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Dr Mehdi Serati

Senior Lecturer, Advance Qld Indust

School of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
m.serati@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 53911

Overview

Mehdi Serati completed his PhD at The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) through The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia in Geotechnical Engineering. His core research expertise is in the design and setup of advanced equipment and experiments to test rocks and brittle composites. His area of work is analytical and experimental methods of geotechnical problems, materials testing, rock mechanics, and rock fracture mechanics. He is also the Deputy Manager of the internationally-recognized Large Open Pit Project, which is a collaboration funded by mining companies worldwide aimed at addressing critical gaps in the current understanding of rock slope failures and landslides in large open pit mines (see also https://www.lopproject.com/).

Research Impacts

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Experimental and numerical investigation of fire-induced concrete spalling under biaxial stresses

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Damage Monitoring in Brittle Rocks with Nonlinear Ultrasonic

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Rock burst and Spalling under Cyclic and Creep Stress Conditions

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Thermo-Mechanical Damage Behavior of Rock Under Polyaxial Stresses

    Knowledge of rock damage behaviour is of great importance in many engineering applications including the design of open-pit mines, deep underground tunnels, repositories, and deep wells, as well as in geophysics, tectonics, and seismology disciplines. It is therefore imperative to understand how environmental parameters affect rock damage in such applications for better and safer designs. In deep underground operations, in particular, accumulation of damage is predominantly controlled by (high) temperature and pressure (HTP) that rock is exposed to. This project aims to:

    1. Evaluate the effect of temperature on the mechanical strength of rocks under true triaxial (3D) stress conditions,
    2. Investigate fracture pattern of rocks under elevated temperatures as well as far-field external loads, and
    3. Introduce a more accurate and reliable coupled 3D thermo-mechanical damage model for rocks.

    We are seeking a full-time, highly motivated PhD candidate to perform high-quality research in the field of rock fracture mechanics. The successful candidate will be working under the supervision of Dr Mehdi Serati and Professor David Williams the Geotechnical Engineering Centre (GEC) within the School of Civil Engineering. The candidate will join a multidisciplinary team in partnership with industry partners.

  • Combined Dynamic/Biaxial Compression Failure Mode of Geostructures

    Mechanical response of geomaterials (e.g. brick, rock, shotcrete, and concrete) under cyclic, dynamic and fast strain-rate loads are substantially different from that of a quasi-static or homogenous loading. Such impact/cyclic stresses could, for instance, be exerted to geostructures during drilling and blasting (D&B) or spalling and rockburst events in deep excavations, which usually deform the near-field rocks at very high strain rates. While quasi-static compression tests have been widely performed on geostructures since the 1960s, coupled dynamic/cyclic and biaxial loading on geostructures have largely been ignored since it would require sophisticated laboratory equipment to model the complex stress conditions. Using the new Hybrid Biaxial/True Triaxial testing facility at UQ Civil, the main objective of this PhD project is to investigate the fracture growth in geomaterials under combined dynamic/cyclic/biaxial stresses by adopting digital image correlation (3D DIC) and high-speed photography techniques.

    We are seeking a full-time, highly motivated PhD candidate to perform high-quality research in the field of rock testing and fracture mechanics. The successful candidate will be working under the supervision of Dr Mehdi Serati and Professor David Williams the Geotechnical Engineering Centre (GEC) within the School of Civil Engineering. The candidate will join a multidisciplinary team in partnership with industry partners.

  • Utilization of Waste Glass In Concrete Mixes

    Due to their widespread, prolonged and expanding exploitation, reserves of natural sand are depleting worldwide. It is estimated that globally nearly 50 billion tonnes of sand are consumed per annum, which makes sand the most widely consumed natural resource on the planet, after freshwater. The depletion of sand reserves has also resulted in a dramatic increase in sand price to almost six times over the last 25 years. In civil engineering, therefore, crushed waste glass (CWG) has been investigated for some time as a potential substitute for sand and fine-grained aggregate in concrete production, or Glascrete. This study aims to assess the applicability of CWG (also known colloquially as Cullet) in concrete mixes and investigate further how this replacement affect concrete physical properties. Unconfined compressive strength, tensile and true triaxial strength of concrete mixes will be particularly investigated. The advisory team of teh project includes Dr Mehdi Serati, Dr Harry Ashe, and Mr Niki Jackson (of GCP Applied Technologies).

