracked tensile concrete. Work on the analytical modelling is underway, with several papers published in 2012. Dr Zhen-Tian Chang (UNSW) and Dr Safat Al-Deen (USYD) are assisting the CIs with the laboratory aspects of the project.

Figure 2: Beam specimens under sustained loads


Nonlinear long-term behaviour and analysis of high strength concrete panels Principal Investigator: Dr Ehab Hamed and Prof Stephen Foster Funding Body ARC Discovery 2012-2014 Project Duration 2012-2014 To have a safely design concrete structures with relatively new technologies that use high strength precast panels, an understanding and an investigation of their long-term creep and shrinkage behaviour are required. The use of high-strength concrete panels in civil and industrial engineering applications is expanding rapidly. These panels offer many advantages over traditional normal strength concrete panels in terms of strength, reliability, durability, and overall weight of the structure, but they are more susceptible to creep buckling failures due to their reduced thickness. In order to utilize the best advantages of the performance of high strength concrete panels, an understanding of their long-term behaviour is essential. This project aims to provide insight into the nonlinear long-term behaviour and analysis of such panels through the development of new comprehensive theoretical models that will be validated against test results. The main challenge in predicting the long-term response and design lifetime of high strength concrete panels lies in the ability of the numerical models to accurately describe the time-dependent cracking, geometric nonlinearity and buckling, aging of the concrete, shrinkage, and other effects. Slender high strength concrete panels are characterized by creep buckling as shown in Fig. 1, which is accompanied with cracking and other material nonlinear effects that make predicting the long-term response a difficult and a challenging task. Describing the structural response requires a step-bystep time analysis that takes into account the change in the structural geometry, internal stresses, and material characteristics at each time increment. Fig. 1: Normalized out-of-plane deflection vs. time

Fig. 2: Testing of panels

Through a 3-years project funded by the ARC, theoretical and experimental studies are conducted to investigate the behaviour of high strength concrete panels. A nonlinear theoretical model is developed, which accounts for the above mentioned effects via a step-by-step time analysis that aims to provide further insight into the buckling behavior of HSC panels considering the long-term effects of creep and shrinkage. A rheological material model that is based on the generalized Maxwell chain is used, along with a smeared cracking approach including the tension-stiffening effect. The solution of the incremental governing equations of the panel at each time step is achieved numerically, combined with an iterative procedure for the determination of the sections rigidities and the creep strains. The experimental study includes short-term testing of 9 different panels for estimating the failure load, along with another 9 panels that will be tested under sustained loading. If creep buckling failure will not occur after the sustained loading period, the panels will be further loaded to failure without releasing the existing load, in order to estimate the influence of creep deformations on the residual load carrying capacity. Such an experimental study, which is supposed to terminate by the mid of 2014 has not been conducted elsewhere, and it contributes to the understanding of the long-term structural behaviour. The theoretical model on the other hand, which will be validated through comparison with the test results, provides a numerical tool for estimating the effect of creep on the behaviour and the design life of high strength concrete panels.

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Behaviour of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete Structures Principal Investigators: Prof Stephen Foster, Dr Tian Sing Ng and Ali Amin Funding Body: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering The use of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in construction industry is becoming widespread but unfortunately, little design guidance is available. This research is multiple stages and is aimed to contribute to the development of analytical tools and provide baseline experimental data for engineers to safely design SFRC structures and structural elements subjected to combined axial stresses and shear.

The project involves both theoretical and experimental studies and is vital to provide insight into the fibre pullout behaviour in SFRC and data needed to characterise the tensileshear mechanism of SFRC. Using the experimental data, CIES investigators have developed a simple yet reliable SFRC constitutive model, known as Unified Variable Engagement Model (UVEM) that explains the fracture processes of SFRC in both Modes I and II (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Constitutive relationships for UVEM model for Mode I, Mode II and Mixed Model fracture of SFRC

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Presently, CIES investigators are undertaking an examination of the applicability of the tensile parameters of SFRC as derived for using 3-point notched bending test. This test approach combined with an inverse analysis has been adopted by the fib Model Code 2010, however, the background of this test has not been determined on an experimental basis but,

rather, indirectly from numerical studies. This project involves the experimental program of PhD student Ali Amin. The experimental study will be undertaken to compare directly the results obtained from the indirect notched 3-point beam method with those obtained from direct tension tests for a range of concrete strengths, fibre types and fibre volumes.

Figure 2: Methods for Characterising SFRC: left: Direct tensile test; right: indirect notched 3-point beam method

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Anchorage of reinforcement in concrete structures subjected to loading and environmental extremes Principal Investigators: R.I. Gilbert, A. Kilpatrick, M. Mazumder, Z-T Chang Funding Body: ARC Discovery Project Project Duration: 2010 – 2012 Collaborator: La Trobe University Over 50 load tests on slabs and beams containing either contact or non-contact lapped splices have been conducted at both the Centre’s Heavy Structures Laboratory and at La Trobe University in Bendigo, Victoria. The aim is to assess the efficacy of the current Australian procedures for anchoring reinforcement in concrete structures from the point of view of both strength and ductility and to examine the reliability and consistency of the factors of safety. It was concluded that the provisions of AS3600-2009 are adequate for small diameter bars in slabs but may not provide an adequate factor of safety for large diameter bars in beams.

Influence of lap length on average ultimate bond strength.

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The load at which bond failure occurs depends, among other factors, on the spacing of primary cracks within the lap length and this important factor is not considered in current designoriented code procedures. The average ultimate bond stress that develops at failure in a lap length Llap is not only heavily dependent on the bar diameter, but is also dependent on the number of cracks that cross the lap. The specimens in which Llap was small had a small number of primary cracks within the lap length, sometimes no cracks at all, and the average ultimate bond stress determined from the load at failure was high. The experimental program was completed was completed in 2012. Analytical and numerical studies were also conducted, with Mr Mazumder’s PhD dissertation expected to be completed in 2013.


Time-dependent in-service behaviour of composite concrete slabs with profiled steel Principal Investigators: R.I. Gilbert, M.A. Bradford, A. Gholamhoseini, Z-T Chang Funding Body: ARC Linkage Project (with Fielders Australia and PCDC) Collaborator: Fielders Australia PL, Prestressed Concrete Design Consultants (PCDC) Project Duration: 2009 – 2012 Relatively little research has been undertaken on the timedependent in-service behaviour of composite concrete slabs with profiled steel decking as permanent formwork and little guidance is available to practising engineers for predicting long-term deflection. The drying shrinkage profile through the thickness of a slab is known to be greatly affected by the impermeable steel deck at the slab soffit, and for the first time, this has now been quantified satisfactorily. This ongoing project involves an extensive experimental program to quantify the effects of drying shrinkage on the long-term deformation of composite slabs and to develop design guidance on how best to predict the long-term deflection of slabs.

Composite slabs under sustained loads

Stage 1 of the project involved the measurement of the drying shrinkage profile through the thickness of the slab and the restraint provided by different types of steel decking, including the popular deep trapezoidal or wave-form decking. Stage 2 involved the monitoring of long term deformation of slabs with different decking profiles and subjected to different sustained loading histories. All this experimental work was completed by the end of 2012. Stage 3 of the project involves the numerical modelling of the non-linear and time-dependent behaviour of these slabs and the development of rational design-oriented procedures for the prediction of long-term deformation. This stage is expected to be completed in 2013. Mid-span deflection versus time curves

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Progressive Collapse Resistance of Reinforced Concrete Framed Structures with Membrane Action Principal Investigators: Prof Stephen Foster, Dr Hamid Valipour and Nima FarhangVesali (UTS) Funding Bodies: ARC Discovery Grant DP120103328 Project Duration: 2012 – 2014

Figure 1: (a) Experimental set up for the reinforced concrete beam assemblage (b) cracks developed at ultimate stage of loading.

Among the different load redistribution mechanisms, membrane action has been identified as one of the primary mechanisms that significantly improve the progressive collapse resistance of frames during extreme loading events such as earthquake and blasts. However, little attention has been paid to membrane action of reinforced concrete members within framed structures and the contribution of membrane action in their progressive collapse resistance. Accordingly, the aims of this research project are to provide experimental baseline data and quantify the effects of boundary conditions, concrete compressive strength and detailing of reinforcement on membrane action of reinforced concrete beams within framed structures. Further, efficient 1D frame finite element (FE) models are developed and verified by tested beams and sub-assemblages. Presently, CIES investigators are undertaking tests on reinforced concrete beam assemblages subjected to point load at mid-span (Figure 1). The first set of samples including six beam assemblages with different reinforcing proportion,

stirrup configuration and concrete compressive strength have been tested. From the first set of experimental results, effect of passive confinement provided by transverse reinforcement and influence of reinforcing proportion and configuration on the arching action was found to be negligible. Another set of twelve samples have be casted and they ready to be tested in the next five month to further expand the available baseline experimental date for reinforced concrete beams subjected to large displacement. In addition, the CIES investigators have developed an efficient 1D frame finite element (FE) models which can accurately capture the effect of strain penetration and associated fixed-end rotation as well as rupture of reinforcing bars on the response of reinforced concrete beams subject to large displacements (Figure 2). The developed FE models will be used for a parametric study and development of a simplified model which takes the enhancing effect of arching action into account.

Figure 2 Load versus vertical displacement of centre stub captured by the 1D FE model for assemblages (a) without add bar (specimens 1 to 3) (b) with add bar (specimens 4 to 6).

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Applied unsaturated soil mechanics research Principal Investigators: Dr Adrian Russell, Dr Arman Khoshghalb, Dr Hossein Taiebat, Dr Gaofeng Zhao and Professor Nasser Khalili Funding Bodies: ARC, UNSW and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering For the past 15–20 years CIES geotechnical engineers have been developing the mechanics of soil behaviour under different moisture conditions, but they are now modelling and developing practical applications that will feed into design codes. They have designed and manufactured a suite of large testing facilities to research the cone penetration test in unsaturated soils, lateral earth pressures exerted by unsaturated soils on retaining walls, and the bearing capacity of shallow foundations in unsaturated soils. The team who developed the award winning calibration chamber to research the cone penetration test (from left to right): Mr Richard Berndt, Mr Mohammad Pournaghiazar, Mr Paul Gwynne, Dr Adrian Russell and Professor Nasser Khalili.

The work will be useful in everything from in situ determination of unsaturated soil properties, house construction, to much larger projects including embankment dams, airport runways and slope stability. Their work has resulted in dozens of journal papers and numerous national and international awards and honours. They will host the 6th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils in Sydney, taking place from 2-4 July 2014, where they will show case their work.

