abstracts capstone project presentations broadway …

Capstone Project D/HD Presentation Day Draft Only

1

Faculty of Engineering

and Information Technology

ABSTRACTS

CAPSTONE PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Autumn Semester 2013

Broadway Campus

27th

& 28th

June 2013


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Investigation of the DICER 1500 Indirect Evaporative Cooling System for Future

Completion at the University of Technology, Sydney (12cp)

Ricky Anthony Bertinato - A13-048

Supervisor: John Dartnall

Assessor: Guang Hong

Major: Mechanical

Global warming is a real issue facing the world today, as too is the rising demand in energy

consumption. Air conditioning is an accepted means of cooling globally, however comes at the

expense of high energy usage. In peak heat waves, the overwhelming surge in electrical demand

is damaging and unsustainable. A new energy-efficient method of cooling is required to replace

the current mechanical vapor-compression model.

The DICER1500 indirect evaporative cooling unit is a possible solution to meet the cooling

needs for the Australian public, and internationally. This is achievable by the units ability to

provide sufficient comfort cooling with significantly smaller energy consumption. The unit is

currently installed, however it is yet to have its performance validated.

The project to install and validate the DICER1500 unit began in 2004, with John Dartnall,

leading the project, and John McNab, the designer of the unit. Since then the unit has been

fabricated, transported and installed at the University of Technology, Sydney. The unit has been

worked on for many of the following years but the validation component is still to reach

completion. This is due to the requirement of expensive instrumentation and unavailable

funding.

My project has involved an investigation of the unit to assess the condition of unit components

which are currently installed, as well as what remaining instrumentation is required.

Analysis of the system has allowed me to identify the extent of the work which is required to

complete the instrumentation for evaluating the unit. My report includes recommended

maintenance and/or replacement of key system components and the selection of outstanding

instrumentation which is to be purchased and installed. My work provides all necessary

documentation to enable both testing and continued maintenance of the air conditioning system.

My documentation will allow the final stage of instruction to be completed so that cooling

performance can be monitored and validated. The unit‟s cooling performance is expected to

excel in extreme hot conditions. This performance characteristic makes the DICER1500 a

viable solution as a standalone cooling unit or as a hybrid system, when coupled with a

conventional vapor-compression unit.


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Feasibility Study into the Relief or Prevention of Chronic Xerostomia Caused by

Irradiation of the Head, Neck, and Throat - (12cp)

Haydn Bottle - S12-013

Supervisor: Sarath Kodagoda

Assessor: Shoudong Huang

Major: Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Major BEBBus and BEBSc

Xerostomia is a disabling condition that affects a significant proportion of the population.

Causes are varied, and can be distributed randomly throughout the populous, with different

degrees of effect and severity. Many of the causes are temporary, and can be alleviated or

removed by identifying the causal relationship and addressing the issue. Some causes are non-

treatable, due to the aetiology of xerostomia being irreversible, untreatable or unidentifiable.

This project aims to develop an understanding of the root causes of xerostomia in a broad sense,

and then to focus on the specific consequences of xerostomia caused by irradiation of the head,

neck and throat, specifically in its relationship towards sleep. This undertaking is being done in

the context of engineering from first principles. In order to understand the unique circumstances

surrounding this condition to better evaluate understand and hopefully propose a path forward

for sufferers of more severe and untreatable stages in the condition, there will be a significant

academic development.

The work being undertaken here will demonstrate through extensive theoretical research, as

well as from the contribution of expert opinion that the treatment of xerostomia is a difficult and

sophisticated issue, further exacerbated by the complexity of radiation inducing the condition.

There is currently no significant treatment for xerostomia that is available to all causes for the

condition.

The tools used evaluate this project are academic, and will provide the framework for further

engineering research. The research gathered during the course of this project has been used to

develop, and analyse several first principles, pre-prototype designs in the hopes of providing

engineering requirements and specifications so that future work can be undertaken. By

following the best available information the most suitable candidate for further exploration has

been selected and proposed as a potential step in a Xerostomia solution.


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Monitoring and Control of Cardio-Vascular System during Bicycle Exercise - (12cp)

Thomas Burns - S12-015

Supervisor: Steven Su

Assessor: Li Li

Major: Electrical Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

The Australian Population is aging. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the median

age of an Australian today is 36.6 Years. As the population ages we become more susceptible to

various diseases and illnesses, a prime example of this is cardiovascular disease. Coronary

Heart disease alone was responsible for 17% of all deaths in 2007 and affects over 600 000

Australians.

A key treatment of this disease is exercise training, which is recommended between 2-6 times a

week. This exercise is normally performed under the supervision of a doctor in order to ensure

that the exercise is beneficial without being too strenuous, as well as to ensure no cardiac

episodes occur. This process is expensive in terms of time and money for both the doctor and

the patient, as the patient must travel to a specialist facility and requires constant supervision

from a doctor.

An increasing array of small low cost computing platforms such as Android and iOS, have

given rise to a platform on which remote health monitoring solutions can be built. These

systems can reduce the cost rehabilitation.

Android is an open source mobile operating system designed by Google. It currently dominates

the market and is emerging as a health services platform.

This project has been developed in collaboration with the CSIRO. Its base platform is a

Motorola Xoom 2 table PC. This device can wirelessly collects patient cardiac data and

produces an audible output in order to adjust the load placed upon the patient while exercising.

An integral type control has been proposed and implemented in the developed system to

optimize the effect of exercise and ensure the exercise intensity within the safe region.

As this platform contains both 3G and Wi-Fi transceivers it can be used to transmit data back to

the patients and healthcare professional. Furthermore, if the patient experiences excess

difficulty, they have the option of initiating a video call to seek assistance.


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Submersible Pylon Inspection Robot – Designing a Supervised Autonomous Solution for

Inspection and Servicing of Underwater Infrastructure - (12cp)

David Chadwick - S12-021

Supervisor: Dikai Liu

Assessor: Gamini Dissanayake

Major: Mechanical Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

The regular inspection and maintenance of bridges is necessary to meet their intended lifetime

and ensure safety. The greater majority of bridges that span bodies of water have part of the

structure submerged. Traditionally human divers are employed to maintain and inspect the

submerged structure. However this work is laborious and dangerous, presenting a problem in

limited operating times and the possibility of serious injury. A supervised autonomous robotic

system provides a promising and feasible solution.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) designs vary

greatly to provide flexibility in operational tasking. However, no AUV has been designed to

perform the complex task of underwater pylon servicing. Given the capability gap in existing

technology and the task requirements, the question posed is; can a supervised AUV be

developed to perform these tasks effectively?

The aim of this project is to produce a supervised autonomous robotic solution for underwater

maintenance and inspection of structures. In order to achieve this, the complex problem must be

analysed and system requirements must be derived. The overall concept design must be

developed. Auxiliary systems, control systems, machine sensing, and a method of adhesion

must be developed, prototyped, and tested. The entire system must be capable of operating in a

hostile and challenging underwater environment.

This capstone provides findings from research into current devices and procedures used to

perform underwater pylon servicing. A detailed constraints analysis of the problem and

recommendations for system requirements is presented. Current literature has been reviewed to

determine the novelty of the research and the results discussed. An overall concept design is

presented with a discussion on its evolution of development and options for several sub-system

solutions explored. A kinematic analysis of one manipulator arm is presented and a way

forward for continued development of the entire design suggested.


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Condition Assessment of Water Mains (Cast Iron -Cement Lined) - (12cp)

Kabiyatri Chapagain - S12-024

Supervisor: Huu Hao Ngo

Assessor: Wenshan Guo

Major: Civil Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

Many water utilities have identified the need to replace, repair or rehabilitate the cast iron pipes

as the average age of these water mains increase. However, resources required to renew these

aging water distribution systems are large but are limitedly available. An efficient asset

management strategy that inspects and monitors the structural and functional state of these

assets is important. A well-defined proactive condition assessment tool has to be adopted to

prevent failure and improve the reliability, safety and efficiency of water supply.

The purpose of this project is to compile the condition assessment technologies adopted by

water utilities and to identify the gaps that need to be addressed. A comprehensive list of

existing technologies is provided along with their advantages and limitations. Linear

Polarisation Resistance (LPR) is adopted for the assessment of buried Cast Iron Cement Lined

(CICL) water mains. Determining the reliability of this assessment tool is the key point of the

project in addition to the challenges and limitations associated with the assessment tool.

Additionally, the evaluation of the assessment tool and its deficits are addressed for further

investigation.

The results obtained by LPR and the available historical data about the pipe performance and

failure from utility‟s database are analysed. LPR can be adopted as a tool for asset replacement

decision tool for critical assets where no failure is tolerable but for non-critical assets, decisions

made on the basis of actual history of failure and cost benefit analysis could be more

economical. Although a substantial amount of work and effort has been invested in developing

approaches and tools for the condition assessment of water mains, increased field

demonstrations and further research is required to overcome these barriers and challenges.


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Design and Development of an Aurecon Australia Competency System - (12cp)

Gideon Chapman - A13-041

Supervisor: Ravin Bagia

Assessor: Mary Walmsley


Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW), the governing transport agency of the New South

Wales Government, is changing their competency requirements for rail infrastructure projects.

From 1 July 2013 the newly formed Asset Standards Authority (ASA), an autonomous agency

of TfNSW, will begin formal release of these new requirements. Engineering contractors will

have to have a robust, self-managed competency system in place in order to attain qualification

as an Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO). Contractors such as Aurecon Australia,

who do not have AEO status, will no longer be eligible to undertake TfNSW rail infrastructure

projects.

This Capstone Project examines Aurecon Australia‟s existing rail competency management

system, the Engineers Australia Competency Standards, and the new ASA/TfNSW

requirements and presents a proposal to Aurecon for a new company-wide competency

management system.

This project begins with a thorough analysis of Aurecon‟s existing competency system in which

its elements and processes are scrutinised to develop a preliminary list of requirements. The

requirements for obtaining AEO status under TfNSW have been added, along with additional

requirements to help align the new system to the Engineers Australia Competency Standards.

Further analysis includes identification of potential implementation issues, particularly with

respect to change management and successful adoption of the new system. Other issues such as

privacy of information and accessibility are also covered.

Finally, this proposal takes the form of a recommendation to Aurecon to implement a

Competency Enterprise Database System. It clearly outlines the benefits of the proposed

internet-based data system and how it satisfies Aurecon‟s competency management

requirements. The proposal outlines how the new system facilitates the process by which

Aurecon may gain AEO status, as well as assist their employees in managing and developing

their competencies.


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The Soil Landscape Mapping Process - Past, Present and Future - (12cp)

Emilio Charles - A13-029

Supervisor: Jane Brennan

Assessor: Pam Hazelton


The continued trend of population growth and housing shortages in outer CBD areas of

Australian cities has created an exponential demand for urbanised landscapes. The problem

caused by this demand is that land with greater suitability for a variety of purposes is used

singularly for residential or urban development with scant regard for alternatives, such as

agriculture, recreation or preservation. This creates a lack of land for these purposes. A

sustainable solution must be found; one that considers the capacity of the landscape without

degrading the quality of its soil and water resources. As a part of this continued urban

expansion, Soil Landscape Mapping is one of the essential tools of land use planning that

ensures sustainable growth.

However, existing Soil Landscape Maps, whether manual or digital, are limited in its

accessibility to individuals and non-expert stakeholders. There is either limited soil mapping

information, or where available, it is often difficult to interpret by end users for their specific

purpose.

