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FROMHE T PRESIDENT a

ENGINEERS A USTRALIA

Our r egulations

Marlene K anga under review [email protected]

I n r ecent years, the summer holidays in Australia have Council a nd Congress will seek feedback from been d isrupted by natural disasters with sobering our learned and leadership groups, and hold further regularity. This year, the bushfires burning in four states, discussions at a mid-year Congress meeting in May. This extreme heat, monsoonal rains, cyclone Oswald and floods is an opportunity for contemporary governance in keeping have been cause for concern. Our thoughts are with those with our times, enabling everyone to make a contribution who have suffered loss in this and previous years. to Engineers Australia and the profession, to the level that I have personal experience of such events, having lost they desire. part of my home in the Sydney bushfires of January 1994. Following feedback from Congress in November 2012, After 19 years, my family still remembers the terror and two Committees of Congress are being established - to fear of that afternoon. Australians are at their best after review the governance structure of Engineers Australia, such disasters, we are overwhelmingly chaired by past national president generous and supportive to friends and Merv Lindsay; and to improve strangers alike. communication between Congress However, as engineers we need to 'An o pportunity and Council, our significant governing make sure that the community response bodies, chaired by national deputy is smarter, that we systematically for contemporary president Alex Baitch. mitigate the consequences of natural As part of my support for young disasters before they occur. governance in engineering professionals, I am The government and community delighted to introduce an article by needs to understand that engineers James Polkinghorne (see p. 56), who keeping with have the necessary skills and expertise has lived and worked in various to develop strategic responses to parts of Asia and is currently based our times." national disasters, our profession must in Singapore. Polkinghorne's article be at the forefront of proposing and discusses the challenges of operating implementing solutions. in Asia. He is a passionate advocate for This year we have the important task of finalising and ethical cultures in organisations and I am sure will be a approving the member regulations. Members may be future leader. aware that Engineers Australia was established by Royal I am also delighted to introduce an article by Dianne Charter, with by-laws that provide governance. New by- Boddy (see p. 54), whose career in mechanical engineering laws were passed by members in 2010. demonstrates enormous creativity and problem solving A major change was that many areas of operation, capability. It's one of the reasons I find engineering so previously entrenched in the by-laws, have been devolved endlessly compelling, fascinating and inspiring. to regulations. Congress has the responsibility for February is one of the busiest months at Engineers approving the Disciplinary Regulations and Council has Australia when Council, as well as most college boards the responsibility for the remaining regulations. This and national committees have their first meeting, setting provides greater flexibility and means that the regulations objectives and programs for the year. I am looking forward can be changed as required in keeping with current to productive deliberations that benefit the members, the practices. profession and the community. M

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 3

ENGINEERS A USTRALIA NATIONAL O FFICE 11 National Circuit, Barton, ACT 2600 0 phone 02 6270 6555 CONTENTS www.engineersaustralia.org.au Emil-PREESS [email protected] 1 300 653 113 NATIONAL PRESIDENT : Dr Marlene Kanga, FIEAust CPEng NATIONAL DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Prof Alex Baitch, FIEAust CPEng NATIONAL IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Adjunct Prof David Hood, FIEAust CPEng COVER S TORY COUNCILLORS: Carla Cher GradIEAust; Dr David Cruikshanks-Boyd, FIEAust EngExec; Madeleine McManus, FIEAust; Simon Orton, RPEQ MIEAust EngExec JP(Qual); Barry Tonkin, JP FIEAust CPEng; Greg Walters (National Vice President - Finance), FIEAust CPEng EngExec. CHIEF EXECUTIVE : Stephen Durkin, FIEAust COLLEGE CHAIRS : Prof Karen Reynolds, FIEAust FTSE (biomedical); Robert Lessons f rom Christchurch Barker, FIEAust, CPEng (civil); Georgie Wright, MIEAust (chemical); Alan Coote, CPEng (electrical); David Gamble, MIEAust, CPEng (environmental); Peter Hitchiner, FIEAust, CPEng (ITEE); Paula West, CPEng (mechanical); Richard Eckhaus, FIEAust, CPEng (structural). DIVISION O FFICES CANBERRA 11 National Circuit, Barton, ACT 2600, phone 02 6270 6519 NEWCASTLE 122 Parry St, Newcastle West 2302, phone 02 4926 4440 NORTHERN 8z GPO Box 417, Darwin 0801, phone 08 8981 4137 aR F QUEENSLAND & 447 Upper Edward St, Brisbane 4000, phone 07 3832 3749 & SOUTH AUSTRALIA Level 11, 108 King William St, Adelaide 5000, phone: 08 8202 7100 SYDNEY Level 3, 8 Thomas Street, Chatswood 2067, phone 02 9410 5600 TASMANIA 2 Davey St, Hobart 7000, phone 03 6234 2228 VICTORIA 13-21 Bedford St, North Melbourne 3051, phone 03 9329 8188 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 712 Murray St, West Perth 6005, phone 08 9321 3340 HONG KONG CHAPTER Paul Kwong, Hon Secretary phone 852 2828 5969, [email protected] MALAYSIA SOCIETY Pha CK Liew, Hon Secretary, [email protected] SINGAPORE GROUP Cover d esign : Michelle Watts Lawrence Lim CM, Hon Secretary Cover photo: Bluesand Views/iStockphoto phone +65 9616 7862, [email protected] UK ASSOCIATION Peter Walsh, Hon Secretary, [email protected] ENGINEERS M EDIA Engineers A ustraliamagazine, published by Engineers Media (registered name The f inal volume of findings from Engineers Australia Pty Limited, ACN 001311511), a wholly owned subsidiary of Engineers Australia, is a magazine reporting impartially the latest news the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal of interest to engineers. The statements made or opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institution. Commission in New Zealand were Engineers M edia retains copyright for this publication. Written permission released in December 2012. What can is required for the reprinting of any ofits content. Australian engineers learn from the BOARDF O DIRECTORS: E/Prof Elizabeth Taylor, AO FIEAust (chair); Gunilla Burrowes, FIEAust; Stephen Durkin, FIEAust; David Lees, MIEAust CPEng; experiences across the Tasman? Bruce Roff, FIPA ACIS; Terence Jeyaretnam, FIEAust CPEng; Mai Yeung, FIEAust CPEng. HEAD O FFICE: 2 Ernest Place, Crows Nest, NSW 2065 (PO Box 588, Crows Nest 1585), phone 02 9438 1533 www.engineersmedia.com.au EDITORIAL E MAIL: [email protected] ADVERTISING EMAIL: [email protected] Youl) f lickr Linked). GENERAL MANAGER: Bruce Roff sFind u MANAGING EDITOR : Dr Tim Kannegieter elsewhere EDITORIAL: Danny Cameron, Kirill Reztsov, Conrad Bem ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA ACCOUNTANT: Tissa Mohotti tCuwitter NATIONAL MARKETING MANAGER : Terry Marsden ADVERTISING SALES: NSW/ACT: Dee Grant, [email protected] 0417 266 459 QId: Maree Fraser, [email protected] 07 5594 5455 Vic, Tas, SA, WA: David Sutcliffe, Average Net Distribution [email protected] 02 9433 1533 CIRCULATIONS 32,354 Int]: Terry Marsden, [email protected] 61 2 9433 1533 AUDIT BOARD April to September 2012 ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATOR: Esme Johnstone PRODUCTION MANAGER: Chris Gerelli PRODUCTION: Stefan Novak, Michelle Watts Reader a* y General Edition EA BOOKS: Dean Clarke surveys by Nielsen mae Vol 85 No 2 Media Research PublishersAustralia ISSN 1448-4951 4 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

THE J OURNAL OF ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA Sf Follow @EngAusMag

IN T HIS ISSUE ...

FROMHE T PRESIDENT 3 Review of regulations

FROMHE T CHIEF EXECUTIVE 6 Focus on member services

LETTERS 8

NEWS 12 Commissioning is under way on the expansion of the PEOPLE 26 Southern Seawater desalination plant in Perth.

EDUCATION 28 Indigenous students explore engineering a

COVER STORY 30

PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Feature 38

MEMBER SERVICES 45 Improving EA service

CONTROL/SCADA - Feature 48 The toll-free Peninsula Link has been delivered under a new funding model for roads. INNOVATION CASE STUDY 54 Inventor r eflects on a career of achievement

YOUNG E NGINEERS 56 Acting ethically overseas

KNOWLEDGE M ANAGEMENT 58 Challenges for large organisations

MARGOT C AIRNES 60 Old guard faces radical change

SNAPSHOT 6 1 Anthea H ammon - mechanical engineer at Scenic World tourist attraction An a utomated cattle management system has been developed i n Australia. TERENCE JEYARETNAM 62 Losing touch with nature

COURSES, CONFERENCES & MEETINGS 63

OBITUARIES 64 - P eter Taylor - former EA chief executive - Paul Grundy - disaster risk reduction expert - Stuart Hornery - former Lend Lease chair

SUSTAINABILITY 6 6 Biodiesel for fast food chain Over h er career, Dianne Boddy has developed over 2000 documented designs, such as this syruping machine. CLASSIFIEDS 67

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 5

h F ROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE @ ENGINEERS A USTRALIA A f ocus on member s ervices

critical p art of the new operating qualityf o services to our members, we are Amodel that we have introduced at also looking to increase our capacity by Engineers Australia is a dedicated having more people in member-focused member engagement business unit. This roles. new function, led by Rupert Grayston, our At EA, we are totally committed to deputy CEO, covers a range of activities delivering an outstanding service to each including a newly established member and every one of our members (see p. 45 services team. for more details). We hope that you notice This team is headed by Chelsea the difference. Cheney, who has recently joined us from I would like to close this month's the Australian Institute of Management. column with some acknowledgements. The newly formed unit incorporates the Firstly, to Peter Taylor, my predecessor Member Service Centre (call centre), at EA who passed away on 20 January, Member Benefits Program and Career following a brave fight against cancer (see Stephen D urkin Development Centre. This team has p. 64). During his seven years as chief [email protected] been established with a very clear executive from 2004-2011, Peter led a mandate to deliver a greatly enhanced change process that saw the organisation member experience. Its role is to ensure grow into a force within the global that all of our direct member interfacing engineering profession. Peter was highly activities, from the phone calls and regarded for his leadership skills, strategic emails we receive, to the letters that approach and ability to identify practical we send to members, are coordinated solutions with determination and resolve. We a re totally through this specialist group. With a clear As reported in the December edition focus on what our members (customers) of the magazine, Bill Rourke, chief committed to expect, member services is challenging EA executive of EA from 1985-1991, also to ensure that the member experience is passed away late last year. Bill had a delivering an front of mind with all of our key business distinguished 43 year long career in the decisions. Royal Australian Navy, reaching the rank outstanding One of the initial tasks has been to of Rear Admiral, and at EA made an carry out a survey of over 900 members outstanding contribution in broadening service. in every division across the country. The our community involvement and our survey was conducted in order to better relationship with governments. understand our internal service responses The commitment of both Peter and and to obtain some further insights on Bill will be remembered for many years what our members want to see from to come, along with their impact on the their experiences with EA. The result profession and the organisation. from this first survey is that of the 51% Finally, I was delighted that Adjunct of members who made contact with Professor David Hood, our immediate past the organisation in the past 12 months, national president, was made a Member 69% rated their satisfaction with the (AM) in the General Division of the Order way that there enquiry was handled, as of Australia in the recent Australia Day being at least 8 out of 10. This work is honours. David's award was for "significant an important step forward in terms of us service to environmental engineering better understanding and measuring our as an educator and researcher, through members' experiences in dealing with our contributions to professional organisations, organisation. and to public awareness of sustainability. In response to this feedback, we are David is a great advocate of EA and of the now introducing a new standardised critical role that the engineering profession approach to deal with member enquiries provides to our national well-being. in a more consistent manner. As a part Congratulations to David, a great honour of our commitment to delivering a high and very well deserved. M

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LETTERS

Becoming a n industrial organisation

our r eport on the elected r epresentatives is positionse w may consider prosecution of obvious, demonstrated in as engineering could be John Ruffini (Jan its press releases on the described as something else. ea m agazine) will be of Ruffini matter, and EA also In the future Queensland considerable interest to has a pecuniary interest in water authorities may choose members and to their this. In one step we have to call the people managing employers. progressed from a learned water levels "managers" For as long as I can society to a self-interested rather than "engineers" to remember I have thought of enforcement, "no-ticket, no- avoid this problem. our institution as a learned start" industrial organisation. Jim S hannon, FIEAust CPEng Send y our letter either society. Clearly this must So far this is fully effective Wellington Point, Qld in the body of the email have changed. The approval in Queensland only. or as an attachment in of the prosecution by our Already we can see how Microsoft Word.