Dr Adrian Russell (right) and Mr Liem Vo (PhD student) observe the laboratory controlled failure of an unsaturated soil adjacent to a retaining wall.

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Technology development: Fibre reinforcement of soils Principal Investigators: Dr Adrian Russell and Dr Hossein Taiebat Funding Bodies: UNSW, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fibres (in dissolvable paper bags) add to the cement-soil mixing process.

Sample from exhumed fibre-soil-cement trial wall showing effective mixing and dispersion of fibres.

Soil’s inability to carry tension puts significant constraints on its use as a construction material. Vertical cuts may collapse, for example, so batter slopes or anchoring systems are needed to make working areas safe. CIES researchers are working with industry in developing a new technology to give soil tensile strength. It will deliver steeper cuts and slopes, stronger foundations and retention systems, and resistance to earthquake induced liquefaction.

But what is new is the mechanistic modelling framework developed by CIES researchers that describes the massive strength gains for any soil and fibre types and any fibre orientation distribution. The research so far has received two international awards and resulted in six journal papers.

The technology involves mixing discrete flexible fibres into soil. This is not a new idea. Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings illustrate the process of making bricks with clay and straw.

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Also, a pilot study is underway with Wagstaff Piling. A field trial was conducted in which polypropylene fibres were mixed with soil and cement to form an anchored retaining wall. The fibres provide tensile strength, reduce potential for cracking, and save on expensive steel which would otherwise be used as reinforcement.


From micro to macro: Modelling multi scale characteristics of geomaterials to improve performance of large infrastructure Principal Investigators: Dr Adrian Russell, Dr Gaofeng Zhao, Dr Arman Khoshghalb, Dr Kurt Douglas, Prof. Nasser Khalili Funding Bodies: ARC, UNSW, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering There are four main areas of fundamental inquiry. One area is the identification of links between particle and pore scale properties to the ingredients of continuum type constitutive models. Success so far have been achieved in: QQ explaining uniqueness of compression lines, with defining parameters linked to pore shape and pore size distribution; QQ defining yield surfaces in granular materials in terms of particle packing geometry and particle-to-particle contact strength. Another area concerns damage evolution in rock during quasi-static and dynamic loading. X-ray CT data at 5 micron resolution has showed damage occurs during prefailure loading by pore collapse then extensive microfracturing. Using

this data a virtual replica of the rock microstructure has also built using a distinct lattice spring model to simulate damage evolution in wide range of applications involving impact loading and high frequency cyclic loading. A third area concerns water retention in unsaturated soils. Microstructural evidence is being gathered to understand how soil density, mulltiple porosity and pore shapes control suction, degree of saturation, capillary and hydraulic hysteresis. Another area of inquiry concerns determination of properties of rock samples of different sizes. This will deliver accurate methods for strength characterisation. A peculiar phenomenon, where rock strength increases then decreases with increasing size, has been observed through extensive programs of triaxial testing and point load testing. A theoretical understanding of this is being developed using elastic fracture mechanics and fractal characteristics of microfractures.

X-ray CT images taken of sandstone core during unconfined compression loading show pore collapse occurs as load is increased (from B to C)

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Interval uncertainty analysis for time-dependent behaviour of concrete-filled steel tubular arches Principal Investigator: Professor Yong-Lin Pi and Professor Mark Bradford Funding Body: ARC Discovery Project Duration: 2010-2012

Uncertainties in the long-term in-plane elastic behaviour and buckling of composite concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) circular arches are being investigated by accounting for the unavoidable variations of the creep and shrinkage data for the concrete core of the CFST arch. It is known that creep and shrinkage of the core of a CFST arch under sustained loading is inevitable. The visco-elastic effects of the creep and shrinkage of the concrete core cause a time-dependent change of the equilibrium configuration of the CFST arch under a sustained load. As the equilibrium configuration continuously changes, the long-term radial and axial displacements, as well as the bending moments in CFST arches, increase substantially with time and this may lead to a buckling configuration of the CFST arch being attained in the long-term, defining the structural lifetime of the arch. Because the long-term deformations and possible buckling are caused by creep and shrinkage of the concrete core, they are related to a number of parameters of the creep and shrinkage of the concrete core such as the creep coefficient, the aging coefficient, and the final shrinkage strain. The values of these parameters change significantly from one experiment to another and this shows that they are subjected to certain levels of uncertainty. These uncertainties have to be considered in the long-term deformation and buckling analysis of a CFST arch. Although stochastic methods can be used to account for such uncertainties, they presume the statistical variation of these

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uncertain parameters to be known, which have to be inferred from laboratory tests. However, the available data from the tests for the creep and shrinkage of the concrete core of CFST members is quite limited, and so the stochastic technique is of little use. This study accounts for uncertainties of these parameters by using a so-called mathematical interval modelling technique, and derives the upper and lower bounds of the long-term in-plane structural responses and buckling loads of CFST circular arches. It has been shown in the study that the uncertainties of the visco-elastic effects of creep and shrinkage of the concrete core have significant long-term effects on the in-plane structural behaviour and buckling of CFST arches under the sustained uniform radial load. As results, 7 journal papers, one chapter of a book, and eight conference papers have been published in 2012. Two professorial visiting fellows: Professor Yanlin Guo from Tsinghua University and Professor Gengshu Tong from Zhejiang University were invited to work on this project in our centre for one month. Their visits are fruitful and collaboration research of our centre with their universities on the related topics has been established. Professor Guo has found two companies from China to support our ARC linkage application. Three journal papers on the collaboration research have been submitted and one has been accepted already.


Lateral-torsional buckling of arches with rotational end restraints under transverse loading Principal Investigator: Professor Mark Bradford and Professor Yong-Lin Pi Funding Body: ARC Discovery Project Duration: 2010-2012 In many cases, an arch may have in-plane elastic end restraints provided by the connected structures or elastic foundations, which may influence the elastic lateral-torsional buckling of the arch. However, little research of the lateraltorsional buckling of arches with elastic end restraints has been reported in the open literature. This paper analytically investigates the lateral-torsional buckling of pin-ended circular arches having in-plane elastic rotational end restraints under a uniform radial load. The analytical solutions for the prebuckling behaviour of such an arch show that the uniform radial load produces combined axial compressive and bending actions in the arch and that the axial compressive force produced by the uniform radial load is approximately uniform along the arch axis. It is found that the stiffness of elastic rotational end restraints has significant effects on the

magnitude and distribution of the axial compressive forces and bending moments. The axial compressive force decreases with an increase of the stiffness of rotational end restraints. The analytical solution for the lateral-torsional buckling load of the arch is derived, which accounts for the effects of rotational end restraints. It is found that the effects of the stiffness of rotational end restraints on the lateral-torsional buckling load are profound. The buckling load increases with an increase of the stiffness of the end restraints. It is demonstrated by comparisons with the finite element results that the analytical solution provides good predictions for the lateral-torsional buckling load of both shallow and deep arches having in-plane rotational end restraints. Three journal papers have been submitted, two of which are now in press. Two conference papers have been published.

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Behaviour of lifting inserts for precast concrete construction Principal Investigators: G. Ranzi, R.I. Gilbert, S. Al-Deen, R. Mackay-Sim Funding Body: ARC Linkage Project (and Unicon Systems) Collaborator: The University of Sydney; Unicon Systems Project Duration: 2011 – 2013

Precast concrete panels are a cost-efficient and effective form of construction, with simple erection procedures and tight production control. Panels are usually prepared on casting moulds, either in a factory or on site. Before pouring, special devices are inserted into the moulds to be used subsequently for all lifting and handling operations of the finished panels. These devices are usually referred to as ‘lifting inserts’, or ‘lifting anchors’. The common types of inserts include

round-bodied anchors and, in Australia, ‘hairpin’ plate inserts (see figure). These are placed either on the face of a panel, or on its thin-side edges (edge-lifting). Edge-lifting is preferred by the construction industry because it optimises handling, storing, transportation and erection. This project involves an experimental and numerical study being carried out as a joint initiative between CIES, Sydney University (where the bulk of the experimental work has taken place) and anchor manufacturers Unicon Systems. The work involves investigating the strength and failure mode of the anchors when pulled out of the concrete panels in either direct tension, shear or a combination of tension and shear. In the first stage of the experimental program, twelve concrete precast samples were prepared and tested using three different types of anchors.

Schematic of the test setup.

Layout of the loading arrangement.

Different types of lifting anchor

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Permeable Pavements with Concrete Surface LayersExperimental and Theoretical Basis for Analysis and Design Principal Investigators: Dr Markus Oeser, Mr Alan Pearson, Prof Nasser Khalili, Prof Dr Brian Shackel Funding Body: ARC Linkage Project Duration: 2010 - 2012

The findings of the research were reported and submitted to the International Journal of Pavement Engineering. Reviewer comments on this paper were received, a minor revision was required and the paper was published in 2011. In particular the paper contains detailed information on the: QQ degree of compaction and void ratio required to reach optimum hydraulic and mechanical performance of the material, QQ optimum cement content to achieve sufficient stability of the open-porous grain skeleton as well as Permeable pavements include layers made of open porous concrete and/or open porous unbound material. In contrasts to conventional pavements, water can infiltrate into the pavement structure. This leads to highly desirable ecological effects. However, the presents of water triggers mechanohydraulic interaction problems, which makes the analysis and design of these pavements distinctively challenging. This research aims at developing the experimental and theoretical bases for the use of permeable pavements focusing on structural characteristics (e.g. strength, stiffness), hydraulic aspects (e.g. permeability, transport and storage of surface water, wetting/drying processes) as well as mechano-hydraulic interaction.

Project achievements to date: 1) The main goal of the research proposed for the first year of the project is to investigate the use of open-porous unbound and cement-stabilized granular materials as base layers of permeable pavements. Experimental and theoretical studies on the physical characteristics of these materials were carried out in the pavement laboratory of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UNSW. Different grain sizes, gradings, degrees of compaction and cement-contents were tested, and the impact of these parameters on the mechanical and hydraulic properties of porous materials was studied.

