civil engineering srs15-16... · civil engineering project title: energy dissipation and turbulence...

Civil Engineering UQ Summer Project Description

Project title: Fish passage in culverts: hydraulic engineering

Project duration:

8 weeks (Jan & Feb. 2016)

Description: Unimpeded waterway connectivity is a requirement for all freshwater fish. Barriers to fish movement can lead to population fragmentation and decline even in non-migratory species. While the impacts of large dams on fish populations are well acknowledged, smaller-scale in-stream structures like waterway crossings, culverts and weirs have until recently been overlooked despite having as great or greater impact on fish populations. Common issues hindering fish passage include excessive water velocity and turbulence, shallow flow depths, excessive vertical drop at the culvert and weir outlet (perched outlet), and blockage from debris accumulation at the structure inlet. In the new Bio-hydrodynamic research laboratory (Seddon complex), new hydraulic engineering experiments will be conducted, in collaboration with researchers from the UQ School of Biological Sciences. The project will aim to develop a better understanding of the effects of flow turbulence on fish migration and swimming performances.

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

The work will be conducted in the Bio-hydrodynamic hydraulic research laboratory (Seddon complex). The student(s) will conduct some research experiments under academic supervision in a world-known research laboratory. They/he/she will gain skills in data collection and data processing, together with some critical analysis of the results. Student(s) may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of the project.

Suitable for: Suitable for UQ Civil and Environmental Engineering students who successfully completed 2nd Year. It is also aimed to UQ students who successfully completed 3rd Year and will undertake a CIVL4580 Research thesis in 2016. Preference will be given to a group of 2 motivated students. The summer research project will place from early January to end of February 2016, and could continue as a CIVL4580 Research thesis project or CIVL4560 Project at UQ. UQ enrolled students only. Pre-requisite: CIVL2131 Fluid mechanics.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor Hubert CHANSON and Dr Hang WANG School of Civil Engineering

Further info: For further information, contact Professor Hubert CHANSON: Room 49-553 [email protected]

Civil Engineering Project title: Energy dissipation and turbulence in hydraulic jumps

Project duration:

8-10 weeks (Dec. 2015 to Feb. 2016)

Description: The optimum design of stepped spillway & energy dissipation systems can provide uneconomical solution for additional water resources & more efficient water distribution systems. Applications range from rural to large water systems including urban drainage networks. Their turbulence characteristics & energy dissipation performances are critical issues that are poorly understood. This project aims to gain new expert knowledge & to develop new radical design guidelines for the design of hydraulic jump stilling basins used for spillway, water supply & drainage systems.


The work will be conducted in new AEB hydraulic research laboratory. The student will conduct some research experiments under academic supervision in a world-known research laboratory. He/she will gain skills in data collection and data processing, together with some critical analysis of the results. Student may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of the project.

Suitable for: Suitable for UQ Civil and Environmental Engineering students who successfully completed 3rd Year and may undertake a CIVL4580 Research thesis in 2016. The summer research project will place from early December 2015 to end of February 2016, and could continue as a CIVL4580 Research thesis project at UQ. UQ enrolled students only. Pre-requisite: CIVL2131 Fluid mechanics & CIVL3140 Catchment hydraulics.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Hang WANG and Professor Hubert CHANSON School of Civil Engineering


Civil Engineering

Project title: Air bubble entrainment in plunging jets: physical modelling

Project duration:

10 weeks (Dec. 2015 to Feb. 2016)

Description: Air-water bubbly flows are encountered in numerous engineering applications. One type of air-water shear flow, the developing flow region of a plunging jet, which is commonly used in industrial applications, including in chemical engineering plants for mixing and stirring chemicals, in water treatment plants, at drop structures along waterways, in cooling systems of power plants and in plunging breaking waves A supported plunging jet will be investigated in the light of new experimental evidence. Distributions of void fractions and mean air-water velocity, and bubble chord length distributions will be investigated for inflow velocities ranging from 2 to 8 m/s. The work will be conducted in the new Hydraulics Laboratory of the AEB building.


The work will be conducted in new AEB hydraulic research laboratory. The student will conduct some research experiments under academic supervision in a world-known research laboratory. He/she will gain skills in data collection and data processing, together with some critical analysis of the results. Student may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of the project.