SENDO T The Editor, Engineers Media, Priorities n eed to be focused PO Box 588, Crows Nest NSW 1585 ongratulations t o CEO b ut we have Kanga's consuming c onsiderations EMAILO T Dr Marlene Kanga statement that "Council will needed to progress strategic letters@ on being the second provide the leadership and priorities and associated engineersmedia.com.au owoman t become national strategic priorities for the programs. Unless priorities Letters s hould not exceed president. It is refreshing organisation. The president's are limited to the vital few 200 words. Include IEAust that she asks members to be leadership role needs or the term of office for post-nominals, suburb, candid in their views on the clarification and just one set president is increased then, state and phone number. performance of Engineers of priorities is sufficient. as Kanga has rightly said, it Not all letters can be Australia to which I By the time a president will be a hectic year ahead. published. respond. has toured state divisions, We should hope it will be By submitting your letter The leadership role attended committees and more than just a lap of for publication you agree and priorities as exercised specialist groups, visited honour. that Engineers Australia between the president, industrial venues and magazine may edit the Trevor D avis, MIEAust chief executive and overseas learned societies, letter for legal, length or CPEng (Ret) Council confuses me. Not held many meetings and other reasons. West Pennant Hills, NSW Unpublished letters only do we have separate attended conventions and cannot be acknowledged announcements of priorities functions, there must be or returned. by the president and little remaining for the time

Sadt a passing of Bill Rourke

I w as sad to learn of the His u nderstanding of ohas t be recognised for foster t he differentiated ndeath i November of issues and leadership were outstanding leadership in para-professional education Rear Admiral Bill Rourke. of extraordinary value the decades following the and status of engineering I worked closely with him as professional engineers Professional Engineers Cases associates as supporters of during his period as CEO faced challenges to our of the 1960s. In Harper's the functions of professional of EA, 1985 to 1991, when occupational identity from time, cases constituted the engineers. I was a member of the left-wing ideologies and tipping point in public and I am proud indeed at National Council and then a from disruptive social governmental recognition having worked with such a vice-president. change in the organisation of the professional status fine man. From the day of his or professional engineering of professional engineers. Dr B rian Lloyd appointment, Bill exhibited employment. That continued in Rourke's National President 1993 an intelligent, comprehensive Along with his long- time, but the further tipping and decisive grasp of the serving predecessor, point came with recognition role of Engineers Australia. Clem Harper, Bill Rourke of the essential need to

8 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

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14235A E LETTERS

The n egative impact of regulation

I n t he January 2013 as a l earned society is the a rticle on professional of t he word, for excavation fedition o ea magazine, now negligible. Even more conduct by Peter Taylor or other work and any our incoming President, than technological change in respect of damage damage which might Marlene Kanga, wrote: during the past 40 years, to adjacent properties potentially occur. Greater "Our shared vision is that it seems to me that one potentially caused by regulation might only ensure Engineers Australia will be of the most important excavations in the same that due process is followed, central to the aspirations (negative) changes during (Civil only) edition of ea so that the responsible and goals of every member that time has been the magazine. He reached two parties can later be of the engineering team in shift away from individual primary conclusions. He shown not to be negligent their professional careers." professional responsibility provided sound engineering (since they followed the I congratulate her on for engineering excellence advice about potential risks; regulations precisely). her appointment and wish towards greater reliance and then made a plea for However, it cannot ensure her well in this, because, on "quality systems" and more rigorous management good engineering design after 43 years working as an regulatory processes. of existing regulations and and construction outcomes. engineer and more than 38 It seems to me that the introduction of more I don't believe that the years as a member of EA, I this trend, while having restrictive regulations. I Institution of Engineers think that the organisation's some benefits, has also consider debate on this Australia which I proudly evolution has significantly significantly discouraged second conclusion to be joined in 1974 would have diminished its relevance to engineering innovation and, central to the realisation of seen that as a good thing. many p rofessional engineers. to some extent, enforced Kanga's stated goals. Colin B eard, MIEAust CPEng I d on't know how that mediocrity. I think that In my opinion, we must Brisbane, Qld happened, or why, but Engineers Australia has ensure that properly trained in my admittedly narrow contributed to that change. professional engineers are Ed. P eter Taylor's article is online at http://goo.gl/UykQC field of expertise, its role As an example, consider responsible, in every sense

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10 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 GAS P IPING TRAINING

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This s eminar will equally benefit those working in the oil and gas industry or those in industries such as power generation, minerals processing or manufacturing due to the fact that common gas systems such as compressed air, steam, industrial gases fand o course fuel gas are covered in some detail.

This s eminar compliments KASA's "Liquid Piping Systems Fundamentals" seminar as there is no duplication of material.

SAFETY & H AZARDS NDNITROGEN A OTHER INDUSTRIAL GASES Leaks versus plumes; An introduction to hazardous areas; The properties of Nitrogen; Comparison of Nitrogen to Isolation, double block and bleed; Draining and venting; compressed air including pipe sizing methods, ancillaries The piping of flammables and combustibles; Piping etc; Manifolding and storage of cylinders; Nitrogen failures. generation.

BACKGROUND I NFORMATION GAS Fluid properties and theory common to all compressible F low types - adiabatic, isothermal and isentropic; Gas fluids - specific gravity, vapour pressure, gas laws, Properties; Ideal versus Real gases; Gas mixtures and cavitation, Joule-Thomson, terms and definitions. their property calculation; An introduction to two phase flow calculations; Tips relating to relevant codes and standards; COMPRESSED A IR Fuel gas specific tips and traps; Recommended layouts, The properties of air; Free Air, Standard Air and Actual Air; materials etc for specific gas systems; Worked example Plant versus Instrument Air; Pipe sizing methods and problems. pressure drop calculations; Materials and end connections; Traps, dryers, filters and other ancillaries; Piping layout VALVES tips; Worked example problems. L eakage classes; Recommended valve types for particular applications; Purchasing and specifying valves for STEAM flammables, combustibles and "dangerous" fluids; Safety E nthalpy, specific heat, steam tables, steam quality; Steam and relief valve sizing (including flare and vent pipe sizing); pipe sizing methods and pressure drop calculations; Steam Worked example problems. flow through nozzles and restrictions; Materials and end connections; Steam piping ancillaries, valves and INSTRUMENTATION & M ISCELLANEOUS TOPICS instruments; Piping layout tips; Worked example problems. Instrumentation specific to compressible flow; Hot tapping; Inspection and maintenance; Leakage; Testing requirements and commissioning; Common traps for the inexperienced.

For m ore information on this two day seminar (including a full seminar synopsis) and to obtain registration forms, call KASA Redberg on (02) 9949 9795 or email [email protected] or visit www.kasa.com.au.

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Stateo t "do all it could" to mitigate

natural disasters

n t he wake of last month's floods in many Q ueensland communities need a f ailure to act and the cost of just Queensland that were caused by the to be flooded every couple of years, repairing damaged infrastructure intense low of ex tropical cyclone and we must look at ways to build year-in year-out will be much higher. I Oswald, Queensland premier Campbell up our resilience to natural disasters am keen to hear from the community Newman has said the state government or ease the impacts in those areas about what they want and what would "do all it could to prevent and wheree w can't put an end to the pain," can be delivered, and have an open mitigate the impact of natural disasters Newman s aid. "If we are going to be mind to all options including levees, in the future". successful, every level of government flood mitigation dams and even the Oswald brought heavy rains in and the private sector need to play relocation of parts of communities. an event that has been estimated to their part in this massive and costly "Building up Queensland's be one-in-200 year in some regions. task." resilience to natural disasters will be Record river levels were recorded in Newman said to lead such efforts, a monumental task, but it is challenge Bundaberg. David Crisafulli would become we can't afford to ignore any longer;" While waters were still receding at state minister for local government, Newman said. the time of writing, Newman made an community recovery and resilience. In the height of the disaster early estimate of the flood damage bill Crisafulli would work in partnership recovery, deputy police commissioner at $2.4 billion - more than that of the with local communities to build up Brett Pointing has been appointed to 2011 disaster. He said while the clear Queensland's resilience to natural lead the rebuilding of the Bundaberg/ immediate priority was ensuring all disasters while taking charge of the North Burnett region. those affected by the floods got back Queensland Reconstruction Authority. Two other disaster recovery on their feet, the long-term focus of Crisafulli is tasked with looking at coordinators have been appointed. all levels of government must shift to simple, practical, cost-effective and Colonel Don Cousins will be minimising the flood impact on towns local solutions to minimise the impact responsible for the north Queensland and vital infrastructure, and "not just of future disasters. region and Brigadier Bill Mellor will constant repair jobs". "The cost of expanding mitigation look after south Queensland. "We simply cannot accept that so projects state-wide will be high, but Each region has unique needs. For

View o nline

Fixing t he washout at Neerkol Bridge, Capricorn Highway is one of the main priorities for Queensland's Transport and Main Roads.

12 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 NEWS

example, Q ueensland Police reported "I'm l eft with no doubt this will be areas like North Bundaberg had no power, water or sewerage, and roads a major recovery and then repair task." had gaping sink-holes (see picture slide-show in digital ea magazine). operators t o access communities remain c losed, including Gympie to Bundaberg Regional Council said: affected by widespread flooding. Rockhampton and between Rosewood "The heavy rainfall in the Bundaberg Transport and Main Roads minister and Toowoomba. region has caused widespread flooding Scott Emerson said: "More than 800km Aurizon, the rail freight company and many roads are still closed because of roads across the state have reopened managing the 2670km central of the effects of this flooding." in the past 48 hours, kick-starting Queensland coal network that links Also in the Wide Bay-Burnett major economic lifelines. mines to coal ports at Bowen, Mackay region, around 50,000 Ergon Energy "One of my major priorities at the and Gladstone, said with floodwaters customers had their power supply moment is reopening the Capricorn now starting to recede in the majority affected by either the destructive wind Highway, west of Rockhampton, where of areas, a proper assessment of the or flooding. This included substations floodwaters have washed away the damage to the network could be made. inundated by water. Neerkol Bridge;" he said. Aurizon network executive vice Ergon Energy southern service He said all impacted roads and president Mike Carter said: "While delivery general manager Paul Jordon bridges were undergoing a full safety the extent of the damage is not as said more than 200 personnel were assessments. Transport and Main bad as 2011 and the majority of our working on power restoration over the Roads engineers were assessing and network is unaffected, a number first weekend of February. prioritising damage to roads, culverts, of parts of the network have been "This is a major structured incident drainage systems, bridges, signage, impacted. Fortunately, the Newlands response and our best people are lighting, guardrails and marine and Goonyella systems are operating focusing on the job at hand," he said. infrastructure. normally. However, further south both "We have local crews as well as crews "This morning I saw first-hand from Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, the damage to the Bruce, Burnett the Moura and Blackwater systems Toowoomba, the Darling Downs, and Capricorn highways near remain closed." Maranoa, and Energex crews from Rockhampton and I'm left with no On the Moura system the track Brisbane. Progress reports from the doubt this will be a major recovery and was damaged in a variety of locations, field are indicating some significant then repair task," Emerson said. "This with around 3km of full earthworks gains over the next [few] days." will come on top of the more than 689 formation washed out in one section. By Friday 1 February, the projects that are still to be completed Aurizon said recovery will require Queensland Department of Transport state-wide following the damage caused the full replacement of all track and and Main Roads said most of by flooding in 2010, 2011 and 2012." earthworks before the system can be Queensland's major road freight routes On the rail network, a number reopened. It expected this work will be had reopened allowing heavy vehicle of passenger and freight routes completed by the end of the month.