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Evaluating the use of crushed waste glass modified asphalt mixes in mine haul roads

    Kumar, Aayush, Serati, Mehdi, Vangla, Prashanth, Van Wijk, Ian, Williams, David J. and Ramana, G. V. (2023). Evaluating the use of crushed waste glass modified asphalt mixes in mine haul roads. 26th World Mining Congress, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 26 - 29 June 2023.

  • Brittle-ductile transition in coal pillar failures

    Yang, Xiaohan, Serati, Mehdi and Buddery, Paul (2023). Brittle-ductile transition in coal pillar failures. 2023 Resource Operators Conference (ROC 2023), Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 9-10 February 2023. Wollongong, NSW, Australia: University of Wollongong.

  • Biaxial Loading of Brazilian Disc Samples

    Serati, M., Mottaghi, R., Williams, D. J. and Chen, Z. (2023). Biaxial Loading of Brazilian Disc Samples. Rock and Fracture Mechanics in Rock Engineering and Mining, Helsinki, Finland, 11-15 September 2022. Bristol, United Kingdom: Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/1124/1/012017

  • Coupled thermo-mechanical study of crack initiation stress threshold in porous sandstone

    Moravej, S., Mutaz, E., Serati, M. and Williams, D.J. (2023). Coupled thermo-mechanical study of crack initiation stress threshold in porous sandstone. Eurock 2022 - Rock and Fracture Mechanics in Rock Engineering and Mining, Helsinki, Finland, 11 - 15 September 2022. Bristol, United Kingdom: Institute of Physics Publishing. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/1124/1/012022

  • Validation of the crack mode-changing stress in circular tunnels under generalized triaxial tensile stress states

    Mutaz, E., Serati, M., Williams, D.J. and Quintero, O.S. (2023). Validation of the crack mode-changing stress in circular tunnels under generalized triaxial tensile stress states. Eurock 2022 - Rock and Fracture Mechanics in Rock Engineering and Mining, Helsinki, Finland, 11 - 15 September 2022. Bristol, United Kingdom: Institute of Physics Publishing. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/1124/1/012068

  • True Triaxial Testing of Anisotropic Solids

    Zhu, X., Serati, M., Mutaz, E. and Chen, Z. (2022). True Triaxial Testing of Anisotropic Solids. 56th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Santa Fe, NM United States, 26-29 June 2022. Alexandria, VA United States: ARMA. doi: 10.56952/arma-2022-2125

  • The influence of stress-strain conditions on fire-induced concrete spalling: A review

    Souvik Saha, Mehdi Serati, Cristian Maluk and Dipti Ranjan Sahoo (2022). The influence of stress-strain conditions on fire-induced concrete spalling: A review. fib International Congress, Oslo, Norway, 12–16 June 2022. The Norwegian Society of Graduate Technical and Scientific Professionals.

  • Crack initiation and damage evolution in high porosity sandstone under cyclic compression

    Serati, Mehdi , Wang, Tengzhou and Koosmen, Kai (2022). Crack initiation and damage evolution in high porosity sandstone under cyclic compression. 10th International Symposium on Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Tucson, AZ, United States, 26-28 April 2022. Englewood, CO, United States: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME).

  • The effect of minor principal stress on the crack damage stress threshold

    Mutaz, E., Serati, M., Bahaaddini, M. and Williams, D.J. (2022). The effect of minor principal stress on the crack damage stress threshold. 10th International Symposium on Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Tucson, AZ, United States, 26-28 April 2022. Englewood, CO, United States: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME).