The aim of this capstone thesis is to examine the general methodologies and processes used to

develop soil landscape maps created for land-use planning. In doing so, the report will

rationalise and simplify the mapping process utilised by soil scientists and surveyors. The core

hypothesis of this report is to determine whether it is feasible to automate the Soil Landscape

Mapping process using Digital Soil Mapping. With sufficient soil and landscape data, and logic

based reasoning to emulate a soil surveyor‟s decision making process, the Soil Landscape

Mapping process would be one step closer in making soil information more accessible to end

users.


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Comparison of Sydney’s Public Transportation System to Hong Kong’s Public

Transportation Systems (12cp)

Ho Lung Cheung - S12-025

Supervisor: Ken Halstead

Assessor: Ali Saleh

Major: Civil Engineering

Abstract

Public transportation is needed in every city to assist the movement of its population. Despite

Sydney being a well-developed city, but its public transport network is underdeveloped causing

much irritation with Sydney‟s population. Sydney's current public transportation system is

under strain and has reached its capacity. Reforms, upgrades and new systems are required to

improve it for the current needs and prepare it for predicted population growth.

In Sydney, public transport development has been stagnant for many years; while in Hong

Kong, the public transport has gone through numerous changes and development. This project

aims to outline advantages of Hong Kong's public transportation and recommend some of these

advantages for Sydney's transport system.

The purpose of this report is to analysis each mode of transport used in each city through its

capacity, efficiency and effectiveness. Then an analysis will be conducted on the entire

transportation infrastructure. The system analysis will focus on convenience and ease of use.

The findings of this report are based on data provided by the government regarding Sydney‟s

commercial, residential and industrial centres. For example Sydney‟s current public transports‟

fares are based on zonal system this is due to the focus on Sydney‟s CBD as the commercial

centre. However, new commercial centres such as Chatswood and Parramatta are emerging.

This report suggests developing transport fare system towards travel distance.

While there are countless other reports analysing multiple cities, this report has been

specifically set for Sydney. This research could also be used as a reference guide to integrate

new up-and-coming technologies, resulting in a further polished transport system.


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Assessment of Strength and Ductility Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Concretes

Incorporating Steel, Plastic and Glass Fibres - (12cp)

Todd Clarke - A13-018

Supervisor: Kirk Vessalas

Assessor: Robert McLaughlan


The importance of concrete to modern construction cannot be understated. Any slight

modifications to concrete mix design can lead to long-term implications in service which can

compromise strength and durability. Much research has been carried out to improve the

properties of concrete to reduce its economic cost and adverse effect on the environment. One

effective method of improving the properties of concrete involves the use of fibres. The addition

of fibres in fibre reinforced concrete is known to increase the flexural and tensile strengths, and

post-cracking ductility. Steel fibres are often used to increase the flexural toughness of concrete

while plastic and glass fibers are commonly used as a means to reduce cracking from shrinkage.

Recently, plastic and glass fibres have been proposed as alternatives to steel fibres in structural

applications due to their lower cost and enhanced resistance to chemical attack. This

investigation aims to evaluate the mechanical properties of concrete incorporating different

volumetric additions of steel, plastic and glass fibres.

Three structural fibres have been selected for evaluation in this study: flat-end stainless steel,

high-performance polymer and high-performance alkali resistant glass fibres. These fibres have

been dosed at 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6% by volume of total concrete. For comparison, a control mix

devoid of fibres has also been included. All mixes were tested for compressive and flexural

strengths at 28 and 56 days curing. The benefit of fibre addition to concrete is clearly

demonstrated by improved flexural strength. Compared to the control, the flexural strength of

fibre reinforced concrete containing steel, plastic and glass fibres was observed to increase up to

12%, 11% and 19%, respectively. Results for structural members also signify that post-cracking

ductility increased for steel and plastic fibre additions to concrete. This investigation signifies

the use of plastic and glass fibres in concrete for structural applications for ultimately reducing

member size and lowering the economic cost of producing concrete.


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Investigating the Hydraulic Roughness of Loop Profile - (12cp)

Matthew Cremona - S12-031

Supervisor: Ali Keshavarzi

Assessor: Hadi Khabbaz


Since the introduction of trenchless technology into the sewer rehabilitation industry, innovative

technologies have been developed to address the need for cost effective and low disruptive

sewer rehabilitation. Loop Profile, a novel spirally wound trenchless technology, was developed

by Interflow to rehabilitate sewer pipelines incorporating bends. It features a unique „loop‟,

which, when the profile is spirally wound into the deteriorated host pipe, enables the Loop

Profile pipe to contract and extend at the loop to form the shape of the bend.

However, concern had been raised about the „loop‟ potentially acting as a contraction to flow

through the pipe. Therefore, the aim of the Capstone project was to conduct an experimental

investigation to measure the hydraulic roughness of Loop Profile. From this investigation, the

measured roughness of Loop Profile would be compared against roughness values of PVC,

Expanda Profile and concrete to determine the applicability of Loop Profile as a trenchless

rehabilitation technology.

In development of a methodology, it was found that the standard for spirally wound pipes, I.S

EN13566-7:2007 failed to propose a methodology for determination of hydraulic roughness.

Therefore, the secondary aim of the project was to address this limitation through development

of a certified experimental methodology for investigating hydraulic roughness.

The roughness of Loop Profile was calculated through measurement of head losses occurring

throughout a Loop Profile pipe. Pressure measurements were taken from five points along the

pipe and substituted into roughness equations to determine the friction coefficients. These

coefficients were then compared against appropriate roughness coefficients for PVC, Expanda

Profile and concrete.

The project successfully established a methodology for calculating hydraulic roughness and

accurately determined the hydraulic roughness of Loop Profile. The comparison illustrated that

the roughness of Loop Profile was within an acceptable range and certified the profile as an

acceptable rehabilitation technology.


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Development of Engineered Bamboo for Structural Application - (12cp)

Srdjan Djukic - S12-038

Supervisor: Rijun Shrestha

Assessor: Emre Erkmen


In today‟s world of construction, the greatest topics are the environmental benefits and cost.

Construction consumes large quantities of resources such as materials and energy, which

generate environmental impacts throughout construction, operation, as well as demolition.

Timber is known to be a natural construction material that is environmentally beneficial in

building construction. Timber‟s embodied energy is the lowest compared to majority of

common construction materials as well as minimising energy through production, construction,

and its environmental advantages of renewability and carbon storage. Major let down is that its

supply is found to be depleting.

The environmental aspects of building construction have influenced current industry leaders and

organisations to invest in alternative materials and methods of manufacture, to provide solutions

to environmental benefits and cost reduction. Similar to timber, bamboo is known to be

commonly used as a traditional construction material but in minor construction. Bamboo‟s

tensile strength is comparable to mild steel; however, there is large variation in properties of

bamboo among different species and within even same species. Bamboo‟s harvest duration is

eight times faster than timber, making it one of the most cost effective construction materials

whilst it sequesters an equal or greater amount of carbon. (Hoogendoorn 2010)

This capstone investigates the development of engineered bamboo for structural application

through a low cost method of producing bamboo beams with manufacturing, testing and

analysis with its similar materials (timber) for the processing of bamboo to make it more

durable and usable in terms of building materials. Engineered beams formed out of bamboo will

overcome the unfavorable properties such as presence of inter-nodes, hollow core and durability

issues of bamboo. This was proved to be achievable with comparable results but with major

weaknesses found not within the bamboo structure itself, yet the chemical bonding between

bamboo that need to be further researched and tested for improvement.


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Turbulent Airflow past a Rectangular Cylinder Building - (12cp)

Thomas Downie - S12-040

Supervisor: Phuoc Huynh

Assessor: Vahik Avakian


The successful use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in wind engineering applications

would significantly reduce the time and resources required in comparison with the industry

standard of scale model testing in a physical wind tunnel. Current research has shown promising

but commercially unviable results and little focus has been placed on the variation of incidence

angle or on a high volume point comparison.

This thesis uses the case study of a rectangular cylinder building to compare the mean pressure

coefficient results simulated using CFD k-ω SST model with wind tunnel measurements. It

analyses findings at four angles of incidence - 0°, 30°, 60° and 90°- in turbulent conditions at

143 separate points for each angle. A comprehensive literature review examines the current

state of computational wind engineering research and the theoretical development and

numerical formulation of turbulence modeling for both wind tunnel and CFD methods.

A wind tunnel test using a commercial blockage-tolerant boundary layer wind tunnel was

performed. It showed mean values within a pressure coefficient range of ±1, except for those

located adjacent to the leading edge on the roof. A CFD simulation was run using Ansys CFX

14.0. The results showed a good agreement with the values obtained in the wind tunnel test for

the front (windward) and oncoming side face points. A significant discrepancy was recorded on

the roof points for all angles and for the back (leeward) faces for all cases except the 0° angle.

This exception signals the need for further study and raises interesting questions about CFD‟s

adaptability between building case studies and the relationship between cross sectional length

and accuracy.

It is concluded that the k-ω SST model may, with future experiments confirming consistency,

be used as a preliminary test method for initial designs and prototypes before extensive wind

tunnel testing is performed. However, the comparison of CFD and wind tunnel numerical

results clearly show that the k-ω SST model is not yet commercially viable for computation

wind engineering applications.


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Firmware and Hardware Design of an Inertial Measurement Unit - (12cp)

Mark Dunstan - S12-041

Supervisor: Steven Su

Assessor: Li Li


An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is a device which can be used to determine the orientation,

velocity and gravitational forces acted upon it by the use of accelerometers, gyroscopes and

magnetometers. IMUs are used in a variety of applications including navigation, entertainment,

motion research and human health and safety. Specifically, UTS has the idea to develop a home

based telecare system, which may include various portable noninvasive sensors to monitor

physiological variables as well as body movements. Another potential application of an IMU by

UTS includes research on gait recognition, as a person‟s self-selected gait can lead to a person‟s

likeliness to fall.

While there are already some IMU solutions on the market, they are either too expensive or do

not have the desired flexibility for uses in many applications. Therefore it is highly

advantageous for UTS to have their own designed IMU. My capstone project involves the

firmware and hardware design of an IMU and to ensure that the IMU designed can be flexible

enough to be used for many future applications.

The IMU that has been designed is self-powered via a re-chargeable Li-Ion battery and includes

communications to a PC via USB and Bluetooth, data storage for sensor samples and 9 degrees

of freedom sensing. The firmware includes a communication protocol that allows external

changes to the configuration of the IMU for different data output formats and frequencies to

ensure high flexibility and optimum performance for different applications.

As my capstone is a continuation of an ongoing project, I commenced the project with a

completely untested prototype of the IMU hardware and no firmware. Since commencement, I

have written all firmware and created a new version of the hardware, in which 20 of the new

version of IMUs have been built and tested successfully.


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Investigating the Suitability of Recycled Road Building Material - (12cp)

James El Haiby - A13-053


Assessor: Ali Saleh


As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, every industry is trying to cut down on

its waste generation or more importantly endeavoring to recycle and reuse this waste in useful

applications. Construction and Demolition activities always result with what we call

“Construction and Demolition Waste” (C&D), which, in an ideal world, would easily find their

way to landfills. However, faced with dwindling landfill resources, an urgent need arises to

reuse such waste. This capstone studies the possibility of using recycled C&D waste in road

building applications. It introduces a sustainable approach to the industry knowing that using

such recycled material carries great economic and environmental benefits as compared to the

extraction of virgin resources from the earth.

In this capstone, two stockpiles of recycled C&D material, namely recycled road base (RRB)

and recycled crushed concrete (RCC) will be studied for their suitability as road base. These

stockpiles, located at Fairfield City Council‟s Sustainable Resource Centre (SRC), will be

subject to a number of tests measuring relevant parameters as specified by Australian Standards.

