Never Stand Still Engineering Green m achine...Issue 31 Winter 2015 Never Stand Still Engineering Green m achine How Scientia Professor Martin Green’s PV team is changing the world

UNSW EngineersIssue 31 Winter 2015

EngineeringNever Stand Still

Green machineHow Scientia Professor Martin Green’s PV team is changing the world

Meet our new Dean:Professor Mark Hoffman

PlusSun runner: 20 years of sUNSWiftFire investigating in the future‘Google Maps’ of the human body

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A new era for UNSW Engineering has begun as Professor Mark Hoffman heads Australia’s largest engineering faculty as the new Dean.

View from the top

In 1997, when Professor Mark Hoffman took up his first UNSW position as lecturer in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Mark Wainwright was in charge of the Faculty of Engineering. Three Deans later, Mark says the other Mark undoubtedly influenced his career direction. “He showed me that you can be a great academic leader and through service forge an important place in the broader community.”

Prior to his appointment, Mark was the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and also held positions of Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Head of its School for Materials Science and Engineering for six years.

“As a leader at UNSW, I aim to be understanding and supportive of colleagues and students who want to excel at the highest level, be that community leadership, the arts, sport or another area, all while studying at the same time.”

You have been associated with UNSW for 18 years. What attracted you to UNSW? I was drawn to UNSW by its international reputation as a leading Australian technical engineering university, combined with its close industry connections.

What’s your elevator pitch for your research expertise? I design materials for specific applications and look at their structural integrity. That means I look at how they can be strengthened, and that can cover anything from metal foams for crash-resistance features on cars that protect pedestrians, to the enamel on teeth. Another area of research is piezoelectric ceramics. Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials, such as some ceramics, in response to applied mechanical stress. Piezoelectric ceramics are used in everything from electronics to inkjet printers. They contain lead at the moment, and we need to look at developing

alternative lead-free materials, something I recently received an Australian Research Council grant to look into.

What would you like to see achieved during your term of office? I’d like to see UNSW Engineering universally recognised by peers and the profession as one within the top 20 universities in the world through high-quality, applied research, based on strong fundamentals. Furthermore, I’d like for that to influence teaching to produce first-class, innovative graduates with an international reputation who can communicate to the broader community.

Why did you choose mechanical engineering as your first degree? I liked creating new things that do something through technology! Technology always excited me but I wanted to be able to apply it, which is of course what engineering is all about. I chose mechanical because I’d always enjoyed building machines that did something.

Outside of your university life, what are your other passions? My family! I have three children – aged five, 10 and 12. Seeing them grow is my number one passion. My eldest is showing an interest in science and engineering. He recently won the technology prize at his school. I’ve also been closely involved with professional sports, particularly rowing, since I was in high school. I go cycling quite a bit and jogging, and play the piano for relaxation. I also enjoy experiencing different cultures and approaches. I speak three languages – to varying degrees!

Professor Mark HoffmanPrevious UNSW roles: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Head of its School for Materials Science and Engineering.

Research background: International leader in structural integrity of materials, especially cyclic fatigue. More recently, Mark has focused on piezoelectric ceramics.

Overseas postings: Two years as a visiting scientist in the United States and Tokyo, time as a researcher in India and two stints in Germany as a Research Associate, and then Humboldt Fellow.

Photo: Peter Morris

Our new Dean

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A new era for UNSW Engineering has begun as Professor Mark Hoffman heads Australia’s largest engineering faculty as the new Dean.

View from the top

In 1997, when Professor Mark Hoffman took up his first UNSW position as lecturer in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Mark Wainwright was in charge of the Faculty of Engineering. Three Deans later, Mark says the other Mark undoubtedly influenced his career direction. “He showed me that you can be a great academic leader and through service forge an important place in the broader community.”

Prior to his appointment, Mark was the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and also held positions of Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Head of its School for Materials Science and Engineering for six years.

“As a leader at UNSW, I aim to be understanding and supportive of colleagues and students who want to excel at the highest level, be that community leadership, the arts, sport or another area, all while studying at the same time.”

You have been associated with UNSW for 18 years. What attracted you to UNSW? I was drawn to UNSW by its international reputation as a leading Australian technical engineering university, combined with its close industry connections.

What’s your elevator pitch for your research expertise? I design materials for specific applications and look at their structural integrity. That means I look at how they can be strengthened, and that can cover anything from metal foams for crash-resistance features on cars that protect pedestrians, to the enamel on teeth. Another area of research is piezoelectric ceramics. Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials, such as some ceramics, in response to applied mechanical stress. Piezoelectric ceramics are used in everything from electronics to inkjet printers. They contain lead at the moment, and we need to look at developing

alternative lead-free materials, something I recently received an Australian Research Council grant to look into.

What would you like to see achieved during your term of office? I’d like to see UNSW Engineering universally recognised by peers and the profession as one within the top 20 universities in the world through high-quality, applied research, based on strong fundamentals. Furthermore, I’d like for that to influence teaching to produce first-class, innovative graduates with an international reputation who can communicate to the broader community.

Why did you choose mechanical engineering as your first degree? I liked creating new things that do something through technology! Technology always excited me but I wanted to be able to apply it, which is of course what engineering is all about. I chose mechanical because I’d always enjoyed building machines that did something.

