Publications

Baweja, D, Munn, RL, Roper, H & Sirivivatnanon, V 1992, 'Situ assessments of long-term performance of plain and blended cement concretes', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. Civil engineering, vol. CE34, no. 2, pp. 115-127.
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Between 1987 and 1990, selected elements from ten individual structures from within four facilities were examined to assess the long-term performance of concretes used. Structural members examined encompassed slabs on grade, suspended slabs and wharf elements. Individual concretes forming the selected structures had binders of normal portland cement, portland cement with fly ash or ternary systems of fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag and portland cement. Slag aggregates were used in certain of the concretes. Interest focused on the long-term in-service durability of the concretes. Conclusions were drawn with respect to the performance of the concretes.

Briscoe, BJ, Thomas, PS & Williams, DR 1992, 'Microscopic origins of the interface friction of organic films: The potential of vibrational spectroscopy', Wear, vol. 153, no. 1, pp. 263-275.
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CAO, HT & SIRIVIVATNANON, V 1992, 'CORROSION OF STEEL IN CONCRETE WITH AND WITHOUT SILICA FUME - REPLY', CEMENT AND CONCRETE RESEARCH, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 188-189.
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Indraratna, B & Nutalaya, P 1992, 'Reinforcement of planar discontinuities in elastic rock', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 135-140.
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Indraratna, B, Balasubramaniam, AS & Balachandran, S 1992, 'Performance of Test Embankment Constructed to Failure on Soft Marine Clay', Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 12-33.
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Indraratna, B, Balasubramaniam, AS, Phamvan, P & Wong, YK 1992, 'Development of negative skin friction on driven piles in soft Bangkok clay', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 393-404.
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This paper describes the results of short-term pullout tests and long-term full-scale measurements of negative skin friction on driven piles in Bangkok subsoils. Two instrumented cylindrical (hollow) prestressed concrete piles were fully equipped with two independent load-measurement systems, load cells, and telltale rods. Pore pressures and ground movements in the vicinity of the piles were monitored throughout the period of investigation. The effect of bitumen coating on negative skin friction was also studied. The long-term behaviour of driven piles was compared with the estimated values obtained from short-term pullout tests and soil strength data. It was found that the negative skin friction can be predicted well by the effective stress approach using values of β between 0.1 and 0.2. The load–settlement and load–transfer behaviour were numerically modelled to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of negative skin friction developed on driven piles. A settlement-controlled concept is also introduced for piles subjected to negative skin friction, on the basis of these findings. Key words : consolidation, downdrag, driven pile, embankment, finite elements, pore pressures, pullout, settlements, soft clay.

LOGANATHAN, P, HEDLEY, MJ & CLARK, SA 1992, 'THE MANUFACTURE AND EVALUATION OF GRANULAR POTASSIUM-CHLORIDE FERTILIZERS', FERTILIZER RESEARCH, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 291-304.
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A finely divided red potassium chloride (KCl) (particle size distribution: 79% <0.5 mm, 20% 1-0.5 mm and 1% 1-2 mm) was granulated by adding eight readily available and relatively inexpensive binders using a rotating drum in the laboratory. The binders used were: urea, pulp and paper waste liquor containing lignosulphonate, urea + pulp and paper waste liquor, Borrebond powder (a commercial product containing lignosulphonate), urea + formaldehyde, ammonium sulphate, ammonium sulphate + pulp and paper waste liquor and a waste liquor containing ammonium sulphate from a Ferritin production plant. Of these, except for urea and urea + pulp and paper waste liquor which produced KCl granules having low critical relative humidity at 30°C (CRH) (<55%) and Borrebond which produced KCl granules of low crushing strength (1.1 kg for 2-3 mm granules) the other five binders produced granules with good size distributions, high crushing strengths (2.0-2.5 kg for 2-3 mm granules), CRH (65-70%) and suitable nutrient contents (K, 46-50%, Cl, 42-47%). These values are very close to those of the standard chipped KCl (crushing strength, 2.5 kg; CRH, 65-70%; K, 50%; Cl, 47%). Crushed chipped KCl (74% <1 mm, 25% 1-2 mm, 1% 2-3 mm) when cogranulated in the pilot plant with the 5 binders found successful in the laboratory, produced granules having similar characteristics as the corresponding ones produced in the laboratory. Granules produced both in the laboratory and the pilot plant had lower abrasion resistance (higher % degradation) than chipped KCl. The abrasion resistance however markedly increased when the fines (<1.4 mm) in the granules were removed. Glasshouse trials using barley as test crop demonstrated that the agronomic values of the KCl prototype granules produced with the 5 binders were similar to chipped KCl and granules produced from the feedstock KCl and water. © 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