Tests are conducted with the help of the SRC Lab and an external laboratory source (Cardno

Bowler). The measured parameters are then compared with allowable limits specified by

legislative standards (Greenspec and RMS 3051) that govern the use of recycled material in

such applications. Eventually, a real analysis of the final results, taking into consideration

different influential factors that might be involved, reveals the suitability of the stockpiles under

study.

This capstone supports the use of recycled materials as road base in this ever going debate over

whether it is applicable to truly identify the defects of such material in road pavements over the

long term. An interview is conducted with an industry professional Mr. Mohammed Dewji to

obtain his insight on the sustainability approach introduced by this project. Examples of some

local roads that were completely renovated using recycled material will also be presented in

support of this view.


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Comparison of Regional Flood Methods for New South Wales - (12cp)

Ian Gilmore - A13-037

Supervisor: James Ball

Assessor: Ken Halstead


One of the most common problems facing flood engineers is how to predict flows from

ungauged catchments. Various techniques have been developed by engineers to solve this

problem. When time and resources are lacking one method is to use Regional Flood Frequency

Analysis (RFFA). RFFA involves using regionalised gauged flood data to estimate flood

quantiles of an ungauged catchment.

The RFFA method for eastern NSW specified in Australian Rainfall & Runoff 1987 (ARR87)

was the Probabilistic Rational Method (PRM). In order to improve the predictions from RFFA;

as part of the revision of Australian Rainfall & Runoff (ARR) various RFFA methods were

investigated. As part of Project 5 of the ARR revision the Parameter Regression Technique –

Generalised Least Squares (PRT-GLS) method has been developed and recommended for use in

New South Wales.

The issue that arises is what is the difference in predicted flood discharges between the old and

the new RFFA methods? Project 5 of the ARR revision compared both methods and determined

that the PRT-GLS is the superior method. However no guidance has been given to engineers on

what the difference in predictions will be between the old and new RFFA methods.

The aim of this paper is to compare the PRM with the PRT-GLS across eastern New South

Wales. The comparison will involve comparing the PRM as presented in ARR87 with the PRT-

GLS as developed as part of Project 5 of the ARR revision. The two methods will be compared

spatially for various catchment sizes and for 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 year flood quantiles. The

aim of this comparison is not to determine which method is more accurate; but is to give

guidance to engineers on the differences in predicted flood discharges.


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An Investigation into Concentric Pipe Design for a Side-Mount Closed Circuit Rebreather

(SCCR) - (12cp)

Alexander Gilmour - A13-004

Supervisor: Paul Walker

Assessor: Holger Roser

Major: Mechanical Engineering Major BEBADipEngPrac

The concept of side mount diving has been and accepted practice by technical and exploration

divers since its development in the 1960‟s. As recreational and technical rebreather diving has

become increasingly popular in recent years there has been an increase in commercial models

available. That these stock models have in turn have been modified and adapted by the more

adventurous and exploratory minded for use as side-mounted rebreathers was inevitable.

The development of singular directional concentric pipes for use in side mount rebreathers is an

essential step in concept design. It will enable cave divers and explorers to dive with individual

side mount rebreather systems and reduce the clutter of the breathing pipes around the diver,

thus reducing the divers profile and the likelihood of equipment entanglement.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the concentric pipe design for the breathing tubes of

a rebreather is plausible. This study focuses on concept design and development of the system

with particular consideration of a suitable concentrically arranged valve assembly, and

incorporates theoretical analysis into the final evaluation. The concepts have been tested and

compared to the current European standards (CEN) for self-contained re-breathing diving

apparatus.

The FEA programs CFD-GEOM and CFD-ACE developed by ESI are essential to the

breakdown and theoretical model development. These programs have allowed for the design

and flow testing of the model. Physical prototypes have been developed on the basis of the

theoretical findings and future direction of development projects have been identified after the

limitations of research have been analysed.


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Sustainable Home Assistant - (12cp)

Joshua Golding - A13-045

Supervisor: Catherine Killen

Assessor: Hiyam Al-Kilidar

Major: Innovation Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

Public opinion on „green technology‟ and environmental responsibility has been gradually

increasing for decades, as people become more aware of the detrimental effects of the

consumption of unsustainable resources. Although being a world-wide issue, the Australian

Government and its agencies have implemented a number of initiatives to encourage sustainable

living. These range from construction subsidies to education programs, however they tend to

focus on large-scale projects like buildings and infrastructure, with less focus on the options for

individuals or households. There are currently no readily available tools to assist residents of

Australian households in improving the sustainability features of their home.

By researching a variety of options and additions for home construction, a decision-tool

(Sustainable Home Assistant or SHA) has been created to aid users through the planning stages

of sustainable construction. This was achieved in Microsoft Excel after the collection and

synthesis of relevant data into recognisable criteria. The SHA tool applies to new home builders

and renovators, as well as those simply wishing to improve the sustainable features within their

existing home. The tool gives a customised recommendation after considering input by the user,

including their budget, situational suitability and general preferences.

The SHA is split into a number of categories which present realistic opportunities for

implementation of sustainable features, these are; Energy Use, Water Use, Construction

Materials & Waste, and Household Waste & Pollution. This division allows the user to take a

more direct approach within the desired categories, and accounts for those with a casual interest

in improvement as opposed to a sustainability-focused overhaul. Through the creation of a

database of knowledge on these categories, the assistance tool can also educate the user on

potential options, and in most cases, direct them to another source for further information

should it be desired.


19

Feasibility of Implementing a Light Rail Network to Replace Buses along George Street -

(6cp)

Andrei Gudas - A13-016


Assessor: Ali Saleh

Major: Civil Engineering Major BBEBBus and BEBsc

On December 13, 2012 as part of the NSW Long Term Transport Masterplan 2012, Premier

Barry O‟Farrell and Minster for Transport Gladys Berejiklian announced that a new light rail

route would be built from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kingsford to be known as the „CBD

and South East Light Rail Project.‟ For the majority of the route within the Central Business

District (CBD) it is proposed that the light rail would operate along George Street, which

coincides with plans to overhaul the CBD bus network under the NSW Long Term Transport

Masterplan; effectively replacing all bus services along George Street with light rail services.

In the absence of any publicly-available feasibility study conducted to support this proposal, this

project will investigate the feasibility of the proposed solution within the CBD and compare it

to the current CBD bus network along George Street. The study will evaluate the general

business case for the proposed CBD light rail network by evaluating the proposal from both an

engineering and financial perspective.

Specifically, this report will investigate engineering challenges in implementing the CBD light

rail network as well as any comparative advantages and disadvantages a light rail network may

have compared to the current CBD bus network. This report will analyse patronage demands

and network capacities of existing and proposed transport systems as well as a top-down

estimate of costs from construction through to operation. This will form the basis of a financial

assessment that will analyse the net present values (NPV) of each solution as well as a cost-

benefit analysis and any economic value added (EVA). Together, all these factors shall be

evaluated together to determine whether the proposed CBD light rail network is a feasible

alternative to the current CBD bus network.


20

Can Geothermal Energy Facilitate Required Energy for India’s Emerging Industries -

(12cp)

Anmol Gupta - A13-051

Supervisor: Hadi Khabbaz

Assessor: Behzad Fatahi


India, the world‟s second fastest growing economy, has been exposed to a number of issues

which questions the stability of the country in terms of energy and sustainability. With the rising

industrial sector which outlooks the establishment of the enormous manufacturing projects

invested by the foreign based companies, India will soon need to look beyond their current

source and introduce clean and eco-friendly sources of energy. One of the most convenient

options to be considered is geothermal in order to secure a sustainable future. According to

Gourav et al (2011) the geothermal power projects have not been given any consideration in the

country and hence, have not been exploited at all, owing to a variety of reasons, the chief being

the availability of plentiful coal at cheap costs.

The approach used to acknowledge the problem consisted of hard core research and preliminary

investigations to understand the production process of geothermal energy and why is it

restricted to only certain parts of the world. This research will also facilitate to address the

advantages of geothermal energy by considering the economic issues, which have to be resolved

in the planning stage of the project, to give a clear view of the importance of using geothermal

energy. For example, the concept of geothermal energy arises from the difference in earth‟s

temperature, which usually increases as we go deep, can help to analyse its presence in different

parts of the world which is also a part of this project.

The project provides a detailed written report consisting of the important key points with the

help of case studies and statistical data collected in the primary stage of the project, to give an

insight of the issue and some design and implementation processes are presented in addition.

The problems faced by India in the energy sector are analysed in order to bring the concept in

charge and a real world solution is presented in the form of a recommendation as per the level

of knowledge and experience.


21

Compliance of Voltage Unbalance Standards throughout Low Voltage Power Distribution

Networks - (12cp)

Bradley Ham - S12-051

Supervisor: Gerard Boardman

Assessor: Li Li


The success of Australia‟s economy and social sustainability depends on the reliability and

quality of its electrical power supply. Power quality standards are put in place to ensure

minimum standards are maintained across Australia‟s power distribution network. Endeavour

Energy, one of three network service providers (NSP) within New South Wales, is responsible

for ensuring all power quality standards set by the regulator are upheld across their franchise

area. The aim of this work is to determine Endeavour Energy‟s ability to achieve present

voltage unbalance tolerances throughout their low voltage network.

This report examines the elements that define a low voltage network and the effect voltage

unbalance has on customer‟s three phase equipment. Network data is analysed across a range of

demographics to determine the current voltage unbalance condition of Endeavour Energy‟s

network. Modeling of a low voltage feeder is then applied to observe the effects individual

elements have on the voltage unbalance experienced by low voltage customers.

The research findings indicate that it is unrealistic to comply with present voltage unbalance

standards across Endeavour Energy‟s entire low voltage network, and that relaxing tolerances

increases the potential of damage to three phase induction motors.

It is the recommendation of this report that an additional clause should be included in AS/NZS

61000.2.2:2003 and the National Electrical Rules (section S5.1a.7). This clause must state; “It is

recognised that the stated voltage unbalance levels are not always achievable. Therefore, before

three phase equipment is connected to the low voltage network, further localised investigations

may be required.”


22

Test Rig and Footpad Design for a Bridge Climbing Robot - (12cp)

Mahdi Hassan - S12-054

Supervisor: Dikai Liu

Assessor: Gamini Dissanayake


Various climbing robots can be used to undertake tasks such as inspection, maintenance and

repair. These robots can be particularly beneficial for performing such tasks on areas where

inspection costs or health and safety risks of having inspectors are high. When considering

inspection on a steel bridge, the choice of the robot and its configuration and components are

limited due to the complexity of the inspection/maintenance zones. The design of the footpad

which is the main focus in this report can be affected to a significant extent due to factors such

as maneuverability of the robot, surface condition of the bridge material, the material itself and

the type of adhesion used.

Footpads with permanent magnets are mainly advantageous for surfaces of ferrous materials

such as the case of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If Mechanical Advantage principles are used

efficiently to peel the permanent magnets off, this system can be of greater help when compared

to electromagnet applications. Requirements and constraints such as the height of the footpad to

avoid bridge rivets, the outside dimensions to overcome maneuverability over webbing manhole

and the maximum allowable weight of the magnet, limit the practicality of Mechanical

Advantage principles. Numerous footpads were designed and a test rig was constructed to

perform various tests and to check practicality of the prototype. A prototype of a simple design

consisting of three permanent magnets and peeling off mechanism using mechanical advantage

of different sized gears was constructed and found to be practical.