Outside of your university life, what are your other passions? My family! I have three children – aged five, 10 and 12. Seeing them grow is my number one passion. My eldest is showing an interest in science and engineering. He recently won the technology prize at his school. I’ve also been closely involved with professional sports, particularly rowing, since I was in high school. I go cycling quite a bit and jogging, and play the piano for relaxation. I also enjoy experiencing different cultures and approaches. I speak three languages – to varying degrees!

Professor Mark HoffmanPrevious UNSW roles: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and Head of its School for Materials Science and Engineering.

Research background: International leader in structural integrity of materials, especially cyclic fatigue. More recently, Mark has focused on piezoelectric ceramics.

Overseas postings: Two years as a visiting scientist in the United States and Tokyo, time as a researcher in India and two stints in Germany as a Research Associate, and then Humboldt Fellow.

Photo: Peter Morris

Our new Dean

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Green powerScientia Professor Martin Green charts the exceptional success and future aspirations of his photovoltaics research group.When Scientia Professor Martin Green’s Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Group fabricated its first solar cell in 1975 within UNSW’s School of Electrical Engineering, none of the team realised the research would change the world. They were initially interested in looking at the voltage output from a silicon solar cell as a first step in deriving maximum power. They soon achieved 618 millivolts (mV) – one of the highest voltages for silicon cells measured at the time.

Following a successful trip to the United States in 1977, the PV Group focused its research on the MIS (metal insulator semiconductor) structure and records followed. “It was like UNSW versus the rest of the world,” Martin says. “We quickly shot ahead of NASA, COMSAT and everyone else and kept increasing our lead.”

They first exceeded 650mV and soon closed in on 700mV. With a large lead over others working in this area, they switched focus and looked for an efficiency advantage. “We hit the jackpot in 1983 and set our first world record by achieving 18 per cent solar-cell efficiency by capitalising on oxide passivation,” Martin says. Not long after, they reached 19 per cent by reducing the contact between the metal and the silicon material.

Then, in 1985, they achieved their next big result: the first 20 per cent efficient cell. “This was the equivalent of the four-minute mile of photovoltaics,” he says. “The only extra thing we did was to add texture to the top surface of the cell to reduce reflection. The team also developed the Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) structure. PERC technology has led ultimately to 25 per cent efficiency and is starting to transform the whole manufacturing industry.

Another advance was the buried-contact cell – one of the most famous and profitable patented ideas ever developed at UNSW. This was the joint brainchild of Martin and his long-time colleague, Scientia Professor Stuart Wenham. “Stuart and I were chatting in my office one afternoon and we came up with the idea,” Martin says. “We saw it as a way of transferring our 20 per cent

cell technology into low-cost production.” When patents ran out in 2005, there had been more than $1 billion of sales of products under licence to the University.

The PV industry had started to take off by 2000 and UNSW launched the world’s first undergraduate PV degree program. Graduates from Martin’s group have been instrumental in transferring the PV manufacturing industry from high-cost regions of the world into Asia, which has led to the dramatic reduction in solar cell prices. Martin’s most famous graduate is his 12th PhD student, Zhengrong Shi, who graduated in 1992 and became the world’s first solar billionaire. By 2010 he was the head of the world’s largest manufacturing company, Suntech.

Martin says four countries have made PV a realistic alternative energy source. Germany established the political framework that created the market for PV, China provided the capacity and low-cost labour to expand production quickly and the United States provided the investment dollars that allowed these companies to grow. The fourth country, Australia, has provided the expertise that enabled all of this to happen. “Photovoltaics is becoming a sizeable contributor to the new electricity generation mix and we can be proud of the role that we played in making it a reality,” Martin says. “The role I see for our centre in the future is as the technology hub for the Asia-Pacific region. There are exciting times ahead.”

Watch Martin Green’s presentation at www2.pv.unsw.edu.au/videos/Martin-Green-6March2015/seminar.php

Power numbers25 number

of world records set by Martin Green’s team at UNSW

40% current sunlight

to electricity conversion efficiency – reached at UNSW in October 2014

1stUNSW’s world-pioneering

undergraduate photovoltaic degree program

60+ number of PhD

graduates Martin has supervised

6 number of books

published by Martin

500number of

journal articles published by Martin

$1b+ value of sales

generated by the buried-contact solar cell co-invented by Martin and Scientia Professor Stuart Wenham

Scientia Professor Martin Green Photo: Grant Turner/Mediakoo

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“It was like UNSW versus the rest of the world” — Scientia Professor Martin Green+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering

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A world-first UNSW collaboration that uses previously top-secret technology to zoom through the human body down to the level of a single cell could be a game-changer for medicine, an international research conference in the United States has been told.

Professor Melissa Knothe Tate – an engineer and expert in cell biology and regenerative medicine – is the first to use the system in humans. She has forged a pioneering partnership with the US-based Cleveland Clinic, and Brown and Stanford universities, as well as Google and high-tech German optical and industrial measurement manufacturer Zeiss to help crunch terabytes of data gathered from human hip studies.

Similar research is underway at Harvard University and Heidelberg in Germany to map neural pathways and connections in the brains of mice. Melissa presented several papers on her research into the human hip and osteoarthritis at the peer-reviewed Orthopedic Research Society meeting in Las Vegas at the end of March.

Imaging technology developed by Zeiss was originally developed to scan silicon wafers for defects. Using Google algorithms, Melissa can zoom in and out from the scale of the whole joint to the cellular level “just as you would with Google Maps”, reducing to a matter of weeks analyses that once took 25 years to complete. Her team is also using cutting-edge microtome and MRI technology to examine how movement and weight bearing affects the movement of molecules within joints, exploring the relationship between blood, bone, lymphatics and muscle.

