The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is thrilled that two researchers, Dr Wengui Li and Dr Thanh Nguyen have been awarded highly prestigious awards from the Australian Research Council (ARC). This is an outstanding achievement given the competitive nature of these awards. We congratulate Wengui and Thanh! Further details are outlined below:
Dr Wengui Li was successful in being awarded a Future Fellowship (FT) with the ARC worth $920k. Dr Li was the only FT awarded in fields of Structural Engineering and Construction Materials in 2022. He will commence the fellowship in 2023. Details of his project are outlined below:
Project Title: Robust cement-based sensors for smart automation in future infrastructure
Infrastructural health and operation monitoring are core parts of managing built assets. The project aims to develop robust cement-based sensors with integrated self-sensing and hydrophobicity, and to optimise their robustness and resilience for smart automation in future infrastructure. The new sensors are expected to accurately assess structural health, monitor traffic-flow, decrease the costs of operation and maintenance through enhanced piezoresistivity and serviceability, and gain insights into intrinsic self-sensing and integral water repellency.
The outcomes will benefit Australia’s construction, maintenance, and advanced manufacturing sectors, addressing the need for a new generation of construction sensors for structural monitoring to improve the reliability, efficiency, serviceability, and compatibility of our future infrastructure – specifically enabling realistically planned maintenance, and life-cycle management strategies. The project is expected to create new revenue streams for the Australian construction industry.
Roust cement-based sensors with intrinsic self-sensing and integral hydrophobicity: (a) high self-sensing concrete with hybrid conductive fillers; (b) water repellency of hydrophobic sensors; and (c) application of robust sensors embedded in concrete structures, pavements, and bridges.
Dr Thanh Nguyen was successful in being awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) with the ARC worth $444k. Dr Nguyen was the only DECRA awarded in Geotechnical Engineering in the country and will commence the fellowship in 2023. Details of his project are outlined below:
Project Title: Stabilising soil foundation with biopolymer for enhanced rail transport.
This project aims to develop a novel cost-effective and eco-friendly method to stabilise soil foundation for faster and heavier rail transport. The scientific knowledge of cyclic behaviour capturing localised and microscale evolutions of railway foundation will be advanced significantly via innovative physical modelling using iconic facilities with state-of-the-art sensors, and sophisticated numerical modelling. The project will yield a natural biopolymer-based solution for mud pumping railways, i.e., a critical issue causing substantial annual maintenance cost and poor transport efficiency in Australia and worldwide. The outcomes will greatly benefit transport infrastructure, mining, agriculture, environment and climate change remediation.