Knowledge of mechanical engineering principles was valuable in this research for finding the

most suitable footpad for this particular application. Understanding concepts such as finite

element analysis for investigating fatigue and life of the footpad, solid mechanics principals

such as stress concentration and distribution were also helpful in examining the strength of the

footpad. Various footpad tests also verified the theoretical values and above mentioned

principles.


23

An Investigation into the Construction and Design Aspects of Tailings Dams and Stability

Analysis Using Slope/W - (12cp)

Hang He - S12-055




Recent increase in tailings dam‟s failures in mining project brought significant awareness in the

engineering construction and design of tailings dams. Many of these failures cause vital impacts

on both the community and the environment.

Numerous engineering applications need to be considered during the construction of the tailings

dams. They are often designed to last for a long lifetime. The structural stability is essential to

guarantee that structural failure does not occur through years of weathering and by natural

impacts. Therefore, research and evaluations in the geotechnical design and construction

aspects, as well as the stability of the impoundments design are significant ensuring the

structural safety of the tailings dams.

In this study, common types of tailings dams‟ construction and design methods that are

currently practiced worldwide are investigated and examined in detail. This includes the

comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of tailings dam for the specific

planned purpose. Nonetheless, other applications including failure modes and historical

perspective of the tailings dams including disposals method of tailings and historical failures of

tailings dams are also explored in this project.

In this study, the safety factors for the stability of three main construction methods of tailings

dams: upstream method, downstream method and centerline method are examined using

SLOPE/W package, a limit equilibrium analysis based software. This software package is

developed enabling simulation of the slope stability for different construction and design

scenarios of tailings dams. This makes possible for close examination of the minimum safety

factor in the stability for each type of construction methods of the embankment.

The results and detailed discussion on the construction and design aspects of tailings dams

provided in this report will assist practicing civil engineers in selecting the most appropriate and

reasonable procedures applicable to the future design and construction of tailings dams.


24

Analysis and Design Compliance Checks of Truss Systems - (12cp)

Trung Huynh - A13-021

Supervisor: Emre Erkmen



Steel has been utilised throughout history as a very reliable ductile material that performs

exceptionally well when undergoing both compressive and tensile actions. Due to steel‟s

exceptional load bearing properties, it is used extensively in the civil engineering industry as a

reinforcing material in concrete structures, structural frame of buildings, suspension cables, as

well as structural members of truss bridges to name a few.

Truss bridges are typically made up of straight elements interconnected at joints generally in

triangular patterns, with the elements exposed to either tension or compression loads without

bending stresses. A truss bridge can contain a vast number of members, with each member

exposed to varying compressive and tensile stresses depending on the truss‟s configuration and

exposure to external loads.

Due to many components of a truss bridge, the structural analysis of a truss bridge and each of

its individual structural members can become a complex and extensive process. The creation of

tools to aid engineers with design is a valuable part of structural design in the engineering

industry. The calculations involved in analysing structures are extensive, and coupled with the

accuracy needed to ensure the analysis calculations are correct in order to verify the design

compliance in accordance with Australian Standards and Design Codes, it is crucial that

computations in analysis are done correctly and efficiently.

This project will involve the creation of an analysis tool that will allow a user to input the

properties of a truss bridge which would then compute and analyse the distribution of forces

within the truss bridge. Using the k-stiffness method, the program will conduct static analysis of

the truss. From the static analysis of axial compressive and tension forces, the program will

perform a design compliance check of each individual truss members against Australian

Standards (AS4100 for Steel Design and AS-NZS1170[1].0 for Load Combinations) to

determine if the truss bridge design and load combinations comply with standards outlined in

the design codes.


25

Systems Integration: Business Systems Re-Engineering Perspective - (12cp)

Rishabh Jain - S12-066

Supervisor: Zenon Chaczko

Assessor: Julia Prior

Major: ICT Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

This project evaluates the needs for integrating business systems and the challenges

organizations are facing in its successful implementation. This research is primarily based on

the case studies on three main industry sectors: healthcare, manufacturing, banking and finance.

The project also covers the concepts and technology of Cloud Computing as well as its scope in

the industry. An attempt has been made to link the high-level business workflows and the low-

level information system applications. It has been found that many prevalent approaches for

integrating business systems tend to model the entire organization using activity- based process

models.

The aim of this project is to explore more transparent workflow models that eliminate the issues

of traditional business software systems such as: an excessive use of paper artifacts, a lack of

integrated real time and updated information, repetitiveness and redundancy of manual data

entry. Most of the system integration projects, however, have failed to resolve the above

aspects, resulting in a slow rate of adoption and diffusion of the phenomenon. This is partly due

to practitioner‟s skepticism on its actual benefits. Despite of all these issues, systems integration

has been on the forefront of the IT sector in the past few years.

In conclusion, this project evaluates the present progress and advancement integration

technologies have made and its future aspects. A thorough analysis of the implementation

techniques adopted by manufacturing, healthcare and banking and finance industries have been

performed with insight into possible future developments. A basic need to integrate large scale

business systems has been developed. An effort has also been made to interlink systems

integration with cloud computing methodologies.


26

An Interactive Virtual Stock Exchange Simulator for Investment and Analysis - (12cp)

Arman Jizan - S12-070


Assessor: Robin Braun


The stock exchange market is a market where a trader is able to purchase or sell shares in the

company. The use of virtual stock simulators is regarded as an alternative for users at entry

level to practice trading without risking their real funds. Entry level users are keen to get

engaged in real market trading after confidence is gained from practicing.

In recent years, there has been considerable interest for use of stock simulators that operate in a

safe environment. There is, however, a shortage of stock trading desktop applications tools that

integrate variety of options and trading capabilities. Furthermore, the inclusion of irrelevant

information on the simulator websites and lack of clear system feedback messages do not

provide positive user experience. Other factors such as slow responsiveness and insufficient

data visualisation are considered to be problematic and less engaging for entry level traders.

The capstone project attempts to overcome the above issues by implementing a highly

functional stock market simulator that is simple to use for desktop platform. The user-friendly

tool consolidates various functionalities with dashboard visualisation. The solution is

characterised by intuitive features that ensure the barrier to entry is kept at a low level for

beginners to stock trading. The software tool provides the users with virtual funds and utilises

real financial market data that is fed from Google stock API as well as Yahoo finance to present

historical and live feed data. Other features include, enhancement of user experience by

allowing users to view stock information, transaction history, ranking position, personalised

portfolio and access market news articles.


27

An Investigation of Contamination Management and Disposal Practices for the North

Strathfield Rail Underpass Project - (12cp)

Natalie Jongebloed - A13-012

Supervisor: Huu Hao Ngo

Assessor: Wenshan Guo


This investigation focuses on developing a method for dealing with unexpected contaminated

materials on the North Strathfield Rail Underpass (NSRU) project through a contamination

management plan. As the disposal of contaminated materials is a large cost to this project, it is

of value to ensure the correct and most efficient way of disposing of the materials is imposed

throughout the duration of the job. The investigation determined the best disposal methods for

dealing with the contamination, specifically in regards to cost and recyclability of the material

in accordance with NSW Legislation. Subcontractor(s) were chosen to conduct further testing

on the contaminated material, and to dispose of the materials in accordance with the NSRU

Procurement Management Plan.

All waste materials and spoil to removed off site were assessed, classified and managed in

accordance with the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) Waste Classification

Guidelines (DECC 2008) as per legislative requirements. The investigation has been carried out

by sourcing material from previous projects, and these requirements. The commercial team and

environmental team have worked together to produce the outcomes in this investigation to

ensure costs are kept to a minimum and the best management practices are in place.

The results outline the requirements for unexpected contamination during construction, and

demonstrate effective contamination management practices with a contamination management

plan. Subcontractors have been selected by following the NSRU procurement guidelines and

contracts will be in place for efficiency and consistency throughout the project. As a practicing

civil engineer, it is of significance to have a good understanding of management plans and

guidelines for any project. Each civil project is different, however the knowledge gained from

this investigation will be helpful when dealing with large amounts or even small amounts of

contamination in future projects.


28

Experimental Analysis of Routing Optimisation Using Mutual and Other Information in

Wireless Sensor Networks - (12cp)

Adarsh Kesari - S12-076

Supervisor: Robin Braun

Assessor: Zenon Chaczko


In any communications network, the optimization of traffic is a fundamental step to ensure the

effective transmission of information through the topology. This is further typified in wireless

sensor networks, which often encounter larger information losses, due to noise and other

interferences. The concept of mutual information defines the information space that is shared

between two wireless sensors, essentially the information that is known by each of the sensors

simultaneously.

The global mutual information aims to determine the amount of commonality in information

spaces for wireless sensor networks. The mutual information is a probability function with

values between 0 and 1. The summation of these values in an entire network provides the least

cost route across the network, as less “new” information needs to be transmitted through the

network. This theory has been explored theoretically by Braun & Chaczko (2011).

The capstone project undertaken explores the optimization mechanisms used in routing network

traffic through wireless sensor networks. Using Java, this experimental analysis addresses

various topologies and nodal network structures, to determine the least cost route through the

wireless sensor network. The aim is to determine find the “best-case” optimization value for the

global mutual based upon the routes taken in the constrained test cases. This analysis will

address the benefits and constraints of various routing algorithms, and provide a scenario-

tailored optimization methodology to dynamically route wireless sensor traffic.

The theory of mutual information can form the basis to a greater understanding of information

flow in ad-hoc networks. In an ad-hoc network, information needs to travel between the start

and final positions as efficiently as possible, with minimal data loss. As a result, the information

paths taken require an understanding of the topology and the various link values to determine

the best path to get information to the recipient.


29

An Assessment of Concrete Properties Using Recycled Glass Sand in Standard and RMS

Paving Applications - (12cp)

Abraham Khoury - A13-020




The rising difficulties associated with escalating carbon dioxide emissions and the increasing

demand for more sustainable building solutions, are concurrently placing pressures on the

concrete industry to amend traditional concrete mix design practices. Concrete manufacture is

not only heavily reliant on the use of earth‟s scarce resources, but also an intensive energy

process leading to the generation of undesirable greenhouse gases. Such characteristics define

the unsustainable nature associated with traditional concrete manufacture.

Boral Australia has recognised the importance in catering for the development of

environmentally sustainable concrete. The organisation has introduced a recycled glass sand

product into its standard 32 MPa concrete mixes. Glass constitutes an approximate fine

aggregate replacement value of 25%. This study aims to investigate the influence of

incorporating such glass content by comparing performance of fresh and hardened concrete

properties in relation to a control mix design not containing glass sand.

In further facilitating the development of environmentally sustainable concrete, this study aims

to investigate the influence of incorporating recycled glass sand at various replacement contents

of the fine aggregate component in RMS R83 concrete designed mixes. Such study of

assessment pertained to assessing fresh and hardened concrete properties in relation to

performance tolerances depicted in the R83 specification. Incorporation of recycled glass at

replacement contents of 10%, 20% and 40 % of the fine aggregate component in a paving base

concrete mix, enabled the determination of how recycled glass interacts within the concrete

matrix at various intensity volumes and assessment of the suggested 30% replacement rate as

specified in the proposed new revision of the RMS R83 specification. Hence, trends in concrete

performance with relation to replacement levels of incorporated recycled glass are studied to

verify the optimal glass replacement content in paving base mixes. The findings of this project

indicate that using recycled glass sand in paving applications can yield sustainable concrete at

40% replacement rates whilst inducing improvements in drying shrinkage behavior and

concrete workability. The neutral effects of glass sand on air entrainment and marginal

reductions in hardened concrete properties yielded from such study further supports the use of

glass sand in a paving application.


