engineering, computing and · web viewflow assurance and natural gas hydrates disciplines:...

ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND MATHEMATICS

Bachelor of Engineering & Master of Professional Engineering

Final Year Project Descriptions

Semester 2, 2016

To find a project description, search (Ctrl + F) using the Supervisors surname. The project title and description are listed below each

Academic’s name. Please ensure that the project is applicable to your discipline.

1

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND MATHEMATICS

Aman, Zachary, DrCo-supervisors: May, Eric, Prof. Johns, Michael, Prof. Stanwix, Paul, Dr., Graham, Brendan, Dr

Flow Assurance and Natural Gas HydratesDisciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Natural gas hydrates are ice-like solids that form and can often suddenly stop the flow during oil and gas production. The cost of their prevention during design and production is high and the removal of hydrate plugs is expensive and dangerous. Today hydrates are still a major flow assurance concern especially as production moves to deeper water, and many of Australia’s major new gas field developments are considering innovative approaches to this long-standing problem. These projects aim to provide the knowledge needed for a risk-based approach to hydrate management by establishing quantitative model to assess plugging potential, optimize inhibitor doses, and develop methods to detect hydrate formation and location. The outcomes will help reduce chemical use by the industry, provide better methods to locate plugs and provide safer methods for their remediation, ultimately allowing for the reliable and economic development of marginal oil and gas fields. Students working on these projects will measure and/or model hydrate formation, agglomeration and dissociation processes. Naturally-occurring gas hydrates also represent a tremendous energy reserve: in 2013, first production was reported from a naturally occurring hydrate reserve located offshore the coast of Japan. Projects will also be available in which various properties of these natural hydrates are quantified, such that more informed decisions regards the exploitation of natural hydrates can be made.

An, Hongwei, DrCo-Supervisors: Cheng, Liang, Professor

Tidal current induced local scour around pile groups Disciplines: Civil, EnvironmentalPre-requisite skills: NoneA pile group is often used as supporting frame for offshore strictures. The scour around pile group due to tidal current is an important issue for pile groups installed in sandy seabed. This topic will be investigated through this project. A series of physical model tests will be conducted using the O-tube facility to measure the scour process. The equilibrium scour depth and scour time scale will be examined. The project outcome will potentially provide improved methods about scour protection for pile groups. This project gives students an opportunity to access to multi-awards winning research facility (the O-tube) and to gain experience on research about sediment transport around offshore structures.

2


Aslani, Farhad, DrCo-Supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) Disciplines: Civil, MaterialsPre-requisite skills: Concrete technology, construction and building materialsSelf-compacting concrete (SCC) can be placed and compacted under its own weight with little or no compaction. It is cohesive enough to be handled without segregation or bleeding. Modifications in the mix design of SCC may significantly influence the material’s mechanical properties. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about conventional concrete also hold true for SCC structures. This project is particularly examining the effect of fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag and micro silica content on strength and the durability of the concrete.

Aslani, Farhad, DrCo-Supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Professor

Reliability analysis of composite members exposed to fire Disciplines: CivilPre-requisite skills: NoneEvery year, building fires cause significant loss of human life and tremendous damage to property. Fire, an ever-present hazard in Australia, causes approximately 100 fatalities and over 3,000 injuries per annum. Significant resources are allocated to mitigate the risk. We estimate the total cost of fire in Australia for 2005 at AU$12,000 million or 1.3 per cent of GDP. Composite steel-concrete structural members have been widely used in the design and construction of modern steel framed buildings in Australia for close to two decades. Currently, there exists no systematic assessment of the reliability of steel-concrete composite beams, columns and slabs exposed to fire that have been designed to current Australian standards considering both load and resistance uncertainties, nor an examination of the changes in reliability as various important beams, columns and slabs parameters change. As a step towards performance-based design, this study estimates the reliability of a selection of steel-concrete composite beams, columns and slabs designed according to available codes of practice exposed to fire.

Aslani, Farhad, DrCo-Supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Professor; Karrech, Ali, A/Prof

Fire-performance of concrete members reinforced with FRP bars Disciplines: CivilPre-requisite skills: None

3


Applications of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials and products for the construction and rehabilitation of new, durable concrete structures are rapidly becoming a viable option for Australia critical concrete infrastructure. For new construction, FRP bars can be used as either non-pre-stressed or pre-stressed concrete reinforcement. As an alternative to traditional steel reinforcement bars, the interest in the use of FRP reinforcement in concrete structures has increased significantly in recent years, For a wide use of FRP as internal reinforcement in structural members of buildings, the ability of these materials to meet fire resistance requirements must be established as prescribed in building codes. The proposed study will calibrate numerical models for predicting the fire resistance of FRP-reinforced concrete beams, columns and slabs, and design guidance suitable for use in building codes and standards.

Baillie, Caroline, Professor

Waste for Life Sri Lanka: community waste based recyclingDisciplines: Civil, EnvironmentalPre-requisite skills: Social Science research skills, architecture knowledge (preferred)The students will be involved in a large development project which supports communities in Sri Lanka. This project involves archival research into houses which have been manufactured from waste-based materials, locating systems and investigating their acceptance by local communities.

Basarir, Hakan, Dr

The numerical analysis of RMR proposed support systems for the underground openings under different stress conditions Disciplines: Civil, MiningPre-requisite skills: NoneGeomechanics classification or Rock Mas Rating (RMR) system (Bieniawski, 1974) is widely used to design support systems for underground civil and mining engineering projects. The system was developed by Bieniawski (1974) using a database mostly composed of civil engineering projects such as tunnels in South Africa. RMR system has been improved in time and the system is modified by Bieniawski (1989) and Celada et al. (2014). The original system proposes support systems for 10 m span horseshoe shaped tunnel in a rock mass subjected to a vertical stress lower than 25 MPa (Hoek, 2007). Whereas in mining engineering applications the opening geometry and stresses change depending on the purpose and the depth of the opening. That is why the applicability of the support elements proposed by the system for mining engineering openings excavated in weak rock mass and under different stress conditions needs to be investigated. The purpose of this project is to analyze the performance of RMR proposed support systems for different shaped mining engineering openings in weak rock mass under different stress conditions. For this purpose 2D finite element (FE) method based software allowing the modeling of RMR proposed support elements, different shaped openings and different stress

4


conditions will be used. The results of numerical modeling will be analyzed in detail and the conclusions about the performance of the proposed support systems will be driven. Bieniawski, Z.T. (1974). Rock mass classification in rock engineering. In Exploration for rock engineering, proc. of the symp., 1, 97-106. Cape Town: Balkema.Bieniawski, Z. T. (1989). Engineering rock mass classification. New York: Wiley. Celada, B., Tardaguila, I., Varona, P., Rodrigues, A., Bieniawski, ZT. 2014. Innovating Tunnel Design by an Improved Experience-based RMR System. Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress, Brazil.Hoek, E. (2007). Practical rock engineering, Online lecture notes, Toronto: Rocscience, in https://www.rocscience.com/hoek/corner/Practical_Rock_Engineering.pdf

Basarir, Hakan, Dr

Effect of the variability pf material property on slop stability Disciplines: Civil, MiningPre-requisite skills: NoneEmpirical, numerical and analytical methods are commonly used to analyze the stability of open pit mining slopes. Both deterministic and probabilistic approaches can be applied to these methods. In deterministic approaches the factors affecting the stability are considered as deterministic variable which can be characterized by a single value. However inherent variability is unavoidable in rock mass properties (Musa et al., 2013). Therefore, for a realistic design the variability of the rock properties must be adequately considered as in the case of probabilistic approaches (Cai, 2011). The purposes of this project are the quantification of the variability of the rock mass properties and the integration of probabilistic approaches into slope stability analysis. In addition to probabilistic approaches, conventional deterministic approaches will also be applied. The difference between deterministic and probabilistic approaches will be presented. For this purpose real data from exploration drilling studies will be used. Musa, A. I., Basarir, H., Nordlund, E., Wettainen, T. (2013). The probabilistic estimation of rock masses properties in Malmberget mine, Sweden. Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 18/B, 269-387.Cai, M. (2011). Rock mass characterization and rock property variability considerations for tunnel and cavern design. Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 44, 379-399.

Basarir, Hakan, Dr

Preliminary estimation of rock mass strength and deformability properties using logged diamond bit drilling parameters Disciplines: Civil, MiningPre-requisite skills: None

5


Diamond bit drilling is used almost in every area of mining such as prospecting, development, production and grouting. During diamond bit drilling operation two main types of parameters are recorded or logged. The main groups are logged rock properties such as RQD, UCS and recorded machine operational properties such as bit load, bit road, penetration rate. Many researchers work on the relationship between logged rock properties and rock mass strength parameters (Kulhway, 1987: AASHTO, 1996; Zhang and Einsteain, 2004; Zhang, 2010). Recent studies showed that there are also some relationships between logged machine operational parameters and rock mass strength (Basarir and Karpuz, 2016). The purpose of this study is to make further investigation on the relationship between machine operational parameters and rock mass strength and deformability properties. For this purpose a database will be constructed using diamond bit drilling information compiled from Turkey and Australia.AASHTO. (1996). Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges, 16th ed., American Association of 25 State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC. Basarir, H., Karpuz, C. (2016). Preliminary estimation of rock mass strength using diamond bit drilling operational parameters. International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment, 30, 145-164, DOI:10.1080/17480930.2015.1025561. Kulhawy, F., Goodman, R. (1987). Foundations in rock, in Ground Engineer’s Reference Book, London.Zhang, L., Einstein, H. (2004). Using RQD to estimate the deformation modulus of rock masses, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., pp. 337–341.Zhang, L. (2010). Estimating the strength of jointed rock masses, Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 391–402.

Beemer, Ryan, Research Associate

Competitive Modelling of a Mechanically Stabilised Earth (MSE) Wall

Disciplines: CivilPre-requisite skills: ENSC3009 GeomechanicsGeoWall is a yearly student competition held by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers where students design and build scale model mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) walls. An MSE wall is held up by reinforcement sandwiched between layers of soil. Typically a wall's capacity is driven by the friction between the reinforcement (metal strips or plastic grid) and the soil. In the GeoWall competition teams of four student (2-4 undergraduates and 0-2 postgraduates) must design a scale model MSE wall from paper and sand to withstand certain loading conditions. If the student's design qualifies for the competition they will build and test it at GeoFrontiers 2017 in Orlando, FL.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor Co-Supervisor: Boussaid, Farid, Professor, Garrett, Michael, Dr (CingleVue International)

6


Prototype eye-tracking solution for integrated camera hardwareDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Computer vision, image processing, machine learningThe topic concerns the development of a prototype software solution for tracking user eye-movements as they look at a computer monitor. The solution should be designed to support integrated camera hardware on laptops (i.e. webcam) and desktop computers (e.g. monitors with webcams or all-in-one solutions such as iMac). CingleVue develops learning management systems for schools and universities, and as such we want to explore the possibility of using eye tracking to monitor student performance as they engage with learning activities. As such, the solution needs to be designed for use with existing, low-cost camera technologies such that it can be utilised for large numbers of students in a cost-effective manner. The solution should utilise open source libraries / APIs etc. and provide educators with the ability to evaluate each student's performance in terms of the areas of the screen they looked at, how long they fixated on a particular area, and the order in which they fixated on different areas of the screen. It should be accurate enough to discriminate between different areas of the screen such that educators can utilise the solution to gain insight into each student's approach to a given learning activity. Visualisation tools, such as heatmaps, should be provided to assist educators to analyse student performance.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor Co-Supervisor: Boussaid, Farid, Professor, Garrett, Michael, Dr (CingleVue International)

Prototype facial recognition system for 360-degree videoDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Computer vision, image processing, machine learningThe topic involves the research and development of a prototype facial recognition system for 360-degree video. CingleVue develops learning management solutions for schools and universities, and as such we are interested in the application of 360-degree cameras for use in classrooms. To this end, the prototype system should be capable of identifying the students featured in 360-degree videos that have been captured in classroom environments according to facial recognition techniques. The solution should utilise open source libraries / APIs etc. and provide features for identifying the students as the 360-degree video is played back in real time (e.g. information overlay).

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor Co-Supervisor: Dr Craig Scanlan (DAFWA), Dr Stephen Davies (DAFWA)

Quantifying spatial distribution of seedlings in agricultural crops 7


using computer visionDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Matlab, preferably computer vision Soil water repellence is a major constraint to crop production in Western Australian field crops and there is an opportunity to use the patchiness of crop germination as a measure of the severity of water repellence. Soil water repellence leads to patchy establishment of crops where some areas do not germinate which leads to an inefficient use of rainfall and crop inputs. Soil water repellence can be treated although the cost is high relative to income which places a high importance on accurate prediction of which soils will show a profitable response to treatment. Current soil-based methods of assessing soil water repellence have limited value for predicting the patchiness of emergence and therefore the benefit from treating soils.Computer vision offers a potential method for quantifying the impact of water repellence on crop growth by quantifying the spatial arrangement of plants that emerge. The development of this method requires the student to solve problems on segmenting plants from soil and identifying individual plants. The student will also need to address the optimal spatial scale to determine these crop attributes.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor Co-Supervisor: Dr Craig Scanlan (DAFWA), Dr Michael Renton (UWA)

Monitoring crop growth in real time in field conditions using computer visionDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Matlab, preferably computer vision Soil water repellence is a major constraint to crop production in Western Australian field crops and there is an opportunity to use the patchiness of crop germination as a measure of the severity of water repellence. Soil water repellence leads to patchy establishment of crops where some areas do not germinate which leads to an inefficient use of rainfall and crop inputs. Soil water repellence can be treated although the cost is high relative to income which places a high importance on accurate prediction of which soils will show a profitable response to treatment. Current soil-based methods of assessing soil water repellence have limited value for predicting the patchiness of emergence and therefore the benefit from treating soils.Computer vision offers a potential method for quantifying the impact of water repellence on crop growth by quantifying the spatial arrangement of plants that emerge. The development of this method requires the student to solve problems on segmenting plants from soil and identifying individual plants. The student will also need to address the optimal spatial scale to determine these crop attributes.

8


Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor Co-Supervisor: Dr Craig Scanlan (DAFWA), A. Prof Matthias Leopold (UWA), Dr Gavan McGrath (UWA)

Image-based classification of soil properties and root distributionDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Matlab, preferably computer vision Classification of soil properties for crop production is usually based on visual and textural inspection of an excavated soil pit. The analysis of root distribution is the most difficult parameter to quantify because of the time required to visually identify individual roots, yet it is arguably the most important parameter because it reflects the actual volume of soil the crop has access to.An image-based analysis of root distribution of field crops would provide a rapid method for soil scientists but the development of this method is constrained by the small size of roots (mean diameter ~ 0.1 mm) and the adherence of soil particles to roots.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor & Shah, Syed Afaq Ali DrCo-Supervisor: Guzzomi, Andrew Dr

Automatic Weed Detection and ClassificationDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Environmental, Mechanical Pre-requisite skills: In this project, an automatic weed detection and classification system will be developed. The incentive for automating weed control in agriculture with machine vision is manifold: In conventional farming, the amount of chemical herbicides necessary can be reduced to minimize cost and reduce pollution. In organic farming, weed control is currently done manually which is both hard and tedious work and very costly. Using automated detection and classification system, weed control is expected to be achieved more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor & Shah, Syed Afaq Ali Dr

Deep learning for 3D Face Recognition using Point cloudsDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Software Pre-requisite skills: Face recognition has drawn considerable attention in the last few decades due to its non-intrusiveness and wide number of applications, e.g. surveillance and access control. With the rapid development of 3D imaging sensors, the research focus has diverted towards 3D face recognition due to its potential capabilities to overcome the limitations of 2D face recognition. The geometrical information provided by 3D data (point clouds) has the potential to achieve a greater recognition accuracy compared to 2D data.

