p. 1

civil engineering issn 0219-0370 · no 25 2012 http www.cee.ntu.edu.sg/research/pages/researchbulletin.aspx research underground technology and rock engineering program ­ research development and applications space is one of the key constraints to singapore s economic and social development underground space offers a potential solution to meet the demand for spaces the use of underground space to enhance our land use to secure future growth was highlighted in the economic strategies committee report of february 2010 in the next 10 years the government should seek to catalyse the development of underground space as a means to intensify land use and to expand our `land bank by investing in the creation of underground space to meet the technological challenges involved with underground space creation the underground technology and rock engineering utre programme was established in 2003 by the protective technology research centre ptrc ntu and the defence science and technology agency dsta singapore the first phase of the utre research programme was completed in may 2009 and it was successfully extended for another four years utre focuses on research and issues of concern relating to rock engineering and underground construction technology it aims to 1 build up capability in rock dynamics research 2 develop the discontinuous deformation analysis/numerical manifold method dda/nmm 3 develop an integrated digital rock modelling system 4 conduct research on automatic data acquisition and continuous health monitoring system for underground caverns and tunnels and 5 conduct advanced fire safety and evacuation research for underground structures this article summarizes the main research which has been carried out under utre at ntu in recent years dynamic tests of rock and filled rock joints a proper understanding of the effects of loading rate on the mechanical properties of rock and rock joints is essential in the design of underground structures subjected to dynamic loads the split hopkinson pressure bar shpb test is commonly used to determine the material properties in a high strain rate ranging from 101 to 103 figure 1 shows the shpb test equipment in the cee laboratory which is equipped with 50 mm and 75 mm diameter pressure bars made of steel alloy aluminium alloy granite high strength cement and pmma respectively various shpb tests have been conducted on granite rock specimen collected from the bukit timah formation which covers about one-third of singapore figure 2 shows some typical tested rock specimens under different nominal strain rate loadings it is seen that the failure patterns of the rock specimens are significantly different under different strain rate loadings dynamic brazilian splitting and spalling tests based on the shpb setup have also been performed to investigate the dynamic tensile strength of granite under higher strain rate which again is observed to be sensitive to strain rate the modified shpb tests have been conducted for filled rock joints where a single sand or clay layer was sandwiched between two granite pressure bars and the pulse load was generated by a pendulum hammer the test results show that the dynamic properties of differently filled rock joints are different the test results also demonstrated that the dynamic properties of filled rock joints are nonlinear water content and joint width have apparent influences on the pressureclosure relation of the filled rock joint a three-phase a b figure 1 shpb test setup a for rock specimen b for filled rock joint.

[close]

p. 2

in focus wave propagation across jointed rock mass rock mass usually consists of multiple parallel planar joints known as joint sets which govern the mechanical behavior of the rock mass the dynamic behavior and wave propagation across jointed rock mass are of great interest to geophysics mining and underground constructions a linear visco-elastic equivalent medium model figure 4a and a nonlinear visco-elastic equivalent medium model figure 4b have been developed to analyze stress wave propagation in jointed rock mass it was validated that the strain rate low high figure 2 failure pattern of granite specimen under different strain rate loadings material model was proposed in describing the dynamic property of filled rock joints and an analytical study on longitudinal wave transmission propagated perpendicularly across a three-phase rock joint was studied parameters in the three-phase medium model were determined by a series of modified shpb tests parametric studies with respect to the volume ratio of water and air and type of filling material have been performed the three-phase material model was verified by comparing its predicted pressureclosure relationship with the test results in figure 3 as shown the proposed three-phase material model effectively captured the effects of joint thickness and water content a b figure 4 viscoelastic equivalent medium model for jointed rock mass a linear b non-linear a proposed equilibrium medium models give more reasonable results in describing wave transmission and attenuation in jointed rock mass than traditional models a virtual wave source model was proposed to consider the wave reflections at rock joints moreover wave propagation in micro-defected rock was investigated by a series of impact tests figure 5 and a frequency-dependent viscoelastic model figure 6 was proposed to describe the dynamic behavior of micro-defected rock and its effects on wave propagation numerical manifold method nmm was then used to numerically investigate the effects of micro-crack length stiffness density etc on the viscoelastic behavior of micro-defected rock the capability of the nmm on modelling dynamic mechanical behavior of micro-defected rock was verified b c figure 5 test setup for impact test of micro-defected rock d figure 3 closure-pressure relationship for sand filled rock joints a 3 mm dry b 3 mm water ratio 0.0875 c 5 mm dry d 5 mm water ratio 0.0875 figure 6 modified 3-element viscoelastic model for micro-defected 2 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 3