“For the first time we have the ability to go from the whole body down to how the cells are getting their nutrition and how this is all connected,” Melissa said. “This could open the door to as yet unknown new therapies and preventions.”

Numerous studies have explored molecular transport within specific tissues but there has been little research

on exchange between different kinds of tissue, such as cartilage and bone.

Melissa has already demonstrated a link between molecular transport through blood, muscle and bone, and disease status in osteoarthritic guinea pigs. Like humans, guinea pigs develop osteoarthritis as they age. The condition is increasingly believed to be the result of a breakdown in cellular communication. Understanding the molecular signalling and traffic between tissues could

unlock a range of treatments, including physical therapies and preventative exercise routines, Melissa said.

Critical to this work has been the development of microscopy that allows seamless imaging of organs and tissues across length scales, as well as the capacity to sift and analyse huge sets of data. Melissa likened using the Zeiss technology in the hipbone to Google Maps’ ability to zoom down from an “Earth view” to “street view”. “These are terabyte-sized data sets so the Google Maps algorithms are helping us take this tremendous amount of information and use it effectively. They’re the traffic controllers, if you like.”

“Advanced research instrumentation provides a technological platform to answer the hardest, unanswered questions in science, opening up avenues for fundamental discoveries,” she said. “The implications may be currently unfathomable [but they] will pave the way to engineer better human health and quality of life as we age.”

Visit mechbio.org to test out a working model of the hip bone.

Technology that was once top secret now allows microscopic organ imaging.

Google mapping the body

Professor Melissa Knothe Tate Photo: Grant Turner/Mediakoo

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Melissa can zoom in and out from the scale of the whole joint to the cellular level+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Biomedical Engineering

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The spectrum would display the frequencies of what is being played, however it also contains harmonics (spurious pitches at integer multiples of the pitches that were played). For example, imagine hearing the piano note A4 (440 Hz). You hear one single note, but the spectrum contains A4 (440 Hz), and its harmonics at A5 (880 Hz) and A6 (1320Hz). Now, if a pianist were to play a three-note chord, there would be more than three pitches in the spectrum . . . instead there would be about nine different pitches present. Imagine what it is like for an entire orchestra. So, existing algorithms detected these harmonics and treated them as real, detected notes. Hence, these transcriptions contained false-positives (erroneously detected notes) when three or more notes were played simultaneously. To truly represent the underlying music, and not the harmonics in the music, I needed to take a different approach. It

was my unique position of being both a musician and an engineer that helped me see how to solve the problem. My patent-pending algorithm not only rejects harmonics, it isolates the true notes that were played. By combining the successes of previous attempts and rejecting their failures, I was able to notate four, then five, then six simultaneously played notes.

How accurate is your Polyphonic Music Transcriber? It has 94 per cent accuracy for any six simultaneously played instruments.

When will you launch your app? My app is developed and ready for launch. I’m just waiting on the patent to be approved. Hopefully this will happen in the next few months. You can view my beta (soon-to-be-launched) website at www.coolaudiostuff.com.

Read the full Q&A with Matt Brown at unsw.to/emag-musictranscription.

Matt Brown’s idea came to him while music vice-captain at Scots College in Sydney. The then 17-year-old thought: “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a piece of software that could listen to the music and transcribe it for me?”

His unique software, Polyphonic Music Transcription, now exists courtesy of Matt’s love of music and his degree in Electrical Engineering at UNSW.

It seems the only thing separating Matt and international recognition is the release of his secret, patent-pending algorithm and smartphone app. We spoke to him about his exciting project.

What exactly is Polyphonic Music Transcription? It’s the process of analysing a live musical performance and producing its musical notation. Picture an orchestra playing live, recording it using a microphone, and then printing out the exact manuscript of what was just played. In the past, skilled musicologists faced the difficult and time-consuming task of notating musical performances music by hand. This often required intensive auditory training, especially for polyphonic music – where several instruments are played simultaneously. My motivation was to provide a tool that eased the workload for musicians and composers.

Why did you choose EET at UNSW? I knew what I wanted to develop but had no idea how I would make it, or what I’d need to study to learn how to make it. It wasn’t until I went to UNSW’s open day in 2007 and got talking to Professor Eliathamby Ambikairajah, EET’s Head of School, that I got my first clue. I saw there was a whole area of electrical engineering devoted to the electrical representation of sound.

What was your breakthrough moment? I remember it clearly. In July 2013, I was sitting with my thesis supervisor, Dr Julian Epps, reading a recent PhD paper that was difficult to understand. After several reads of the paper, the critical problem began to make sense to me. I suddenly saw a gaping hole in the way the problem had been traditionally looked at, and it became clear to me that this was what I needed to capitalise on. I realised I couldn’t simply look at the problem from an engineering perspective. I had to merge my musicianship knowledge with my engineering skills.

Given a live piano excerpt, to obtain the exact pitches (notes) that were played, a pure engineering approach would be to look at the Fast Fourier Transform (spectrum).

Matt Brown is confident he has solved one of music’s greatest conundrums.

Musicians, take note

Matt Brown

Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications

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The story began in 1995 when a fourth-year electrical engineering student was looking for an exciting final-year thesis topic. If UNSW Australia is the acknowledged world leader in photovoltaics, Byron Kennedy mused, and has the best engineering faculty in the country, why don’t I build and race a solar car? Thus, sUNSWift was born.