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The s econd stage expansion of the Southern Seawater desalination plant e ntered c ommissioning last month with its first intake of seawater. Proto: W ater Corporation

Stage t wo desalination

expansion enters commissioning

ommissioning h as commenced Australia h as declined by up to 15% components o f the project have been on the expansion of the Southern since 1975 and run-off into Perth's purchased from around the world Seawater desalination plant, dams has correspondingly decreased from suppliers such as ABB, Siemens, marking a major milestone towards by more than half. In 2010, the region Flowserve, KSB, Toray, and numerous supplying 50% of Perth's integrated experienced its worst dam inflows on others. In terms of local delivery, water supply scheme requirement record, followed by the second worst Cadee said 87% of the total money through desalination. in 2012." spent on stage two has been outlaid The Western Australian Last year, stage one of the Southern in Australia, with nearly 60% of that government's $450 million plant Seawater desalination plant was amount going to Western Australian expansion received its first seawater awarded the Global Water Award businesses. through its intake in January. Premier 2012 - Desalination Plant of the Year, "Challenges for stage two of the Colin Barnett and water minister Bill with judges saying the plant was "the plant have included a shorter delivery Marmion were on site to activate the new champion of green desalination period, less room to operate onsite (we flow of seawater into the facility. movement". The plant delivers water were building stage two on the stage "When the expanded plant is fully into the integrated water supply one laydown area), interfaces required operational we will have the capacity scheme which supplies 1.7 million to integrate the stage two services to provide about half of Perth's people in Perth, Mandurah and parts into stage one and the need to avoid water needs via climate-independent of the southwest, and is also connected impacting on production from stage desalination," Barnett said. to the Goldfields and agricultural water one of the plant while constructing The desalination plant in Binningup, supply scheme. stage two," said Cadee. 130km south of Perth, is expanding The plant has been delivered by the Work continues on the expansion from 50GL/a to 100GL/a. With the Southern Seawater Alliance, which of the Southern Seawater desalination output from the southern plant and includes the Water Corporation, plant, with the delivery of four large another 45GL/a available from Perth's Technicas Reunidas, Valorizia, AJ water pumps to improve the long-term seawater desalination plant, Marmion Lucas and WorleyParsons. Major efficiency of the plant expected from said the supply and security of subcontractors on stage two of the Germany late-January. Cadee said the desalination has proved invaluable in plant include Downer, AGC, Altype new pumps will be installed and then Western Australia's changing climate. Engineering, Derek Gee and PMT tested in March and the first drinking The southwest has experienced Tanks. More than 600 people are water is expected to be delivered to the step-change reductions in rainfall and currently working at the site. integrated water supply scheme shortly the Water Corporation said: "Rainfall Water Corporation general manager afterwards. in the southwest corner of Western acquisition Keith Cadee said key

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NEWS

Rail s truggling to attract engineers

he r ail industry is struggling that t here will be large numbers of report w ith SCU research associate Tto attract sufficient numbers of rail engineers retiring in the next Neroli Sheldon, Dr Roslyn Cameron engineers and skilled trades and decade as the average age of an and Professor Ian Lings. Wallace said technicians to fulfil its current and engineer in the rail workforce is 48. the rail industry did not have a strong future infrastructure needs, according The report prepared by SCU, in brand and the industry was not seen to research from Southern Cross conjunction with the Cooperative as modern and contemporary, despite University (SCU). Research Centre for Rail Innovation, the technological advancements being Rail infrastructure is responsible Queensland University of Technology made by the industry around the for moving millions of people and and industry partners, identified that world. vast quantities of resources around the demand for rail engineers has The report is being used to assist Australia. However, a relatively flat outstripped supply by about 40%. the rail industry identify best practice rate of graduating engineers has The report was recently published attraction and image strategies that increased competition for engineering in the Asia Pacific Journal of Human are in use around the world. These skills, and graduates in rail Resources. will be used to re-brand career engineering are too small in number Project leader Associate Professor pathways in rail to make them more to be sustainable. It is also estimated Michelle Wallace co-authored the appealing to early career graduates.

National b odies remove state inconsistencies

fter m ore than five years of national t ransport system." Albanese s aid the national rail Anegotiations between the Based in Brisbane, the National reforms will mean operators will only federal, state and territory Heavy Vehicle Regulator will have pay a single annual accreditation fee governments, three new national responsibility for registration and covering all operations (locally and regulators are to start operations in regulations covering all heavy vehicles nationally) and there will be a single the coming months, removing the over 4.5t. It will be fully operational national safety compliance approach burden of inconsistent state laws and by July, once all state and territory which will replace the inconsistent regulations around transport. governments have passed the necessary process of multiple audits etc, under As of last month, the National enabling legislation. the various state-based regulators. Heavy Vehicle Regulator and National Albanese said benefits that Significantly for railway engineers Rail Safety Regulator commenced will begin to flow include a around the country, a nationally operations. The third national national approach to heavy vehicle consistent rail communication and regulator, the existing Australian configuration and a universal signalling system will replace the 22 Maritime Safety Authority, will assume interpretation of when drivers should existing systems. its greater regulatory responsibilities start counting driving hours from The rail industry welcomed "the for all commercial vessels operating in rest breaks within a 24 hour period, long awaited and much anticipated" Australian waters from March. eliminating the confusion around commencement of both the National By the end of this year, the existing existing fatigue laws. Rail Safety Regulator and the National 23 separate state and federal regulators Based in Adelaide, the National Rail Safety Investigator. covering heavy vehicles, rail safety Rail Safety Regulator will initially have "This is the biggest thing to happen and maritime safety, along with their regulatory responsibility for railways to rail in Australia since the standard own array of regulations, will cease in South Australia, NSW, Tasmania gauge national network was completed operations. In their place, these three and the Northern Territory. This will almost a decade ago," Australasian national bodies will each administer extend to Victoria, Queensland and Railway Association (ARA) chief one set of modern, nationwide laws. Western Australia before the end of the executive Bryan Nye said. Federal minister for infrastructure year, The Australian Transport Safety "The old days of the states and transport Anthony Albanese said: Bureau will take over rail accident setting their own unique laws and "More than a century after Federation, investigations, and will be known as the resultant regulatory burden this Australia will finally have a truly the National Rail Safety Investigator. created, are almost behind us."

16 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 Flame A rresters with Proven

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propagation is a Flame Arresters Australia product.

As f ederal, state and local air quality Old a nd new applications would include: regulations become more stringent, incineration Storage t ank vents of gases becomes a more viable option rather Offshore drilling platform vents than venting to atmosphere. In addition, there Oil/petrochemical refineries are regulations that require gas with any Chemical Processing plants significant sour content be flared because Marine loading systems of foul smell and toxicity. Natural gas supply lines Companies t hat engage in this type of Flare stacks activity understandably have important safety Pulp and paper NCG processing concerns. Vapour incineration systems Protection a gainst flashback in systems that Vapour recovery systems contain flammable liquid products becomes Landfill gas incineration a serious issue. Sewage treatment vapour processing

Flame a rresters have been utilised in a variety Pharmaceutical of applications over the past fifty years.

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A n ew paper mill was opened in Sydney last month, representing the largest single capital investment in Amcor's 144 year history.

New t echnology for paper making orld-leading r ecycled paper Amcor s aid the B9 is the largest measurement s ystem of around 20,000 mill technology has started and most innovative recycled paper data points provides Amcor with a up at the Amcor facilities machine of its kind in Australasia. holistic view of the mill performance, in Botany, Sydney after the company The B9 machine runs at speeds never and allows the operators to collect data spent $500 million on a plant upgrade. before seen in the region. Amcor related to a specific field device and The $500 million investment was said it delivers an increase in output, trend the performance. the largest single capital investment in and hence increased production Amcor said this was vastly Amcor's 144 year history. efficiencies, while the finished paper different to the technology used Amcor Australasia managing product is higher quality in terms of at predecessor mills, and the director Nigel Garrard said: "This is colour, consistency and performance. company now had the tools for exact the most sophisticated recycled paper The machine provides Amcor with performance measurement and timely making machine in Australasia. It the ability to produce a broader range troubleshooting. produces high-quality 100% recycled of high performing, lightweight paper The machine itself is 330m long, brown paper that is stronger, more grades. Once running at full capacity, and 22m high. When operating at full consistent and has an improved colour this range is expected to include papers capacity, it can produce 1.6km of paper for our customers." between 80gsm and 200gsm, which every minute. Reels of paper weigh The B9 paper machine, so named Amcor said was unique for a machine up to 47t and measure approximately as it is the ninth paper machine to of this type and scale. 5.7m in diameter. operate at the company's Botany site, Metso designed and supplied the A collaboration between Metso and will produce more than 400,000 of equipment and process, as well as the Amcor enabled the integration of the paper annually when operating at full fully integrated control system. new Botany Mill systems into other capacity and will deliver significant The engineering was completed in Amcor business system and site wide environmental benefits. Europe, while the manufacturing of systems. "This recycled paper machine prime equipment was completed in Leighton Contractors completed replaces three older machines aged both Europe and China. the building design and construction, between 43-52 years, reducing water Profibus Field instruments were and construction of the new facility consumption by 26%, energy usage by installed along with a distributed commenced in 2011. 34% and the amount of waste sent to control system that is integrated with landfill by 75%," Garrard said. on-machine controls. A detailed 18 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 Making

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Cyclone s helters open

after fast-tracked program

en n ew category five cyclone a c yclone shelter is designed primarily cyclones - E vacuation and shelter. The Tshelters built around the coast of as a last resort option for residents, so structures also needed to incorporate Queensland are being completed conditions are not like an evacuation the ongoing use of the buildings as and opened just 12 months after centre. multipurpose sport facilities. the government of the Emirate of "The cyclone shelter offers very Additional input relating to specific Abu Dhabi donated $30 million to limited space with 1.2m per person. structural engineering design was jointly fund the $60 million cyclone No pets are allowed, and there are provided by consulting engineer Peter shelter program with the Queensland no cooking facilities, with individuals Mullins, author of the cyclone shelter government. needing to supply their own food design guidelines. While no shelters were used in the during their time at the shelter." Meeting the design guidelines, wake of devastation across Queensland The Queensland Department the shelters are capable of providing during cyclone Oswald last month, of Housing and Public Works was protection from winds up to 300km/h, the shelters have been delivered on a responsible for the design of nine of are not vulnerable to landslip and fast-tracked program to be available the 10 new shelters. The only exception creek or river flooding, have the floor for use in this 2012/13 cyclone season. to the standard design was for the level of the shelter building above The cyclone and storm surge season shelter in Cairns, as it needed to be the storm tide level or a one-in-500 officially starts in November and substantially larger to accommodate year defined flood event level, and finishes around the end of April each additional people during a cyclone are located sufficiently away from year. event. This design was managed by significant hazards such as large trees, When the 1500m' Yeppoon shelter Cairns Regional Council. power or communications towers and was opened, Rockhampton Regional All the buildings were designed in potential sources of large wind-borne Council mayor Margaret Strelow noted accordance with the Design guidelines debris. that the difference between a cyclone for Queensland public cyclone shelters A Queensland Department shelter and an evacuation centre is that and Mitigating the adverse impacts of of Housing and Public Works

ages The I ngham State High School cyclone shelter is one of ten built over the past year to accommodate Queenslanders during Category 5 cyclone e vents.

20 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 NEWS

spokesperson s aid the standard design the s ites due to ongoing wet weather Northbuild C onstructions - Port was used for the shelters to allow for conditions. As a result of the high Douglas; VIS Constructions - Tully; a quick delivery in preparation for the rainfall in northern Queensland and AJ Homes - Weipa. The Cairns- 2012/2013 cyclone season. While the between January and April of 2012, Edmonton project contractor is Matrix design was standard, each contractor contractors experienced site access Projects Qld. was required to source material and issues, high water table and "bad" Last month, Queensland premier engage suppliers for their respective ground conditions resulting in delays Campbell Newman officially opened projects. Only a small number of in site mobilisation and construction, the new shelter at Ingham State High materials were specifically requested the spokesperson said. School. He said: "It's been two years in the tender documentation by name However, despite the early since Cyclone Yasi tore through this or brand as they had been tested and challenges faced and time lost in the part of the state, leaving a trail of proven for use in a cyclone. construction program, seven shelters devastation. Shelters like this one are Key to the success of the reached practical completion before an important part of making sure fast-tracked program was good Christmas, Bowen reached practical north Queensland is better protected communication across all contractors, completion early January, and the next time around." the spokesperson said. The lessons remaining shelter in Weipa was Minister for public works Tim learnt in the early stages and expected to reach practical completion Mander noted the features of the throughout the construction period late last month. The Cairns Cyclone building: "As well as providing shelter were able to be shared among the Shelter managed by the Cairns for up to 800 people in a cyclone, contractors, enabling efficiencies in Regional Council is expected to be this building serves as a multipurpose construction. Conducting regular completed in March. sports facility, featuring netball and inspections, as well as ensuring each The contractors on each project basketball courts, a sports lab and team understood expectations, resulted were: Hutchinson - Yeppoon State teaching facilities. The building has a in positive outcomes in a limited High School (Rockhampton); kitchen, a generator room, 10 toilets, timeframe, the spokesperson said. Baulderstone - Ingham State High five showers and two water tanks in This timely delivery was in spite of School and Townsville; Paynter Dixon the roof which are gravity fed to the early delays experienced on many of - Mackay, Bowen and Proserpine; toilets and showers during a cyclone."

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Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 21 is

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The 2 7km freeway from Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula was delivered under the availability Public-Private-Partnership model.

Freeway d elivered in unique model

he $ 655 million Peninsula Link immense i mportance and interest not Peninsula L ink project saw the Ttoll-free freeway in Victoria was only to Abigroup, but to the Victorian development and introduction officially opened last month, government and industry at large, due of a new product in noise wall providing motorists with uninterrupted to the model delivered. construction called polyethylene driving from Melbourne to the The project was completed in just panels. Approximately 5000 panels Mornington Peninsula. under three years, during which time were produced and installed at various The opening of the freeway marked 27km of two-lane dual carriageway was sections along the freeway. an industry first for significant built. The project features nine grade The freeway was designed and Australian infrastructure development, separated interchanges connecting 11 built by Abigroup, with an Aurecon- with the project delivered under the existing roads, including three freeway SKM joint venture providing principal availability PPP model. This model to freeway connections. design services. The Aurecon-SKM has more commonly been used for the Abigroup project director Graeme joint venture said the design of the delivery of social infrastructure. Chambers said the main challenge large road project was as much a The project was administered by the project team overcame was logistical challenge as a technical one. the Linking Melbourne Authority. the wet weather: "The project was This included developing in excess of It was delivered by Southern Way, delivered during the wettest two 5000 construction drawings within a comprising Abigroup, Bilfinger Berger years in Melbourne's history and 12 month program. and the Royal Bank of Scotland, who the city's wettest summer on record. Companies involved in other financed and will manage the project The on-time delivery in the face of aspects and elements of the design under a Public-Private-Partnership unprecedented weather really came process included Golder Associates (PPP) agreement with the Victorian down to a dedicated and committed (geotechnical), ARM (urban design), government for the next 25 years. team on the project, and a great Phil Liston & Associates/ Urbis Abigroup acting managing director culture and strong relationships with (landscape architect), Biosis Research David Saxelby said: "Under the model, the stakeholders and suppliers which (ecological specialist), Arup Acoustics the private sector is responsible for enabled the team to ramp up and (acoustic engineer), ITS - Tyco (design constructing, financing, operating down as the weather permitted." and install), Traffic Works (road safety and maintaining the road, in return For example, the challenging audits), Aquas (O&M safety audits), for repayments from the government weather conditions led to the revision and CPG (lighting, traffic signals, signs over an agreed term. The repayments of the schedule for laying the road and line-marking). are subject to successful ongoing base. Abigroup, in a sub-alliance with Now construction is complete, the operations and maintenance, ensuring Boral, laid all of the asphalt on the freeway moves into the operations that road quality and safety remain project in three months as opposed to and maintenance phase. This will be high priorities." the original schedule of 10 months. managed by Lend Lease's infrastructure Saxelby said the project was of In terms of innovation, the services business.

