Author: Theresa Wisniewski

Australia is a land of ‘droughts and flooding rains’*, and when they occur soils can swell or shrink, which can result in damage to buildings and homes, and pose a risk to human life.

The personal and collective financial cost of addressing flood-related structural damage to homes is not limited to Australia. It is an international challenge.
Damage to infrastructure could be minimised or avoided with a better understanding of soil behaviour under different conditions, and RIIS Hub is contributing to global learning on the topic.
To further explore international learnings on the topic, RIIS Hub team recently welcomed eminent scholar and researcher in soil-related structural impacts Associate Professor Mathilde Morvan from the Pascal Institute & POLYTECH Clermont in France to explore potential solutions.
A/Prof Morvan’s current research seeks to develop a better understanding of soil characterisation. She is also looking to develop new, inexpensive diagnostic methods that can predict swelling soils near detached houses.
A/Prof. Morvan’s work has close alignment to some of the and predictive techniques being developed in RIIS Hub’s Theme 3 Research program, where researchers are exploring the effect of temperature on the movement of soils using a thermo-plasticity model as part of flaw detection and failure avoidance research.
During her Seminar to the RIIS Hub team, A/Prof Morvan shared

• The cost of damage due to soil shrinkage and swelling on detached houses is the highest among natural disasters in France after floods.
• While methods for characterising these soils exist, they are generally not affordable for most households, and as a result, this foundational soil understanding is often neglected at building and planning development stages.
• One objective of A/Prof. Morvan’s work is to provide a methodology for characterising these soils, and to find simple. Another is to find affordable methods to help spur more due diligence soil investigations to inform structural planning and help prevent damage to homes during disasters.
• A current project proposes to develop a method for monitoring individual houses in high-risk areas, with the aim of providing reliable data.

Following the presentation A/Prof. Morvan spent 1:1 time collaborating with members of the RIIS Hub team, exploring future research and data sharing.
RIIS Hub Director Prof. Nasser Khalili shared:
“We want to make flood affected dwellings are as ‘safe as houses’, and ensure Aussies and their homes are better-prepared to weather future storms.
“Building a collaborative and close-working relationship with other researchers working on related infrastructure resilience projects is a practical way to expand and share knowledge and learnings at scale, and inform the development of more robust technical solutions to solve similar problems.”

Theme 3 RIIS Hub Research involves multiple universities in NSW (UNSW, UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney University) as well as QUT in Queensland. We note that this visit was made possible thanks to NSW Chief Scientist ‘RAAP’ funding.
Theme 3 RIIS Hub researchers are designing and applying:
• Modelling, simulations, and prognostics
• Predictive modelling simulation & performance assessment
• Physics-informed artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning & explanation

RIIS Hub was delighted to support multiple PhD researchers’ participation in the ‘2024 Information Resilience PhD School’ during October in Brisbane, hosted by the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES). 

The event, now in its third year, gathers PhD students from around Australia to take part in a series of activities and updates that are designed to help them build peer-to-peer networks and explore data science practices and career pathways. 

RIIS Hub PhD student Masoud Kamali attended, and was awarded the ‘People’s Choice’ award for his 3-Minute Thesis Presentation 

 “The event workshops and sessions were incredibly informative and engaging, offering valuable insights that significantly broadened my expertise. PhD researchers from various ARC Hubs presented their work across diverse fields, including Generative AI, Data Quality, and Computer Vision, making it a comprehensive and engaging event.” 

 “My 3MT presentation focused on Zero-shot 3D Object Detection in complex industrial environments. This research involves designing and developing a monocular 3D object detection approach for industrial assets, leveraging vision-language models (VLMs), computer vision, and deep learning algorithms.” 

 RIIS Hub PhD student Ensiyeh Javaherian Pour was a Group Competition winner: Data Science and Analytics  

 “Attending the PhD school was a wonderful opportunity. I found the experience invaluable.  

It provided me with the chance to engage with other PhD students, learn about their projects, and share insights. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed the other sessions, particularly those led by esteemed presenters who discussed advancements in AI technology and data engineering. The event was both comprehensive and engaging, offering a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.” 