in focus development of numerical tools for jointed rock mass among the various numerical methods the discontinuous deformation analysis dda is one of the most suitable methods to simulate deformations and stabilities of jointed rock mass in the original dda method the deformability of each block is restricted by its first order displacement assumption to overcome this limitation it was enhanced by coupling a triangular finite element mesh into each dda block with the method termed as nodal-based dda ndda later the ndda was further improved by incorporating a node splitting algorithm to realize the fragmentation of an intact block numerical simulations of standard idealized problems have been carried out to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the ndda in modelling wave propagation in continuous and elastic media propagation of pre-existing cracks under uniaxial tension and compression respectively simulation of brazilian test has also been conducted figure 7 shows the failure of a brazilian disc predicted by ndda and figure 8 shows the failure of a brazilian disc with an initial hole both ndda predictions agree well with the experimental results a blast design is shown in figure 9a and the corresponding dda model is given in figure 9b the explosive blast was simplified by a load history curve parametric studies on the effect of time delay and rock mass properties were carried out fig 9c shows the fracture patterns of one typical case the results have provided a promising start on realistic blasting simulation and can be developed to support blasting design for its efficiency economy and feasibility a b c figure 9 drill and blast simulation by dda a blast design b dda model c fracture pattern another promising method for jointed rock mass analysis is the numerical manifold method nmm which is suitable for discontinuity problems because of its dual cover system the group has extended the 2-d nmm to 3-d domain and a general 3-d contact algorithm was subsequently developed the proposed 3-d nmm has proved to be accurate efficient and stable through simulating several typical examples the 3-d nmm was also applied to conduct stability analysis of rock slopes and tunnels figure 10 shows the initial state of a rock slope and the final state under gravity with the friction angle set to be 12° two types of stabilization techniques i.e concrete buttresses and fence barriers were investigated with their effectiveness in protecting nearby road were clearly shown in figure 11 figure 7 ndda failure model of a brazilian disc a figure 8 failure of a brazilian disc with an initial hole b figure 10 failure process of a rock slope a t 0 s b t 3.606 s civil engineering research · january 2012 3

[close]

p. 4

in focus a b figure 11 effectiveness of stabilisation techniques a concrete buttress b fences barriers figure 12 evacuation from a multi-storey building fire safety assessment and evacuation tool studies by this group are on the development of a numerical tool to simulate the emergency evacuation from underground space a comprehensive numerical model for evacuation modelling was proposed based on cellular automaton ca this ca model provides a framework for modelers to incorporate various features such as tenability condition visibility range and multi-velocity into the simulation of evacuation basically the model uses two factors viz spatial distance and occupant density to calculate the danger grade of ca cells in order to make the simulation more reasonable four types of human behavior were taken into account in the model they are 1 familiarity effect group members will help one another in emergency because people are likely to behave in a benevolent way when they know each other especially when they are from the same family or they travel together in the same group 2 unadventurous effect most people will try to exit through the same route they entered a building because occupants generally do not want to use a new exit they have no experience with 3 inertial effect people are inertial creatures because they do not like to stop what they are doing once they move towards a certain exit they usually continue heading the same direction 4 flow with the stream the movement of an individual occupant will conform to the dominant direction of majority of surrounding occupants besides human behavior tenability conditions are also incorporated into the proposed ca model to take into consideration the effect of smoke figures 12 and 13 show the evacuation from a multi-storey building and a tunnel respectively figure 13 evacuation from a tunnel instrumentations and monitoring traditional monitoring of underground structures is mainly conducted manually and not in a continuous manner this group focuses on developing a continuous and distributed monitoring system which employs brillouin time domain reflectometry botdr fibre optic sensors optical fiber is capable of capturing accurate information on wide range of parameters such as temperature strain pressure 4 civil engineering research · january 2012 electrical voltage and even deformation in the in-service structure due to the fragility of the optical fiber packaging techniques as well as installation methods are of great importance to achieve high reliability and accuracy in the monitoring results and data analysis investigation on various optic fibers sensor installation method and preparation of site trial test has been carried out a customized botdr sensor reinforced with stainless steel tube was proposed to the supplier and calibrated with the newly designed clamps for installation good accuracy of the proposed botdr sensor was observed moreover fiber bragg grating fbg sensors were calibrated using the proposed installation method in order to test survivability of the sensors against shotcrete spray pressure water spraying tests were carried out on both fbg and botdr sensors results showed that these sensors functioned well during the tests for the trial test in a tunnel the botdr and fbg sensors were installed on tunnel surface and were embedded in shotcrete to protect them from the blast and other excavation activities monitoring of the tunnel has just been started and results are pending development of operation software which controls the data acquisition processing merging and generation of data analysis reports is also being studied gis-based digital rock engineering system this group concentrates its effort on developing a digital rock engineering system a 3dgis software called 3drock has been developed incorporating 3-d data models and relational database for borehole information a digital

