Engineering researchers in industry partnership

A team of researchers from the School of Engineering led by Dr Riyadh Al-Ameri and including PhD students, Buthainah Al-Kharabsheh and Yang An, has commenced work on an industry related project through the AMSI Intern Program. AMSI Intern is a division of AMSI - the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, a collaborative enterprise of member institutions throughout Australia. The program is designed to build links between AMSI members and those in industry, business and government seeking high-end analytical expertise.

Deakin’s industry partner in the program is Aus Pits, a pre-cast concrete construction company specialising in the manufacture of custom pits and associated products which are manufactured for in-ground applications and are subject to a large range of different loading scenarios once in service, including vertical surcharge loadings from traffic (road, rail, industrial etc.) as well as lateral loads from soil, hydrostatic pressures and so on.

The Deakin researchers will investigate and develop an extensive library of structural designs that cover as many scenarios as possible to optimise the steel designs in each particular scenario to reduce costs and increase the efficiencies of the work practices. The structural analysis will be carried out using a 3D finite element analysis package, Strand7.