 The event featured a competition designed to expand student knowledge:  

“(Our winning group) achievement was particularly gratifying and impressive for RIIS Hub students, showcasing our capabilities and determination.” 

 RIIS Hub PhD student Alireza Haji Heidari attended, and was also a Group Competition winner
“The event was incredibly insightful and informative and valuable experience, allowing me to engage with leading researchers and fellow PhD candidates.”  

“A series of interactive sessions, including keynotes, workshops, panel discussions, 3MT and poster browsing provided deep insights into cutting-edge data science practices and the future of data-driven research.” 

 “The ‘Beyond Research’ day was particularly enriching, as I learned from industry professionals. These interactions have opened new avenues for potential collaborations and opportunities.”  

 “The Information Resilience PhD School 2024 has been a transformative experience. It has not only enhanced my knowledge and skills but also expanded my professional network. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a prestigious event and look forward to applying what I have learned to my ongoing research.” 

 Program highlights included:
 

• Keynote talks with Professor Felix Naumann from the Hasso Plattner Institute on Data Quality Practices in the Age of AI, and Professor Lina Yao from UNSW on Towards Agentic Recommender Systems 

• Panel discussion including Research Careers in Industry with Rakalene Condon from TechnologyOne, Lawrence Kusz from Chatstat, and Dr Julien Monteil from Amazon; and ECR panel with Dr Solmaz Abdi, PhD from Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Dr Lei Han from Queensland Police Service, Dr Ruihong Qiu from UQ, and PhD Researcher Kim Bente from the University of Sydney 

• Technical Tutorials with Dr Aneesha Bakharia from University of Queensland, and Dr Xin Zheng from Griffith University 

• Interactive sessions, writing workshop, industry engagement & entrepreneurship, 3-Minute Thesis (3MT), poster session, awards presentation and more
   

More information on the 2024 PhD Resilience School can be found here: https://cires.org.au/event/information-resilience-phd-school-2024/ 

  

Prof Abbas Rajabifard, Deputy Director of RIIS Hub and Director CSDILA, Dept IE, University of Melbourne has been awarded a Fellowship as the highest accolade from the International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), at the 4th International Forum on Big Data for SDGs, 6-8 Sept 2024 in Beijing. CBAS has formally been established at the 75th United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2020.

The Fellowship is to recognise global scientific leaders with outstanding achievements and contributions made in the field of promoting sustainable development through technological innovation in supporting the implementation of United Nations SDGs through harnessing science and technology.

There are five key missions CBAS is working on:

1. Developing SDG big data platform,
2. Conducting SDG monitoring and evaluation,
3. Developing SDG Satellites,
4. Becoming a think-tank for SDGs,
5. Capacity development for developing countries

 

RIIS Hub is very pleased to welcome Audtech as a new industry partner. 

Audtech is an innovative start-up company, operating at the cutting edge of connected data and AI innovation across complex infrastructure system clients. It strives to initiate government and industry change by delivering benefits aligned to the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), and where new innovation can improve infrastructure performance, stability and recovery following disaster situations.

Making sense of the ‘big data’ from system sensors in a highly complex system is, …complex!

That’s where RIIS Hub research, and our talented team members come in.

We’re very pleased to introduce new RIIS Hub Chief Investigator, Dr Huadong Mo (UNSW Canberra) who will lead the Audtech research collaboration.
Dr Mo’s has a depth of expertise in exploring ways to enhance the resilience, performance and security of complex systems with learning-based algorithms, primarily in the emerging fields of power and energy systems, cyber-physical systems and manufacturing systems.

Previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and with academic institutions in China and Hong Kong, Dr Mo joined UNSW Canberra 2019. He is currently the convener of the Systems Engineering Discipline under the School of Systems and Computing. His skills and experience in data collection and analysis, revealing patterns of system evolution against uncertainties, is well aligned to addressing Audtech’s focus on urban planning and infrastructure prognostics and health monitoring of other system.