22 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 HAZELWOOD

GDF S UEZ Energy International is responsible for GDF SUEZ's energy activities in 30 countries across six regions worldwide (Latin America, North America, UK-Europe, the Middle East, Turkey & Africa, Asia and Australia). Together with power generation, we are also active in closely linked businesses including downstream LNG, gas distribution, desalination and retail. GDF SUEZ Energy International has a strong presence in its markets with 77 GW gross capacity in operation and a significant programme of 10 GW gross capacity of projects under construction as at 30 June 2012. The business has more than 11,000 employees and generated revenues of €16.5 billion in 2011. In Australia, the company owns and operates 3,500 MW (gross) of renewable, gas-fired and brown coal-fired plants in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Our retail business, Simply Energy, has more than 300,000 electricity and gas accounts in Victoria and South Australia.

7~3---~- M echanical Engineer E.“ and Outage Engineer Rd n Ps ‘ oy ses 4 == A n umber of exciting opportunities currently exist for dynamic and suitably qualified individuals to join a team of superior performers in the positions of Mechanical Engineer and Outage Engineer in the Asset Management Department at GDF SUEZ Australian Energy-Hazelwood.

Mechanical E ngineer The M echanical Engineer's key responsibilities encompass providing high quality technical support to the asset owner to facilitate the management of long term asset integrity. The successful candidate must have a minimum of five years power industry experience with a specific focus and considerable expertise in boiler pressure parts management.

Outage E ngineer The O utage Engineer (Electrical discipline) will provide high quality outage scoping, planning and scheduling, outage delivery and technical support to contribute to the successful management of the long term outage and capital plan. Candidates must have extensive heavy Electrical/Instrument and Controls experience in the delivery of operational and maintenance major projects and proven skills in project management, preferably in the power generation industry.

These p ositions will suit highly motivated, flexible and enthusiastic individuals with the knowledge, competencies, experience, and desire to add true value in a dynamic production environment, enabling the business in its quest for continuous asset management improvement. Successful candidates must also be able to demonstrate a focused and continued commitment to OHS/Environmental policy application and compliance.

A c opy of the GDF SUEZ Australian Energy Application Form & Position Description can

be downloaded from the following address; www.gdfsuezau.com ( The Company/Careers/Latest Vacancies)

Please n ote that applications which do not include a completed application form and address the Key Selection Criteria will not be considered.

Applications a nd accompanying resumes should be directed to: Mark Wilkins, Human Resources Advisor Hazelwood GDF SUEZ Australian Energy, PO Box 195 Morwell Victoria 3840 or emailed to [email protected]

Applications c lose Friday, 8 March 2013

NEWS

Hiding c onstruction work with advertising

The7 $ million multi-storey developed b y IPS Media, who looked after the l arge Bondi Beach crowds expected redevelopment of North Bondi Surf Club permissions and arrangements with the throughout the summer period. is exhibiting a new way of covering a builders, scaffolders and installers. "The site is an unprecedented construction site in Australia by using the IPS Media founder Marc Caldera said: opportunity for brands to be part of one scaffold surrounding the site as a massive "The material the advertisement is of Australia's most iconic locations," open canvas on which to advertise. printed on is a mesh and has to be to Copley said. With scaffold fabric wrapping a typical allow the wind pass through. It can be While these types of temporary sites are worksite for shade or fall protection used instead of the scrim or shade cloth, quite common in the US and Europe, this purposes, specialist communication however [at Bondi] we do also have wire was a first for Posterscope in Australia agency Posterscope worked with outdoor fencing behind our advertising." and Copley saw plenty of opportunity advertising company IPS Media, printing The campaign has been declared one to look for other construction sites company Omnigraphics, and media of Australia's largest ever "out-of-home depending on the quality of the site, and agency MPG in early January to drape [advertising] executions". considering such characteristics as the the construction scaffold with a massive Posterscope managing director Joe Copley size, shape, visibility, and location. advertisement. said the scaffold structure provided a "CBDs or iconic locations such as Bondi Advertising on the mesh placed around billboard opportunity measuring more are the most likely locations to raise the scaffold of the construction site was than 600m. The site also capitalises on interest," he said.

Practice n otes on fire safety

wo e ngineering practice notes on of F ire Safety can download the Areas c urrently under review Tﬁre safety are now available to all publications free of charge from the include safety, feasibility studies, members of Engineers Australia. society website www.sfs.com.au. retaining walls, cabling for They are titled Practice note for design These practice notes are part of communications, and construction fires and Practice note for fire and a drive by Engineers Australia to agreements. life safety in existing buildings during reinvigorate its publishing activities of Members are invited to suggest construction. Published last March technical material that assists members subjects from their areas of expertise by the NSW chapter of Engineers in their engineering practice. which they believe would be suitable Australia's Society for Fire Safety, Other Engineers Australia technical for practice notes and technical they can now be purchased through societies and colleges are now also guidelines. Suggestions can be sent Engineers Australias engineering exploring areas in their respective to Dr Dietrich Georg at dietrichg@ bookshop EA Books (www.eabooks disciplines where new practice notes engineersmedia.com.au or phone 02 .com.au). Members of the Society and guidelines would be beneficial. 9438 1533.

24 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 NNEWS I BRIEF

_Daily i ndustry news service

Engineers A ustralia's website (www. Australia. M embers can also allowed E ngineers Media to publish engineersaustralia.org.au) now subscribe to the news RSS feed on the many more news items than could features a daily industry news service home page. appear in its print only publications. delivered by Engineers Media, EA director of marketing Jamie In addition, all news items are publisher of Engineers Australia Penrose said the new service is an categorised by topic. Visit any section magazine. example of EA's drive to deliver of the website (eg colleges and Visit the home page and click greater value to members and would divisions) to find local/topical news. "view all news" to see items covering be followed up with other online This page below summarises some major projects and engineering services in the future. of the news items appearing on the developments, along with other Engineers Media managing editor website that are not already covered news content supplied by Engineers Dr Tim Kannegieter said the service earlier in this issue.

N T he Collins Report inquiring into DIDowner E will be responsible Siemens a nd Spotless. The contract NSW construction industry insolvencies for the design and construction of work packages currently required over the last three years has been two new passing rail loops between are for: the main hospital building, a released by the NSW Department Gosford and Narara. The contract facilities management centre, a mental of Finance and Services (DFS). The is for earthworks, civil construction health unit, two carparks, roads and inquiry was chaired by Bruce Collins of track, bridges and retaining walls, infrastructure services, duplication and contains 44 recommendations for signalling and electrification works, of Kawana Way, and project-wide change. More information: http://goo.gl/ and commissioning. More information: procurement deals. More information: cwDl. http://goo.gl/J1Dzm. http://goo.gl/auZhv. MN Sydney Water has awarded a N T he new 36km Southern Sydney N L eighton Contractors' Papua five-year $175 million contract for the Freight Line has officially commenced New Guinean operation has been operation and maintenance of water operations. The $1 billion rail awarded an A$200 million contract to facilities to Thiess. Thiess will provide infrastructure project will speed up the construct a new permanent head office mechanical and electrical services movement of trains through Sydney for Esso Highlands in Port Moresby, for water and wastewater treatment which has been a freight bottleneck. plants and networks, and facilities The project was funded by Australian PNG. Construction on the head office management services for more than Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). is expected to commence this year. 2000 sites and buildings across Sydney, The initial formation and bridge More information: http://goo.gl/Em78C. the Blue Mountains and Illawarra. More construction was completed by Arenco WN E nvironmental services information: http://goo.gl/HjcH4. and Reed Constructions, with station procurement company Eco-Buy has MN T he Western Australia upgrades and modifications contracted merged with environmental engineering government is now accepting design to Gartner Rose. Turner & Townsend solutions company Net Balance. More proposals for a $250 million Wellington provided project management support, information: http://goo.gl/8FXdQ. Street bus station underground while Evans & Peck provided project terminal. More information: http://goo. and construction management. gl/uvgA6. Aurecon constructed bridges and civil structures and Westinghouse supplied Correction N F ortescue Metals Group has n t he January issue of Engineers awarded a $1.8 billion contract to signalling and IT. The final stage of I Australia magazine, the article Macmahon for the open cut expansion track construction was completed by "Guilty plea to registration of its Christmas Creek iron ore mine Leighton Contractors in an alliance breach" correctly noted: "No in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The with ARTC. More information: http:// conviction was recorded." However, five-year contract includes all aspects goo.gl/jSKSZ. later in the article a sentence began of mine operations including drill MN T he new $1.8 billion Sunshine with: "After the conviction ...". and blast, overburden removal, ore Coast University Hospital, a public- This sentence should have started: harvesting, maintenance of equipment, private partnership between the "After the court proceedings ... ". and associated services. More Exemplar Health Consortium and Engineers Media apologises information: http://goo.gl/ob7S2. the Queensland state government, has opened applications for 230 contracts for any confusion this may have MN A $ 90 million rail infrastructure caused and any distress felt by contract for the Gosford Passing for the construction of the hospital. The John Ruffini. Loops project north of Sydney has Exemplar Health consortium comprises been awarded to Downer EDL. of Lend Lease, Capella Capital,

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 25 PEOPLE

Email c hanges in key engineering personnel to [email protected]

for t he Isis Enterprise basedt a Curtin University. consultancy business. With a career spanning Ujvary was previously more than two decades Australian representative of in the global oil and gas investment bank Ferghana industry, Truijens has been Partners. She also holds an with Woodside since 2005. MBA from the University of MN C hris Fitzhardinge Adelaide. and David Singleton Tom A lbanese ath Proto: Rio Tinto N A gricultural engineer have joined the board Dr Neil Southorn has of Engineers Australia's N T om Albanese stepped down as chief executive of been appointed as director, Centre for Engineering Rio Tinto after the company announced a US$14 billion sustainable development Leadership and writedown after tax in its full year 2012 results. The at Griffith City Council Management, while David company said the impairments include US$3 billion lost in NSW. He was formerly Hudson has retired from from the value of its Mozambique coal operation and lecturer in agricultural the board after six years of US$10 billionUS$11 billion lost from the value of its engineering at Hawkesbury service. aluminium a ssets. and Orange Agricultural WN E ngineering consultant Albanese h olds a master degree in mining Colleges, and policy Lindsay Dynan has engineering and a bachelor degree in mineral economics planning manager at appointed structural from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Shoalhaven City Council. He is replaced by the company's iron ore chief engineer Dr John Mullard MN E lectrical engineers executive Sam Walsh, who holds a commerce degree. as an associate in Newcastle. Professor BaNgu Vo He has over ten years of and Professor BaTuong experience in construction, Vo have joined Curtin design and engineering the b ody responsible for University's Department of N G lobal engineering management. implementing the WA Electrical and Computer and consulting firm MWH Mullard will also take government's program to Engineering, bringing with Global has named chemical part in research and develop regional centres in them expertise in largescale engineer Mark Bruzzone teaching at the University of the Pilbara. surveillance technologies. as Australia regional Newcastle. director of government and King holds tertiary The brothers received the infrastructure. qualifications in mechanical 2010 Australian Museum N O liver Mitrvoski has Bruzzone joined MWH engineering and teaching. Eureka Prize for outstanding been appointed general manager manufacturing at in 2001 as a principal WN I sis Innovation, science in support of process engineer. He the technology transfer defence or national security. Pearls MiiHome, which previously worked at Sydney company of the University MN M artijn Truijens provides modular buildings. Water. of Oxford, is expanding its has been appointed Mitrovski holds qualifications in rN D Ken King has been activities in Australasia with Adjunct Professor at the manufacturing engineering, appointed chief executive the appointment of chemical Australasian Joint Research officer of the Pilbara engineer Helen Ujvary as Centre for Building manufacturing management Development Commission, Australian representative Information Modelling, and applied science. N A ustralian civil engineer Dr Bruce Sharp has been invested with the grade of Knight in the Royal Order of the Noor of Buayan for & his continuing work as a volunteer on hydroelectric 2 . projects in the Philippines. The order has been established by the Royal House of Buayan from the \\\\\\ m island of Mindanao in the M ark Bruzzone Dr K en King Helen U jvary Philippines.

