Engineering

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 475

  • (2010) Timms, W. A.; Badenhop, A. M.; Rayner, D. S.; Mehrabi, S. M.
    Report

  • (2011) Shand, T. D.; Goodwin, I. A.; Mole, M. A.; Carley, J. T.; Browning, S.; Coghlan, I. R.; Harley, M. D.; Peirson, W. L.
    Report

  • (2012) Mariani, A; Turner, I L; Flocard, F; Davey, E K; Goodwin, I D; Shand, T D; Carley, J T; Splinter, K
    Report

  • (2011) Hanaor, Dorian; Michelazzi, Marco; Chenu, Jeremy; Leonelli, Cristina; Sorrell, Charles
    Journal Article
    Thick anatase films were fabricated on graphite substrates using a method of anodic aqueous electrophoretic-deposition using oxalic acid as a dispersant. Thick films were subsequently fired in air and in nitrogen at a range of temperatures. The morphology and phase composition were assessed and the photocatalytic performance was examined by the inactivation of Escherichia coli in water. It was found that the transformation of anatase to rutile is enhanced by the presence of a graphite substrate through reduction effects. The use of a nitrogen atmosphere allows higher firing temperatures, results in less cracking of the films and yields superior bactericidal performance in comparison with firing in air. The beneficial effects of a nitrogen firing atmosphere on the photocatalytic performance of the material are likely to be a result of the diffusion of nitrogen and carbon into the TiO2 lattice and the consequent creation of new valence band states.

  • (2012) Ramachandran, Darshillan; Doig, G.C.
    Conference Paper
    The flow around an exposed rotating wheel, such as those on a Formula 1 car, is complex in nature; experimental investigation using wind tunnel is expensive and may not be able to show intricate flow features. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can enable numerical solutions of flow over an exposed wheel, but due to issues of computational cost only steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) methods are commonly used. In the present work, an exposed rotating wheel in contact with a moving ground was modeled using unsteady RANS, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). These transient methods demonstrate more intricate details of the flow not seen in steady state simulations. In addition, LES and DES more accurately resolves the large scale eddies that will be apparent especially in the wheel wake and enable the flow field to be understood in a more complete way.

  • (2012) Schulz, Matthias; Short, Michael; Peters, Gregory
    Journal Article
    Water supply is a key consideration in sustainable urban planning. Recycling may increase the expense and energy consumption of supply systems, raising optimisation questions. Ideally, detailed quantitative sustainability assessments are undertaken during the planning stage in order to inform the decision-making process. In reality, however, the significant time and cost associated with undertaking such detailed environmental and economic assessments is often cited as a barrier to wider implementation of these key decision-support tools, particularly for decisions made at the local or regional government level. In an attempt to counter this barrier of complexity, four water service providers in Melbourne (Australia) funded the development of a publicly available streamlined Environmental Sustainability Assessment Tool (ESAT). The tool is aimed at a wide range of decision-makers to assist them in broadening the type and number of water servicing options that can be considered for greenfield or backlog developments. ESAT consists of a simple user interface and draws upon life cycle inventory data to allow for rapid estimation of the environmental and economic performance of different water servicing scenarios. Scenario options can then be further prioritised by means of an interactive multicriteria analysis. The intent of this paper is to identify the key issues to be considered in a streamlined sustainability assessment tool for the urban water industry and to demonstrate the feasibility of generating accurate life cycle assessments (LCAs) and life cycle costings (LCCs) using such a tool. We use a real-life case study consisting of three separate scenarios for a planned urban development to show that this kind of tool can emulate LCA and LCC outcomes obtained by more detailed studies. We hope this kind of approach will support ‘sustainability thinking’ early on in the decision-making process, thereby encouraging more sustainable water and sewerage infrastructure solutions.

  • (2011) Smith, G.P.; Wasko, C.D.
    Report

  • (2012) Rayner, D. S.; Glamore, W. C.
    Report

  • (2012) Nafea, Eman Habib Mohamed Abdel Hamid
    Thesis
    Cell immunoisolation systems are fast becoming a favourable approach to cure various challenging diseases and disorders such as type I diabetes. Although the addition of biological molecules to cell immunoisolation devices can significantly enhance their performance by supporting cell viability and function, little is known about their effects on the immunoisolating membrane properties especially its permselectivity. Therefore, this research focused on examining the effect of combining biological molecules with a synthetic polymer on the permeability of hydrogels, with a specific emphasis on encapsulation of insulin producing cells for treatment of diabetes. The research aimed at achieving an optimum balance between a controlled permselectivity and cell survival support. It was hypothesised that covalent incorporation of small amounts of model extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, heparin and gelatin, would support cell viability without compromising the controlled permselectivity and physico-mechanical properties of the base PVA network. Varying the number of functional groups per PVA backbone successfully controlled the PVA permeability and physico-mechanical properties. A suitable degree of permselectivity was achieved by the highly crosslinked hydrogels. Covalent incorporation of heparin and gelatin at low percentage was successfully achieved without interfering with either their biofunctionalities or the base PVA properties, including its permselectivity. Moreover, the incorporated ECM analogues supported the viability and metabolic activity of pancreatic β-cell lines encapsulated for two weeks. Consequently, biosynthetic hydrogels composed of permselective PVA base material and a small amount of biological molecules show promise as immunoisolating materials for cell-based therapy.