Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemWhole-life baseline carbon assessment of residential building stock – A Victorian case study(Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS), 2023-07-19)Assessing residential building decarbonisation opportunities requires a whole-life approach, given the increasing share of embodied carbon as housing becomes more energy efficient. Since most of the projected housing stock would consist of existing buildings, emissions from renovation should also be included in determining both embodied and operational carbon in the residential building sector. A bottom-up typology framework was developed to estimate carbon emissions for existing and new housing up to 2050, scalable from local government area (LGA) to state-level jurisdiction which allows for granularity in testing scenarios for the future. Housing typologies were developed for existing, new, and renovation housing stock based on census data. Operating carbon was obtained using building energy simulation while embodied carbon data was accounted from localised life cycle construction datasets. The state of Victoria along with its corresponding LGAs was used as a case study for said framework. Heating load comprised most of the operating energy demand for most typologies while external walls and floors contributed significant embodied carbon for new residential buildings, particularly for detached houses. For Victoria, detached houses built prior to 1991 contributed most of the operational carbon, however with high construction rates set for most LGAs, new housing may contribute more GHG emissions in 2050. Brick veneer housing yielded more embodied carbon from the external wall compared to timber homes while concrete slabs used in floors also incurred a large amount of embodied carbon for the residential building stock. Renovating existing housing has the potential to reduce operating energy demand while emitting less embodied carbon, thus policies on this should be considered in developing decarbonisation pathways. Using the bottom-up typology whole-life carbon framework offers granularity in analysing individual-level carbon impact which can be expanded to LGA and state level.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableFire safety performance of 3D GFRP nanocomposite as a cladding material(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2022-10)Vertical fire spread along highly flammable claddings is a major safety issue for buildings. In this project, a potential new type of cladding material, 3D Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (3D GFRP) with improved thermal stability, and fire performance is developed. 3D GFRP nanocomposite samples were fabricated with different percentages of Sepiolite (Sep), Sepiolite-phosphate (SepP), Ammonium Polyphosphate (APP) flame retardant, and 3D glass fabrics. Synthesis of SepP, dispersion analysis of nanoparticles, and manufacturing process have been studied. The characterisation of materials was conducted using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Helium Ion Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and X-ray Diffraction Analysis. The thermal stability and fire behaviour of the 3D GFRP nanocomposite was studied via TGA and cone calorimeter test. TGA results showed that the optimum amount of additives that improved the thermal stability is 15% flame retardants. Results of cone calorimeter tests showed that different percentages of APP, Sep, and SepP decreased the peak of the heat release rate between 4% and 42%. Also, the effects of APP flame retardant in improving thermal and fire reaction properties were more than Sep and SepP. The test results of 3D GFRP nanocomposite also showed a prospective cladding that can benefit the construction industry in near future.
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ItemSpatiotemporal Response of Ecosystem Service Values to Land Use Change in Xiamen, China(MDPI AG, 2022-10-01)This research aims to identify the key indicators of land-use change that affect ecosystem service in the coastal city of Xiamen. The methods of transfer matrix and land-use dynamic degree are used to analyze land-use change, and the spatial distribution of ecosystem service values (ESV) is mapped from 1989 to 2018 using cluster analysis. During this 30-year period, the built-up land expanded rapidly through occupation of farmland and landfilling of the watershed. The biggest contribution to the reduction of ESV in this stage is the loss of farmland followed by the loss of watershed. By 2018, the spatial distribution of ESV had become very unbalanced and polarized. The high-value areas are mainly distributed in the northern mountainous areas, with the low-value areas concentrated in the flat areas near the coastline, and only a few medium-value areas of ESV remained. Generally, from 1989 to 2018, the ESV in Xiamen decreased by about CNY 200 million in total, with the largest proportion of ESV reduction (CNY 120 million) occurring in the 2000–2010 period. Considering ESV categories, the significant reduction of Regulating Service (53.5–57.8%) was mainly due to the loss of water areas (CNY −70 million) to low ESV areas (built-up land) in urbanization, followed by the loss of farmland (CNY −50 million). This means that Xiamen should strengthen the protection of ecological lands in future urban planning to alleviate and reverse the current ecological imbalance.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA multi-layered energy resilience framework and metrics for energy master planning of communities: A university campus case study(Society of Risk Analysis, 2021-12-05)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableCorrosion protection of steel elements in façade systems – A review(Elsevier, 2020-11)Corrosion of steel elements in a façade system may cause failure that can adversely affect building performance. In this paper we review and synthesize the scientific literature in order to provide practical guidance for engineers, designers and material/product specifiers to avoid or minimize the corrosion of steel elements in façade systems as well as to identify the challenges for future research. The review covered different types of corrosion such as atmospheric, galvanic or bimetallic, embedded, and cut-edge corrosion and how different factors affect the corrosion rate of steel. Preventing or minimising the potential for steel corrosion in a building façade involves examination of the surrounding environment, a proper design of façade system, selecting a suitable steel grade, choosing an appropriate coating, and undertaking maintenance regularly. Further research has been identified, including the development of environmentally friendly and low cost nanocoatings, and establishing locally-validated corrosion rates of steel elements. The latter can form the basis for the development of hazard zone maps that consider industrial pollutants and other local environment factors.
