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ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND MATHEMATICS

Bachelor of Engineering & Master of Professional Engineering

Final Year Project Descriptions

Semester 1, 2017

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

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

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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND MATHEMATICS

Ajmal, Mian, Associate Professor

Linguistic Stylometry for Determining Authorship of DocumentsDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: Python or MatlabLinguistic stylometry is used to determine the authorship of disputed documents or documents with unknown authors. It encodes the writer's style rather than the contents of the document to determine the writing pattern of known authors to be matched later with those of unknown authors. The simplest way is to record the frequencies of common words or even characters such as "for", "the", "therefore" commas, full stops etc. In this project the student will be required to develop an algorithm for stylemetry feature extraction or learning (e.g. using neural networks). The student will use online novels (typed documents from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/) to train and test their feature learning and classification algorithms.

Ajmal, Mian, Associate ProfessorCo-supervisor: Syed, Zulqarnain Gilani

Facial Expression and Emotion Recognition Disciplines: Computer, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: MatlabComputers, tablets, gaming consoles and smart phones have become a daily part of our life yet they do not understand our emotions. This project aims to develop a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) model for facial expression (emotion) recognition that will classify emotions into Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Neutral, Sadness or Surprise based input video. The project does not involved data collection as it aims to use the Facial Expression in the Wild data https://cs.anu.edu.au/few/ChallengeDetails.html which contains training, validation and testing sets to benchmark the new algorithms against existing ones.

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

Flow Assurance and Natural Gas Hydrates2


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

An, Hongwei, Dr

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

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Aslani, Farhad, Dr Co-supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Ma, Guowei, Prof.

Hollow and concrete filled spiral welded steel tube columns Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical and Materials Spiral welded tube (SWT) structures have found worldwide application in pipeline construction, wind turbine towers, foundation piles, and columns in tall buildings. Despite this, the understanding of SWT structures fundamental behaviour is still insufficient and efficient analysis and design methods have not been developed owing to the lack of experimental and numerical research on these types of structures. In this project, SWTs will be used in a new and innovative approach for both hollow and concrete filled steel columns, and the research will be conducted to characterise the engineering and manufacturing properties of SWTs. The goal of this project is “to provide insight into the ultimate strength and ductility of hollow and concrete filled SWT columns subjected to concentric axial loading, eccentric axial loading and pure bending loading through a comprehensive experimental study and theoretical model for adoption by engineers and Standards bodies”.

Aslani, Farhad, Dr Co-supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Prof; Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Caruana, Jason, Mr (Industry)

Hollow and geopolymer concrete-filled GFRP tubes columnsDisciplines: Civil and Materials Deterioration of the Australian’s infrastructure has been well documented and publicized. Glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites have emerged as a potential solution to the problems associated with the infrastructure. An economic application of GFRP materials is in the form of composite construction with concrete, such that GFRP could act as load-carrying partner and protective measure for the structural members. And also the concrete industry is responsible for a significant proportion of world greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, manufacture of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is carbon intensive. An increase in research activities related to the development of low carbon concrete technologies, namely Geopolymer Concrete (GC), has occurred in recent years in Australia. GCs

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result from the reaction between fly ash and/or slag with an alkaline liquid. There is no Portland cement clinker in GC. GC exhibits many of the characteristics of traditional concretes, despite their vastly different chemical constituents and reactions.As the first experimental study reported in the literature on the axial compressive behaviour of normal and high-strength box and circular hollow and geopolymer concrete-filled GFRP tubes columns, this study will present the results of a test program that was aimed at investigating the influence of GC, GFRP Tubes, and critical confinement parameters on the performance of normal and high-strength box and circular hollow and geopolymer concrete-filled GFRP tubes columns.

Aslani, Farhad, Dr Co-supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Ma, Guowei, Prof.

Compression buckling analysis of CFRP strengthened mild steelDisciplines: Civil, Software and Materials The proposed project will present numerical and experimental analysis of 30 mild steel (250 MPa) struts strengthened using various arrangements of CFRP plates and sheets under axial compressive load. The experimental results will be compared with finite element modelling of the steel struts to compare the results. Comparison will be made between the strength of the plates and sheets in compression buckling to determine the most effective arrangement and type of CFRP. The slenderness ratios λs, of the steel struts vary from 50 to 100. While research has been conducted on axial and bending capacities of thin walled SHS tubes, compression buckling strength of standalone mild steel struts is lacking. This research may be used to further extend the understanding of CFRP strengthened steel and conduct further studies.

Aslani, Farhad, DrCo-supervisors: Karrech, Ali, A/Prof; Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Ma, Guowei, Prof.

Fire-performance of concrete members reinforced with FRP barsDisciplines: Civil, Software and Materials

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

Beckett, Chris. Dr.Co-supervisors: Fourie, Andy. Professor; Guzzomi, Andrew, Dr.

What's HAPpening with soil compaction?Disciplines: Civil, Mining and Environmental More and more operations in the Pilbara region are moving to sub-water table mining, creating vast volumes of waste water. Water disposal will therefore become a key issue in the North in coming years. The Hamersley Agricultural Project (HAP) forms part of Rio Tinto’s innovative solution to this problem. Close to Marandoo Mine, HAP comprises 16 “pivots” and uses 40-120 ML of water per day. Each pivot is an 800m long arm, supported by rollers and fitted with water sprays. The pivots rotate about a central hub, continuously irrigating the swept area. The system is currently used to grow Rhodes grass – a high quality animal fodder – and produces over ten harvests per year for the Pilbara beef industry. Frequent harvests and the continuous motion of the pivot means that soil compaction is a critical issue. If unchecked, compaction will threaten crop production and so the solution’s feasibility.

Working with experts at Rio Tinto, this project will use geotechnical engineering principles to identify current compaction levels at HAP and in the surrounding countryside and to model and predict likely compaction in the pivot system for future management. The project calls for at least one trip to the HAP system to conduct field tests and gather data. The project is ideally suited to highly motivated students with interests in geotechnical

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and mining engineering.

Beemer, Ryan, Dr

Characterisation of an Over Consolidated Translucent ClayDisciplines: Civil Translucent soils are used in geotechnical research to visualize the behaviour of soil and foundations that are usually obfuscated by the fact natural soils are opaque. Common uses include failure mechanism studies and anchor embedment. This research project will examine the strength and permeability of an over consolidated translucent clay, Lithium Sodium Magnesium (LNM) silicate. Research will involve conducting miniature shear vane, ball penetrometer, and falling head permeability experiments. Additional computer vision programming is possible if the student(s) is/are interested.

Boussaid, Farid, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Chan, Simon, Mr

Design of a scalable battery management system for high voltage Lithium batteriesDisciplines: Electrical & ElectronicFor a very long time, Lead Acid battery technologies have dominated the market for electrical energy storage. They are used in vehicles, emergency lighting, UPS backup power solutions, etc. Although they are attractive because of low capital cost outlay, Lead Acid batteries also suffer from poor operating life, especially under demanding and high temperatures working conditions.In recent years, a number of Lithium battery chemistries have entered the market. Some of these have extremely high energy density, but have been found to be potentially dangerous due to their ease of combustion under certain conditions. Other Lithium technologies create long term waste disposal problems due to their highly toxic chemistries.This project will focus on LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate = LiFePO4) batteries. These are very lightweight, energy dense, and have been called “The Safe Lithium” by many who use these in challenging environmental conditions.Unlike lead acid batteries, due to their charging characteristics, Lithium batteries are not meant to be connected in series to create a single high

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voltage battery. In fact, Lithium batteries require a BMS (Battery Management System) to protect them against accidental misuse and abuse due to mismatched cells.The student undertaking this project will start by studying existing BMS (Battery Management Systems) already used in many LFP batteries. After having understood the basic design principles and features required in a BMS, the student will then explore methods to create a modular and scalable BMS which will then allow users to connect many LFP batteries in series to create a single bank of series connected batteries.


Design of an enhanced building or equipment access control systemDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwareThis project aims to bolster the level of security currently available for many building and equipment access control systems.Just as many banks already use a multi-factor user authentication systems, this project will leverage the computing and communications capabilities of smartphones to enable a building or equipment management system to prevent unauthorised access.In additional to the first layer of security (typically a PIN pad entry or swipe/smartcard access control) a smartphone will be used to interpret a request sent by the management system to generate a unique second level code to further authenticate the user - in conjunction with relevant biometric information already stored on the smartphone.


Emergency first responders software tool kitDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Software"There is an app for that" is a common catchphrase today.This project seeks to design a Smartphone-based software tool kit to make life easier for an Emergency first responder.

-- Provide a multi-modal work-flow system for a first responder to collect all important and vital information relating to an incident or accident

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-- Utilising the various sensors (including camera and audio capabilities on a Smartphone) this app would enable a first responder to capture relevant information and interact with incident controllers in another location-- Provide an on-board database relating to dangerous chemicals and appropriate handling instructions-- Provide a simple method for the first responder to interact with any victims through simple graphical icons as well as speech-to-text // text-to-speech and automated translation tools


Evaluation of Lithium battery performance in challenging environmental conditions Disciplines: Electrical & ElectronicFor a very long time, Lead Acid battery technologies have dominated the market for electrical energy storage. They are used in vehicles, emergency lighting, UPS backup power solutions, etc. Although they are attractive because of low capital cost outlay, Lead Acid batteries also suffer from poor operating life, especially under demanding and high temperatures working conditions.In recent years, a number of Lithium battery chemistries have entered the market. Some of these have extremely high energy density, but have been found to be potentially dangerous due to their ease of combustion under certain conditions. Other Lithium technologies create long term waste disposal problems due to their highly toxic chemistries.This project will focus on LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate = LiFePO4) batteries. These are very lightweight, energy dense, and have been called “The Safe Lithium” by many who use these in challenging environmental conditions.Because LFPs are relatively newcomers to the battery marketplace, there is still a lack of objective, reliable statistics about these batteries’ performance in difficult environmental conditions. The student undertaking this project will be required to design an automated data collection system to enable rapid, accurate and high resolution reporting of Lithium battery performance in elevated temperatures and high humidity conditions. A large number of repeated tests will then be undertaken over the course of the project to record the long-term charge / discharge characteristics of these LFP batteries. With the data collected, a mathematical / statistical model will be created to explore and describe the long term detrimental effects of high temperature and humidity on LFP battery performance.

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Road condition monitoring and reporting system using smartphonesDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Software"There is an app for that" is a common catchphrase today.This project seeks to design a Smartphone-based road condition monitoring and reporting system. Using the data gathered from accelerometers, a system would be designed and developed to analyse road conditions using DSP (eg work out how bumpy a road is simply by doing digital signal analysis of the 'road noise'). Collating that information along with the GPS location of the Smartphone, it becomes possible to map in real-time the road conditions experienced by this particular road user. Grouping together data collected by other road users for the same segment of road, it will become possible to identify maintenance 'hot spots'. This information would then be sent to relevant authorities for action.


Software app to assist inter-generational communications in a multi-cultural settingDisciplines: Software"There is an app for that" is a common catchphrase today.This project seeks to utilise the computing power currently available in many smartphones and tablets to provide a software tool to assist in inter-generational communications, especially in a multi-cultural context.-- Leveraging speech-to-text databases available on the Internet, provide a 'subtitle' capability so that an older person who is hard of hearing can catch the gist of a conversation-- Leveraging language translation tools on the Internet, provide a rapid bi-directional translation capability for verbal conversations-- Leveraging the large screen format of a tablet to allow an older person to select simple sentences (ie "canned messages") to express themselves without the need to type in long strings of words-- Integrating all of the above into a simple to use Apple iOS and/or Android App

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Braunl, Thomas, Professor Co-supervisors: Boeing, Adrian, Dr

Electric JetskiDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicOur electric jetski has made some waves at the end of last year when it was first demonstrated to the public. For 2017, we are looking at a number of additions and improvements to make the system more useable and robust.Goals:- Implementation of Battery Management System- Development of Integrated Safety System- Weight shifting for performance tuning- Performance modelling, measurement and evaluationThis project will include numerous test drives with the completed jetski to collect data for your theses.See details at: http://revproject.com/vehicles/jetski.php

Braunl, Thomas, Professor Co-supervisors: Boeing, Adrian, Dr

Autonomous Driving SystemsDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwareWe are currently operating two autonomous vehicles, a donated BMW X5 and a student-built Formula SAE-Electric vehicle. Both vehicles already include the low-level drive-by-wire technology and are equipped with several sensor systems, including GPS, camera, Ibeo Lux lidar (laser scanner), Xsens IMU (inertial measurement unit) and wheel encoders.We further have the latest automotive control hardware in form of an Nvidia Jetson TX1 board that will be used for fast real-time sensor processing and deep learning algorithms.Goals:- Autonomous navigation on UWA-internal roads and on external race track- Sensor fusion of GPS, Lidar, inertial measurement system, odometry- Path planning and collision avoidance- Vision sub-system for road and vehicle detection using OpenCVhttp://opencv.org- Exploring of deep-learning systems such as Caffehttp://caffe.berkeleyvision.orgGood programming skills in C or C++ are a prerequisite for this project.See details at: http://revproject.com/vehicles/bmw.php

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Braunl, Thomas, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Croft, Chris, Mr

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV)Disciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, SoftwareWe have two autonomous submarine systems, Mako and USAL.Both AUVs have a Raspberry-3 as controller, vision, distance sensors, IMU (inertialmeasurementunit), etc.Goals:- Implementation of area surveying application for autonomous AUV- Implementation of autonomous navigation in and mapping algorithms (SLAM) inunknown environment- Adaptation of AUV simulation system for our AUV modelsSee details at: http://robotics.ee.uwa.edu.au/auv/

Braunl, Thomas, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Croft, Chris, Mr

Embedded RoboticsDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechatronic, SoftwareWe are using a more advanced version of the lab-robots you know from Embedded Systems.These are based on a Raspberry-3 controller, using vision, PSD distance sensors and a color display.For this project we are looking at the development of several practical robot applications in the following areas:- Autonomous navigation and path planning software in a maze environment- Establishment of Robotics image processing library for visual navigation- Intelligent learning systems for driving robots- Integration of new robot features in the EyeSim simulation systemSee details at: http://robotics.ee.uwa.edu.au/eyebot7/Robios7.html

Chow, Shiao Huey, Dr

Capacity of Plate Anchors in Sand

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Disciplines: Civil and Oil & Gas The development of offshore renewable energy, particularly wave energy industry has taken off slowly due to technical and economic challenges. One critical challenge is to produce a reliable and cost effective anchoring system to anchor the floating energy device to seabed. A solution could be the plate anchors, which are used for mooring large floating structures for hydrocarbon exploration in deep water. The behaviour of plate anchors has been widely studied for application in clay, but not in sand where offshore floating renewable energy devices are typically located. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the response of plate anchors in sand. This project aims to develop an experimental database of plate anchor capacity in sand considering different configurations (embedment depth, loading condition etc.). The experimental database will contribute towards validation of failure envelopes of plate anchor in sand developed in a companion numerical study. Interested students are encouraged to contact Dr Shiaohuey Chow ([email protected]) for more information.