LOGANATHAN, P, HEDLEY, MJ, CLARK, SA & BOLAN, NS 1992, 'GRANULATION OF FINELY CRYSTALLINE AMMONIUM-SULFATE USING CALCIUM-OXIDE AND SULFURIC-ACID', FERTILIZER RESEARCH, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 85-93.
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Two types of finely crystalline ammonium sulphate (particle size distributions: white type 7% 2-3 mm, 45% 1-2 mm, 48% <1 mm; blue type 1% 2-3 mm, 8% 1-2 mm, 91% <1 mm) were granulated by adding calcium oxide and concentrated sulphuric acid using a rotating drum in the laboratory and pilot plant. The granules had satisfactory physical and chemical properties. The granules made in the pilot plant with 25 kg ammonium sulphate, 0.5 kg CaO, 1.26 litres of water and 0.9 to 1.125 litres of 98.5% H2SO4 had 80 to 97% of the granules within the size range of 1-3 mm, abrasion resistance of 0.4 to 0.8% <1 mm, crushing strength of 1.4 to 2.3 kg, critical relative humidity of 65-70%, pH 1.8 to 1.9 and N, S and Ca contents of 19, 24 and 1%. The quality of the granules when stored for 6 months alone or blended together with common fertilizers did not change. A glass house trial using barley demonstrated that the agronomic values of 4 prototype ammonium sulphate granules produced in the laboratory were similar to 3 standard granular ammonium sulphate fertilizers. The process of granulation which could easily be adopted in superphosphate manufacturing plants is recommended for plant scale testing. © 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Quek, KH, Bliss, PJ & Ball, JE 1992, 'Hydrodynamics of sedimentation basin (part II)-model validation and application', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. Civil engineering, vol. CE34, no. 1, pp. 49-56.
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The calibration and validation of a computationally efficient hydrodynamic model (Quek et al., 1991c) is presented in this paper using previously published data of velocity profiles in a rectangular flume. The hydrodynamic model is applied to study the flow field in a rectangular primary sedimentation basin. The predicted velocity profiles are compared with field measurements obtained by Heinke et al. (1977). The effects of different basin design features on the flow patterns are investigated in this paper by application of the hydrodynamic model.

STEWART, MG 1992, 'A HUMAN RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM CONSTRUCTION', Civil Engineering Systems, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 227-250.
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A significant proportion of performance failures (c.g., structural failure, cost overruns, delays) are due to human error in the construction of in-situ reinforced concrete elements. A Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) model has been developed to simulate the effect of human error on the construction of a reinforced concrete beam. The proposed HRA model incorporates the effect of (i) initial errors (i.e., before engineering inspections) and (ii) errors remaining after engineering inspections. The following typical construction tasks are considered: number and size of reinforcing bars, effective depth of steel reinforcing, beam width, and quality of concrete mix. Human performance models are described for each of these microtasks. It was found that human error leads to a significant loss of structural safety. It was also shown that engineering inspections significantly increased structural reliability, but the resulting structural reliability was still an order of magnitude lower than “nominal” estimates of structural reliability. © 1992, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Stewart, MG 1992, 'Modelling human error rates for human reliability analysis of a structural design task', Reliability Engineering & System Safety, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 171-180.
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It is generally accepted that human error, particularly in design, causes a significant proportion of structural failures. It is necessary to understand the 'micro' (or single task) behaviour of human errors before the entire system can be modelled. Reported herein is a description of proposed mathematical models of error occurrence that are suitable for use in a Human Reliability Analysis (HRA). These models may be used to provide error rate information. These models are fitted to realistic error occurrence data. The data was obtained from practising professional engineers and the tasks performed were cognitive; namely, calculation, table look-up and ranking tasks. These tasks are commonly encountered in typical design calculations. It was found that error occurrence behaviour is characterised by variation of error rates between individuals and, to a lesser extent, correlation of error rates for individuals. The effect of response time and experience were also examined. A comparison of the effect on structural reliability (for a typical structural design task) for error occurrence (based on the proposed models) is also reported. © 1992.

Stewart, MG 1992, 'Simulation of human error in reinforced concrete design', Research in Engineering Design, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 51-60.
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Available statistical data suggest that human error in design causes a significant proportion of performance failures; namely, structural failure, cost overruns, and delays. A Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) model has been developed to simulate the effect of human error on the design computations of a reinforced concrete beam. The proposed HRA model incorporates the effect of 'self-corrections'; this is a process where tasks are re-evaluated if the result appears to be not within 'reasonable' expectations. Calculation, table look-up, chart look-up, and table ranking microtasks were incorporated into the proposed HRA model; human perormance data are described for each of these microtasks. It was found that human error, particularly multiple errors, lead to a significant loss of structural safety. © 1992 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Zhengneng, L & Li, J 1992, 'Study on the single-peak over-load retardation effect of three-dimensional small cracks', Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, vol. 3.

Zhou, JL 1992, 'Biosorption and desorption of humic acid by microbial biomass', Chemosphere, vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 1573-1589.
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Zhou, JL & Banks, CJ 1992, 'Humic acid removal from water by biosorptton', Environmental Technology, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 727-737.
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Nelson, P, Sirivivatnanon, V & Khatri, R 1970, 'Development of high volume fly ash concrete for pavements', Proceedings - Conference of the Australian Road Research Board, pp. 37-47.
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This paper describes the development of high volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete for pavements. Concretes with fly ash content (40% and above by weight of the total binder fractions) were designed for structural grades. The workability, mechanical and long-term volume stability properties were evaluated. It was found that HVFA concrete with characteristic compressive strength up to 50 MPa could be designed having fresh concrete properties similar to plain cement concrete with the exception of setting times. For concretes of similar strength grades, it was found that the flexural strength and elastic modulus properties of HVFA concretes were similar to plain cement concretes. HVFA concretes were found to have a 15-20% lower drying shrinkage at 56 days than companion plain cement concretes. These reductions increased to 15-25% at 91 days. The setting times were increased by one to six hours depending on the type of cement and percentage of fly ash used. The concretes also developed considerable strength after 24 hours to withstand loading from normal construction activities. Trial production and placing of these concretes for apron slabs and road pavements was carried out at the Pacific Power's Mount River Piper Station. It ws found that HVFA concrete could be produced and placed successfully through normal concreting practices including pumping. Long term performance of these concretes are being monitored.