  • Crack damage evolution in coal at elevated temperatures

    Serati, Mehdi, Kwan, King Ho Benny, Gordon, Nick, Moravej, Sasan, Bahaaddini, Mojtaba and Mirzaghorbanali, Ali (2022). Crack damage evolution in coal at elevated temperatures. 2022 Resource Operators Conference, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia, 10-11 February 2022. The University Of Wollongong Printery.

  • Effect of the minor principal stress on crack initiation stress threshold

    Mutaz, Mahmoud, Serati, Mehdi and Williams, David J. (2021). Effect of the minor principal stress on crack initiation stress threshold. ISRM International Symposium-11th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium, Beijing, China, 21-25 October 2021. Lisbon, Portugal: International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/861/4/042013

  • Crack initiation evolution under triaxial loading conditions

    Mahmoud, Mutaz, Mehdi Serati and Williams, David J. (2021). Crack initiation evolution under triaxial loading conditions. Eurock 2021 , Turin, Italy, 21–24 September 2021. Rome, Italy: Italian Geotechnical Society (AGI). doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/833/1/012012

  • Variation of apparent cohesion and friction angle under polyaxial stress conditions in concrete

    Mahmoud, Mutaz, Mehdi Serati, Rimmelin, Rigo and Williams, David J. (2021). Variation of apparent cohesion and friction angle under polyaxial stress conditions in concrete. Eurock 2021 , Turin, Italy, 21–24 September 2021. Rome, Italy: Italian Geotechnical Society (AGI). doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/833/1/012018

  • Sustainable shotcrete with crushed waste glass

    Serati, Mehdi, Malgotra, Gautam, Jackson, Niki , Basireddy, Sai Manaswi Reddy and Asche, Harry (2021). Sustainable shotcrete with crushed waste glass. Eurock 2021 , Turin, Italy, 21–24 September 2021. Rome, Italy: Italian Geotechnical Society (AGI). doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/833/1/012081

  • Assessment of asphalt cracking using high-speed photography

    van Wijk, Ian, Valluru, Thejaswee and Serati, Mehdi (2021). Assessment of asphalt cracking using high-speed photography. The AfPA International Flexible Pavements Conference, Online, 3 to 5 August 2021 . Eight Mile Plains, QLD, Australia: The Australian Flexible Pavements Association.

  • On the evaluation of crack initiation stress threshold

    Mutaz, Mahmoud, Serati, Mehdi, Bahaaddini‬, ‪Mojtaba and Williams, David J. (2021). On the evaluation of crack initiation stress threshold. The 55th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Houston, TX USA, 18-25 June 2021. Alexandria, VA USA: The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) .

  • Utilization of crushed waste glass in shotcrete

    Basireddy, Sai Manaswi Reddy, Serati, Mehdi, Jackson, Niki, Malgotra, Gautam and Harry Asche (2021). Utilization of crushed waste glass in shotcrete. The 55th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Houston, TX USA, 18-25 June 2021. Alexandria, VA USA: The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) .

  • Tensile crack speed in brittle rocks

    Serati, Mehdi (2021). Tensile crack speed in brittle rocks. European Geosciences Union (EGU21), Virtual, 19–30 April 2021. Göttingen, Germany: Copernicus Meetings. doi: 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13894

  • Axial behaviour of rock bolts–part (b) numerical study

    Nourizadeh, Hadi, Mirzaghorbanali, Ali, McDougall, Kevin, Aziz, Naj and Mehdi Serati (2021). Axial behaviour of rock bolts–part (b) numerical study. ROC2021, Brisbane, Australia, 11–12 February 2021. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong/University of Southern Queensland.

  • Axial behaviour of rock bolts–part (a) experimental study

    Nourizadeh, Hadi, Williams, Sally, Mirzaghorbanali, Ali, McDougall, Kevin, Aziz, Naj and Serati, Mehdi (2021). Axial behaviour of rock bolts–part (a) experimental study. ROC2021, Brisbane, Australia, 11–12 February 2021. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong/University of Southern Queensland.

