Research Facilities
Advanced Geotechnical Systems
Swinburne University of Technology is undergoing rapid growth, particularly in the area of engineering research and education. Advanced Geotechnical Systems is a dynamic research tier within the Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI) and is supported by physical testing in the renewed Swinburne Geotechnical Laboratory as well as computational geomechanics with various geotechnical modelling softwares.
Advanced Geotechnical Systems has been successful in recent years in obtaining continuous research funding from industry and the state government. Current research undertaken includes testing of reclaimed materials, waste materials, biosolids, dredged spoils as well as research in ground improvement, soft soil engineering, field instrumentation, in-situ testing and geosynthetics. Our postgraduate research students are actively involved with industry in these research projects and benefit greatly with research that is industry focused and geared to solving problems for industry.
State-of-the-art fully automated geotechnical engineering equipment, worth approximately $550k, has been invested in recent years in our Geotechnical Laboratory. Equipments available include cyclic triaxial, static triaxial, large interface shear, direct shear, Rowe consolidation cells, oedometers and various other specialised and basic geotechnical laboratory equipments. Our Geotechnical Laboratory is a world-class facility with strengths in geotechnics of pavements, soft soil engineering, soil stabilisation, ground improvement and geosynthetics. Our research also involves computational geomechanics with software packages such as Plaxis 2D, Plaxis Dynamics, Plaxis 3D and Strand7 which are available to post-graduate research students.
Some of our current research areas include:
- Geotechnics of pavements using recycled demolition materials
- Applications of reclaimed and waste materials in geotechnical engineering applications
- Geotechnical laboratory testing, field instrumentation and in-situ testing
- Ground improvement, soil stabilisation and geosynthetic applications
- Land reclamation and dredging
- Soft soils and problematic soils
Recently completed and current research grants include:
- Smart Water Fund grant investigating the sustainable usage of biosolids in geotechnical engineering applications ($275k)
- Sustainabilty Victoria grant ($120k) on the usage of crushed brick in pavement subbase. This project resulted in major changes in VicRoads specifications (sections 820 and 812) for crushed brick enabling increased percentage of crushed brick from 3% to 15% in pavement subbase applications.
- Sustainability Victoria grant on laboratory testing of glass in road applications ($125k) and
- Alex Fraser Recycling / National Packaging Covenant grant on field testing of recycled glass in road applications ($139k).
- Municipal Association of Victoria grant on the usage of reclaimed materials in footpaths and shared paths grant ($69k).
- ARC Linkage project with James Cook University looking at the sustainable usage of dredged spoils as a land reclamation fill material ($103k).
Our research facilities provide a national and international focus in Geotechnical Engineering and supports research within Swinburne's Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure.
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