Twenty years, five cars, three world records, thousands of volunteering hours, hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars, 35,000+ racing kilometres, and a fair share of blood, sweat and tears later, sUNSWift is the most famous and high-achieving student team in Australia.

Byron, like all of his successors, is distinguishable by “sUNSWiftian” qualities of persuasiveness, enthusiasm and the fundamental ability to get things done, so it wasn’t long after his lightbulb moment that the team were working on Aurora Q1, their second-hand solar racing car. Their goal was to refurbish the car and drive it 3000km from Darwin to Adelaide in the world’s premier solar-car race, the World Solar Challenge (WSC). Their mission was successful – they came ninth – but their achievement went far beyond that creditable result. The project was clearly going places.

By the time Byron left UNSW, the team was planning its next challenge: designing and building sUNSWift II from scratch. And build it they did. Then came sUNSWift III, and sUNSWift IVY. The current iteration is no longer a cramped, one seat, space-age mobile: sUNSWift EVE is a stylish two-seat coupé with big ambitions.

Any member of sUNSWift will concede that along with the highs there have been some disappointing blows. But Dr David Snowdon, who was involved in sUNSWift between 1999 and 2009, thinks dealing with the lowest moments has been one of the secrets of the project’s success. “sUNSWift is a place where students can fail and learn that failing isn’t the end of the world,” he says. “In fact, being brave enough to fail regularly is an essential component to being successful!”

When Clara Mazzone got involved in 2007, sUNSWift was at a low ebb. With many fourth-year students leaving and others, like David, needing to concentrate on finishing their PhDs, she was the only fully dedicated member of the team. “In 2008 we recruited 18 new people and spent the first year capturing knowledge from past members and setting up a long-term knowledge transfer process to ensure if critical members left there were ways the team could continue,” Clara says.

It was under Clara’s leadership of sUNSWift, during the WSC in 2009, that David finally got his “one good event”. “sUNSWift IVY was a beautiful car,” he recalls. “I think we outperformed.” Clara, who drove the car during the race, agrees. “We were a fantastic team with a fantastic car and, although we didn’t officially win, we were first across the line. It was a great result.”

For many sUNSWift alumni, the solar-car project has been a launching pad for careers and ambitions. Clara, who is project managing the installation of a 350kW solar farm on a small Pacific island, credits sUNSWift for her confidence and strong self belief. “Since sUNSWift, in every situation I’ve been thrown into where I didn’t know what to do, I say to myself: ‘well, you didn’t know how to build a solar car and race it across Australia either but you did’. I know I can figure the problem out.”

Sam Paterson, who landed a dream job at electric car company Tesla Motors in Silicon Valley, got his opportunity after project managing sUNSWift. “My

Sunny daysTwenty years of building dreams, chasing records and fast-tracking careers — happy birthday, sUNSWift.

sUNSWift IVY Photo: Fairfax Media

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For many sUNSWift alumni, the solar-car project has been a launching pad for careers and ambitions.+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

sUNSWift EVE Photo courtesy of sUNSWift

Student Led Projects

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counterpart on the Stanford University solar-car team and I had become friends over the 2012-2013 WSC cycle. He knew someone working at Tesla and recommended me for the job. Being able to say in my interview: ‘I was involved in a Guinness record, a world record and three World Solar Challenges, and I project managed the design and build of a new solar car’ … Well, I came in as a good candidate. Now I’m right in the middle of the electric car revolution!”

Byron Kennedy, who has launched his own start-up, says his career trajectory was set in motion at the 1996 WSC after meeting Professor Dean Patterson from Charles Darwin University. Their research led to a spin-off company using solar-car motor technology for small-scale applications such as electric bikes, ceiling fans and air conditioners.

In harnessing all that golden sunshine, sUNSWift has acquired a Midas touch when securing sponsorship and support, starting with UNSW itself. Byron secured solar mastermind Scientia Professor Stuart Wenham as his thesis supervisor and received input from other pre-eminent academics: Professor John Storey, who built and raced a solar car in the first WSC in 1987; Scientia Professor Martin Green, leader of UNSW’s world-famous photovoltaics research group; and aerodynamics expert Dr Graham Doig.

The current team is sponsored by top engineering firm Thales Australia, which provides time and expertise to the project. Technical Strategy director Michael Clark is delighted to offer help and is continually impressed with the team. “In the month prior to the WSC 2013, I couldn’t see how they could possibly be ready on time, but somehow through sheer persistence, amazing team work and long hours of work they were able to succeed.”

Another current sponsor is SunPower, which develops high-efficiency solar panels and provides the team with equipment and expertise. “I was really impressed by their performance in the WSC but it’s also their momentum and professionalism,” explains Ben Erskine, SunPower’s marketing manager. “They run a really mature operation.”

This maturity is exemplified by the team’s decision to shift direction in 2012 from the one-seater style of IVY

to the regular car shape and two-seat capacity of EVE. “It was a strategic decision,” Sam Paterson says. “I understood, from working with our sponsors, that there was little appetite to support the old style of car. I had a good feeling that the new style would sell.” This decision secured the interest and support of Ian Sharp, a retired CSIRO engineer, who made a major contribution to sUNSWift’s “road legal” crowdfunding campaign. Ian owns an electric car that he charges from his rooftop solar panels and has a keen interest in the next stage of sUNSWift’s journey. “I think it’s great that they’ve moved away from the impractical design of one person squeezed into a tiny little cockpit to a more practical car that has the potential to be used in cities,” he says.