Chow, Shiao Huey, DrCo-supervisors: Conleth O'Loughlin, Dr

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

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The proposed project requires a team of two students working on the following scopes:

Project 1a: Validation of the interpretation software on other free-fall penetrometers using field test data

Project 1b: Enhancement of the interpretation software to enable prediction of the embedment depth of the FFP

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

Figure 1 Free-fall cone penetrometer (FFP) developed at UWA

Chow, Shiao Huey, DrCo-supervisors: Ivey, Greg, Professor

Oceanic turbulence mixing and material transportDisciplines: Civil, Environmental and Ocean Systems Turbulence is ubiquitous in aquatic environments such as lakes, estuaries, and in the ocean. Itcauses stirring at much faster rates than molecular diffusion and controls the distribution of contaminants, nutrients, temperature, and small organisms. Because of the challenges in obtaining direct mixing measurements under field conditions, most predictive mixing relationships are derived from idealized engineering flows or from controlled experiments at much lower turbulence intensities than observed in nature.

This project focuses on a field dataset collected as part of a multi-institutional project in the Tasman Sea (https://scripps.ucsd.edu/projects/ttide/). New theories to predict mixing will be assessed against field measurements collected near the bottom of the Tasman Sea

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(student 1), while through-water column biophysical measurements (currents, temperature, fluorescence, nutrients and sediment) will be analyzed (student 2) to determine the link between turbulence mixing and the vertical/horizontal fluxes of the measured water quality indicators.

Chua, Hui Tong, Professor

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


Catalytic cracking of methane for graphitic carbons and hydrogenDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MaterialsThis is an ongoing project with the UWA ASX-listed spinoff company, Hazer Group, to focus on producing graphene by cracking methane. There will be two aspects to this project. One is to work on fine-tuning the catalytic process to get consistent and good yield, another is to work on purifying the as-cracked carbons in favour of graphene and other carbon morphologies.

The Hazer technology has been spun off from UWA lab and is now worth $20mil.


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Industrial waste heat distillation, desalination, bauxite residue remediationDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MechanicalThis topic will have 3 sub-topics.

1. Reconcentrating spent liquor using waste heat from an alumina refinery - 2 students.

2. Freeze desalination - using electricity to freeze ice from seawater so as to rival reverse osmosis - 1 student.

3. Bauxite residue remediation - using centrifuge to dewater mining residue, an exciting technology - 1 student. This project is to be co-supervised by Prof. Andy Fourie of Civil Engineering.

Chua, Hui Tong, ProfessorGeothermal energyDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical 1. Modelling and Controlling geothermal swimming pool - this is an ongoing topic to work with a local council on managing geothermal swimming pools. The student needs to physically visit the Beatty Park Leisure Centre or other swimming pools to collect pool data - 1 student.

2. The Cool Earth Project - this is an exciting project in partnership with LandCorp, Geoexchange, ABN builders, AIRAH, Carbonomics and other agencies to monitor the performance of two occupied properties at Craigie, with one being fitted with a ground source heat pump and another with a conventional air source heat pump. - 1 student.

Ciancio, Daniela, DrCo-supervisors: Beckett, Chris, Dr; Meek, Alexandra

Experimental analysis of rammed earth insulated panelsDisciplines: Civil and Materials The aims of this project are 1) to understand the structural performance of insulated (sandwich) rammed earth walls and 2) to create guidelines for the appropriate design of ties in load bearing insulated walls. The students

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will work in the UWA Structures laboratory. The experimental program is energy and time intensive, hence a group of at least 4 students is required. Candidates for this project should have a strong background in structural analysis and solid mechanics.

Croft, Chris, Mr Co-supervisors: Braunl, Thomas, Professor

Drones / Unmanned Aerial VehiclesDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwareDrones are a new technology area with almost unlimited application areas from mining to agriculture, from architecture to logistics.In this project we want students to develop autonomous control and guidance software for an advanced hexacopter system. We are using an open source Pixhawk controller in combination with a Raspberry Pi-3 for implementing practical application systems for the drone. See: https://pixhawk.orgGoals:- Autonomous mapping of specified 2D area (e.g. crop surveying)- Autonomous mapping of presented 3D object- Sensor fusion between GPS, inertial measurement unit, laser distance measurement.

Doyle, Barry, Dr

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

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creating new and innovative ways to save lives and reduce the impact of this disease. We work very closely with scientists and surgeons across UWA and internationally and ensure our research is clinically-relevant. We have numerous projects on offer each semester and some examples for this round are:Abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture prediction -Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA; pronounced triple A) is a ballooning of the lower part of your aorta, approximately behind the belly button. It is common in elderly men and is typically symptomless; the first time you know you have one is often when it bursts, which is too late and usually results in death. Up to 9% of men over 65 years old are living with AAA, and many will be unaware. Currently, surgeons will operate when the diameter of the AAA exceeds 5.5 cm. However, only 1 in 10 will rupture in the patients lifetime, and smaller ones can rupture while larger ones can remain stable There is urgent need to redefine the risk assessment of AAA.At the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) and in collaboration with the Intelligent Systems Laboratory, we have developed a new software platform (BioPARR) to analyse AAA and determine rupture risk. This project will entail working as a team to analyse many patients. Each student will be assigned 20 patients. They will begin by merging CT and MRI data together, convert the 3D reconstruction into a computational mesh, perform a finite element simulation, and analyse the results. The entire workflow is performed within BioPARR. This is part of a much larger NHMRC-funded project run by Barry Doyle and your contribution will help towards changing clinical practice and potentially save thousands of lives.Computational modelling of retinal haemodynamics -The tiny vessels in the back of the eye are one of the very few places that we can see the microvasculature non-invasively. Cardiovascular disease typically begins in these small vessels first – many years before the condition is visible in the larger arteries (eg. coronary arteries). Therefore, identifying people with heart disease long before it becomes a major health problem has major importance. Fundus photographs are the common method of viewing the back of the eye. We have developed a method of converting these simple 2D photos into computational models for CFD. This project will entail developing a GUI and refined software platform for our method and applying it to about 20 patients. You will use CFD to determine the flow patterns, wall shear stress (WSS) in the vessels. Haemodynamics in common iliac artery aneurysms - Aneurysms isolated in the common iliac artery are very rare. There is little knowledge as to why and how an aneurysm will develop in this artery but not in the more frequent upstream location of the abdominal aorta (AAA). This project aims to generate important data on the flow dynamics in these aneurysms and develop an understanding as to what geometric configurations promote aneurysm growth.The student will build upon a body of research performed at VascLab and create idealised geometries of the iliac bifurcation with a range of common iliac aneurysms. Computational fluid dynamics will be used to model the

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flow within these geometries and analyse important flow metrics that are linked to disease. All projects will run within the Vascular Engineering Laboratory (VascLab) at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research - the premier medical institute in WA. It is expected that each project will be published in a journal upon completion. For more info on VascLab, visit http://vasclab.mech.uwa.edu.auhttps://www.perkins.org.au/our-research/divisions/cardiovascular-diabetes/vascular-engineering/

Durham, Richard, Prof

Industry topic (usually based on your vacation work)Disciplines: MiningDuring your vacation work over the 2016-2017 summer break, you should ask your employer if they have any topic(s) suitable for your thesis. Ask them at the beginning, and then again towards the end. You need to write up the topic on <1 page, and send it to me. There might be a little negotiation whilst I ensure the topic is suitable (basically not too small, not too big, and involves some research type analysis), but once we've agreed on the scope and objectives it's all fine.Usually up to 50% of mining students get industry based thesis topics like this. They tend to be single student projects, but a multi-student topic can be considered.

Dyskin, Arcady, ProfCo-supervisors: Pasternak, Elena, Professor

Oscillations in reinforced concreteDisciplines: Civil and Mechanical Analysis of oscillations in reinforced concrete beam considering different beam stiffnesses exhibiting in bending in different directions

Dyskin, Arcady, ProfCo-supervisors: Pasternak, Elena, Professor

Asteroid mining

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Disciplines: Civil and MiningResearch in the state of art in the necessity, mining methods and transportation means for extracting rare Earth resources from asteroids and other extraterrestrial bodies.

Dyskin, Arcady, ProfCo-supervisors: Pasternak, Elena, Professor; Lehane, Barry, Professor

Seismic proof interlocking structures Disciplines: Civil and Mechanical Stability of and energy dissipation in interlocking structures will be studied numerically and experimentally using a shaking table

Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr.Co-supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Karrech, Ali, Dr; Ma, Guowei, Prof; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

FE Modeling of Concrete Filled Tubular Columns Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical, SoftwareIn Australian modern construction, concrete filled steel tubular columns are becoming a popular method of construction particularly for high rise buildings. Limited experimental tests showed that concrete filling may delay or fully prevent local buckling of the external steel tubes. The main factor affect the response is the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tubes and the strength of concrete. The full range of D/t ratios was not tested. Wide variations among the international design codes such as AS3600 to predict the strength of such columns. This project will focus on the use of the Finite Element method an an effective approach to provide design models for such composite columns and to provide valuable information on their response. The results will be recommended as a future amendment for AS3600, the Australian Concrete Design Code.

Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr.Co-supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Prof; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

GFRP RC Columns under Dynamic Lateral ImpactDisciplines: Civil, Oil & MaterialsThe use of Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforcement as an alternative to steel for use in Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures has

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developed significantly in recent years. GFRP’s excellent corrosion resistance, high tensile-strength-to-weight ratio, nonmagnetic, nonconductive make it an excellent solution for projects requiring improved corrosion resistance or reduced maintenance costs. Despite a number of recent studies illustrating the effective use of GFRP rebars as longitudinal reinforcement for concrete compression members, the current international design codes such as ACI 440.1R-15 (2015), CAN/CSA S806 (2012), TR55 (2012), ISO 10406-1 (2015), and FIB (2007) do not recommend including GFRP reinforcement in the compression member capacity calculations.

Recent Experimental research at UWA showed that GFRP RC columns are more ductile under their steel RC column counterparts. This project is a further step to compare the behaviour and design of such columns under dynamic loading.

Elchalakani, Mohamed, Dr.Co-supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Prof; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

GFRP RC Beams under Dynamic Lateral Impact Disciplines: Civil, Oil & Materials GFRP’s excellent corrosion resistance, high tensile-strength-to-weight ratio, nonmagnetic, nonconductive make it an excellent solution for projects requiring improved corrosion resistance or reduced maintenance costs. Despite a number of recent studies illustrating the effective use of GFRP rebars as longitudinal reinforcement for concrete compression members, the current international design codes such as ACI 440.1R-15 (2015), CAN/CSA S806 (2012), TR55 (2012), ISO 10406-1 (2015), and FIB (2007) do not provide design rules for GFRP RC beams under lateral impact

Recent Experimental research at UWA showed that GFRP RC beams are more ductile under their steel RC beam counterparts under static loading. This project is a further step to compare the behaviour and design of such beams under impact loading.

Faiello, Cosimo, Associate ProfessorSustainability applied to project management & engineering practice

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

Feng, Xiaowei, Dr

Effect of interface roughness on the bearing capacity of rectangular foundationsDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, Mining, Oil & Gas, Petroleum

In this project, vertical bearing capacity of rectangular foundations with various interface conditions will be investigated. Commercial software package, ABAQUS, for finite-element simulation will be employed for analysing the vertical capacity (FE models will be provided). The coupling effect of the interface roughness, foundation shape and the soil strength heterogeneity factor will be presented. The research outcomes will benefit the design of subsea foundations for offshore oil and gas developments.

Feng, Xiaowei, Dr

Consolidated undrained load-carrying capacity of rectangularDisciplines: Civil, Mining, Oil & Gas, PetroleumIn this project, the consolidated undrained load-carrying capacity of rectangular foundations will be investigated. Commercial software package, ABAQUS, for finite-element simulation will be employed for analysing the foundation capacity (Example CAE model will be provided). The critical state soil mechanics model, Modified Cam-clay, will be employed. The dissipation of excess pore pressure and consolidation of the subsoil will be examined for various levels of self-weight preloading. The gain in vertical and overturning moment capacity due to the increase in soil shear strength following the primary consolidation will be presented.

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Feng, Xiaowei, Dr

Effect of interface roughness on the bearing capacity of rectangular foundationsDisciplines: Civil, Environmental, Mining, Oil & Gas, Petroleum In this project, vertical bearing capacity of rectangular foundations with various interface conditions will be investigated. Commercial software package, ABAQUS, for finite-element simulation will be employed for analysing the vertical capacity (FE models will be provided). The coupling effect of the interface roughness, foundation shape and the soil strength heterogeneity factor will be presented. The research outcomes will benefit the design of subsea foundations for offshore oil and gas developments.

Fourie, Andy, ProfCo-supervisors: Lehane, Barry, Prof

Strategies to reduce the risk of liquefaction of layered soilsDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical Mining and EnvironmentalRecent events, such as the collapse of the Samarco tailings dam in Brazil in 2015, have demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of liquefaction of a layered soil deposit. Layering of a deposit, such as invariably occurs in a tailings dam (and also in many natural deposits), can result in unusual and unexpected responses to various loading conditions. This project will use a newly acquired shake-table to design and conduct a range of experiments that will help to explain conditions under which the layering of a soil deposit may lead to problems of liquefaction. Work will include the development of techniques for preparing the experimental facility and filling it with tailings from an operational WA mine, selection and commissioning of suitable instrumentation, completion of a suite of experiments, all complemented by some numerical modeling. The project is thus suitable for a team of 3 to 4 students, as independent work packages are easily defined.

Fourie, Andy, ProfCo-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark Prof; While, Lyndon, Dr

Optimising the performance of thickeners used in mining applications

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Disciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical and Electronic, Mechanical, Mining, Mechatronic, Software and Environmental Thickeners are used in the mining industry to separate water from the waste material (tailings) that remain after the mineral in question has been extracted. These thickeners are multi-million dollar structures, yet their operational systems are inefficient. The recent, structural failure of a very large thickener in Chile has illustrated the importance of better understanding how the nature of the ore body affects the performance of these thickeners, and the role of variability of the thickener feed in affecting performance of these structures. This project will develop a system for real-time measurement, reaction and optimisation of the various components of such a thickener. Individual student projects will deal with specific components of the thickener operation, with the objective of finally integrating these components to produce a working process control procedure.

Fourie, Andy, ProfCo-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark Prof; While, Lyndon, Dr

Using electric fields to extract minerals from mine wasteDisciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Electrical and Electronic, Mechanical, Mining, Mechatronic and Environmental Previous work at UWA has developed techniques for removing water from very wet and soft soils using electric fields. Follow-up work has demonstrated that in-situ treatment of contaminated soils is also achievable using these techniques. This project will further develop possible applications of the technology, using electrokinetic processes to extract valuable minerals from mine tailings deposits. There are many mine waste deposits (tailings) that still contain high grades of unrecovered minerals, e.g. the tailings storage facility of a mine in Queensland is now the world's tenth largest zinc deposit. The objective of the project will be to recover minerals without needing to excavate and process the waste; rather, the process will be in-situ treatment, which is environmentally far more favourable. The project will be to undertake laboratory tests using previously designed equipment, and evaluate the recovery potential of a range of valuable minerals from tailings that will be sourced from a range of sites in WA.

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French, Tim, DrCo-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark, Prof, Cripps, Ed, Dr

Modelling Uncertainty in Complex ProcessesDisciplines: AllPrerequisite skills: Excellent Mathematical Skills and Programming ExperienceMany complex real world process such as vehicle schedule or plant control can be modelled as a discrete logical component (internal state) and a continuous component (such as time, position). They also involve a significant amount of uncertainty (such as when an event may happen). This project will investigate several case studies and investigate methods and theories for managing the uncertainty. This will involve learning from historical data to build models of uncertainty, and applying these models in simulations to facilitate accurate prediction and control.