30

Android Application – Music Store Locator - (12cp)

Vu La - S12-081


Assessor: Doan B. Hoang


Consider yourself a musician and you are in need of a replacement for a component of one of

your musical equipment. What do you do? The first answer would most likely to Google it and

then spend a considerable amount of time browsing through pages and pages to locate a music

store that meets your needs as well as being closest to you. Well now imagine how much time

you can save if all of the stores that are available are gathered into a single place where you can

locate these stores by just a few touches. With today‟s modern advancement in smart devices

technology this can be achievable through the development of Android application.

Currently in the Android application market there has yet to be an app that allows the location

of music stores. There are various applications that have similar functionalities which could be

referred to as locator apps; however these apps are primarily for locating places such as

restaurants, banks, coffee stores and so forth. There has yet to be one for locating music stores

which is understandable as the market size for this would be considerably less than the above

mentioned. Despite the market being relatively smaller than others, it has been identified that

there is still a need for such an app which has yet to be covered.

In order to address this, the development of an Android application that will allow the location

of all the music stores available to be revealed to the user will be developed. Some basic

functionality of the application will include searching functionalities such as returning stores

around a specified radius; displaying store information (i.e. phone number and addresses) and

the visual representation of all the stores based on the user search criterion on a map. The

development will be targeted at the Android operating system and hence will be programmed

using a combination of the Java and XML programming languages. Being in the initial stages of

development the app will be restricted to only stores within Sydney, however if proven to be

successful the scope would naturally be expanded further.


31

Derivation, Implementation and Testing of Fuzzy and LQR Controllers for Active

Hydraulically Interconnected Suspension – (12cp)

Quang Viet Cuong Lam - S12-225

Supervisor: Prof Nong Zhang

Assessor: Lifu Wang

Major: Mechanical and Mechatronics

Active Hydraulically Interconnected Suspension (HIS) has proposed a solution to compensate

the limitations of conventional active suspensions such as expensive cost and high energy

consumption. Active HIS is constructed by two hydraulic circuits crossing-connected between

front and rear actuators at each side. The four actuators are mounted between the wheel hub and

a roll plane of vehicle and powered by a hydraulic pressure unit through the hydraulic

interconnected pipes. This configuration of suspension allows the controls of rolling motion of

vehicle under external disturbances such as ground input causing by road roughness and/or

lateral excitation due turning maneuver.

Under external disturbance, the vehicle‟s body rolls about a longitudinal axis. Rollover

accident, which seriously causes injuries or death may occur if the roll angle of the vehicle is

out of a threshold. Therefore, the priority target of this project is to minimize the roll angle by

controlling the roll motion of the vehicle‟s body

Deriving the controller for the active HIS is necessary to capture the primary target of this

project. In this project, Fuzzy Logic Control, which is a modern control theory without using

model-base, is investigated and applied to derive linear and none-linear Fuzzy controller. In

addition, mathematical model is developed in order to utilize optimal control method such as

LQR is addressed in this project.

This project aims to verify a control method which can be applied to active HIS to control the

roll motion. Several control algorithms such as Fuzzy Logic Control, Fuzzy-PID and LQR are

developed in simulation then experimentally tested on the proposed system. Finding results

indicate that linear and none-linear Fuzzy controllers show the controllability and applicability

to active HIS system. In the future, applying adaptive Fuzzy Logic method such as T-S Fuzzy

and Fuzzy Type II is suggested with a purpose to optimize the control performance of the

system.


32

Development of a Condition Monitoring Framework - A Case Study in the

Implementation of ISO 17359:2011 - (6cp)

Michael Leversha - A13-311

Supervisor: Shoudong Huang

Assessor: Sarath Kodagoda

Major: Mechanical Engineering Major BEBBus and BEBSc

Condition monitoring plays a vital role in Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), a program of

maintenance that is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most efficient strategies for

conducting maintenance across a wide range of industries.

There is a growing body of evidence which shows that a correctly implemented condition

monitoring program can drastically reduce maintenance costs across a wide number of

industries. However, there are also a number of instances where condition monitoring programs

have been implemented which have delivered no measureable improvement to plant reliability,

or any significant cost savings. Thus, it is important that a condition monitoring program is

developed correctly, with careful selection of condition monitoring techniques and purposeful

selection of equipment to be included.

International Standard ISO 17359:20011 Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics of Machines –

General Guidelines is an international standard that has been developed to provide a series of

guidelines and a generic procedure for the development of a condition monitoring framework.

This generic procedure is designed to ensure that any condition monitoring program

implemented includes only relevant condition monitoring techniques, and is targeted to detect

measurable failure modes in the equipment.

This project follows the method for the development of a condition monitoring framework as

outlined in ISO 17359:2011, and implements this method in a real world situation. By following

the generic procedures outlined in ISO 17359:2011 this project identifies the critical stages of

the procedure which must be followed to implement an effective condition monitoring program.

With the development of a condition monitoring program, key areas are identified where

additional work can be conducted to reduce the complexity of the procedure, and identify data

that can be captured, stored and reused to allow for more efficient procedure to be developed for

future use.


33

Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Kaolinite Using Whey - (12cp)

Weiqi Li - S12-083

Supervisor: Behzad Fatahi



Deep soil mixing technic is a relative new but advanced technic applying in improving soil

property, particularly in clay, which is not suitable for civil or structural construction. Such

technic is widely applied in Australia for the civil construction site. And generally the project

involving this technic is relatively large and long construction period, therefore, quantities of

material, which cement and water, is required and such cost is significant. This research aims to

find out alternative material (whey) which is treated as waste or by-product during

manufacturing to replace or partially replace the water or cement content maintaining its

strength resulting in reducing the cost of construction.

This research selects Kaolinite Q38 as the experiment material, simplifying and simulating the

most common soil properties in Australia. Base on the previous experiment result, it can be

concluded that 50% water content would reach its liquid limit state and can be applied in this

experiment.

Whey which is the by-product in cheese manufacturing process is commonly treated as waste in

most cheese production company. By considering its large production and low cost, it is chosen

to be the main alternative component in the deep soil mixing material. Different percentages of

whey mixing with cement for two curing periods are conducted in this experiment providing a

reasonable conclusive result.

The result indicates an obvious relationship between whey content and soil properties. The

samples‟ strength tends to decrease by increasing whey content mixing with cement but tend to

increase by curing for longer period. Thus the consideration of applying whey mixing with

cement should be thoughtful and careful.


34

Investigation of Leakage and Obstructs in Pipes - (12cp)

Xuesong Li - S12-084

Supervisor: Phuoc Huynh

Assessor: Vahik Avakian


With more and more pipelines being implemented around the world, there is an increasing

number of problems occurs in the pipe which will result in the loss of natural energy. There are

two main issues that will lead to such problems are leaking and blockage in pipeline systems.

The main aim of this project is to investigate the effect of leaking and blockage in the pipeline

mainly by analysis the pressure difference in the pipe due to it is one of the main reasons that

cause harm to the pipeline system.

In order to achieve this goal, a computational fluid dynamics model has been developed to

simulate and analyse the problem. The media we use in the pipeline is water due to it is one of

the substances that being transferred in the pipeline network. In the research, the standard k-ε

turbulence method was adopted. The CFD model is developed and verified for simulating a

steady state process. During the simulation, difference percentage of leaking has been used to

determine the trend of the pressure in some particular points.

There are two methods that have been used to investigate this problem. Setting the inlet velocity

as constant is one way of doing the simulation and the other way is set the inlet pressure as

constant. There is a limitation of comparing the result with real world experiment due to the

inappropriate of doing the experiment at this stage. However, compare with the result with

theoretical calculation, the data from CFD is trustworthy.

Another simulation that has been done is to extend the “blockage in pipe” part which see the

blockage as a soft particle and see how it moves in the pipe. To simplify this part, the simulation

just uses oil as media.


35

Finite Element Simulation of Accelerated Preloading Using Vacuum to Improve Soft

Clays - (12cp)

Benjamin Ling - A13-026




As urban population centres grow, future development may occur away from preferable land

and favorable ground conditions. Soft clays will need improvement prior to construction of high

density commercial or residential infrastructure. This issue is particularly pertinent to Sydney,

which must continue expanding west away from traditional sandstone grounds towards softer

clays/sandy loam. Because the widely popular Plaxis software has no native feature or function

to automatically model vacuum preloading, validation of this proposed method will reduce the

need for costlier software package alternatives.

Vacuum suction preloading can be used instead of or in conjunction with traditional fill

consolidation and PVDs. This suction induces isotropic effective stress increase and eliminates

the traditional failure surface - therefore it can be applied in one full loading stage in situations

where several smaller fill loading stages would normally be required to achieve similar

consolidation. Vacuum preloading also achieves required consolidation much more rapidly than

traditional preloading.

This paper will describe the problematic nature of soft soils, traditional preloading and vacuum

preloading; a brief overview of Plaxis; and detail a possible vacuum modeling method in Plaxis.

The results of a previously conducted laboratory experiment and numerical predictions

available in literature on clay soils were replicated using Plaxis. This proposed method to

simulate vacuum preloading using Plaxis finite element software can be used by practicing

geotechnical engineers in ground improvement projects.


36

Investigation into Conversion of Existing Gasoline Internal Combustion Engines to 85%

Ethanol Blended Fuels (E85) - (12cp)

Franjo Lukacevic - A13-047

Supervisor: Terry Brown



Gasoline has long dominated the automotive industry as the fuel of choice for spark ignition

engines. With fossil fuel depletion and climate change becoming an ever increasing concern a

replacement to gasoline that is renewable and clean is needed. Alternatives like electric and

hybrid vehicles are still in their early stages and are not currently practical enough to remove

society‟s reliance on gasoline.

Ethyl alcohol, better known as Ethanol, is a fuel that is both renewable and considered to be

significantly cleaner than gasoline. Ethanol is currently blended with gasoline to form E10 fuel

as most vehicles cannot operate with more than 10% ethanol. To reduce reliance on gasoline,

automobiles will be required to run higher quantities of ethanol like E85. Only a few specially

designed vehicles are able operate with E85 fuel. Converting existing vehicles and internal

combustion engines to use E85 fuel rather than waiting on automotive manufactures to release

E85 compatible vehicles presents a solution to reducing gasoline dependence. Conversion of

existing vehicles and engines may present a cheaper and quicker solution than waiting for

automotive manufactures to design and manufacture E85 compatible vehicles.

This research project examined the current issues with gasoline designed engines and vehicles

when operating on E85 fuel. The project made justified recommendations on requirements for

all the affected vehicles systems to run E85 without issue. The project used theory along with

referenced and original experimental research to determine important relevant issues and

recommendations to overcome them. The project identified and corrected common

misunderstandings about ethanol fuels used in gasoline vehicles. The project will serve as

reference to academics, engineers and automotive enthusiasts wishing to convert from gasoline

to E85 fuel.


37

Investigation of Timber Concrete Composite Shear Connectors Using Light Weight

Concrete EPS - (12cp)

Angus Lumsden - A13-030


Assessor: Shami Nejadi


The use of light weight concrete in construction is limited in applications. However it provides a

great deal of benefits, including reduced self-weight of structure, improved energy absorption

under earth quake loading and improved thermal properties.

Timber Concrete Composite (TCC) systems utilize the strengths of each material with concrete

subjected to compression and timber subjected to tension. This will have potential to be used in

the construction industry because of its ability to provide a high strength beam that is light

weight, ductile compared to full concrete beams, and environmentally friendly.

