Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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1 - 10 of 2005
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ItemCool for school(Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH), 2024-05-23)Effective learning spaces that maintain optimum indoor environmental quality and inspire students to learn form a critical component of educating our youth. As part of the i-Hub initiative, a collective of designers, engineers and architects explored how integrated design might benefit ACT schools.
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ItemArtificial neural networks for predicting the performance of heat pumps with horizontal ground heat exchangers(Frontiers Media SA, 2024-06-12)A Ground Coupled Heat Pump (GCHP) is a highly energy efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that utilises the ground as the heat source when heating and as the heat sink when cooling. This paper investigates GCHP systems with horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers (GHEs) in the rural industry, exemplifying the technology for poultry (chicken) sheds in Australia. This investigation aims to provide an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that can be used for GCHP design at various locations with different climates. To this extent, a Transient System Simulation Tool (TRNSYS) model for a typical horizontal GHE applied in a rural farm was first verified. Using this model, over 700,000 hourly performance data items were obtained, covering over 80 different yearly loading patterns under three different climate conditions. The simulated performance data was then used to train the ANN. As a result, the trained ANN can predict the performance of GCHP systems with identical (multiple) GHEs even under climatic conditions (and locations) that have not been specifically trained for. Unlike other works, the newly introduced ANN model is accurate even with limited types of input data, with high accuracy (less than 5% error in most cases tested). This ANN model is 100 times computationally faster than TRNSYS simulations and 10,000 times faster than finite element models.
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ItemSuction bucket performance in sand under vertical cyclic loading: Numerical modelling using SANISAND-MS(Elsevier, 2024-09-01)This study assesses the performance of a memory surface constitutive model (SANISAND-MS) in capturing vertical cyclic loading on a suction bucket foundation in sand. The model has been calibrated against drained cyclic triaxial responses and validated against corresponding centrifuge experiments on suction buckets. The model was found to satisfactorily capture the effects of increasing accumulated strain with increasing mean stress level and reducing density. The performance of the model was further investigated through a parametric study on suction buckets at different mean stress levels, densities and loading sequences. The insights gained from investigating the strain and stress responses, along with the movement of the memory surface, reveal that the model can satisfactorily capture the strain accumulation and ratcheting effects under different load histories.
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ItemNew circularity indicator for decision making in the stockpile management of construction and demolition waste: Perspectives of Australian practitioners(Elsevier BV, 2024-07-01)Despite the increasing popularity of the circular economy, there remains a lack of consensus on how to quantify circularity, a critical aspect of the practical implementation of this model. To address this gap, this article examines the industry's perspective and efforts toward implementing the circular economy in real-world scenarios. We conducted 40 interviews with engineers, project leaders, and top-level managers in the Australian construction sector. Using Saldaña's coding approach, we analysed their views on circular economy practices and efforts within their organisations. Our findings reveal while waste minimisation, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and cost considerations are widely regarded as essential indicators of a successful circular economy model, the significance of waste storage and long-term stockpiling while awaiting treatment has been overlooked or under-emphasised in industry practices and academic literature. Stockpiling of waste has often been seen as a staging process in waste treatment. However, based on industry insights, it accumulates to the point of mismanagement when it becomes a safety and environmental concern. Addressing this oversight, we propose a storage circularity indicator that allows incorporating waste storage and stockpiling in circular economy models. Our research contributes to various environmental and waste management aspects, supporting policies and strategies for solid waste management and excessive stockpile prevention. By emphasising the significance of storage circularity, we clarify waste prevention techniques and address socio-economic issues such as the urgent need to reduce long-term stockpiling of solid waste. This work highlights the importance of decision-support tools in waste management to facilitate the implementation of circular economy principles. Our proposed storage circularity indicator promotes industrial collaboration, aligning with the concept of industrial symbiosis to optimise resource use and minimise waste generation. By discussing these topics, we aim to contribute to the advancement of more robust waste management strategies and policies that promote sustainable production and consumption practices.
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ItemCurrent challenges and strategic directions for land administration system modernisation in Indonesia(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024)Digital transformation is vital for modernising Land Administration Systems (LASs), ensuring efficient, transparent, and secure land services. This study evaluates Indonesia’s LAS using the Digital Government Readiness Assessment (DGRA) framework, identifying regulatory gaps, inefficient registration, validation issues, and resource constraints. Inspired by New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia, it recommends standardising parcel identification numbers, updating regulations, adopting new data formats, and enhancing address standards. Additionally, it suggests implementing digital workflows, automation services, and collaborating with the surveying industry. Institutional and organisational improvements are also proposed based on global initiatives.