French, Tim, DrCo-supervisors: McDonald, Chris, Dr, Hassan, Mubashar Ghullam, Dr

Autonomous Transport Model

Disciplines: Computer, EE, Mechatronics, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: Strong programming skills, basic electronics skills.The aim of this project is to design and build a table top model that can support investigations of autonomous vehicle networks. The model will consist of bluetooth controlled vehicles, raspberry pi microcomputers, a data projector and a machine vision camera. This is a complex large scale project, but the first phase will focus on building a basic control loop that can detect the location of different vehicles, and based on this pass driving instructions onto those vehicles. Later phases and projects will involve modelling observability and implementing traffic routing algorithms.

French, Tim, DrCo-supervisors: Durham, Richard, Professor

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Visualisation of Geological Features and Processes

Disciplines: Computer, EE, Mechatronics, Software, Mining, O&GPrerequisite skills: Excellent programming skills.Virtual Reality Systems like oculus rift and etc vive offer the potential to enhance modelling in the geological sciences. Understanding mine layouts, or interpreting geological data require an engineer or geologist to create a mental model of the 3d structures and their relations in space. This project will investigate the potential for VR to aid this process, and will involve designing and implementing basic modelling apps. We are particularly interested in methods to visualise uncertainty, and allow real time interaction and manipulation of the data.

French, Tim, DrCo-supervisor: Male, Sally, Dr

Virtual Reality Work Integrated Learning Primary SupervisorDisciplines: AllPrerequisite skills: Significant Programming Experience Suitable for all disciplinesThis project will design and build virtual reality exercises to enhance engineering education. This will involve creating virtual environments and workflows that capture scenarios and decisions from engineering workplaces. These immersive exercises can then be tested using VR hardware such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. The project will aim to deliver prototype exercises as well as a documented development procedure incorporating best practice.

Fridjonsson, Einar, DrCo-supervisors: Johns, Michael Prof; Aman, Zachary Dr; Stanwix, Paul, Dr

Oilfield Water ManagementDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Oil & Gas Major Natural gas (and oil) extraction results in the production of substantial quantities of (formation) water. This water is required to be discharged

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

Ghadouani, Anas, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Pattiaratchi, Charitha, Prof; Reichwaldt, Elke, Research Fellow

Microplastics in urban water and wastewaterDisciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical & Electronic , Oil & Gas Environmental, Mechanical, Ocean Systems & SoftwareMicroplastics are small plastic pieces that contaminate water resources. They are ingested by organisms and provide a potential pathway for the transfer of pollutants such as PCBs and plastic additives. An important source of microplastics is through domestic sewage contaminated by fibers from washing clothes and from microbeads that are contained in cosmetics. Currently wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to effectively filter out microbeads. This topic could include investigating options for large scale treatment of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants and to understand the major pathways of plastics from the household into the environment. This project will be supported by oceanographer Dr. Julia Reisser from The Ocean Cleanup Foundation (https://www.theoceancleanup.com/about/)

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Ghadouani, Anas, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Reichwaldt, Elke, Research Fellow

Engineering solutions for biosolid management in wastewaterDisciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Computer, Environmental, Mechanical, Mining, Ocean Systems & SoftwareThe management of biosolids, produced during wastewater treatment, represents a large part of the costs for water utilities. Depending on their source, biosolids have the potential of being reused which could compensate for some of these costs. This topic could examine the production of biosolids from various wastewater sources (e.g., mining, domestic, industrial) and investigate novel engineering solutions for sustainable biosolid management that will ultimately lead to the reduction of associated costs.


Ecological Engineering solutions for sustainable water managementDisciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Computer, Environmental, Mechanical, Mining, Ocean Systems & SoftwareThis open topic might include investigating ecological engineering solutions for wastewater treatment and for water quality management in natural water bodies, including the mitigation of (toxic) cyanobacterial blooms. This could also include investigating the triggers of cyanotoxin production in a variety of water bodies.


Engineering solutions to wastewater treatmentDisciplines: Civil, Chemical & Process, Computer, Electrical & Electronic , Oil & Gas Environmental, Mechanical, Mining & SoftwareThis topic might include work into investigating the bio-physical coupling in waste stabilisation ponds; the assessment of hydrodynamics in ponds of

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different design; the effect of attached growth baffles on water quality improvement; the occurrence, fate and mitigation of (toxic) cyanobacterial blooms in waste stabilisation ponds.

Glance, David

Chat bots for providing motivational supportDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: Students with 2 years Computer Science studyChat bots for providing motivational support. Keeping people active, going to a gym or on a diet is difficult. Motivation is key and providing support for basic psychological needs (Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness) has been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. Text messages with motivational messaging helps but there is more scope for chat bots to engage in more comprehensive support of these needs. The project will explore the technologies of developing chat bots and adding them to a mobile and web application.

Glance, David, Dr

Machine learning algorithms to predict when someone is going to abandon an activity challengeDisciplines: Computer, SoftwarePrerequisites: Students with 2 years Computer Science studyMachine learning algorithms to predict when someone is going to abandon an activity challenge. Keeping people active is very difficult. Corporate activity challenges encourage people to use wearables and achieve 10k steps a day for 12 weeks. During that time, about 30% of participants stop the challenge. You are more likely to abandon the challenge as an individual participant not in a team. It would be ideal if we could identify participants who were likely to drop out from their activity patterns and intercede..

Gong, Peijun, Research AssociateCo-supervisors: Sampson, Danuta, Research Associate at LEI; Sampson, David, Professor

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OBEL: Methods for non-invasive optical imaging of blood vesselsDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, SoftwareIn OBEL, we have been working on the development of non-invasive optical imaging of blood vessels in humans – which is important in skin scarring and healing, diabetes, and in retinal diseases. This project will involve the design and manufacturing of an imaging phantom to mimic the blood flow in biological tissue, capturing images, and improving data analysis techniques to segment the blood vessels. As a step toward clinical applications, the effectiveness of the data analysis techniques on human clinical data will also be investigated.Students are expected to have knowledge or interest in materials, electronics or computer programming. Come and talk to us about this project.

Gong, Peijun, Research AssociateCo-supervisors: Sampson, David, Professor

OBEL: Pushing imaging into the UVDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwareUV and narrow band visible light provide exciting opportunities to build contemporary endoscopes and microscopes that may make cancer more readily detectable. This project will investigate optical engineering of instruments that have a fundamentally new take on the age old problem of contrast. Build your own UV or narrow-band microscope or endoscope and put it to work.

Graham, Brendan, DrCo-supervisors: Aman, Zachary, Dr

Surface Active Components in Crude OilDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Oil & Gas MajorCrude oils contain many compounds from simple hydrocarbons to complicated multi-functional complex molecules Some of these compounds are organic acids and salts, alcohols and other natural surface-active agents (surfactants). When crude oil is brought in contact with brine or water, these natural surfactants accumulate at the interface and form an adsorbed film. Depending on the properties of the crude oil, the structure

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of the film can vary significantly thereby affecting various phenomena such as emulsion stability, hydrate growth etc. Students involved in this project will be involved in the fractionation, isolation, and characterisation of surface active agents in various crude oils. The effect of these agents on oil/water emulsion stability and hydrate crystal growth rates will be investigated through the use of both practical experiments and advanced characterisation techniques such as NMR and Gas Chromatography.

Grime, Andrew, DrCo-supervisors: Chen, Lifen, Dr

Testing of innovative concept design for floating buoy structureDisciplines: Civil, Ocean Systems, Oil & Gas Crondall Energy is a leading independent consulting organisation providing strategic, commercial and technical services for offshore oil and gas projects that use floating production technology. Crondall Energy is developing a Not Normally Manned (NNM) floating production buoy technology to fill the gap between subsea tie-backs and full facility floaters, and create a low cost development solution for water depths where fixed NNM solutions are not feasible. The hydrodynamic response of the unmanned floater will be investigated in this project through scale model experimental testing using the Riverlab facility. This will be complemented by performing hydrodynamic analyses using state of the art software. A parametric analysis will be carried out to optimize the design.

Grime, Andrew, DrCo-supervisors: Pinna, Rod, Dr

Use of Artificial Neural Networks in Predicting Floater ResponseDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Ocean Systems, Oil & GasPrerequisite skills: VBA or other programming, Excel Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) allow for the prediction of responses based on input data. To do this, they require a large “training” database of information. A key set of responses for floating structures, particularly for early concept design, are Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs). While generating RAOs is relatively fast it is still a time consuming step particularly in the early stages of design where a large number of structures with varying dimensions are being considered. The aim of this project is to generate a database of typical semi-submersible dimension and corresponding RAOs. This database will then be used to train the ANN to allow for the rapid determination of RAOs for new designs. If time

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permits, the project may be expanded to encompass other design variables. The project will require VBA programming, to automate the initial generation of the response database.

Grime, Andrew, DrCo-supervisors: Pinna, Rod, Dr

Use of directional metocean data in offshore platform designDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Ocean Systems, Oil & GasPrerequisite skills: Structural DesignMetocean design data is usually presented in terms of both omni-direction and direction wave data. For new build designs it is typical to use omni-directional data as it represents a conservative basis for design. The use of direction wave data is permitted by ISO 19902, but the wave data is required to be adjusted so as to result in a design with the same probability of failure as one designed to omni-directional waves. There is no agreed upon method for doing this, though typically it is done by increasing the return period of the directional wave. This method, of using a higher return period directional wave, can lead to inconsistencies such as the directional wave height exceeding the omni-directional wave height. For platform reassessment and life extension, the use of directional data may provide the opportunity to demonstrate that a structure is adequate even though it may not pass with an omni-direction check. This inconsistency in wave height makes the use of omni-directional wave data difficult in reassessment. For this project it is proposed to design a number of simplified example fixed jacket structures using both omni-direction and scaled directional wave data. The return period of failure of the structure will be found for the various structures. Comparisons of the reliability of the structures when wave-in-deck effects are considered will be made. The reliability will be assessed through push-over analysis

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

Agricultural engineering and roboticsDisciplines: Mechanical, MechatronicThe West Australian grain industry produces 45% of Australia’s wheat from farms that are often vast remote areas. This R&D project will focus on the group's cutting edge targeted tillage technology, Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) of tool-soil-plant impact phenomena and multi-physics

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models. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic new group that is well funded and considered state-of-the-art in this field.

Guzzomi, Andrew, DrCo-supervisors: Erickson, Todd, Dr (UWA School of Plant Biology), Merritt, David, Dr (Kings Park & Botanic Gardens)

‘Restoration engineering’ - agricultural engineering for rehabilitation of remote mining operations Disciplines: Mechanical, MechatronicThis project will improve our ability to restore sites using native seed. Research topics include: the development of seed coating/pelleting technologies, large-scale/broadacre precision sowing, robotics and automation/mechanisation. The outcomes will be applicable to the agricultural sector (i.e. farming) and areas suffering from desertification as well as mine site restoration. Students will join a multi-disciplinary team conducting leading-edge research in restoration and agricultural engineering.

Hakan, Basarir, Dr Co-supervisors: Karrech, Ali, Dr

The analysis of stresses around advancing longwall face: A parametric studyDisciplines: Civil and MiningLongwall mining is a widely used method in underground coal mines. The assessment of the stresses around the advancing longwall face is very important, not only for designing safe main and tail gate support systems but also for maintaining the overall stability of underground coal panel. Traditionally empirical and semi empirical methods are used for the prediction of stresses (Whitttaker and Singh 1979; Hudson, 1993; Wilson, 1983). But such methods are restricted by simplifying assumptions (Basarir et al., 2014). The purpose of this project is to analyze the effect of different parameters such as coal seam thickness, inclination and production sequences. For this purpose 2D and/or 3D finite element (FE) method based software will be used. The results of numerical modeling will be analysed in detail and the conclusions about the effect of aforementioned parameters will be driven.Wilson, A. 1983. The stability of underground workings in the soft rocks of the coal. Int J Min Eng ; 1:91-187.

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Whittaker, B., Singh, R. 1979. Design and stability of pillars in longwall mining. Min Eng; 139:59-70.Hudson, JA (ed). 1993. Comprehensive Rock Engineering. Oxford: Pergamon PressBasarir, H., Oge, I. F., Aydin, O., 2015. Prediction of the stresses around main and tail gates during top coal caving by 3D numerical anlaysis. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 76, 88-97.

Hakan, Basarir, Dr Co-supervisors: Karrech, Ali, Dr

The optimization of drilling machine operational parameters considering penetration rate Disciplines: Civil and MiningDiamond bit drilling is used almost in every area of mining such as prospecting, development, production and grouting. During drilling operations both rock properties such as RQD, UCS and machine operational parameters such as bit load (BL), bit rotation (RPM) and pressure loss (PL) are continuously recorded. Among others, bit load (BL) and bit rotation (BR) are the most important machine operational parameters affecting penetration rate (PR) (Basarir et al., 2014). Normally in drilling operations either BL or RPM can be increased to get higher penetration rate for a certain depth of advance, while keeping the other constant (Akun and Karpuz, 2005). The purpose of this project is to conduct an optimization study to predict best BL and RPM combination to get the highest possible PR. By this way, mining companies can maximize penetration rate and save drilling time. For this project the necessary field data can either come from operating mining companies or from literature.Akun, M.E., Karpuz, C., 2005. Drillability studies of surface-set diamond drilling in Zonguldak region sandstones from Turkey. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42, 473–479.Basarir, H., Tutluoglu, L., Karpuz, C., 2014. Penetration rate prediction for diamond bit drilling by adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and multiple regressions. Engineering Geology, 173 (1), 1-9.

Hakan, Basarir, Dr Co-supervisors: Ma, Guowei, Prof; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

Dynamic testing of ground support to simulate undergroundDisciplines: Civil and Materials

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The use of Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforcement as an alternative to steel for use in Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures has developed significantly in recent years. GFRP’s excellent corrosion resistance, high tensile-strength-to-weight ratio, nonmagnetic, nonconductive make it an excellent solution for projects requiring improved corrosion resistance or reduced maintenance costs. Despite a number of recent studies illustrating the effective use of GFRP rebars as longitudinal reinforcement for concrete compression members, the current international design codes such as ACI 440.1R-15 (2015), CAN/CSA S806 (2012), TR55 (2012), ISO 10406-1 (2015), and FIB (2007) do not recommend including GFRP reinforcement in the compression member capacity calculations. Recent Experimental research at UWA showed that GFRP RC columns are more ductile under their steel RC column counterparts. This project is a further step to compare the behaviour and design of such columns under dynamic loading.

Hill, Martin, Associate Professor

Subwavelength Plasmon mode LasersDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & ElectronicMiniaturization in lasers has in recent years taken a leap forward by employing metal structures to confine light in resonators with dimensions smaller than the wavelength of the emitted light itself. Challenges still remain though to make these lasers a useful alternative compared to much larger devices based on dielectric resonators. In the electrical, electronic and computer engineering school cleanroom we are attempting to make lasers which will exploit a new more efficient metal-insulator-metal waveguide structure. A final year projects associated with this work could involve the following: Modelling and simulation of laser cavities based on fabricated waveguides, but adding patterning to form 2 dimensional Bragg gratings (photonic crystal like structures) based on plasmons. If successful the modelled structures could be actually implement in fabricated waveguide structures via focused ion beam milling.The modelling and simulation will require the following: 1) a good knowledge of electromagnetic theory (Maxwell’s equations). 2) Using a Linux based simulation environment. 3) Using simulations tools which require the structure to be programmed in either C or a Lisp like language.Useful background reading on the subject would be:Hill, M. T. & Gather M. C. Advances in small lasers. Nature Photonics 8, 908–918 (2014).Ma, R.-M., Oulton, R. F., Sorger, V. J. & Zhang, X. Plasmon lasers: coherent light source at molecular scales. Laser Photonics Reviews 7, 1–21 (2013).