QQ measurement results of permeabilities, compressive and tensile strength and fatigue characteristics. 2) Further, a computational model for the analysis of segmented block pavements was developed. The model is based on the method of finite displacements elements. A three-dimensional Cosserat theory is applied to capture the displacements and the rotations of the single blocks within the finite elements. Constitutive relationships are introduced to account for the elastic and plastic behaviour of the joint filling material. The model can be adjusted to a wide range of laying patterns and block shapes. All relevant algorithms of the model were published in a paper submitted to the International Journal of Concrete Plant + Precast Technology as requested by the industry partner. The results of the research were also presented at the World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM/APCOM2010) in a Mini-Symposium on Advanced Modelling and Characterization of Pavement Materials organized by the project leader. 3) The development of the governing equations for a coupled hydro-mechanical analysis of permeable pavements subjected to impulse traffic loading was commenced in the first project year.

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Durability of steel-CFRP adhesive joints under sustained loading and wet thermal cycle Principal Investigators: Prof. Stephen Foster, Dr. Ehab Hamed, Dr. Tian Sing Ng, and Mr. Ankit Agarwal Funding Body: CRC for Advanced Composite Structures Project Duration: 2010-2015 The primary aim of this research project is to contribute to the development of certification-ready technology using Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) for the repair and rehabilitation of steel structures. The specific objective is to improve our basic understanding about the adhesive bonded joint between steel and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) using the tensile testing of steel-CFRP single lap shear adhesive joints.

Objectives:

Background

QQ To investigate the combined effect of thermal cycle and sustained loading on the long term durability of steelCFRP joints.

Large numbers of steel structures, like pipelines, bridges etc, are deteriorating due to corrosion or are coming to the end of their design life. Such structures are in need of retrofitting and replacement; and many of them are located in regions that regularly experience fluctuating thermal (hot-cold) conditions. Applications of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) composites in the repair and rehabilitation of existing steel structures have gained significant attention due to their high strength to weight ratio, installation flexibility, and long term durability [Hollaway and Cadei (2002), Zhao and Zhang(2007)]. One of the main failure modes that characterize FRP strengthened members is the debonding failure, which is mainly governed by the weak adhesive layer that can be subjected to both shear and peeling stresses. A number of research works have been conducted to investigate the impact of environmental conditions on the bond strength of steel-FRP joints [Dawood and Rizkalla (2010), Al-Shawaf et. al. (2009), etc] but in few of these studies were the environmental field conditions and loading simulated. The influence of these combined loadings (environmental and mechanical) on the behavior and failure modes of FRP strengthened steel structures is crucial for their safe use and effective design, and requires further investigation.

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The specific objectives of this research are as follows: QQ To investigate the effect of thermal cycle (10ËšC to 50ËšC) on the long term durability of steel-CFRP joints. QQ To investigate the effect of sustained loading on the residual bond strength of steel-CFRP joints.

Experimental Program and Thermal Cycle Apparatus: The thermal cycle equipment, as shown in the Figure 1, was designed and manufactured to apply the sustained loading along with the wet thermal cycle on six specimens simultaneously. The thermal cycle profile obtained from the apparatus is also shown in the Figure 2. The cycle time for cold and hot cycle is 150 minutes each. The experimental program is shown in the Table 1.

Results: The load-displacement curve of the steel-CFRP joints are shown in the Figure 3. The average bond strength of the control steel-CFRP joint is 4610 N. There is about 4.5% reduction in the bond strength of the steel-CFRP joints, which are first exposed to 50% sustained load for 21 days and then tested until failure. Also, there is about 15% reduction in the bond strength of the steel-CFRP joints, which are exposed to 108 thermal cycles (21 days) without any sustained load and then tested until failure. The steel-CFRP joints, which are exposed to both thermal cycle and 50% sustained loading simultaneously, failed within two hours of exposure. Thus, it is the combined effect of sustained load and environmental conditions which governs the failure, and not only exposure to environmental conditions.


Table 1:

Type of Specimens

No. of specimens

Conditions

Steel-CFRP single lap adhesive joint

2

Control specimens (no sustained load - no exposure to thermal cycle)

Steel-CFRP single lap adhesive joint

2

50% sustained load - no thermal cycle

Steel-CFRP single lap adhesive joint

2

No sustained load - only exposure to thermal cycle

Steel-CFRP single lap adhesive joint

2

50% sustained load - exposure to thermal cycle

Figure 1: Thermal cycle apparatus

Figure 2: Thermal Cycle profile obtained from the thermal cycle apparatus

Figure 3: Load-Displacement curve of steel-CFRP joints

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Non-deterministic fracture analysis of structures by extending the scaled boundary finite-element method Principal Investigators: Ean Tat Ooi, Chongmin Song & Wei Gao Funding Body: ARC, UNSW Project Duration: 2010-2012 Cracks appear in many ageing infrastructure such as dams, bridges and buildings. Catastrophic structure failures may initiate from the crack tips due to high stress concentrations. For safe and cost-effective management of cracked structures, the stability of cracks and crack propagation needs to be evaluated. Computational mechanics provides a promising technique to perform realistic analysis of practical engineering problems considering complex material behaviours (e.g. nonlinearity and heterogeneity) and uncertainties in the system parameters (e.g. material parameters, crack sizes and external loadings). In this project, a novel approach for non-deterministic fracture analysis is developed in the scaled boundary finite element framework. The major outcomes include advances on: construction of n-sided polygon elements (coined as scaled boundary polygons) of arbitrary order; polygon mesh generation and re-meshing; shape sensitivity and reliability analysis of cracked structures considering uncertainty in crack geometry and formulation for heterogeneous elasto-plastic and piezoelectric materials. This approach exhibits several appealing features for non-deterministic fracture analyses when compared to other existing methods. These include: 1. Accurate modelling of stress field at a crack tip: The stress field at a crack tip is accurately modelled by the scaled boundary polygons. The key parameters for a fracture analysis are conveniently determined using a relatively coarse mesh. No local mesh refinement around the crack tip, such as in the finite element method, or asymptotic enrichment, as in the extended finite element method, is needed.

2. Simple and flexible mesh generation and re-meshing: Any structure can be discretised using a mesh of arbitrary n-sided polygons. The scaled boundary polygons have higher accuracy than standard triangular or quadrilateral finite elements and are more flexible in meshing complex geometries than quadrilateral elements. The accuracy of the scaled boundary polygons in modelling the stress field at the crack tip enable simple re-meshing algorithms to be devised to model the evolving crack geometries as they propagate. The automatic local re-meshing algorithm developed in this study commits only minimal changes to the overall mesh structure during crack propagation. 3. Efficient shape sensitivity analysis: The shape sensitivity analysis with respect to varying crack size and orientation is performed by applying direct differentiation with only a boundary mesh. No mesh perturbation, complex velocity field concept or tedious re-meshing employed by other numerical methods is necessary. This method has been successfully applied to various problems in deterministic and no-deterministic fracture analysis of cracked structures. Three examples are shown below. Significant advantages and potential of the developed approach are illustrated. This research is currently being further developed for more complex crack propagation phenomena such as hydraulic fracture in concrete and rocks, fatigue analysis and three-dimensional fracture.

Figure 1. Failure probability of a cracked plate with uncertainty in crack size and orientation: (a) Geometry showing a crack. The length and orientation of the crack, external loading and material facture toughness are random variables; (b) Scaled boundary finite element mesh. Only the boundary is meshed and the crack faces are meshless. The same mesh is used for shape sensitivity analysis over the complete range of crack geometry; c) Failure probability. The proposed approach for shape sensitivity analysis allows the reliability analysis to be performed efficiently.

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Figure 2. Crack propagation in a functionally graded plate with cracks emanating from two holes: (a) Geometry; (b) Polygon mesh with von-Mises stress contour; (c) Comparison of the scaled boundary polygon mesh with the finite element mesh around cracks. A much coarser polygon mesh is employed owing to the high accuracy of the scaled boundary polygon in modelling the stress field around the crack tips. Re-meshing is also limited to the polygons next to the crack path.

Figure 3. Crack propagation in a concrete gravity dam: (a) Geometry; (b) Polygon mesh showing the crack path. Only minimal re-meshing around the crack path is required; (c) Load vs crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). The present result (SBFEM) agrees well with experimental other reference results.

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Scaled boundary finite-element approach for safety assessment of plates and shells under monotonic and shakedown loadings Principal Investigators: Hou (Michael) Man, Chongmin Song & Francis Tin-Loi Funding Body: ARC, UNSW Project Duration: 2012-2014

Plates and shells have been widely used in various structures, e.g., bridge decks, rooftops and airplanes. Recent advances in material and manufacturing technologies lead to the development of innovative and high-performance structural components in the form of plates and shells. Their application in engineering is becoming increasingly popular. For their analysis and design, the development of a reliable and computationally efficient numerical method is required as the traditional plate and shell assumptions are often no longer applicable. This project aims to develop a novel numerical tool to analyse plate and shell structures made of advanced composite materials. The approach is based on the scaled boundary finite element method. The in-plane dimensions are discretised into high-order elements. The through thickness behaviour is expressed analytically using the scaled boundary finite element formulation. This leads to a highly efficient technique while maintaining 3D consistency and accuracy. The high order behaviour, such as that of the electric potential in the piezoelectric layers of a smart composite, is captured automatically. This novel technique has been shown to be highly accurate and efficient. Figure 1 shows a clamped square plate with multiple holes under non-uniformly distributed. It commonly appears in the designs of mounting plates. The plate is discretised with 164 high order elements. The results in Figure

Figure 3. Contour plots of normalised transverse deflection and principal stress

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2 show that the proposed technique (denoted by SBFEM) is significantly faster (>20 times in this example) than the shell elements of ANSYS (a commercial finite element software package) for the same accuracy. Figure 3 shows the contour plots of transverse deflection and principal stress. Figure 1. Full plate geometry

Figure 2. Comparison of computational efficiency with ANSYS


Integrated radar and optical satellite remote sensing for safeguarding carbon capture and storage Principal Investigators: Linlin Ge and Xiaojing Li Funding Body: Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, Commonwealth of Australia Project Duration: 2010-2012

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been identified as one of the most promising technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Because carbon dioxide (CO2) is usually injected into geological formations more than 1,000m underground, its migration underground and any possible leakage back into the soil and atmosphere has to be monitored closely. Therefore, routine, cost-effective, large coverage and long-term monitoring of CCS sites is of paramount importance to the public acceptance of CCS. The aim of this project is to safeguard CO2 storage sites with radar and optical satellites by monitoring very subtle changes of ground surface elevation and vegetation conditions caused by CO2 injection. Initially, only the Otway CCS site in Australia and the Ordos CCS site in China were selected as test sites in the original research proposal. During the execution of the project, Iona gas storage site in Australia, Liulin enhanced coal bed methane (ECBM) site in China, In Salah commercial gas field and CCS site, as well as a few other sites were included to supplement various elements of the project. The project was successfully concluded in 2012. In order to monitor subtle changes of ground surface elevation due to CO2 injection, two satellite radar remote sensing techniques, namely differential interferometric synthetic

aperture radar (DInSAR) and persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI), have been developed, tested and verified. Satellite imaging radar can cover an area from 10km by 10km to 100km by 100km, capturing these areas in a few seconds as a single image. The images have a spatial resolution or ground sampling distance (GSD) of 1m to 20m, depending on the imaging mode used. In order to monitor subtle changes of vegetation conditions due to CO2 injection, two optical satellite remote sensing techniques, namely multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing, have been studied and tested. Multispectral images acquired over the CCS sites spanning 10-20 years provide a wealth of information for us to fully understand the dynamics of vegetation cover at CCS sites. Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data derived from a long time series of multispectral images make it possible to use vegetation (e.g. trees and pastures) as distributed sensors of possible CO2 leakage. In a similar way to how tide gauge measurements have been successfully used in estimating sea level change, the large amount of redundant NDVI measurements enable the separation of several factors related to vegetation health. These include the weather related day-to-day changes, seasonal changes and climate related year-to-year changes. After modelling and removing these changes, any detectable offset from the normal trend in NDVI can be related to either farming and similar activities, or CO2 contaminations in soil as a result of CO2 leakage.