With the team in such great shape and sUNSWift’s next big challenge of making EVE road legal well underway, everyone involved can feel proud of their contribution. Let’s see how far sUNSWift will travel in another 20 years.

Were you part of sUNSWift’s ‘track’ record? If so, join us for sUNSWift’s 20th anniversary reunion. It’s on Wednesday, 12 August 2015, 5:30-9pm, at Bar Navitas (H6), Tyree Energy Technologies Building More information: tinyurl.com/sunswift20years

Graphic by UNSW Media Office

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The partnership between UNSW Engineering and Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) began just before Christmas 2011. This was just two months after the tragic fire in an aged-care facility in Quakers Hill, in Sydney’s west, that killed 14 residents and injured dozens more.

Investigators discovered the arsonist, night-shift registered nurse Roger Dean, lit a fire in one room to divert the fire brigade. While this fire was extinguished quickly, Dean lit a second fire in another room that prevented the fire brigade from gaining access to the rest of the nursing home. This devastating fire burnt a large section of the facility and created a smoke layer that endangered residents and made fire-fighting efforts difficult.

FRNSW investigators needed to present evidence to the coronial enquiry that established how the fire had spread. That’s when Superintendent Bob Alexander, the FRNSW’s Investigation and Research Unit Operations Officer, contacted Associate Professor Guan Heng Yeoh from the UNSW School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Guan and his team of UNSW researchers set about creating modelling and computer simulations.

FRNSW needed to establish a fire-ignition source that could destroy the contents of the second room. Over Christmas and throughout January 2012, the UNSW researchers ran simulations that would be used later to validate field experiments and fire modelling.

Laura Elbourne-Binns, who graduated from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering last year, was the industry liaison for the student group. She worked with a team using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software to model ignition sources against markers based on fire debris observations and witness evidence. “Changing the input parameters, such as fire size and intensity of the ignition source, changed the way the fire travelled,” Laura says. Using FDS to simulate the fire, students were able

to “reverse engineer” the ignition to match the fire. This gave them a library of ranges from which they could work backwards to reconstruct the Quakers Hill fire.

Initial investigations focused on a window, which broke due to the fire’s intensity and size. Researchers found the broken window drew in air to create a fireball, quickly burning the room’s contents. They tried various fire-source locations, and then the computer simulations were matched with experiments based on modelling.

Researchers reconstructed the room to find the ignition

source. The known contents – mattresses, couches, chairs and wardrobes – were used, as well as foam, pinewood, gypsum plaster walls and steel. To add to the challenge, researchers didn’t know what started the fire, although the fireball theory told them the ignition source didn’t need to be big. By March, it was clear one burning bed wasn’t enough. “The simulations were re-done with two beds lit using correct ignition sources,” says Guan. “That confirmed what was found in the experiments.”

Computer simulations showed the fire developed within 10 minutes, after which the fire was uncontrollable. It gave firefighters little time to extinguish the flames and deal with evacuations. “The Quakers Hill fire was a very interesting case,” says Guan. “This project sets the foundation for moving fire-fighting training into the digital era.”

Guan is optimistic about the future of fire-source detection. “Bob has mentioned it would be his dream if we could convert one fire-fighting scenario into a virtual fire-fighting program. If we can understand fires better, and create different fire scenarios, we may not need to rely on live experiments to train firefighters.”

Hope rises from the ashesAn innovative collaboration following a blaze in an aged-care facility could transform future fire investigations.

Above: The scene following the Quakers Hill nursing home fire. Photo: Fairfax Media

Left: Simulations showed the rapid development of the fire.

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“We may not need to rely on live experiments to train firefighters” — Associate Professor Guan Heng Yeoh+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

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The partnership between UNSW Engineering and Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) began just before Christmas 2011. This was just two months after the tragic fire in an aged-care facility in Quakers Hill, in Sydney’s west, that killed 14 residents and injured dozens more.

Investigators discovered the arsonist, night-shift registered nurse Roger Dean, lit a fire in one room to divert the fire brigade. While this fire was extinguished quickly, Dean lit a second fire in another room that prevented the fire brigade from gaining access to the rest of the nursing home. This devastating fire burnt a large section of the facility and created a smoke layer that endangered residents and made fire-fighting efforts difficult.

FRNSW investigators needed to present evidence to the coronial enquiry that established how the fire had spread. That’s when Superintendent Bob Alexander, the FRNSW’s Investigation and Research Unit Operations Officer, contacted Associate Professor Guan Heng Yeoh from the UNSW School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Guan and his team of UNSW researchers set about creating modelling and computer simulations.

FRNSW needed to establish a fire-ignition source that could destroy the contents of the second room. Over Christmas and throughout January 2012, the UNSW researchers ran simulations that would be used later to validate field experiments and fire modelling.

Laura Elbourne-Binns, who graduated from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering last year, was the industry liaison for the student group. She worked with a team using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software to model ignition sources against markers based on fire debris observations and witness evidence. “Changing the input parameters, such as fire size and intensity of the ignition source, changed the way the fire travelled,” Laura says. Using FDS to simulate the fire, students were able

to “reverse engineer” the ignition to match the fire. This gave them a library of ranges from which they could work backwards to reconstruct the Quakers Hill fire.

Initial investigations focused on a window, which broke due to the fire’s intensity and size. Researchers found the broken window drew in air to create a fireball, quickly burning the room’s contents. They tried various fire-source locations, and then the computer simulations were matched with experiments based on modelling.