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Barnes, W. L., Dereux, A. & Ebbesen, T. W. Surface plasmon subwavelength optics. Nature 424, 824–830 (2003).

Hodkiewicz, Melinda, ProfessorCo-supervisors: While, Lyndon, Dr; Walker, Andrew Mr (Fleet Engineering)

Maintenance simulation and optimisationDisciplines: Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, Mining, SoftwarePrerequisite Skills: Demonstrated experience in Python or other high level languageCan you program in Python, or a similar high-level language? We are looking for students with Python programming ability to build a simulation and optimisation models to provide practical insight to the mobile fleet owners about maintenance policies and how these impact operation. In addition to working on the simulation, the students will also develop genetic algorithms and similar optimisation techniques to support decision making. We will be working with Fleet Engineering https://fleeteng.com.au/

Hodkiewicz, Melinda, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Various Acads, depending on project (see below)

Predicting reliability performanceDisciplines: Computer, Electrical, Materials, Mechanical, Mining, SoftwarePrerequisite Skills: Project 1 - D or HD in Geng5507 or strong machine learning backgroundProject 2 - hands on experimental testing, ability or willingness to learn programming Arduinos, making PCBs and dealing with sensors, and experimental design Project 3 - strong interest in materials eng and interest in hands on experimental testingThere are a number of projects in the System Health lab aimed at understanding factors that impact reliability of various assets.

Projects for 2017 may include 1) analytics on computer components (using records kept by the UWA IT group) - with Tim French and Dave Sawyers , 2) accelerated life testing of 3D parts - with Tim Sercombe, 3) Drone motor testing - with Adrian Keating.

Hsieh, Ariel, Research AssociateCo-supervisors: Basarir, Hakan, A/Prof

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https://fleeteng.com.au/

Fly Ash Slag Binder Combination for Concrete Disciplines: Civil Many construction products require cement and the pollution due to cement production is a problem in many countries (approximately 1 tonne cement produces 1 tonne CO2). There is a growing awareness of this problem in Government agencies and among public and there is a push to reduce pollution.Recent researches indicate that geopolymer binder is a promising alternative to Portland cement. It is produced mostly from industrial bye-products such as flay ash and blast furnace slag. Previous research has been done on replacing cement in concrete for heat curing (Temuujin et al, 2009) and also curing at room temperature (Pradip Nath et al, 2015). The initial results indicate that concrete produced with geopolymer binder is superior in strength and durability to concrete produced with Portland cement, under laboratory conditions. Many concrete producers are currently using fly ash and slag to partially replace cement in concrete. However, more research and industry acceptance is required prior to the full replacement of cement by geopolymers in concrete products.In this research, we use earth brick to demonstrate the change in strength due to different recipes of fly ash, slag, and cement mixture. No research has been done on the potential use of fly ash and slag for stabilized brick production. This research projects aims to produce fly ash, slag and a combined geopolymer for brick stabilization and carry out uniaxial compressive strength tests to confirm the usefulness of geopolymer mix in brick production. A model of strength variation can be established based on experimental results.

Hu, Pan, DrCo-supervisors: Bienen, Britta, Dr; Cassidy, Mark, Professor

Combined capacity of spudcan and sand plug in the underlying clay of sand-over-clay soilsDisciplines: Civil, Oil & Gas In offshore oil and gas fields, the majority of drillings in water depth up to 120 m are performed from self-elevating mobile jack-up rigs. During operation, the spudcan footings of the jack-up rigs are subjected to combined vertical, horizontal and moment (V, H, M) loading as a result of environmental wind, wave and currents acting on the platform. Extensive experimental and numerical studies have been conducted to investigate the combined VHM capacity of a variety of footings and on single layer sand and clay. In the field, layered soil stratigraphies with sand overlying clay are very common. When a spudcan penetrates through the top sand layer into the underlying clay, a sand plug is trapped underneath the

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spudcan and moves together with it. The effect of such soil layering on the corresponding footing yield surface is not well understood. In this project, the combined VHM capacity will be investigated for a composite foundation of spudcan and sand plug penetrated in the underlying clay. The effect of sand layer thickness, relative density of sand and penetration depth will be systematically examined using finite element method.

Students familiar with Abaqus are preferred. Please feel free to contact Dr Pan Hu([email protected]) for more information.

Hu, Xiaozhi, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Jiang, Bin, (Phd)

Experimental verification of an elastic and plastic fracture design methodDisciplines: Civil, Materials, Mechanical Prerequisite Skills: Knowledge of materials and material properties, or solid mechanics The project covers testing of different metals to determine the structural failure loads (defined by both cracking and yielding), and verify a design method for elastic and plastic fracture. 3 students completed a similar project in Oct 2016.

Hu, Xiaozhi, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Yuan, Bingyan, (PhD)

Ballistic impact resistant carbon fibre composites with Kevlar fibre interfacial reinforcementDisciplines: Materials, MechanicalPrerequisite Skills: Knowledge of materials and material properties The project covers composite design, processing and testing to determine the optimum interfacial reinforcement conditions for ballistic impact resistance. One student just completed a similar project in October 2016.

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Hu, Xiaozhi, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Yuan, Bingyan, Ms (PhD)

Repair of delamination damage in carbon fibre composites Disciplines: Materials, MechanicalPrerequisite Skills: Knowledge of materials and material properties The project covers composite design, processing and repair methods to determine the optimum composite conditions for delamination damage repair. This is a new project, but students completed relevant projects in 2015 and 2016.

Hu, Yuxia, Prof.Co-supervisors: Geoff Cocks, Mr., Senior Principal; Fred Verheyde, Dr., Manager/Principal

Investigation of Perth sand characteristics and ground improvement using sand overlayDisciplines: Civil Perth sands include Tamala sand, Safety bay sand and Bassendean sand. Although sands are good foundation soils for construction, they may behave differently when fines are present in the soil. The soil characteristics, such as permeability and compressibility of Perth sand with different amount of fines need to be investigated for foundation design.

With the population growth of Western Australia, the residential establishment expands to areas with soft ground for residential buildings and roads. A sand overlay method is normally used to improve the ground condition before construction. This project is to investigate the performance of soft ground soils with different sand layer laid on top.

Hu, Yuxia, Prof.Co-supervisors: M. Shazzad Hossain, A/Prof.

Offshore foundation designDisciplines: Civil and Software Jackup rigs are a popular offshore structure to support offshore platforms up to 150 m in water depth. The rigs are normally supported by three individual legs with a footing at the bottom called spudcan. The mobility of

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the rigs means that it will be installed at a location for oil/gas exploration and retrieved after the exploration, before it is moved to the next location. The common issues are:(a) spudcan capacity on sand over clay soils - spudcan size effect;(b) spudcan retrieving process - how to reduce pullout resistance;(c) sand overlay method to reduce spudcan penetration depth for wind turbine installation. This project will investigate different issues above. Finite Element analysis will be conducted to investigate different options.

Hu, Yuxia, Prof.Co-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark, Prof; While, Lyndon, Prof

Optimisation of Road Maintenance SchedulingDisciplines: Civil and SoftwareRoad performance has been monitored after the road construction in the road network around Perth and WA. For existing road networks, roads are deteriorating with age. Road maintenance work needs to be scheduled based on the budget and optimum performance of the overall network. This project is to examine the road performance monitoring data and the current road deterioration models, with the constraint of annual road maintenance budget, to optimise the road maintenance scheduling. This project is to combine datamining with optimisation techniques based on genetic algorithms to determine the most effective ways to keep a maintenance schedule up to date. The decisions will be guided by a simple mechanical model of road deterioration along with data about failures and faults appearing.

Huang, David, Professor

Mining plan based wireless network design for open-pit minesDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MiningMine site wireless communications with seamless coverage and Quality of Service guarantees are a key element to improving operational efficiency and employee safety of contemporary open pit mines. The topography of a typical pit consists of benches and slopes with mineral-rich reflective surfaces, and its size and form can change quickly during the lifetime of the mine. This makes the radio propagation conditions of open pit mining very different from typical commercial wireless communication systems.Mining is a carefully planned activity. Mine planning determines the extent of the terrain profile that will be modified and provides estimates of

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materials to be moved and equipment to be deployed. From mine planning, it is possible to determine the communication requirements, e.g. the amount of data traffic (including when and where) required to be transmitted, and the radio propagation conditions.Geographic Information System (GIS) has been extensively used in the mining industry for development and production. Using the GIS and the mining plan, a quasi-deterministic communication traffic dimensioning can be determined. It is then possible to identify a proper combination of wireless technologies that are appropriate for the mining site. In this project, we will investigate how to select the optimal locations of key communication nodes (e.g. access points and base stations) and the optimal parameters associated with them, through the simulation and modeling of the radio propagation environment and data traffic, with the aid of GIS.This approach includes:• 3D radio propagation modeling for typical open pit mine structure such as benches and slopes.• Radio coverage analysis for different antennas over typical mining pits.• Data traffic modeling for typical devices employed in an open pit mine.• Developing analytical models for the deployment of various wireless networks.• Modeling and analysis of capital and operating expense of various wireless networks..

Huang, David, Professor Portable wireless communication nodes for open-pit minesDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MiningThe wireless communication services provided by public telecom operators often cannot satisfy (or can only partly satisfy) the needs of the mining industry. For example, the operations of open pit mines require more broadband uplink wireless communications to support automated mining and remote operations. As a result, mining companies need to set up and maintain their own private wireless networks.Quickly deployable portable wireless nodes (e.g. a repeater or a portable base station) are critical for providing wireless services to the mining industry, as they can be used to quickly adapt to the change of a pit, extend the radio coverage, and cover black spots.This project includes:• Algorithm design for iterative detection and channel estimation at the repeater or base stationA repeater or a portable base station may introduce interference to other base stations. By employing iterative detection and channel estimation,

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significant performance improvement can be achieved by canceling out the interference at the base station or repeater.• Enhanced signal processing at the base station for uplink transmission using turbo equalizationCompared to conventional systems, it is possible to significantly increase the data rate of uplink transmission by employing turbo equalization at the receiver of the base station.• Virtual antenna for wireless terminalsA wireless terminal is often equipped with multiple radios, e.g. Bluetooth and cellular radio. A mobile repeater with enhanced signal processing capability and enhanced antennas (e.g. MIMO antenna) can connect to the wireless terminal with Bluetooth, and connect to the base station with cellular radio.Since the data rate or the radio coverage of the repeater can be much better than the wireless terminal, the repeater can be treated as a virtual antenna to the terminal to enhance its performance.

Huynh, Du, DrAssessment of Fundamental movements using the Kinect SensorDisciplines: Computer, Mechatronics, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: Matlab programming, C/C++ programming (desirable).The aim of this project is to obtain objective estimates of 7 to 11 year old children’s movement proficiency using the Microsoft Kinect Sensor. We propose to develop a software driven tool that can interpret movements from videos captured by the Kinect Sensor while children perform four fundamental movements. The innovation behind the Kinect hinges on advances in skeletal tracking. In computer generated skeletal tracking, a human body is denoted by a number of joints representing body parts, each of which is further characterised by its 3D coordinates. The Kinect Sensor captures the positions of 20 body joints every 30 seconds in three-dimensional space, providing an accurate representation of the major body segments. The Kinect Sensor’s skeletal tracking ability is designed to work for every person on the planet, in every household, without any calibration. We have already developed software capable of capturing Kinect Sensor data to count the range and frequency of different movements (for example, jumping, throwing and sidesteps) while children play movement-based video games. However, the current software is unable to process the more complex task of determining the quality of children’s movements. Taking on this project, the student is expected to apply machine learning and computer vision techniques with the software development phase of the research. The results of this project will contribute towards a validated objective measurement tool for determining children’s movementproficiency using off-the-shelf hardware and tailored software.

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

Iu, Herbert Ho-Ching, Professor

Development of memristor based chaotic circuitsDisciplines: Electrical & ElectronicIn this project, a memristor based chaotic circuit will be developed. A flux-controlled memristor emulator with floating terminals by making use of four current conveyors has been proposed. By using this memristor emulator, a high order memristor based chaotic circuit can be theoretically constructed and mathematically analyzed. This new memristor based chaotic circuit will provide novel nonlinear behaviors.

Ivey, Greg, ProfCo-supervisors: Rayson, Matt, Dr

Detection of nonlinear internal waves from ocean measurementsDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Environmental, Mechanical, Software & Ocean Systems. Dynamic and large deformation problems are very common in offshore engineering, such as the penetration of anchors into seabed, damage of pipelines due to dropped objects, pile driving etc. This project will carry out numerical modelling to investigate the mechanism of these challenging

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problems. This project provides opportunity of learning the commercial software ABAQUS and potential publishing the research work outcome.

Ivey, Greg, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Dr. Alexis Espinosa, A/Prof. Marco Ghisalberti

Predictive capabilities for particle capture in aquatic systemsDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Ocean Systems and EnvironmentalThe process of particle “capture” governs the health & productivity of some of the most biodiverse and valuable ecosystems on the planet (such as seagrass meadows and coral reefs). Particle capture governs the rates of feeding by suspension feeders (such as coral), the pollination of seagrasses and turbidity reduction by wetland vegetation. Despite its critical importance for aquatic ecosystems, the efficiency of particle capture remains poorly understood. This project aims to build our capacity to predict rates of particle capture in aquatic ecosystems, and therefore the resilience of these ecosystems to changes in suspended particle concentrations (in, e.g, dredging plumes). The project is multi-faceted and will use state-of-the-art numerical tools and experimental facilities to better understand the fluid mechanics of this process. Students will be able to determine the aspect of the project that most interests them, and focus on that aspect. This project will help students develop key experimental and modelling skills that will be applicable to industrial and research projects related to fluid dynamics.

Johns, Michael ProfessorCo-supervisors: May, Eric, Prof

Carbon SequestrationDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Oil & Gas Major Western Australia has several major offshore gas assets containing significant quantities of carbon dioxide. Scenarios for dealing with this CO2 must be developed before these gas fields can be developed. One scenario involves the re-injection of carbon dioxide produced from one reservoir into the extremities of a different natural reservoir for the purpose of both CO2 disposal and enhanced gas recovery. However, such a strategy is only viable if the probability of breakthrough by the re-injected CO2 to the producing wells is small. Simulating reliably this novel reservoir production scenario requires an improvement in our fundamental understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of supercritical CO2 in heterogeneous gas and

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water-saturated rock. Research projects are available measuring this behaviour for its inclusion into relevant field simulations.

Joldes, Grand, DrEvaluation of weakened weak form (W2) methodsDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical Prerequisite skills: Matlab programming, solid mechanicsAn evaluation of the performance of weakened weak form (W2) methods in solving large deformations elasticity problems. Requires implementation of the methods in Matlab (2D) and performance evaluation.

Joldes, Grand, Dr

Evaluation of a nodal integration schemeDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical Prerequisite skills: Matlab programming, solid mechanicsNodal integration has advantages in terms of computation efficiency compared to other integration schemes for meshless methods. This project requires the evaluation of an accelerated, convergent, and stable nodal integration in Galerkin meshfree methods for linear and nonlinear mechanics.