[close]

p. 5

in focus elevation model dem in 3-d of the whole of singapore s main island and the surrounding seabed has been created built on top of the dem is the 3-d surface geological model of singapore which established the framework to model subsurface geological structure subsurface modelling and analysis figure 14 and multi-layered surfaces and cavern figure 15 have been successfully implemented into the 3drock the joint ntu/jtc project team supports research and experimental studies relevant to the jrc project and these include 1 numerical study of cavern stability under various influences including the effects of fault zones 2 stability and deformation analysis with probabilistic extensions 3 experimental study of intact rock properties shearing resistance of rock joints and permeability tests 4 3d geological information system for the jrc 5 instrumentations of underground caverns and tunnels during and after excavation 6 seepage analysis of caverns excavated in rocks figure 17 shows a hydraulic conductivity distribution model based on the borehole data and neural network and figure 18 shows the direct shear tests on representative rock cores belonging to different rock types to study the shear strength and deformation characteristics of different rock joints figure 14 subsurface modelling and analysis figure 15 modelling of multi-layered surfaces and cavern jurong rock caverns ­ a rock engineering application the rock engineering group in cee has actively participated in various rock engineering projects in singapore including the jurong rock cavern jrc project south-east asia s first underground rock cavern storage facility phase one of the jrc project will provide 1.47 million cubic meters of storage for crude oil naphtha condensates and gas oil the jrc caverns are located beneath the sea bottom as shown in figure 16 the size of each cavern is 27m in height 20m in width and about 300m in length figure 17 hydraulic conductivity distribution figure 18 direct shear test set-up figure 16 jurong rock caverns civil engineering research · january 2012 5

[close]

p. 6

cee vision and mission cee vision mission our vision a leading school for sustainable built environment our mission to nurture students to be responsible leaders capable of realising their maximum potential in their profession and community to provide a collegiate environment for faculty to excel in education and research for sustainable development to advance knowledge for the practice of civil and environmental engineering and maritime professions 6 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 7

statistics statistics faculty staff as of 1 december 2011 publications patents and research grant year journal papers conference papers 2007 167 120 2008 151 91 2009 202 90 2010 79 2011 261 45 2 46.5 121 2 11.5 patents research grant mil partial figure only 3 9.9 3 13.5 2 36.4 students enrolment programme academic year ay2007-08 ay2008-09 ay2009-10 ay2010-11 ay2011-12 semester 1 only undergraduate 1290 1210 1148 1149 1114 meng 37 29 5 4 5 phd 150 163 169 214 249 phd ssp 6 6 7 7 7 msc civil eng 228 216 106 91 94 msc env eng 104 93 42 55 35 msc icm 102 98 50 63 59 msc ms 201 256 121 94 104 civil engineering research · january 2012 7

