Current Funding

Recent ARC Funded Projects:

ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)

National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation (NFPBS)
The IIE has been very successful in the latest round of ARC LIEF (Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities) scheme. Professors Brian Uy, Kenny Kwok and Dr. Chunwei Zhang from IIE along with their colleagues from other organisations were awarded a total of $400,000 funding for a project which will overcome the challenges associated with live explosive testing such as very high cost, safety, efficiency and repeatability of test results. The ARC LIEF scheme provides funding for research infrastructure, equipment and facilities, which enables higher education researchers to participate in cooperative initiatives so that expensive infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared between higher education organisations and also with industry. More than $29 million was awarded to 72 projects across the country in the 2013 round.
The LIEF project, "National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation" will provide funding to build a blast simulator facility at UWS. The facility will be utilised to determine the effects of extreme loading (e.g. blast, impact) onto target structures, from individual components such as windows, doors, columns, plates and walls, to system models such as bridges, dams, tunnels and buildings, and to models of city or urban environment. The facility will be unique within Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere as well as being one of only a few in the world.
This is the first ARC LIEF grant ever awarded to UWS as a host institution in Engineering. It is also the first ARC LIEF at UWS for the last three years, and one of only 8 in the last twelve years.
 

High Strength Composite Columns
The Australian Research Council has announced $400,000 funding over three years (2012-2014). Professor Brian Uy, Associate Professor Zhong Tao and Dr Fidelis Mashiri from the Civionics Research Centre in collaboration with Professor Richard Liew, National University of Singapore and Professor Lin-Hai Han, Tsinghua University, China have been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for a project titled “The behaviour and design of composite columns coupling the benefits of high strength steel and high strength concrete for large scale infrastructure”  This project will investigate the behaviour and design of columns composed of high strength structural steel coupled with high strength concrete. The project will enable more efficient column systems to be developed for major civil engineering infrastructure. High strength steel casings in composite columns have the ability to enable high strength concrete to be more efficiently utilised and can delay crushing and improve ductility considerably as well as significantly reducing column dimensions in buildings and other infrastructure systems. This project will provide design guidelines for the safe design of these members by addressing the important coupled effects of confinement, local buckling and residual stresses of these members.

This project will consider the following aspects:
1. High strength square composite columns;
2. High strength composite tubes; and
3. Very high strength polygonal sections
Inherent in each of these three distinct topics will be the identification and quantification of residual stress patterns and imperfections of the fabricated steel sections and the development of a generic confinement model for concrete filled steel columns of polygonal form.

Total funding has been set $400,000

View Professor Brian Uy Profile
View Associate Professor Zhong Tao Profile
View High Strength Composite Columns


Hybrid Stainless-Carbon Steel Joints
The Australian Research Council has announced $430,000 funding over three years (2012-2014).  Associate Professor Zhong Tao, from the Civionics Research Centre in collaboration with Professor Lin-Hai Han, Tsinghua University, China have been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for a project titled “Hybrid stainless-carbon steel composite beam-column joints at ambient and elevated temperatures”. This project aims to conduct experimental and analytical research on hybrid stainless-carbon steel composite beam-column joints at ambient and elevated temperatures. The joints put forward consist of stainless steel composite columns and carbon steel beams. Bolted joints using blind bolts and through-plate joints will be investigated. The outcomes will likely be incorporated into design codes to be used by structural engineers, thus providing more economical and environmentally friendly technique.

This project represents a first-ever attempt to investigate the behaviour of hybrid stainless-carbon steel composite beam-column joints at ambient and elevated temperatures. Reliable connections will be developed to connect carbon steel beams to concrete-filled stainless steel tubular columns for gravity and lateral loads from wind or earthquakes in regions of low to moderate seismicity, as well as under fire conditions. The idea is to significantly increase the durability of key elements in a structure, but cause only a minor increase to the overall cost of the structure. To increase our understanding and provide design methods for the innovative composite joints under different conditions, the aims of this project are determined as:
(1) To investigate the behaviour of composite joints at ambient temperatures.
(2) To investigate the cyclic behaviour of composite joints at ambient temperatures.
(3) To investigate the fire performance of composite joints.
(4) To implement findings by providing design methods for composite joints at ambient conditions, as well as in fire conditions.