Requires implementation of the methods in Matlab (2D) and performance evaluation.

Karnowski, Karol, Research FellowCo-supervisors: Li, Qingyun, PhD Student

OBEL: Optical engineering of novel components for polarization sensitive OCT – a novel promising tool for cancer optical diagnosisDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Materials, MechanicalWe developed advanced prototype of polarization sensitive imaging system providing additional contrast, promising for instance in cancer diagnosis. The aim of this project is to improve existing system by providing novel optical solutions and/or reducing current system size bringing this technique towards handheld, clinical applications. Come and talk to us about this project.

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Karrech, Ali, Assoc/Prof

Fault Reactivation in Resource Engineering Geo-StructuresDisciplines: Civil, Mining and Mechanical The purpose of this project is to investigate fractures’ reactivation due to fluids injection at different levels of temperature and pressure and identify the impact of such operations on the performance of fractured reservoirs/deposits. This research work will use advanced coupled multi-physics for reservoir modelling to optimise production from naturally fractured media. It will also include advanced continuum damage mechanics approaches to describe the initiation, evolution and coalescence of fractures within geological materials. Therefore, a high resolution is needed, which takes into account the intrinsic length and time scales of the involved processes. We intend to solve this problem using High Performance Computing. The solution method relies on massively parallel numerical models based on the finite element method. The milestones of this project are (1) conduct a multi-scaling approach to investigate the degradation of geo-materials at the grain, rock-mass, and deposit levels. (2) investigate the nucleation, propagation and coalescence of damage zones. (3) Model the problem at hand using the Finite Element Method. (4) Apply the proposed framework to practical engineering problems.

Karrech, Ali, Assoc/Prof

The future of In-Situ Leaching in AustraliaDisciplines: Mining, Chemical & Process Decreasing grades of mineral deposits have resulted in tremendously increasing volumes of fragmented, mined and processed rock masses to meet the global demand on precious metals. Immense surface and underground mining projects have been made possible because of modern highly sophisticated mining and processing machinery. The abundance of low-cost energy and water contributed significantly to the success of conventional surface and underground mining. However, maintaining the current level of energy and water costs and availabilities is questionable. The fluctuation of commodity prices is exerting additional pressures on conventional mining approaches.

In-Situ Leaching (ISL) is receiving renewed attention as an appealing alternative that requires lower investments and consumes less energy compared to conventional mining technologies (Figure 1). ISL is a promising technology that currently delivers 45% of the global supply in

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uranium with recoveries that can reach up to 90%. In Australia, two ISL-based commercial projects Beverly and Honeymoon are currently operational; they contribute 9% of its total uranium production. The purpose of this project is to investigate the applicability of ISL for precious metals.

Karrech, Ali, Associate Professor

Multi-disciplinary Design of Open PitsDisciplines: Civil, Mining, Mechanical The proposed research work will focus on the development of a simulation model that combines the strengths of iSight, Whittle and Abaqus in solving multi-disciplinary engineering problems. iSight will be used as an automatic integration platform to run a Collaborative Multi-disciplinary Design (CMD). The CMD will employ finite element models through Abaqus and scheduling/planning models through Whittle. In particular, the Abaqus finite element models will include advanced constitutive laws to predict the geotechnical behaviour of rock masses. Whittle will deliver optimum pits that maximise profit and respect production constraints (mill capacity, fleet capacity etc.). Through iSight, the CMD will represent a novel pit optimisation procedure under geomechanical stability constraints.

Karrech, Ali, Associate Professor

Mechanical Instability of Pipelines under Large DeformationDisciplines: Civil and Mechanical Pipelines are used by the oil and gas industry to transfer fluids under variable loading conditions. They often undergo large and/or permanent deformations, which can affect their performance. The purpose of this project is to use advanced finite element and continuum damage mechanics techniques to describe the bifurcation of these structures.

Keating, Adrian, Professor

Using simple LEDs as precision instrumentsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPrerequisite skills: EE students or Mech stduents with an interest in building instruments. Must be willing to say "yes" to new and challenging tasks.

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In 2015/6, the System Health lab broke new ground in establishing that cheap LEDs could be used as distance sensors, potentially overcoming some of the usage limitations that lasers have due to safety concerns. blood pressure monitoring and a simple load cell. Opportunties exist to create novel instruments and help overcome barriers to make this technology more widely available. For example, issues of overcoming surface curvature, tilt and temperature compensation still require investigation.

Keating, Adrian, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Parish, Gia, Professor

Materials made from thin air - porous film propertiesDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicPrerequisite Skills: Various skills usefull including design, modeling and electrical skills. ability to put an instrument together to take measurementsThis project investigates how the addition of nanometer sized pores in a materal can alter the mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties. Such "meta"-materials are useful in a range of applications, from sensors, to cloaking devices. This project offers opportunities for electrical, mechanical and/or material students to learn more about this technology and it's applications. This material is made using extremely dangerous chemicals - The continuation of an ultra-safe fabrication system is required to allow students the ability to make and design these nanoporous films themselves. Thermal characteristics and noise in this micron thick films also need to be characterised. Laser induced acoustic output from these films was measured by students in 2016 which could be continued.

Keating, Adrian, Professor

Energy harvesting for wireless sensor networksDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MechatronicPrerequisite skills: Much of the work leverages electrical engineering or design skillsThis project has significant industrial interest. Students will review and evaluate an energy harvesting circuit and refining the design based on best practice from literature reviews. All students will assist in the development of the basic energy harvesting circuit. Subsequently, each

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student will be assigned a different aspect of the energy harvesting problem including: 1) alternative sources (thermal, vibration, electromagnetics) 2) storage capacity (evaluation and improvement) 3) low energy wireless transmission and protocols 4) system integration with data logging and data evaluation, 6) operation if a network of wirelss energy harvestors, 6) system integration

Kimiaei Mehrdad, A/Prof Co-supervisors: Kejriwal, Vikas (Industry)

Applicability of Charpy V-Notch test in subsea pipeline engineeringDisciplines: Civil & Mechanical Offshore platforms are under cumulative damages due to repeated application of wave loads known as fatigue induced damages. Usually fatigue design is one of the most important issues for assessment and life extension of existing or new offshore platforms subjected to wave loads. Spectral fatigue analysis is a widely accepted method for fatigue design of offshore facilities. It requires determination of hot spot stress Transfer Functions (TFs) which can be obtained via time domain or frequency domain calculations. Time domain calculations are more accurate, however they are also time consuming. Frequency domain calculations are much faster but they are subjected to some major simplifying assumptions. In both approaches, Stress Concentration Factors (SCFs) for welded areas should be evaluated precisely. Main aim of the project is to study the possible improvements (either on TF or on SCF calculations) for a robust and less conservative fatigue design. This project is a numerical study and the students will learn how to work with different modules of a very popular offshore structural engineering package (Sesam).

This project is more suitable for final year students with civil or mechanical engineering background who are interested in advanced structural engineering (with main focus in offshore and marine engineering).

Kimiaei Mehrdad, A/ProfessorDynamic response and fatigue design of steel catenary risers Disciplines: Civil, Mechanical

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Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) are still one of the most popular and cost effective types of risers for development of offshore fields in shallow to medium water depths. Fatigue design of SCRs is strongly affected by wave loading on the system and the riser soil interaction in the touch down zone (TDZ).Main objective of this numerical research is to get a better understanding of dynamic response and fatigue design of SCRs under dynamic wave loads. This study will be in continuation of the previous studies carried out at COFS on fatigue design of SCRs. Using Orcaflex software, effects of main input parameters (vessel motions, environmental loading, soil behaviour, etc) on fatigue performance of the system under randomly generated dynamic wave loads will be investigated. This project is more suitable for final year, preferably MPE, students with civil or mechanical engineering background who are interested in advanced structural engineering (with main focus on offshore and subsea engineering).

Kimiaei Mehrdad, A/Professor Co-supervisors: Tran, Joe (Industry)

Applicability of Charpy V-Notch test in subsea pipeline engineeringDisciplines: Civil & Mechanical Fracture mechanic is part of advanced structural engineering for integrity assessment of subsea pipelines. Charpy V-Notch (CVN) test has been used for a long time as a screening tool for fracture resistance of material in oil and gas industry. The test offers economic advantages of being inexpensive in both time and cost. Unfortunately, the reliability of CVN test results are still questionable, especially in the case of multi-materials domain and in the case that applied loading is static, such as in the case of CRA pipe girth weld. This study through literature review and numerical works will provide:• A review of standard CVN test

• Comparison between standard CVN test and other fracture toughness test, e.g. Single Edge

Notch Bending (SENB), Single Edge Notch Tensile (SENT), Compact Tension (CT):

Literature review

From analytical point of view

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From numerical modelling

From experimental point of view

• Recommendation on the applicability of CVN test

The motivation of this topic is from actual experience. There were many cases that CVN test result failed to comply with the requirements in the design standard. In some cases, re-test, using CVN specimen, was then carried out and the re-test result passed the requirement. In some other cases, the re-test results still failed. As a result, standard fracture toughness tests were carried out and the good results were obtained. It is, therefore, questionable for the reliability of CVN test.

This project is more suitable for final year students with civil or mechanical engineering background who are interested in advanced numerical modelling.

Leggoe, Jeremy, Professor

Finite Element Modelling of Bolted Flanged Connections in LNG Processing

Disciplines: Mechanical, MaterialsPrerequisite skills: Strong Performance in Solid Mechanics, Materials & Manufacturing, Numerical Methods& Modelling; if not already taken, students should plan to enrol in Degradation of materials and Finite Element Modelling during the project.The integrity of sealing in bolted flanged connections (BFC) can be compromised when large temperature differentials exist across the connection, as can be the case when cold liquid LNG partially fills a pipeline that is otherwise exposed to ambient conditions.This is a significant practical issue in LNG plants, as a loss of sealing integrity implies a loss of containment of hydrocarbons.

Finite element analysis is being used to investigate BFC integrity under a range of conditions. Given the broad range of temperatures, even characterising the material properties for the flanges, bolts and gaskets accurately for use in FE models is challenging. Students in this project will focus on various aspects of modelling the connection:

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- The seating of the gasket, and the response of the gasket material when exposed to different temperatures (noting that gaskets are often composites themselves)

- Modelling the individual bolts, and the effects of the sequence of bolt tightening

- Understanding the effect of pipe layout (and thus boundary conditions) on the connection

- Understanding the effects of flange dimensions on BFC performance

This project is aligned with an ongoing investigation being undertaken by a PhD candidate. The PhD candidate will join weekly group meetings, and his previous work in this area will provide background for the project.

Leggoe, Jeremy, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Aman, Zachary, Professor

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of Jet break up for Oil & Gas Well Blow Outs and other jet spraying applications in the Oil & Gas industryDisciplines: Chemical & Process, MechanicalPrerequisite skills: Strong performance in Fluid Mechanics and Numerical Methods and Modelling; If not already completed, students should plan to enrol in CHPR 4407 Transport Phenomena during the project.In the event of a well blowout, the nature of the turbulent flow field surrounding the resulting jet is a significant factor but poorly understood factor in determining the ultimate dispersion of the released material in the environment. This project will develop and interpret CFD models of jet releases into a quiescent environment to explore the relation between jet dynamics and the distribution of bubble sizes produced by the process. Particular emphasis will be directed towards:- Characterising multi-scale processes of bubble formation- Characterising the effect of the presence of multiple immiscible phases on turbulence- Characterising the relationship between turbulence and bubble distribution

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Students should expect to work with the software ANSYS/Fluent - previous experience with the software is not essential, but would be a significant advantage. The students undertaking this project will join a group including PhD student, and significant progress was made by the students working on the project in 2016. The PhD student will be presenting a paper on the project at an international conference in late 2016, and that work will provide background for the project.Previous completion of ENSC3003 (and ideally strong performance I the unit) would be an advantage for this project.

Lehane, Barry, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Doherty, James, Dr

Research for Forresfield airport linkDisciplines: CivilA $2 billion infrastructure project (http://www.forrestfieldairportlink.wa.gov.au/) in the vicinity of the airport is presently at the design stage with construction due to commence soon. This project examine a few critical elements of the project such as (i) tunnelling under the airport runway, (ii) conducting real time monitoring of tunnel boring machine instrumentation to assist decision making, (iii) friction generated on large scale barrette and (iv) soil structure interaction modelling.

Lehane, Barry, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Doherty, James, Dr

Advancing laterally loaded pile analysis and designDisciplines: CivilBetter analysis and design techniques for laterally loaded piles are now being sought with the increasing popularity of wind turbines and supports for solar panels. This project will involve assessments of the predictive capability of some newly proposed methods using traditional software as well as finite element analyses.

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http://www.forrestfieldairportlink.wa.gov.au/

Lehane, Barry, ProfessorCo-supervisors: White, David, Prof; Doherty, James, Dr

An optical method for strain measurement in triaxial testsDisciplines: CivilThis project will explore the use of the PIV technique to measure strains locally on triaxial samples - and hence allow cost-effective and efficient measurement of the stiffness characteristics of soil.

Lei, Wen, ProfessorSemiconductor NanosensorsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, MaterialsSemiconductor nanostructures are semiconductor materials of nanoscale dimensions, including zero-, one-, and two-dimensional nanostructures. They have many unique properties such as large surface area-to-volume ratio, very high aspect ratio, and strong quantum confinement including both carrier and photon. This leads to many unique and desirable electronic and optical properties for semiconductor nanostructures and thus various novel devices with superior performance over existing devices to revolutionise our technological world. These nanodevices include transistors, light emitters, solar cells, and sensors that are used in our daily life such as mobile phones, large-area displays, solar panels, and telecommunication systems. Apart from their super performance, these nanodevices present other advantages such as smaller size, lower cost, and higher energy efficiency, compared to traditional semiconductor devices with larger dimensions.

In this project, we will focus on the development of one- and/or two-dimensional semiconductor nanosensors with numerous potential applications ranging from light sensing, to environment sensing, and to telecommunication. This project can be divided into two main modules in which students choose both or either modules or any aspects of each module depending on interests of the students and duration of the program: (1) Synthesis of high quality semiconductor nanostructures using CVD and/or MBE material growth tools, and understand, through various structural, electrical, and optical characterisation techniques, how to (i) improve the material quality, (ii) control the composition and material, and (iii) to engineer the bandstructure of nanostructures;

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(2) Fabrication and characterisation of semiconductor nanosensors which involve (i) the design of the sensor structures, (ii) the use of state-of-the-art device fabrication facilities to make nanosensor devices, and (iii) characterising the performance and properties of the nanosensors to understand the underlying physics of the devices.Through this project, the students will develop practical expertise and experience needed by semiconductor and other industries, including:(1) Material synthesis/growth using CVD and/or MBE material growth facilities;(2) Design and modeling of semiconductor devices;(3) Material processing and device fabrication technologies within a cleanroom environment;(4) Nanoscale material and device characterisation;Required background:Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Material Science, Physics, and Chemistry

Leong, Yee-Kwong, Professor

Laminar and Turbulent flow Pipe-loop data of Pseudoplatic polymer solutionsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, PetroleumStudents will prepare psuedoplastic polymer solutions and characterize its flow behaviour in pipeflow loop and cone-and-plate viscometer. Fanning friction factor and Reynold number data in both lamina and turbulent flow regime will be obtained. The suitability and accuracy of the Dodge and Metzner friction factor-Reynold number correlation for pseudoplastic fluids in the turbulent flow regime will be evaluated.