There are two types of light weight concrete that will be tested. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)

and scoria. These concretes replace the heavy aggregates of conventional concrete with

polystyrene beads and light weight pumice rock. Light weight concrete has a lower mass

density, a higher ductility as well reduced ultimate compressive and tensile strength compared

to conventional concrete.

A difficulty in creating a Timber Composite Concrete beam is the interlayer connection. The

shear connection between the timber and concrete face is crucial to the composition and

efficiency of the beam. Several different methods for shear connection have been tested using

conventional concrete.

This capstone paper presents a comparison of shear connectors in different concretes. The tests

will compare a series of shear connectors including SPAX and SFS screws at different lengths

and angles to the connection face. The Timber beam will be a laminate veneer lumber (LVL)

timber, and the concrete EPS.

The samples will be tested by push-out tests to find shear strength, stiffness that will

characterize the composite actions of these connections. The findings will then be compared to

past studies of the same connection types in conventional concrete and scoria concrete.


38

Laser Scanner Interface - Model LS-PA-IF1 - (12cp)

Dean McNiven - S12-091

Supervisor: Rob Jarman

Assessor: Peter McLean


The laser scanner interface (model LS-PA-IF1) was developed at TOMRA Sorting Solutions

Pty Ltd between July 2012 and May 2013. The laser scanner interface project addresses several

problems with the current laser scanner used on an ore sorting machine for the mining industry.

The existing control electronics consist of several individual PCBs, increasing the total cost of

the system. The number of inter-board connections used between these PCBs coupled with their

physical separation within the sorter greatly increases the chances that noise will affect the

signal quality.

The other significant problem with the existing control electronics is the increasing financial

costs of maintaining the hardware as the significant components are now classed as legacy

devices by their respective manufacturers. As such, these components are becoming

increasingly difficult, and therefore increasingly more expensive to obtain.

To address these issues with the existing control electronics I have developed the laser scanner

interface. The laser scanner interface replaces the existing combination of PCBs with a single

integrated solution that is installed within the laser scanner assembly.

The benefits of the laser scanner interface project include a reduction in the cost of the laser

scanner, a modular design allowing the laser scanner to be used with any commercial machine

vision system and integrated signal processing providing better quality data.


39

An Assessment of the Current Design and Construction Aspects of Tailings Dams - (6cp)

Christopher Millar - A13-028




Australia has become immersed in the mining boom over the past ten years and is the leading

exporter of mined ores throughout the world, with our exported ore totaling approximately

A$138 billion in 2012. With these vast quantities of mined material comes waste, commonly

called tailings. These tailings require storage, management and stringent environmental

controls. The tailings impoundments are commonly referred to as tailings storage facilities. This

report has focused solely on the design principles, construction methodologies, management,

foundation stability and drainage of tailings dams.

Design and construction attributes were explored, noting current construction and design

procedures within Australia. Advantages and disadvantages of design characteristics and

construction methodologies were identified in order to propose ideal construction practices.

Identification and exploration of the phreatic surface was explored, recognising various

procedures and methods to control and reduce the effect of the phreatic surface of

embankments. It was identified that the phreatic surface under both static and seismic

conditions is one the largest contributors to tailings dam failures.

The Olympic Dam Expansion Project was chosen as the dedicated case study for this thesis.

Various construction design inputs and lessons learnt were identified from the existing

operations and the newly proposed tailings dam. A detailed study and assessment of the

proposed embankment was carried out using PLAXIS 2D software to analyse the stability of

various slope designs and scenarios, while identifying the best possible solution for the

proposed works.

The aforementioned design and construction attributes, including the findings from the Olympic

Dam Expansion project, have been detailed in a full list of recommendations, highlighting

construction and design techniques and methods to be noted and implemented for future

projects. Further to these recommendations, risk management processes have identified the

most suitable and justifiable procedures applicable to future projects and generations.


40

Investigation and Characterisation of Gas Flow through an FSAE Engine - (12cp)

David Moloney - S11-154

Supervisor: Peter Tawadros



This capstone investigates and defines the characteristic changes that can be seen in a Formula

SAE engine‟s performance through changes in the design of the gas flow systems attached to

the engine using simplified empirical methods as well as through the use of Ricardo Wave 1D

gas dynamics and engine simulation software.

The investigation found that while empirical methods give an approximation of volumetric

efficiency performance characteristics due to changes in intake runner and exhaust lengths, a

much more in depth investigation could be conducted using Ricardo Wave.

A detailed engine model was produced before several simulations were run. Results showed that

performance characteristics such as engine power profile could be significantly altered though

changes to intake runner and exhaust geometries, whereas changes to plenum volume showed

much less performance variation. Variation in fuel type, compression ratio and air-fuel ratio

also showed changes in power/torque produced, fuel consumption and BSFC, however had

small effects on the overall shape of the power curve. Simulations were also able to aid in the

selection of throttle diameter in order to allow for a predictable power produced to throttle angle

relationship.

An empirical investigation into the use of exhaust gas energy recovery in a normally aspirated

application showed that the comparatively low mass flow rate through a normally aspirated

engine combined with the exhaust restriction present in applying the system gave insignificant

gains to performance in comparison to the complexity and weight added to the engine package.

While results were sufficient to produce a detailed intake model and provide information for the

design of an exhaust system, there is scope for further simulation of fueling and compression

ratio variation as outlined herein.


41

Mobile SCADA Systems - (12cp)

Ali Moussa - S12-097




Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are traditionally used for

supervision of large scale industrial systems. Examples of their use are found in water treatment

plants, distribution systems as well as manufacturing plants.

With the emergence of the internet and mobile technology, a new generation of 'Networked'

SCADA systems have emerged. Their accessibility over the internet has unlocked a myriad of

possibilities for new uses. An example of this is the onset of 'Portable SCADA Systems'. These

are systems which mimic the functionality of traditional control room SCADA systems on

portable devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptop computers. There are examples of

their use in many emerging systems, especially where budget, maintenance and resources are an

issue.

This project examines the need for a modern, portable Mobile SCADA System. It aims to

demonstrate its use in the form of a prototype using a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) as a test

bed. The system provides data acquisition and control capabilities using standard web protocols

such as HTTP as well as processing of data and generation of events and alarms based on

configurations set by the user. The user is able to configure the system environment to

accommodate different sensors and their uses. A database is used to store system configurations

and log events, alarms and errors. The system demonstrates that smart mobility is applicable to

many domains including both industrial and personal uses.


42

Finite Element and Numerical Analysis Long-Term Deflections of Slabs - (12cp)

Alan Ngo - A13-035

Supervisor: Shami Nejadi

Assessor: Rijun Shrestha


The serviceability of concrete structures is possibly the most difficult portion of the design

phase in structural engineering. Long-term deflection in particular represents a problem to

designers due to the dependence on material properties which may not be available at the design

phase in addition to the non-linear behavior of concrete. International design codes have

attempted to account for long-term deflection through simplified approaches. These however,

can lead to over or underestimation of results. Most codes permit a more refined method if

available, however little or no guidance is given in terms of methods or how variables are

considered.

The aim of this project is to understand the time-dependent behavior of reinforced concrete

slabs and the design provisions in place in different international codes that account for the

long-term deflection in concrete members. This comparative study will utilise finite element

analysis (FEA) as well as numerical methods in conjunction with the Australian Standard for

Concrete Structures (AS3600-09), Design of Concrete Structures (EuroCode 2, 2004) and

Building Code Requirement for Structural Concrete (ACI318-08) as well a numerical method

proposed by Dr. Ian Gilbert (Gilbert 2001) for calculating the long-term deflection of six

reinforced concrete slabs in the experimental study by Dr. Shami Nejadi (Nejadi 2004). An

analysis will attempt to explain the differing methods permitted within these codes and how

deflections obtained differ to experimental results.

FEA will be carried out using commercial software package RAM Concept by Bentley

Software Solutions and long-term deflection will be modeled with its strip-based method. FEA

is a refined calculation method that is permitted in international design codes with little or no

guidance but is frequently used in industry. Its accuracy and ability to model the long-term

deflection will be compared to the numerical methods and experimental data.


43

Adour Engine Driven Fuel Pump and Sub-idle Fuel Control Test Stand - (12cp)

Loretto O'Donnell - S12-104

Supervisor: Guang Hong

Assessor: John Dartnall


UTC Aerospace Systems, Sydney specializes in providing global aftermarket solutions for both

commercial and military aerospace markets. The Sydney campus provides comprehensive

repair and overhaul services to civil and military operators across Asia Pacific region.

Capabilities include repair and overhaul of Main Fuel Pump (MGC) and Speed Term Switch

(STS) (sub-idle fuel control) as fitted to the Rolls Royce Adour Engine installed on BAE Hawk

200 Series Aircraft. The recent addition of new customers coupled with the steadily increasing

number of units from existing customers and the lengthy test regimes has created a backlog on

the existing test stand. The aim of this project is to design, develop, build and commission a fuel

test stand capable of functional acceptance testing of high pressure engine driven pumps and

sub-idle fuel control units. The commissioning of the new test stand will provide additional

capacity for testing MGC, STS and related sub-assemblies and offload work from the existing

Adour Test Stand.

The new test stand utilises electronic measuring equipment and a data acquisition system as a

means of capturing component performance parameters under specified test conditions and

provides electronic setting of selected parameters to enhance operator effectiveness and reduce

test times. All component tests comply with the OEM‟s (Original Equipment Manufacturers)

published technical data. The data acquisition operator interface displays all instrumentation

outputs and allows the operator to input speed and pressure settings. In addition, the test stand

has mechanical controls for flow. Operator protection is provided which complies with the

relevant Australian standards. The test stand is unique in that it has a data acquisition

programme written specifically for this application as part of the project. Also unique is that this

test stand enables the STS to be tested without the need of a slave aircraft MGC fuel pump.

Validating and verifying the design is achieved by carrying out a cross correlation of test results

with the existing Adour Test Stand.


44

A Feasibility Study on the Implementation of Sustainable Cogeneration at University of

Technology, Sydney - (12cp)

Tia Oetojo - S12-224

Supervisor: Jafar Madadnia

Assessor: Khaled Chahine


This project presents a feasibility study on a renewable energy-based cogeneration system for

heat and electrical generation at University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The sustainable

cogeneration design aims to minimise direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, which

negatively impacts the current and future state of our environment. The design uses renewable

energy systems to reduce its reliance on electricity from the grid, sourced from non-renewable

resources. The sustainability of the system was assessed in the context of the efficiency of

resource usage, and covered technological, environmental, social and economic considerations.

Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) cladding on UTS Building 1 Tower was proposed to

provide a renewable energy source for sustainable cogeneration. The BIPV system converts

solar irradiation into cogeneration of electricity and heat generation, and assist in cogeneration

demand. Battery energy storage was proposed in the design to provide electrical energy when

supply exceeds demand.

A preliminary design for the sustainable cogeneration system and its implementation is

discussed in this report. Sustainability in renewable cogeneration systems was critical for the

feasibility of the design. The economic benefit of the system includes reduced cost of

purchasing electricity. Environmental benefits include lower direct and indirect emissions of

carbon dioxide, and reduced dependence on non-renewable energy sources that harm the

environment. In terms of technological sustainability, the system was highly efficient, with

minimal maintenance. Finally, the system promoted social sustainability through increased

sense of social responsibility and improved corporate governance.

Recommendations for future work will focus on alternative methods for electricity and heat

generation at UTS. There is potential to implement other renewable energy systems, integrated

with a cogeneration or trigeneration system. Testing‟s and accuracies of PV modules can be

further developed for efficiencies in various climate conditions.