9


Recently, deep learning has shown promising results for various recognition tasks, which are mostly geared towards 2D data. This project will take a step forward and explore a new research avenue in 3D face recognition. The focus of this project will be automatic feature learning, using deep neural networks, from 3D point cloud data for face recognition.

Bennamoun, Mohammed, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Male, Sally, Dr

Virtual RealityDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Programming skillsIn this project students will investigate development of a virtual reality environment, taking scans of simple environments, running object segmentation, and object labelling software and converting the reconstructed environment to a virtual environment for display on a head mounted device, e.g., Occulus. Among other projects, this project will contribute to a project on Virtual Work Integrated Learning. In virtual work integrated learning engineering students will undertake authentic engineering tasks in groups with guidance from engineers. Therefore investigation of development of virtual environments representing simple common generic engineering sites will be valuable.

Boussaid, Farid, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Shah, Syed Afaq Ali, Dr

Bio-inspired gas recognition for electronic nosesDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & ElectronicSniffing-dogs are able to detect thousands of chemicals with high sensitivity and selectivity using only biological components. These nasal powerhouses have been successfully used to search for pipeline leaks, drugs, or explosives. In this project, you will investigate the potential application of biologically inspired machine learning methods (e.g. deep learning, evolutionary algorithms) for the task of gas recognition. The project will give you the opportunity to discover and apply advanced machine learning techniques to automatically extract features and train classifiers.

Braunl, Thomas, ProfCo-Supervisor: Croft, Chris, Mr

Drones / Unmanned Aerial VehiclesDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Good C/C++ Programming skillsAfter many years of using autonomous fixed-wing aircrafts and helicopters, we have now built an outdoor Hexacopter (6 motors) for autonomous surveillance flights. Projects include:

10


• Autonomous mapping of specified 2D area• Autonomous mapping of presented 3D object• Sensor fusion between GPS, inertial measurement unit, laser distance measurement.

Further details at: http://robotics.ee.uwa.edu.au/students/projects.html

Braunl, Thomas, Professor

Electric JetskiDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: General Engineering skillsThe new REV Electric Jet Ski is absolute fun to ride: no noise, no pollution or emissions. It is the first of its kind in Australia. Projects include:• Battery Management System• Integrated Safety System• Weight shifting for performance tuning


Braunl, Thomas, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Boeing, Adrian, Dr

Autonomous SAE CarDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: programing skills in C/C++/Linux, plus interfacing of sensors to an embedded controllerREV has built a fully autonomous SAE-Electric car. Projects include:• Autonomous navigation on race track• Sensor fusion of GPS, Lidar, inertial measurement system, odometry• Vision sub-system


Braunl, Thomas, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Boeing, Adrian, Dr

Embedded RoboticsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Good C/C++ Programming skillsProjects include:• Autonomous navigation software for EyeBot robots using Raspberry Pi

11


http://robotics.ee.uwa.edu.au/students/projects.html



• Robotics image processing library• Integration of new robot features in EyeSim simulation system


Cheng, Liang, Professor

Effect of marine growth on hydrodynamic forces on offshore pipelinesDisciplines: Civil, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Lab testing and data analysisThis project aims at improving the understanding of hydrodynamics around a circular cylinder with marine growth (MG). Two types of MG, namely hard marine growth (HMG) and soft marine growth (SMG) will be considered under steady flow and oscillatory flow conditions. Specifically, the project aims to:1. Investigate the effects of MG on flow features such as vortex shedding characteristics and wake regimes 2. Quantify the effect of MG on hydrodynamic forces on a circular cylinder.3. Develop empirical design formulations that take into account the effects of MG on hydrodynamic forces of a circular cylinder, based on the findings from Aims 1 & 2The method of investigation involves laboratory tests using the world unique O-tube facilities located at UWA.


Hydrodynamic forces on pipelines laid on rocky seabedDisciplines: Civil, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Lab testing and data analysisThe aim of this project is to investigate the hydrodynamic forces on pipelines laid on rocky seabed. The effect of bed topography and porosity on hydrodynamic forces will be investigated through conducting a number of physical tests in the world unique O-tube testing facilities located at UWA. The flow conditions examined include (1) steady currents, (2) waves and (3) combined waves and steady currents.


Experimental Investigation of Sand Saltation induced by Wind around a Vegetation BarrierDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Lab testing and data analysis. Meeting with Prof Cheng is also required.Wind erosion of solid particles such as soil, sand, and other particles is a common natural phenomenon and could have significant effects on our environment and life on our planet. Wind erosion can cause soil degradation, desertification, and sandstorms. Man-made wind

12



barriers such as porous wind fences have been widely used to protect the environment from wind erosion of natural soils or industrial products. This study, however, aims at investigating the effectiveness of natural vegetation wind barrier in suppressing sand saltation processes. In particular the flow field and sediment transport processes around a range of vegetations will be investigated experimentally.

The candidates for this project will be selected on merit basis. The project involves international collaborations with Dalian University of Technology in China. The students working on this project will be awarded a travel scholarship to Dalian, China, to carry out wind tunnel tests for up to a month. The scholarship covers a return economy airfare to Dalian and local accommodation in Dalian. The students are required to do a laser safety training course at UWA to use the particle image velocimetry (PIV) system for their tests.

Chow, Shiao Huey, DrCo-Supervisors: Morton, John, Dr; O’Loughlin, Conleth, Dr

Assessing the riverbed strength of Swan River using free-fall penetrometers Disciplines: Civil, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Water safety and survival skillDo you like water sport? Do you like to participate in the Woodside FutureLab RiverLab working on innovative engineering solution? If yes, this could be the project for you. This project aims to unlock the potential of free-fall penetrometers in assessing the riverbed strength of Swan River. Free-fall penetrometers are instrumented projectiles that are deployed by allowing them to free fall and embed into the target sediment. The use of free-fall penetrometers in offshore geotechnical site investigation has gained increased interests, particularly in characterising the soil strength of shallow seabed crucial for applications such as pipeline design and submarine landslide survey. Compared to the conventional approach of using a large survey vessel and a mechanical system for pushing a penetrometer into the seabed, free-fall penetrometers offer a cheaper and quicker way to survey the seabed, with potentially equal accuracy if the tools are designed and interpreted correctly. Two prototype free-fall penetrometers (Figure 1) have been developed at the Centre of Offshore Foundation Systems, UWA. This project will assess the performance of these new prototypes, their improvement and optimisation, and the validation of their interpretation methods by conducting field trials in the Swan River. The proposed project requires a team of two students, each handling a different free-fall penetrometer (Figure 1), namely the free-fall cone penetrometer, FFP (Project 1a) and instrumented free-fall sphere, IFFS (Project 1b). The scopes of work includes: • Desk study to obtain existing soil data of the proposed field test site at Swan River • Field tests by dropping the FFP or IFFS into Swan River from a jetty or UWA boat • Interpretation of the test results to estimate the riverbed strength

13


Interested students are encouraged to contact Dr Shiaohuey Chow ([email protected]) or Dr John Morton ([email protected]) for more information.

Chow, Shiao Huey, DrCo-Supervisors: O’Loughlin, Conleth, Dr

Assessing the riverbed strength of Swan River using free-fall penetrometers Disciplines: Civil, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: MATLAB programmingDo you like to participate in the Woodside FutureLab RiverLab working on innovative engineering solution? This RiverLab project aims to validate and enhance an interpretation software for a new generation free-fall penetrometer. Free-fall penetrometers are instrumented projectiles that are deployed by allowing them to free fall and embed into the target sediment. The use of free-fall penetrometers in offshore geotechnical site investigation has gained increased interests, particularly in characterising the soil strength of shallow seabed crucial for applications such as pipeline design and submarine landslide survey. Compared to the conventional approach of using a large survey vessel and a mechanical system for pushing a penetrometer into the seabed, free-fall penetrometers offer a cheaper and quicker way to survey the seabed, with potentially equal accuracy if the tools are designed and interpreted correctly. A prototype free-fall cone penetrometer (FFP) (Figure 1) has been developed at the Centre of Offshore Foundation Systems, UWA. To interpret the FFP test data, an interpretation software has been developed to estimate the soil undrained shear strength. This project aims to validate the applicability of the software to other free-fall penetrometers, and to enhance the capability of the software to include embedment depth prediction. The proposed project requires a team of two students working on the following scopes: • Project 2a: Validation of the interpretation software on other free-fall penetrometers using field test data • Project 2b: Enhancement of the interpretation software to enable prediction of the embedment depth of the FFP

Students with MATLAB programming skill are preferred. Interested students are encouraged to contact Dr Shiaohuey Chow ([email protected]) for more information.

Chua, Hui Tong, Prof

Catalytic cracking of methane for graphitic carbons and hydrogenDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MaterialsThis is an ongoing project with the UWA ASX-listed spinoff company, Hazer Group, to focus on producing graphene by cracking methane. There will be two aspects to this project. One

14


is to work on fine-tuning the catalytic process to get consistent and good yield, another is to work on purifying the as-cracked carbons in favour of graphene and other carbon morphologies.The Hazer technology has been spun off from UWA lab and is now worth $20mil.


High flux bright light synthesis of valuable nanomaterialsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MaterialsThis project makes use of a first-of-its-kind high flux bright light facility to synthesise valuable nanomaterials. For example, we aim to synthesise MoS2 and WS2 nanoparticles from their naturally occuring MoS2 and WS2 materials. The former materials have phenomenal applications in engine and medical applications. They are mainly used as advanced lubricants in those applications, but are also very promising as materials for supercapacitors as well.Resources permit, we will also work on synthesising graphene from graphite particles, which has great applications in batteries, supercapacitors and membranes.


Industrial waste heat, geothermal, desalination, bauxite residueDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MechanicalThis topic will have sub-topics.1. Reconcentrating spent liquor using waste heat from the refinery - 2 students.2. Freeze desalination - using electricity to freeze ice from seawater so as to rival reverse osmosis - 1 student.3. Controlling geothermal swimming pool - this is an ongoing topic to work with local council on managing geothermal swimming pools - 1 student.4. Comparing ground source heat pump with conventional air source heat pump - an exciting project with the State Government, Builder and Manufacturers - 1 student. 5. Bauxite residue remediation - using centrifuge to dewater mining residue, an exciting technology.

Ciancio, Daniela, DrCo-Supervisors: Dight, Phil, Professor; Manca, Mirko

Understanding the effect of fibre distribution and orientation in FRC Disciplines: CivilThe post-peak material performances of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) are highly influenced by the random distribution and orientation of the fibres along the cracked surface. Students in this project will develop an experimental campaign to study the effect of fibre orientation and distribution in the post-cracking behaviour of FRC samples. Students suitable for this project must have a good understanding of material and structural properties.

15


Cosoli, Simone, DrCo-Supervisor: Pattiaratchi, Charitha, Professor

Extracting wind information from HF Radar dataDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Ocean SystemsPre-requisite skills: Familiarity with MatlabHF Radar systems routinely collect data on surface currents. However, through careful analysis information of wind direction and therefore the speed of frontal propagation may be recovered. This project will compare HF Radar produced wind directions with measured and predicted wind directions off Western Australia and South Australia.

Cosoli, Simone, DrCo-Supervisor: Pattiaratchi, Charitha, Professor

Detection of meteotsunami from HF Radar dataDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Ocean SystemsPre-requisite skills: Familiarity with MatlabMeteotsunamis (meteorological tsunamis) are water level oscillations generated by the propagation of meteorological events. They occur regularly along the western Australia coast, and have significant impacts for instance on port activities. This project will use HF radar measurements to investigate the generation and propagation of similar events off western Australia.

Doyle, Barry, DrCo-supervisor: Sercombe, Tim, A/Prof

New Applications of 3D BioprintingDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicBioprinting has the potential to revolutionise the way we think about organ and tissue replacement.Currently, it is possible to harness the power of additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing) and combine this with biomedical science to create living tissues with incredible geometric complexity.In this project, you will use our current 3D bioprinting technologies to bioprint new structures for different tissue engineering applications. You will use hydrogels to bioprint structures and then use a range of material characterisation techniques to find mechanical properties. Once you have found optimum print parameters, you will seed living cells into the material and bioprint living structures. Example structures are trachea (airway), tympanic membrane (ear drum), stent-grafts and even heart valves.This project will run within the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research - the premier medical institute in WA. It is expected

16


that each project will be published in a journal upon completion. For more info on VascLab, visit http://vasclab.mech.uwa.edu.au

Doyle, Barry, Dr

Abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture predictionDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, SoftwareAbdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA; pronounced triple A) is a ballooning of the lower part of your aorta, approximately behind the belly button. It is common in elderly men and is typically symptomless; the first time you know you have one is often when it bursts, which is too late and usually results in death. Up to 9% of men over 65 years old are living with AAA, and many will be unaware. Currently, surgeons will operate when the diameter of the AAA exceeds 5.5 cm. However, only 1 in 10 will rupture in the patients lifetime, and smaller ones can rupture while larger ones can remain stable There is urgent need to redefine the risk assessment of AAA.At the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) and in collaboration with the Intelligent Systems Laboratory, we have developed a new software platform (BioPARR) to analyse AAA and determine rupture risk. This project will entail working as a team to analyse many patients. Each student will be assigned 20 patients. They will begin by merging CT and MRI data together, convert the 3D reconstruction into a computational mesh, perform a finite element simulation, and analyse the results. The entire workflow is performed within BioPARR. This is part of a much larger NHMRC-funded project run by Barry Doyle and your contribution will help towards changing clinical practice and saving thousands of lives.This project will run within the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research - the premier medical institute in WA. The project is in collaboration with The University of Edinburgh. It is expected that each project will be published in a journal upon completion. For more info on VascLab, visit http://vasclab.mech.uwa.edu.au

Doyle, Barry, Dr

Vascular Engineering – merging engineering, medicine and scienceDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Computer, Civil, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, SoftwareFrom the most basic engineering point of view, the cardiovascular system is a pump connected to a series of elastic pipes. However, this system is prone to sub-optimal performance and even failure; otherwise known as cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is the world’s biggest killer and currently takes 1 Australian life every 12 minutes! It kills far more people than cancer and with the shifting trend in the world’s population (people are living a lot longer nowadays), is becoming a huge burden on health care systems. At the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) we perform both computational and experimental research into CVD with an overall aim of creating new and innovative ways to

17


http://vasclab.mech.uwa.edu.au/


save lives and reduce the impact of this disease. We work very closely with scientists and surgeons across UWA and internationally and ensure our research is clinically-relevant. We have numerous projects on offer each semester and some examples for this round are:Computational modelling of retinal haemodynamics -The tiny vessels in the back of the eye are one of the very few places that we can see the microvasculature non-invasively. Cardiovascular disease typically begins in these small vessels first – many years before the condition is visible in the larger arteries (eg. coronary arteries). Therefore, identifying people with heart disease long before it becomes a major health problem has major importance. Fundus photographs are the common method of viewing the back of the eye. We have developed a method of converting these simple 2D photos into computational models for CFD. This project will entail developing a GUI and refined software platform for our method and applying it to about 20 patients. You will use CFD to determine the flow patterns, wall shear stress (WSS) in the vessels. This project is in collaboration with the Lions Eye Institute.