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Towards operational monitoring of key climate parameters from synthetic aperture radar Principal Investigators: J. Walker, K. Lowell, A. Milne, L. Ge and J. Hacker Funding Body: ARC Super Science Fellow Project Duration: 2010-2013 Collaborator: The University of Melbourne, Flinders University

Economic, social and environmental planning for a carbonconstrained future requires a capacity to monitor climate change impacts on vegetation and soil moisture at a level of detail that does not currently exist. Whilst satellite radar measurements can provide this important information, the signals are confounded by complex interactions with the Earth’s surface, necessitating advances to enable routine monitoring of these important variables across our nation. Specifically, i) terrain roughness, ii) vegetation characteristics, and iii) the underlying soil moisture status, all interact together in a complicated way. Consequently, this project is developing algorithms for accurate high resolution mapping of i) natural and agricultural vegetation properties, and ii) soil moisture, under Australian conditions, for subsequent use by operational satellite monitoring and carbon accounting systems. The algorithms arising from this research are being validated using extensive ground measurements and synergistic airborne remote sensing data (from DP0984586 plus LiDAR) seldom available to satellite based studies. However, this has required considerable effort to resolve calibration and processing issues of the airborne radar data from the Polarimetric L-band Imaging Synthetic aperture radar (PLIS). The main scientific achievements to date are:

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Biomass retrieval: (i) Analysis of the sensitivity of L-band radar observations to above-ground biomass and testing of current empirical and semi-empirical models for biomass retrieval (journal publication in review); (ii) Improvement of forest biomass estimation using multi-temporal techniques (journal publication in preparation) and (iii) the synergy of radar and LiDAR (journal publication in preparation); (iv) A water cloud type model was modified to additionally accept LiDAR based forest structure information and a two-layered forest backscatter model developed and tested, with results compared with those obtained using the classic radar-only water cloud model (in progress). Soil moisture retrieval: (i) Assessment of the accuracy of three commonly used bare surface backscatter models to reproduce observed L-band backscatters (journal publication in review); (ii) Testing of change-detection techniques for soil moisture retrieval over bare agricultural areas (journal publication in preparation); (iii) Comparison of X-band and L-band radar data for their sensitivity to soil moisture and surface roughness in agricultural areas (in progress). Surface roughness retrieval: roughness parameter retrieval using (i) airborne LiDAR observation (journal publication in preparation); and (ii) radar observations (in progress).


A new approach to structural design that incorporates the effect of non-structural components Principal Investigators: G. Hutchinson, P. Collier, L. Ge, X. Li and C. Duffield Funding Body: ARC-Linkage Project Duration: 2010-2013 Collaborator: The University of Melbourne, C.R. Kennedy and Company Pty Ltd, Leica Geosystems, Survey21 Land and Engineering Surveyors

The aim of this project is to use full-scale measurements from a variety of modern sensors to determine the impact of nonstructural components on the lateral strength and stiffness of high-rise buildings. This data will be used to inform the structural design process and “calibrate� the structural model to achieve economies in the construction process. We aim to tackle this problem through a multi-disciplinary approach that builds on strengths in academia and industry and brings together two leading universities and three industry partners who are leaders in their fields. To this end, we propose: QQ To develop an integrated structural monitoring system built on a diverse range of measurement technologies, QQ To develop a procedure for calibrating the conventional structural model of a high rise building to account for the effect of non-structural components on structural performance, and QQ To contribute to a new approach to structural design that will lead to considerable economies in the construction process.

Progress After the ARC Linkage project was approved, equipment has been provided and delivered to the researchers. After a number of unsuccessful attempts data is now being obtained from high rise buildings in Russia. One PhD student has been allocated and has been working since 18 October 2010; the proposed second PhD student did not eventuate and this role has been converted to a Research Fellow position. This Research Fellow is making good progress in both theory and analysis of field data. The first student’s research is focused on the development of an integrated structural monitoring system for high-rise buildings. The student has just finished an industry placement with our newly added Partner Organization in Russia where he has been involved in instrumenting buildings. The high-rise building data obtained is being analysed and integrated into finite element models. A number of outcomes have already been achieved as evidenced by the refereed journal papers, which have been delivered along with refereed conference papers. Two additional journal articles and two conference papers were ready for submission in 2012.

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A scaled boundary finite element approach to non-destructive evaluation by Lamb waves Principal Investigator: Carolin Birk Funding Body: Faculty of Engineering Research Grant Project Duration: January 2012 – December 2012 Non-destructive testing plays an essential role in assuring that critical infrastructure and the corresponding structural components perform their function in a safe and cost-effective way. One of the most often used non-destructive testing techniques is ultrasonic testing, which uses the transmission of high-frequency sound waves into a material to locate changes in material properties or to detect imperfections. Conventionally, this is done by using transducers to create waves which propagate through the thickness of the structure. Cracks are determined by evaluating the reflected wave signal. These conventional ultrasonic techniques are unsuitable for long and wide structures such as pipes and plates. Thus, alternative ultrasonic testing methods based on guided wave propagation have recently been developed. Guided elastic waves travel in plates and pipes over large distances and with multiple mode shapes. In order to correctly interpret damage detection results, it is essential to understand the physical principles behind guided wave propagation. Therefore, numerical tools for the analysis of elastic waves in structures are becoming increasingly important. In this project, numerical models for guided wave propagation in cracked plates and in pipes are developed based on the scaled boundary finite element (SBFE) method in the timedomain. If cracks exist, the finite element method is not competitive since it requires a very fine mesh around the crack tip. The scaled boundary finite element method, on the other hand, excels not only in modelling unbounded domains but also in modelling problems with singularities or discontinuities, due to its semi-analytical nature. A scaled boundary finite element model of a steel plate with a crack has been developed and analysed. This model was validated using the commercial finite element software ANSYS. It was found that it is highly beneficial to use the scaled boundary finite element method since stress singularities at the crack tip are modelled accurately. At the same time, the meshing process is greatly simplified. The spatial Fourier transformation is used to obtain the amplitude of each Lamb wave mode present in the reflected signal and to study the correlation between different crack geometries and the reflected wave shape from the crack. Summarizing, this research has shown that the scaled boundary finite element method is highly efficient compared to commercial

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finite element software for the same degree of accuracy when applied to Lamb wave propagation in cracked plates. It has also highlighted the potential of conducting numerous simulations which are needed to investigate reflected signal patterns from various crack geometries for non-destructive testing purposes. Within the scope of this research project it has also been found that the scaled boundary finite element method is a highly efficient tool to compute dispersion relations, which are essential for all practical applications of guided waves. Numerical approaches to calculate the dispersion properties of three-dimensional waveguides of arbitrary cross-section and of axisymmetric waveguides, such as pipes, have been presented and evaluated. Here, high-order elements have been shown to lead to superior accuracy and efficiency. Moreover, the group velocities of propagating modes can be computed as eigenvalue derivatives, leading to a straightforward process. Scaled boundary finite element model of cracked plate

Finite element model of cracked plate

Snapshot of one time step of Lamb wave propagation: wave signal before arriving at the crack

Snapshot of one time step of Lamb wave propagation: partially reflected wave signal after arriving at the crack


Fatigue Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Addition of Steel Fibres Principal Investigators: Professor Stephen Foster and Ahsan Parvez Funding Body: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Project Duration: 2011-2012 The design of reinforced concrete structures subjected to cyclic loading such as bridge deck slabs, bridge girders, or offshore installations necessitate the consideration of fatigue. Typically these structures experience over millions of stress cycles during their service life. The cyclic load can result in a steady decrease in the stiffness of the structure and cause damage at a micro-mechanical level. This damage may eventually lead to a fatigue failure. Steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) has been recognised as fatigue resilient material. Experimental tests at the materials level reported in literature indicate that steel fibres improve the resistance to crack growth, decrease the deflections and increase the fatigue life of plain concrete. With SFRC there exists the possibility of enhancing fatigue performance of the structural member compared to that of constructed in conventional concrete. However, detail investigation is required to understand the dynamic response of fibre in structural member. This research is aimed to provide experimental data to evaluate the fatigue performance of steel fibres in reinforced concrete beams under cyclic loading. This project involves two series of beams with 8 beams in each series. Within the series the beams were of similar dimensions and reinforcement with the variation in fibre contents only. The beams contained 0, 0.4 or 0.8 percent of fibre by volume. In addition, conventional longitudinal reinforcement was provided with hot rolled deformed bar. The fibres used were Dramix RC-65/35 (aspect ratio =65 and length = 35 mm and Dramix RC-80/60 (aspect ratio =80 and length = 60 mm) for series 1 and series 2, respectively. The beams of series 1 and 2 were tested at 1.2 m and 3.0 m span, respectively, under a constant amplitude loading between 20 to 70 percent of ultimate static failure load till failure. Fatigue test set up is given in Figure 1.