Friction factor correlations for yield stress (Clay) suspensions in the turbulent flow regimeDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Oil & GasThe pressure drop and velocity data of low yield stress clay suspensions will be converted to fanning friction factor and Reynold number data.

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However the calculation of the Reynold number required the use of a viscosity which for a yield stress fluid changes with shear rate. This study will evaluate the most appropriate viscosity to use in the Reynold number calculation and then determine most appropriate friction factor correlation that fits the friction loss-Reynold number data


Population balance modelling of fragmentation process of flocs Disciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Oil & Gas

Discrete data of particle size distribution of alumina flocs monitored as a function of fragmentation time are already available and will be converted continuous particle size density function or PSDF data. Population balance (PBE) model will be employed to model the fragmentation process using a starting PSDF data. The starting PSDF data to be used can start at any fragmentation time in the modelling. Starting PSDF data at various fragmentation time will be used to PBE model the fragmentation process using software written in Mathematica developed by the University of Melbourne. The simulated size distribution function result will be compared with experimental data. The accuracy of PBE model using data a various starting PSDF data used in predicting real experimental behaviour will also be evaluated and compared.

Leong, Yee-Kwong, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Fawell Phillip, Dr (CSIRO), Constine, Allan, Dr (CSIRO)

Assessing aggregate size – density relationships of dilute clay suspensions after polymer-bridging flocculationDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Mechanical, Oil & GasThe project involved the monitoring of aggregate or floc size and density as a function of time in a flow cell or vessel after the addition of a polymeric flocculant. The parameters to be evaluated are polymer flocculant charge density and molecular weight. Some of the floc characterization experiments will (most likely) be conducted at CSIRO Waterford. The

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knowledge generated from this study will be very useful in many areas of suspension processing such as the dewatering of waste tailings, water treatment and clarification of sugar cane juice.

Li, Jianxin DrRealistic Damage and Cost Model in Car Crash Disciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwarePrerequisite skills: like to learn Bayesian network model, software development, should be familiar with at least one programming languageAs reported by the government of Western Australia Road Safety Commission, 161 people died on WA roads in 2015, which consists of 87 in regional areas and 74 in the metropolitan area. More males died in regional WA than females, which is 63:24. Similarly, male to female is 55:19 in metropolitan. And the most people killed in crashes were aged between 25 and 29. The report also pointed out that in 2015, 60% of fatalities were a result of crashes with recorded driver behavioural factors.

In this project, students will be guided to develop a damage and cost model for car crash. Based on the situations a car crash occurred in, the system with the developed model will predict the level of the crash, the damage of the crash and the finance cost of the crash. We also develop the system to track drivers' behaviors. With the support of the system, we will directly tell the drivers how much amount of money they lost due to their mistakenly-operated behaviors when they drive.

Li, Jianxin DrBuying Trend Analytics in E-Commence Disciplines: Disciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwarePrerequisite Skills: Be familiar to at least one programming language, Algorithms and index techniques in database, Data mining knowledgeNowadays, people's purchasing behavior has been changed a lot with the development of e-commence, e.g., Amazon, Ebay, and Taobao. The customers may get more benefit from online purchase, e.g., cheaper price, more convenient to order, and share with others. The retailers also get benefit from e-commence, e.g., free store rental, a small number of staff, and attracting wide customers.

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In this project, students will be guided to investigate the co-purchasing behaviors of customers and the buying trend of products. We would like to answer how a buyer's behavior influence the other buyers in their decision.

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

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

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

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

Advanced Gas SeparationsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Oil & Gas MajorCarbon dioxide capture, whether from natural gas streams or from flue gases, is an important and increasing area of research with significant implications for our economy and environment. N2 capture from natural gas is increasingly important in the development of LNG projects where

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this component is energetically parasitic. These projects will look at the use of novel materials for improved capture efficiency that are either solid adsorbents, including carbons, zeolites and calixarenes, or liquid solvents, such as transition metal complexes. In addition, the production of high value zeolites from waste materials such as fly ash will be investigated. Students working on these projects will help develop and characterise the separation performance of new materials synthesized in our laboratory over a wide range of temperature, pressure and mixture compositions, and/or use the results of such experiments to develop numerical models of advanced industrial separation processes.

Liu, Jishan, Professor Extraction of Unconventional Gases: Coal Seam GasDisciplines: Oil & Gas, PetroleumPrerequisite Skills: already taken OGEG5803 Reservoir Engineering or will take it in S1 2017Despite its increasing role in the world energy market, coal seam gas extraction remains poorly understood with many observations unexplained. The purpose of this project is to investigate what factors control the efficiency of gas extraction. This goal will be achieved through (1) Literature Review; (2) Formulation of Gas Flow in Coal; and (3) Use a commercial tool (COMSOL) to investigate the major factors and to compare the results with observations.

Liu, Jishan, Professor

Extraction of Unconventional Gases: Shale GasDisciplines: Oil & Gas, PetroleumPrerequisite Skills: already taken OGEG5803 Reservoir Engineering or will take it in S1 2017

Despite its increasing role in the world energy market, shale gas extraction remains poorly understood with many observations unexplained. The purpose of this project is to investigate what factors control the efficiency of gas extraction. This goal will be achieved through (1) Literature Review; (2) Formulation of Gas Flow in Shale; and (3) Use a commercial tool

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(COMSOL) to investigate the major factors and to compare the results with observations.

Liu, Yinong, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Yang, Hong, Professor

Subsea oil and gas pipeline corrosionDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & GasPrerequisite skills: completion of unit MECH4428 Degradation of MaterialsThis is a project in collaboration with Woodside. It involves testing for corrosion prevention strategies and monitoring for subsea pipelines using real life pipe samples. The project will involve analysis of corrosion coupons and test fluids and testing of corrosion monitoring probes, as well as handling life-size subsea pipeline test pieces

Ma, Guowei, ProfCo-supervisors: Aslani, Farhad, Dr; Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr

Development of 3D Printing ConcreteDisciplines: Civil

This project aims to develop fast curing cement paste material for 3D print of structures. Different from traditionally made concrete, the 3D printing concrete does not require formwork or mould, however, all binding particles must be able to be spayed through a small print head or nozzle, and hydrators and adhesives must be added to promote hydration and help the object maintain its shape. In this project, the uniaxial strength and flow characteristic of cement paste specimens with different mixtures at various conditions will be tested. The developed material is expected to be used for 3D printing of structural models. Student may be required to visit Beijing University of Technology to carry out the test.

Ma, Guowei, ProfCo-supervisors: Elchalakani, Mohamed Dr; Aslani, Farhad, Dr

Mechanical property of basalt fiber composite bar for reinforcing concrete

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Disciplines: Civil This project aims to test the mechanical property of basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) bar for reinforcement of concrete structures, replacing traditional steel reinforcement. The BFRP bar will be with high strength, corrosion free, light, and flexible for different structure design. The tensile capacity, compression and bending capacities of the BFRP bar will be tested.

Male, Sally, Dr

Development and trial of virtual work integrated learning modulesDisciplines: Civil, Electrical & Electronic, MechanicalStudents of accredited engineering programs in Australia must be exposed to engineering practice. This project will contribute to an overarching project on virtual work integrated learning (WIL) for engineering students. In the overarching project, learning modules are being developed to expose students to practice without real work placements. Previous final year students have investigated learning outcomes and learning activities for virtual WIL in engineering. The new final year students will develop and test virtual WIL modules, building on the work of the previous students. Students will collaborate with the Virtual WIL Project Team which includes researchers from UWA, CingleVue International, Curtin University, The University of Queensland, Murdoch University, Engineers Australia, and the Australian Council of Engineering Deans.

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

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

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produce the required new data and develop new predictive models relevant to natural gas processing and LNG production to help avoid unexpected shutdowns, improve plant efficiency, and increase safety.

McCormick, Paul, Professor

Solar photovoltaic power systemsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Software Prerequisite skills: Good anyalytical skills, computing, some projects are experimentalRecent technical and economic advances have made solar energy a practical alternative for electric power generation for a wide range of applications. While photovoltaic PV cells have demonstrated long operating lifetimes with minimal degradation the development of PV systems incorporating battery storage is much more recent. Surprisingly, it is not well known that significant fluctuations in PV current occur in partly cloudy conditions. Major variations in load demand can also occur. Little is known of the effect of such fluctuations on battery lifetime. This project will focus on various aspects of short and long term battery and system performance as influenced by cyclic current inputs and load outputs.

McDonald, Chris, DrVisualising firewall execution using iptables and NFTablesDisciplines: Computer, Electrical Engineering, Software Prerequisite skills: Enthusiasm for systems programming, preferably in C or C++Computer network firewalls monitor and filter network traffic basedon a combination of characteristics, such as the physical attributes of the traffic, the protocols being employed, and the traffic's relationship with other traffic observed over a window of time. Contemporary operating-systems and devices implement their firewall software in their kernels, and define and monitor their firewalls' operations through either command-line or graphical interfaces that interact with data-structures and functions provided by the kernel.Some contemporary firewall suites have names netfilter, iptables, NFTables, and PF.This project seeks to develop software to visually demonstrate the operation of a network firewall, by executing the same code that the kernel, itself, executes and annotating the actions taken. The software will support firewall specification rules written for at least two of the

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contemporary systems, and receive its network traffic from either real or synthetically generated network packet traces. Several firewall devices will be simulated in a large environment, where each firewall maintains and executes its own ruleset and traffic and application mix.

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

McDonald, Chris, DrCo-supervisors: Sun, Chao, Dr (Business School)

Modelling Connected Autonomous Vehicles and InfrastructureDisciplines: Computer, Electrical Engineering, Software Prerequisite skills: Enthusiasm for systems programming, preferably in C or C++

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Within 5 years years, the average consumer will be able to purchase an autonomous vehicle and drive it on our public roads, resulting in a dramatic change to traffic patterns and travel times. Beyond the benefits of autonomous vehicles are connected vehicles - vehiclesthat communicate their state, intention, and traffic conditions to other vehicles and to road-side infrastructure. The potential benefits of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, particularly, are significant, including controlling vehicles through intersections - no more traffic lights - and using current and predicted road and congestion conditions to adjust the speed of vehicles.Connected vehicle simulation needs to accurately simulate both the driving and route planning of vehicles, and the wireless communication in a very crowded environment. Current approaches separate these tasks by employing two different simulators, communicating through a common data format, but accuracy is lost when wishing to model'real-time' wireless-based attacks against vehicles and infrastructure.This project will first investigate the landscape of open-source vehicle simulators and then employ a chosen, or modified, simulator to model and investigate attacks against connect vehicles and infrastructure.

Miller, Karol, ProfessorBiomechanics: Stress and strain in abdominal aortic aneurysmDisciplines: Civil, Computer, MechanicalPrerequisite skills: Students in mathematical modelling and computer simulation of mechanical, biomechanical and electromechanical systems (especially in biomechanics and robotics) are welcome.This is a finite element simulation project using Abaqus and our one code BioPARR http://bioparr.mech.uwa.edu.au/ . This project is in collaboration with Harvard’s Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging https://www.martinos.org/ and Fraunhofer MEVIS institute in Germany http://www.mevis.fraunhofer.de/ . Project will be conducted within Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory http://school.mech.uwa.edu.au/ISML/index.php/Main_Page

The best students will have an opportunity to travel to collaborating labs.

Miller, Karol, Professor World's best finite element mesh of the brain

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http://school.mech.uwa.edu.au/ISML/index.php/Main_Page

http://www.mevis.fraunhofer.de/

https://www.martinos.org/

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

Disciplines: Civil, Computer, Mechanical Prerequisite Skills: students in mathematical modelling and computer simulation of mechanical, biomechanical and electromechanical systems (especially in biomechanics and robotics) are welcome.

Project in collaboration with Harvard Medical School. Surgical Planning Laboratory http://spl.harvard.edu, Harvard) The best students will have an opportunity to travel to Harvard

Miller, Karol, Professor

Computer simulation of brain deformations for epilepsy treatmentDisciplines: Civil, Computer, Mechanical Prerequisite Skills: students in mathematical modelling and computer simulation of mechanical, biomechanical and electromechanical systems (especially in biomechanics and robotics) are welcome.Computer simulation of brain deformations for epilepsy treatment (with Computational Radiology Laboratory http://crl.med.harvard.edu/, Harvard), and tumour resection (with Surgical Planning Laboratory http://spl.harvard.edu, Harvard).Project in collaboration with Harvard Medical School.The best students will have an opportunity to travel to Harvard

Miller, Karol, Professor

Robotics: A robot to pick up tennis balls (design and build)Disciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical Prerequisite Skills: students in mathematical modelling and computer simulation of mechanical, biomechanical and electromechanical systems (especially in biomechanics and robotics) are welcome.Design and build a robot to pick up tennis balls.

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http://spl.harvard.edu/

http://crl.med.harvard.edu/

http://spl.harvard.edu/

Milne, George, Professor Co-supervisors: Kelso, Joel, Dr.

The AUSTRALIS Bushfire Prediction SystemDisciplines: Software Prerequisite skills: Java programming, server side web development, touch interface development.The AUSTRALIS bushfire system has been developed by Prof Milne and Dr. Kelso, School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, UWA over the past 10 years. It is now used by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to predict the future location of all bushfires in Western Australia.The project will investigate possible future enhancements of the AUSTRALIS System by constructing prototypes to achieve the following: Develop a software framework for running an ensemble of AUSTRALIS

simulations and producing a probabilistic risk map. Develop a network-accessible simulation server that takes a (simplified)

simulation specification from a web request, logs request, runs simulation, saves result, and renders a map of results which is then available to the requester.

Develop a simple touch-screen interface for specifying a bushfire simulation, with time, duration, with ignition location/lines, weather series.

Add a module to AUSTRALIS to produce isochrone output data (location of fire at given time points) from raw cell fire arrival time data. Solution should not depend on any proprietary library (e.g. ArcGIS) or large monolithic software framework.

The project team will work closely with Prof Milne and Dr Kelso to achieve the above aims, with the goal of demonstrating the functionality of the additional features using data from one of the recent WA bushfires.

Mohr, Henning, Dr.Co-supervisors: Draper, Scott, Dr.

Linking in-situ erosion testing with model scale experiments of subsea structuresDisciplines: Civil, Ocean Systems, Oil & Gas The net movement of sediment (i.e. scour) around subsea structures can be difficult to predict in practice, but must be estimated accurately to ensure offshore structures are designed reliably. Much of the difficulty lies in predicting the erosion properties of sediment, and then using these properties to estimate scour. In this project, model scale experiments of

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subsea structures will be undertaken together with in-situ erosion testing to characterise the erosion properties of sediment; the relationship between the scour rate and the erosion rate will then investigated. The erosion testing will be carried out using a novel flume developed at UWA to measure erosion properties, whilst the model scale scour experiments will be performed in a recirculating flume at UWA.This project forms part of the Woodside funded RiverLab project. More information is available here: http://www.oceans.uwa.edu.au/collaborations/riverlab

Mohr, Henning, Dr.Co-supervisors: Draper, Scott, Dr.