Learn more about Dr Mo here:

We’re also pleased to introduce our Partner Investigator on the collaboration, UNSW alum and infrastructure/climate disaster specialist Dr James Ciyu Qin, from Audtech.

Dr Qin has a research background relating to process control and system optimisation and modelling for large scale systems, including power systems. He specialises in enhancing the resilience, performance and security of complex systems through robust optimisation techniques, and by informing preventive approaches that minimise the risk of system failure, and increase infrastructure resilience.

Learn more about Dr Qin here:

Both will work on the ‘Building resilience to cyber-physical power systems (CPPS) under climate-related disasters’ RIIS Hub project, involving UNSW Canberra and UNSW Sydney team members.
In welcoming Audtech as a new industry partner, as well as new colleagues, RIIS Hub Director Professor Nasser Khalili said, “applying RIIS Hub scientific expertise to help avoid, or better respond to, infrastructure failure when catastrophe happens. I’m especially pleased to be working closely with our academic and industry peers at Audtech to enhance data management and systems, and as a result, better serve and ensure the safety of people in our community”.

An insightful workshop was organized by GRID@UNSW and RIIS in collaboration with the Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing group at UNSW, delving into the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning (DL), and Large Language Models (LLM) for semantic enrichment of geospatial data, intelligent queries and complex analytics.

The session kicked off with and insightful plenary by Rob Atkinson from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), describing Digital Twins as a “systems of systems” connected by OGC APIs to enable cross-domain interoperability and enhance complex problem solving.

The session provided PhD students with a platform to engage in discussions and updates on the latest developments. Presenters highlighted how AI tools are poised to significantly enhance their respective research areas, considering the diverse backgrounds of the attendees. Jack Yafei Sun presented his PhD work exploring information extraction for domain knowledge graph construction and Saeed Heidary presented graph-structured information management systems in construction. Jidnyasa Patil described her Scan-to-BIM DL approach and Yu Gao examined Intelligent lifecycle management of construction and demolition waste in complex environments, focusing on integrating multimodal LLM and agents. Binjie Xu explored the use of multimodal LLM to monitor mental matigue of plant and machinery operators and Mahdi Soheyil Fard discussed AI-integrated solutions for decarbonizing the building industry.

For those interested in more details, the presentations can be accessed at grid.unsw.edu.au/presentations.

Presenter	Title	Video Link
Rob Atkinson (OGC)	Building blocks for digital twins	https://youtu.be/OqMko40ju4Y
Jack Yafei Sun	Information Extraction for Domain Knowledge Graph Construction (a tunnel maintenance use case)	https://youtu.be/rAyjs0oW70E
Saeed Heidary	Graph-Structured Information Management System in Construction	https://youtu.be/Nl8ge_Hbaa
Jidnyasa Patil	Scan-to-BIM: A DL approach	https://youtu.be/o_92ytyxKV8
Yu Gao:	Lifecycle management of construction and demolition waste: Integrating Multimodal LLM and agents	https://youtu.be/M_rV5SqFiLA
Binjie Xu:	Use of Multimodal LLM to monitor mental fatigue of plant and machinery operators	https://youtu.be/CKcUe7naarg
Mahdi Soheyil Fard	AI-integrated solutions for decarbonizing the building Industry (a problem statement)	https://youtu.be/ihzS5o9yykU
Discussion		https://youtu.be/8CtmVRBgibM

 

PhD student Saeed Khalaj is part way through a three-month internship with Sydney-based Covaris, a leading engineering and technology consultancy which works with clients to solve maintenance engineering and asset management challenges.

A self described ‘ knowledge company’, generating innovation through applied and fundamental research, the Covaris internship opportunity is the result of the relationship forged by membership of The Asset Institute. The Asset Institute is also a RIIS Hub industry partner.