45

Modeling, Control and Experimental Testing of the Active Hydraulically Interconnected

Suspension - (12cp)

Tuan Pham - S12-114

Supervisor: Nong Zhang

Assessor: Li Fu Wang

Major: Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) users are exposed to great risk of rollover accidents. The

increasing popularity of this type of vehicle has elevated the risk of rollover accidents in urban

and suburban areas to an alarming level. Gaubauer and Gabler (2009) revealed that SUVs are

approximately 8 times more likely to be involved in rollover accidents than in traffic barrier

collisions which surpass that of large pickup trucks.

To address this safety issue of SUVs without compromising qualities of handling and ride

comfort, Zhang et.al (2009) has developed an active hydraulically interconnected suspension

(HIS) system which provides such vehicles with an ability to actively adjust its roll angle,

therefore preventing rollover. Since the system ultilise hydraulic networks, unpredictable non-

linearity of the working fluid is present. The time delay of fluids flowing through pipes have

made a huge difference between simulated and experimental results and hence the low

performance of the system.

In this project, a more sophisticated mathematical model of the HIS system will be developed

with the main focus of addressing the flow and creating openings for further research. In

addition, the developed model is a linear model which allows advanced controllers to be

integrated to control the system. Experimental data comparison and model parameters tuning

were carried out which resulted in a model whose performance showed significant improvement

over previously developed models.

Advanced controllers using LQR and H-infinity methods were also developed in this project as

a follow-up to the new model. Simulation results suggested substantially improved performance

of the system due to presence of the fluid flow in the model although the controllers were only

developed up to a basic level.


46

Influence of Polyurethane Soil Stabiliser on the Strength of Cement Treated Kaolinite Soil

- (12cp)

Wen Shan - S12-131




Due to the issue of the overpopulation and environmental pollution, the soil conditions of the

construction sites have become not only limited but worse than ever. Hence, the ground

improvement becomes one of the most significant aspects that should be considered before

carrying the construction. Chemical stabilisation is a method to improve the consistency,

strength, and permeability of the soft soil by applying chemical admixtures to the soil-cement

slurry. This method is becoming popular especially in Australia as it has a wide range of

advantages. And this experimental study will investigate the influence of the polyurethane

stabilizer on the compressive strength of cement-treated columns.

There were three groups of samples that each of them contained the various amounts of cement

and additive. The soil stabiliser has been applied during the stage of mixing the soil and cement

slurry. After 14 days curing time, the results show that the strength of the cement-treated soil

increased as the soil stabiliser contents increased. However, the influence of polyurethane

addition is insignificant in 10% cement content range, which is not adequate amount of cement

to react with soil stabiliser. Moreover, this dissertation also explores the physical properties

including moisture content and density of the cement-treated kaolinite samples.


47

Composite Action Investigation Using Static Based Method - (12cp)

Nirmal Shrestha - S12-135


Assessor: Emre Erkmen


Timber floor for large span structures requires composite systems such as box beam sections; I

beam sections, T-beam sections, etc. Structural performance of such systems depends upon the

degree of composite action between the web(s) and the flange(s) which depends upon the type

and number of shear connectors used. Metal fasteners such as screws are one of the simplest

and cheapest ways of achieving composite action between web and flange in such composite

systems. A high degree of composite action can be achieved by using large number of screws

but may not be economical and practical.

The main objective focus of this research was to investigate the partial composite action

between the flange and the web in a composite T-beam section and to identify the effect of

shear connector (screw) spacing in terms of stiffness and strength in such system.

This research paper presents a comprehensive review on partial composite action and methods

to analyze the composite action on flooring systems. The research investigates different stages

of partial composite action in a T-beam with two LVL components acting as flange and web

connected using screws at various spacing under serviceability loads. In order to numerically

model the composite T-beam, the connection is characterized during the experimental program

followed by numerical modeling using γ-Method outlined in Eurocode 5.

This research paper further demonstrates that the performance of any composite system relies

upon the characteristics of the connectors (screws) and their relative spacing. Results from the

experimental investigation and the numerical model were also compared against the dynamic

based non-destructive vibration test which can be useful in predicting the degree of composite

action in existing flooring systems. The effect of friction on the stiffness of composite sections

was also investigated.


48

Roller Compacted Concrete Dam Design and Construction - Case Study of Enlarged

Cotter Dam - (12cp)

Nicholas Stewart - A13-007




Dams have been a sign of significance in society for centuries based upon their application, may

it be for irrigation, power generation, flood mitigation and/or potable water supply. As dams

have been a vital part of society and sustainability of great cities the materials and methods for

construction have grown significantly to accommodate for new construction methods, standards

and tight construction programs.

Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) was developed in the 1970‟s for dam repairs and in the early

1980‟s was used to build the Willow Creek dam in Oregon, which is recognized as the first dam

to be constructed almost entirely out of RCC. Since its first application the construction

methods, systems, concrete design and materials have changed significantly to adhere to today‟s

construction standards and requirements. New innovations have paved the way for faster

placing methods to limit down time of construction and therefore allowing construction crews

to place thousands of cubic meters of concrete in one day, this has allowed for RCC rapid

construction to fit into short construction programs. To this date RCC construction has streamed

lined mass concrete placement for dam construction even further by developing integrated

system for constructing the upstream and downstream faces to reducing the chance of seepage

occurring through dam during its lifetime and therefore increasing the dams service life.

In Australia RCC dams are a rare occurrence, and I have the opportunity to work on the

Enlarged Cotter Dam project in Canberra, which I will be using as a case study in this paper to

illustrate the advancements in RCC placement, and how they are effectively used in engineering

practice. The Cotter Dam has used a new method of placement of using 400mm individual layer

concretes lifts compared to the traditional 300mm and has also used a fairly new method for the

upstream and downstream faces know as Grout Enriched Roller Compacted Concrete

(GERCC), these new methods will be discussed on their effectiveness on meeting the projects

requirements.


49

Biotechnical Stabilisation of Kaolinite Soil Using Micro-organism - (12cp)

Willis Susanto - S12-138




Soil improvement techniques in geotechnical discipline have been largely developed through

the emerged approaches of studies related to soil properties. Soft clays are particularly complied

as poor performing soils for construction purposes. Bio-cementation is one of notable

application that introduces microbial process in situ thus the strength of soil can be improved.

Microbial cementation acts as formation of microbes and additive material in soil particle which

result can be increased by stable biological bindings. Thus it aims to improve mechanical

properties of problematic soil.

The focus of this paper is to investigate the influence of bio-cementation method on the clay

with different cement contents. It is outlined from research that it is a linear gradient between

the increase of cement content and strength of soil-cement column.

Kaolinite clay sample with liquid limit of 50% was selected for the test representing a typical

soft soil. The testing program includes unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, instruments

checked to meet proper procedures and accuracy. Cement was mixed with various percentage of

liquid whey material that contains microorganisms particularly bacillus type. Samples were

subject to compressive test after 14 and 56 days and the stress-strain graphs were the plotted.

The preliminary results obtained from this study indicate that whey can be used as replacement

for water in deep soil mixing (DSM). The strength gained from cemented column may increase

with time due to addition of whey. Since whey material is waste product from cheese

manufacturing, it can be easily gained with relatively low cost. Thus it offers valuable

construction benefit such as increase soil stability and enhanced the bearing capacity.


50

Investigation into the Noise Levels within an Australian Hospital Emergency Department

and Methods of Managing These Levels - (12cp)

Erol Tanner - S12-143

Supervisor: Jin Chen Ji

Assessor: Zhen Luo


There is no doubt that a hospital is an extremely noisy environment. The high density of people,

coupled with the alarms, paging systems and electronic equipment creates an acoustic

nightmare. This especially applies to areas such as the emergency department where the flow of

traffic is markedly higher than most other areas. There are few studies that have investigated

noise levels in a hospital emergency department and even fewer in an Australian context.

This study examines the noise levels in the emergency department of a major Australian

metropolitan hospital. One emergency area of an emergency department within one hospital in a

large metropolitan area was studied. Continuous decibel levels [dB(A)] were measured in the

reception area for 12 continuous hours over three days.

Recorded data was analysed and compared across the three days and compared with World

Health Organization (WHO) and Australian sound level standards. The results indicated

continuous high noise levels. The three 12-hour average sound levels (LAeq) varied between

54 and 58.9 dB(A), with peak noise levels (LAmax) of between 87.1 and 91.5 dB(A), thus

consistently exceeding Australian recommended levels by over 10 db(A) and maximum levels

by over 40 dB(A).

As researched, these high noise levels are a significant problem and can potentially contribute to

stress in hospital staff, reduced speed of patient recovery and have many other negative effects

on staff and patients. Sound reducing/absorbing materials potentially suitable for a hospital

environment as well as behavior modification strategies were researched. Many of these

methods led to a significant reduction in noise levels. Unfortunately due to practicality these

methods could not be tested in this study for noise reducing effectiveness. There is an

imperative need for further evaluation of noise levels in hospitals, their effect on patients and

staff and intervention strategies to manage noise levels.


51

Cooling System Design for Formula SAE - (12cp)

Simon Varley - S12-154

Supervisor: Terry Brown



This project involved the design, development and construction of a cooling system for the

2012 UTS Formula SAE race car.

Formula SAE is an annual educational competition based around the design and construction of

a small formula style race car. Although UTS has taken part in the competition since 2001, there

has never been a concerted design effort in regards to the cars‟ cooling systems.

Sufficient cooling is important to the life of an engine - excessive engine temperatures reduce

the reliability of the car, affecting the competitiveness of the team. In the past the UTS team has

experienced engine failures related to elevated oil temperatures due to in-sufficient cooling.

The need of this project was recognized after the 2011 competition where unsustainable engine

temperatures were seen.

Performance data was obtained from the 2011 cooling system and used in the design of the

2012 cooling system. The thermal performance of different size radiators was predicted and an

informed decision made. A cooling system was designed to suit the chosen radiator including

integration into the pre-existing race car.

The new cooling system was constructed, engine data was logged from track test sessions, the

performance of the system was evaluated and required modifications were made.

The car competed successfully at the 2012 competition, demonstrating the effectiveness of the

new cooling system. Later analysis showed the capacity of the system exceeded the engine‟s

heat load requirements due to assumptions made during the design process.

The achievements of this project include a functional cooling system and a design procedure for

future teams to follow, including advice about potential pitfalls. Also, important design data

relating to radiator performance and the engine's heat load has been collected for future use.


52

The Settlement of Twin Tunnels in Weak Ground - (12cp)

Kieran Vekeria - S12-1550




As the population of the world grows, there has been an increase in the demand for larger

capacity transportation systems. Due to the lack of available land or achieving quicker travel

times, engineers are resorting to constructing tunnels underground.

In order to design safe tunnels, engineers need to find a suitable location to construct tunnels

and be able to estimate the settlement of the tunnels. This needs to be completed accurately,

especially where weak ground exists, as a failure to do this can result in the structural integrity

of a tunnel and buildings to be compromised.

This project investigates two methods that can be used to estimate the settlement, the first

method being an empirical relationship that was developed by Peck and Schmidt in 1969, and

the second method involved using PLAXIS, a finite element method based software, to estimate

the settlement. After completing various tests and as expected, it was established that PLAXIS

predicts the settlement more accurately, as it takes into account many properties of the soil and

the tunnel construction methods. Peck‟s formula does not take into consideration the soil

properties (except volume loss) and the tunnel construction method, which means the calculated

settlement, will be the same if the volume loss of the soil is the same.