[close]

p. 8

undergraduate programmes bachelor degree programmes bachelor of engineering civil the civil engineering programme is structured on a flexible and diverse system that allows students to choose from a broad range of courses to receive a well-rounded education while maintaining high academic standards in the final year of study students are given the opportunity to specialize in particular areas of civil engineering by selecting the relevant elective courses furthermore though students typically complete the degree course in four years they may study at their own pace and complete their studies within the time frame of three-and-half to seven years in the first year semester 1 students take the common engineering courses which deal with basic concepts in mathematics science and fundamental engineering principles the curriculum also includes communication skills and laboratory experiments in the first year semester 2 and second year students are required to take fundamental courses in the civil engineering discipline such as basic theory of structures geotechnical engineering water resources engineering engineering drawing second-year students also take additional courses in mathematics two courses of laboratory experiments and a technical communication skills course in the third year of their studies students are offered a balanced mix of core courses comprising structural analysis design in concrete and steel structures and specialized courses in foundation transportation and environmental engineering at the end of year 3 the students will register for a 10-week industrial orientation io in a private company or public organization where they learn to practise civil engineering under the guidance of experienced engineers and managers the students can if they wish choose to do a longer 20-week industrial attachment ia in the final year the civil engineering programme concentrates on training students in professional civil engineering practice as well as managerial and entrepreneurial skills students are given the choice to pursue their own fields of interest in a particular area of specialization by selecting from a group of optional elective courses offered by the school each student is also required to complete a two-semester duration research project in any of the specializations in civil engineering in integrated design students will be involved in team effort to confront and solve real-life open-ended civil and environmental engineering problems bachelor of engineering environmental the environmental engineering programme is structured on a flexible and diverse system that allows students to choose from a broad range of courses to receive a well-rounded education while maintaining high academic standards in the final year of study students are given the opportunity to specialize in particular areas of environmental engineering by selecting the relevant elective courses furthermore though students typically complete the degree course in four years they may study at their own pace and complete their studies within the time frame of three-and-half to seven years in the first year semester 1 students take the common engineering courses which deal with basic concepts in mathematics science and fundamental engineering principles the curriculum also includes communication skills and laboratory experiments in the first year semester 2 and second year students are required to take fundamental courses in the environmental engineering discipline such as fluid mechanics hydrology environmental chemistry environmental processes and environmental microbiology students are given foundational training in sustainable infrastructure by taking some courses in basic theory of structures and engineering drawing second-year students also take additional courses in mathematics two courses of laboratory experiments and a technical communication skills course in the third year of their studies students are offered a balanced mix of core courses comprising water supply engineering wastewater engineering solid waste engineering geo-environmental engineering hydraulics and basic structural design at the end of year 3 the students will register for a 10-week industrial orientation io in a private company or public organization where they learn to practise environmental engineering under the guidance of experienced engineers and managers the students can if they wish choose to do a longer 20-week industrial attachment ia in the final year the environmental engineering programme concentrates on training students in professional environmental engineering practice as well as managerial and entrepreneurial skills students are given the choice to pursue their own fields of interest in a particular area of specialization by selecting from a group of optional elective courses offered by the school each student is also required to complete a two-semester duration research project in any of the specializations in environmental engineering 8 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 9

undergraduate programmes bachelor of science maritime studies the maritime studies programme focuses primarily on tertiary education in shipping business management and maritime science and technology to build up the expertise of the local shipping industry as well as working towards establishing singapore as a centre of excellence for shipping business research and development the programme is conducted jointly by ntu and the norwegian school of management bi norway supported by the maritime and port authority of singapore mpa with the support from the college of engineering nanyang business school and school of humanities and social sciences students enrolled in the maritime studies programme will learn from academics from various disciplines thereby developing different skills in a holistic and comprehensive learning environment the norwegian school of management bi is norway s second largest educational institution and one of the largest business schools in europe bi is the first norwegian educational and research institution to achieve international accreditation establishing bi as one of europe s leading business schools the maritime and port authority of singapore mpa and the shipping industry have recognised that the shipping practice and business in singapore need to be further elevated in order to enter into the regional and global arenas the bsc maritime studies degree is a strategic development that would provide high-level and high-value education for professionals in shipping and related business elevating them from local business management to one of international business standing the bsc maritime studies with business major degree aims to produce graduates well versed with the maritime industry and strong business knowledge so that they will be the future business leaders in the global maritime industry mpa and the industry are fully supportive of the maritime studies degree programmes and mpa also provides an endowed professorship shipping management in ntu the bsc maritime studies curriculum aims to provide students with both depth and breadth the course structure is flexible and broad base students will be required to complete · foundation courses including mathematics social sciences business and technology · shipping specialist courses including organization and management of shipping companies international shipping logistics maritime law marine insurance shipping strategy and a research project · prescribed electives for specialisation in the programme and general education requirement courses for broadening the learning experience in addition to the above the more rigorous bsc maritime studies with business major curriculum includes core business courses in accounting business law company law principles of taxation business environment financial analysis reporting marketing and organisation behaviour design students will complete a semester of their studies at bi norway in their third year of studies the curriculum also includes an industrial immersion ten weeks for bsc maritime studies and twelve weeks for bsc maritime studies with business major where students will be attached to organizations in the shipping and related industry civil engineering research · january 2012 9