Haemodynamics in coronary arteries -Coronary arteries are the small vessels around your heart and are the primary site of blockages – i.e. heart attacks! These small vessels are routinely stented (small metal scaffolds used to prop the vessel open again) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is often used as a research tool to examine the flow in pre- and post-stent arteries. This project will entail creating high-resolution 3D geometries of a patients coronary arteries from medical images. You will then use CFD to determine the flow patterns, wall shear stress (WSS) and various other quantities (such as PRT, ECAP, OSI, etc) in the artery. You will work through about 10 patients in this project. This project is in collaboration with Royal Perth Hospital.

Biomechanical properties of mouse aorta - The mouse is the most convenient lab model of cardiovascular disease and is widely used. We are particularly interested in how certain biological process change the biomechanical behaviour of the vasculature. Mechanical testing of such small samples brings forth many unique challenges. We have recently purchased a new biaxial tensile testing device purpose built for testing soft tissues. In this proect you will mechanical test ring-shaped samples from mice aorta. Mice will be in two groups, healthy control mice and diseased mice. The project will design a standard operatng procedure for testing mice aorta, as well as generate new data on the biomechanical behaviour.

Flow dynamics in peripheral vascular access - In medicine, a peripheral venous catheter is a small flexible tube placed into a peripheral vein to administer medication of fluids. Once inserted, the line can be used to draw blood. This is the most commonly used vascular access technique in medicine and in the USA alone more than 25 million patients receive a peripheral venous line each year.The technique suffers from many complications, ranging from bruising of the arm due to poor insertion, to catheter occlusion. Despite being a common procedure, 25-50% fail and there is little data on the flow dynamics which undoubtedly contributes to flow related problems, such as occlusion and dislodgement. In conjunction with the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching And Research (AVATAR) Group (http://www.avatargroup.org.au/), we want to investigate the flow dynamics in a range of typical scenarios.

18


You will create an idealised geometry to model the catheter penetrated into the vein, and then perform a parametric study to find the geometric configuration that is most likely to promote thrombosis (occlusion). The results of this project will be presented at the Australian Vascular Access Society (AVAS) Annual Scientific Meeting 2017.

All projects will run within the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research - the premier medical institute in WA. It is expected that each project will be published in a journal upon completion. For more info on VascLab, visit http://vasclab.mech.uwa.edu.au

Draper, Scott, DrCo-Supervisor: Jones, Nicole, Dr; Rayson, Matt, Dr / Milne, Ian, Dr

Waves, currents and turbulence in the Swan RiverDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, Mechanical, Ocean SystemsPre-requisite skills: Numerical and experimental hydrodynamics, metocean analysisThis project aims to use field equipment to obtain measurements of surface waves (student 1) and both currents and turbulence (student 2) at several locations in the Swan River. The field measurements of surface waves will be used to characterize the wave climate in the river (e.g. the range in wave height, period and direction) and to compare with numerical predictions of waves in the river. The current and turbulence data will be used to characterise the relative turbulence input from surface wave whitecapping and bed stresses. Understanding this relative input is important for predicting turbulence and its associated impact on physical and biogeochemical processes in the river. It is also important to develop better parameterisation of these processes in numerical models.

This project will be undertaken as part of the Woodside FutureLab RiverLab initiative in collaboration with Woodside. This RiverLab initiative aims to undertake applied research in the Swan river to improve knowledge in offshore engineering and processes in the Swan river. In this particular project detailed knowledge of the wave climate and turbulence properties in the river will be valuable to understand processes within the river generally, and to provide important background data for model scale experiments of floating offshore structures (i.e. wave energy devices and floating oil and gas facilities) undertaken in the Swan River.

Durham, Richard, Professor

Industry topic based on your vacation workDisciplines: Mining

19



Do you have a topic from your vacation work that you wish to use as a thesis topic? If so, simply write up the topic on <1 page, and send it to me. There might be a little negotiation whilst I ensure the topic is suitable (basically not too small, not too big, and involves some research type analysis), but once we've agreed on the scope and objectives it's all fine.Traditionally, many mining students get industry based thesis topics like this. They tend to be single student projects, but a multi-student topic can be considered.


Electric Vehicles in Underground MiningDisciplines: MiningThe use of electric vehicles in underground mining has many advantages when compared with the typical diesel vehicles. Primarily the removal of carcinogenic fumes. A thesis by Hewitson (2015) provided an economic comparison, based a single underground gold mine. He summarised the future work as:- a more detailed understanding of the ventilation requirements. Detailed ventilation simulation that accounts for the mine design and air flow characteristics should be conducted. - Refinement of the input data, such as clarifying the rimpull curves, production capacity and maintenance costs of electric vehicles should also be investigated.- Further development of electric solutions is also encouraged. Battery technology is rapidly advancing, meaning that larger more economically competitive machinery could be on the horizon.- Bucket capacity is the key downfall of electric loaders in this study, and so a focus on producing a large battery operated LHD is suggested.- Finally, it is recommended that this work be applied to existing operations to identify suitable targets for electric fleets. This can increase the rate of uptake, and research into electric fleets offering social, environmental and financial benefits.UWA's School of Population Health has done some research in the health issues associated with diesel fumes and mine workers, and there might be scope to liaise with the researchers there.So, 1 or more of these items might be sufficient for a follow-up thesis.


Discrete simulation of haul trucks and their maintenanceDisciplines: MiningPrevious theses by students have created simulations (with Arena software) of haul trucks and their maintenance within workshops. This work needs to be continued to investigate issues such as:• Good as new. Usually equipment that has been repaired/replaced in the workshop is considered to behave as if it was totally new. This is probably not realistic

20


• Simulating multiple resources with the workshop. Currently the only resource that is included is the workshop bay itself, i.e. totally ignoring the fact that different repairs require different technicians and different equipment.


Under-sea miningDisciplines: MiningNautilus Minerals are nearing commencement of mining trials at their Solwara deposit off PNG. Korean and Japanese companies are also doing research in this field. There are many unproven aspects of the technology, and an investigation/lab testing program might be appropriate.

Dyskin, Arcady, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Pasternak, Elena, Professor

Harvesting the energy of ground vibrationsDisciplines: Civil, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element Modelling, MatlabEnvironment is filled with various ground vibrations coming from a range of sources from traffic to earthquakes. The project is aimed at designing devices (primarily mechanical based on directional friction) capable of transforming the parasitic energy of ground vibration to electricity.

Dyskin, Arcady, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Pasternak, Elena, Professor

Waves in layered and stratified materials and rocksDisciplines: Civil, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element ModellingLayered materials such as stratified rocks, masonry, packages of plates play an important role in engineering and resource extraction. Waves travelling through such materials are used for non-destructive control of such materials and, at larger scale, for geophysical exploration. Waves can also be generated by blasting in the process of rock excavation. The project aims at investigating waves in layered materials both experimentally and numerically.

Elchalakani, Mohamed, DrCo-Supervisor: Kimiaei, Mehrdad, Dr

21


FE modeling of CFRP Strengthening of Offshore StructuresDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: USFOS SoftwareThe existing oil and gas pipeline infrastructure in Australia is old and it is aging rapidly due to corrosion. The estimated annual cost of corrosion of infrastructure in Australia is estimated to be between $30 billion to $60 billion dollars. Offshore structures and pipelines are aging and deteriorating rapidly and thus need strengthening due to a number of reasons such as: increasing environmental loads, increasing equipment loads due to upgrade and lastly due to corrosion. The aging process could eventually lead to non-compliant members/joints against existing codes. Possible solutions for this problem are (1) adding new members to structural system; (2) replacing weak/corroded members with stronger/new sections; and (3) strengthening weak/corroded members by welding or clamping new sections; (4) wrapping Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) around the external surface of the non-compliant joints or members. While the first two remedy procedures are usually not suitable or feasible for offshore structures, the last two methods are suitable. Although clamping and welding have been investigated in the past and standard text books have already addressed this method of strengthening, the use of FRP for offshore facilities from structural strengthening perspective has received little attention. Pushover analysis using USFOS software will be performed to determine the optimal repair method including number of layers of the CFRP, orientation of fibres and types of the fibres.

Elchalakani, Mohamed, DrCo-Supervisor: Karrech, Ali, A/Prof

FE modeling of Empty and Concrete Filled and Repaired Tubular Columns for the Construction of High Rise BuildingsDisciplines: Civil, Computer, MaterialsPre-requisite skills: ABAQUS SoftwareIn Australian modern construction, concrete filled steel tubular columns are becoming a popular method of construction particularly for high rise buildings. Limited experimental tests showed that concrete filling may delay or fully prevent local buckling of the external steel tubes. The main factor affect the response is the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tubes and the strength of concrete. The full range of D/t ratios was not tested. Wide variations among the international design codes to predict the strength of such columns. Finite Element method is an effective approach to provide design models for such composite columns and provide valuable information on their response.

Elchalakani, Mohamed, DrCo-Supervisors: Aslani, Farhad, Dr; Ma, Guowei, Professor

Rubber Concrete with High Impact for Road Side Barriers and PostsDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, MaterialsPre-requisite skills: None

22


This project provides strength and durability test results for rubberised concrete (RuC) that contains silica fume (microsilica) for road side barriers with the intent to reduce injuries and fatalities during crashes. The test program will involves the preparation of normal and high strength concretes made out of recycled waste tire rubber. The high strength will be obtained by adding silica fume which is expected to enhance the interfacial transition zone bonding. Tire-rubber particles composed of a combination of crumb rubber and fine rubber powder will be used to replace 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%, of the weight of the mineral aggregate. The uniaxial compressive impact tests will be conducted on hardened concrete cylinders. Impact tests will be performed to measure the resilience of the rubberised concrete. New design guidelines in accordance with the Australian Bridge Design Code AS 5100 for strength and serviceability of rubberised concrete road side barriers will be derived based on the test results. The maximum rubber contents will be measured for normal and high strength concretes, respectively. Double jacket concrete steel tube stub column filled with RCu will also be performed to measure the gain in ductility and energy absorption. These will be suggested for highway sign and light poles.

Faiello, Cosimo, Associate Professor

Sustainability applied to project management & engineering practiceDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Electrical & Electronic, Computer, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Mining, Oil & Gas, Petroleum.This topic will introduce students to the field of project management and engineering practice with a focus on achieving sustainable results based on a “triple bottom line” (TBL) approach: That is, achieving project objectives, while taking into account the societal and environmental implications of a project. A sustainable approach to project management and engineering practice is recognised globally by many organizations, as being vital to achieving their strategic objectives. By researching this topic students will learn how to apply theoretical concepts and frameworks to ‘real world projects’ in order to achieve sustainable outcomes using a TBL strategy.

Feng, Xiaowei, DrCo-Supervisors: Gourvenec, Susan, Professor

Combined Horizontal and torsional capacity of winged subsea mudmats Disciplines: Civil, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Soil Mechanics, General finite-element analysis software: ABAQUSMudmat foundations have recently been used for supporting pipeline infrastructure including pipeline end terminations and manifolds for deep-water oil and gas developments. The ever increasing size and weight of the mudmats exceeds the capacity of the PLET handling vessels. The sled liked, winged mudmats can be folded up during installation and can provide larger bearing capacity than mudmats of equivalent footprint area. Therefore, no special heavy-lift

23


vessel is required to handle the mudmats during installation, which can save the projects. In this project, the combined horizontal and torsional capacity will be investigated for subsea mudmats embedded in soil with undrained strength increasing linearly with depth. The effect of mudmat embedment and spacing between the two mudmat in consort will be systematically examined using finite-element method.

Feng, Xiaowei, DrCo-Supervisors: Gourvenec, Susan, Professor

Consolidation characteristics of the soil underneath rectangular mudmat foundationsDisciplines: Civil, Oil & GasRectangular mudmat foundations have recently been used for supporting pipeline infrastructure including pipeline end terminations and manifolds for deep-water oil and gas developments. In fine-grained seabeds, consolidation during the time delay between mudmat installation and operation of the associated pipelines increases the capacity of the mudmats, compared to that immediately following mudmat set down, to resist operational loading. Mudmats are becoming very large to accommodate soft seafloors and increasing pipeline expansion. The biggest mudmat installed so far in Australia is 30m wide and 40m long. Consolidation beneath a rectangular mudmat has previously been investigated by assuming the foundation behaves as a rigid body. However, rigidity index decreases with increasing mudmat size. The consolidation is affected by foundation rigidity due to the dependence of the stress distribution in the soil domain underneath the mudmat on the flexibility of the mudmat. Moreover, the permeability of the subsoil was considered isotropic but the rate of consolidation and variation of excess pore pressures with time depend on the flow properties of the soil, which will essentially be anisotropic, i.e. different horizontal to vertical permeability of the soil. In this project, the effect of rigidity index of mudmats and the anisotropic permeability on post-installation consolidation will be presented.

Fourie, Andy, Professor

Ensuring safety of tailings storage facilities by remote monitoring using dronesDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Mining, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Bachelor of Science (Engineering Science)Virtually every year there is one or more failure(s) of tailings storage facilities (TSFs) somewhere in the world. Last year saw the failure of the Samarco TSF in Brazil, a failure that cost at least 17 lives and is expected to cost in excess of $5 billion when costs are finally tallied. To prevent future failures of this type requires vastly improved monitoring techniques. One contribution to establishing improved monitoring techniques would be to provide a way to track, on a daily basis, the location and size of the free water that is invariably stored on many TSFs. These ponds of decant water are directly attributable to

24


many of the major failures that have occurred around the world. This project will investigate the viability of monitoring and defining the extent of the decant pond and the proximity of this pond to key infrastructure. The monitoring vehicle will preferably be an airborne drone, fitted with suitable recording equipment. Depending on project progress, there is an opportunity to conduct test-flights at an operational tailings facility.

Fourie, Andy, Professor

Optimising the placement water content of filtered tailingsDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, MiningPre-requisite skills: Bachelor of Science EngineeringAs the cost of water rises in many countries, mining companies are increasingly being pressured to reduce their water consumption. Significant savings in water use are possible by reducing the water content at which mine tailings are pumped to storage facilities. Recent years have seen increasing use of high volume thickening to reduce water consumption and this has recently been extended to high volume filtration, which provides even better water savings. Australia already has the largest filtered tailings operation in the world, and a large number of similar facilities are currently in the design phase. Filtered tailings are usually transported by conveyor (compared with conventional tailings, which are transported in pipelines) and once deposited they are spread and compacted, with a view to increasing stability. There is, however, sometimes a conflict between the water content at which the filtered tailings are compacted and the water content at which they are conveyed (too wet and they liquefy during transport). This project will use a newly developed device to investigate the optimal transportable water content and compare it with the desirable compaction water content.

Fridjonsson, Einar, Dr. & Johns, Michael, ProfCo-supervisors: Aman, Zachary, Dr., Dr. Stanwix, Paul

Oilfield Water ManagementDisciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Natural gas (and oil) extraction results in the production of substantial quantities of (formation) water. This water is required to be discharged back to sea following separation from the hydrocarbon fluid. Increasingly this separation is being pursued sub-sea, such that water treatment on the surface is avoided. Such sub-sea technology is particularly relevant to floating LNG production facilities. We are currently developing technology to both monitor the ppm oil contamination of this discharge water such that it is compliant with environmental legislation, as well as the use of novel NMR-based flow metering methods for oil/gas/water production flow quantification. Projects are available in which further validation of these technologies will be conducted as well as their adaptation for sub-sea deployment. We also consider optimum desalination of sea water for the provision of required process water and the effective separation of frequently encountered and troublesome water-in-crude oil emulsions into their constituent parts.