  • Characterization of the fracture mode in asphalt at varying temperatures

    Serati, Mehdi, Valluru, Thejaswee and Van Wijk, Ian (2021). Characterization of the fracture mode in asphalt at varying temperatures. ROC2021, Brisbane, Australia, 11–12 February 2021. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong/University of Southern Queensland.

  • Determining rock elastic parameters using a new true-triaxial-based technique

    Purser, Robert , El-Amin Mohmoud, Mutaz, Serati, Mehdi and Chen, Zhongwei (2021). Determining rock elastic parameters using a new true-triaxial-based technique. ROC2021, Brisbane, Australia, 11–12 February 2021. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong/University of Southern Queensland.

  • Fracture propagation mode of coal under indirect tensile stresses

    Serati, Mehdi, Roshan, Hamid, Mirzaghorbanali, Ali, El-Amin Mahmoud, Mutaz and Valluru, Thejaswee (2021). Fracture propagation mode of coal under indirect tensile stresses. ROC2021, Brisbane, Australia, 11–12 February 2021. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong/University of Southern Queensland.

  • On the accurate strain measurements for the crack initiation determination

    Mahmoud, M., Serati, M., Williams, D.J. and Nguyen, V.T. (2020). On the accurate strain measurements for the crack initiation determination. Underground Mining Technology, Perth, WA. Australia, 3 – 4 November 2020 . Perth, WA, Australia: Australian Centre for Geomechanics.

  • A comparative study on shear strength of crushed waste glass with natural and manufactured sand

    Kazmi, Danish, Serati, Mehdi, Williams, David J., Qasim, Sadaf, Cheng, Yi Pik and Olaya, Sebastian Quintero (2020). A comparative study on shear strength of crushed waste glass with natural and manufactured sand. 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, United States, 28 June - 1 July 2020. American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • Tensile cracking pattern in brittle solids

    Serati, Mehdi (2020). Tensile cracking pattern in brittle solids. International Conference on the Recent Trends in Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering and Education, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 10 – 11 September 2020. Brisbane, QLD Australia: RTGEE.

  • Failure Mode of Concrete Under Polyaxial Stresses

    Serati, Mehdi , El-Amin, Mutaz , Williams, David J., Quintero Olaya, Sebastian , Karlovsek, Jurij and Hanzic, Lucija (2020). Failure Mode of Concrete Under Polyaxial Stresses. 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Golden, CO United States, 28 June – 1 July 2020. Alexandria, VA United States: ARMA.

  • High-Speed Photography of Asphalt Cracking

    Serati, Mehdi, Valluru, Thejaswee, van Wijk, Ian and Masoumi, Hossein (2020). High-Speed Photography of Asphalt Cracking. 54th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Golden, CO United States, 28 June – 1 July 2020. Alexandria, VA United States: ARMA.

  • Bayesian approach for the assessment of sufficiency of geotechnical data

    Contreras, L. F., Serati, M. and Williams, D. J (2020). Bayesian approach for the assessment of sufficiency of geotechnical data. International Symposium on Slope Stability in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, Perth, WA Australia, 12-14 May 2020. Perth, WA Australia: Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG).

  • Determining coal directional mechanical properties using true triaxial testing facility

    Chen, Zhongwei, Serati, Mehdi and Mohmoud, Mutaz El-Amin (2020). Determining coal directional mechanical properties using true triaxial testing facility. Coal Operators’ Conference 2020, University of Wollongong, 12-14 February 2020. Wollongong, NSW Australia: University of Wollongong.

  • A validation study for the estimation of point load index at varying slenderness ratio

    Serati, M., Williams, D. J. and Song, S. (2019). A validation study for the estimation of point load index at varying slenderness ratio. YSRM2019 & REIF2019, Okinawa, Japan, 1-4 December 2019. Okinawa, Japan: Japanese Society for Rock Mechanics.