[close]

p. 10

graduate programmes graduate studies by coursework master of science civil engineering the programme equips students with the latest advancements in knowledge and technology in modern civil engineering practice students will also have the opportunity to acquire knowledge in several civil engineering disciplines by selecting appropriate courses research students can choose to pursue doctor of philosophy degree in one of the following disciplines construction technology and management construction technology and management risk and project financing facility and infrastructure management structures and mechanics computational mechanics earthquake engineering and structural dynamics protective technology fire engineering concrete and steel technology geotechnical engineering foundations of high-rise buildings land reclamation underground space development tropical soil engineering rock mechanics and engineering geology environmental and water resources membrane technology in environmental engineering water reclamation technologies waste reuse and resource recovery environmental biotechnology integrated urban water management environmental fluid mechanics sediment transport coastal management maritime studies maritime logistics port economics and management maritime strategy and risk management strategic and quality management in shipping supply chain management transportation engineering transport modelling and traffic management transport planning congestion pricing road safety engineering master of science environmental engineering the programme equips graduate engineers and other related professionals with advanced skills and expertise in a wide variety of environmental disciplines the programme offers a comprehensive range of subjects on advanced water and wastewater treatment air and land pollution as well as broader aspects of environmental management and planning master of science international construction management the programme enables graduate engineers architects and other related professionals to expand their decision-making horizons given the kind of parameters and risks which international construction managers encounter the main objective of the programme is to develop competent and well rounded construction managers who have the skills to source secure and effectively manage projects in the domestic and international construction market master of science maritime studies the programme provides graduate level and high-value education for professionals in shipping and related business elevating them from local business management to one of the international and global business settings the foremost intention is for young graduates and middle-management executives working in shipping related areas an avenue for higher education the programme will also be suitable for graduates who wish to be involved in the maritime profession 10 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 11

achievements and commendations achievements and commendations awards professor chiew yee meng received the best paper award from the international conference on pipelines and trenchless technology icptt 2011 for mechanics of three-dimensional pipeline scour in unidirectional steady current by wu y s and chiew y m 26-29 september 2011 associate professor darren delai sun received the distinguished award from the singapore accreditation council in june 2011 assistant professor cheung sai hung joseph won the inaugural 2010 hojjat adeli award for innovation in computing from the journal computer-aided civil and infrastructure engineering for his paper co-authored with professor james l beck from california institute of technology and entitled calculation of the posterior probability for bayesian model class selection and averaging from posterior samples based on dynamic system data assistant professor tang chuyang was awarded the finland distinguished professor program findipro award the award is offered by the finland government to top international researchers across all technological disciplines dr tang received the fidipro award to build and develop technologies and knowledge on membrane mediated desalination and water reuse and to create a viable technology transfer platform between singapore and finland among the 7 awardees in 2010 dr tang is the only recipient in the water technology and environmental domain adjunct associate professor zhou yingxin was appointed as · co-editor of advances in rock dynamics and their applications yingxin zhou and jian zhao eds crc press 2011 and hamonising rock engineering and the environment proceedings of the 12th isrm international congress on rock mechanics 18-21 october 2011 beijing china qihu qian and yingxin zhou eds crc press professor zhou has served as a member of the editorial board international journal of tunnelling and underground space technology from 2008 to the present · other appointments and invitations · associate professor chiew sing-ping was 1 appointed to the bca academy advisory panel by the building and construction authority singapore for a two-year term from 1 may 2011 to 20 april 2013 2 appointed to the professional engineers board singapore by the minister of national development for a three-year term from 1 january 2012 to 31 december 2014 3 appointed an assessor for the design and engineering safety excellence award by the building and construction authority singapore for a two-year term from 2012-2013 4 re-appointed to the panel of expert advisors by the land transport authority singapore for another three-year term from 1 june 2012 to 31 may 2015 5 re-appointed external examiner to the school of engineering ngee ann polytechnic singapore for another two-year term from december 2011 to january 2013 associate professor darren delai sun was appointed as a session chair iwa congress and exhibition montreal canada 19-24 september 2010 associate professor darren delai sun was appointed as a co-chairman for iwa water and industry 2011 conference valladoli spain 1-4 may 2011 assistant professor lam siu lee jasmine was invited to be a member of bnp parabis bank chair scientific committee civil engineering research · january 2012 editorships associate professor wang rong was invited to join the editorial board of desalination in august 2011 associate professor wang rong was also invited to join the editorial board of journal of membrane science jms in january 2012 the jms is the premier journal in the membrane field its impact factor has increased to 3.673 which ranks it 8th among more than 160 chemical engineering journals assistant professor lam siu lee jasmine was invited to be a member of the editorial review board for journal of supply chain management the top ranking journal among 144 sci journals in the management domain · · · 11