26 E ngineers Australia February 2013

PEOPLE

Australia D ay honours

for engineers

fnumber o engineers received < C orporal Adam Eagle *e S quadron Leader Sheena Oldridge awards in the 2012 Australia Warrant O fficer Class One e- Warrant Officer Jason Stone. Day Honours for achievement Christopher Tuddenham More details at bit.ly/127ZLpa. in their professional roles or for

services to the community. Officer (AO) in the general division of the Order Of Australia was awarded to: THE H ONG KONG &_ Professor John Argue Q POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY e_ Clive Weeks. O z#mtxs Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the general division was The H ong Kong Polytechnic University is a government-funded tertiary institution in Hong Kong. It awarded to: offers programmes at various levels including Doctorate, Master's, and Bachelor's degrees. It has a full-time academic staff strength of around 1,200. The total consolidated expenditure budget of the e_ Keith Collett University is close to HK$5 billion per year. & Tan Croser <- Dr David Evans DEPARTMENT O F MECHANICAL ENGINEERING < Eric Goodwin 1) P rofessor / Associate Professor in Aviation 2) Assistant Professor in Aeronautical Engineering / Mechanics and Materials / &_ Professor Ian Goulter Design and Computational Solid Mechanics / Control, Dynamics and Acoustics <_ Adjunct Professor David Hood (several posts) e- Kenneth Johnson The D epartment of Mechanical Engineering is one of the six academic units in the Faculty of Engineering. e Sandy Longworth It offers a wide range of programmes, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, over a large < Emeritus Professor Owen Potter spectrum of topics including product analysis and design, environmental technology and transportation, aerospace and aviation, design and manufacturing, computer aided engineering design, etc. To underpin &e Professor Anne Simmons teaching, the Department is presently engaged in the following research areas: combustion and pollution <- Graham Spurling. control, fluid-structure interactions, materials and mechanics, sound and vibration, and product design and development. Please visit the website at http://vww.me.polyu.edu.hk for more information about Member (AM) of the Order of the Department. Australia in the military division was The a ppointees will be required to (a) teach at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; (b) conduct awarded to Major General Stephen research that leads to publications in top-tier refereed journals and awards of research grants; (c) Day. undertake research, programme/curriculum development and administration; (d) supervise student projects and theses; (e) engage in industrial and scholarly research/consultancy activities; and (1) Medal (OAM) of the Order Of undertake academic and departmental administrative duties. The appointee at Associate Professor / Australia in the general division was Professor level will be required to take an active leadership role in the Department. awarded to: Applicants s hould have (a) a PhD degree in relevant disciplines, plus substantial years of experience e_ Major Norman Ford (retired) in teaching and research; (b) good teaching and publication records or management experience in the industry; (c) a good network to facilitate the development of high-level applied research *e Russell Loane collaborations/consultancy projects between PolyU and reputable institutions/organizations and industry; & Peter Mill and (d) excellent communication skills and the ability to use English as the medium of instruction. e Alan Rae. Applicants f or appointment at Professor level should have proven experience in securing or raising Medal (OAM) of the Order Of research funds from the government or industry, outstanding achievements in research and scholarship as well as an excellent reputation as a leading scholar. Applicants who have extensive and Australia in the military division was successful research or publication records, proven experience in programme/curriculum development awarded to: and substantial years of experience in teaching/administration/industry will be considered for e_ Chief Petty Officer Arron Watson appointment at the level of Associate Professor. Applicants with less experience will be considered for appointment at the level of Assistant Professor. e_ Warrant Officer Class One Stephen Remuneration a nd Conditions of Service Greenall A highly competitive remuneration package will be offered. Initial appointment for Assistant Professor e Squadron Leader Ravinder Singh. will be on a fixed-term gratuity-bearing contract. Re-engagement thereafter is subject to mutual The Public Service Medal was agreement. An appropriate term will be provided for appointment at Associate Professor and Professor levels. Applicants should state their current and expected salary in the application. awarded to Guillermo Capati. Application The Conspicuous Service Cross was P lease submit application form via email to [email protected]; by fax at (852) 2364 2166; or by mail awarded to: to Human Resources Office, 13/F, Li Ka Shing Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, &_ Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. If you would like to provide a separate curriculum vitae, please still complete the application form which will help speed up the recruitment process. Application forms can Thomson be obtained via the above channels or downloaded from http:/vww.polyu.edu.hk/hro/job.htm. <- Commander Timothy Standen Recruitment will continue until the positions are filled. Details of the University's Personal Information < Wing Commander Paul Parolo Collection Statement for recruitment can be found at http://mwmw.polyu.edu.hk/hro/jobpics.htm. The Conspicuous Service Medal was www.polyu.edu.hk awarded to:

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 27

EDUCATION

Summer s chools build aspirations

U n iversities in Sydney and Perth hosted this year's Indigenous A ustralian Engineering Summer Schools bringing indigenous students with an interest in engineering as a career to the higher education campuses from as far away as Horn Island, off Australias Cape York Peninsula. At the same time, the University of Queensland held a similar event in Brisbane. The Indigenous Australian Engineering Summer Schools (IAESS) is an annual event, established in 1998 by non- profit organisation Engineering Aid Australia. Australian universities with engineering faculties share the job of hosting it. The event is held for Aboriginal and Torres Strait ’A0.“" a Islander students from around the country and is a seven day live-in summer school, featuring a combination of Students b uild spaghetti bridges at Curtin University, while engineering and social activities that will give the students a attending the engineering summer school that has been taste of engineering studies and careers. designed to inspire them in future studies. At Curtin University, the week-long experience enabled 24 students to discover the benefits of an engineering engineering o perations, a floating platform competition, profession by meeting engineering role models and gaining a closer look at renewable energy technology, a night at insight into the opportunities engineering can provide to Abmusic with WA musicians Bryte MC, Ulla Shay and DJ communities. Zeke, and a closer look at campus life. Curtin University engineering outreach coordinator and Curtin University dean of engineering Professor Moses IAESS program manager Tim Keely said after spending a Tade said IAESS provide opportunities for indigenous week with the 15 boys and nine girls between the ages of students, which are typically under-represented in 15 and 17, many had indicated they would like to take on engineering courses, to enhance their passion and talent in engineering as a career, whether it be in civil, electrical or the field. mechanical fields. Keely said it was particularly encouraging "We want to provide the platform for these young to see the increase in numbers of female participants, up students to achieve as much as possible through engineering from three last year, demonstrating a new enthusiasm to the experience and practice," Tade said. "The summer school traditionally male-dominated field. not only allows them to engage with their interest in a The students built robots with the Curtin Robotics Club, supportive environment, but exposes them to key industry viewed the night sky at the Perth Observatory, and visited people and places to hopefully open doors to a promising the Water Corporation and Woodside Energy headquarters. future career in engineering." Other activities included building circuits, site visits to At the University of Sydney, two students from Horn

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28 E ngineers Australia | February 2013 EDUCATION

Island m ade the 2750km trip to be part of the school. Separate t o the IAESS, the University of Queensland Seventeen-year-old Anton Solomon said he wanted to (UQ) and Rio Tinto have partnered to run an engineering attend this year's school to get a better idea of which area of camp to indigenous students entering Year 11 or 12. The engineering he would like to pursue. His friend and travel InspireU Engineering Summer Experience allowed 20 companion Paul Murde has his sights set on becoming a Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to experience mechanical engineer. Both were also attracted to the idea campus life at UQ. of meeting actual engineers who could guide them on what Executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering, the profession holds. Architecture and Information Technology Professor The boys and their fellow students spent the week Graham Schaffer said InspireU provided students with visiting engineering sites such as Garden Island Naval Base, the opportunity to undertake site visits, do laboratory NSW Roads and Maritime Services, and Qantas. They work, climb the Story Bridge, and experience the thrills of also took part in hands-on engineering workshops at the Dreamworld from an engineer's perspective. university, such as building prosthetic legs and operating Student mentor Matthew Hourigan said: "The aim of robotic arms. the camp was to inspire the students to complete their high University of Sydney senior lecturer at the School of school education with the aspiration to solve the challenges Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, and posed to modern society armed with a UQ engineering academic overseer of this year's program, Dr Douglass Auld, degree." said the school gave students an indication of the level of Principal advisor of mining for Rio Tinto Asuka Kagawa dedication and study required to become an engineer. said the event was part of the global $2.5 million education Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the founding sponsors partnership the company has formed with UQ. of the IAESS, has created a work experience program "We want to bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander that complements the summer school - providing the teenagers who have an interest in the sciences to UQ and opportunity for students to step into a professional introduce them to engineering, a career that allows you to engineering environment. Parsons Brinckerhoff managing contribute in some way to creating a better society," Kagawa director for the Australia-Pacific Mark Dimmock said the said. "We hope to see many of the faces from the camp as results speak for themselves. "Five of the six students who first-year students in engineering at UQ in 2014. participated in the 2012 work experience program have "We've been delighted to support this inaugural event, achieved university places in 2013 - four to do engineering, and speak with the students about potential scholarships one to study law. The other will complete his high school and graduate opportunities within Rio Tinto." M studies this year."

Nominations i nvited for

Australia's most influential engineers

Engineers A ustralia magazine is now compiling its 2013 list of Australia's 100 most i nfluential engineers. The list contains engineers who are currently io ' med (am. influential i n industry, academia/research, consulting, innovation/expertise, public service, and community, as well as politics and other areas of society. The list australia focuses on present influence rather than past achievements. Nominations should include the nominee's current position (including details of responsibility) and justification for why the person is influential. TOP We are encouraging nominations for younger engineers who are influential for their age (particularly in the innovation/expertise category) and also engineers who are a ctive in the community. D Nominations s hould be sent to [email protected]. Please address the criteria set out at www.engineersmedia.com.au/top100web.html. The d eadline is 8 March. AUSTRALIAS MOST INEFLUENTIAL ENGINEERS The C entre for Engineering Leadership and Management is the proud sponsor of Engineers Australia magazine's @ 2013 list of Australia's Top 100 most influential engineers. ENGINEERS A USTRALIA

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 29

COVER S TORY

lessons f rom

At 4 :35am on 4 September 2010, an earthquake of magnitude

7.1 struck Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury region

in New Zealand. The earthquake was succeeded by aftershocks

that are still continuing. The aftershocks have included four other

major earthquakes on 26 December 2010, and 22 February, 13

June and 23 December 2011. The 22 February event was the most

destructive, killing 185 people. The earthquakes also caused major

damage to the Christchurch CBD, with the total number of buildings

needing to be demolished estimated at around 1100.

by K irill Reztsov

ew Z ealand established a Royal Commission of ableo t learn from it," she said. "If we did have such an event Inquiry on 11 April 2011 to report on the causes in one of our capital cities, it would be difficult to recover for of building failure as a result of the earthquakes, quite some time." as well as the legal and best-practice requirements The first of the earthquakes investigated by the Royal Com- for buildings in New Zealand CBDs. The findings have been mission, the 4 September 2010 event, occurred in an area of reported in seven volumes, the latest of which were released relatively low seismic activity. Its return period has been esti- in December 2012. mated at 8000 years. The most destructive of the earthquakes, According to Rob Heywood, deputy chair of Engineers Aus- which occurred on 22 February 2011, ruptured a previously tralia's Structural College, the Canterbury earthquakes present unknown fault. a challenge to the engineering profession because the buildings "As the fault has no surface expression, it is very difficult to were subjected to forces beyond the "ultimate limit state" they determine a return period;" the commission report said. Heywood noted that rather than the first earthquake, it was had been designed for. one of the aftershocks (the 22 February 2011 event) that caused Despite the different seismic conditions in New Zealand, the most damage. Heywood said the earthquakes were lessons for Australia because Goldsworthy said that the shallow Canterbury earthquakes they collapsed or seriously damaged structures constructed have more in common with the intra-plate earthquakes that using materials and technologies common in Australia today. happen in Australia such as in 1989 in Newcastle than deep Very r are events plate-boundary earthquakes that typically occur in New Zealand. According to Associate Professor Helen Goldsworthy from the "We have faults in capital cities in Australia and they are University of Melbourne, while buildings in Australia can be capable of generating damaging shallow earthquakes similar expected to withstand a low-level earthquake, the crux of the to the ones in Christchurch," Goldsworthy said. problem is designing for very rare events. "The Christchurch Goldsworthy said that currently in Australia a design earth- earthquake was a very rare event. That's why I think it's so valu- quake at the ultimate limit state for most buildings is one that has