Researchers reconstructed the room to find the ignition

source. The known contents – mattresses, couches, chairs and wardrobes – were used, as well as foam, pinewood, gypsum plaster walls and steel. To add to the challenge, researchers didn’t know what started the fire, although the fireball theory told them the ignition source didn’t need to be big. By March, it was clear one burning bed wasn’t enough. “The simulations were re-done with two beds lit using correct ignition sources,” says Guan. “That confirmed what was found in the experiments.”

Computer simulations showed the fire developed within 10 minutes, after which the fire was uncontrollable. It gave firefighters little time to extinguish the flames and deal with evacuations. “The Quakers Hill fire was a very interesting case,” says Guan. “This project sets the foundation for moving fire-fighting training into the digital era.”

Guan is optimistic about the future of fire-source detection. “Bob has mentioned it would be his dream if we could convert one fire-fighting scenario into a virtual fire-fighting program. If we can understand fires better, and create different fire scenarios, we may not need to rely on live experiments to train firefighters.”

Hope rises from the ashesAn innovative collaboration following a blaze in an aged-care facility could transform future fire investigations.

Above: The scene following the Quakers Hill nursing home fire. Photo: Fairfax Media

Left: Simulations showed the rapid development of the fire.

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“We may not need to rely on live experiments to train firefighters” — Associate Professor Guan Heng Yeoh+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

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Food allergies are a worldwide scourge, effecting 8 per cent of children and 2 per cent of adults, and likely to cost the global economy more than $7 billion. So it’s reassuring that UNSW’s Dr Alice Lee is so passionate about improving the quality and safety of our food.

Alice is the co-director of the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Food Manufacture (ATFM) at UNSW Chemical Engineering. The centre aims to investigate ways to improve the quality, safety and nutrition of Australian food products, while training the next generation of food scientists and engineers.

“We do a lot of molecular characterisations of allergens to understand what makes normal, good proteins allergenic and how these proteins may present themselves to immune systems after digestion,” Alice says. “This fundamental research will enable us to design processes and foods that reduce allergenicity.”

ATFM’s key focus is to collaborate with industry partners so that Australian companies retain their globally competitive position in markets that demand the highest level of product quality, freshness, taste and safety. Alice’s personal research aims to advance our understanding of how chemical and biological agents may affect our health, with special interests in chemical contaminants, toxins and food allergens.

In November 2014, Alice co-chaired a session and presented her research at the China International Food Safety and Quality Conference and Expo in Shanghai. In April she spoke at an ILSI SEA Seminar and in May she hosted the inaugural Food Allergen Management Symposium in Sydney. In her presentations, Alice reported on the centre’s progress in food allergen research and how they support the Voluntary Incidental

Trace Allergen Labelling (VITAL) initiative. This is an Australian Food Industry initiative built on a risk-based methodology that aims to provide appropriate precautionary allergen food labelling.

Underpinning VITAL are a number of research projects, including allergen purification and characterisation, developing new detection methodologies, process intervention, and digestibility and gut permeability of food allergens. Recently, her research team successfully demonstrated and optimised combined HHP-thermal

processing that could significantly improve whey protein hydrolysis. This effect may potentially reduce the sensitisation potential of this common allergen.

Alice’s ultimate goal is to advance our understanding of how chemical and biological agents affect our health, and use this to develop effective and practical management solutions. She is currently working on a range of allergens significant to Australia such as Southern Hemisphere fish species, cashews, lupin and macadamia nuts.

Her research has already led to affordable and high-throughput immunodiagnostics capability for food quality and safety assessment in Australia. She is also involved in developing a new nanoparticle-based rapid-test platform, which could be easily adopted by the food industry to manage product safety.

Food for thoughtDr Alice Lee’s research is leading the fight against food allergies.

Dr Alice LeePhoto: Peter Morris

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“Research will enable us to design processes and foods that reduce allergenicity” — Dr Alice Lee+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Chemical Engineering

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Professor Ros Taplin’s career has come full circle. Ros started as a geophysicist in oil and uranium exploration but growing concerns about the environmental impact of this work hastened a career change. She undertook a Masters in Environmental Management and worked as an environmental consultant and academic before becoming Research Director in the Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP), based within UNSW Mining Engineering.

Despite opening just five years ago, ACSMP has become an internationally recognised authority on sustainable mining practices. Led by a multidisciplinary team of experts, the centre is at the frontline of addressing the problematic relationship between mining and sustainability. Research topics include the sustainable use of water resources, satellite remote sensing of mining impacts, carbon management and energy sustainability, climate change impacts and adaptation, and environmentally and socially responsible mine closure.

Ros and a team of ACSMP researchers have taken a particular interest in biodiversity offsets for mining. “Last year we started talking with farmers in NSW’s

Upper Hunter region about setting aside land for native vegetation to offset local mining activities,” Ros says. “We were surprised at how many farmers had links to the mines; they either worked there to supplement their income or knew someone who did. There was a lot more interest than we originally anticipated.”

As a passionate educator with an international perspective, Ros teaches a fourth-year elective called Mining in the Global Environment. This subject explores environmental, social, economic, health and safety, and resource efficiency issues with a focus on the developing world. “We also look at gender issues and climate change, so there’s a whole range of things you wouldn’t necessarily expect mining engineers to study,” she says.