From the experimental result it is evident that steel fibres increase the fatigue life of the beams. The beams of series 1 showed a 40 percent increase in fatigue life than that of the non-fibre reinforced beams for both 0.4 and 0.8 percent of fibre by volume. However, SFRC beams of series 2 with 0.4 and 0.8 percent of fibre by volume showed an increased fatigue life of 47 and 182 percent, respectively, compared to that of non-fibre reinforced beams. SFRC beams also demonstrated considerably decreased deflections and crack widths during the fatigue life than that of non-fibre reinforced concrete beams. The midspan deflection versus number of cycles and fatigue lives versus fibre volumes are given in Figure 2 and 3, respectively. Figure 2: Midspan deflection versus number of cycles

Figure 3: Fatigue lives versus fibre volumes

Figure 1: Fatigue testing of reinforced concrete beams with steel fibres

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A fundamentally new model of continuum mechanics Principal Investigators: Dr. David Kellerman and Associate Professor Mario Attard Funding Body: The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Objectives: Develop an efficient numerical model for guided wave propagation in cracked plates and pipes using the scaled boundary finite element method A brief quip written in an 1850 paper by famous French mechanician Augustin-Louis Cauchy translates as: “the coefficients which contained the linear equations given were presumed to reduce to constant quantities; and, as I made the remark of it, this assumption is not always in conformity with reality”. Here, some 23 years after his famous work that outlined the linear strain tensor, Cauchy casts doubt over an assumption

within his own theory. He refers to what we now recognise as the Symmetry assumption of strain tensors that, under small deformations, all converge to the fundamental measure of material strain taught in every first year engineering program around the world. The classical model of continuum mechanics is shown in Figure 1 below, with the symmetry assumption yielding determinism to the displacement–strain relationship, and the fundamental postulate of Moment equilibrium yielding determinism to the stress–force relationship.

Figure 1. The structure of classical continuum mechanics

Summary assumption

Strain

Moment equilibrium

Material model

compliance

Strain Energy

Displacements

Fast forward more than 160 years, and two staff members within the CIES have been developing a new mechanics theory based on the total elimination of Cauchy’s assumption-inquestion: symmetry of the strain tensor. Research Fellow Dr David Kellermann and Associate Professor Mario Attard have been looking at anisotropic materials, which include any medium with directional properties such as fibre-reinforced concrete, high performance carbon fibre and nano-composites, and also most human tissue such as muscle, tendons, arterial walls and bone. Engineering simulation of these materials has

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stiffness

Stress

Forces

come up against limitations in the otherwise scrupulously developed theory of classical continuum mechanics. Indeed, the law of parsimony guided that the only approach to resolve these limitations was to make classical theory simpler rather than adding specialised methods in areas of inconsistency. The fundamental structure of the proposed system is able to take no additional external information as compared to the classical system, yet due to its implicit structure, the symmetry assumption shown in Figure 1 is entirely removed (Figure 2)


Figure 2. The proposed implicit system of continuum mechanics

Material model

Strain Energy compliance

Displacements

stiffness

Stress

Strain

Forces

Moment equilibrium

Mathematically, this is achieved through implementation of a new class of physical tensors called Intrinsic-Field Tensors (IFTs) that allow for variation of – for example – the asymmetry of strain, varying over the range (field) of possible intrinsic properties such as material stiffness. Determinacy of the otherwise infinite possibility of solutions is attained through a reconnection of the moment equilibrium back into the displacement field. IFTs present an inherently implicit form in terms of the tie between the equilibrium of the strain and its dependency on the strain energy function (Figure 2), and the dependency of the strain energy function on the asymmetry of the strain.

This ultimately promises improved modelling for various contemporary engineering challenges such as fibre-reinforced structural elements, composite aircraft design and biomedical simulation for pre-surgery procedural analysis. At the same time, the theory remains applicable (and indeed reduces) to classical mechanics. It has the reach to affect even the fundamental strain equations studied today by first year engineering students that were originally developed by Cauchy back in 1827.

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Continuum-discontinuum coupled modelling of rock cutting and penetration Principal Investigators: Dr Gaofeng Zhao Funding Body: FRG-ECR Faculty of Engineering UNSW Project Duration: 2012– 2013 Numerical and experimental studies on rock cutting have been conducted. The coupled DDA &DLSM model was successfully developed. Experimental study on the Gosford sandstone was conducted by two postgraduate students (Mr. Yilin Gui and Mr. Peijie Yin). The influence of bedding structure on its fracture toughness and strength were studied. Numerical simulation on the dynamic behavior of anisotropic rock was conducted. Influence of cutting depth and cutting speed on the rock fragmentation of a TBM disc cutter were Figure 1. Rock fracture and cutting by Distinct Lattice Spring model (DLSM).

 

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studied by using the developed model. The typical branch fractured zone is also reproduced from the DDA&DLSM simulation. The simulation results indicate that there exists an optimal cutting speed for the rock cutting. The related work is published in the International journal of solids and structures (A*). Another achievement from this project is the success of the ARC DECRA13 grant on dynamic fracturing in shale rock through coupled continuum-discontinuum modelling, which will continue the project.


APPENDICES 2012 RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS Chapter - Scholarly Research Bradford, MA, & Pi, YL 2012, Analytical non-linear stability of a continuous system as a benchmark study for computational formulations, Computational Methods for Engineering Science (pp. 351 - 362) Saxe-Coburg, Kippen, FK8 3DY, UK. Gilbert, RI 2012, Creep and Shrinkage Induced Deflections in RC Beams and Slabs, Serviceability and Safety of Concrete Structures: From Research to practice - SP-280, 1st, pp. 13-1 - 13-16. American Concrete Institute, Detroit. Ng, TS, Voo, YL, & Foster, SJ 2012, Sustainability with Ultra-High Performance and Geopolymer Concrete Construction, Innovative Materials and Techniques in Concrete Construction, pp. 81 100. Springer, Dordrecht Heidelberg.

Chapter - Textbook Ruge, P, & Birk, C 2012, Mathematik, Huette: Das Ingenieurwissen, Mathematik, Htte: Das Ingenieurwissen, 34, pp. A1 - A146. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.

Journal - Refereed & Scholarly Article Al-Deen, S, Ranzi, G, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Long-term experiments of composite beams and connections’, Magazine of Concrete Research , 64, pp. 849 - 861. Al-Deen, S, Ranzi, G, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Long-term experiments of composite beams and connections’, Magazine of Concrete Research , 64, pp. 849 - 861. Atanackovic, T, Novakovic, B, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Application of pontryagin’s principle to bimodal optimization of nano rods’, International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics , 12, pp. Article number 1250012. Atanackovic, T, Novakovic, B, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Shape Optimization against Buckling of Micro and Nano rods’, Archive of Applied Mechanics, 82, pp. 1303 - 1311. Ban, H, Shi, G, Shi, YJ, & Wang, YQ 2012, ‘Residual stress tests of high-strength steel equal angles’, Journal of Structural Engineering - ASCE, 138, pp. 1446 - 1454. Birk, C, & Behnke, R 2012, ‘A modified scaled boundary finite element method for threedimensional dynamic soil-structure interaction in layered soil’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 89, pp. 371 - 402. Birk, C, Prempramote, S, & Song, C 2012, ‘An improved continued-fraction-based high-order transmitting boundary for time-domain analyses in unbounded domains’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering , 89, pp. 269 - 298.

Bradford, MA, & Pi, YL 2012, ‘A new analytical solution for lateral-torsional buckling of arches under axial uniform compression’, Engineering Structures , 41, pp. 14 - 23. Bradford, MA, Pi, YL, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘In-plane strength of steel arches’, Journal of Advanced Steel Construction, An International Journal , 4, pp. 306 - 322. Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Numerical modelling of shear connection in steel-concrete composite beams with trapezoidal slabs’, Australian Journal of Structural Engineering , 12, pp. 185 - 195. Bradford, MA, Vrcelj, Z, & Khezri, M 2012, ‘Thin plate bending analysis and treatment of material discontinuities using the RKP-FSM method’, CMES - Computer Modelling in Engineering and Sciences, 87, pp. 271 - 306. Chen, T, Ma, HS, & Gao, W 2012, ‘Comprehensive investigation into the accuracy and applicability of Monte Carlo simulations in stochastic structural analysis’, CMES - Computer Modelling in Engineering and Sciences , 87, pp. 239 - 269. Chiong, I, Sun, Z, Xiang, T, Song, C, & et al, 2012, ‘Evaluation of dynamic generalised stress intensity factors at cracks and multi-material wedges using the scaled boundary finite element method’, Australian Journal of Structural Engineering , 12, pp. 197 - 210. Diambra, A, Ibraim, E, Russell, AR, & Muir Wood, D 2012, ‘Assessment of laboratory sample preparation for fibre reinforced sands’, Geotextiles and Geomembranes , 34, pp. 69 - 79. Erkmen, E, Bradford, MA, & Crews, K 2012, ‘Variational multiscale approach to enforce perfect bond in multiple-point constraint applications when forming composite beams’, Computational Mechanics, 49, pp. 617-628. Zhao GF, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, Fang, J, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘A coupled distinct lattice spring model for rock failure under dynamic loads’, Computers and Geotechnics , 42, pp. 1 - 20. Zhao GF, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘A lattice spring model for coupled fluid flow and deformation problems in geomechanics’, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering , 45, pp. 781 - 799. Zhao GF, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘Graphics processing unit based parallelization of the distinct lattice spring model’, Computers and Geotechnics , 42, pp. 109 - 117. Zhao GF 2012, ‘Implementation of a high order lattice spring model for elasticity’, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 49, pp. 2568 2581. Zhao GF, Fang, J, Sun,L, & Zhao,J 2012, ‘Parallelization of the Distinct Lattice Spring Model’, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics (In press).