[close]

p. 12

achievements and commendations · adjunct associate professor zhou yingxin was appointed as the vice president for asia international society for rock mechanics for the term 2011-2015 at the council meeting of the isrm on 17 october 2011 beijing china invited lectures professor chiew yee meng was invited to deliver the following lectures · keynote lecture an overview of fluvial sediment transport and its research needs international symposium on sediment disasters and river environment in mountainous area keynote dpri kyoto university kyoto japan august 24 2010 keynote lecture local scour at submarine pipelines international academic conference on waterway and harbor engineering editorial board of journal of waterway and harbor tianjin research institute for water transport engineering ministry of transport october 2010 tianjin binhai new area china patents sun d.d liu j.c wang y.j and bai h.w multifunctional membrane made of graphene based nanocomposite materials patent submitted in october 2010 tech/114/10 and td/114/10 sun d.d liu z.y and song x.x nanofiber composite forward osmosis membranes patent submitted in november 2010 tech/140/10 td/140/10 tang c.y ma n wei j fabrication of high performance zeolite-polyamide thin film nanocomposite forward osmosis membranes us provisional patent ntu technical disclosure #td/068/11 date 2 jun 2011 tang c.y qiu c.q qi s double-skinned forward osmosis membranes fabricated by layer by-layer assembly method us provisional patent ntu technical disclosure td/048/11 date 31 mar 2011 tang c.y qiu c.q wei j synthesis of nanofiltrationtype thin film composite forward osmosis membranes us provisional patent ntu technical disclosure td/010/11 date 27 jan 2011 tang c.y qiu c.q qi s synthesis of novel forward osmosis membranes using layer-by-layer assembly us provisional patent ntu technical disclosure td/116/10 date 19 oct 2010 wang r chou s shi l and fane a.g 2011 fabrication of pressure retarded osmosis/forward osmosis composite hollow fiber membranes us provisional number 61/536,821 td/135/11 wang r shi l chou s qiu c tang c.y and fane a.g 2010 fabrication of forward osmosis composite hollow fiber membranes us provisional number 61/501,942 td/051/10 wang r setiawan l fane a.g 2010 polyamideimide forward osmosis hollow fiber membranes with a positively charged nanofiltration-like selective layer us provisional number 61/417,758 td/138/10 · · professor pan tso-chien was invited to deliver the following lectures · keynote lecture protective technologies for threat hazard mitigation keynote speech the 19th conference on national defense science and technology 19 november 2010 taipei taoyuan 2010 keynote lecture hazard and vulnerability of moderate seismicity regions keynote speech world bank disaster risk management global development learning network session on earthquake vulnerability reduction 4 th asian ministerial conference for disaster risk reduction 25 october 2010 incheon republic of korea 2010 keynote lecture sustainability and security natural catastrophe risk management keynote speech sino-singapore knowledge city development symposium 13 may 2010 guangzhou china 2011 invited lecture it is not too late preparing for asia s next big earthquake world bank global development learning network disaster risk management regional conference 25 october 2010 seoul korea 2010 · · professor soh chee kiong was invited to deliver the following lectures · keynote lecture smart materials in health monitoring of offshore and marine structures at the international symposium on ocean engineering organised by tianjin university china 18 october 2010 keynote lecture smart materials in structural health monitoring control and biomechanics at vetomac-vi 6th international conference on vibration engineering and technology of machinery organised by iit delhi india 13 december 2010 · 12 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 13