  • Comparison of basic geotechnical parameters of crushed waste glass with natural and manufactured sands

    Kazmi, Danish, Williams, David J. and Serati, Mehdi (2019). Comparison of basic geotechnical parameters of crushed waste glass with natural and manufactured sands. 53rd US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, New York, NY, United States, 23-26 June 2019. Alexandria, VA, United States: American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • Effects of testing conditions on measurement of material’s elastic properties

    Mutaz Mahmoud, Serati, M., Nguyen, V.T. and Williams, D.J. (2019). Effects of testing conditions on measurement of material’s elastic properties. YSRM2019 & REIF2019, Okinawa, Japan, 1-4 December 2019. Okinawa, Japan: ISRM.

  • Puzzles in tensile strength determination of hard rocks

    Serati, Mehdi and Williams, David J. (2019). Puzzles in tensile strength determination of hard rocks. 53rd US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, New York, NY, United States, 23-26 June 2019. Alexandria, VA, United States: American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • Digital multiphysics interferometry: a new approach to study chemo-thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions in geomaterials

    Roshan, H., Siddiqui, M. A. Q., Regenauer-Lieb, K., Lv, A., Hedayat, A. and Serati, M. (2018). Digital multiphysics interferometry: a new approach to study chemo-thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions in geomaterials. 52nd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Seattle, Washington, United States, 17–20 June 2018. Seattle, United States: American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA).

  • Improvements to tensile strength measurement of hard rocks

    Serati, Mehdi and Williams, David J. (2018). Improvements to tensile strength measurement of hard rocks. 12th Australia & New Zealand Young Geotechnical Professionals Conference, Hobart, Australia, 6-9 November 2018. St Ives, NSW Australia: Australian Geomechanics Society.

  • Some new aspects on the diametral point load testing

    Serati, M., Masoumi, H., Williams, D. J., Alehossein, H. and Roshan, H. (2018). Some new aspects on the diametral point load testing. 52nd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Seattle, WA, United States, 17-20 June 2018. Alexandria, VA, United States: American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • Effect of Waste Additives on Mechanical Strength of Fired Clay Bricks

    Serati, Mehdi, Williams, David J., del Pilar Durante Ingunza, Maria and Quintero Olaya, Sebastian (2017). Effect of Waste Additives on Mechanical Strength of Fired Clay Bricks. The 32nd International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 19-22 March 2017. Chester, PA United States: The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management.

  • Effect of scalping on shear strength of aggregate

    Xu, Youwei, Williams, David and Serati, Mehdi (2017). Effect of scalping on shear strength of aggregate. 51 st US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 25-28 June 2017. San Francisco, CA, United States: ARMA.

  • Geotechnical characterisation of neutralised red mud for use in civil engineering construction and manufacturing

    Quintero Olaya, Sebastian, Williams, David J., del Pilar Durante Ingunza, Maria and Serati, Mehdi (2017). Geotechnical characterisation of neutralised red mud for use in civil engineering construction and manufacturing. The 32nd International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 19-22 March 2017. Chester, PA United States: The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management.

  • Investigation of shear strength and breakdown of mine waste rock

    Xu, Youwei, Williams, David and Serati, Mehdi (2017). Investigation of shear strength and breakdown of mine waste rock. 51st US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA United States, 25-28 June 2017. San Francisco, California, USA: ARMA.

  • Modified Brazilian test for indirect measurement of tensile strength of brittle materials

    Serati, Mehdi, Masoumi, Hossein, Williams, David J. and Alehossein, Habib (2017). Modified Brazilian test for indirect measurement of tensile strength of brittle materials. ARMA 2017: 51st U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 25-28 June 2017. Alexandria, VA, United States: ARMA.

  • Size dependency of intact rocks with high brittleness: a potential solution to eliminate secondary fractures in Brazilian test

    Masoumi, Hossein, Serati, Mehdi, Williams, David J. and Alehossein, Habib (2017). Size dependency of intact rocks with high brittleness: a potential solution to eliminate secondary fractures in Brazilian test. ARMA 2017: 51st U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 25-28 June 2017. Alexandria, VA, United States: ARMA.