Gelet, RM, Loret, B, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘A thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled model in local thermal non-equilibrium for fractured HDR reservoir with double porosity’, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres , 117, pp. Article No.# B07205. Gelet, RM, Loret, B, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘Borehole stability analysis in a thermoporoelastic dual-porosity medium’, International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences , 50, pp. 65 - 76. Gholamhoseini, A, Gilbert, RI, Bradford, MA, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Long-term deformation of composite concrete slabs’, Concrete in Australia , 38, pp. 25 - 32. Gholamhoseini, A, Gilbert, RI, Bradford, MA, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Long-term deformation of composite slabs’, Concrete in Australia , 38, pp. 18 - 24. Gilbert, RI, Bradford, MA, Gholamhoseini, A, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Effects of shrinkage on the longterm stresses and deformations of composite concrete slabs’, Engineering Structures , 40, pp. 9 - 19. Gonzalez-estrada, OA, Natarajan S, Rodenas, JJ, Nguyen-xuan, H, & et al, 2012, ‘Efficient recoverybased error estimation for the smoothed finite element method for smooth and singular linear elasticity’, Computational Mechanics . Gravenkamp, H, Song, C, & J. Prager 2012, ‘A numerical approach for the computation of dispersion relations for plate structures using the Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method’, Journal of Sound and Vibration , 331, pp. 2543 - 2557. Gravenkamp, H, Prager, J, Saputra, AA, & Song, C 2012, ‘The simulation of Lamb waves in a cracked plate using the scaled boundary finite element method’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America , 132, pp. 1358 - 1367. Hamed, E 2012, ‘Bending and Creep Buckling Response of Viscoelastic Functionally Graded Beam-Columns’, Composite Structures, 94, pp. 3043 - 3051. Hamed, E, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Flexural Time-Dependent Cracking and Post-Cracking Behaviour of FRP Strengthened Concrete Beams’, International Journal of Solids and Structures , 49, pp. 1595 - 1607. Hamed, E 2012, ‘Nonlinear Creep Response of Reinforced Concrete Beams’, Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures , 7, pp. 435 - 460. Heidarpour, A, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Non-linear elasto-dynamic analysis of bi-material composite members subjected to explosion’, Journal of Constructional Steel Research , 68, pp. 97 - 106. Heidarpour, A, Bradford, MA, & Liu, J 2012, ‘Steel arches subjected to blast loading: A non-discretisation analysis approach’, Applied Mathematical Modelling , 36, pp. 3971 - 3984.

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2012 RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS Iu, C, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Higher-order nonlinear analysis of steel structures. Part I: Elastic second-order formulation’, Journal of Advanced Steel Construction, An International Journal , 8, pp. 168 - 182. Iu, C, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Higher-order nonlinear analysis of steel structures. Part II: Refined plastic hinge formulation’, Journal of Advanced Steel Construction, An International Journal , 8, pp. 183 - 198. Ke, L, Yang, S, Kitipornchai, S, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Bending, buckling and vibration of size-dependent functionally graded annular microplates’, Composite Structures , 94, pp. 3250 - 3257. Khajeh Samani, A, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘A stress strain model for uniaxial and confined concrete under compression’, Engineering Structures , 41, pp. 335 - 349. Kim, M, Lee, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘Stability of damped columns on a Winkler foundation under sub-tangential follower forces’, International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics , 13, 2. Liu, J, Qu, Q, & Pi, YL 2012, ‘Active/robust control of longitudinal vibration response of floating-type cable-stayed bridge induced by train braking and vertical moving loads’, Journal of Vibration and Control , 16, pp. 801 - 825. Liu, X, Erkmen, RE, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Creep and shrinkage analysis of curved composite beams with partial interaction’, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences , 58, pp. 57 - 68. Liu, X, Bradford, MA, & Erkmen, E 2012, ‘Experimental modelling of time-dependent deformation in steel-concrete composie beams curved in-plan’, Concrete in Australia , 38, pp. 18 - 24. Loo, KM, Foster, SJ, & Smith, ST 2012, ‘FE Modeling of CFRP-Repaired RC Beams Subjected to Fatigue Loading’, ASCE journal of composites for construction, 16, pp. 572 - 580. Loo, KM, Foster, SJ, & Smith, ST 2012, ‘Fatigue Behavior of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced PolymerRepaired Corroded Reinforced Concrete Beams’, ACI Structural Journal , 109, pp. 795 - 804. Luo, Z, Zhang, N, Gao, W, & Ma, H 2012, ‘Structural shape and topology optimization using a meshless Galerkin level set method’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering , 90, pp. 369-389. Man, HM, Song, C, Gao, W, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘A unified 3D-based technique for plate bending analysis using scaled boundary finite element method’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering , 91, pp. 491 - 515. Masin, D, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘A thermomechanical model for variably saturated soils based on hypoplasticity’, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics , 36, pp. 1461 - 1485. Maya, Fernández Ruiz, Muttoni, A, & Foster, SJ 2012, ‘Punching Shear Strength of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete Slabs’, Engineering Structures, 40, pp. 83 - 94.

CIES ANNUAL REPORT 2012 PAGE 54

Mazumder, M, Gilbert, RI, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘A Reassessment of the Analysis Provisions for Bond and Anchorage Length of Deformed Reinforcing Bars in Tension’, Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, 2, pp. 01 - 08. Mohd Noor, M, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, Skinner, IM, & Peng, G 2012, ‘Optical relative humidity sensor based on a hollow core-photonic bandgap fiber’, Measurement Science and Technology , 23, pp. Art. No. 085103. Natarajan S, & Manickam, G 2012, ‘Bending and vibration of functionally graded material sandwich plates using an accurate theory’, Finite Elements in Analysis and Design , 57, pp. 32 - 42. Natarajan S, Chakraborty, S, Maheshwari, T, Rabczuk, T, & et al, 2012, ‘Size-dependent free flexural vibration behavior of functionally graded nanoplates’, Computational Materials Science , 65, pp. 74 - 80. Noor, MYM, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, Skinner, IM, & Peng, G 2012, ‘Optical humidity sensor based on air guided photonic crystal fiber’, Photonic Sensors , 2, pp. 277 - 282. Oeser, M, & Pellinien, T 2012, ‘Computational framework for common visco-elastic models in engineering based on the theory of rheology’, Computers and Geotechnics , 42, pp. 145 - 156. Oeser, M, Hovagimian, PZ, & Kabitzke, U 2012, ‘Hydraulic and mechanical properties of porous cement-stabilised materials for base courses of PICPs’, The International Journal of Pavement Engineering, , 13, pp. 68 - 79. Ooi, ET, Song, C, Tin Loi, F, & Yang, ZJ 2012, ‘ Polygon scaled boundary finite elements for crack propagation modeling’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering , 91, pp. 319 - 342. Ooi, ET, Song, C, Tin Loi, F, & Yang, ZJ 2012, ‘Automatic modelling of cohesive crack propagation in concrete using polygon scaled boundary finite elements’, Engineering Fracture Mechanics , 93, pp. 13 - 33. Ooi, ET, Yang, ZJ, & Guo, ZY 2012, ‘Dynamic cohesive crack propagation modelling using the scaled boundary finite element method’, Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures , 35, pp. 786 - 800. Pi, YL, Changyong, L, Bradford, MA, & Zhang, S 2012, ‘ In-plane strength of concrete-filled steel tubular circular arches’, Journal of Constructional Steel Research , 69, pp. 77 - 94. Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Non-linear buckling and postbuckling analysis of arches with unequal rotational end restraints under a central concentrated load’, International Journal of Solids and Structures , 49, pp. 3762 - 3773. Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Non-linear in-plane analysis and buckling of pinned-fixed shallow arches subjected to a central concentrated load’, International Journal of Non - Linear Mechanics , 47, pp. 118-131. Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Nonlinear dynamic buckling of shallow circular arches under a sudden uniform radial load’, Journal of Sound and Vibration , 331, pp. 4199 - 4217.

Pournaghiazar, M, Russell, AR, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘Linking cone penetration resistances measured in calibration chambers and the field’, Geotechnique Letters , 2, pp. 29 - 35. Roshan, H, & Oeser, M 2012, ‘A Non-isothermal Constitutive Model for Chemically Active Elastoplastic Rocks’, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 1-14. Russell, AR, & Buzzi, O 2012, ‘A fractal basis for soil-water characteristics curves with hydraulic hysteresis’, Geotechnique , 62, pp. 269 - 274. Shackel, B, Pearson, A, & Ellis, R 2012, ‘20 years of concrete block paving on King William Road, Adelaide’, Concrete Engineering International, 12, pp. 36 - 38. Sun, L, G.F. Zhao, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘Particle manifold method (PMM): A new continuum-discontinuumnumerical model for geomechanics’, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics . DOI:10.1002/nag.2104. Tangaramvong, S, Tin Loi, F, & Song, C 2012, ‘A direct complementarity approach for the elastoplastic analysis of plane stress and plane strain structures’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering , 90, pp. 838 - 866. Tangaramvong, S, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘An FE-MPEC approach for limit load evaluation in the presence of contact and displacement constraints’, International Journal of Solids and Structures , 49, pp. 1753 1763. Valipour, H, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘A new shape function for tapered three-dimensional beams with flexible connections’, Journal of Constructional Steel Research , 70, pp. 43 - 50. Valipour, H, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘An efficient compound-element for progressive collapse analysis of steel frames with semi-rigid connections’, Finite Elements in Analysis and Design , 60, pp. 35 - 48. Vimonsatit, V, Tangaramvong, S, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘Second-order elastoplastic analysis of semirigid steel frames under cyclic loading’, Engineering Structures , 45, pp. 127 - 136. Zahrai , S , Abbasi , S , Samali, B, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Experimental investigation of utilizing TLD with baffles in a scaled down 5-story Benchmark Building’, Journal of Fluids and Structures , 28, pp. 194 - 210.

Conference - Full Paper Refereed Atanackovic, T, Novakovic, B, & Vrcelj, Z 2012, ‘Application of Pontryagins maximum principle on the Optimization problems of Classical and Nano rods’. (In press) Attard, MM, & Kellermann, DC 2012, ‘Buckling of Funicular Arches’, 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Institute of Biomechanics University of Graz, Austria, July 9th-13th 2012. Bradford, MA, & Pi, YL 2012, ‘Computational modelling of deconstructable composite steelconcrete beams’, the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Dubrovnik, Croatia , 4-7 September 2012.


2012 RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Innovative applications and behaviour of composite slabs with deep trapezoidal sheeting’, Australasian Structural Engineering Conference , Perth, Western Australia, 11-13th July, 2012. Bradford, MA, & Pi, YL 2012, ‘Numerical Modelling of Composite Steel-Concrete Beams for Life Cycle Deconstructability’, the First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-cycle Structural Engineering, Hong Kong, China, 5-7 December 2012. Bradford, MA, & Pi, YL 2012, ‘Numerical modelling of deconstructable composite beams with bolted shear connectors’, numerical modelling strategies for sustainable concrete structures, aix-enprovence, France. Bradford, MA, Liu, X, & Erkmen, E 2012, ‘Spatiallycurved composite beams: numerical analysis and experimental results’, 7th International Conference on Computational Mechanics for Spatial Structures, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-4 April 2012. Bradford, MA, Abas, F, Gilbert, RI, & Foster, SJ 2012, ‘Strength of continuous composite slabs containing fibre reinforced concrete’, 10th International Conference on Advances on Steel Concrete Composite and Hybrid Structures , Singapore, 2-4 July. GF Zhao, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘An introduction to Distinct Lattice Spring Model’. Proceeding of the Harmonising Rock Engineering and the Environment – Qian & Zhou (eds) 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 551- 556. GF Zhao, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, Zhao, XB, & Tu, X 2012, ‘Development of Graphic User Interface for Discontinues Deformation Analysis (DDA)’, 10th International Conference on Advances in Discontinuous Numerical Methods and Applications in Geomechanics and Geoengineering, ICADD 10, Honolulu, HI, 6-8, December, 2011.