Introducing RIIS Hub Higher Degree Research student Saeed Khalaj

• Based in RIIS Hub’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT) node, as part of Prof Tommy Chan’s team. Saeed began his PhD at the school of Mechanical, Medical, and Process Engineering, QUT in December 2022. His academic qualifications span Civil and Geotechnical Engineering. He published six papers in peer-reviewed journals that were cited 129 times in Google Scholar.
• Saeed’s thesis topic is ‘Degradation Modelling and Maintenance Strategies for Railway Surface Defects Through a Machine Learning Approach’. This research project aims to combine machine learning approaches and engineering knowledge to develop a degradation model quantifying uncertainty sources, which will result in optimal maintenance and inspection strategies for railway track surfaces.
• Saeed has presented different levels of his Ph.D. project progress in symposiums and was awarded the HDR Excellence award at the School of Mechanical, Medical, and Process Engineering, QUT, in November 2023.

All aboard!: Saeed shares internship insights

• The internship at Covaris is allowing me to work closely with the Covaris team in Sydney, specifically with its data science group. After performing literature surveys to investigate failure modes and inspection techniques in renewable energy, I am developing models to predict fault arrivals due to different system conditions.
• Key learnings so far: Working with real-world data is challenging! However, the collaborative environment at Covaris really helps us all to work as a team to better understand and address challenges, and deliver meaningful insights and results. Although we are working with industrial datasets, taking into account the engineering perspective to analyse the results is crucial at Covaris. This leads to delivering meaningful and practical solutions for the clients.

Some of the innovative solutions to keep data insights ‘on track’

Saeed has been very involved in the development of the Bayesian statistics capability at Covaris, and is applying it to two client case studies covering fixed plant and mobile fleet.

• Group meetings with the Covaris’ data team and industry experts are important- the ideas sharing has helped solve some of the data challenges we initially faced. Happily, ‘unstructured’ data and limited access to plant expertise are no longer barriers to research progress.
• Where raw data sources to inform the research were challenging, we implemented a Bayesian statistics approach (a theory in the field of statistics based on the Bayesian interpretation of probability, where probability expresses a degree of belief in an event) to test correlations and drivers of reactive maintenance.

RIIS Hub: delivering on wide-ranging education and training experiences

RIIS Hub is training to a cohort of highly competent and motivated professionals through research and development programs, carried out in partnership with participants from all sectors of the infrastructure industry. Internships are a part of this approach, and enable RIIS Hub research insights and practical solutions to directly address infrastructure challenges facing industry. Internships also enable researchers to experience ‘real world’ research and development (R&D) activities related to their research.

Prof. Nasser Khalili, RIIS Hub Director, is pleased that the Asset Institute membership is already connecting RIIS researchers to a community of research, industry and infrastructure/asset management experts, and spurring student learning opportunities.

“There is real value to being immersed in a working environment, with all of its very unique opportunities and challenges. It allows students to stretch their experiences and apply their knowledge to solve asset management and infrastructure problems, as well as build close connections with industry.

About Covaris

• Covaris (Australia) delivers asset management solutions to Australia and the world. Its clients reflect a range of areas including asset systems establishment, asset systems renewal, auditing and assessment, policies and standards, training and education, new technologies and software, and research projects to solve complex problems.
• Based in Sydney, it applies practical and fundamental research to develop innovation to support their clients to optimise cost, risk and performance as they manage their assets.

Covaris Managing Director Bob Platfoot recently shared that Covaris’ primary goal, since the company’s inception more than 24 years ago, is, “to help organisations and people in the discipline of asset management”.

Saeed’s internship experience certainly delivers on this, and we thank Covaris, and the Asset Institute, for their highly collaborative approach.

Our newest member to our RIIS hub is Amir Fila.

Amir will be supervised by Associate Professor Jagannath Aryal and Professor Abbas Rajabifard and working closely with our Industry partner Woolpert.

Amir’s thesis topic is “Investigating advanced methods for point cloud segmentation and processing to support near-real-time infrastructure and asset modelling, management, maintenance, and resilience.”

More on Amir can be found here

 

We were honoured to welcome Professor Lili Du at UNSW on July 15, 2024, where she delivered a seminar on the topic of ‘Robust and Resilient Coordinated and Distributed Route Navigation Systems for Connected Vehicles Subject to Random Communication Delays & Interruptions.’ The seminar was hosted by the RIIS Hub and Civil Engineering’s Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety. 