  • Hertzian contact damage in a hollow circular cylinder

    Serati, M., Williams, D. J. and Erarslan, N. (2016). Hertzian contact damage in a hollow circular cylinder. CRC Press/Balkema.

  • Hertzian contact damage in a hollow circular cylinder

    Serati, M., Williams, D. J. and Erarslan, N. (2016). Hertzian contact damage in a hollow circular cylinder. ISRM International Symposium (EUROCK 2016), Ürgüp-Nevşehir, Cappadocia, Turkey, 29-31 August 2016. International Society for Rock Mechanics. doi: 10.1201/9781315388502-71

  • Michell–Fourier analytical treatment of stresses in the ring test under parabolic compression

    Serati, Mehdi and Williams, David J. (2015). Michell–Fourier analytical treatment of stresses in the ring test under parabolic compression. US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 29 June - 1 July 2015. Alexandria, VA, United States: The American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • Numerical study of rock aggregate materials under various loadings

    Zhu, L., Erarslan, N., Williams, D. J., Serati, M. and Ghamgosar, M. (2015). Numerical study of rock aggregate materials under various loadings. US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 29 June - 1 July 2015. Alexandria, VA, United States: The American Rock Mechanics Association.

  • The ring test under general interior and exterior loading

    Serati, Mehdi, Tiryaki (Erarslan), Nazife and Williams, David J. (2015). The ring test under general interior and exterior loading. The 13th International Congress of Rock Mechanics-ISRM Congress 2015, Montreal, Canada, 10-13 May 2015. Montreal, ON, Canada: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

  • 3D elastic solutions for point load and Brazilian indirect tensile strength tests

    Serati, Mehdi, Alehossein, Habib, Erarslan, Nazife and Williams, David J. (2013). 3D elastic solutions for point load and Brazilian indirect tensile strength tests. Eurock 2013: ISRM International Symposium, Wrocław, Poland, 23-26 September 2013. Leiden, Netherland: CRC Press/Balkema. doi: 10.1201/b15683-152

  • Analytical and numerical study of hard rock cutting with roller disc cutters

    Serati, Mehdi, Alehossein, Habib and Williams, David J. (2012). Analytical and numerical study of hard rock cutting with roller disc cutters. ASME 2012 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2012), Houston, TX, United States, 9-15 November 2012. New York, United States: ASME. doi: 10.1115/IMECE2012-87220

  • Analysis of influencing factors in response spectrum of underground structures using numerical method

    Serati, M. and Moosavi, M. (2010). Analysis of influencing factors in response spectrum of underground structures using numerical method. 5th International Symposium on In-situ Rock Stress and Earthquakes, Beijing, China, 25–27 August 2010. Boca Raton, FL United State: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9780415601658-100

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Experimental and numerical investigation of fire-induced concrete spalling under biaxial stresses

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Damage Monitoring in Brittle Rocks with Nonlinear Ultrasonic

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Rock burst and Spalling under Cyclic and Creep Stress Conditions

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Physical Modelling of Spalling Failure in Underground Structures

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Thermo-mechanical Damage Behaviour in Hydraulic Fracturing of Brittle Rocks Under Polyaxial Stresses

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • XRCT Hydromechanical Damage Evolution In Porous Rocks: Characterisation and Modelling

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Shotcrete Spalling in Tunnel Fires

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Catastrophic rock and concrete brittle failures

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Utilization of Solid Wastes in Shotcrete Production

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Thermo-Mechanics of Asphalt Mixes with Crushed Waste Glass Aggregates

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Biocementation for Dispersive Soil Stabilization: Optimization and Up-scaling

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Investigating the Crack Growth and Failure Mechanisms in Sprayed Concrete (Shotcrete) under Cyclic Loading

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • A Review of Quarry Mine Datasets in Queensland

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Impact and Biaxial Cyclic Loading of Geosynthetics