25


Ghadouani, Anas, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Reichwaldt, Elke, Dr

Engineering solutions to wastewater treatmentDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Environmental, Mechanical, MiningPre-requisite skills: NoneThis topic might include work into investigating the bio-physical coupling in waste stabilization ponds; the assessment of hydrodynamics in ponds of different design; the effect of attached growth baffles on water quality improvement; the prevention of struvite precipitation in wastewater treatment plants.


Sludge accumulation in wastewater ponds (municipal, mining, agroindustrial)Disciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Environmental, Mechanical, MiningPre-requisite skills: NoneThis topic will investigate different aspects around sludge accumulation and sludge properties in wastewater treatment plants; it might include investigating factors contributing to the amount and distribution of sludge accumulation in a variety of sectors.


Sediment accumulation in pools in the Swan Coastal Plain and effect on biodiversityDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Environmental, Mechanical, MiningPre-requisite skills: NoneThis project is in collaboration with the Swan River Trust. It is aimed to focus on investigating factors that contribute to sediment accumulation in small pools adjacent to the Canning/Swan River (e.g. age of pool); this could include identifying biodiversity in these pools.

26


Gong, Peijun, Research AssociateCo-Supervisor: Bukowska, Danuta, Research Fellow, Lions Eye Institute; Sampson, David, Professor

OBEL: Methods for non-invasive optical imaging of blood vesselsDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Materials, mechanical systems or mechatronics, OR signal processing and computer programmingNon-invasive optical imaging of the blood vessels provides an important tool to understand and monitor diseases. In OBEL, we have been working on the development of non-invasive optical imaging of blood vessels in humans. This project will involve the design and manufacturing of an imaging phantom to mimic the blood flow in biological tissue, and the implementation of improved data analysis techniques to segment the blood vessels. As a step toward clinical application, the data analysis techniques will also be implemented on clinical data from humans to investigate their feasibility.Students are expected to have knowledge or interest in materials, electronics or computer programming, and are encouraged to discuss possible projects with the supervisors prior to submission.

Guzzomi, Andrew, DrCo-supervisor: Peressini, Carlo, Dr

Engineering Weed Control (Agricultural Engineering/Robotics (1))Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical, MechatronicEngineering applied to agriculture is important for Australia's sustainable future, especially in WA as the state moves away from a mining based economy. Agricultural Engineering/Robotics offers an exciting opportunity for innovation in the industry. This research and development topic will focus on novel mechanical weed control technologies related to the group’s $1.5M targeted tillage project, multi-physics CFD and DEM (Discrete Element Modelling) of the state-of-the-art integrated Harrington Seed Destructor and more. This is an exciting opportunity to join a new group that is well funded and performing state-of-the R&D in agricultural engineering and design. Students will work as part of dynamic multi-disciplinary team with research and industry collaborators across Australia.

Guzzomi, Andrew, DrCo-supervisor: Peressini, Carlo, Dr. & Bennamoun, Mohammed, Prof

Agricultural Mechanisation and Robotics (Agricultural Engineering/Robotics (2))Disciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, mechanical, Mechatronic, Software

27


Engineering applied to agriculture is important for Australia's sustainable future, especially in WA as the state moves away from a mining based economy. Agricultural Engineering/Robotics offers an exciting opportunity for innovation in the industry. ‘Big data’ is making headlines, though focus needs to be on efficient means of sensing key attributes for precision agriculture. This topic focusses on robotics and automation for the agricultural sector. Specific projects may focus on: swarm robotics, computer vision, UAV and UG (round)V development for weed identification and mapping; on stability of wheeled robots/tractors on uneven topography. This is an exciting opportunity to join a new group that is well funded and performing state-of-the R&D in agricultural engineering and design. Students will work as part of dynamic multi-disciplinary team with research and industry collaborators across Australia (and internationally, depending on the project).

Hu, Xiaozhi, Prof

Adhesive Bonding of Metal and Composite Reinforced by CNT and Short Fibre TissueDisciplines: Materials, MechanicalThis is the 2nd continuation of a project which is aimed at stronger adhesive bonding between metals, and metals/composites. CNT (carbon nano-tube) and short Aramid fiber tissue can be used to strengthen brittle epoxy adhesive. Other surface treatment methods will be considered.

Hu, Xiaozhi, Prof

Design and Processing of Ultra-Thin Short Aramid Fiber Tissues for Reinforcement of Adhesive InterfaceDisciplines: Materials, MechanicalThe project has been running for a number of years, and the processing techniques have been improved significantly. We aim at potential industrial applications of short fibre interfacial toughening by producing consistent high-quality ultra-thin Aramid fiber tissues, which can be used in carbon-fibre composites, adhesive bonding between metals and composites.

Huang, David, Professor

Broadband Wireless to the BushDisciplines: Electrical & ElectronicPre-requisite skills: Wireless communications, due to its potentially low initial deployment cost, high scalability and flexibility, will play a key role in providing broadband communications to sparsely

28


populated areas of Australia. This project focuses on promising technologies for future broadband wireless communications especially to rural areas. Potential projects include but not limited to:• Multiple‐Input and Multiple‐Output (MIMO) Systems• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Systems• Multi-Hop Wireless Communications• Opportunistic Communications

Huang, David, Professor

Resource Optimization in Broadband Wireless CommunicationsDisciplines: Electrical & ElectronicPre-requisite skills: For future broadband wireless communications, we need not only to build a link with the capability of providing high data rate but also to divide the link wisely to accommodate the various requirements of different applications from different users. From this perspective, how to utilize a link is as important as how to build a link. In this project, you are going to investigate and propose ways to effectively and efficiently allocate resources to different users and different applications using the principle of “opportunistic communications”. The principle of opportunistic communications is actually simple: it always allocates the resources to the users or applications that can best utilize them. This is somehow similar to the fact that the school normally awards students with best performance.

Huynh, Du, Dr

Deep Learning for 3D Object ClassificationDisciplines: Computer, Mechatronics, Software Pre-requisite skills: Matlab programming, C/C++ programming (desirable).Multiple pedestrian tracking is an important computer vision task and has many practical applications such as video surveillance and crowd control. Two main challenges in multiple pedestrian tracking are: abrupt change of appearance of the pedestrians and significant occlusion (especially in crowded scenes). The aim of this this project is to do an in-depth review on the state-of-art techniques on multiple pedestrian tracking and select two or more techniques for evaluation.

Huynh, Du, Dr

Assessment of Fundamental movements using the Kinect SensorDisciplines: Computer, Mechatronics, Software Pre-requisite skills: Matlab programming, C/C++ programming (desirable).The aim of this project is to obtain objective estimates of 7 to 11 year old children’s movement proficiency using the Microsoft Kinect Sensor. We propose to develop a software

29


driven tool that can interpret movements from videos captured by the Kinect Sensor while children perform four fundamental movements. The innovation behind the Kinect hinges on advances in skeletal tracking. In computer generated skeletal tracking, a human body is denoted by a number of joints representing body parts, each of which is further characterised by its 3D coordinates. The Kinect Sensor captures the positions of 20 body joints every 30 seconds in three-dimensional space, providing an accurate representation of the major body segments. The Kinect Sensor’s skeletal tracking ability is designed to work for every person on the planet, in every household, without any calibration. We have already developed software capable of capturing Kinect Sensor data to count the range and frequency of different movements (for example, jumping, throwing and sidesteps) while children play movement-based video games. However, the current software is unable to process the more complex task of determining the quality of children’s movements. Taking on this project, the student is expected to apply machine learning and computer vision techniques with the software development phase of the research. The results of this project will contribute towards a validated objective measurement tool for determining children’s movement proficiency using off-the-shelf hardware and tailored software.

Huynh, Du, Dr

Multiple pedestrian tracking Disciplines: Computer, Mechatronics, Software Pre-requisite skills: Matlab programming, C/C++ programming. Some basic knowledge in computer vision and video processing would be desirable.Multiple pedestrian tracking is an important computer vision task and has many practical applications such as video surveillance and crowd control. Two main challenges in multiple pedestrian tracking are: abrupt change of appearance of the pedestrians and significant occlusion (especially in crowded scenes). The aim of this this project is to do an in-depth review on the state-of-art techniques on multiple pedestrian tracking and select two or more techniques for evaluation.

Iu, Herbert Ho-Ching, Professor

Development of memristor based relaxation oscillatorsDisciplines: Electrical & ElectronicPre-requisite skills: Excellent mathematical skills and simulation/ hardware skillsIn this project, a memristor based relaxation oscillator will be developed. A flux-controlled memristor emulator with floating terminals by making use of four current conveyors has been proposed. By replacing the three resistors in the positive and negative feedback loops of a typical relaxation oscillator respectively, three cases of memristor emulator based oscillating circuits can be theoretically constructed and mathematically analyzed. This new memristor emulator based oscillator will provide novel and steady oscillating behaviors.

30


Iu, Herbert Ho-Ching, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Fernando, Tyrone, Professor; Reynolds, Mark, Professor

Load Estimation for Rural Distribution NetworksDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic Pre-requisite skills: Excellent programming skill in MatlabWestern Power designs, builds and operates the transmission and distribution power networks within the South-West Interconnected Network (SWIN). The SWIN is designed with the basis of providing electrical power to customers in a safe and reliable manner, while at an affordable cost. In order to meet these design criteria, Western Power develops forecasts for the future state of the SWIN. The development of network forecasting is a difficult task that requires the incorporation of many factors from various fields. However the core of the design process will always be centered around the ability to supply power to customers at all times. In other words, the foundation of the network design is based on how much power is required and where is it to be provided. Network planners are able to identify the power requirements of the network through the use of load estimation techniques. In metropolitan areas load estimates are fairly accurate due to existing estimation techniques. However, in rural areas load estimation techniques are often not as accurate as their metropolitan counterpart, therefore the network designs in these areas are less developed.By improving the accuracy of load estimation techniques in rural areas, Western Power can better achieve their design objectives of providing a safe and reliable network while minimising costs. The purpose of this project will be to investigate methods of estimating the loads in rural areas and evaluating the efficacy of each method using sections of Western Power's rural distribution network.

Johns, Michael, Prof. May, Eric, Prof.

Carbon SequestrationDisciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Western Australia has several major offshore gas assets containing significant quantities of carbon dioxide. Scenarios for dealing with this CO2 must be developed before these gas fields can be developed. One scenario involves the re-injection of carbon dioxide produced from one reservoir into the extremities of a different natural reservoir for the purpose of both CO 2

disposal and enhanced gas recovery. However, such a strategy is only viable if the probability of breakthrough by the re-injected CO2 to the producing wells is small. Simulating reliably this novel reservoir production scenario requires an improvement in our fundamental understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of supercritical CO2 in heterogeneous gas and water-saturated rock. Research projects are available measuring this behaviour as well as its inclusion into relevant field simulations.

31


Karnowski, Karol, Research FellowCo-Supervisor: Sampson, David, Professor

OBEL: Robotic handheld probes for optical microscopyDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisite skills: 3D modeling or electronics or mechatronics or mechanical systemsHand-held advanced navigable scanning systems will enable next generation applications such as robotic surgery. This project will develop robotic, ultra-light handheld probes for optical microscopy imaging of small living subjects. The students will design and construct two different types of probes: 1) a robotic-like arm probe with microscope objective and MEMS scanner, and 2) a robotic, ultra-light optical fibre-based probe with piezo-actuated scanning mechanism for prolonged in vivo measurements. Students are encouraged to talk to Karol Karnowski or David Sampson to discuss possible projects prior to submission.

Karrech, Ali, A/ProfCo-Supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr

Effect of texture/morphology on behaviour of concreteDisciplines: Civil, Materials, Mechanical Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element Method, Solid MechanicsHomogenization is a powerful engineering method that describes the overall behavior of materials based on micro-mechanical considerations. It is has been used extensively to describe the mechanical constitutive laws of materials especially under the assumption of small perturbations. However, its potential in the context of large transformations is still an open research topic. In particular, materials that embed local defects can concentrate stresses, undergo large deformations and experience premature failures.

The purpose of this project is to investigate the effects of morphology and distribution of heterogeneities on the overall behavior of concrete. The project includes experimental and numerical components. The experimental work consists of preparing concrete mixtures embedding stochastically distributed inclusions and investigating the response of samples under various loading conditions. The experiment will be modeled numerically using the finite element approach. An advanced constitutive model will be used to describe the elasto-plastic behavior of the obtained specimens.

Karrech, Ali, A/ProfCo-Supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr

Finite modeling of steel catenary risers under dynamic loadingDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Ocean Systems, Oil & Gas, Petroleum Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element Modelling, Dynamics and Vibration

32


The petroleum industry uses steel catenary risers (SCR) in several types of offshore structures to extract and/or export hydrocarbons from subsea reservoirs. Due to hydraulic waves, water currents and service loadings SCR experience severe cyclic fatigue damage. Standard tools based on classical Euler-Bernouilli beams are available to model the behavior of SCR, however, these tools often ignore large deformations and coupled thermal-mechanical loading conditions. The purpose of this project is to develop a Finite Element tool that can address these limitations and predict the cyclic fatigue of SCRs.

Kavanagh, Ken, MrCo-Supervisors: Beckett, Chris, Dr; Ciancio, Daniela, Dr

Insulated rammed earth bricksDisciplines: CivilThis project aims to develop a new brick-module made of rammed earth and insulating foam. The brick will have the environmentally friendly properties of rammed earth combined with the insulating properties of rammed earth combined with the insulating properties required by the building Code of Australia. Students suitable for this project must have a good understanding of material and structural properties. Part of the project will be developed in the Structures laboratory of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering.

Keating, Adrian, Prof

LED as precision distance sensorsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisites: EE students preferably having done embedded systems. Must enjoy working in the lab.In 2015/6, the System Health lab broke new ground in establishing that cheap LEDs could be used as distance sensors, potentially overcoming some of the usage limitations that lasers have due to safety concerns. This project extends this work to test a wider range of materials and surfaces as well as install these sensors in different applications such as miniature force transducers and precision distance measurement at sub-micrometer levels. Issues of overcoming surface curvature and tilt still require investigation.

Keating, Adrian, ProfCo-supervisor: Parish, Gia, Prof

Materials made from thin air – porous film propertiesDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisites: Various skills useful including design, modelling and electrical skillsThis project investigates how the addition of nanometer sized pores in a materal can alter the mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties. Such "meta"-materials are useful in a

33


range of applications, from sensors, to cloaking devices. This project offers opportunities for electrical, mechanical and/or material students to learn more about this technology and its applications. This material is made using extremely dangerous chemicals - an ultra-safe system is being designed by student which needs to be extended - this system will eventually allow students the ability to make and design these nanoporous films themselves.

Keating, Adrian, Prof

Energy harvesting for wireless sensor networksDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MechatronicPre-requisites: Much of the work leverages electrical engineering or design skillsStudents will review and evaluate an existing energy harvesting circuit and refining the design based on best practice from literature reviews. All students will assist in the development of the basic energy harvesting circuit. Subsequently, each student will be assigned a different aspect of the energy harvesting problem including: 1) alternative sources (thermal, vibration, electromagnetics) 2) storage capacity (evaluation and improvement) 3) low energy wireless transmission and protocols 4) system integration with data logging and data evaluation, 6) operation if a network of wireless energy harvestors, 6) practical implementation and reliability evaluation.

