Costin Roe Consulting has congratulated Tanaz Dhondy, engineer at the firm’s Sydney office, for being selected to present an engineering research paper at the World Congress on Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR), to be held this November in Qatar.
WorldCUR brings together many the world’s most outstanding undergraduates to present research papers on important themes such as climate change, environment and sustainability, global health, science, society, urban and rural development, and information technology.
Tanaz Dhondy, engineer at Costin Roe Consulting’s Sydney office.
“This is a fantastic achievement for Tanaz to receive this invitation to present her undergraduate research paper in Qatar in November,” said Wayne Costin, the founder of Costin Roe Consulting. “Our firm has a long tradition of attracting the brightest engineering students and offering them the opportunity to develop as engineers through the mentorship of people like Phil Terrey, our associate director, who is also a research fellow and tutor at the University of New South Wales.”
The paper to be presented at WorldCUR by Tanaz Dhondy will reveal the results of her research into steel-reinforced concrete, as commonly used in Australia but vulnerable to the effects of oxidation (“concrete cancer”), compared to concrete reinforced by non-rusting polymer bars, which can be used in America and Canada but not yet in Australia.
COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN THE MOMENT CAPACITY AND CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF GFRP REINFORCED CONCRETE AND STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE
Abstract as follows:
Reinforced concrete is widely used in infrastructure worldwide. The use of steel reinforcement in concrete has gained acceptance due to its trusted durability over the centuries. Thus, countries have accepted steel as their primary reinforcement when designing and consulting infrastructure. However, even though steel reinforcement is accepted worldwide it comes with an array of problems which restrict its application or places constraints on its design. The main detrimental effect of steel reinforcement in concrete structures is the oxidation that occurs when steel is exposed to oxygen and water. This causes rusting of the steel rebars, which is commonly referred to as concrete cancer. Concrete cancer can affect the structural integrity of the infrastructure on which it is present, thus reducing its service life. Considering the worst case scenario, concrete cancer can lead to the undue collapse of the structure, which could cause harm to individuals in or around of the structure at the time of collapse. An innovative alternative to avoiding the effects of concrete cancer in reinforced concrete structures is the use of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcement bars. The use of FRP reinforcement is not as commonly accepted, with guidelines and standards for design only being published by Canada (ISIS) and America (ACI). FRP has the mechanical characteristic of being brittle, while steel is ductile. The ductility in steel gives designers the confidence that the structure will yield prior to failure. While, in brittle material there is no sign or failure, due to the rapid rate of crack propagation. This research investigated and comparing the theoretical moment capacity and the corresponding cross-sectional area of reinforcement used for steel reinforced concrete section, using the Australian Standards, and with FRP reinforced concrete section, calculated using the American and Canadian standards.
Ms Tanaz Dhondy / Dr Alex Remennikov Faculty of Engineering, Information and Science University of Wollongong
