Keynote Speech 1:

Case Studies in Australian on Work Health and Safety Requirements during the Construction Process of Temporary Structures

The aim of this study is to determine whether construction processes involving erection, use and dismantling of temporary structures such as tower cranes and metal scaffolding in Australian high-rise construction sites have been in compliance with the existing Work Health and Safety (WHS) requirements. The research reviewed five case studies in Sydney to investigate the causes of crane and scaffold safety incidents. The results of evaluation of these separate sites have shown that without stringent safety procedures in place to abide by the WHS Act and Regulations, major accidents associated with carne and scaffold with serious injuries including fatalities are inevitable. Results also found that a number of limiting factors including communication skill, regular maintenance, safety checks, safety culture and safety investments contribute to the severity of the incidents. It was evident that a lack of compliance in both tower crane and scaffolding services has impacted the construction industry greatly. In particular, the results highlighted the importance of educating all employees in regard to risks related to crane operation and use of scaffolding. The study recommends that regular maintenance checks must always be conducted to ensure all components of tower cranes and scaffolding are in working condition free from any defects.


 Prof Saha
Associate Professor Dr. Swapan Saha, Western Sydney University, Australia

Associate Professor Dr. Swapan Saha received his Master of Engineering degree in Construction in 1989 from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand and obtained his PhD in 2003 from the University of Western Sydney. He currently works at Western Sydney University as the Lead Director of Academic Program (Construction Management). Swapan's teaching and research are mainly in the areas of construction management and simulation, construction information systems and construction technology. He worked in the construction industry in Australia and Thailand before joining as an academic member of staff with UWS. Swapan has worked on landmark projects including the Sydney Harbour Tunnel Project during 1990 and 1992, plus the Bangkok elevated expressway project in 1989. He has published papers in journals and conferences and is a member of Engineers Australia and the Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building. Further details at: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/associate_professor_swapan_saha


Keynote Speech 2:

Developing Safety Assessment Procedure for Existing Buildings in Bangladesh

The collapse of 9-storied Ready Made Garment (RMG) building 'Rana Plaza' at Savar in April 2013, killing 1135 garment workers and injuring over 2500 people was a severe blow to the Garment industry in Bangladesh and human conscience all over the world. All the stake holders in the business especially the foreign buyers and labour organisations expressed great concern over the safety of the garment workers in Bangladesh. Immediately, the government formed a committee and International Labour Organisation (ILO) came forward to fund the project to evaluate the condition of the garment industry buildings in Bangladesh. The department of civil engineering of BUET was entrusted with the job to formulate a guideline to assess the safety of existing buildings and help identify the buildings with high risk. Standard procedures stated in different codes of developed countries were studied and a suitable strategy for safety assessment in Bangladesh context was prepared. During site inspection of various buildings, it was noted that compliance to building codes may not be met yet the building can serve the purpose without risk. A quick visual inspection procedure was outlined which may or may not trigger for second tier Detail Engineering Assessment (DEA) of the concerned building. Finally retrofitting and strengthening scheme for some building elements may become necessary if DEA reveals inadequacy or weakness of such member. However, to meet more stringent requirements considering seismic vulnerability, standard procedures of ASCE 31-03 and FEMA 155 was recommended until some local standard procedures are formulated.


 Prof Kabir
Professor Dr. Ahsanul Kabir, Professor & Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Professor Dr. Ahsanul Kabir is working in the department of Civil Engineering of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) since 1977. He is currently serving as Head of the department of Civil Engineering. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers Bangladesh, Fellow Association of Civil and Environmental Engineering (ACEE), Member of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE), Member, Bangladesh Society of Geotechnical Engineering (BSGE) and former Member of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He has long experience of university teaching both at undergraduate and graduate levels. He is primarily involved in taking courses on structural engineering discipline of civil engineering. At postgraduate level he offered courses like Bridge Engineering, Finite Element Method, Advanced Concrete Technology and Design and Analysis of Concrete Shell Structures in different sessions. A number of technical and research publications have been made in different International and national journals that includes Masonry International, ACEE, ASCE, Institution of Engineers India, Institution of Engineers Bangladesh and others. Over forty papers have been published in different journals and in the proceedings of national and international conferences (at home and abroad). He received the Institution Gold Medal from the Indian Institution of Engineers for his outstanding journal paper on Finite Element Analysis of Skew RC Slabs in 1997. He held different administrative and academic positions at different times. Some of these are: Director of Bureau of Research Testing and Consultation, Provost and Assistant Provost of Students hall of residences, Member of Association of Universities in Bangladesh, Academic Council of BUET, Course Monitoring Committee BUET and many more. Besides teaching, he has worked as a consultant and design engineer for different project of national interest. As a member of the group of consultants of civil engineering department he has successfully completed a considerable number of (design and review) projects either individually or as a contributing member of a team. These include design of Buildings, RC and Prestressed Concrete Bridges, Pre-engineered steel buildings, Water tanks & reservoirs, Swimming pool, RC shells, Water treatment plants, Marine Jetties, Microwave towers, Folded plates, machine foundations and many other structural elements. He worked as one of the core member of the team to formulate an acceptable national guideline for safety assessment of existing Garment buildings formed by tripartite agreement between the government, garment owners and the sponsor International Labour Organisation (ILO).