Linking in-situ erosion testing with model scale experiments of subsea structuresDisciplines: Civil, Ocean Systems, Oil & Gas The net movement of sediment (i.e. scour) around subsea structures can be difficult to predict in practice, but must be estimated accurately to ensure offshore structures are designed reliably. Much of the difficulty lies in predicting the erosion properties of sediment, and then using these properties to estimate scour. In this project, model scale experiments of subsea structures will be undertaken together with in-situ erosion testing to characterise the erosion properties of sediment; the relationship between the scour rate and the erosion rate will then investigated. The erosion testing will be carried out using a novel flume developed at UWA to measure erosion properties, whilst the model scale scour experiments will be performed in a recirculating flume at UWA.This project forms part of the Woodside funded RiverLab project. More information is available here: http://www.oceans.uwa.edu.au/collaborations/riverlab

Nener, Brett, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Parish, Giacinta, Professor

Advanced Sensing Technologies: Transistor-based biosensorsDisciplines: Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicStudents will work together on the one or more of following integrated project components (and will also work alongside students working in the

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adjacent projects on “transistor-based chemical sensors for contaminant monitoring”).1. Physical, chemical, materials and biological characterisation of functionalisation methods, particularly surface and cell studies2. Electrical, chemical, biochemical and physical characterisation and optimisation of functionalised ion sensors3. Mechanical, electrical and chemical characterisation and optimisation of packaging techniques4. Design and integration of complementary sensors (pH, temperature, drift compensation) to maximise reliability.5. Adapt device design, packaging, measurement protocols for reliable, reference electrode free, operation.6. Modelling of individual devices, packaged devices and the device-functionalisation layer-solution interface.

Ocampo, Carlos DrCo-supervisors: Oldham, Carolyn, Prof

Nitrate mobilization mechanisms from a bioretention basin affectedDisciplines: Civil and Environmental Bioretention basins are structural elements used in water sensitive urban design (WSUD) to improve water quality of surface runoff generated from urban areas. Their efficiency in pollutant removal depends on their hydrological functioning (i.e. water movement through the systems, moisture content in the underlying soil, interaction with shallow groundwater) and the inflow of pollutants and biogeochemical conditions existing in the sediments acting as filter media. Nitrate, an inorganic form of nitrogen, is a pollutant of concern in sandy soils of the Perth Metropolitan area due to its rapid mobilization by water. Although laboratory and field scale studies showed the potential for nitrate mobilization from biofilters and bioretention basins, little is known about nitrate dynamics and mechanisms of mobilization from a biofilter media interacting with shallow groundwater. This project will use field data and 1D numerical model simulations to address nitrate dynamics and its mobilization from a bioretention basin affected by shallow groundwater in an urban development in Byford area (Perth, Western Australia).

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Oldham, Carolyn, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Boronina, Anastasia, Dr; Ocampo, Carlos, Dr

Mapping high groundwater under urban development - Perth, Melbourne and BrisbaneDisciplines: Civil and Environmental Urban development around Australia is increasingly planned in marshy areas with high groundwater. This poses significant challenges for road pavements, foundations of infrastructure and urban water management. Historically, this has been managed by importing a large volume of clean sand to raise the building level above the groundwater level. However the increasing cost of clean sand is driving a search of innovative solutions to the challenge. Despite this challenge existing in many parts of Australia, there has been minimal work to map shallow groundwater levels at sufficient resolution to be useful for infrastructure developers. This project will undertake collation of existing groundwater data, collection of validation data, mapping and conceptualising the shallow groundwater levels in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. The work will have immediate benefit for urban designers in these areas. The project will develop your understanding and skills in hydrogeology and hydrology, and will provide network opportunities with a range of government departments.

It is strongly recommended that you take the unit GEOS4401 Hydrogeological Systems as an Option Unit in 2017. You will probably need Special Approval from your Course Coordinator for this. Prof. Oldham can help with the paperwork.

Parish, Giacinta, ProfessorCo-Supervisor: Nener, Brett, Professor

Advanced Sensing Technologies: Transistor-based chemical sensors for contaminant monitoringDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Electrical & Electronic, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, MechatronicReliable, economically accessible technology for in situ monitoring of contaminants in water has the power to transform health, industry, and society the world around. Applications of such monitoring range from process control monitoring and optimisation for industry, to water supply quality and wastewater monitoring, to environmental monitoring for resource extraction, and beyond.The microelectronics-based technology under investigation in this project will enable in situ, real-time contaminant monitoring that is accurate,

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reliable and low-cost. Semiconductor-based technology offers high performance and can also be mass produced at low-cost with flexible functionalisation allowing for a variety of analytes. Furthermore, it offers the ability to integrate multiple sensors into one chip, along with wireless communication technology for maximum benefit of the in situ monitoring capability.Students will work together on the one or more of following integrated project components (and will also work alongside students working in the adjacent projects on “transistor-based biosensors”).1. Physical, chemical, materials characterisation of functionalisation methods, particularly surface studies2. Electrical, chemical and physical characterisation and optimisation of functionalised ion sensors3. Mechanical, electrical and chemical characterisation and optimisation of packaging techniques4. Design and integration of complementary sensors (pH, temperature, drift compensation) to maximise reliability.5. Adapt device design, packaging, measurement protocols for reliable, reference electrode free, operation.The ability to monitor biological and chemical signals with an electronic device is a tremendously innovative approach for cell research and process control in pharmaceutical and microbiological production, and chemical sensing applications. A bio-friendly, chemically inert and stable III-Nitride-transistor-based bio/chem-sensor will be developed to detect responses to various specific compounds/chemicals, particularly through cell receptors. The successful development of this electronic biosensor technology has the potential to improve health and disease treament through major improvemements in throughput, precision, quality, speed and simplicity of, for example, drug and disease testing methods.

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

Modelling of materials with microstructure and fragmented structures Disciplines: Civil, MechanicalPrerequisite skills: Finite Element Modelling, MathlabModelling of materials with mictrostructure (eg, layered and granular materials) and fragmented solids, and evaluation of their mechanical properties is a challenging and exciting task.

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Phan, Anthony, Research AssociateCo-supervisors: Karnowski, Karol, Research Fellow

OBEL: New generation of microscope in a needleDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, Materials, Mechanical, Mechatronic, SoftwareOur microscope in a needle won The Australian newspaper’s Innovation Challenge in 2015. We are looking for passionate students who would like to participate in the prototyping of next generation needle microscopes. Possible projects include: a robotic-like probe with microscope objective and MEMS scanner; a robotic, ultra-light optical fibre-based probe with piezo-actuated scanning mechanism for prolonged in vivo measurements; development of a UV, or narrow band imaging needle, development of a concentric scanner to keep the needle scan rotation perfectly axial; or development of algorithms to correct for non-uniform rotation distortion. Within this project, we can accommodate students with different background and interests, from 3D designing, optical instrumentation, electronics, and mechatronics; from optical modeling, through designing, making and experimental testing. Come and talk to us about this project.

Prince, Richard, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Boussaid, Farid, Professor; Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor

Automatic Detection software for calcifications in the abdominal aortaDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwareThe project will be to supply a software solution to assist clinicians to identify calcifications in the abdominal aorta (AA), which is the large blood vessel supplying the lower body. Increased calcification in the AA has been shown in clinical studies to be a powerful predictor of heart disease.Software will ‘open’ a clinical image from a database of clinical images. Each clinical image will basically show the spine, AA and surrounding organs. The required software will ‘scan’ through the entire clinical image to isolate the required region of interest (ROI), which is the AA. As images may be of low contrast, pre-processing of image via contrast enhancement, image sharpening, etc, may be required. Within this identified ROI (the AA), the algorithm will be required to search and identify calcifications based on grey-scale thresholds. This analysis should also provide a concluding decision, based on one of the following outcomes (i) calcification present, (ii) calcification not present OR (iii) possible calcification.Post-processing of this analysis includes providing basic statistics such as number, location and size of calcification identified, in a concluding report.

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A graphics user interface to enable clear, easy and friendly use of the application should be provided.

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

Reynolds, Mark, ProfAI Tutor for Introductory Programming unitDisciplines: Electrical Engineering, Software Prerequisite skills: Good programming skillsThe project is to develop an intelligent tutoring system to give quick and individualised feedback to students learning some of the concepts in an introductory programming unit at UWA. The system will learn from interaction with students engaged in specific lab exercises, classifying the students' level of understanding of the concept and guiding them towards mastering the knowledge and finding the solution of the exercise.

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

OBEL: Nanoscope in a NeedleDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, MechatronicOur group has developed the award-winning microscope-in-a-needle, which can image deep in tissue at 10 micrometer resolution to a millimeter

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distance away from the needle. Now we are developing next-generation needles that can image on the nanoscale, so that they can see individual cells. This could be developing a needle-based optical fibre Raman system, a confocal microscope in a needle, or a mechanical properties imager. The nanoscope could be applied to anything from breast cancer to brain surgery to basic biology. This project will investigate aspects of the system design and explore issues in implementing it in optical fibre. It requires an interest in doing optical engineering of an advanced photonics-based instrument. Come and talk to us about this project.

Sampson, David, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Rigby, Paul, CMCA, Karnowski, Karol, Research Fellow

OBEL: Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM)Disciplines: Chemical & Process, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, SoftwareOne of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2014 has moved on to light-sheet microscopy, declaring it to be even better than his Nobel effort! We have built a Selective Plane Illumination Microscope (SPIM) based on an open source. We now need to refine it, tune it up and develop the software to enable it to be put to work. Expert microscopist and applications specialist Paul Rigby from Optical Microscopy at the UWA core facility CMCA is keen to see it put to work in real projects. Come and talk to us about this project.

Sercombe, Tim, ProfessorSelective Laser Melting of Novel MaterialsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Materials, MechanicalPrerequisite skills: An interest in materials

Selective Laser Melting is a 3D Printing technique that produces metallic parts directly for CAD models. It uses a high power laser beam to selectively melt areas of a powder bed to form a single layer. The powder bed is then lowered and a new layer of powder deposited on top and the process continues.

There are two projects available which build on projects about to finish. These are

1. Production of antibacterial Ti via SLM

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2. Niobium

A third project will investigate a material yet to be examined.

Stanwix, Paul DrCo-supervisors: May, Eric, Prof

Microwave Cavities for Phase Behaviour SensingDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Mechanical, Oil & Gas MajorAccurate knowledge of the phase behaviour of fluid mixtures is crucial for the design and operation of gas processing and transport systems. This project aims to develop innovative fluid sensing technology using high-precision microwave cavities, which will be capable of accurately investigating the behaviour of fluid mixtures near their phase boundaries. This technology will be used to generate reference-quality data, necessary for development and validation of equations-of-state, and to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in phase transitions. Students working on this project will contribute to the design and modelling of microwave cavities, measurement of fluid mixture phase boundaries and phase fractions, and development of automated measurement and data analysis systems.

Tian, Yinghui, DrCo-supervisors: Tran, Joe (Industry)

Numerical modelling of dynamic penetration and damage in offshore engineeringDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical and Oil & Gas. Dynamic and large deformation problems are very common in offshore engineering, such as the penetration of anchors into seabed, damage of pipelines due to dropped objects, pile driving etc. This project will carry out numerical modelling to investigate the mechanism of these challenging problems. This project provides opportunity of learning the commercial software ABAQUS and potential publishing the research work outcome.

Togneri, Roberto, Professor

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Audio Surveillance Disciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwareWe live in a very insecure and dangerous world. Around every corner somebody is watching us through that hidden CCTV camera, but most of the time they won't be listening. With the advent of cheap and reliable audio sensors the ability to listen to the world around us, using sound for surveillance has become reality. In this project you will join the team of PhD students investigating audio event detection and scene classification and new approaches to source unmixing to find the answer to the question: What can we see with our ears? For a review of this topic please check out https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.7787.

Togneri, Roberto, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Bennamoun, Mohammed, Professor

Hands Free and Voice Free Data Entry using Visual SpeechDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & Electronic, SoftwareIn industrial shop floors and storage facilities there is a need for on-the-spot data entry. With a potential noisy factory floor and the need to wear protective gloves makes hand input cumbersone and voice input unreliable. In this project you will explore how far we can push visual speech recognition (lip reading) by computer to augment limited keyboard or voice entry in these environments. For a good background on visual speech recognition please review https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1409/1409.1411.pdf.

Togneri, Roberto, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Grinceri, Sonia, Ms

How to get the Perfect AccentDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & ElectronicWhen a student attains mastery of a second language there is usually a desire to speak the language like a native born speaker. To achieve this outcome the student must master pronunciation of sounds – in English language the individual sounds are vowels, diphthongs and consonants. In this project you will explore how the different sounds of spoken English are represented in the time-frequency domain and whether there is a way to differentiate the native speaker from the learning speaker and how close the learning speaker is to the perfect accent. For more information and some ideas have a look at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/541306/pdf.

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Togneri, Roberto, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Nordholm, Sven, Professor

Improving intelligibility of Speech in NoiseDisciplines: Computer, Electrical & ElectronicConsider a scenario where there is communication between you, at the near-end, and somebody else at the far end. However you are listening in a noisy environment. Can we playback the far-end speech in such a way as to overcome the noise and improve speech intelligibility? Modifying the playback of speech in the presence of noise is especially important for hearing impaired people. In this project you will investigate how audio filters can be optimised for this purpose and how we can improve our hearing. For one of many ideas have a look at http://www.ceestaal.nl/Taal(2013).pdf.

Tong, Feifei, DrCo-supervisors: Zhou, Tongming, Professor

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

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While, Lyndon, DrCo-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark, Prof; French, Tim, Dr

Intelligent Optimisation of Engineering ProblemsDisciplines: All Engineering Disciplines Many complex engineering problems involve multiple objectives, complex constraints, and large, difficult search spaces. Such problems are not amenable to simple optimisation techniques such as exhaustive search or dynamic programming; instead they are routinely tackled using 'intelligent' anytime search technology such as evolutionary algorithms or market-based optimisation. In this project you will identify a specific optimisation problem from your field of interest and you will attack this problem using one of these modern computational intelligence techniques.

Note that you need to be a confident programmer to undertake this project: if you have done only CITS2401, it would be best to consult Dr. While before making an application.

While, Lyndon, DrCo-supervisors: Reynolds, Mark, Prof; French, Tim, Dr

Intelligent Adaptive Scheduling for Dynamic ProblemsDisciplines: Mining, Oil and Gas, Petroleum, Software Prerequisite skills: A confident programmerMany real-world scheduling problems are dynamic in nature: after a schedule is designed and executed, real-time events require the system to adapt the schedule in order to maximise its performance. Such adaptation is required to be fast, flexible, and accurate in the face of rapidly-changing circumstances. In this project you will attack this class of problems with a modern computational intelligence technique such as evolutionary algorithms or market-based optimisation; example concrete problem instance(s) can be selected from your field of interest.

Note that you need to be a confident programmer to undertake this project: if you have done only CITS2401, it would be best to consult Dr. While before making an application.

Wu, Gordon, DrCo-supervisors: Yang, Hong, Prof

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Coating of nanostructured silver on collagen sheets and its cell viability and antibacterial activityDisciplines: Mechanical, Chemical Coating of nanostructured silver on textile materials has gained intense research interest, due to the powerful antimicrobial activity of silver being known to be effective against nearly 650 types of bacteria. This project explores the possibility of using silver coating on collagen dressing sheets for medical application. It will be an experimental based project searching for suitable process for coating nanostructured silver on collagen substrates. The focus of the project will be on establishing process conditions on the quality and activity of resulted silver coatings.