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ItemCarbon footprint reduction through residential building stock retrofit: A metro melbourne suburb case study(MDPI AG, 2021-10-01)Since existing residential buildings are a significant global contributor to energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, any serious effort to reduce the actual energy and carbon emissions of the building sector should explicitly address the carbon mitigation challenges and opportunities in the building stock. This research investigates environmentally and economically sustainable retrofit methods to reduce the carbon footprint of existing residential buildings in the City of Greater Dandenong as a case study in Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. By categorizing energy use into various building age brackets and dwelling types that align with changes in energy regulations, we identified various retrofit prototypes to achieve a targeted 6.5-star and 8-star energy efficiency rating (out of a maximum 10-star rating system). The corresponding operational energy savings through different retrofit options are examined while also considering the quantity of materials required for each option, along with their embodied energy and GHG emissions, thus allowing a more comprehensive lifecycle carbon analysis and exploration of their financial and environmental payback times. Results show that when buildings are upgraded with a combination of insulation and double-glazed windows, the environmental benefits rise faster than the financial benefits over a dwelling’s lifecycle. The size or percentage of a particular dwelling type within the building stock and the remaining lifecycle period are found to be the most important factors influencing the payback periods. Retrofitting the older single detached dwellings shows the greatest potential for lifecycle energy and carbon savings in the case suburb. These findings provide households, industry and governments some guidance on how to contribute most effectively to reduce the carbon footprint of the residential building sector.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableCovid-19 Pandemic Geospatial Information and Community Resilience(CRC Press, 2021-06-08)This book, with worldwide contributions examining the COVID-19 pandemic, provides interdisciplinary analysis and multi-sector expertise on the use of geospatial information and location intelligence to support community resilience and the ...
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ItemAccessibility and socio-economic development of human settlements(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2017-06-21)Access to facilities, services and socio-economic opportunities plays a critical role in the growth and decline of cities and human settlements. Previous attempts to explain changes in socio-economic indicators by differences in accessibility have not been convincing as countries with highly developed transport infrastructure have only seen marginal benefits of infrastructure improvements. Australia offers an ideal case for investigating the effects of accessibility on development since it is seen as home to some of the most liveable cities in the world while, at the same time, it also has some of the most isolated settlements. We investigate herein the connectivity and accessibility of all 1814 human settlements (population centers exceeding 200 persons) in Australia, and how they relate to the socio-economic characteristics of, and opportunities in, each population center. Assuming population as a proxy indicator of available opportunities, we present a simple ranking metric for a settlement using the number of population and the distance required to access all other settlements (and the corresponding opportunities therein). We find a strikingly unequal distribution of access to opportunities in Australia, with a marked prominence of opportunities in capital cities in four of the eight states. The two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne have a dominant position across all socio-economic indicators, compared to all the other cities. In general, we observe across all the settlements that a decrease in access to opportunities is associated with relatively greater socio-economic disadvantage including increased median age and unemployment rate and decreased median household income. Our methodology can be used to better understand the potential benefits of improved accessibility based on infrastructure development, especially for remote areas and for cities and towns with many socio-economically disadvantaged population.