International visit yields concrete results

Deakin University civil engineering senior lecturer Dr Riyadh Al-Ameri had a busy time during a six-month visit to the American University of Sharjah (AUS), United Arab Emirates (UAE), with activities spanning research, collaborations, conferences, and networking.

Dr Al-Ameri visited AUS from November last year to the end of April this year. The visit marked the continuation of an existing relationship between the two universities, with Dr Al-Ameri’s host, Professor Adil Al-Tamimi from the Department of Civil Engineering at AUS, a visitor to Deakin in 2015.

While at AUS, Dr Al-Ameri conducted experimental investigations on concrete reinforced with plastic waste – a continuation of a project that started at Deakin in 2017. The working team for the new work included Professor Al-Tamimi as well as AUS students.

‘These new investigations involved designing, casting, and testing a series of concrete beams,’ Dr Al-Ameri says.

‘This also provided the opportunity to make a new industry contact, with Emirates Stone Company, a major precast concrete manufacturer in the UAE, providing the logistics and specimen preparation for the experiments.’

Another highlight of the visit, Dr Al-Ameri says, was with the Sharjah Research Academy, a government body responsible for advancing research, to discuss a new research proposal aiming to expand the current plastic waste concrete project in collaboration with AUS and the Government of Sharjah.

Dr Al-Ameri also met with Dr Basim Abbas from Middle East Insulation, a major company of the Al Ghurair Group.

‘The company is willing to further engage with Deakin’s School of Engineering through sponsoring final year projects and master’s projects undertaken by Deakin international students from the UAE area,’ Dr Al-Ameri says.

As well as research and establishing industry contacts during his visit, Dr Al-Ameri also chaired a session at the 12th Middle East Drymix Mortar Association Conference and caught up with the Deakin team that was in Dubai to compete in the Smart-Agriculture Robot Competition.

It has continued to be a busy time for Dr Al-Ameri since he returned from his visit; in July he was named on Engineers Australia list of Australia's Most Innovative Engineers 2018.