The Unconventional Strength Towards STEM Cohort

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) play a critically important role in Australia’s ability to innovate, expand and remain a competitive force globally. Indeed, ensuring that the workforce has the relevant skills in sufficient quantities through a reliable educational pipeline is quite challenging and requires an understanding of how these skills are and will be used within the Australian economy. Moreover, successfully delivering these skills for a knowledge economy will depend not only on producing the correct number of graduates but also on the education system supplying graduates from under-utilised groups (i.e. women & indigenous people) and diverse backgrounds. Currently, millions of children and young people are not developing the required skills to participate effectively in STEM environments. Young indigenous and female groups, in particular, are deprived of the opportunities to build their skills, including STEM literacy that is valued towards career progression in traditionally male-dominated fields (i.e. engineering and construction). As this white paper outlines, the challenges are drawn from recent literature, and a comprehensive review of existing initiatives is presented based on the observations of key partners, including Western Sydney University, the Australian government, research sector, industry, policymakers and communities. However, to build the STEM capacity of graduates with the right knowledge, competencies and qualities, two-way collaboration between the communities, educational institutions (from an early age), Australian workplaces and the government is essential, as no single sector can entirely solve the current STEM skills shortage. Western Sydney University is well-positioned within the high-density indigenous areas to respond to these issues, particularly by monitoring, engaging and promoting all graduates with STEM qualifications to meet the demand from the economy. In fact, by supporting equity and diversity throughout the STEM cohorts, educational institutions not only drive innovation but also establish a thriving STEM-skilled workforce that is fit for the future

Post-peak flexural behavior of macro synthetic fiber reinforced concrete

The addition of fibers to concrete is well known for enhancing the tensile and ductility performances through an effective fiber network intersecting the propagation of cracks. However, the class, quantity and properties of the individual fibers fundamentally govern the flexural behavior, resulting in either post-cracking softening or hardening response. Moreover, previous studies have shown that while steel and synthetic fibers may provide comparable improvement of the concrete’s mechanical properties, their respective involvement occurs at different crack widths to perform best in particular applications. In this paper, more consideration is given to macro synthetic fibers that are commonly preferred over steel fibers because of their corrosion resistance and sustainable sourcing pathway (i.e., recycled waste plastics). Thus, this work investigates the post-peak flexural behavior of macro synthetic fiber reinforced concrete (MSFRC) using two fiber types at different volume dosages. Accordingly, the novelty of this paper is to identify the critical crack states of each fiber type and dosages that provide the potential engineering benefits of a pioneering design and application

Numerical modelling of macro synthetic fiber reinforced concrete sleepers under static and impact loading

The structural optimization of innovative materials requires reliable numerical modelling, which can predict the structural behavior of the respective adaptation under possible scenarios. This paper presents the numerical modelling of macro synthetic fiber reinforced concrete (MSFRC) in railway sleeper applications. MSFRC is well known to improve post-peak flexural strength and toughness owing to the crack-bridging mechanism of fibers. Even though the fibers act individually along the crack interface, MSFRC depicts tension hardening as a material. Therefore, this paper highlights the integration of fiber-concrete composite action as a homogenous material towards efficient modelling of MSFRC in terms of computational resources required. The concrete damage plasticity model (CDP) being widely used to simulate the plain concrete behavior, the adaptability of CDP in the numerical analysis of MSFRC was investigated using the experimental data. Since the railway sleeper is subjected to impacts caused by wheel-rail irregularities, the accountability of the CDP parameters under both static and low-velocity impacts was also evaluated. Correspondingly, the modified CDP parameters reasonably represented the static and impact capacity, crack and damage evolution, and structural stiffness of MSFRC sleepers