achievements and commendations associate professor adrian law wing-keung was invited to deliver lectures at the following conferences · keynote lecture energy recovery for membrane systems at wisa membrane technology conference september 12 2011 durban south africa invited lecture dynamics of sediment clouds in waves at sixth international conference on fluid mechanics july 1 2011 guangzhou china associate professor darren delai sun was invited as a speaker for the following lectures/conferences · keynote lecture is it possible to produce drinking water from wastewater with zero energy cost at iwa water and industry 2011 valladoli spain 1-4 may 2011 invited lecture nano particles for producing drinking water and energy from wastewater concurrently at iwa nano and water 2011 monte verità ascona switzerland 15-18 may 2011 invited lecture concurrent clean water and energy production using multifunctional tio2 nanofiber/tube membrane at isest conference dongguan china 1-4 june 2011 · · associate professor chiew sing ping was invited to deliver a lecture at the following conference · keynote lecture fracture mechanics models for fatigue assessment of tubular joints with surface cracks proceedings of the 10 th international conference on steel space and composite structures north cyprus 18-20 may 2011 · associate professor wang rong was an invited speaker at the following international conferences · invited speaker development of novel chemical surface modification method to enhance membrane hydrophobicity at the international conference on materials for advanced technologies icmat 2011 26 june-1 july 2011 suntec singapore invited speaker development of novel forward osmosis hollow fiber membranes at the 241st acs spring national meeting 27-31 march 2011 anaheim california usa associate professor chu jian was invited to deliver lectures at the following international conferences · keynote lecture innovation in disaster mitigation technologies a few examples 3rd international conference on geotechnical engineering for disaster mitigation and rehabilitation 18-20 may 2011 semarang indonesia invited lecture some recent developments in quality control tests for prefabricated vertical drains pvds issmge technical committee tc211 special session 14th asian regional conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering 27 may 2011 hong kong invited lecture creation of new space underwater city development international symposium on ocean toward future blue economy 12 may 2011 korea keynote lecture coastal dike construction methods and case histories conference on development of geotechnical engineering in civil works and geo-environment 10-11 feb 2011 yogyakarta indonesia keynote lecture methods for the improvement of soft clay high water content materials or sewage sludge international symposium exhibition and short course on geotechnical and geosynthetics engineering challenges and opportunities on climate change 7-8 december 2010 bangkok thailand keynote lecture methods for construction of coastal protection structures international conference on natural hazards and countermeasures in geotechnical engineering 4­5 november 2010 dhaka bangladesh · · · assistant professor tang chuyang was invited to deliver a keynote lecture entitled membrane technology for water and energy applications at the symposium on advanced water technologies membrane june 8 2011 vtt helsinki finland assistant professor yang en-hua was invited to give a talk entitled pigmentable engineered cementitious composites at the 2nd rilem international conference on strain hardening cementitious composites shcc rio de janeiro brazil 12-14 december 2011 adjunct associate professor zhou yingxin was invited to be the keynote speaker for the following conferences · keynote lecture rock cavern space development in singapore yingxin zhou and jungang cai proceedings of the joint hkie-hkip conference on planning and development of underground space 23-24 september 2011 kong hong pp 11-18 keynote lecture advances in rock dynamics modelling testing and engineering jian zhao yingxin zhou and kaiwen xia proceedings of the isrm international congress on rock mechanics crc press 18-21 october 2011 beijing china pp.147-154 · · · · civil engineering research · january 2012 13