Kennedy, Brendan, Dr

Novel optical elastography probes for intraoperative tumour margin assessmentDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Prior knowledge in the field and meeting with Dr Brendan Kennedy requiredIn this project, students will develop novel optical imaging probes to scan breast cancer specimens. In particular, optical elastography is a technique that forms high resolution images of tissue stiffness by applying a mechanical load to the specimen and measuring the resulting deformation with optical imaging. Three types of optical elastography probes will be developed. Firstly, a probe capable of rapidly scanning the boundary of an excised specimen will be developed. Secondly, a handheld probe capable of scanning the tumour cavity will be developed and, thirdly, a smart surgical glove will be developed in which the optical probe is miniaturized such that it fits within a glove.

34


Kennedy, Brendan, DrCo-Supervisor: Doyle, Barry, Dr; Chin, Lixin, Mr

New techniques to segment high resolution images of the human eyeDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Background and/or strong interest in Matlab or computer programming is preferableThe high resolution optical imaging technique, optical coherence tomography, is routinely used by ophthalmologists to diagnose a range of eye diseases, including glaucoma and macular degeneration. Despite the widespread uptake of this imaging technique, a key issue remains in developing algorithms capable of automatically segmenting these images to identify suspicious regions. In this project, such algorithms will be developed in collaboration with leading ophthalmologists from the Lion's Eye Institute. If successful, the algorithms developed in this project will be routinely used by ophthalmologists to analyze thousands of images from human patients.

Kim, Youngho, Research AssociateCo-Supervisors: Hossain, Muhammed, A/Prof

Investigation of Dynamically Installed Anchors (DIAs)Disciplines: Civil, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Basic knowledge of geotechnical engineering principlesDynamically Installed Anchors (DIAs) are a recent type of mooring technology that have been shown to provide a cost effective alternative to other forms of anchoring system in deep water clayey sediments. They are also being increasingly considered in relatively shallower water, with silty and sandy deposits, by changing the geometry and pad-eye position. These anchors are released from a designated height above the seafloor, causing the anchor to penetrate into the seabed by the kinetic energy obtained through ‘free-fall’ and through the self-weight of the anchor.The project will investigate the behavior of DIAs in clay and calcareous silt using Finite Element Method (FEM) and theoretical solutions.

Kimiaei, Mehrdad, A/Prof

Stress concentration factors for fatigue design of tubular joints Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Previous experience in programming simple codes (in Matlab or VB or Fortran or ...) is necessary, general knowledge about offshore engineering (attending in CIVL5505 unit, at least for three fatigue design lectures) is recommended.

35


Fatigue design is one of the most important engineering challenges for offshore platforms. In conventional engineering practice for fatigue design of tubular joints, stress concertation factors (SCFs) are multiplied with nominal stresses to calculate hot spot stresses at different locations around the weld lines and then using S-N curves they are used to evaluate the fatigue damage ratios. Usually existing parametric equations are used to determine external and internal SCFs for different types of joints and loadings. In this project, firstly using Matlab (or Visual Basic) programming language, a user friendly in-house simple code for SCF calculations will be developed. Then using this code, sensitivity of SCF values to different geometrical input parameters will be investigated. This project is more suitable for BE final year students.

Kimiaei, Mehrdad, A/ProfCo-Supervisors: Kejriwal, Vikas, Structural Engineer (Atkins)

Improvements in spectral fatigue analysis of fixed offshore platformsDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Familiarity with offshore engineering concepts (taking CIVL5505 or already passed it), structural engineering (solid mechanic) background is necessary.Offshore platforms are under cumulative damages due to repeated application of wave loads known as fatigue induced damages. Usually fatigue design of fixed platforms subjected to wave loading is one of the main structural design challenges and spectral fatigue analysis is a widely accepted method for that. It requires determination of hot spot stress transfer functions which can be obtained via time domain or frequency domain calculations. Time domain calculations are more accurate, however they are also time consuming. Frequency domain calculations are much faster but they are subjected to some major simplifying assumptions. Main aim of the project is to study the differences between the two methods and come up with improvements in frequency domain methods. This project is a numerical study and the students will work with a commercial offshore structural engineering package (Sesam/GeniE) for all required simulations. The supervisors have recently published a paper out of this research work and the students who are interested in paper publications and potential future research (PhD studies) in offshore engineering are welcome. This project is more suitable for MPE final year students.

Kimiaei, Mehrdad, A/ProfCo-Supervisors: Tran, Thao (Joe), Senior Engineering Specialist

Applicability of Charpy V-Notch Test in Pipeline IndustryDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: background in offshore engineering (taking CIVL5505 or already passed it), preferably general familiarity with finite element modelling.

36


Charpy V-Notch test has been used for a long time as a screening tool for fracture resistance of material in oil and gas industry. The test offers economic advantages of being inexpensive in both time and cost. Unfortunately, the reliability of CVN test results are still questionable, especially in the case of multi-materials domain and in the case that applied loading is static, such as in the case of CRA pipe girth weld. This study through literature review and numerical works will provide:• A review of standard CVN test• Comparison between standard CVN test and other fracture toughness test, e.g. Single Edge Notch Bending (SENB), Single Edge Notch Tensile (SENT), Compact Tension (CT): Literature review From analytical point of view From numerical modelling From experimental point of view• Recommendation on the applicability of CVN test The motivation of this topic is from actual experience. There were many cases that CVN test result failed to comply with the requirements in the design standard. In some cases, re-test, using CVN specimen, was then carried out and the re-test result passed the requirement. In some other cases, the re-test results still failed. As a result, standard fracture toughness tests were carried out and the good results were obtained. It is, therefore, questionable for the reliability of CVN test. This project is more suitable for MPE final year students.

Lehane, Barry, Professor

Capacity of bored piles in clayey sands and siltsDisciplines: CivilWhile the behaviour of bored piles in sands and clays is relatively well understood, their behaviour in mixed soils such as clayey silts and sands requires further research. The project will examine the potential of CPT based methods for estimation of the capacity of bored piles in these soils. Tests will be performed in the laboratory in pressure chambers and will be supplemented by other specialist direct shear testing. Results will be examined within a new framework which includes variable rate CPTs.

Leong, Yee-Kwong, Prof

Rio Tinto Project: Dispersants for use in stabilising Tungsten Carbide Suspensions in LST SolutionDisciplines: Chemical & ProcessPre-requisites: A good understanding of Particle Technology Fundamental and Surface Chemistry

37


Dispersants for use in stabilising Tungsten Carbide suspensions in LST solution (Lithium Sodium Poly Hetero Tungstate) to create dense liquids for separation of iron ore particles by density.


Rio Tinto Project: Properties of Wet and Sticky Iron Ore PastesDisciplines: Chemical & ProcessPre-requisites: A good understanding of Particle Technology Fundamental and Surface ChemistryWet and sticky iron ore – to quantify mechanical and rheological properties of these pastes. The ore will be provided by Rio Tinto.


Swelling Clay Suspension Rheology and Stability – Addictive EffectsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, EnvironmentalPre-requisites: A good understanding of Particle Technology Fundamental and Surface ChemistryThe projects investigate the effects of various additives such as salts, dispersants and flocculants on the rheological and stability of bentonite suspensions from different sources.

Li, Jianxin, DrCo-Supervisor: Liu, Wei, Dr, Datta, Amitava, Professor

POSC-Project: Practical Online Safety for Children via CyberbullyingDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Programming Skills, e.g., PHP, JavaScript, Python (or Java), Social Network Visualization Tools, Web site or App development skills.

Cyber bullying is emerging as a serious social problem, especially among teenagers. Cyber bullying is defined as "the use of information technology to harm or harass other people in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner". With the advent of social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Webchat, it has become more prevalent. Based on the survey in 2015, 25% of teens claimed to be targets of cyberbullying, 2/3 of all teens have witnessed cruel behaviour online, but only 10% of parents are aware their teens are targets of cyberbullying. The victims in cyber bullying may lose their confidence to study in schools, sometimes may suicide in the worst case. Thus, automatic detection of cyber bullying posts and relations has been becoming an important technology or tool for parents to protect their children.In this project, we will target to address the following challenges and tasks for providing safe online environment.

38


1. Identify the influence types among cyber bullies and the victims; 2. Learn the contextual information including social relations and their locations;3. Block the negative opinions of cyber bullies in the social network;4. Practical and friendly App development, which can help parents protecting their children from cyber bullying.

Li, Jianxin, DrCo-Supervisor: Reynolds, Mark, Professor

DST-Project: Driver Safety Tracking App DevelopmentDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Programming Skills, e.g., PHP, JavaScript, Python (or Java), APP development skills.As reported by the government of Western Australia Road Safety Commission, 161 people died on WA roads in 2015, which consists of 87 in regional areas and 74 in the metropolitan area. More males died in regional WA than females, which is 63:24. Similarly, male to female is 55:19 in metropolitan. And the most people killed in crashes were aged between 25 and 29. The report also pointed out that in 2015, 60% of fatalities were a result of crashes with recorded driver behavioural factors.In this project, we will develop a mobile phone APP to help customers tracking their driving behaviours when they are driving on the roads, particularly for the parents monitoring the young drivers. The APP will take as input multiple types of information about drivers, e.g., where they are driving, the traffic conditions, driving behaviours, stress/fatigue, etc... By analysing the information together, the APP will show a driving safety report to the driver at the end of each tour. In addition, the APP also makes report weekly or monthly in order to track and explain the drivers' driving safety well. At the end, a practical and effective driving risk assessment model is a must to be investigated.

Li, Kevin, DrCo-supervisors: Xiao, James, Dr. Graham, Brendan, Dr. May, Eric Prof.

Advanced Gas SeparationsDisciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Carbon dioxide capture, whether from natural gas streams or from flue gases, is an important and increasing area of research with significant implications for our economy and environment. N2 capture from natural gas is increasingly important in the development of LNG projects where this component is energetically parasitic. These projects will look at the use of novel materials for improved capture efficiency that are either solid adsorbents, including carbons, zeolites and calixarenes, or liquid solvents, such as transition metal complexes. In addition, the production of high value zeolites from waste materials such as fly ash will be investigated. Students working on these projects will help develop and characterise the separation performance of new materials synthesized in our laboratory over

39


a wide range of temperature, pressure and mixture compositions, and/or use the results of such experiments to develop numerical models of advanced industrial separation processes.

Liu, Jishan, Prof

Shale Gas Extraction: Analysis of Controlling FactorsDisciplines: Oil & Gas, PetroleumPre-requisites: Basic knowledge on Reservoir Engineering (OGEG5803)Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are two enabling technologies to create a shale gas reservoir. For the created reservoir scale, shale blocks between hydraulic fractures are defined as matrixes. The main objective of this study is to investigate how the evolution of matrix permeability affects the gas production. This goal can be achieved through four integrated tasks: (1) How the Langmuir parameters affect both the cumulative gas production and the gas extraction processes; (2) How the evolution of flow regimes affects the gas production; (3) How the effective stress variations affect the gas production; and (4) How the shale micro-structures affect the gas production.

Liu, Jishan, Prof

Coal Seam Gas Extraction: understanding of Permeability EvolutionDisciplines: Oil & Gas, PetroleumPre-requisites: Basic knowledge on Reservoir Engineering (OGEG5803)Coal permeability significantly affects coal bed methane (CBM) production and long-term storage of CO2 in coal seam reservoirs. Coal permeability is sensitive to two factors: effective stress and sorption-induced strain. A broad variety of models have been proposed to represent effects of sorption-induced strain and effective stress on the dynamic evolution of permeability over last few decades. The goal of this project is to assess the validity of these models. These goal can be achieved through two tasks: (1) Assessment of Lab Models; and (2) Assessment of In-Situ Models.

Liu, Yinong, ProfCo-supervisor: Yang, Hong, Prof

Subsea Pipeline CorrosionDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Mining, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: materials engineering, corrosionThis project is in collaboration with Woodside Energy Ltd. It is a study of the corrosion protection strategies for subsea oil and gas pipelines using real life subsea pipeline test samples. It involves both industrial pilot testing and laboratory testing for corrosion related matters.

40


Ma, Guowei, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

Development of 3D Printing Concrete Disciplines: CivilPre-requisite skills: NoneThis project aims to develop fast curing cement paste material for 3D print of structures. Different from traditionally made concrete, the 3D printing concrete does not require formwork or mould, however, all binding particles must be able to be spayed through a small print head or nozzle, and hydrators and adhesives must be added to promote hydration and help the object maintain its shape. In this project, the uniaxial strength and flow characteristic of cement paste specimens with different mixtures at various conditions will be tested. The developed material is expected to be used for 3D printing of structural models.

Ma, Guowei, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

Mechanical property of super composite bar for reinforcing concrete

Disciplines: CivilPre-requisite skills: NoneThis project aims to develop super composite bars made of steel rod, carbon fiber, glass fiber, and basalt fiber composites for reinforcement of concrete structures, replacing traditional steel reinforcement. The super bar will be with high strength, high modulus, corrosion free, light, and flexible for different structure design. The tensile capacity, compression and bending capacities of the super bar with different designs will be tested. Fire resistance of the super bar will also be investigated.

Male, Sally, Dr

Developing a Virtual Work Integrated Learning ModuleDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: An interest in engineering practice.Students of accredited engineering programs in Australia must be exposed to engineering practice. This project will contribute to an overarching project on virtual work integrated learning (WIL) for engineering students. The project students will develop and test elements of virtual WIL modules for engineering students to complete in teams with guidance from engineers in virtual environments. The modules will involve authentic engineering tasks, resources and assessment. The project students' research is likely to include data collection involving engineers in industry and students. The context of the water industry is likely to be used. The project students will collaborate with the students completing related student projects that began in Semester 1 2016 and with the Virtual WIL Project Team which includes

41


researchers from UWA, Curtin University, The University of Queensland, Murdoch University, Engineers Australia, and the Australian Council of Engineering Deans.

Martyniuk, Mariusz, Assoc/ProfCo-Supervisor: Silva, Dilusha, Professor

Investigation of mechanical properties of bismuth oxide thin films via nanoindentationDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Materials, MechanicalThis is a hands-on project involving a series on experimental instrumented nanoindentation runs on multiple thin film samples. Data analysis and scientific reporting is a significant part of the project. The outcome of the project is to report the mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, hardness, etc) of novel rare-earth substituted iron garnet thin films prepared at the Western Australian Centre for Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Microsystems. The student should have a physics/engineering/materials science background, and potentially with specific prior knowledge/experience in instrumented nanoindentation.

May, Eric, ProfCo-supervisors: Graham, Brendan, Dr. Stanwix, Paul, Dr. Hughes, Thomas, Dr. Al Ghafri, Saif, Dr.

Natural Gas & LNG PropertiesDisciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Unplanned shutdowns of LNG plants caused by hydrocarbon solids blocking cryogenic heat exchangers are a major, ongoing problem for the industry. Current methods of avoiding them are costly and energy intensive. In addition, LNG production systems are over-engineered because the predictions of process simulators are unreliable, and this has significant implications for the cost of modern plants, especially FLNG. More generally, the natural gas industry needs new physical property data at high-pressures and low temperatures to develop more efficient processes capable of handling more problematic gas reserves. These projects aim to produce the required new data and develop new predictive models relevant to natural gas processing and LNG production to help avoid unexpected shutdowns, improve plant efficiency, and increase safety.

McCormick, Paul, Emeritus Prof

Instantaneous modelling of solar energy systemsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, SoftwarePre-requisites: Engineering analysis, computingModels for the prediction of the performance of solar systems are based on average hourly or daily radiation data. With such data the actual clear/cloudy bimodal radiation states are

42


significantly smoothed out due to averaging of clear and cloudy weather conditions and the averaged data is not representative of actual conditions. In addition, the reflection of radiation from clouds can have a significant short-term effect on the currents generated by a photovoltaic array. This project will be concerned with the instantaneous modelling of a solar system to obtain ‘instantaneous’ system performance.