Dr. Lili Du’s expertise lies at the intersection of transportation engineering, data analytics, and emerging technologies, making her a valuable contributor to the field of civil and coastal engineering. You can find more information about her on the University of Florida website 

Abstract:

In recent years, wireless communication, onboard computation facilities, and advanced sensor techniques have enabled the development of well-connected, data-rich transportation systems, known as connected vehicle systems (CVS). Despite the potential of CVS to smartly route travelers and avoid traffic congestion, researchers have identified a significant issue: as the majority of vehicles become connected, the current real-time information provision and routing methods can actually worsen traffic congestion. This occurs because each connected vehicle still independently selects its shortest path, leading to a misalignment between system performance and individual vehicle route choices. Additionally, those emerging communication and information technologies make our routing navigation systems vulnerable to cyber reliability and security issues, such as communication delays and interruptions. Motivated by this view, our studies have introduced robust and resilient coordinated and distributed route navigation systems for connected vehicles subject to random communication delays and interruptions. Our novel route navigation algorithms used game theories to coordinate CVs’ routing decisions en route to address the overreaction phenomenon and employed robust distributed optimization and advanced computing technologies to enhance the system’s resilience against communication failures caused by infrastructure malfunctions or cyberattacks. Numerical experiments conducted on the Sioux Falls network validated and confirmed the effectiveness of our approaches.

 

The International Association for Structural Control and Monitoring (IASCM) has recognised RIIS Hub, and its research, as a global leader and innovator in science and engineering. 

The International Association for Structural Control and Monitoring (IASCM) accelerates the advancement of the science and practice of structural control and monitoring. Its Board comprises 17 academic leaders from around the world, representing academic institutions contributing to advancing civil infrastructure systems in the USA, Japan, Europe, Chine, Korea, India and Australasia.   

RIIS Hub Lead Investigator Professor Bijan Samali, Western Sydney University, is a Board Member representing the IASCM Australasia Panel. 

During a recent update, Professor Samali’s highlighted RIIS Hub’s research to the Board, overviewed its five research themes and explained the Hub’s role in transforming advanced manufacturing, service and infrastructure engineering in Australia. 

In doing so, Professor Samali further establishes RIIS Hub research and achievements as among the best in class in Australasia, and the world when it comes to advancing technologies that can accurately measure, monitor, control and predict structural behaviour, as well as improve the safety and durability of civil infrastructure and systems. 

During his address, Professor Samali gave particular attention to RIIS innovation in the area of structural health monitoring, with a focus on RIIS Hub Research Theme 4: Infrastructure Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance.  

The sub-theme covers the development of new, automated data-extraction and real time performance evaluation methods to monitor external loads, along with the development innovative techniques to predict the structural response of infrastructure and large complex structures.  This closely aligns with the IASCM’s charter to find solutions that address the ‘wide ranging challenges associated with highly complex, large-scale civil structures’ in the USA and beyond. 

The international recognition that comes as a result elevates the awareness and recognition of RIIS Hub science and engineering achievements among academics and institutions, as well as opening the door to closer engagement with the wider IASCM membership, which represents a diverse and interdisciplinary community of researchers engaged in advancing the state-of-art in structural control and monitoring technologies. 

Professor Samali is passionate about improving building safety for the well-being of people and communities, adding after the address: “We need resilient buildings. Earthquakes do not kill people, buildings do!”.  

Learn more about Professor Bijan Samali and his wide-ranging scientific and engineering achievements: https://riis.org.au/people/bijan-samali/   

IASCM Board: Academic Institutions Represented 

USA: University of Michigan, University of Southern California, Columbia University 

UK: University of Sheffield 

Switzerland: ETH Zürich 

Poland: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research 

Ethiopia: Addis Abba University 

India: Indian Institute of Science  

Mainland China: Harbin Institute of Technology 

Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

Japan: University of Tokyo, Kyoto University  

South Korea: Seoul National University 

Singapore: National University of Singapore 

Australia: Western Sydney University 

 

 

RIIS Hub’s research and insights – related to improving the resilience of Australia’s Road and Rail infrastructure – reached a global audience at the 8th International Conference on Road and Rail Infrastructure conference in Croatia (CETRA 2024).