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ItemSupply chain risk management for projects: A review, a taxonomy, a framework, and a research agenda(University of Bath, 2024)This study investigates the critical role of supply chain risk management (SCRM) as a factor for growth and competitive advantage in project management. While there is extensive literature on risk management, there is a notable gap in the development of a comprehensive risk taxonomy tailored to project management supply chains. Through a systematic literature review of 50 scholarly articles, this paper categorizes and identifies prevalent supply chain risks and their potential impacts, which influence the entirety of project supply chains. It introduces a novel SCRM taxonomy, elucidating its significance in the context of project management. Additionally, the research proposes a future research agenda aimed at supporting the theoretical foundations of SCRM, thereby facilitating its formalization and strategic refinement. This endeavor enhances our understanding of SCRM’s key role in project management, providing a structure for future research and application across diverse industries, beyond the traditional focus on construction.
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ItemThe affordance of boundary objects for codified project learning sharing between communities of practice: Pilot study results and learnings for selected sustainability demonstration projects(University of Bath, 2024)Effective project-to-project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes however externalised knowledge sharing is necessary to overcome temporal, geographical and organisational barriers. Externalised sharing for this purpose requires the codification of knowledge relating to project learnings within boundary objects, where codification may be impacted by an array of complex considerations. Among these considerations is whether the capacity of the boundary object affords boundary spanning between communities of practice, where boundary-spanning capacity is influenced by the characteristics codified within the object. The grand-challenge context of sustainability demonstration projects provides an important case context for boundary spanning as these projects have knowledge sharing and learning as a central focus, key driver and intended outcome. While the application of boundary objects has been explored in a wide range of domains and cases, this article specifically considers the characteristics of boundary objects representing codified project learnings to afford project-to-project knowledge sharing, a focus which has not yet been studied in either the sustainability demonstration context or any other project-to-future learning organisation case context. An initial pilot study has been conducted with four sustainability demonstration case projects, with results and learnings to guide the refinement of future large-scale research design.
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ItemA dataset of direct observations of sea ice drift and waves in ice(NATURE PORTFOLIO, 2023-05-03)Variability in sea ice conditions, combined with strong couplings to the atmosphere and the ocean, lead to a broad range of complex sea ice dynamics. More in-situ measurements are needed to better identify the phenomena and mechanisms that govern sea ice growth, drift, and breakup. To this end, we have gathered a dataset of in-situ observations of sea ice drift and waves in ice. A total of 15 deployments were performed over a period of 5 years in both the Arctic and Antarctic, involving 72 instruments. These provide both GPS drift tracks, and measurements of waves in ice. The data can, in turn, be used for tuning sea ice drift models, investigating waves damping by sea ice, and helping calibrate other sea ice measurement techniques, such as satellite based observations.
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ItemSurface Wave Mixing Modifies Projections of 21st Century Ocean Heat Uptake(MDPI, 2023-03)Climate models do not explicitly account for the smaller scale processes of ocean surface waves. However, many large-scale phenomena are essentially coupled with the waves. In particular, waves enhance mixing in the upper ocean and thereby accelerate the ocean response to atmospheric changes. Here, we introduced a representation of wave-induced turbulent mixing into the one-way coupled ACCESS-OM2-025 ocean model to study its effect on ocean heat content throughout the 21st century under the RCP4.5 scenario. We made two projections on ocean heat uptake for the end of the century: one which accounts for wave-induced mixing (the ‘modified’ projection) and the other which does not (the ‘standard’ projection). Both projections showed upper ocean heat content to increase by more than 2.2 × 1022 J. This projected ocean heat uptake was reduced by about 3% in the modified projection. Whilst the inclusion of wave-induced mixing reduces projected ocean heat uptake globally, some areas are expected to warm considerably faster, particularly the North Atlantic sub-tropics, the Tasman Sea, the Sea of Japan, and parts of the South Atlantic.
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ItemAnalysis of the 20-Year Variability of Ocean Wave Hazards in the Northwest Pacific(MDPI, 2023-05-26)In the Northwest Pacific (NWP), where a unique monsoon climate exists and where both typhoons and extratropical storms occur frequently, hazardous waves pose a significant risk to maritime safety. To analyze the 20-year variability of hazardous waves in this region, this study utilized hourly reanalysis data from the ECMWF ERA5 dataset covering the period from 2001–2020, alongside the wave risk assessment method. The ERA5 data exhibits better consistency, in both the temporal and spatial dimensions, than satellite data. Although hazardous wind seas occur more frequently than hazardous swells, swells make hazardous waves travel further. Notably, the extreme wave height (EWH) shows an increasing trend in high- and low-latitude areas of the NWP. The change in meridional wind speeds is the primary reason for the change in the total wind speed in the NWP. Notably, the maximum annual increase rate of 0.013 m/year for EWH exists in the region of the Japanese Archipelago. This study elucidated the distributions of wave height intensity and wave risk levels, noting that the EWHs of the 50-year and 100-year return periods can reach 20.92 m and 23.07 m, respectively.