Keynote Speech 3:

Additive Manufacturing in Structural Engineering - A Current State-Of-The-Art and Its Future Prospects in Construction

Additive Manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, is seemingly offering a wealth of possibilities in the manufacturing industry. This technology is frequently used in aerospace and biomedical engineering but its impact on construction industry is still at a perceived stage. 3D printing technologies bring along the exciting opportunity of producing innovative and efficient structural shapes to suit specific design requirements without requiring complex and time consuming traditional forming and assembly processes. Metallic 3D printing technologies have advanced significantly during the last decade but large-scale structural applications of 3D printed metallic elements are still non-existent; this is largely due to the smaller size of existing printers. This talk will focus on recent advancements and case studies on metallic 3D printed structures with special emphasis on an ongoing project on metallic microlattice structures printed from stainless steel and titanium. Microlattice structures have been manufactured using Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) techniques i.e. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Electron Beam Melting (EBM), showing widely varying surface imperfections for struts in different orientations. Presence of micro-pores is also an alarming issue that could affect the overall integrity of a structure. Appropriate inclusion of all significant factors in numerical modelling brings along unique and exciting challenges to be addressed. A critical evaluation on the prospect of using 3D printing in structural engineering will be discussed with some specific challenges identified that would require extensive research to appropriately exploit the beneficial effects of this exciting new technology in construction.


 Prof Mahmud
Associate Professor Dr. Mahmud Ashraf, Deakin University, Australia

Mahmud is an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at the School of Engineering in Deakin University (Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus) and he holds a visiting Associate Professorial role in UNSW Canberra. Prior to joining Deakin University in 2017, Mahmud held academic positions in the University of New South Wales and the University of Queensland in Australia. His research interests are primarily related to investigating the structural behaviour of thin-walled metallic structures subjected to a variety of loading conditions including cyclic and impact/blast loading. Recently, he is looking into the structural integrity of 3D printed metallic micro-lattice materials. He has published over 100 technical papers in the areas of stainless steel, high strength steel and aluminium structures. http://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/mahmud-ashraf


Keynote Speech 4:

HSC Columns Reinforced with Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bars and Helices: Experimental Investigation

In this study, the behavior of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bar reinforced high strength concrete (HSC) columns under different loading conditions was experimentally investigated. A total of 12 circular column specimens were cast and tested. All specimens were 210 mm in diameter and 800 mm in height. The axial load carrying capacity, confinement efficiency of the GFRP helices as well as the ductility and post-peak axial load-axial deformation response of the specimens were investigated. The influence of the key parameters including the type of the reinforcement, the pitch of the transverse helices and the loading condition on the performance of the specimens were investigated. It was found that GFRP bar reinforced HSC specimens sustained similar axial load under concentric axial compression compared to HSC specimens reinforced with the same amount of steel reinforcing bars. However, the efficiency of GFRP bar reinforced HSC specimens in sustaining axial loads decreased with an increase in the axial load eccentricity. The direct replacement of steel reinforcing bars by the same amount of GFRP reinforcing bars in HSC specimens resulted in about 30% less ductility under concentric axial load. It was observed that the ductility and post-peak axial load-axial deformation behavior of the GFRP bar reinforced HSC specimens significantly improved with closely spaced helices


 Prof Sheikh
Associate Professor Dr Neaz Sheikh, University of Wollongong, Australia

Neaz Sheikh is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong. A/Prof. Sheikh obtained Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), Bangladesh. He obtained MPhil and PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. A/Prof. Sheikh has authored over 150 articles in highly reputed international journals conference proceedings. He has supervised to graduation 11 Ph.D. graduates and currently supervising over 10 Ph.D. students His main research interests include reinforced concrete structures, composite structures, and structural dynamics. Further details at: https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/neaz_sheikh