Total funding has been set $430,000

View Associate Professor Zhong Tao Profile
View Hybrid Stainless-Carbon Steel Joints


Structural Systems
Collaborating researchers, Dr Helen M Goldsworthy, University of Melbourne, Prof Emad Gad, Swinburne University,  Prof Brian Uy (UWS), and Dr Saman Fernando, AJAX Engineered Fasteners and OneSteel Ltd have been awarded $255k to develop efficient, robust and architecturally-flexible structural systems using innovative blind-bolted connections. The project is to develop structural systems that have sufficient stiffness, strength, and ductility to withstand code-specified loads and that will be competitive in the marketplace. The development of demonstrable cost-effective structural systems is essential if these types of systems are to be widely adopted in practice, thus allowing Australian manufacturers of blind bolts and steel tubes to achieve a greater market share. This research is funded by AJAX Engineered Fasteners and OneSteel Limited $285,000 and the Australian Research Council $255,000 through its Linkage Project grants scheme over three years.
Dr Olivia Mirza has also undertaken to this research as this project is the continuation of previous ARC Linkage project entitled "Development of innovative beam-column connections within robust composite steel-concrete structural frames" that Dr Mirza worked on when she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UWS.

Total funding has been set $540,000.

View Professor Brian Uy Profile 


Hybrid Testing Facility for Structures
Professor Brian Uy and Professor Yang Xiang were part of a major national bid under the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme for large equipment administered by Swinburne University which were announced by Senator Carr on 1 December 2010.  The LIEF bid titled “Hybrid Testing Facility for Structures under Extreme Loads” was successful.  The award from the ARC is worth $870,000 and the facility will be funded by over $2 million involving contributions from ARC and partner universities.  This facility will provide a platform where multi-campus testing can be implemented and where collaboration will open new doors for more joint research grant applications and research projects.  Construction of a new Smart Structures Laboratory, the hub of the HTF facility, is nearly complete at Swinburne University in Melbourne and ready for receiving funded equipment for installation starting from January 2011.  UWS will be one of a number of national universities to have a node established which will enable remote testing of structures.  This will be housed in Building XC, Kingswood Campus as part of the structures laboratory facilities where UWS will also soon be installing the new 1000 tonne universal testing frame which upon completion will be the largest capacity facility of its kind in Australia.

View Professor Brian Uy Profile 
 

Composite Construction
The Australian Research Council has announced $255,000 funding over three years. Professor Brian Uy, Dr Xinqun Zhu and Dr Olivia Mirza from the Civionics Research Centre have been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery grant for a project of "The use of innovative anchors for the achievement of composite action for rehabilitating existing and deployment of demountable steel structures". This project will develop an innovative technology to connect steel and concrete elements in steel framed structures. This will allow new structures to be made demountable and will increase the remaining life of existing infrastructure. This will provide methodologies to increase the sustainability benefits of steel structures in construction. The method includes the use of blind bolting technology which has recently been used in the demountable end stands for the Sydney Olympic Stadium, Sydney and in the rehabilitation of the Westgate Bridge (opens in a new window) over the Yarra in Melbourne.

Total funding has been set $255,000

View Composite Construction Project

View Professor Brian Uy Profile 


Wind-excited Tall Buildings
The Australian Research Council has announced $605,621 funding over four years. Professor Kenny Kwok from the School of Engineering will lead a team of researchers to investigate the effects of wind-induced vibration on occupants of tall buildings.  This project is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant.  The multi-disciplinary team includes Professor Vaughan Macefield, School of Medicine, UWS, Dr Peter Hitchcock from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, and Dr Darren Walton of Opus International Consultants, Wellington N.Z. The project will also include the research training of a postgraduate students.

Total funding has been set $605,621

View Wind-excited Tall Buildings Project  (PDF, 74Kb)

View Professor Kenny Kwok Profile


Of Concrete and Steel
The Australian Research Council has announced $686,400 funding over four years. Associate Professor Zhong Tao from the Civionics Research Centre has been awarded a research fellowship to investigate the behaviour of concrete-filled stainless steel columns used in building construction.  The project and fellowship have been funded by the Australian Research Council though its Future Fellowship grant scheme.

Total funding has been set $686,400

View Of Concrete and Steel Project (PDF, 127Kb)

View  Associate Professor Zhong Tao Profile 

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