Hamed, E, & Huang, Y 2012, ‘Effect of Reinforcement Ratio on the Creep Buckling Behaviour of High Strength Concrete Panels’, 7th International Conference on Computational Mechanics for Spatial Structures, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-4 April 2012.

Martel, B, Graham, IT, Douglas, KJ, & Och, D 2012, ‘Relationship between in-situ stress magnitudes and mineralogy of the Hawkesbury Sandstone, Sydney’, 11th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics (ANZ 2012), Melbourne, Victoria, 15-18 July, 2012.

Hamed, E 2012, ‘Nonlinear Creep Effects in Continuous Reinforced Concrete Beams’, First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012), Hong Kong, China, 5-7 December 2012.

Masoumi, H, Douglas, KJ, & Russell, AR 2012, ‘Experimental investigation of the size effect of Gosford Sandstone’, 11th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics (ANZ 2012), Melbourne, Victoria, 15-18 July, 2012.

Hamed, E, & Ramezani, M 2012, ‘On the influence of temperature on the creep response of sandwich beams with a viscoelastic soft core’, 6th International Composites Conference (ACUN-6) Composites & Nanocomposites in Civil, Offshore and Mining Infrastructure, Melbourne, Australia, 14-16 Nov.

Masoumi, H, Douglas, KJ, Saydam, S, & Hagan, P 2012, ‘Experimental study of size effects of rock on UCS and point load tests (CD Paper No. 215)’, 46th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Chicago, USA, 24-27 June.

Kellermann, DC, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘Extended Seth Hill Generalized strain for Orthotropic Continua’, 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Institute of Biomechanics University of Graz, Austria, July, 9th-13th 2012. Kellermann, DC, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘Orthotropic Simo and Pister Hyperelasticity’, 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia, 11th-14th December 2012. Khajeh Samani, A, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘Lateral Strain of Confined Concrete Incorporating Size Effect’, 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia, 11th-14th December 2012. Kim, M, Min, D, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘Improved nonlinear analysis methods for determining the initial shape of cable-supported bridges’, 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia, 11th14th December 2012.

Mazumder, M, Gilbert, RI, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Bond and anchorage length of deformed reinforcing bars in tension: the way forward for advanced formulations’, International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), Bangalore, India, 21-23 June 2012. Mohd Noor, M, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, & Peng, G 2012, ‘Optical humidity sensor based on hollow core fiber’, 3rd Asia Pacific Optical Sensors Conference, 31 January - 3 February, 2012, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Pells, SE, Peirson, WL, Wu, L, & Douglas, KJ 2012, ‘Scour of Rock in Spillways A Review’, 34th Hydrology & Water Resources Symposium, Sydney, 19-22 November 2012. Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘An accurate curved beam element for 3D nonlinear large deformation analysis’, ICCM2012, Gold Coast, Australia, 25-28, Nov, 2012. Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Effects of approximations on the lateral-torsional buckling and postbuckling analysis’, the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Dubrovnik, Croatia , 4-7 Sep 2012.

GF Zhao, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘Discontinuum based micromechanics modelling methods’, 10th International Conference on Advances in Discontinuous Numerical Methods and Applications in Geomechanics and Geoengineering, ICADD 10, Honolulu, HI, 6-8 December, 2011.

Li, C, Man, HM, Song, C, & Gao, W 2012, ‘Electroelastic analysis of interface cracks and corners in piezoelectric composites using scaled boundary finite element method’, The 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials,, Sydney, 11-14 December 2012 .

Gao, W, Yang, C, Liu, N, & Song, C 2012, ‘An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm with nonlinearly decreasing inertia weight’, ICCM2012, Gold Coast, Australia, 25-28, Nov, 2012.

Liu, N, Gao, W, Song, C, & Zhang, N 2012, ‘Optimization-based interval dynamic response analysis of a bridge under a moving vehicle with uncertain properties’, 22nd ACMSM, UTS Sydney, 11- 14 December 2012.

Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Nonlinear creep analysis and buckling of shallow Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular arches’, 14th International Symposium on Tubular Structures, , London, UK, 431-438, 12-14 September 2012.

Liu, X, Erkmen, RE, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Creep and shrinkage analysis of curved composite beams including the effects of partial interaction’, the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology, Dubrovnik, Croatia , 4-7 September 2012.

Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Uncertain creep analysis of concrete-filled steel tubular columns’, ASEA-SEC-2012, Perth, Australia, 28/11-3/12, 2012.

Long, D, Guo, Z, Xila, L, Natarajan S, & et al, 2012, ‘A force-based large increment method for 2D continuum solids and the mesh convergence study’, International Conference of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering, Rhodes, Greece, 29 September 2009 - 4 Oct 2009.

Su, L, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘In-plane stability of variable cross-section columns with shear deformations’, 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia, 11th-14th December 2012.

Gilbert, RI, Mazumder, M, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Bond, slip and cracking within the anchorage length of deformed reinforcing bars in tension’, 4th International Symposium, Brescia Italy, 17-20 June 2012. Gilbert, RI, Bradford, MA, Gholamhoseini, A, & Chang, Z 2012, ‘Shrinkage induced deformations ofcomposite concrete slabs with pr4ofiles steel decking’, Concrete in the Low Carbon Era, Dundee, Scotland, UK, July 9-11. Gilbert, RI 2012, ‘Unanticipated bond failure over supporting band beams in grouted posttensioned slab tendons with little or no prestress’, 4th International Symposium, Brescia Italy, 17-20 June 2012. Hamed, E 2012, ‘Effect of Adhesive Viscoelasticity on the Creep Behaviour of FRP Strengthened Concrete Beams’, the Third Asia-Pacific Conference on FRP in Structures, Sapporo, 2- 4 February 2012.

Ma, HS, Ji, HG, Yin, LJ, & GF Zhao 2012, ‘Modelling dynamic crack propagation by distinct lattice spring model’, 10th International Conference on Advances in Discontinuous Numerical Methods and Applications in Geomechanics and Geoengineering, ICADD 10, Honolulu, HI, 6-8 December, 2011.

Pi, YL, & Bradford, MA 2012, ‘Geometric and material nonlinear torsional analysis of steel members’, The 7th International Conference on Advances in steel structures, Nanjing, China, 14-16 April 2012.

Russell, AR 2012, ‘Fractal soil-water characteristics with hysteresis’, Second European conference on unsaturated soils, Naples, Italy, June 2012.

Sufian, A, & Russell, AR 2012, ‘Fibre Reinforcement of Prior Stream Sands’, 11th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics (ANZ 2012), Melbourne, Victoria, 15-18 July, 2012.

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2012 RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS Sun, L, GF Zhao, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘An introduction of Particle Manifold Method (PMM)’, 10th International Conference on Advances in Discontinuous Numerical Methods and Applications in Geomechanics and Geoengineering, ICADD 10, Honolulu, HI, 6-8 December, 2011. Tu, X, GF Zhao, Dai, F, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘Mechanism of rock avalanche induced by earthquake Insight from the discontinuous numerical modeling approach’, 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, ISRM 2011, Beijing, China, 18-21 October, 2011. Wang, C, Gao, W, & Song, C 2012, ‘Investigation on natural frequency and mode shape of structures with mixed aleatory and epistemic uncertainties’, ISMA2012 - International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering, Leuven, Belgium, 1719 September 2012. Wang, C, Gao, W, Song, C, & Zhang, N 2012, ‘Stochastic interval analysis of structures’, 2012 Spring World Congress on Engineering and Technology, Xi’an, China, 27-30 May, 2012. Wang, C, Gao, W, & Song, C 2012, ‘Stochastic interval dynamic analysis of structures with mixed uncertainties’, International Conference on Computational Method, Gold Coast, Australia, 25-28 November 2012. Wu, D, Gao, W, Tangaramvong, S, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘Limit analysis with uncertain-but-bounded parameters by kinematic approach’, ICCM2012, Gold Coast, Australia, 25-28, Nov, 2012. Wu, L, Peirson, WL, Pells, S. Douglas, KJ, & et al, 2012, ‘Aeration drag effects on unlined spillways - Paper 24/ICSE2012/000024’, Sixth International Conference on Scour and Erosion, Paris, France, 27-31 August 2012.

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Yang, C, Wang, C, Gao, W, & Song, C 2012, ‘Dynamic analysis of structures with interval parameters under random process earthquake excitations’, 22nd ACMSM, UTS Sydney, 11th to 14th December 2012.

Chiong, I, Song, C, Ooi, ET, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘Limit analysis using the scaled boundary finite element method’, The 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics UK , Manchester, UK, 27-28 March 2012.

Zargarbashi, S, & Khalili-Naghadeh, N 2012, ‘Effective stress in unsaturated soils under wetting and drying’, 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils 2012, Pattaya, Thailand, 29 February - 2 March, 2012.

Chowdhury, M.S. Song, C, & Gao, W 2012, ‘Probabilistic fracture mechanics using the scaled boundary finite element method’, The 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics UK, Manchester, UK, 27-28 March 2012.

Zhao, GF, Khalili-Naghadeh, N, & Zhao, J 2012, ‘An introduction to Distinct Lattice Spring Model (DLSM)’, 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, ISRM 2011, Beijing, China, 18-21 October, 2011.

Gravenkamp, H, Saputra, AA, Song, C, & Prager, J 2012, ‘Detection of defects in thin-walled structures by means of Lamb waves’, International Congress on Ultrasonics, ICU 2011, Gdansk, 5-8 September, 2011.

Zhu, J, & Attard, MM 2012, ‘In-Plane Buckling Analysis of Funicular Arches with Pinned Supports’, 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia, 11th-14th, December 2012.