30 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

COVER S TORY

hristchurch

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a 1 0% chance of being exceeded in 50 years. "That's a low-level event, l arger than what we were designing for. What would earthquake," she said. By comparison, in the US structures are happen? We need to study that on a community-wide basis." generally designed to remain "life-safe" for two-thirds of the Training, r egistration and ethics ground motion of a maximum considered earthquake, which The Royal Commission also looked at the performance of the is defined to have a 2% chance of exceedance in 50 years, and engineering profession itself and has identified deficiencies in to meet the performance objective of "collapse prevention" for the training, registration and ethics of professional engineers. the maximum considered earthquake. According to the commission, the majority of cases of poor In an area where big earthquakes occur often, like California, building performance were due to either a failure to recognise the difference between a 2% and a 10% exceedance event may the weakness of the foundation soils or failure to adequately be small, but there is usually a large difference between the two allow for fundamental aspects of structural behaviour. For ex- earthquake levels in areas of low and moderate seismicity like ample, the CTV building, which collapsed killing 115 people, the east and mid-west of the US and Australia, Goldsworthy neglected "equilibrium requirements for the transfer of inertial said. "For most buildings in Australia we don't require designers forces between the floors and the structural walls" and did not to consider performance under a very rare event such as the consider load paths through the beam/column joints. maximum considered event;" she said. "For seismic design, there is a further basic design requirement While she does not say Australia should copy US practices, associated with ductility and capacity design. This requirement Goldsworthy believes the design level earthquake should be is that structural details must not lead to excessive strain con- reassessed. Australia should also define a "very rare" earthquake centration in an element, in comparison to the strain capacity and set minimum performance requirements for buildings in of the material. Structural designers have been slow to identify such an event. many aspects of this problem, but the performance of buildings "We haven't looked at what would happen if one of these in Christchurch has highlighted it," the commission report said. faults ruptured close to a city and there was a large magnitude It concluded that "structural designers of buildings where Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 31

COVER S TORY

seismic c onsiderations dominate the structural design re- needo t improve structural engineering education in Australia. quirements need to have a good basic understanding of the In an article in the Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, fundamental requirements for design, and of the assumptions Vol 13 No 2, she proposed that Australian structural engineers inherent in seismic analysis. In addition, the designer needs should follow their New Zealand colleagues lead in being to have a good grasp of the strut and tie approach to design, trained to incorporate reliable ductility where necessary to help together with the compatibility and load path requirements for a structure withstand a very rare earthquake without collapse. concrete and steel structures". "Displacement-based methods to assess building performance Futhermore, "the current arrangements for assessing and when subjected to a very rare earthquake event should become ensuring professional competence are very reliant on competence a routine part of the structural design," the paper said. assessment in practice areas that are defined in wide terms". Goldsworthy and her colleagues at the University of Mel- The Royal Commission said that it is currently not necessary bourne teach postgraduate-level subjects on earthquake-resistant to be a chartered professional engineer, a member of the In- design and extreme loading. She told Engineers Australia that stitution of Professional Engineers New Zealand or even hold most undergraduate courses "are not going to be looking at an engineering degree to design a building. what happens when you push a building to an extreme level". The commission heard evidence that structural engineering "Designers must have some knowledge of what sort of content of a civil engineering degree has been decreasing in construction is resilient to earthquakes and what isn't, so they order for other subject material to be included. However, rather can assess how their building would behave if a very large than recommending changes to the bachelor of engineering earthquake did occur close-by. It gives them a much better degree, the Royal Commission focussed on the training engi- insight into structural behaviour. I think it's a good education neers receive after graduation. to have," she said. "The Royal Commission is of the opinion that postgraduate "A lot of our engineering firms are international enterprises training for engineers is an essential factor in developing and and engineers from those firms might work in Indonesia or New maintaining competence. We encourage the ongoing provision Zealand, so having this sort of knowledge is important I think." of continuing education through provision of block courses at In New Zealand the title of chartered professional engineer the tertiary institutions, the tailoring of courses to those who are (CPEng) is protected by legislation and CPEngs have to be working, and mentoring within engineering firms. Engineering registered and fulfil minimum requirements. The commission consultancies should encourage their engineering staff to take heard evidence that it is more likely that engineers are perform- membership in the engineering profession's learned societies ing incompetently within their areas of practice than working and attend seminars. They should provide support for ongoing outside their practice areas. learning and maintain a structured process for the review and One of the commission's recommendations is for a new sign-off of work." CPEng competence requirement for structural engineers - "a Engineers Australia chief executive Stephen Durkin com- good knowledge of the fundamental requirements of structural mented: "Engineers Australia believes that academic qualifica- design and of the fundamental behaviour of structural elements tions alone are not sufficient to enable an individual to provide subjected to seismic actions". engineering services. As is the case for many other professions, The commission has also recommended a two-tier system, practical skills and experience are also essential, including with a new role of Recognised Structural Engineer to certify continuing professional development." engineering design plans for complex structures. It is envisaged For Goldsworthy, the Canterbury earthquakes highlight a that the Recognised Structural Engineer would have more extensive design experience, competencies and qualifications than ordinarily required of a CPEng. Durkin said that Engineers Austra- lia is proposing a co-regulatory scheme in Australia where the engineering profession and government would develop and administer standards in collaboration. "We think it must be a priority for government to develop a uniform system of registration for engineers across all disciplines," he said. "It is unacceptable that engineering is

32 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

COVER S TORY

cpiccnlerﬁ’

-Lyttelton

Shake I ntensity O O O O strong v ery strong severe violent

onef o the only long-standing professions that is not subject Reinforced c oncrete buildings to regulation, given the important work of engineering profes- The most catastrophic failures were the CTV building, which

sionals and the size of the engineering workforce." collapsed killing 115 people, and the Pyne Gould Corporation

The commission has also raised questions about ethics in Building, which killed 18. the engineering profession, particularly in the case of the CTV Even though the CTV structure was relatively recent, the building, which collapsed killing 115 people. The commission commission found that the building collapsed within 10-20

found that the north shear wall "failed to perform its intended seconds from the start of the earthquake, leaving people little

function of resisting earthquake loads on the building because time to escape, as the north wall complex and the south coupled

the floor slabs detached from it. The south shear wall similarly shear wall did not resist the lateral loads. "It was a sudden and

failed in that the floor slabs detached from it and it toppled over, catastrophic collapse, as recounted by both survivors within

coming to rest on the remains of the building. The columns also the building and those who observed it from nearby. After an failed to perform their function ofproviding gravity support for initial period of twisting and shaking all of the floors dropped,

the floor slabs, although this failure may have been related to virtually straight down, due to major weaknesses in the beam- the failure of the joints between the columns and the beams." column joints and the columns. Eyewitnesses described the

The commission heard that "an area of non-compliance with collapse as a 'pancake effect. The north wall complex was the code of the day with respect to the tying of the floors to the left standing, the floors having torn away and coming to rest shear walls, specifically to the north core walls" was discovered stacked up adjacent to its base. The south shear wall collapsed by John Hare, a senior engineer at Holmes Consulting Group inwards on top of the floors in what we consider would have

in 1990. The commission found that the structural weakness been the last part of the collapse sequence."

was reported to Alan Reay Consultants (the building designer) The Royal Commission found that Christchurch City Council but not to the council. While the Royal Commission has found should not have issued a building permit for the CTV building

the reviewing engineer acted appropriately, it has recommended because its engineering design did not comply with the city's

the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand clarify bylaws and New Zealand Standards for structural design and

the following in its code of ethics: concrete structures. Some of the non-compliant elements were

1. The test for taking action should be well understood by identified by the council engineer Graeme Tapper, but the

engineers - ie ensuring public health and safety. commission found he was "either persuaded that his concerns

2. Each clause in the codes of ethics stands alone and no one were unfounded, or more likely was directed to approve the clause can override another. In the case of a perceived conflict structural design'.

between two or more clauses, the question as to which clause The design also did not comply with best practice. According

should carry most weight in the circumstances presented to the commission, one of the elements of best practice is that

should be a carefully considered matter of judgement. "in the event of a major earthquake, the building will develop

3. There should be clarity as to the point at which an obligation a ductile mechanism to prevent it collapsing in a brittle failure

of a reviewing engineer to report is extinguished, and where mode. To achieve this objective, all potential weak zones must

the accountability for addressing the matter and rectifying be identified and detailed to ensure that they have adequate

any weaknesses rests. ductility to enable the building as a whole to develop a ductile

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 33

COVER S TORY

"Australian c ities have much to learn from

recent experiences in Christchurch"

mechanism". T he commission said this principle was widely safety" e ven though they may have suffered extensive damage, understood by structural engineers since the 1970s, but was the commission said. However, one of the major shortcomings not applied at the CTV building which was approved in 1986. the commission identified is cases where the stairs had failed, The commission also indentified deficiencies in the construc- leaving people trapped on the upper floors. This happened at tion of the building and its assessment after the 2010 earthquakes. the 18-storey Forsyth Barr Building and the 27-storey Hotel The collapse of the Pyne Gould Corporation Building was Grand Chancellor. "Critical elements such as stairs, ramps and triggered by the failure of the eastern wall, the commission egress routes from buildings should be designed to sustain the concluded. The structure was designed in the 1960s before peak for inter-storey drifts equal to 1.5 times the inter-storey the importance of ductile detailing was understood. Another drift, in the ultimate limit state," the report recommended. aspect of non-ductile buildings is that they give little indication The commission has also recommended changes to the New of structural damage prior to collapse, the commission said. Zealand Standards for earthquake actions, concrete structures It also identified several other critical structural weaknesses: and structural steel. <_ The offset in the shear core wall at level 1 resulted in local Unreinforced m asonry buildings stress concentrations at the ends of the offset. According to the Royal Commission, failures of unreinforced & T he vertical reinforcement content in the shear core walls masonry (URM) resulted in the death of 39 people during the was too low to initiate secondary cracks. This led to yield- ing of reinforcement being confined to a short length February 2011 earthquake. The majority of deaths and injuries resulting in a single wide crack in the potential plastic were due to facades, parapets, chimneys, awnings or other ele- region at level 1. It is likely that the induced crack width ments falling onto the adjacent streets. was of sufficient magnitude to fail the reinforcement in The report said: "URM buildings are made up of materials tension, enabling the shear core to rock about the west that are inherently good in compression but very weak in tension. wall. The poor performance in earthquakes of URM buildings as a * T he eccentric location of the shear core in the building class can be attributed to the buildings' common characteristics. greatly increased the torsional action applied to the shear URM buildings are stiff, heavy and brittle structures, which at- core, which weakened the building's seismic performance. tract large seismic accelerations in their structures. They have < T he beams that were supported by the shear core walls little capacity to deform once the strength of their elements has were ineffectively tied into the walls. been exceeded, leading to abrupt failures." e- T he perimeter columns and associated beam column While New Zealand has a requirement to upgrade URM joints were inadequately confined to enable them to sus- buildings to 33% of new building strength (NBS), its application tain significant inter-storey drift without failure. has been left to local authorities. Upgraded buildings generally Mostf o the other buildings in the CBD achieved the goal of "life performed better than their non-upgraded counterparts and many are still standing. "The URM buildings strengthened to 100% NBS

performed well, those strengthened to 67% NBS performed moderately well, and the performance of those strengthened to less than 33% NBS was not significantly better than those that had not been strengthened," the commission report said.

34 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

COVER S TORY

The l argest number of deaths resulted from the collapse of the CTV building, shown here before and after the February 201 earthquake. The commission found that even though the building was relatively recent, the floor slabs "pancaked", giving most occupants no chance of escape. Protos: P rirup Pearson, usep unbper Creative Commons LICENCE

"There a re three broad approaches to managing the risk posed Griffith t old Engineers Australia that Australian cities could by unreinforced masonry buildings in earthquakes. The first is fare slightly worse than Christchurch because New Zealand to do nothing and accept the risk on the basis that damaging gradually stopped using unreinforced masonry after the 1931 earthquakes resulting in building damage will occur infrequently. Napier earthquake whereas such structures are still being built The second option is to demolish these building types, which in Australia. In addition, Australia has not done as much seismic would obviously impact on the heritage and character of New rehabilitation and retrofitting of old buildings as New Zealand. Zealand's cities and towns. The third way forward is to install "The good thing for us is that the probability of having such some level of earthquake strengthening in these buildings. This an earthquake is lower than in New Zealand," he said. third option is the intent of the current law. We do not suggest Should Australia consider implementing some of the Royal that it should be abandoned." Commission's URM recommendations? "In my opinion, I would According to the commission, the most hazardous elements really like that to happen, but I also recognise there would be of URM buildings are falling hazards such as chimneys, parapets a cost associated with that," Griffith said. "On a building-by- and ornaments, which should be secured or removed. One of building basis it is difficult to justify strengthening on a cost/ the other recommendations is that "free-standing masonry walls benefit ratio. But when you look at the CBD of Christchurch of unknown structural strength should be adequately restrained being shut down for almost two years - some people have or demolished." The commission also recommended that "the buildings that are completely undamaged but they can't use external walls of all unreinforced masonry buildings should them - the business interruption costs and the other impacts be supported by retrofit, including in areas of low seismicity. on the city go way beyond just a simple cost of repair. They These findings are significant for Australia as it also has need to be included in the calculation of the cost/benefit ratio." many unreinforced masonry buildings as a result of a shared Goldsworthy, who took part in building inspections after history of British colonisation. Associate Professor Jason Ing- the February 2011 earthquake as a representative of the Aus- ham from the University of Auckland and Professor Michael tralian Earthquake Engineering Society, commented: "I saw Griffith from the University of Adelaide reviewed the perfor- a lot of heavy parapets down on the ground in Christchurch. mance of URM buildings during the Canterbury earthquakes Ornamentation such as giant stone vases - these are up at the for the Royal Commission. In a paper presented at Engineers top of the building and when the earthquake hits they can fly Australias Australian Earthquake Engineering Society 2011 off like being shot from a catapult. It's frightening. Conference in South Australia, Ingham and Griffith together "In New Zealand it's definitely justified to do something about with Lisa Moon from the University of Adelaide concluded that. I personally think that it would be good to phase out such that an earthquake similar to the February 2011 Canterbury construction in Australia. It might even be an opportunity - if event would lead to similar levels of damage and fatalities if it you really want that ornamentation, could it not be made from happened in Christchurch's sister city Adelaide. "It is clear that light, durable materials? It's seen at a distance so people aren't Australian cities have much to learn from recent experiences going to know that it's not stone. Hopefully we could convince in Christchurch," the paper said. people that that type of construction - freestanding unrein-