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Understanding and Characterizing the Effects of CO2 Enhanced Mineralization Using Hydraulic Fracturing in Peridotite Igneous Rocks

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Thermo-Mechanical Damage Behavior of Rock Under Polyaxial Stresses

    Knowledge of rock damage behaviour is of great importance in many engineering applications including the design of open-pit mines, deep underground tunnels, repositories, and deep wells, as well as in geophysics, tectonics, and seismology disciplines. It is therefore imperative to understand how environmental parameters affect rock damage in such applications for better and safer designs. In deep underground operations, in particular, accumulation of damage is predominantly controlled by (high) temperature and pressure (HTP) that rock is exposed to. This project aims to:

    1. Evaluate the effect of temperature on the mechanical strength of rocks under true triaxial (3D) stress conditions,
    2. Investigate fracture pattern of rocks under elevated temperatures as well as far-field external loads, and
    3. Introduce a more accurate and reliable coupled 3D thermo-mechanical damage model for rocks.

    We are seeking a full-time, highly motivated PhD candidate to perform high-quality research in the field of rock fracture mechanics. The successful candidate will be working under the supervision of Dr Mehdi Serati and Professor David Williams the Geotechnical Engineering Centre (GEC) within the School of Civil Engineering. The candidate will join a multidisciplinary team in partnership with industry partners.

  • Combined Dynamic/Biaxial Compression Failure Mode of Geostructures

    Mechanical response of geomaterials (e.g. brick, rock, shotcrete, and concrete) under cyclic, dynamic and fast strain-rate loads are substantially different from that of a quasi-static or homogenous loading. Such impact/cyclic stresses could, for instance, be exerted to geostructures during drilling and blasting (D&B) or spalling and rockburst events in deep excavations, which usually deform the near-field rocks at very high strain rates. While quasi-static compression tests have been widely performed on geostructures since the 1960s, coupled dynamic/cyclic and biaxial loading on geostructures have largely been ignored since it would require sophisticated laboratory equipment to model the complex stress conditions. Using the new Hybrid Biaxial/True Triaxial testing facility at UQ Civil, the main objective of this PhD project is to investigate the fracture growth in geomaterials under combined dynamic/cyclic/biaxial stresses by adopting digital image correlation (3D DIC) and high-speed photography techniques.

    We are seeking a full-time, highly motivated PhD candidate to perform high-quality research in the field of rock testing and fracture mechanics. The successful candidate will be working under the supervision of Dr Mehdi Serati and Professor David Williams the Geotechnical Engineering Centre (GEC) within the School of Civil Engineering. The candidate will join a multidisciplinary team in partnership with industry partners.

  • Utilization of Waste Glass In Concrete Mixes

    Due to their widespread, prolonged and expanding exploitation, reserves of natural sand are depleting worldwide. It is estimated that globally nearly 50 billion tonnes of sand are consumed per annum, which makes sand the most widely consumed natural resource on the planet, after freshwater. The depletion of sand reserves has also resulted in a dramatic increase in sand price to almost six times over the last 25 years. In civil engineering, therefore, crushed waste glass (CWG) has been investigated for some time as a potential substitute for sand and fine-grained aggregate in concrete production, or Glascrete. This study aims to assess the applicability of CWG (also known colloquially as Cullet) in concrete mixes and investigate further how this replacement affect concrete physical properties. Unconfined compressive strength, tensile and true triaxial strength of concrete mixes will be particularly investigated. The advisory team of teh project includes Dr Mehdi Serati, Dr Harry Ashe, and Mr Niki Jackson (of GCP Applied Technologies).

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Civil Engineering, Geotechnical engineering, Geomechanics, Rock Mechanics, Analytical and Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, Rock Fracture Mechanics, Rock Breakage, Computational Modelling

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

Links

ResearcherID: A-9394-2018

ORCID: 0000-0001-5024-8790

Scopus ID: 55670624400

Google Scholar ID: goP1gYQAAAAJ

Personal Profile: Link

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