Conference - Full Paper, Not Refereed Bradford, MA, & Heidarpour, A 2012, ‘Semi-analytical element for geometric and material non-linear dynamic analysis of steel members subjected to blast loading’, 6th European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering, Vienna, September. Castel, A, Gilbert, RI, & Foster, SJ 2012, ‘Numerical modelling of reinforced concrete beam response to repeated loading including steel-concrete interface damage’, Numerical Modelling Strategies for Sustainable Concrete Structures, Alix-enProvence, France, May 29 - June 1.

Khoshghalb, A 2012, ‘On creep laboratory tests in soil mechanics’, advances in multiphysical testing of soils and shales, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, 3-5 Sep. 2012. Man, HM, Song, C, Gao, W, & Tin Loi, F 2012, ‘A semi-analytical technique for plate bending analysis with PadExpansion’, The 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics UK, Manchester, UK, 27-28 March 2012. Song, C 2012, ‘The scaled boundary finite element method: recent and further developments’, The 20th Annual Conference on Computational Mechanics UK, Manchester, UK, 27-28 March 2012.


INTERNATIONAL VISITORS CIES supports, in part, the visits of international researchers to promote collaboration in a number of areas. It also supports formal and well-attended public and internal seminars and lectures by eminent visitors.

CIES International Visitors’ On Sabbatical/Study Leave – 2012 Name

Institution

Dr Hong Zhong

Dalian University of Technology, China

Professor Dunja Peric

Kansas State University, USA

Professor Gengshu Tong

Zhejiang University, China

Professor Yanlin Guo Professor Haitao Ma

Tsinghua University, China China South University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

A/Professor M.M. Ahmadi

Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Dr Taicong Chen

China South University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Dr Hauke Gravenkamp

Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing, Berlin, Germany

Dr Bazyar Mansoor Khani

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran

Dr Huanan He

Dr Zhang Yang

Institute of Structure Engineering School of Civil Engineering Dalian University of Technology China College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, China.

Dr David Masin

Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

CIES ANNUAL REPORT 2012 PAGE 57


INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

CIES International Visitors’ Seminars – 2012 when july 2012

Name Professor Yan XIAO

Institution Dean of the College of Civil Engineering Hunan University, China

Seminar topic “Research activities in the Civil Engineering College of Hunan University – our efforts towards an internationally recognized school”

Professor Yanlin Guo

Professor of Structural Engineering School of Civil Engineering Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran Head of the Division for Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering Institute of Infrastructure, Faculty of Civil Engineering Sciences University of Innsbruck, Austria Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand

“Challenges in structural design and construc- August 2012 tion of iconic steel building projects in China”

Dr. Mohammad Hossein Bazyar

Professor Dimitrios KOLYMBAS

Dr Alessandro Palermo

CIES ANNUAL REPORT 2012 PAGE 58

“Extension of the scaled boundary-finiteelement method to the steady and transient seepage flow problems”

september 2012

“Barodesy, a new hypoplastic approach”

november 2012

“Rapid construction and low-damage technologies for seismic design of bridges”

December 2012


POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS Agarwal, Ankit Strengthening of tubular steel structures using CFRP Supervisor: Foster; Co-supervisor: Vrcelj, Hamed Allan, Rebecca Jane Backward erosion piping of dams Supervisor: Douglas Amin, Ali Shear and Tensile Fracture of Reinforced Concrete with Steel Fibres Supervisor: Foster; Co-supervisor: Gilbert Ataei,Abdolreza Steel and composite structures Supervisor: Bradford

Do,Duy Minh Structural safety assessment, nondeterministic analysis vehicle bridge interaction dynamics, numerical analysis. Supervisor: Gao Co-supervisor: Song

Supervisor: Vandebona; Co-supervisor: Oeser

Elhadayri, Farj Constitutive modelling of lightly cemented unsaturated soils Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Russell

Khajeh, Samani Ali Softening in reinforced concrete frames Supervisor: Attard; Co-supervisor: Tin-Loi

Esfahani Kan, Mojtaba Earth and rockfill dams, in particular the earthquake resistance and liquefaction susceptibility of their foundations Supervisor: Taiebat; Co-supervisor: Al-Kilidar

Bai, Yun Coupled flow deformation analysis of multiphase multi porous media Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Oeser

Gharib, Mohammad Mahdi Shear and tensile fracture of steel fibre reinforced concrete Supervisor: Foster; Co-supervisor: Gilbert

Bertuzzi, Robert Estimating rock mass strength and stiffness with particular interest in the load on a tunnel lining Supervisor: Douglas; Co-supervisor: Mostyn

Gholamhoseini, Alireza The time-dependent behavior of composite concrete slabs with profi led steel decking Supervisor: Gilbert; Co-supervisor: Foster

Chen, Xiaojun Computational Mechanics Supervisor: Song; Co-supervisor: Man Chiong, Irene Scaled boundary finite-element shakedown approach for the safety assessment of cracked elastoplastic structures under cyclic loading Supervisor: Song; Co-supervisor: Tin-Loi Chowdhury, Morsaleen Shehzad Structural Engineering Supervisor: Song; Co-supervisor: Gao de Burgh,James Matthew Practical modelling and analysis of concrete building and tunnel structures in fire Supervisor: Foster Co-supervisor: Hamed

James, Edward Malcolm Pavement systems on soft soils Supervisor: Russell

Khezri, Mani Buckling and post-buckling behaviour of composite laminated structures with material non-linearities Supervisor: Vrcelj; Co-supervisor: Attard Lee,Sing Siu Michael Composite steel/concrete structures Supervisor: Bradford; Co-supervisor: Pi Li, Chao Structural engineering Supervisor: Song; Co-supervisor: Gao

Gui, Yilin Cracking in unsaturated soils Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Oeser

Liu, Nengguang Uncertain modelling and uncertain methods; Vehicle - bridge interaction dynamics; Wind and/or seismic induced random vibration; structural stability and reliability analysis Supervisor: Gao

Hashemiheidari,Seyedkomeil Blast loading on bridges Supervisor: Bradford; Co-supervisor: Pi

Luo, Kai Long-term non-linear behaviour and buckling of CFST arches Supervisors: Pi, Gao

He,Xudong Modelling of systems with discontinuities using the scaled boundary finite element method. Supervisor: Birk; Co-supervisor: Song

Luu, Trung Kien Numerical simulation of the behaviour of composite frames at elevated temperatures Supervisor: Bradford; Co-supervisor: Vrcelj

Huang, Yue Long-term behaviour of high-strength concrete panels Supervisor: Hamed; Co-supervisor: Foster Islam, Md Kamrul Modelling route choice behaviour under uncertainty

Ma, Jianjun CO2 sequestration in geological formations Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Oeser Mac, Thi Ngoc Time dependent behaviour of slope Supervisor: Khalili; Zhao Masoumi, Hossein

CIES ANNUAL REPORT 2012 PAGE 59


POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS Investigation of intact rock behaviour with particular interest on micro-crack growth and scale effects Supervisor: Douglas; Co-supervisor: Russell Mazumder, Maruful Hasan Structural engineering, computational mechanics, dynamic soil-structure interaction Supervisor: Foster, Gilbert Mohamad Abas, Fairul Zahri Behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete slabs with profiled steel decking Supervisor: Gilbert; Co-supervisor: Foster Mohammadi, Samaneh Effects of unsaturated zone on stability of slopes Supervisor: Taiebat; Co-supervisor: Khalili Moutabsherkati,Shahrokh Dynamics Analysis of Unsaturated Porous Media Subject to Damage due to Cracking Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Taiebat Musa,Idris Ahmed Buckling of Thick Plates Supervisor: Attard; Co-supervisor: Kellermann Parvez, Md. Ahsan Fibre reinforced concrete structures Supervisor: Foster Salimzadeh, Saeed Normal simulation of carbon sequestration in geological formations Supervisor: Khalili; Co-supervisor: Oeser Saputra,Albert Artha Computational mechanics and structural analysis Supervisor: Song; Birk Shi, Xue Uncertain analysis of engineering structures. Structural reliability analysis. Structural dynamics Supervisor: Gao

CIES ANNUAL REPORT 2012 PAGE 60

Sriskandarajah, Sanchayan Reactive powder concrete subjected to high temperature and temperature cycles Supervisor: Gowripalan; Co-supervisor: Tin-Loi Su, Lijuan Lateral buckling Supervisor: Attard; Co-supervisor: Tin-Loi Sun, Zhicheng Fracture analysis by using the scaled boundary finite element method Supervisor: Song; Co-supervisor: Gao Tang,Yi Numerical modelling of installation and pullout capacity at caissons Supervisor: Taiebat; Co-supervisor: Russell

Yang, Hongwei In-situ testing of unsaturated soils Supervisor: Russell; Co-supervisor: Khalili Yin, Peijie Multiphase flow in porous media: a study on permeability determination of unsaturated soils Supervisor: Gaofeng Zhao; Co-supervisor: Khalili Yousefnia Pasha,Amin Numerical modelling of Cone penetration in unsaturated soils. Supervisor: Khalili; Khoshghalb Zhu, Jianbei Elasto-plastic thermal lateral buckling analysis of submerged oil and gas pipelines curved in plan Supervisor Attard; Co-supervisors: Erkmen, Kellermann

Vo, Thanh Liem Soil-structure interaction Supervisor: Russell; Co-supervisor: Taiebat

PhD Students Graduated in 2012

Wang, Chen Computational mechanics. Structural dynamics structural analysis Supervisor: Gao; Co-supervisor: Song

Khoshghalb, Arman Numerical algorithms of penetration problems in variably saturated media Supervisor: Nasser Khalili; Co-supervisor: Adrian Russell

Wu, Di Limit and shake down analysis, uncertain methods and nondeterministic analysis, structural analysis and optimization Supervisor: Gao; Co-supervisor: Tin-loi

Liu, Xinpei Time-dependent behaviour of composite curved beams Supervisor: Mark Bradford

Xiang, Tingsong Scaled boundary finite element analysis of plates and shells Supervisor: Song: Co-supervisor: Gao, Hou Yang,Chengwei Nondeterministic analysis of linear and nonlinear structures. Supervisor: Gao; Co-supervisor: Song

Pournaghiazar Mohammad Cone penetration in unsaturated porous media Supervisor: Nasser Khalili; Co-supervisor: Adrian Russell



Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering The University of New South Wales SYDNEY NSW 2052 AUSTRALIA T +61 2 9385 6853 F +61 2 9385 9747

www.cies.unsw.edu.au


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