McCormick, Paul, Emeritus Prof

Freeze drying of inorganic polymersDisciplines: MaterialsPre-requisites: Laboratory skillsInorganic polymers are a cross between conventional carbon polymers and inorganic materials, having applications ranging from zeolites to cement. Inorganic polymers consist of polymer chains of inorganic monomers containing mainly Si, Al and O. Freeze drying is a relatively new method of drying materials whereby an aqueous slurry of particles is frozen and a vacuum is applied to keep the water below its triple point. This project will investigate the properties of inorganic polymers prepared by freeze drying.

McDonald, Chris, Dr

Visualising firewall execution using iptables and NFTablesDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Software Pre-requisite skills: Interests in Networks and Operating Systems; programming skills in C or C++Computer network firewalls monitor and filter network traffic based on a combination of characteristics, such as the physical attributes of the traffic, the protocols being employed, and the traffic's relationship with other traffic observed over a window of time. Contemporary operating-systems and devices implement their firewall software in their kernels, and define and monitor their firewalls' operations through either command-line or graphical interfaces that interact with data-structures and functions provided by the kernel. Some contemporary firewall suites have names netfilter, iptables, NFTables, and PF.This project seeks to develop software to visually demonstrate the operation of a network firewall, by executing the same code that the kernel, itself, executes and annotating the actions taken. The software will support firewall specification rules written for at least two of the contemporary systems, and receive its network traffic from either real or synthetically generated network packet traces. Several firewall devices will be simulated in a large environment, where each firewall maintains and executes its own ruleset and traffic and application mix.

McDonald, Chris, Dr

43


Operating System visualisation using DTrace and SystemTapDisciplines: Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Software Pre-requisite skills: Interests in Operating Systems and Networks; programming skills in C or C++ Computing textbooks employ many static 'before-and-after' figures, hoping to convey the interactions between programs and operating systems, and the transitions of internal operating system structures. Historically, Computer Science educators have hoped to breathe life into these textbook figures with purpose-developed visualisation tools but, unfortunately, these have often required specific and unsustainable programming, compiling, and execution practices. Moreover, many of these tools have a constrained scope, or only support prebuilt demonstrations. These well-intentioned approaches often increase students' cognitive load, leaving them confused as to what is to be learned.The DTrace framework (under Apple's OS-X) and SystemTap (under Linux) both enable a process's execution and its interactions with the operating system kernel to be traced and annotated at a fine grain. They both provide well recognized benefits for systems administration, but also a great opportunity for Computer Science Education. This project will review and extend the recent project of Jurek Malarecki, to develop visualisations to trace the execution of programs, provided by an educator, being developed and debugged by students, or even standard system and application programs.

McDonald, Chris, Dr

Optimizing Traces of a Program's ExecutionDisciplines: Electrical and Electronic, Software Pre-requisite skills: Interests in programming language implementation; skills in C or C++ As computer hardware becomes both faster and capacious, we can investigate previously too-expensive techniques to support novice programmers. One such technique involves capturing the entire execution trace of a running program - its control flow and memory accesses - so that its execution may be reviewed. The program is not re-executed; instead its prior execution may be replayed, sped up, slowed down, and inspected. This provides great opportunity for novice programmers - they can watch the execution of a correct program, or determine which prior action resulted in a much later bug. It provides the opportunity to debug programs without fully knowing what to look for!

On fast hardware, execution traces grow in size very quickly - seconds of execution result in gigabytes of trace. Storing and accessing traces from long running programs becomes a problem. It's likely, however, that much of each trace is redundant and that a number of optimization techniques could result in better representation of a program's execution. For example, the trace of a loop's iterations could record information common to each iteration just once, along with the distinct per-iteration activity.

This project will identify, implement, and evaluate optimizations in the recording and playback of program traces. This project will draw on and extend the work of Matthew

44


Heinsen Egan who has developed a trace-based debugging environment for novice C programmers, using Clang and LLVM.

Miller, Karol, Prof

Biomechanics: Rupture risk in abdominal aortic aneurysmDisciplines: Chemical and Process, Materials, Mechanical, Oil and Gas, PetroleumPre-requisite skills: Knowledge of Mechanical and Civil Engineering PreferredThis is a finite element simulation project using Abaqus. This project is in collaboration with The University of Edinburgh.

Miller, Karol, Prof

Projects in collaboration with Harvard Medical SchoolDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, Software.Pre-requisite skills: Solid Mechanics, good computer skills

1. Automated generation of patient-specific computational models from radiological images

2. Medical Image Analysis – comparative analysis of neuroimage registration methods

3. Medical Image Analysis – comparative analysis of image segmentation methods

Miller, Karol, Prof

Biomechanics: Surgical simulationDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Good computer skillsThe goal of this research is to model and simulate deformable objects for applications requiring real-time interaction. We are particularly interested in medical applications including simulation-based training, skills assessment and planning, as well as other non-medical domains where real-time interactivity is needed.

Miller, Karol, Prof

Biomechanics: Numerical MethodsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic, Mining, Ocean Systems, Oil& Gas, Petroleum, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Love of mathematics, good computer skills

45


Investigation of stepping algorithms for large systems of ordinary differential equations: implicit (with iterative linear solver) versus explicit methods.

Milne, George, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Reynolds, Kelso, Joel, Dr.

The AUSTRALIS Bushfire Prediction SystemDisciplines: SoftwarePre-requisite skills Java programming, server side web development, touch interface development.Vehicle routing problems are ubiquitous in many industries; they involve scheduling a set of jobs amongst a fleet of vehicles whilst respecting various constraints to do with system capacity, delivery times, vehicle characteristics, etc. These problems become particularly interesting when the set of jobs varies dynamically, or where the system has to allow for failures of various types. These days, much real-time data is available to help with constructing these dynamic schedules, although fitting the data into the system in a useful way remains a challenge. Several (large and small) companies are moving into this space: one example is Fleet Engineering, a company that recently moved onto the UWA campus under the IQ programme. In this project you will investigate VRPs in various contexts, and you will use computational optimisation technologies that combine data of various types to come up with good solutions to these problems.

Milne, Ian, DrCo-Supervisors: Wolgamot, Hugh, Dr; Zhao, Wenhua, Dr

Experimental characterization of the dynamic response of FSPOsDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, Ocean Systems Pre-requisite skills: Numerical and experimental hydrodynamics, metocean analysisIn this project an instrumented scale model Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) hull similar to that used by Woodside offshore the North West Shelf of Australia will be built and deployed in the Swan River to understand vessel motion due to waves. This project will involve the design and construction of the model FPSO, taking into account relevant scaling laws, ship and mooring hydrodynamics and the metocean regime at the deployment site. A key aspect of the project will also be the development of a relatively low cost instrumental system, which can reliably provide high resolution measurements of the vessel heading and dynamic motion. The experimental data obtained through this project will be used to understand FPSO motions in waves, and to validate numerical models of vessel motions and to develop prediction tools. The project will be undertaken as part of the Woodside FutureLab RiverLab project in collaboration with Woodside.

46


Oldham, Carolyn, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Scallan, Bronwyn

Identify and quantify the impact of sand drift from land development in the Perth Metropolitan AreaDisciplines: Civil, EnvironmentalPre-requisite skills: NoneAt a time of population growth and increasing levels of urban infill development, environmental managers and planners need better data on the sources and pathways of sediment released into stormwater networks and Perth’s waterways and wetlands. Erosion and sand drift from public works, subdivisional works, housing construction and urban development are believed to be significant contributors, amongst others, to sedimentation in our stormwater infrastructure, waterways and wetlands. Increased sedimentation poses a major threat to the health of our iconic waterways, water quality and the businesses and lifestyles that depend upon them. Significant costs are incurred for repairs to stormwater infrastructure, street sweeping and compliance action in managing the issue. This project will review existing sediment discharge data and collect new data, and make recommendations for improved sediment management.

Pan, Jie, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Hongmei Sun, Dave Matthews and Kyle Saltmarsh

Finite element modelling (FEA) of the sound and vibration from a submarine modelDisciplines: Mechanical(1) Effect of the thrust-bearing bulkhead on the hall vibration and sound radiation of the model submarine; (2) effect of fluid loading on the vibration of the model submarine; (3) effect of dome head and cone tail structure on the vibration of the model submarine. (No. experimental rig and test data are available to guide the modelling)

Pan, Jie, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Hongmei Sun, Dave Matthews and Kyle Saltmarsh

Application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model the dynamic velocity and pressure of the flow by a bluff body above a flat surfaceDisciplines: Mechanical(1) effect of the distance between the circular cylinder and surface on the flow field; (2) effect of the distance between a rectangular cylinder and surface on the flow field; (3) effect of the distance between a finite plate and the surface on the flow field. (The measured velocity and

47


pressure in a wind tunnel are available for comparison)

Parish, Giacinta, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Nener, Brett, Professor; Asadnia, Mohsen, Dr

Advanced Sensing Technologies: Transistor-based chemical sensors for contaminant monitoringDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicReliable, economically accessible technology for in situ monitoring of contaminants in water has the power to transform health, industry, and society the world around. Applications of such monitoring range from process control monitoring and optimisation for industry, to water supply quality and wastewater monitoring, to environmental monitoring for resource extraction, and beyond.The microelectronics-based technology under investigation in this project will enable in situ, real-time contaminant monitoring that is accurate, reliable and low-cost. Semiconductor-based technology offers high performance and can also be mass produced at low-cost with flexible functionalisation allowing for a variety of analytes. Furthermore, it offers the ability to integrate multiple sensors into one chip, along with wireless communication technology for maximum benefit of the in situ monitoring capability.Students will work together on the one or more of following integrated project components (and will also work alongside students working in the adjacent projects on “transistor-based biosensors”).1. Physical, chemical, materials characterisation of functionalisation methods, particularly surface studies2. Electrical, chemical and physical characterisation and optimisation of functionalised ion sensors3. Mechanical, electrical and chemical characterisation and optimisation of packaging techniques4. Design and integration of complementary sensors (pH, temperature, drift compensation) to maximise reliability.5. Adapt device design, packaging, measurement protocols for reliable, reference electrode free, operation.The ability to monitor biological and chemical signals with an electronic device is a tremendously innovative approach for cell research and process control in pharmaceutical and microbiological production, and chemical sensing applications. A bio-friendly, chemically inert and stable III-Nitride-transistor-based bio/chem-sensor will be developed to detect responses to various specific compounds/chemicals, particularly through cell receptors. The successful development of this electronic biosensor technology has the potential to improve health and disease treatment through major improvements in throughput, precision, quality, speed and simplicity of, for example, drug and disease testing methods.

48


Pasternak, Elena, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Dyskin, Arcady, Professor

From auxetic materials to deployable structuresDisciplines: Civil, Materials, Mechanical Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element Modelling, Matlab, Digital photographyAuxetic materials are materials that contract laterally when compressed. The same property is characteristic of deployable structures which can be folded for transportation to take minimum space and then deployed to their intendant configuration. This project aims at investigating one class of such materials – composites with soft inclusions. It includes the Finite Element Modelling (good knowledge of the Finite Element Method using Abaqus or Ansys is essential) and experimentation with a 2D model of auxetic material with strain measurements using photogrammetry (knowledge of basics of digital photography is essential).

Pasternak, Elena, ProfessorCo-Supervisors: Dyskin, Arcady, Professor; Lehane, Barry, Professor

Mortarless structures based on topological interlockingDisciplines: Civil, Materials, Mechanical, Mining, Petroleum Pre-requisite skills: Finite Element Modelling, Matlab, AnsysTopological interlocking is a method of assembling structures from blocks or bricks of special shape such that the structural integrity is maintained by peripheral constraint without any bonding between the blocks. This project aims at investigating the use of such structures in foundations, mining support, as well as other civil engineering applications. It includes the Finite Element Modelling (good knowledge of the Finite Element Method using Abaqus or Ansys is essential) and experimentation models of mortarless structures with strain measurements using photogrammetry (knowledge of basics of digital photography is essential).

Pattiaratchi, Charitha, Professor

Underwater light climate using ocean glider dataDisciplines: Environmental, Ocean SystemsPre-requisite skills: Familiarity with MatlabThe Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders (ANFOG) based at UWA collect ocean data from around Australia. One of the data streams which is collected is the underwater light climate which is important an important measure of the water quality. This project will analyse data from different locations around Australia (Kimberley, Pilbara, Fremantle, South Australia, Tasmania, NSW and Great Barrier Reef) to develop patterns of the changing light climate on seasonal and inter-annual scales as well as understanding the contribution of phytoplankton and suspended sediment in controlling the light climate.

49


Putrino, Gino, Associate ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Silva, Dilusha, Professor

Determination of bacteria strains via microscope cameraDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwareThe identification of differing strains of the Pseudomonas bacteria can be critical to successful outcomes in treating Cystic Fibrosis.This project will investigate whether different strains can be identified through the vibrational movements of various Pseudomonas strains.A successful applicant will record video of various strains of bacteria, then apply computer vision processing concepts to identify differences in bacterial movement. Machine learning algorithms will also be applied in order to assist in the differentiation of bacteria strains.

Reynolds, Mark, ProfCo-Supervisor: Braunl, Thomas, Prof, French, Tim, Dr(also supervised with Dr Chris McDonald and external joint supervisors Yuchao Sun PATREC, and Dr Doina Olaru and Dr Brett Smith UWA Business School)

Predictive Modelling for Traffic DataDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Programming, preferably Python or C++ but not a must; Excel data analysis.Traditionally, road agencies did not have reliable and cost-effective ways to measure performance of the road network. In recent years, the prevalence of GPS devices has made crowd sourcing for road performance monitoring possible. However, there are still gaps in the data and questions on its reliability. This research will investigate ways to improve this by incorporating other data sources such as traffic counts in fixed locations or using predictive modelling to fill in the gaps. It could also explore topics such as whether it is possible to do short-term traffic congestions predictions or why vehicle speed sometime follows a bimodal distribution instead a normal distribution. The results will help Mainroads improve their traffic management practices.

Reynolds, Mark, ProfCo-Supervisor: Wang, Jingbo, Prof (Physics)

Quantum OptimisationDisciplines: AllPre-requisite skills: Good programming skills and a solid foundation in Physics.Quantum computing has come a long way since the discovery of Shor’s factoring and Grover’s search algorithms. We now know a quantum computer can solve extremely large set of linear equations, can simulate a wide range of Hamiltonians representing chemical and

50


biological systems, can perform various linear transformations in particular the Fourier transform, and can efficiently evaluate inner products and distances in ultra-high dimensional vector space. In this project, we will explore various quantum optimisation strategies, taking advantage of intrinsic quantum correlations and quantum parallelism. These are expected to be the quantum analogy of traditional methods, such as Nelder–Mead, genetic algorithm, differential evolution, simulated annealing, Monte Carlo, or machine learning. This project can involve several students, working as a team initially and then achieving individual goals.

Reynolds, Mark, ProfCo-Supervisor: Fourie, Andy, Prof

Optimising the performance of thickeners used in mining applicationsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Environmental, MiningPre-requisite skills: Fundamental engineering skills, such as those covered in the Engineering Science Units; some knowledge of geotechnical engineering preferred, but not essential. Programming, preferably Python or C++ but not a must; Excel data analysis.