[close]

p. 14

research centres advanced environmental biotechnology centre aebc officially launched on 10 may 2010 aebc is the fourth centre of excellence in the newri ecosystem to be supported by edb/ewi the centre provides leadership in use-inspired r&d and addresses issues of environmental biotechnology and sustainability with research platforms for environmental microbiology and processes in such areas as · molecular biology cell-cell signalling and enzymes for biomass morphology and activity control · microbiology biogranulation and bioaugmentation · bioprocess sndpr inhibition biokinetics anaerobiosis energy/resource recovery and process control · marine science coral ecology and restoration algal ecology and biotechnology ongoing research at the centre includes 1 aebc is actively investigating the energy-water nexus concept to generate biogas for energy recovery two collaborative projects currently in progress are i aebc is working with sembcorp in an emafunded project which explores the use of a modified anaerobic system for processing strong ii and potentially inhibitory industrial effluent streams to generate biogas for energy recovery this will lead to a paradigm shift in business models from waste-treatment to waste-toenergy there is potential for much improved biogas production and such potential is coupled with reduced physical size process stability and enhanced biogas production the technology is expected to compete with incineration and wastewater treatment given the nature of such feedstocks e.g chemical and pharmaceutical industry wastes the project addresses issues including inhibition and biokinetics at ambient and elevated temperatures process and reactor design investigations are supported by cfd and other mathematical modelling techniques in another collaboration dhi and suez environment are working with aebc on an ewi-funded project to develop a novel integrated concept for retrofitting and optimizing existing wastewater treatment plants to be energy selfsufficient facilities combining improvements of key elements of the system with international best practices this investigations of process enhancement of anaerobic digester capability 14 civil engineering research · january 2012

[close]

p. 15

research centres approach allow for the retrofit of existing treatment plants in singapore and other markets the changes investigated in this proposal cover a two-stage activated sludge system with biosorption and advanced aeration control will result in increased yields of biogas production for energy production additionally the shift from the aerobic to anaerobic process also allows for energy savings aebc know-how has already been adopted by the industry examples of full-scale facilities installed include a 500,000ep mbr system and anaerobic reactors for energy recovery in the agro-industry 3 aebc is also working with smtc on an ewi funded project to develop novel non-toxic strategies to control microbial fouling of membranes used for water purification the strategy based on mimicking the natural signals used by bacteria to dictate whether they grow on a surface or as free-living cells has the potential to result in significant energy savings and to reduce the use of toxic chemicals currently used to kill bacteria and clean the membranes many bacteria regulate behaviours through chemical cues which act as signals between cells one such behaviour that this is controlled by such signalling cue is the formation of biofilms the formation of such biofilms on water purification membranes occludes the membrane pores and therefore requires either more energy to force water across the membrane or cleaning of the membranes often with harsh chemicals aebc has identified and will be developing decoy compounds that interfere with these signalling process and to inhibit or block the development of harmful biofilms on membranes 4 an ewi funded project in collaboration with dhis and spyglass pty ltd california usa is currently in progress in the marine cluster this project develops early warning systems for predicting harmful algal blooms that pose a threat to the local aquaculture industry water reservoirs and natural water systems used by the public retrofitting of existing wastewater treatment plant for energy self-sufficiency 2 the concept of bioaugmentation is being exploited in aebc to meet specific needs of various bioprocesses or eco-motivated product development by industry partners microbial isolates collected and characterized in the course of bioprocess enhancement within aebc are stored and managed by the bioaugmentation unit this knowledge base is being tapped to determine the potential combinations of microbial strains capable of meeting identified needs to devise effective screening methods and to optimize culture conditions for use in augmentation of processes examples of microbial mixtures formulated or undergoing formulation include those that can i enhance voc removal in air-purification device ii produce large amount of extracellular polysaccharides iii produce emulsifiers biosurfactants iv degrade recalcitrant compounds such as substituted aromatics and polycyclics harmful algal blooms are common in marine and freshwater systems but they will usually resolve themselves however during the bloom some species release toxins that can contaminate aquaculture crops resulting in economic loss or that can contaminate drinking water reservoirs or recreational waters thus posing public health threat the development of a system that will predict emergence of a bloom would allow for proactive remedial action to be taken to protect local economies and improve water security the research team will combine the results from intensive water monitoring and sampling programs with environmental modelling and state of the art in-situ monitoring technologies to develop sensing systems in the waters that can provide real time information to predict the formation of blooms civil engineering research · january 2012 15

[close]