Zhang, Dongke, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming Dr; Zhang, Zhezi, Mr

Pyrolysis of Spent TyresDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, PetroleumSpent tyres discarded in Australia amounts to more than 400,000 tonnes per annum. Being highly flammable, rich in sulphur and capable of releasing polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other toxins if burnt uncontrolledly, spent tyres in landfills and stockpiles pose serious environmental hazards and health risks. Pyrolysis is a simple, robust, and scalable approach for simultaneous production of gas, liquid and char. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the operation conditions on the yield, composition and properties of pyrolysis products including gas, liquid and solid residue.

Sub-project 1: Effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and composition of pyrolysis gas

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and composition of pyrolysis gas. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor and the gas will be collected using gas bags for further analysis. The compositions of pyrolysis gas will be analysed using GC-MS.

Sub-project 2: Effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and composition of pyrolysis liquid

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The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and compositions of pyrolysis liquid. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor and pyrolysis liquid will be collected for further analysis. The compositions of pyrolysis liquid will be analysed using GC-MS.

Sub-project 3: Effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and properties of pyrolysis solid residue

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature on the yield and composition of pyrolysis solid residue. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor and solid residue will be collected for further analysis. The solid residue will be characterised for its proximate and ultimate analyses, BET surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution, reactivity and surface functional groups.

Sub-project 4: Effect of particle size on the yield and composition of pyrolysis gas

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of particle size on the yield and composition of pyrolysis gas the gas will be collected using gas bags for further analysis. The pyrolysis will be performed in a fixed bed reactor and the gas will be collected using gas bags for further analysis. The compositions of pyrolysis gas will be analysed using GC-MS.

Zhang, Dongke, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Zhang, Zhezi Mr; Preciado Hernandez, Jorge E.

Preparation of activated carbon from solid residue of spent tyre pyrolysisDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Materials, Mechanical, Oil & Gas, PetroleumThe disposal of biomass and industrial wastes, such as forestry by-products, agriculture residue, municipal wastes, spent tyre, represents a major environmental issue throughout the world. Pyrolysis is a simple, robust, and scalable approach for simultaneous production of gas, liquid and solid residue. Pyrolysis solid residue has a high potential to be upgraded into various high value carbon materials (activated carbon, carbon black, metallurgical reductant, soil conditioner etc.), this project will

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focus on the upgrading of the spent tyre pyrolytic solid residue for activated carbon production.

Sub-project 1: activation using CO2/N2 mixture as the activation agent

The objective of this sub-project is to produce activated carbon form the solid residue of spent tyre pyrolysis using CO2/N2 mixture. Activation experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. The effect of activation temperature, particle size, activation time and molar ratio of CO2

to N2 on the product yield, physical and chemical properties of the activated carbon products will be investigated. The physical and chemical properties will include: BET surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution, particle size distribution, reactivity, mineral form and content, surface functional groups, etc.

Sub-project 2: activation using steam/N2 mixture as the activation agent

The objective of this sub-project is to produce activated carbon form the solid residue of spent tyre pyrolysis using steam/N2 mixture. Activation experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. The effect of activation temperature, particle size, activation time and molar ratio of steam to N2 on the product yield, physical and chemical properties of the activated carbon products will be investigated. The physical and chemical properties will include: BET surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution, particle size distribution, reactivity, mineral form and content, surface functional groups, etc.

Sub-project 3: activation using CO2/steam/N2 mixture as the activation agent

The objective of this sub-project is to produce activated carbon form the solid residue of spent tyre pyrolysis using CO2/steam/N2 mixture. Activation experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. The effect of activation temperature, particle size, activation time and molar ratio of CO2

to steam on the product yield, physical and chemical properties of the activated carbon products will be investigated. The physical and chemical properties will include: BET surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution, particle size distribution, reactivity, mineral form and content, surface functional groups, etc.

Sub-project 4: activation using alternating CO2/steam/N2 mixture as the activation agent

The objective of this sub-project is to produce activated carbon form the solid residue of spent tyre pyrolysis using alternating CO2/steam/N2

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mixture. Activation experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. The alternating CO2/steam/N2 mixture activation experiments will start with CO2/N2 activation for a period of time, followed by steam/N2 activation for a period time and the combinations of the two activation agents thereafter. The effect of activation temperature, particle size, and activation time on the product yield, physical and chemical properties of the activated carbon products will be investigated. The physical and chemical properties will include: BET surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution, particle size distribution, reactivity, mineral form and content, surface functional groups, etc.

Zhang, Dongke, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming, Dr; Setyawan, Hendrix Y. Mr

Manufacturing of specialty carbon black by partial combustion of heavy fraction of spent tyre pyrolysis liquidDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Materials, Oil & Gas, PetroleumThe disposal of biomass and industrial wastes, such as forestry by-products, agriculture residue, municipal wastes, spent tyre, represents a major environmental issue throughout the world. Pyrolysis is a simple, robust, and scalable approach for simultaneous production of gas, liquid and char. After desulphurisation and extraction of high value chemicals, the remaining heavy residue of the pyrolysis liquid still contains a high amount of PAHs, a great source material for carbon black production. This project will focus on the manufacturing of specialty carbon black by partial oxidation of the heavy liquid residue.

Sub-project 1: effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black produced. The experiments will be conducted using the flat burner system. The flat burner will burn natural gas with air to provide high temperature flue gas. The heavy pyrolysis liquid fraction will be injected at precise locations in the high temperature to make carbon black. The carbon black will be produced at various flame temperatures and then characterised for its physical and

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chemical properties. In this sub-project, the carbon black will be characterised for proximate and ultimate analysis and BET surface areas.

Sub-project 2: effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black produced. The experiments will be conducted using the flat burner system. The flat burner will burn natural gas with air to provide high temperature flue gas. The heavy pyrolysis liquid fraction will be injected at precise locations in the high temperature to make carbon black. The carbon black will be produced at various flame temperatures and then characterised for its physical and chemical properties. In this sub-project, the carbon black will be characterised for its pH value, loss on heating and particle size distribution.

Sub-project 3: effect of residence time on the yield and properties of carbon black

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black produced. The experiments will be conducted using the flat burner system. The flat burner will burn natural gas with air to provide high temperature flue gas. The heavy pyrolysis liquid fraction will be injected at precise locations in the high temperature to make carbon black. The carbon black will be produced with various residence times by varying the gas velocity and then characterised for its physical and chemical properties. In this sub-project, the carbon black will be characterised for its proximate and ultimate analysis and BET surface areas.

Sub-project 4: effect of residence time on the yield and properties of carbon black

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of temperature on the yield and properties of carbon black produced. The experiments will be conducted using the flat burner system. The flat burner will burn natural gas with air to provide high temperature flue gas. The heavy pyrolysis liquid fraction will be injected at precise locations in the high temperature to make carbon black. The carbon black will be produced with various residence times by varying the gas velocity and then characterised for its physical and chemical properties. In this sub-project, the carbon black will be characterised for its pH value, loss on heating and particle size distribution.

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Zhang, Dongke, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Zhu, Mingming, Dr; Sunyoto, Nimas M.S. Ms

Two-phase anaerobic digestionDisciplines: Chemical & Process, EnvironmentalTwo-phase anaerobic digestion (TPAD) is expected to produce hydrogen enriched biogas has higher quality and more ideal combustion properties than biogas produced from conventional single phase anaerobic digestion. Biochar addition in single phase anaerobic digestion has been proven to enhance the methane production by 32%. However, the effect of biochar addition on TPAD has never been explored. This project will investigate the effect of biochar addition on TPAD using different feedstock and under different operational conditions.Sub-project 1: The effect of biochar addition and operation condition on the hydrogen production from cheese wheyThe aim of the study is to examine the effect of biochar addition and operation condition (initial pH and temperature) on hydrogen production from the first phase of bench scale two phase anaerobic digestion of cheese whey. The gas volume and compositions will be measured daily using water displacement methods and GC, respectively. Volatile fatty acid and pH as a function of time will also be monitored periodically.Sub-project 2: The effect of biochar addition and operation condition on the methane production from cheese wheyThe aim of the study is to examine the effect of biochar addition and operation condition (initial pH and temperature) on methane production from the second phase of bench scale two phase anaerobic digestion of cheese whey. The gas volume and compositions will be measured daily using water displacement methods and GC TCD, respectively. Volatile fatty acid (VFA) and pH changing will also be monitored periodically. Sub-project 3: The effect of biochar addition and operation condition on the hydrogen production from wastewater sludgeThe aim of the study is to examine the effect of biochar addition and operation condition (initial pH and temperature) on hydrogen production from the first phase of bench scale two phase anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge. The gas volume and compositions will be measured daily using water displacement methods and GC, respectively. Volatile fatty acid and pH as a function of time will also be monitored periodically.Sub- project 4: The effect of biochar addition and operation condition on the methane production from wastewater sludgeThe aim of the study is to examine the effect of biochar addition and operation condition (initial pH and temperature) on methane production from the second phase of bench scale two phase anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge. The gas volume and compositions will be measured

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daily using water displacement methods and GC TCD, respectively. Volatile fatty acid (VFA) and pH changing will also be monitored periodically.

ZHANG, Dongke, ProfessorCo-supervisors: Zhang, Zhezi Mr; Zhu, Mingming Dr

Catalytic cracking of tar over a bed of biochar using tar model compoundsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Materials, Oil & Gas, Petroleum

Tar is generated in biomass pyrolysis and gasification processes and is finally present in the pyrolysis gas, resulting in the blocking and corrosion problems in the downstream processes. It is of significance to develop an economic and sustainable method to crack the tar to improve the quality and quantity of pyrolysis gaseous products. As biochar is a low-cost by-product from pyrolysis with high catalytic activity, this project will focus on the catalytic cracking of tar over a bed of biochar using tar model compound such as toluene.

Sub-project 1: Effect of cracking temperature on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition

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

Sub-project 2: Effect of residence time on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition

The objective of this sub-project is to experimentally study the effect of residence time on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition. Tar cracking experiments will be conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at different residence times. The tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition will be measured using GC-MS

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and GC-TCD/FID located at Centre for Energy of UWA. This sub-project is expected to provide an insightful understanding of the effect of residence time on the tar cracking process.

Sub-project 3: Effect of steam and oxygen additions on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition

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

Sub-project 4: Effect of biochar particle size on the tar conversion rate, gas product yield and gas product composition

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

Zhou, Tongming, Professor

A study of liquid sloshing in a partially-filled tankDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical and Oil & GasSloshing is a phenomenon which usually occurs in a partially-filled tank when the period of the tank motion is close to the natural period of the fluid inside the tank. Large-amplitude sloshing exerts high hydrodynamic loads on the tank wall, resulting in a high risk of damage to the tank as well as the stability concerns of the tank. In oil and gas industry, vessels containing LNG or oil will be under various excitation conditions in the ocean, which may result in violent sloshing. It will produce localized impact pressure on the tank walls, which may in turn cause structural damages and may create sufficient moment to destabilize the vessel which carries

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the liquid tank. Hence, it is necessary to investigate sloshing dynamics in order to design the tank walls for extra loads and to stabilise the tank for sloshing effect. This project concerns experimental studies of liquid sloshing in a partially-filled tank under six degrees of freedom excitations. Wave elevation and pressure variations induced by sloshing in the tank will be measured under a range of excitation frequency, amplitude and liquid filled depth. Nonlinearity of sloshing such as hydraulic jump, breaking wave and liquid impact on the ceiling of the tank will be studied systematically.


Suppression of vortex-induced vibration through structural dampingDisciplines: Civil, Mechanical and Oil & GasVortex shedding is a phenomenon that occurs when a flow passes a bluff body. The shedding process causes time-dependent forces, and when resonance occurs, these forces can cause structural vibration. Excessive motion of the structures will result in structural failure. Therefore, a marine riser, which may experience strong sea currents and waves, must be designed such that excessive motion due to vortex shedding can be prevented or mitigated. In the present project, suppression of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) through structural damping will be examined in a wind tunnel. The students will need to work as a group to find appropriate methods to change the structural damping, e.g. by inserting a smaller elastic pipe inside the pipe (which is used as a model for a marine riser). The effectiveness of this structural modification on VIV will then evaluated in a wind tunnel.


Suppression of vortex shedding from a pipeline using porous bodiesDisciplines: Civil and MechanicalVortex shedding is a phenomenon that occurs when a flow passes a bluff body. The shedding process can induce vibration (which is normally termed as vortex-induced vibration, or VIV), which, at resonance, can result in excessive motion and possible structural failure. Therefore, a bluff body, which may experience strong wind or water flow, must be designed such that excessive motion due to vortex shedding can be prevented or mitigated. In the present project, various passive control methods, for

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example, by using porous body, will tested in a water flume on the reduction of vortex shedding. Particle image velocimetry will be used to examine the wake features after the control is used and the results can then be compared with that of a bare pipe.

Zhu, Mingming, DrCo-supervisors: Zhang, Dongke, Prof; Zhang Ce, Mr

Spent tyre pyrolysis liquid: speciation, desulphurization, distillation, recovery of valuable chemicals and synthetic fuelsDisciplines: Chemical & Process, Environmental, Materials, Oil & Gas, PetroleumThe disposal of biomass and industrial wastes, such as forestry by-products, agriculture residue, municipal wastes, spent tyre, represents a major environmental issue throughout the world. Pyrolysis is a simple, robust, and scalable approach for simultaneous production of gas, liquid and char. The raw pyrolysis liquid needs to be upgraded, due to presence of impurities, such as water, particulates and sulphur, before further process and utilisation. This project will screen various commercial adsorbents and catalysts for the sulphur removal.

Sub-project 1: mesoporous alumina oxides based adsorbents

The objective of this sub-project is to investigate the feasibility of the use of some commercial mesoporous alumina oxides based adsorbents for sulphur removal in spent tyre pyrolysis liquid. The experiments will be conducted in a batch reactor. The effect of temperature, alumina oxides loading ratio and operation time on the removal efficiency of sulphur will be studied. The chemical compositions of raw and processed liquids will be analysed using advanced analytical techniques including GC, GC-MS and HPLC for identification of sulphur containing species.

Sub-project 2: ZSM-5 zeolites based adsorbents

The objective of this sub-project is to investigate the feasibility of the use of some commercial ZSM-5 zeolites oxides based adsorbents for sulphur removal in spent tyre pyrolysis liquid. The experiments will be conducted in a batch reactor. The effect of temperature, adsorbent loading ratio and operation time on the removal efficiency of sulphur will be studied. The chemical compositions of raw and processed liquids will be analysed using

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advanced analytical techniques including GC, GC-MS and HPLC for identification of sulphur containing species.

Sub-project 3: Activated carbon

The objective of this sub-project is to investigate the feasibility of the use of some commercial activated carbon for sulphur removal in spent tyre pyrolysis liquid. The experiments will be conducted in a batch reactor. The effect of temperature, adsorbent loading ratio and operation time on the removal efficiency of sulphur will be studied. The sulphur content in the pyrolysis liquid before and after being processed will be measured, respectively. The sulphur containing species will also be identified using GC-MS.

Sub-project 4: layered double hydroxides based adsorbents

The objective of this sub-project is to investigate the feasibility of the use of some commercial layered double hydroxides for sulphur removal in spent tyre pyrolysis liquid. The experiments will be conducted in a batch reactor. The effect of temperature, adsorbent loading ratio and operation time on the removal efficiency of sulphur will be studied. The sulphur content in the pyrolysis liquid before and after being processed will be measured, respectively. The sulphur containing species will also be identified using GC-MS.

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