So, can mining and sustainability co-exist? “Our current society is incredibly dependent on mining,” Ros says. “This dependency is not going away anytime soon so we need strong, ethical mining engineers who are well informed about the negative social and environmental impacts of mining and how to mitigate them.”

Researchers from the UNSW School of Petroleum Engineering have used cutting-edge geological, engineering and economic research for a carbon dioxide (CO2) injection project.

The researchers – Henri Baz, Mohamed Noureldin, Yildiray Cinar and Guy Allinson – used a prepared geological model grid depicting an underground reservoir in the SW Hub CO2 capture-and-storage project area in southern Western Australia. “Although projects such as the West Australian Gorgon CO2 injection scheme have envisaged the technology before, what makes the SW

Hub project so significant is it achieved Commonwealth Government Flagship Program status,” says project supervisor Guy Allinson.

The Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships (CCS Flagships) Program was established in May 2009 and supports the construction and demonstration of large-scale, integrated CCS projects in Australia.

“The CO2 injected would be from emissions in the SW Hub area – this could be up to about 6 million tonnes a year,” says Guy. “Although this is small compared with over 500 million tonnes a year of CO2 emitted in Australia in 2013-14, the significance of the project is huge. It would demonstrate how to help reduce CO2 emissions while renewable technologies develop on a larger scale.”

For more information on this project, go to unsw.to/emagsustainablemining.

Finding the hole truth

Vital step to curb emissions

Professor Ros Taplin is leading the push for sustainable mining practices. Professor Ros Taplin

Photo: Grant Turner/Mediakoo

Mining Engineering

Petroleum Engineering

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10-mining-and-carbon-dioxide.indd 1 25/05/2015 9:23 am

Professor Ros Taplin’s career has come full circle. Ros started as a geophysicist in oil and uranium exploration but growing concerns about the environmental impact of this work hastened a career change. She undertook a Masters in Environmental Management and worked as an environmental consultant and academic before becoming Research Director in the Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP), based within UNSW Mining Engineering.

Despite opening just five years ago, ACSMP has become an internationally recognised authority on sustainable mining practices. Led by a multidisciplinary team of experts, the centre is at the frontline of addressing the problematic relationship between mining and sustainability. Research topics include the sustainable use of water resources, satellite remote sensing of mining impacts, carbon management and energy sustainability, climate change impacts and adaptation, and environmentally and socially responsible mine closure.

Ros and a team of ACSMP researchers have taken a particular interest in biodiversity offsets for mining. “Last year we started talking with farmers in NSW’s

Upper Hunter region about setting aside land for native vegetation to offset local mining activities,” Ros says. “We were surprised at how many farmers had links to the mines; they either worked there to supplement their income or knew someone who did. There was a lot more interest than we originally anticipated.”

As a passionate educator with an international perspective, Ros teaches a fourth-year elective called Mining in the Global Environment. This subject explores environmental, social, economic, health and safety, and resource efficiency issues with a focus on the developing world. “We also look at gender issues and climate change, so there’s a whole range of things you wouldn’t necessarily expect mining engineers to study,” she says.

So, can mining and sustainability co-exist? “Our current society is incredibly dependent on mining,” Ros says. “This dependency is not going away anytime soon so we need strong, ethical mining engineers who are well informed about the negative social and environmental impacts of mining and how to mitigate them.”

Researchers from the UNSW School of Petroleum Engineering have used cutting-edge geological, engineering and economic research for a carbon dioxide (CO2) injection project.

The researchers – Henri Baz, Mohamed Noureldin, Yildiray Cinar and Guy Allinson – used a prepared geological model grid depicting an underground reservoir in the SW Hub CO2 capture-and-storage project area in southern Western Australia. “Although projects such as the West Australian Gorgon CO2 injection scheme have envisaged the technology before, what makes the SW

Hub project so significant is it achieved Commonwealth Government Flagship Program status,” says project supervisor Guy Allinson.

The Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships (CCS Flagships) Program was established in May 2009 and supports the construction and demonstration of large-scale, integrated CCS projects in Australia.

“The CO2 injected would be from emissions in the SW Hub area – this could be up to about 6 million tonnes a year,” says Guy. “Although this is small compared with over 500 million tonnes a year of CO2 emitted in Australia in 2013-14, the significance of the project is huge. It would demonstrate how to help reduce CO2 emissions while renewable technologies develop on a larger scale.”

For more information on this project, go to unsw.to/emagsustainablemining.

Finding the hole truth

Vital step to curb emissions

Professor Ros Taplin is leading the push for sustainable mining practices. Professor Ros Taplin

Photo: Grant Turner/Mediakoo

Mining Engineering

Petroleum Engineering

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10-mining-and-carbon-dioxide.indd 1 25/05/2015 9:23 am

Just like using Lego or Meccano, demountable buildings can be disassembled and the component parts reused in different building projects. It’s a concept that’s as delightful as it is simple. It’s also an idea that may change the face of the construction industry, replacing permanent structures with ones made from reusable structural steel.

Brian Uy, professor of structural engineering and the director of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety at UNSW, says structural steel is ideal for use in demountable buildings. Bolted construction methods are already commonplace in commercial structural-steel buildings. “We are carrying out research on bolted connections to promote demountability and the initial results are promising,” he says. “Demountable structures could be a game-changer for the construction industry.”

Steel is expensive to produce and has a major impact on the environment. Re-smelting steel also consumes only marginally less energy than producing steel from scratch. “So imagine the cost, time and environmental benefits if steel components are forged just once then used again and again,” Brian says.