Thickeners are used in the mining industry to separate water from the waste material (tailings) that remain after the mineral in question has been extracted. These thickeners are multi‐million dollar structures, yet their operational systems are inefficient. A recent student project at UWA highlighted the importance of better understanding how the nature of the ore body affects the performance of these thickeners, and the role of variability of the thickener feed in affecting performance of these structures. This project will require investigation of various topics that influence thickener performance, such as ore mineralogy, composition of synthetic additives, residence time, etc. There will be separate topics, with a distinct link between these topics being necessary to model and optimise performance.

Li, Jianxin, DrCo-Supervisor: Reynolds, Mark, Prof

Driver Safety Tracking App DevelopmentDisciplines: SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Programming Skills, e.g., PHP, JavaScript, Python (or Java), APP development skills.As reported by the government of Western Australia Road Safety Commission, 161 people died on WA roads in 2015, which consists of 87 in regional areas and 74 in the metropolitan area. More males died in regional WA than females, which is 63:24. Similarly, male to female is 55:19 in metropolitan. And the most people killed in crashes were aged between 25 and 29. The report also pointed out that in 2015, 60% of fatalities were a result of crashes with recorded driver behavioural factors.

51


In this project, we will develop a mobile phone APP to help customers tracking their driving behaviours when they are driving on the roads, particularly for the parents monitoring the young drivers. The APP will take as input multiple types of information about drivers, e.g., where they are driving, the traffic conditions, driving behaviours, stress/fatigue, etc... By analysing the information together, the APP will show a driving safety report to the driver at the end of each tour. In addition, the APP also makes report weekly or monthly in order to track and explain the drivers' driving safety well. At the end, a practical and effective driving risk assessment model is a must to be investigated.

Reynolds, Mark, Prof

Chinese Tones ClassifierDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Good programming skills, eg MatlabChinese language pronunciation involves (four or) five tones. This means that in addition to consonants and vowels, the pitch contour of a syllable is used to distinguish words from each other. This project involves identifying the tonal type of a spoken syllable from the pitch contour in sound recordings of words. The aim is to provide software that listens to a learner pronounce some words using tones. The program then gives feedback to the learner about whether the pronunciation is acceptable or, if not, then some explanation of the way that it is wrong.

Reynolds, Mark, Prof

AI Tutor for Introductory Programming unitDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Good programming skills

The project is to develop an intelligent tutoring system to give quick and individualised feedback to students learning some of the concepts in an introductory programming unit at UWA. The system will learn from interaction with students engaged in specific lab exercises, classifying the students' level of understanding of the concept and guiding them towards mastering the knowledge and finding the solution of the exercise.

Reynolds, Mark, ProfCo-Supervisor: Braunl, Thomas, Prof, French, Tim, Dr(also supervised with Dr Chris McDonald and external joint supervisors Yuchao Sun PATREC, and Dr Doina Olaru and Dr Brett Smith UWA Business School)

Simulations with Autonomous VehiclesDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Software

52


Pre-requisite skills: Programming, preferably Python or C++ but not a must; Excel data analysis.There has been a lot of hype and hope on Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). However, there is little research on what impact they might have on the transport system at a macro level. For example, many are hoping for a large increase on road capacities because of the precision driving capacity of the machines. However, current research suggests that AVs are going to have limited impact if they are not connected. Other researchers have suggested that the performance is at the cost of passenger comfort. If parameters of AVs have to be tuned down to take care of the latter, then the whole system might suffer. Currently, microsimulation is the best way to answer these questions. Students will create customised AV simulation models and use those models for scenario testing.

Reynolds, Mark, ProfCo-Supervisor: While, Lyndon, Dr, French, Tim, Dr

Genetic Algorithms for Engineering ApplicationsDisciplines: AllPre-requisite skills: Successful completion of at least a first programming unit in Matlab, Python or a similar language.Genetic and Evolutionary algorithms are general techniques for optimisation and search problems. The approach is inspired by the biological processes of natural selection and has successfully been applied to many problems across Engineering. These projects are to develop and tune specific algorithms to tackle some contemporary problems in applications such as haultruck despatch, mine train car dumper assignment, crew scheduling, delivery routing, power distribution and maintenance.

Sampson, David, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Karnowski, Karol, Research Fellow

OBEL: Nanoscope in a Needle - Raman spectroscopyDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Electrical & Electronic, MechatronicPre-requisite skills: Interest in instrumentation or experimental systems and broad basic skillsRaman spectroscopy of soft tissue is a powerful emerging medical tool, but cannot be applied deep in tissues today. We are developing a needle-based optical fibre Raman system that can image centimeters deep in tissue to capture spectral information on the sub-micrometre scale. This could be applied to anything from breast cancer to brain surgery to basic biology. This project will advance the spectroscopy system and explore issues in implementing it in optical fibre. It requires an interest in doing optical engineering of an advanced photonics-based instrument.

53


Sampson, David, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Wijesinghe, Philip, PhD student; Li, Qingyun, PhD student

OBEL: Multimodality optical imaging - elastography and birefringenceDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisite skills: Modelling and computation OR instrumentation and data analysis OR bothOBEL is a world leader in optical coherence tomography and its extensions, applied to cancer and other soft tissue imaging. Here we seek to combine two of these extensions, optical micro-elastography and polarisation-sensitive imaging into a single instrument. Both imaging tissue mechanics (micro-elastography) and tissue integrity and fibre alignment (polarisation-sensitive) provide additional image contrast, it is not clear whether these contrast mechanisms offer complementary or redundant information. This project will explore future opportunities in this space.

Sercombe, Tim, Prof

Powder Heater for Selective Laser MeltingDisciplines: Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicThis is the third continuation of a project which is aimed as designing, installing and testing a new powder heat system for a metal 3D printing technology known as Selective Laser Melting. Previous projects have designed and improved the design to the point where it is very close to be tested in the SLM machine. This project will undertake any final design modifications, before installing and testing it within the SLM. Finally, the effect of heater on the SLM process will be tested.

Sercombe, Tim, Prof

Improving the Surface Finish of Metal 3D Printed PartsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Materials, Mechanical3D Printing is most ideally suited to parts with a high degree of geometric complexity. This provides challenges when considering methods of improving surface finish. For metals, the surface finish is similar to that of a casting and it is one area where it falls behind conventional manufacturing technologies. In this project, you need to develop, test, and refine a surface finishing technique that is able to be used on complex parts.

54


Sercombe, Tim, Prof

Bioengineering: Measurement of Fictional Forces in Used Hip Replacement ImplantsDisciplines: Materials, MechanicalIt has been noted by local surgeons and also published in a single paper that vitamin E impregnated polyethylene used in hip replacement (acetabular component) results in a higher frictional force than traditional polyethylene. If the frictional forces are too high in the articulation, then the torque transferred to the implant bone interface at the acetabulum can cause implant loosening and revision – a catastrophic event for the patient. Basically too much force/movement and you can prevent bony ingrowth. Whilst measurement of the frictional forces have been done for new components, no one has done this for damaged or worn components, or a range of head sizes/materials The basis for the project is that if the frictional forces are too high in the articulation, then the torque transferred to the implant bone interface at the acetabulum can cause implant loosening and revision – a catastrophic event for the patient. Basically too much force/movement and you can prevent bony ingrowth.

Stanwix, Paul, DrCo-supervisors: Johns, Michael, Prof; Fear, Mark, Dr

Engineering skin diagnostics with single-sided Nuclear MagneticDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, MechanicalPre-requisites: data analysis and programming skillsWhilst clinical MRI scanners have revolutionised patient outcomes with high-resolution imaging, there are many conditions for which it is either too expensive or doesn't provide the required sensitivity. Skin disorders, for example, are often confined to a small region extending only a few millimetres below the surface, for which a whole-body scan would be excessive and inconvenient for the patient. This project will look at applying compact single-sided Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to the profiling of skin and assessing its viability as a diagnostic and monitoring tool.

Stanwix, Paul, Dr & May, Eric Prof.

Microwave Cavities for Phase Behaviour Sensing Disciplines: Chemical, Mechanical, Mechanical (Oil & Gas Major)Accurate knowledge of the phase behaviour of fluid mixtures is crucial for the design and operation of gas processing and transport systems. This project aims to develop innovative fluid sensing technology using high-precision microwave cavities, which will be capable of accurately investigating the behaviour of fluid mixtures near their phase boundaries. This technology will be used to generate reference-quality data, necessary for development and validation of equations-of-state, and to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in

55


phase transitions. Students working on this project will contribute to the design and modelling of microwave cavities, measurement of fluid mixture phase boundaries and phase fractions, and development of automated measurement and data analysis systems.

Tavner, Angus, Dr

Repairing infrastructure using adhesive jointsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Experience with composite materials would be an advantageIAS Group carry out repairs to infrastructure; one of the techniques they are exploring is gluing steel repair sections to existing steel infrastructure. Previous work has explored the strength of the bond between two steel surfaces, and found that certain epoxy resin systems were remarkably tolerant of surface contamination, e.g. dust, oil, water. The project will explore these effects further, and attempt to explain how a dust contaminated surface can in some cases provide a stronger adhesive bond than a clean surface.

Tavner, Angus, Dr

UWA Motorsport projectsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisite skills: The UWA Motorsport team designs and builds a racing car each year to compete in the Formula SAE competition. Much of the technical work required for the design of each car is carried out by students working on their final-year projects. Specific topics for these projects arise from discussions within the Technical group in the UWAM team. Applicants for the projects should be members of the UWAM team - or intend to become members very soon!

Tavner, Angus, Dr

Adhesion and durability of glued wooden jointsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Materials, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Experience with epoxy materials would be an advantage.Some preliminary investigations into the adhesion of glued wooden joints suggests that modern waterproof PVA glues can give joint strengths comparable to epoxy adhesives. PVA glue systems are much easier to use than epoxies. Questions remain about the best way to prepare surfaces for bonding, and about the relative durability of the two adhesive systems. This project will conduct experiments to answer these questions.

Tavner, Angus, Dr

56


Jet-fire testing of compsite pipe repairsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Civil, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Experience with composite materials would be an advantageIAS Group use composite materials to repair pipework; this makes protection of the repaired sections from potential catastrophic fires more difficult because the composites are less tolerant of high temperatures than the steel pipework. This project will use intumescent coatings to protect repaired sections of pipework and will test these samples in a small-scale jet-fire test apparatus.

Togneri, Roberto, Professor

Speech and Audio Signal ProcessingDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: signal processing, MATLAB programmingThis topic covers speech enhancement and blind source separation, including microphone array processing, and speech and speaker recognition and is recommended for students with an interest in audio signal enhancement, voice recognition or biometric identification. With this project you will develop the necessary basic research skills for hearing and speech assistive technologies, human-computer interaction systems, and signal enhancement for communications and audio systems. Students should have a good understanding of signal and systems and signal processing and be keen to carry out experiments or build working systems based on real and simulated data in the MATLAB or the programming environment required. Suggested specific projects and readings are listed in http://www.ee.uwa.edu.au/~roberto/research/SPaRProjects.html) and students are welcome to consider and propose alternatives in the first semester (for example, applications of signal processing detection, enhancement, recognition or prediction to biomedical signals, music processing, seismic signals, econometrics forecasting, communication signal transmission, power quality filtering)

Togneri, Roberto, Professor

Machine Learning and RecognitionDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: signal or image processing, MATLAB or Python programmingThis topic covers advanced techniques and latest "hot topic" areas in machine learning and statistical signal processing, spoken language systems, and biometric identification, and is recommended for students with a keen interest in computational mathematics, statistical signal processing theory or computer science. Students should have a good background in theoretical algorithm development and programming and a desire to work with cutting edge research in human-computer interaction, biometrics, language processing and advanced techniques for signal recognition and enhancement.

57


Suggested specific projects and readings are listed in http://www.ee.uwa.edu.au/~roberto/research/SPaRProjects.html) and students are welcome to consider and propose alternatives in the first semester (for example, machine learning for text language processing, biometric authentication, surveillance event detection, bioinformatics, acoustic scene analysis, source separation and enhancement)

Tong, Feifei, Dr

Vortex-induced vibrations of cylindrical structures at close proximity

Disciplines: Civil, Ocean Systems, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Hydrodynamics, fluid mechanics, interest in numerical modelingOne of most interesting phenomenons of viscous flow around cylindrical structures is the vortex-induced vibration (VIV), which have been attracting sustained research activities in fluid mechanics; and in recent decades, the study has been further driven by developments in coastal civil engineering, offshore oil and gas industry and ocean wave energy. Enormous effort has been expended on understanding the flow behaviors around a bluff body, where vortex shedding is expected to occur at certain condition. The vortex dynamics in the wake, along with the boundary layer development and separation around the structure, are believed to attribute to the vortex-induced vibrations. This project aims to provide a quantitative numerical analysis on vortex-induced vibrations of multiple rigidly-connected cylinders in the laminar flow regime. Depending on the cylinders' arrangement, the flow interference due to the proximity of structures may completely alter the feature of vortex-induced vibration compared to that of a single structure, and thus brings new understanding to this subject. Students involved in this project will have the opportunity to access the largest supercomputer in southern hemisphere. The project is suitable for students who aim to work in ocean&civil engineering or pursue a higher degree in fluid mechanics after their undergraduate study.

While, RL, DrCo-Supervisor: Reynolds, M, A/Prof, French, T, Dr

Vehicle Routing OptimisationDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePre-requisite skills: Confident programming skillsVehicle routing problems are ubiquitous in many industries; they involve scheduling a set of jobs amongst a fleet of vehicles whilst respecting various constraints to do with system capacity, delivery times, vehicle characteristics, etc. These problems become particularly interesting when the set of jobs varies dynamically, or where the system has to allow for failures of various types. These days, much real-time data is available to help with constructing these dynamic schedules, although fitting the data into the system in a useful

58


way remains a challenge. Several (large and small) companies are moving into this space: one example is Fleet Engineering, a company that recently moved onto the UWA campus under the IQ programme. In this project you will investigate VRPs in various contexts, and you will use computational optimisation technologies that combine data of various types to come up with good solutions to these problems.

Wittek, Adam, Prof

Biomechanical Simulations for Remote (Robotic) Surgery: Needle-Tissue Interactions and Real-Time ComputationsDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisites: Mechanical and Civil Engineering students need to have sound background in Solid Mechanics (ENSC3004). Prior experience with finite element analysis is helpful but not a requirement. All students involved in the project need to have sound background in Numerical Methods (GENG4405).Integration of computing and robotics has been recognised as one of the key elements of “the wave of third industrial revolution” (a term used in the article in “The Economist” from October 4th, 2014) that affects not only traditional engineering applications but also health care delivery (e.g. surgery).

So far application of surgical robots has been limited. Surgical tool placement/insertion in the body organs (such as e.g. needle insertion when conducting biopsy) is a challenging task that requires to account for changes in the target position caused by organ deformation due to interactions between a surgical tool and the tissue. One may attempt to track a surgical target (e.g. tumour) and tool using medical imaging. However, intraoperative 3D imaging (magnetic resonance imaging MRI, computed tomography, ultrasound US) for surgical tracking is limited using the equipment in standard operating theatres. Predicting the intraoperative organ/tissue deformations using biomechanical can augment the currently used imaging techniques for intraoperative surgical tracking.

This project focuses on:• Fast (“real-time”) biomechanical algorithms and models for predicting intraoperative organ/tissue deformations due to interactions with a surgical tool;• Integration of biomechanical models with medical image processing software;• Integration of biomechanical models with robotic systems;• Evaluation of the proposed modelling and hardware solutions using experiments on mechanical phantoms of body tissues/organs.

The project will be conducted as a part of collaboration between the Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory at the University of Western Australia and Robotics Design Laboratory at the University of Queensland. Note: The study may involve manufacturing of the brain phantom.