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 35

COVER S TORY

forced m asonry walls or parapets and chimneys - shouldn't The c ommission heard that the seismic design philosophy really be built. Whether we should retrofit those buildings is has three broad objectives: no damage in a minor earthquake, an economic-type decision." repairable damage in a moderate one and avoiding collapse or In their report to the Royal Commission, Ingham and Griffith loss of life in a severe one. estimated the cost of upgrading New Zealand URM buildings Some New Zealand engineers, including Professor Andrew to a minimum of 67% of NBS at NZ$2 billion, compared to the Buchanan from the University of Canterbury, proposed that total estimated value of URM building stock of NZ$1.5 billion. the performance criteria should be revised so that all building Griffith told Engineers Australia that many of the URM types are repairable even after a major earthquake. structures in Christchurch that were reinforced and are still "Now that's a very high aspiration but there are new technolo- standing are generally owned by government bodies or or- gies that have come in, some of which have origins in Roman ganisations like universities that would have larger budgets times such as rocking structures," Goldsworthy said. "I doubt for building upgrades than most private individuals or small we would generally use those here [in Australia]. businesses. It would also be difficult for small regional towns "We only have limited resources in our country. We have all to upgrade their streetscapes of historic buildings without sorts of disasters - fires, floods, cyclones - and a lot of people external funding, he said. aren't too worried about earthquakes. I think it's largely a matter Griffith is involved in research to develop cost-effective of encouraging designers to move away from non-resilient types techniques to strengthen masonry structures. "We are looking of construction. The cost implications may be small. I think at ways to try to prevent the out-of-plane bending failures of we should study this a lot more thoroughly; not enough work unreinforced masonry walls. This is where the brickwork falls has been done to provide evidence for the need for change." out onto the street. Just about every building that we looked The traditional design philosophy that looks at structural at in Christchurch where there was major damage to masonry performance of individual buildings is problematic. According buildings [the brickwork] tended to fall out of the building and to Dr George Walker, a structural engineer who is honorary into the street. So what we are looking at is a way to strengthen research fellow at reinsurance firm Aon Benfield and Adjunct the masonry in that weak Professor at James Cook Uni- direction." The front-facing versity, the impact of a disaster walls and parapets can also be is non-linear and scales with reinforced in the out-of-plane the size of the community. For bending direction. example, the Royal Commission Since chimneys are largely noted the large costs incurred not visible from the street, they due to business disruption in can be dealt with economically. Christchurch CBD for over 17 "You can put hoops around the months. chimneys to strengthen them Conversely, disaster mitiga- and then tie the hoop back tion measures that may not be into the roof structure. The justified at an individual build- alternative is to replace the ma- ing level can provide overall sonry chimney with a modern benefits to the community, lightweight metal duct." Walker said in a paper presented Other ideas being developed at the Australian Structural at the University of Adelaide include fabrics or clear spray-on Engineering Conference 2012 in Perth. The paper argued that coatings that would not change the visual appearance of the catastrophe risk modelling, a technique used in the insurance building. Such reinforcement would need to be tied back to the industry, should be adapted to assess the costs and benefits of floors or the roof of the structure. "That would go a long way disaster mitigation measures, such as changes to the building to reducing the damage an earthquake would cause to masonry code. "The advantage of such models is that they can model the buildings in Australia," Griffith said. uncertainties associated with such analyses, as well as take into Different e xpectations account the transfers of risk which occur as a result of insur- Despite the severity of the earthquakes, particularly the February ance and reinsurance and the costs associated with doing this." 2011 event, the Royal Commission found that the community In a paper published in the Australian Journal of Structural had expected the buildings to peform better than they did. Engineering, Vol 8 No 1, Walker estimated that, since almost all "Post-earthquake, it is apparent that building owners and others buildings in Australia are insured against earthquakes, this is affected had different expectations of the likely behaviour of an costing Australians $450 million per year, most of which goes to 'earthquake-resistant' building. While all expected life-safety and foreign reinsurance companies. "The challenge for earthquake collapse prevention, the observed level of damage was clearly engineering research will be to develop vulnerability models of not anticipated by many building owners and occupiers," the sufficient sophistication and reliability to model the differences report said. "While the Royal Commission acknowledges the resulting from proposed changes to the code;" the paper said. ® need (which will be ongoing) for careful consideration of risk and cost, we consider that it will be desirable to lessen the potential for economic loss as a result of future earthquakes."

36 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

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FEATURE | P roject Management

The l ead story introduces the John Grill Centre for Project Leadership. Also

included are articles on checking forecasts, water projects in South Australia

and n ew products. Compiled by Kirill Reztsov

New c entre aims to improve

project d elivery

by J ohn Grill

uccessful d elivery of large scale SYDNEY important s kill sets. S and complex projects is more Most projects also involve important than it has ever been. governments at multiple levels as A 2012 report Pipeline or Pipe Dream regulator, client or partner, so project by the Business Council of Australia leaders have to manage and engage estimated that there are some 160 governments, the community and the projects valued at $1 billion or greater media. Finally, engaging and leading and proclaimed that successful delivery on land rights, industrial relations and of these projects is likely to shape sustainability issues are increasingly part Australias economic prosperity over of project leaders' competencies. the next decade and beyond. Projects The John Grill Centre for Project such as Gorgon's natural gas facility Leadership at the University of Sydney and the National Broadband Network has been created to address these readily come to mind. However, large leadership challenges. Its mission is to projects are not restricted to mining enhance leadership capability and enable and infrastructure, they also span areas John G rill ... "The need for mid-career organisations to successfully deliver such as defence, energy, government, courses in project leadership, similar large-scale complex projects globally. technology and manufacturing. to the mid-career courses available in Bringing together multidisciplinary More broadly, organisations across business administration, has never been knowledge and perspectives, the new all sectors of the economy are turning greater." centre combines the complex project to large projects to deliver essential management and systems engineering business transformation and strategic expertise of the Faculty of Engineering change as they seek to stay at the forefront of innovation and Information Technology with the Business School's while also delivering much needed efficiencies. leadership, strategy and managerial development expertise. Developing the skills and competencies to deliver these Currently, the centre is designing focused executive large-scale and complex projects efficiently and effectively education courses which aim to arm project leaders is vital, especially given that both academic research and with the complex set of skill sets mentioned above. The industry surveys indicate a surprisingly high rate of project centre aims to deliver the executive education offerings failure regardless of project type. in the latter half of 2013. Other key activities will include Strong engineering skills, technical capability and fostering project leadership innovation and knowledge project management disciplines are essential for project sharing through a series of thought leadership events, and success, but effective leadership requires a whole lot more. leading and driving collaborative cutting-edge research The ability to adopt effective and tailored leadership between industry and academia. approaches as project circumstances demand, coach and develop project teams and generate deep commitment Developing t he skills and to delivering project outcomes, are essential leadership requirements. competencies to deliver large- Strategic thinking to connect project plans to strategic priorities, dynamic risk management, embedding the scale and complex projects project into the business' ongoing operations, and making effective decisions when faced with uncertainty are other efficiently a nd effectively is vital.

38 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Project M anagement | FEATURE

The e xecutive education program is being designed administration, h as never been greater. The aim is to and will be delivered in partnership with industry. These provide for this need with a well conceived and managed courses will focus on helping skilled engineers and others centre which in time develops a global reputation. take the next step in acquiring the CEO -like skills required More information on the John Grill Centre for Project to deliver large scale and complex projects to time, budget Leadership is available at www.sydney.edu.au/john-grill- and quality. Throughout the program, experienced project centre. M leaders and industry experts will share their experiences while the latest theories will be used in real scenarios, John G rill is chairman of the John Grill Centre for Project simulations and cases to guide thinking and develop Leadership and former chief executive of international resources and energy company WorleyParsons. He established the centre innovative practices. with a $20 million personal donation to the university. The need for mid-career courses in project leadership, similar to the mid-career courses available in business

lain P olley ..."The big difficulty in a lot of projects and reports coming through at the moment is Nine q uestions organisations not scoping the project properly."

to ask ' N ine questions senior here a re nine questions (see box) that should be Tasked about project management to help improve executives should be performance, according to Iain Polley, chief executive of The Moreland Group, which specialises in project management training and qualifications. able to answer The organisation is owned by Engineering Education 1. W hat is the current project performance in the Australia, a subsidiary of Engineers Australia. organisation? "Project management is becoming everybody's second 2. -What is current project management profession," Polley said. performance? "The big difficulty in a lot of projects and reports

& What is current project manager performance? coming through at the moment is organisations not 4. How widely held is this view/perspective of scoping the project properly, and then being optimistic performance? in the way they put forward estimates for factors such as 5. What are the business drivers and accountabilities time, costs and the other bits and pieces. for projects? "They then get into strife during the project's delivery 6. What processes or activities are in place or being because they haven't done their 'rehearsal' properly." considered to overcome the perceived problems Polley's observations are backed up by the findings of and/or performance deficiencies? Scope for Improvement, a survey of project risk in Australia 7. Does the human resource development strategy undertaken by Blake Dawson in 2011. It found that nearly include, as a component, the skill/competency and 30% of the 121 respondents indicated key project risks perspective development for project management were first identified only after contract execution. Even staff? where risk identification policies and procedures were 8. What is the project management maturity of the applied and thought to be effective, key risks were still organisation? being missed at the outset 25% of the time. 9. Is there a comprehensive strategy within the The survey also found that out of $55 billion worth of organisation that addresses the situation fully and projects surveyed only 48% were delivered on time, on sets future goals? budget and to the required quality. M

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 39

FEATURE | P roject Management

Brisbane a ward

The d esign team for the Brisbane Airport Link- the Parsons Brinckerhoff and Arup Joint Venture - has received the Special Recognition Award for Sustaining our Society at the Be Inspired Awards, organised by software company Bentley Systems. The award was presented at a ceremony in January in Brisbane, attended by (-r): Bentley Systems senior industry solutions director Nige! Newbury, Arup technical director Marty Scrogings, Brisbane deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner and Parsons Brinckerhoff project director Luke van Heuzen. Bentley software used on the project included ProjectWise, an information management programs designed for infrastructure projects.

Procuring a nd managing water

a n ew project management and procurement services KBRs i providing project management and procurement delivery m odel is helping provide certainty of services in a relationship-style contract that involves close outcomes and continual improvement for SA interaction with the client to share knowledge, ideas, and Water as the utility begins a three-year period of economic best practice in the mitigation of risk. regulation. The PMP Solutions team must ensure investment The state government regulator, the Essential Services targets are met in all aspects of project delivery. Features of Commission of South Australia, will commence economic the delivery model include: regulation of water and wastewater on 1 July. The <- augmentation by KBR of SA Water systems to provide commission has received a Regulatory Business Proposal benefits such as program overview of schedules, from SA Water that includes proposed revenue, prices and milestones and investment service standards for the regulated period. In addition, +_ standard schedules that include all SA Water and state the proposal also includes details of SA Water's proposed government governance processes capital plan along with strategic asset objectives. There *- alternative procurement techniques, which are designed will be more scrutiny of investment plans with a view to to leverage additional value through the supply chain in ensuring money allocated to capital works improvements a program environment is being spent prudently and efficiently. <_ a schedule of strategic improvement goals. SA Water has contracted global engineering, "Continuous improvement leading to growing efficiencies construction and services company KBR to deliver an is an ongoing commitment of the PMP Solutions team," extensive program of capital works, based on the project said Mark Gobbie, KBR's vice president for water. "A management services and procurement delivery model. road map has been implemented to deliver program The five-year contract, which commenced in 2011, covers management excellence in a range of areas including: projects ranging in value from $500,000 to $11 million. It procurement, project controls, design management, is anticipated that 100-200 projects will be delivered each year with a combined capital value of $80-$120 million. external stakeholders and OH&S." A joint team of 85% KBR staff and 15% SA Water staff, Initiatives should comply with existing SA Water known as PMP Solutions, is delivering the program. governance requirements and systems but there is also the PMP Solutions is managing several larger-scale projects opportunity to implement process changes. An example is including: risk management where PMP Solutions and SA Water are &_ Plympton/Marion Road trunk water main renewal ($24 working together to augment existing SA Water systems million) and improve outcomes. <- Queensbury wastewater pump station upgrade ($18 According to Gobbie, KBR's approach was previously million) used in a similar program management business model for <_ Happy Valley water treatment plant chlorine upgrade a UK water utility. "Senior KBR personnel who delivered ($17.5 million) projects for a UK client, including Alan Mackintosh, head &_ Bolivar wastewater treatment plant concrete of PMP Solutions, are working with the Australian team to rehabilitation. deliver hundreds of projects for SA Water," he said. M

40 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Project M anagement | FEATURE

Due d iligence based

on "outside view"

1. I dentification and description of the business case or forecast to be evaluated. 2. Establishing a benchmark that represents the outside view, against which performance may be measured. 3. Using the benchmark to evaluate performance in the forecast in question. 4. Checking the forecaster's track record from other, similar, forecasts.

y Identifying further cost and benefit risks. Professor B ent Flyvbjerg ... "Malpractice in project management

oa Establishing the expected outcome. should be taken as seriously as malpractice in other professions, Soliciting comments from the forecaster. like medicine and law."

g ~ Concluding as to whether the forecast is over- or underestimated and by how much.