The variation of different parameters have been studied numerically, which include the depth,

the distance between tunnels, the diameter of tunnels, the soil types and various soil properties.

By undertaking such an investigation I have been able to determine the relationship between the

parameters and the settlement. In addition to this, through a sensitivity analysis, it has been

established which parameters are more sensitive in prediction of the ground settlement above

the tunnels. The findings of this study can be useful in twin tunnel design.


53

The Benefits of Subgrade Stabilisation using Geosynthetics in Pavement Construction -

(12cp)

Wayne Vella - A13-023



Major: Civil and Environmental Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

Various types of geosynthetics have been implemented in the stabilization of road pavements

worldwide for several decades. Geosynthetics such as geotextiles, geogrids, geonets,

geocomposites and geomembranes are used to separate, filter, drain and reinforce road

pavements. The material used in the manufacture of geosynthetics, as well as their physical

structure is addressed in this report.

The main benefits that geosynthetics provide when implemented to stabilize pavement subgrade

include; greater subgrade strength, a reduction in pavement thickness as well as reduced

construction periods and associated costs. Several case studies from within Australia and

construction sites overseas are included to further highlight the advantages of implementing

geosynthetics into pavement construction. The cost benefits obtained through the use of

geosynthetics as a form of subgrade stabilization are demonstrated using data obtained by the

author through practical experiences and collaboration with geosynthetic suppliers. These costs

are also contrasted to traditional methods of subgrade stabilization for further comparison.

The report contains a critical literature review on the several types of geosynthetics applicable

to the construction of roads and their respective function. Furthermore contained in this report is

a review of current methods used to determine the design capacity of pavement structure. This

report also contains a thorough methodology for the preparation of pavement subgrade as well

as the supply, storage and installation of geosynthetics when stabilising subgrade. Finally an

analysis of current Road and Maritime Services specifications relating to the use of

geosynthetics in pavement construction is conducted in the attempt to determine if the

implementation of these products into their road construction practices is valid.


54

Reliability Based Maintenance Program for Pharmaceutical Machines - (12cp)

Prasanna Wignarajah - S12-060

Supervisor: John Dartnall

Assessor: Zenon Chaczko


The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that there are alternative approaches to

maintenance servicing other than the industry norm of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM).

RCM has become an essential approach to asset management for many organisations when

identifying opportunities for preventative and predictive maintenance to increase asset or plant

uptime and to avoid the undesired practice of corrective maintenance in the event of a

breakdown. However in doing so, RCM diagnostic events or projects are an exhaustive process

and requires the full time resources of both maintenance personnel and engineers.

The cost of taking these two key technical personnel from the day to day running of plant and

machinery can be cumbersome as the cost to support or backfill these staff are high as well as

the cost of hiring external RCM experts to facilitate these sessions. Particularly in the mining,

manufacturing, transport and processing industries, a typical RCM event can take up two to five

years for completion, before maintenance strategies have been implemented and put in place. It

involves heavy Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or a Five Why Analysis (5WA) of almost every

critical part that could have multiple failure modes.

However, at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a multinational pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare

manufacturer, the organisation has adopted a Reliability Based Maintenance (RBM) approach,

that only focuses on some of the top tier failure modes, based on some downtime history. This

is done by conducting a streamlined RCM study that addresses 75% of failure modes, that are of

higher frequency and which causes the business the greatest downtime as opposed to the

standard RCM approach of identifying every possible failure mode. Although an RBM

approach ignores 25% of lower frequent and potentially unknown failure modes, the study for a

particular machine can then be reduced to months instead of years, or even in the recent study

performed at GSK Ermington in Sydney, where the organisation completed RBM sessions per

week for each work centre.

This paper will identify some of the findings of industry results of plant uptime from an RCM

aspect versus the RBM performance of various GSK sites around the globe. The scope of this

RBM project study will also cover spares management, an area that is quite often ignored in

RCM, as the focus is primarily on maintenance strategies without the acknowledgement of

identifying and assessing the availability of necessary critical and planned maintenance spares.


55

Dynamic Analysis of Moving Loads and Damping Effects on the Vibration of Truss

Bridges - (12cp)

Matthew Wilde - S12-162

Supervisor: Ali Saleh

Assessor: Jianchun Li


Comprised of elements with joint connections, trusses undergo tensile and compressive forces

in their members. When considering truss bridge design, it is important to take into account the

forces applied through this system and there likely effects.

The main objective of this capstone is to develop a program that is able, in steps, to analyse load

cases on truss bridges. The progressive iterations of the code shall incorporate:

• Accounting for static loading and corresponding effects.

• Accounting for dynamic loading and corresponding effects.

• Account for the effect of amplitudes and frequencies on vibrations, and corresponding

damping effects.

A better understanding of these effects can lead to improved truss bridge design in a number of

areas. Consequently, this can lead to reductions in cost, improved material selection, improved

safety, and in particular, improved design in regards to serviceability.

The key to the success of this project is in implementing the program effectively. Currently, the

MatLab programming language has been used to develop the program. MatLab allows for the

manipulation of matrices which are essential in the writing of the program. The program is

written in a „script‟ within MatLab. The input variables and output values are obtained from and

written in a simple text file format. These variables identify coordinates to determine element

locations, attributes and applied forces.

In addition, Microsoft Excel has been used to assist in error checking and in results testing to

ensure the program works as intended. FORTRAN and Excel are held in a standby state if there

are any problems with the current setup. An effective program can thus be produced based on

the required criteria.


56

Cloud-Based Enterprise Solutions for SMES: Adapting SOA Pattern on an Enterprise

System - (12cp)

Kevin Wiradinata - A12-010




Due to modern enterprise applications becoming comprised of complex business systems, the

enterprise service-oriented architecture (ESOA) has started to become common practice for

enterprise applications. Consequently, the rapid increase in popularity for cloud computing has

also become an option for enterprises to deploy their applications on, subsequently, cloud

computing is also an extension of SOA. The aim of the paper is to find a solution for enterprise

cloud-based applications with regards to the software architecture, ensuring that the application

has the optimal framework for its cloud-based activities.

Through the identification and accumulation of the strengths of the proposed architecture has,

there are concepts that overlap in today‟s popular SOA architectures possess, such as the

structure of the structure of the Enterprise Service Bus (from “Generic SOA Framework” and

“SOA-based framework) as well as the autonomy structure in terms of system monitoring (from

Generic SOA Framework and Autonomous SOA framework).

After reviewing and identifying the major components of what an ESOA model should

implement, I have developed a generic ESOA model for a cloud-based enterprise application,

shown in the figure below. A uses case, using Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services

environments, of the proposed architecture is currently still in progress to provide a concrete

proof for the feasibility and practicality of the proposed architecture.


57

Application of Fibre Reinforced Polymer for Strengthening Reinforced Concrete Beams -

(12cp)

Lianxin Xie - S12-167

Supervisor: Bijan Samali



Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) (also fibre-reinforced plastic) is a composite material made of a

polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. It was developed since 1940‟s started only with glass

fibres, later on, as the progress of technology, other better fibres as aramid, basalt and carbon

became available. In some special scenario, fibres could be asbestos, wood even paper. The

polymer work as adhesive as well as matrix, they are vinylester, polyester thermosetting plastic,

expoxy etc. also, phenol formaldehyde resins could be used as polymer.

Due to economic and technological reasons, Engineers prefer repairing and strengthening

bridges rather than demolition and rebuild it. Engineers developed many methods to strengthen

concrete structures in bridges. The most popular one is FRP, or Fibre Reinforced Polymer

system. This method can equip bridges extra capacity and it is also cost effective, corrosion

resistant and easy to install.

To design the FRP strengthen system, there are numerous conditions have to be considered.

Engineers have developed many formulas for design purpose. Most formulas are based on

experimental research and have the limitation of utility. Those formulas could work perfectly in

simplified lab experiments. But in reality, engineers have to consider much more conditions and

limitations. The only practical way of FRP design is finite element analysis.

In my thesis, I use ANTENA to model flexural failure for FRP beams. I had many problems and

eventually, I managed to overcome the problems both in theory and software operation. The

most important problem I have solved is punching failure. In point load case, small amount of

load can make huge concentrated stress, this stress is normally higher than the concrete strength,

as the result, the concrete bursts at the load point and produces weird load-displacement graph. I

creatively put additional stirrup reinforcement and overcame this problem. In my model, all

beams failed in flexural failure and the load-displacement graph is smooth and consistent. Most

important, the additional stirrup don‟t affect the flexural capacity, the results are reliable for

bending capacity. And from this capstone, I gained valuable experience of effectively using FE

software. In future career, I can use what I have done in ATENA to assess the accuracy of other

FE software.


58

Human Gesture Capture based Robotic Imitation and Recall - (12cp)

Michelle Youssef - S12-169

Supervisor: Mary-Anne Williams

Assessor: Benjamin Johnston

Major: Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Major BE and BEDipEngPrac

The presence of robots operating in society is continuously increasing. To compensate for this

many methods have been designed to enable easier programming of robots, both industrial and

domestic. Often the methods that are used are complex, involve expensive technologies and

result in the robot generating non-human-like motions. This can cause reluctance for humans to

interact with the robotic systems.

Instead of devising new systems for each robot that needs to be taught a task, it would be easier

if a human could demonstrate the task as if they were showing another person. This promotes

human-robot interactions and makes working with robots much simpler.

This project involved exploring different possibilities to teach a robot action from a human

example using various tools. Willow Garage technologies were mainly used for

implementations with the accessibility of their robot operating system (ROS) and their PR2

platform. The XBOX Kinect was also used in conjunction with OpenNI which contains

modules to interact with the Kinect. Other methods were also explored with the intention of

comparison to the Kinect-ROS-PR2 system.

The project is based on real-time data transference between the movement mapping device, the

interpretation program, and a robot‟s actuators. The project consisted of developing a PC

program to change the input from the movement capture in to an output for the robot‟s joints.

The real-time nature of the project implementation showcases the ability of a demonstrator to

perform corrections and adjustments to movement as you go.

Advanced robotics is one of the fields identified as a “disruptive technology” or a technology

that will cause drastic changes to the future of living. Advances in learning technology for

robots could have immense implications on future robotics frameworks. This project aims to

promote further development in the fields of social robotics and human-robot interaction.

Further developments could include using neural networks for motion planning and comparison

of programming interfaces.


59

Influence of Soil Stabiliser - Polymer Polyurethane on Stiffness of Cement-Treated

Mixture - (12cp)

Yue Zhao - 48006




In some areas, soil conditions are poor therefore the ground improvement can be considered

prior to the construction. By mixing the soil with chemical stabilizer the properties of the soil

such as strength and stiffness can be improved .The soil mixing method is a soil treatment that

in-situ soils are blended with cementitious materials.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of the Polymer Polyurethane on

the stiffness on Kaolinite-cement samples in various cement contents. According to the

published literature Lorenzo and Bergodo (2004), when cement content increases the clay-

cement strength also increases. However the influence of the soil stabiliser on clay-cement

strength is unknown.

In this experimental program, Q38 Kaolinite with liquid limit of 50% was used. There were 3

groups of kaolinite samples which were mixed with various cements content and soil stabiliser.

The cement content of 10%, 15% and 20% were used and the soil additive content of 1%, 2%,

5% and 10% were adopted. The soil stabiliser was added to the kaolinite and water during the

mixing process. After curing period of 14 days, unconfined stress strain relationship at the

treated kaolinite was determined and plotted.

The corresponding results indicate that with adequate amount of free water in soil-cement slurry

reacting with soil stabilizer, the stiffness of samples increase when the soil stabiliser content

increases.

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