Suitable for: Suitable for UQ Civil and Environmental Engineering students who successfully completed 3rd Year and may undertake a CIVL4580 Research thesis in 2016. The summer research project will place from early December 2015 to end of February 2016, and could continue as a CIVL4580 Research thesis project at UQ. UQ enrolled students only. Pre-requisite: CIVL2131 Fluid mechanics & CIVL3140 Catchment hydraulics.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Hang WANG and Professor Hubert CHANSON School of Civil Engineering


Civil Engineering

Project title: Hydrodynamics of unsteady open channel flow: physical measurements

Project duration:

6 weeks (mid-Jan to Feb. 2016)

Description: Fluid motion is controlled by the basic principles of conservation of mass, energy and momentum, which form the basis of fluid mechanics and hydraulic engineering. Complex flow situations must be solved using empirical approximations and numerical models, which are based on derivations of the basic principles (backwater equation, Saint Venant equations, Navier-Stokes equations ...). All computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models are required to introduce some turbulence closure to solve these principles, and consequently all have their limitations. Unfortunately these limitations are usually neither well understood nor documented, in particular in rapidly varied open channel flows incl. unsteady flows. This project aims to analyse the turbulent flow motion in unsteady open channel flows through some basic physical modelling and experiments under controlled flow conditions. The work will be conducted in the new Hydraulics Laboratory of the AEB building.


The work will be conducted in new AEB hydraulic research laboratory. The student(s) will conduct some research experiments under academic supervision in a world-known research laboratory. They/he/she will gain skills in data collection and data processing, together with some critical analysis of the results. Student(s) may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of the project.

Suitable for: Suitable for UQ Civil and Environmental Engineering students who successfully completed 3rd Year and will undertake a CIVL4580 Research thesis in 2016. Preference may be given to a group of 2 motivated students. The summer research project will place from mid January to end of February 2016, and will continue as a CIVL4580 Research thesis project at UQ. UQ enrolled students only. Pre-requisite: CIVL2131 Fluid mechanics & CIVL3140 Catchment hydraulics.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor Hubert CHANSON School of Civil Engineering


Civil Engineering

Project title: Research on composite materials in fire

Project duration:

10 weeks.

Description: This project will involve a series of experiments to provide an improved understanding of the reaction of different Fibre Reinforced Polymer composite materials to the effects of high temperature. The researcher will work in UQ’s fire laboratory to conduct a series of combustion and high temperature experiments (for example, thermogravimetric analysis, experiments in the cone calorimeter, or fire experiments at bench scale). The results will feed into ongoing UQ research about how to create FRP products that can resist the effects of fire.


The results will deliver a comparison between different materials sample types under a range of heating scenarios.

Suitable for: 1st or 2nd year undergraduate.

Primary Supervisor:

Angus Law/ Dilum Fernando

Further info: For more information, please contact Dr Angus Law or Dr Dilum Fernando.

Project title: Research on timber compartment fires

Project duration:

10 weeks.

Description: This project is intended to contribute towards the effort to facilitate Tall Timber Skyscrapers. The project will involve a series of bench scale fire tests to study the affect of timber linings on the behaviour of room fires. Each test will require a fire to be set, and then the measurement of various parameters including maximum temperatures (expected to be >800 Celsius) and time to burnout. The impact of ventilation factors and the location of the timber linings will be analysed and results reported.


The results are expected to allow the comparison of timber lined compartments against classical analysis of non-combustible linings. Conclusions can therefore be drawn about the effect the timber linings may have on the performance of medium and high-rise buildings under fire conditions.

Suitable for: 1st or 2nd year undergraduate.

Primary Supervisor:

Angus Law

Further info: For more information, please contact Dr Angus Law

Civil Engineering

Project title: Thermal characterization of organic materials

Project duration:

10 weeks (summer)

Description: Thermal characterization of organic solids is crucial to understand its behaviour under combustion/pyrolysis conditions, and can be also applied for the development numerical models. The Civil Engineering Fire laboratory offers a wide range of equipment necessary for a complete characterization of those materials, such as:

Thermo-gravimetric analyser equipped with gas detector

Differential-scanning calorimeter

Thermal conductivity analyser

Cone calorimeter

Fire propagation apparatus The student will carry out a complete series of experiments using the aforementioned equipment for the characterization of organic materials.


The student will get crucial knowledge on laboratory work, gaining experience on: compressed air, gas regulators, ovens, muffles, data loggers, thermocouples and other specific equipment aforementioned. The training and development plan will include defined opportunities that will be vital for the student to develop conference and meeting presentation skills.

Suitable for: Chemical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering students. Students with research interests in energy and combustion are encouraged to apply.

Primary Supervisor:

Prof Jose Torero

Further info: [email protected]

Civil Engineering Project title: Waste treatment investigation using smouldering combustion

Project duration:

10 weeks (summer)

Description: This proposal is built upon school’s research on the project ‘Reinventing the Toilet Challenge’ financed by the prestigious Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Smouldering combustion is a novel alternative for treatment of waste with high moisture content. This high-efficient process have huge potential not only for waste management, but it can be applied also as/for:

disinfection method

dewatering process

soil remediation

bio-char and fertilizers production

biofuels production (gases, bio-oil) The student will carry out smouldering combustion experiments in static and continuous reactors. Additionally, it is expected the student to perform characterization analyses using equipment such as thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), moisture content analyser and FTIR for gas analysis, among others.