However simple the idea of reusable demountable buildings made from structural steel is in theory, it presents many challenges. There are issues with developing demountable structures for a long lifespan, although there have been encouraging results from testing and analysis that favourably compare demountable forms with traditional structural forms.

Damage assessment and traceability are also potential issues. Brian suggests that barcoding or otherwise identifying the steel and including those details in the building information model (BIM) would address these.

If the reused steel was degraded and the damage not recorded, the new structures could potentially be unstable or dangerous. However, modern structural health monitoring techniques make it possible to gain information about stresses, strains and deformations throughout a structure’s life. This could be recorded against the steel’s barcode so that any unusable steel is removed.

One key challenge is developing a sophisticated and

viable reused-steel market. “This would require building designers and construction companies to work together within a structured framework,” Brian says. A small market already exists - for steel used in falsework, which is removed when a building is stable. There may also be design interest in bespoke steel products from previous eras that could be incorporated in the design process.

Brian believes steel suppliers have the greatest role to play. They could buy steel from projects being demolished then stock and resell reused steel. Government incentives would encourage this, he says. A successful market would also depend on smart regulation, collaboration between architects and builders, and industry support.

Another way to encourage the reuse of steel would be to use a green building rating. Brian is on the sustainable

construction panel for the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK, which has made proposals on this topic. The group believes current green building ratings do not go far enough, and the industry must take some responsibility for driving this concept.

In addition to a green building rating, the Cradle to Cradle Certified system offers a standard for developing products according to quality categories relating to human and environmental health. The Netherlands and US are world leaders in steel-reuse initiatives through this standard. “Cradle to cradle” initiatives have also been adopted in places like Malaysia, which, in addition to using industrialised building systems, has seen quite significant effects on the construction of urban infrastructure.

Brian thinks there needs to be a refocus on the four ‘Rs’: “rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle”. While discussion has focused on reducing and recycling, rethinking and reusing steel is far less energy-intensive than recycling and will result in greater benefits overall.

Reuse and rethinkProfessor Brian Uy’s research on demountable buildings signals a cost-effective way to accelerate the building process, and reduce waste and the impact on the environment.

Professor Brian Uy Photo: Grant Turner/Mediakoo

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“Demountable structures could be a game-changer for the construction industry.” — Professor Brian Uy+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Adam Brimo is an engineer in a hurry. In the five short years since graduating from UNSW Australia, Adam has been a multi-award winner and prominent activist, creating Vodafail.com – a website that allowed frustrated Vodafone customers to air grievances about the telco’s poor performance. In 2012, Adam and UNSW Associate Professor Richard Buckland co-founded an online education platform, OpenLearning (openlearning.com), which uses similar elements to Facebook to deliver interactive, student-centred learning to online student communities. “Our goal is to build the most fun and engaging online education platform in the world,” says Adam, who is now the company’s chief executive. He would like to reach a million users by the end of the year.

What’s your favourite or most fond memory of studying at UNSW? I really enjoyed my time at UNSW and I have a tonne of great memories. Some of the best would be the time I was in the RoboCup team in Computer Science and Engineering. It was very challenging because the robots that we had to program were poorly designed and we only received them weeks before the competition. This led to many late nights with our team but it was a tonne of fun.

How did your UNSW degree shape your consumer activism and learning ideals? More important than the programming languages we learned were the theories and methodologies that enabled me to quickly adapt and learn in this rapidly changing industry. From database design to data mining,

project-management skills to presenting ideas, every subject I studied contributed something to my success in this effort. As a student representative in UNSW Computer Science and Engineering and a health-and-safety representative in the Faculty of Engineering, I was able to tackle student concerns and provide feedback.

Knowing what you know now, what career advice would you give to your 20-year-old self? My personal philosophy is persistence, hard work and patience are key traits that must be practised in everything you do, no matter what you decide to do in life.

What character traits or skills do you think are important for engineers to cultivate? Find things that no one else is doing and that [you’re] passionate about – then create something to solve that problem. Critical thinking, hard work, patience, perseverance, curiosity and more.

What’s next in your career? Continuing to grow and build OpenLearning into an incredible technology and education company.

Call for nominations2015 UNSW Women in Engineering AwardsIf you know a successful woman who graduated from UNSW Engineering, please consider nominating her. The two awards are:• The Judy Raper Award for Leadership• The Maria Skyllas-Kazacos Young Professsional Award for

Outstanding AchievementWinners receive a prize of $5000.The awards will be presented during Australian Engineering Week on 6 August 2015.For more information, selection criteria, a list of recent winners and how to nominate, go to unsw.to/wieawards.Nominations close 10 July 2015.

Learning without bordersFrom consumer activist to ‘techpreneur’, Adam Brimo is changing the way students around the world learn.

UNSW Engineers is published by the Faculty of Engineering, UNSW Australia, UNSW Sydney 2052 AustraliaPhone +61 2 9385 7324 Fax +61 2 9385 5456Editorial & Design Top to Tale MediaWriters Jane Edwards, Penny Jones, Amy Coopes and Dinethra MenonPrinter Oxford PrintingLinkedIn Connect with us and former classmates from UNSW EngineeringContact us Got a story to share? Know an alumnus we should profile? Want to tell us about what is going on in your part of the engineering world?We’d love to hear from you! [email protected] to update your details? [email protected] the cover Scientia Professor Martin Green on the Tyree Energy Technologies Building. Photo: Grant Turner, www.mediakoo.com

Computer Science and Engineering

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