CETRA 2024 is a forum for connecting scientific and industry representatives, enabling discussion, dialogue and the exchange of ideas to solve issues associated with the road and rail sector.

Professor Nasser Khalili, RIIS Hub Director, gave the Keynote lecture, providing insights associated with developing ‘A Constitutive Model for Hydro-Mechanical Analysis of Granular Materials Subject to Cyclic Loading’.

About CETRA

The CETRA conference has established itself as a venue where scientific and professional information from the field of road and rail infrastructure is exchanged. The idea on linking research organisations and economic operators has been the guiding concept for the realisation of this conference.  Conferences of this kind are undoubtedly a proper place for bringing closer together the economy and university operators, and for facilitating communication and establishing greater confidence that might result in cooperation on new projects, especially those that contribute to greater competition. Lectures organised in the scope of the conference are based on interesting technical solutions and on new knowledge from the field of transport infrastructure as gained on already realised projects, projects currently at the planning stage, and those now under construction, in all parts of the world. In addition to authors from the academic community, lectures were also presented by practical authors, the idea being to ensure the best possible synergy between the theory and practice.

Although the transport needs of nations around the world differ in detail, there is much benefit to be derived by sharing research findings and practical experience.  CETRA Conference aims to provide a forum for dialogue on important issues across all disciplines and aspects of the road and rail sectors. The main gaps to be filled are those between researchers and practitioners in design, construction, maintenance, and management of transport infrastructure systems, especially regarding an increased need for sustainable and resilient transport systems – with minimum environmental impacts and able to withstand disruption and absorb disturbance by adapting to changing conditions, including climate change. CETRA 2024 attracted many papers and presentations from 39 countries and 136 institutions (from that 64 universities). More than 149 papers (from 208 submitted) were presented at the conference and are grouped together in the proceedings entitled Road and Rail Infrastructure Viii. The papers are conveniently divided into twelve chapters and one chapter regarding PhD students with extended abstracts.

UNSW RIIS Hub Student

Mahdi Zakerzadeh  also had his paper “Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Crumb Rubber on the Mechanical Behaviour of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA)” accepted for presentation to the program on Day 3 Friday 17th June supported by his Supervisor Dr Babak Shahbodagh

Abstract

The utilisation of crumb rubber through a dry process addresses the challenges of tyre recycling and promotes environmental sustainability. This study aimed to investigate the mechanical behaviour of the Crumb Rubber Stone Mastic Asphalt (CR-SMA) mixture. The response surface methodology (RSM) is adopted to explore the impact of independent variables, such as binder content, Crumb Rubber (CR) content, processing time, and CR size, on the variables controlling the mechanical response of the mixture. To comprehensively evaluate the data, the moisture susceptibility, resilient modulus, and fracture energy of the asphalt mixtures are studied using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study successfully achieved an optimum CR-SMA mixture design by enhancing resistance to moisture damage, resilient modulus, and fracture energy, contributing to an improved understanding of the mechanical performance criteria. A quadratic polynomial model aligned with experimental results is proposed, providing reliable predictions of the material performance with an acceptable level of accuracy. These findings offer a valuable roadmap for future strategies in construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation, particularly within the domain of rubberised SMA pavements. Keywords: Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA), Recycled tyre rubber, Response Surface Methodology (RSM), Dry-process, Rubberised asphalt mixture.

About PhD Session

This special session is organised to encourage PhD students to present their work to colleagues from the scientific and professional sectors. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to share their research ideas and methodologies with other students, to receive comments from experts from other fields of research, and to connect to a network that can be of great help to their profession. Session chairmen will be carefully selected to provide students support, guidance and advice in their research efforts.

Full Program