The student will get crucial knowledge on laboratory work, gaining experience on: compressed air, gas regulators, mass flow controllers, reactors, ovens, muffles, data loggers, thermocouples and other specific equipment aforementioned. The training and development plan will include defined opportunities that will be vital for the student to develop conference and meeting presentation skills.

Suitable for: Chemical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering students. Students with research interests in thermal processes, waste management and biofuels are encouraged to apply.

Primary Supervisor:

Prof Jose Torero


Civil Engineering

Project title: Fire and Thermal Performance

Project duration:

10 weeks (summer)

Description: Thermal Performance: The aim is to study how building systems behave under steady and transient state thermal conditions in order to calibrate a finite element analysis model. Fire Performance: The goal is to carry out fire tests to analyse material flammability using different materials which varies from building materials to fire retardant clothing. Material Characterization: Measure material properties at different thermal conditions using laboratory equipment (thermal gravimetric analysis, gas analyser, transient plane source technic, etc.)


The student will get a wide fire engineering knowledge using bench scale testing equipment as well as laboratory experience, fundamental to develop research skills that can be applied in the student future.

Suitable for: Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, Environmental Engineering

Primary Supervisor:

Angus Law


Civil Engineering

Project title: Slurry consolidometer testing

Project duration: 10 weeks

Description: Our slurry consolidometer, which is unique worldwide, allows testing in a single device of the settling, consolidation and desiccation of a dredged soil or mine waste slurries. This will be a laboratory-based study carried out either on slurried dredged soil or mine wastes. The project lends itself to a future undergraduate thesis or Masters project.


The Scholar will gain skills in laboratory testing, and in the interpretation of test results for application to practice. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in soil mechanics. For 1 Scholar.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor David Williams and PhD student Ali Shokouhi.

Further info: For further information please contact: [email protected]; Ph: 3365 3642

Project title: Large direct shear box pull-out testing of embedded geotextiles and geogrids


Description: Our newly-acquired large shear box will be used to undertake pull-out tests on embedded geotextiles and geogrids used to reinforce road aggregate and subgrade materials. This will be a laboratory-based study. The project lends itself to a future undergraduate thesis or Masters project.


The Scholar will gain skills in laboratory testing, and in the interpretation of test results for application to practice. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Professor David Williams and PhD student Xu Xu.


mailto:[email protected]


Civil Engineering

Project title: Testing of a geothermal energy pile


Description: Geothermal energy piles have become common in Europe, and are gaining acceptance elsewhere, including in Australia. They involve the circulation of a fluid within foundation or purpose-installed piles to capture the temperature of the surrounding ground and use this to heat or cool buildings. A trial, instrumented geothermal energy is being installed in the soft deposits of the Brisbane River estuary, and will be monitored over a range of climatic conditions over 2 years. The scholar would be involved in the collection and interpretation of the data gathered. The project lends itself to a future undergraduate thesis or Masters project.


The Scholar will gain field testing and interpretation skills. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Professor David Williams and PhD student Scott Lines.


Project title: Capturing tensile failure of brittle rocks using an ultra-high speed camera


Description: This study aims to investigate the initiation and propagation of brittle failure in hard rocks using an ultra-high speed camera. Conventional (ISRM) tensile strength tests will be conducted, and the failure response will be captured at a sampling rate of up to 100,000,000 frames per second to determine the displacement fields, the cracking patterns and the fracture parameters. The results will be compared against available theoretical and experimental models.


The Scholar will gain valuable skills in rock mechanics laboratory testing, in the principles of fracture analysis using image processing schemes, and in the interpretation of test results for application to practice. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the outcomes of the research, it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in rock mechanics. For 1 Scholar.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor David Williams and Dr Mehdi Serati

Further info: For further information please contact: [email protected]; Ph: 3365 3642 [email protected]; Ph: 3365 3520




Civil Engineering

Project title: Application of a new indirect testing method for measuring rock tensile strength


Description: Although the strength of rocks is markedly poorer in tension than in compression and shear, rock tensile strength plays a critical role especially for stability and fragmentation analysis in rock engineering. The Brazilian indirect tensile is widely used to estimate the tensile strength of rock cores. However, it has been long evident that the concentration of shear stresses developed in the vicinity of the contacts in a Brazilian test could easily interfere with the tensile breakage leading to erroneous results and invalid conclusions. Both the geometry and conventional boundary conditions in the Brazilian test will be assessed and adjusted to develop a new alternative testing procedure.


