Mechanical Properties of Concrete for Artificial Reefs Reinforced with Steel or Recycled Plastic Fibres
Project Description Artificial reefs have been increasingly used as a method to aid marine populations in the form of protection or population regeneration. This research project is aimed at developing a suitable sea sand and sea water geopolymer concrete mix reinforced with plastic fibres, that can be used to create artificial reefs around decommissioned subsea […]
Investigating the Axial Capacity of Plastic Tubular Members for use in Marine Structures
Project Description With such magnificent properties, FRP structures are ideal for marine offshore structures, however, there is no practical FRP design guidelines/standards available to design FRP load-bearing structures. The focus of this project is to investigate the Euler buckling behaviour and ultimate axial capacity of FRP circular tubular columns under compression. Dr Mohamed Elchalakani, Department […]
Development and Testing of Low Cost Drifter Buoys Capable of Real Time Position Tracking
Project Description This project aims to provide a solution to high frequency measurement of local currents in ocean environments, by adopting LoRa (‘Long Range’) IOT technology as a means of transmitting real time, fine scale updates of GPS position. To achieve this, current drifter concepts are being adapted to accommodate drogues – needed to measure […]
Novel Methods for Repair and Strengthening of Offshore Corroded Plates
Project Description Using Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) patches is one of the most efficient methods for repair and strengthening of onshore structures but not being used widely yet for steel structures in the offshore/marine environment. The main focus of this project was the load bearing capacity of corroded plates (representing jetty, walkway or deck plates […]
Novel Methods for Repair and Strengthening of Offshore Plate Girders
Project Description This project studied numerically and experimentally the structural load bearing capacity and failure mechanism of typical plate girders in the intact, corroded and FRP composite wrapped conditions. The test specimens included a total of six stiffened welded plate girders focusing on two different types of section, including compact and non-compact. This research indicates […]
Using Drones to Remotely Measure Environmental Parameters at Sea
Project Description Satellite remote sensing techniques can be applied to map coastal benthic habitats and bathymetry. Thisproject assisted in the development of a novel Splash Drone that can land on the water surface and was equipped with a bespoke measurement package to obtain in situ training and validation data for remote-sensing algorithm development. Improving the […]
Assessing Novel Solutions for Reducing Coastal Flooding and Erosion
Project Description This study was unique in that it explored the full potential of Mars Assisted Reef Restoration Systems (MARRS) in terms of erosion control and flood mitigation and bridges a gap between coastal protection and rehabilitation. This experimental study, undertaken at the Coastal and Offshore Engineering Laboratory, has found that at low water depths […]
Floating Wind Turbine Trials in the Swan River (Phase 1)
Project Description This is a seeding project for the advancement of floating wind research at UWA. It explored development of a numerical model, which simulates the aerodynamics of a small-scale horizontal axis wind turbine to predict its performance under different environmental conditions. It elucidates the effects of unsteadiness arising from turbulent wind fluctuations and from […]
Floating Solar Panel Trials in the Swan River (Phase 1)
Project Description Mounting solar panels on a floating structure that is moored in a water body provides an innovative form of renewable energy often referred to as ‘floating solar’. This project explored the efficiency of the solar panels when subjected to salt spray & wave overwash. Significant increases in efficiency were observed with overwash, which […]
Using Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to Monitor the Water Temperature in the Swan River
Project Description This project tested the feasibility of using SwarmDivers (GPS-controlled AUV that can travel in groups) to measure temperature by depth in the Swan River. Prof Chari Pattiaratchi, Oceans Graduate School