59


Wittek, Adam, Prof

Modelling of Soft Tissue Damage/Failure for Surgery SimulationDisciplines: Civil, MechanicalPre-requisites: Solid Mechanics (ENSC3004) and Numerical Methods (GENG4405). Prior experience with finite element analysis is helpful, but is not a requirement.Planning surgery is seemingly simple: A surgical tool (e.g. needle) is aimed at anatomical target whose position is determined from the preoperative radiographic images. In reality, however, reaching the target requires advanced surgical skills as the target position changes under the load imposed by the tool. Therefore, it is widely acknowledged that technology that makes it possible to predict the forces acting on the surgical tool (e.g. needle) and change of target position during surgery is likely to appreciably improve efficiency and decrease the risk of side effects of a number of surgical procedures, e.g., brain surgery, biopsy, lumbar anaesthesia etc. In a surgical procedure (such as e.g. needle insertion), a surgeon punctures/cuts an organ in order to, e.g., remove the diseased tissue, deliver drugs etc. Therefore, any attempt to model surgery must include the tissue damage/failure, which necessitates taking into account large tissue deformations and discontinuities due to damage/failure. This is a very challenging problem of computational continuum mechanics. In this project, this problem will be solved using finite element method (FEM) and/or mesless methods as these methods have been successfully applied in modelling of soft continua (e.g. rubbers, soft tissues) subjected to large deformations and enable accurate of complex geometry of representation of complex geometry of the analysed continua.

Wittek, Adam, ProfCo-supervisor: Singh, Surya, Dr (University of Queensland)

Evaluation of Biomedical Simulations for Remote (Robotic) Surgery: Determining Deformations within the Organ (Brain) PhantomDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPre-requisites: Mechanical and Civil Engineering students need to have sound background in Solid Mechanics (ENSC3004) and feel confident in working with electronic circuits. All students involved in the project need to have sound background in Numerical Methods (GENG4405).Integration of computing and robotics has been recognised as one of the key elements of “the wave of third industrial revolution” (a term used in the article in “The Economist” from October 4th, 2014) that affects not only traditional engineering applications but also health care delivery (e.g. surgery).So far application of surgical robots has been limited. Surgical tool placement/insertion in the body organs (such as e.g. needle insertion when conducting biopsy) is a challenging task that requires to account for changes in the target position caused by organ deformation due to interactions between a surgical tool and the tissue. One may attempt to track a surgical target (e.g. tumour) and tool using medical imaging. However, intraoperative 3D imaging

60


(magnetic resonance imaging MRI, computed tomography, ultrasound US) for surgical tracking is limited using the equipment in standard operating theatres. Predicting the intraoperative organ/tissue deformations using biomechanical can augment the currently used imaging techniques for surgical tracking. Such predictions need to be validated. Although the final validation needs be done against the data obtained using the actual organs/tissue, there are numerous technical (postmortem tissue decay, specimens cannot be moved between different sites) and ethical constraints/challenges when acquiring such data. Therefore, it is not uncommon to use mechanical phantoms of the body organs in the initial validation stage. The validation involves measuring of the forces acting on surgical tools and determining deformations within the body organ (phantom) caused by the tool. Although numerous well-established methods for determining such deformation exist, many of them (including MRI and X-ray/CT) impractical (high cost, strong electromagnetic field, radiation risk) in the context of research on surgical robots. This project focuses on creating/development of robust and cost effective method/methods for determining deformations within the brain phantom subjected to loads compatible with those occurring during neurosurgical procedures.The project will be conducted as a part of collaboration between the Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory at the University of Western Australia and Robotics Design Laboratory at the University of Queensland. Note: The study may involve manufacturing of the brain phantom.

Yang, Hong, Prof

Corrosion Management of Subsea Pipelines Under Wet ParkingDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Materials

This final year project is a joint research undertaken between Woodside Energy Limited (WEL) and UWA since early 2015. The project concerns with the corrosion monitoring and assessment of wet parked pipeline testing spools, and is moving into the final phase of the testing. The project students will be involved in both site operations (probe data collections, fluid and sediment sampling, and test spool decommissioning) and laboratory testing and analysis.

Zhang, Dongke, ProfCo-supervisors: Zhang, Yang, Dr, Zhang, Zhezi, Dr

Catalytic cracking of tar over a bed of biochar using tar model compoundsDisciplines: Chemical 7 Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Mining, Oil & Gas, PetroleumTar is generated in biomass pyrolysis and gasification processes and is finally present in the pyrolysis gas, resulting in the blocking and corrosion problems in the downstream processes. It is of significance to develop an economic and sustainable method to crack the tar to

61


improve the quality and quantity of pyrolysis gaseous products. As biochar is a low-cost by-product from pyrolysis with high catalytic activity, this project will focus on the catalytic cracking of tar over a bed of biochar using tar model compound such as toluene.

Sub-project 1: Effect of cracking temperature on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product compositionThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of cracking temperature on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition. Tar cracking experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at different cracking temperatures. The tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition will be measured using GC-MS and GC-TCD/FID located at Centre for Energy of UWA. This sub-project is expected to provide an insightful understanding of the effect of cracking temperature on the tar cracking process.

Sub-project 2: Effect of residence time on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product compositionThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of residence time on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition. Tar cracking experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at different residence times. The tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition will be measured using GC-MS and GC-TCD/FID located at Centre for Energy of UWA. This sub-project is expected to provide an insightful understanding of the effect of residence time on the tar cracking process.

Sub-project 3: Effect of steam and oxygen additions on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product compositionThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of steam and oxygen addition on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition. Tar cracking experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor with steam and oxygen additions. The tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition will be measured using GC-MS and GC-TCD/FID located at Centre for Energy of UWA. This sub-project is expected to provide an insightful understanding of the effect of steam and oxygen additions on the tar cracking process.

Sub-project 4: Effect of biochar particle size on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product compositionThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of biochar particle size on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition. Tar cracking experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor while biochar with different particle sizes will used as catalysts. The tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition will be measured using GC-MS and GC-TCD/FID located at Centre for Energy of UWA. This sub-project is expected to provide an insightful understanding of the effect of biochar particle size on the tar cracking process.

62


Zhang, Dongke, ProfCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming, Dr & Zhang, Zhezi, Dr

Pyrolysis of Spent TyresDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, PetroleumSpent tyres discarded in Australia amounts to more than 400,000 tonnes per annum. Being highly flammable, rich in sulphur and capable of releasing polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other toxins if burnt uncontrolledly, spent tyres in landfills and stockpiles pose serious environmental hazards and health risks. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the pyrolysis of spent tyres for the production of high value carbon materials and chemicals.

Sub-project 1: Pyrolysis of actual spent tyresThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature and heating rate on the yield and composition of pyrolysis products of actual spent tyres. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor. The compositions of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis liquid will be analysed using GC-MS.

Sub-project 2: Pyrolysis of rubberThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature and heating rate on the yield and composition of pyrolysis products of rubber, a major component of spent tyres. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor. The compositions of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis liquid will be analysed using GC-MS.

Sub-project 3: Pyrolysis of fibreThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature and heating rate on the yield and composition of pyrolysis products of fibre, a key component of actual spent tyres. The pyrolysis will be performed in a TGA, PyroProbe and fixed bed reactor. The compositions of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis liquid will be analysed using GC-MS.

Sub-project 4: Effect of wire on the pyrolysis of spent tyresThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of wire on the yield and composition of pyrolysis products spent tyres. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor using actual spent tyre and spent tyre with wire removed. The compositions of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis liquid will be analysed using GC-MS.

Zhang, Dongke, ProfCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming, Dr & Zhang, Yang, Dr

Rheological properties and combustion characterisation of biochar based slurry fuelsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Mining, Oil & Gas, PetroleumBiochar is a carbon-rich by-product of biomass pyrolysis. One of the feasible ways to utilise biochar is to burn it in diesel engine or other combustors, for example, in the form of biochar-

63


water slurry fuels. However, because of the low volatile content, the ignition of biochar-water slurry fuels tends to be difficult thus needs to be improved. Adding algae or biooil into biochar-water slurry fuels will bring extra volatiles so will help to improve its ignition behaviour. Meanwhile, the rheological properties of biochar-water slurry fuels may also be change due to the addition of algae or biooil. Therefore, this project will investigate the rheological properties and combustion characteristics of biochar based slurry fuels.

Sub-topic 1: Preparation and rheological properties of biochar-algae-water slurry fuels This project will study the preparation and rheological characteristic of pine sawdust biochar- algae slurry fuel. The pine sawdust biochar will be crushed and sieved into particles with different size fractions. The biochar-water slurry fuels will be firstly prepared and the algae will be added into the slurry fuels as additives. The effect of algae loading on the rheological properties of biochar-water slurry fuels will be investigated. The rheological properties include viscosity, yield stress and stability of the slurry fuel.

Sub-topic 2: Preparation and rheological properties of biochar-biooil-water slurry fuelsThis project will study the preparation and rheological characteristic of pine sawdust biochar-biooil slurry fuel. The pine sawdust biochar will be crushed and sieved into particles with different size fractions. The biochar particles prepared will be mixed with biooil with the addition of an additive to form biochar-biooil slurry fuel. The rheological properties of the slurry fuel, including viscosity, yield stress and stability will be studied. The effect of particle size, biooil concentration and additives on the rheological properties will be investigated.

Sub-topic 3: Ignition and combustion characteristics of biochar-algae-water slurry fuelsThis project will study ignition and combustion characteristic of droplets of pine sawdust biochar-algae slurry fuel in a hot tube furnace. The ignition and combustion characteristics include ignition delay period, burning time and burning rate of droplets. The effect of furnace temperature, algae content in the slurry fuel and droplet size on the ignition and combustion characteristics will be investigated.

Sub-topic 4: Ignition and combustion characteristics of biochar-biooil-water slurry fuelsThis project will study ignition and combustion characteristic of droplets of pine sawdust biochar-biooil slurry fuel in a hot tube furnace. The ignition and combustion characteristics include ignition delay period, burning time and burning rate of droplets. The effect of furnace temperature, biooilcontent in the slurry fuel and droplet size on the ignition and combustion characteristics of biochar-biooil slurry fuels will be investigated.

Zhang, Yang, DrCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming, Dr & Zhang, Dongke, Prof

Combustion characteristics of biomass pyrolysis gasDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Mining, oil & Gas, PetroleumThis project will study the ignition and extinction of pyrolysis gas (normally containing H2, CO, CH4, CO2, N2, H2O, etc.). The expected outcomes of this project are a set of systematic

64


experimental data and a profound knowledge of combustion characteristics of biomass pyrolysis gas.

Sub-project 1: The effect of H2/CO ratio on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gasIgnition temperature is the lowest temperature at which the ignition of a combustible substance occurs. The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of H2/CO ratio in the fuel on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gas. The experiment will be conducted using a Counterflow flame burner at various H2/CO ratios. This sub-project is expected to produce a set of systematic data that can be used to validate numerical models and an insightful understanding of the mechanism of H2/CO ratio effect on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gas.

Sub-project 2: The effect of inert dilution on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gasPyrolysis gas usually contains a large amount (30% - 70%) of inert diluents (CO2, N2, H2O). The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of inert dilution on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gas. Similar to sub-project 1, the experiment will be conducted using the Counterflow flame burner at various dilution ratios. This sub-project is expected to produce a set of systematic data that can be used to validate numerical models and an insightful understanding of the mechanism of dilution effect on the ignition temperature of pyrolysis gas.

Sub-project 3: The effect of H2/CO ratio on the extinction limit of pyrolysis gasExtinction limit is defined as the minimum fuel concentration that is able to sustain the flame propagation. The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of H2/CO ratio in the fuel on the extinction limit of pyrolysis gas. The experimentation will be conducted using the Counterflow flame burner at various H2/CO ratios. This sub-project is expected to produce a set of systematic data and an insightful understanding of the mechanism of H2/CO ratio effect on the extinction limit of pyrolysis gas.

Sub- project 4: The effect of inert dilution upon the extinction limit of pyrolysis gasThe objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of inert dilution on the extinction limit of pyrolysis gas. The experimentation will be conducted using the counterflow flame burner at various dilution ratios. This sub-project is expected to produce a set of systematic data and an insightful understanding of the mechanism of dilution effect on the extinction limit of pyrolysis gas.

Zhou, Tongming, A/Prof

VIV suppression and wake flow characteristics of a pipeline enclosed in a screen shroud Disciplines: Civil, MechanicalPre-requisite skills: Tests in water flume using PIV and data analysisVortex shedding is a phenomenon that occurs when a flow passes a bluff body. The shedding process can induce vibration, which, at resonance, can result in excessive motion and

65


possible structural failure. Therefore, a bluff body, which may experience strong wind or water flow, must be designed such that excessive motion due to vortex shedding can be prevented or mitigated. As a result, the study of vortex shedding from bluff bodies has significant engineering applications. In the present project, students will first examine of effectiveness of a screen cylinder on VIV reduction in a big wind tunnel. Then more detailed study on the wake structures will be conducted in a water flume using Particle Image Velocimetry to examine the vortex formation mechanisms in the near wake. These results will be used to explain the results obtained in the VIV test.

Zhou, Tongming, A/Prof

Suppression of vortex-induced vibration of a pipeline using passive methods Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Oil & GasPre-requisite skills: Wind tunnel tests and data analysisVortex shedding is a phenomenon that occurs when a flow passes a bluff body. The shedding process can induce vibration (which is normally termed as vortex-induced vibration, or VIV), which, at resonance, can result in excessive motion and possible structural failure. Therefore, a bluff body, which may experience strong wind or water flow, must be designed such that excessive motion due to vortex shedding can be prevented or mitigated. In the present project, various passive methods, for example, by adding various roughness to the surface of a pipeline, will be tested on their effectiveness for VIV reduction. These methods may include hard roughness (to represent roughness of the pipe) and soft roughness (to represent marine growth).

Zhu, Mingming, DrCo-supervisors: Ma, Yu, Dr & Zhang, Dongke, Prof

Effect of oxygenates on the combustion characteristics and soot formation during combustion of dieselDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Mining, Oil & Gas, PetroleumThis project aims to evaluate and compare the effect of molecular structures of oxygenates on the combustion characteristics and soot formation during combustion process of diesel using single droplet combustion techniques. The butanol and its isomers will be studied.Sub-topic 1: Study on the effect of n-butanol and sec-butanol on the combustion characteristics of single droplets of dieselThe effect of diesel/methyl palmitate blending ratio on the ignition delay, flame temperature, burning rates of single droplets of diesel will be investigated at different ambient temperatures.

66


Sub-topic 2: Study on the effect of n-butanol and sec-butanol on the soot formation of single droplets of diesel The effect of diesel/methyl palmitate blending ratio on the soot intensity and particle size of single droplets of diesel will be investigated at different ambient temperatures.

Sub-topic 3: Study on the effect of tert-butanol and isobutanol on the combustion characteristics of single droplets of dieselThe effect of diesel/methyl oleate blending ratio on the ignition delay, flame temperature, burning rates of single droplets of diesel will be investigated at different ambient temperatures.

Sub-topic 4: Study on the effect of tert-butanol and isobutanol on the soot formation of single droplets of dieselThe effect of diesel/methyl oleate blending ratio on the soot intensity and particle size of single droplets of diesel will be investigated at different ambient temperatures.

67


engineering, computing and · web viewflow assurance and natural gas hydrates disciplines:...

Documents