The Scholar will gain valuable skills in rock mechanics laboratory testing, in the experimental investigation of rock strength parameters, and in the interpretation of test results for application to practice. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the outcomes of the research, it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in rock mechanics. For 1 Scholar.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor David Williams and Dr Mehdi Serati

Further info: For further information please contact: [email protected]; Ph: 3365 3642 [email protected]; Ph: 3365 3520

Project title: Modelling hydraulic fracturing process


Description: Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is a technique for well-stimulation. During the fracking process, rock is fractured by a hydraulically pressurised fluid. The purpose of this research is to gain familiarity with the fracking process and to study the effect of different parameters on it. For modelling the fracking process, an open source library (Mechsys) will be used. MechSys is a programming library for the implementation of simulation tools in mechanics.


The Scholar will gain skills in modelling coupled hydraulic / mechanical processes using discrete methods. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Dr Alexander Scheuermann and PhD student Ms Somayeh Behraftar

Further info: For further information please contact: [email protected] or [email protected]; Ph: 3366 8720





Civil Engineering

Project title: Electrical conductivity distribution within road pavements using spatial time domain reflectometry (Spatial TDR)


Description: The accumulation and movement of salts within a subgrade, and sub-base and base road pavement materials, can result in the weakening of bonds and cracking of the road surface. The salt concentration of these materials is measured by the electrical conductivity of the pore water, and this will vary with their degree of saturation. Moisture content and electrical conductivity can be measured non-destructively using non-destructive Spatial TDR, which is the main aim of the research.


The Scholar will gain skills in using geophysical methods for geotechnical engineering applications. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Dr Alexander Scheuermann and PhD student Mr Habibullah Bhuyan


Project title: Investigating three dimensional flow characteristics using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)


Description: This project aims to use the PIV technique to characterise the flow in a porous medium. The first step will be to scan a transparent porous structure, developed using hydro jelly beads and water, in order to find the positions of the particles within the bed and to identify the pores and constrictions. Then the velocities of flow within selected pores can be analysed by scanning the flow suing PIV. The three-dimensional measurements can be used to identify the changes in the flow characteristics between the pores and the constrictions for a given Reynolds number (Re).


The Scholar will gain skills in the experimental investigation using imaging techniques. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Dr Alexander Scheuermann and PhD student Ms Hashani






Civil Engineering

Project title: Characterisation of soft, unsaturated soils


Description: The characterisation of unsaturated soils plays an important role in soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. Unsaturated soils are characterised by their negative pore water pressure or suction. Together they define the shear strength of the soil, which is strongly correlated with the bonding forces acting within the water phase. These bonding forces define as well the electrical and dielectric parameter of the soil. Measurements of the dielectric parameters may help to define the water content and matric suction for an unsaturated soil in a fast and reliable way. Dielectric measurements made on soft, unsaturated soils will be compared with measurements of shear strength and hydraulic conductivity.


The Scholars will gain skills in the experimental investigation of soft, unsaturated soils. A report has to be prepared presenting the results of the project. Depending on the results of the research it is intended to publish a paper with the participation of the Scholar.


Primary Supervisor:

Dr Alexander Scheuermann and Dr Thierry Bore




Civil Engineering

Project title: An investigation of the unsteady wind loading of structures

Project duration: Summer: 6-10 weeks Winter: 4-6 weeks

10 weeks

Description: Damaging wind gusts are inherently unsteady phenomena. That is, they occur over a short period of time (i.e. seconds or minutes) and are typically associated with severe atmospheric events such as tornadoes or downbursts. While these events represent the ‘design-case’ structures are notionally built to resist, there still remains little understanding of the way unsteady wind fields load structures. This research will investigate the fundamental nature of unsteady wind loading of simple structures and explore how these loads differ from the steady loading case typically used in engineering design. The new Unsteady Wind Tunnel in the School of Civil Engineering will be utilised to determine how current wind-resistant practices can be improved to mitigate the impact of these damaging and sometimes fatal windstorms.


It is expected that the following experiments and analysis will be undertaken in either the Unsteady Wind Tunnel or CFD:

1. Characterise the flow field in the wind tunnel for a range of unsteady flow conditions

2. Perform pressure load tests on 2 dimensional bodies immersed in the flow fields described in 1.

3. Perform dynamic load/response testing on simple 3 dimensional bodies in the flow field described in 1.

4. Perform frequency and time domain analysis of results from 2 and 3 to assess the nature of unsteady wind loads on bluff bodies.

Suitable for: Civil or Mechanical Engineering students who have completed their 2nd or 3rd year. Students must have an interest in fluid-structure interaction problems and experimental or numerical fluid mechanics.

Primary Supervisor:

Matthew Mason

Further info: The project will preferably be undertaken by 2 students working together, but may be undertaken by one student if necessary.

civil engineering srs15-16... · civil engineering project title: energy dissipation and turbulence...

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