Guarding a gainst deceptive forecasts

Taking t he "outside view" is the best way to guard ones, a re both non-routine locally and use well-known against o ver-optimistic or deceptive front-end technologies that have been tried out elsewhere. Such estimates of costs and benefits of a major project, projects would, therefore, be particularly likely to benefit according to the paper published on 8 November 2012 from the outside view." in the International Journal of Project Management. It is The paper proposes an eight-step due diligence plan to authored by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg from the BT Centre evaluate forecasts, which involves establishing a statistically for Major Programme Management at the Said Business reliable benchmark from data available from other similar School, University of Oxford. projects and comparing this against the estimates for The "outside view" involves comparing the project a proposed project. It quickly becomes apparent if the against related past projects. forecasts are claiming to meet or exceed the average results "The traditional way to think about a complex project of previous similar projects and the reasons can then be is to focus on the project itself and its details, to bring to scrutinised. The paper applies this methodology to the bear what one knows about it, paying special attention to "A-train project", an anonymised government-sponsored its unique or unusual features, trying to predict the events public-private rail project. that will influence its future. The thought of going out and The paper characterises those who continue to use gathering simple statistics about related projects seldom conventional forecasting tools when more accurate enters a planner's mind," the paper said. alternatives are available as "fools" who need retraining or "The comparative advantage of the outside view will be "frauds" who should be prosecuted. "Malpractice in project most pronounced for non-routine projects, understood as management should be taken as seriously as malpractice projects that managers and decision makers in a certain in other professions, like medicine and law. To not take organisation or locale have never attempted before - like malpractice seriously amounts to not taking the profession building greenfield infrastructure and plant or catering of project management seriously." to new types of demand. It is in the planning of such Flyvbjerg is working with the US General Accounting new efforts that the biases toward optimism and strategic Office to undertake due diligence on the US$98.5 billion misrepresentation are likely to be largest. To be sure, high-speed rail system in California, the most expensive choosing the right class of comparative past projects would civil construction project in US history. become more difficult when planners are forecasting He has also recently been invited to serve as an expert initiatives for which precedents are not easily found, witness in a US$150 million class action suit against a for instance the introduction of new and unfamiliar forecaster. technologies. However, most projects, and especially major The paper is available at bit.ly/14NA10H M

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 41

FEATURE | P roject Management

if E . I

‘ \ ' fhj q“ Gary N eave ... "Create an environment of genuine trust and 4 your project team will thrive."

A n ew pump station at Clapham was one of the elements of the North South Interconnection System Project in Adelaide.

Taking t he lead: Project management for major infrastructure

Taking t he lead on a major project can often be seen Neave o ffered Engineers Australia insights for engineers as a c hallenging proposition but brings with it a lot aspiring to the role of project director or project manager. of professional and personal satisfaction, according to "Challenging infrastructure projects require a long- Parsons Brinckerhoff program delivery services director Gary standing commitment with the client. This commitment is Neave. He has recently completed more than two years on the foundation for a great project outcome;" he said. secondment as project director for SA Water's $403 million "Create a unified integrated project team because it's North South Interconnection System Project (NSISP). critical to the success in the delivery of major infrastructure. NSISP connects Adelaide's water supply sources - the It's paramount not only from a cultural perspective, but also reservoirs, the River Murray and the new desalination plant from the practical perspectives of reporting, role clarity and - to provide a single city-wide network. The project involved division of responsibility. the construction of four new major pipelines 32km in length, "Clearly articulate each team member's accountability three new pump stations, and a series of other works at over for delivery and set the framework for genuine opportunity. 120 sites in the metropolitan network. Create an environment of genuine trust and your project In 2012, Neave was recognised as the National Project team will thrive." Director of the Year by the Australian Institute of Project Co-locating the key consultant partners with SA Water Management. The award acknowledged his performance, and its representatives on the NSISP fostered a close working knowledge, and technical and interpersonal skills on the relationship within, and between, the various teams - NSISP. His next challenge is to roll out this philosophy more engineering, project controls, cost estimating, stakeholder broadly in the Australian Parsons Brinckerhoff business. engagement, planning, environment, safety and procurement. Neave said that engineering is as much about This was a major contributor to creating an integrated team collaboration and communication as it is about project and the effectiveness of the project. delivery. Over 3500 predominantly local staff worked on the "It's essential we understand the client's motivation, the NSISP, with an average workforce of 450 employed during issues concerning the project and that we share their vision, construction at any one time. and work to contribute to their success," he said. This integrated project team achieved every target

42 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Project M anagement | FEATURE

Challenging i nfrastructure projects require a

long-standing commitment with the client. This

is the foundation for a great project outcome.

and m ilestone, including commencement of operational This w as a major factor in the success of the project. handover in December 2012. Safety performance transparency across all contractors But, as with any large project, the NSISP presented was another initiative implemented by Neave on the a number of challenges for SA Water and the project NSISP. A monthly Contractor Safety Forum served as a team. The project initially required large, industrial-type collaborative environment in which to exchange ideas and installations to be constructed in areas that were mainly discuss: residential. Suitable collaboration with the community &_ lead indicator review aligned to key performance provided the vision and motivation to make the above indicators ground infrastructure smaller and more aesthetically <_ alignment of expectations and behaviours pleasing, to reduce noise and to deliver a landscaped +_ strategic focus setting suitable for the urban environment. +_ troubleshooting and knowledge exchange for difficult The project works passed 4000 homes and businesses tasks. and touched all but one of the 19 Adelaide metropolitan Safe work practices were acknowledged and celebrated. council areas. The project recorded zero lost time injuries over 1,800,000 Neave was actively involved in the consultation stage hours worked. and in the design developments resulting from the The NSISP will give SA Water a greater ability to make community engagement process, attending over 100 best use of its water resources and provide certainty for individual community engagement forums or meetings. Adelaide about its future water supply. M

Book d iscusses megaprojects

ombining h is passion for delivering Australia, E urope and north America with C successful project outcomes and his a view to highlighting strategies that lead to significant international experience, success. John Mason, Aurecon's programme & project Mason co-authored the chapter titled delivery leader, has put pen to paper and "Delivery of UK megaprojects within a authored a chapter in the recently released European context" with Steve Rowsell, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) former head of procurement for Crossrail, book, Managing gigaprojects: Advice from a large railway project. Mason drew on his those who've been there, done that, released by experience of major infrastructure projects Pegasus Global Holdings. in Europe, the US, Australia and southeast The book deals with very large projects - Asia to discuss best practice principles, typically with price tags above US$10 billion organisational considerations, and new - because they present daunting obstacles John M ason drew on approaches to procurement and supply for effective planning, design, construction, his experience of major chain management in the UK. and delivery. Not only do the challenges of infrastructure projects in A chapter that specifically deals with enormous projects increase exponentially with Europe, the US, Australia and Australian projects was authored by their size, but these projects can span long southeast Asia. Victoria-based mechanical engineer and timeframes. Risk management alone poses arbitrator Antonino Albert de Fina. It unprecedented problems of scale and complexity. covers some problematic projects such as BrisConnections In the first part of the book, the authors share lessons and the Lane Cove Tunnel. W learned and best practices developed as they grappled with specific difficulties posed by such large-scale projects. In the second part, construction professionals describe Managing g igaprojects is available from EA Books at www. projects undertaken in the Middle East, Brazil, Asia, eabooks.com.au or on (02) 9438 5355.

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 43

| P roject Management

Construction m anagement Plant d esign software

eridian S ystems has announced Prolog 9.6, veva h as made available its new plant design the latest version of its construction project software Aveva Everything3D (E3D) for major management software for contractors. capital engineering projects. Prolog 9.6 includes a redesign Prolog Mobile with an E3D is designed to break down barriers between improved user interface that simplifies searching, filtering design and construction, reducing overall project and navigation. The new Checklist feature included in cost, schedule and risk. It incorporates laser scanning, allows workers in the field to create or update checklists mobile and cloud computing capabilities. using templates or pre-existing PDF versions of checklists. It also includes 2D and 3D geometry, and 3D Plan View allows users to view records based on an graphics optimised for plant modelling. existing floor plan. Location-based search also makes it AVEVA E3D is fully compatible with the current possible to find other project records within the same version of AVEVA PDMS. geographical area. www.aveva.com Prolog 9.6 also includes enhancements to Prolog Converge, the web-based construction project management application, including expanded file management and improved dashboards for greater collaboration between contractors and owners. info.meridiansystems.com

+- © 0000 m ws,

Engineers A ustralia

~ 2 012 SALARY & _

_ BENEFITS SURVEY _ o-n- c --- - i ® AE» —. - eae a -:-r h- mom m” lle 1 0) m as "Ill-vo-

Represents t he remuneration of 383 companies

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44 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

eMe m b r Rupert Grayston & Deputy chief executive Services of Engineers Australia.

Customer s ervice excellence arrives

n0 2 November 2012 Engineers Australia launched Secondly, t o deliver excellent service we are enabling the long-awaited eChartered product, our online our member service officers around Australia to work system for chartered applications. Within a few together as a team with collective training and support days over a thousand members were using the system systems, for more consistent enquiry response. The and although it performed well, our phones and email first step is a new phone system that arrives this month lines started to hum with queries and minor issues. Then bringing new functionality. Our next step will be to start something exceptional started to happen. centralising more of our member enquiries to a phone As members called in with questions on the many pool serviced by the team nationally, and monitoring call parts of the process and the dozens of web screens, nine waiting times and first-contact resolution. times out of ten the member service person who answered Finally to deliver excellent service our front-line people the phone could directly resolve the matter. Others were need the knowledge to answer our members' questions. promptly assisted by technical experts or received prompt Our new systems will allow our member service staff email responses. Members found that not only was to readily advise an individual how their application is eChartered user-friendly, but our front-line people already progressing, what online services they are subscribing to or seemed to know the new system from end to end! So is whether they should have received a technical journal in this a sign of a new level of member service at Engineers the mail. They will also be able to forward more complex Australia? queries to technical experts and track the response. We The new Member Engagement business unit that I successfully applied this approach to the eChartered now lead has been tasked with strengthening the member product support, but did not yet have the benefit of the service and value we deliver, We are delivering a Member knowledge and case management systems that are being Value Strategy based on 3 key ideas. We aim to ensure that built in 2013. we: During the eChartered launch our member service <_ Value our members with excellent service and member people around the country knew the product via training experiences workshops, screenshots of web forms, structured FAQ's < Deliver valued services and products to our members and a process in which we captured the knowledge from < Provide good value for member fees and charges. system experts and structured it for quick recall. Over In this article I will explore the first key idea and reveal how the next year or so we will repeat this process across we are building a new level of service and member experience. each of our functional areas, while continuing to build We are tackling this in a number of ways. the supporting systems. Our aim during 2013 is for more Firstly, we are building systems to understand and and more members to have great experiences when they respond to our members as individuals. The world of contact us with member service enquiries. engineering is diverse and ever-changing and Engineers In this article I have discussed the first key idea in our Australia in engaged in a bewildering range of activities. member value strategy, of building a new level of service Each of our members has an individual and evolving set of and member experience. We have made a good start with interests and needs, so we want to tailor the information our service delivery theme. This will be a work in progress and communications we offer. This is where technology through 2013 and beyond as we continue to build our steps in. systems, and set service monitors and measures. Service The new computer systems we are building will allow is, however, only part of the picture in building member a member to readily choose and change between many value. We also need substance behind the service and must technical and other areas of interest, how they like to provide things that members need and value. This is the receive information and what services they want to second key idea in our member value strategy and I will subscribe to or opt out of. As a first step we are revamping explore this further in a future issue of the magazine. M our division newsletters to a digital format with web site links to events and further information. This has been piloted in WA Division for some months with positive member feedback and is being progressively rolled out to other divisions.

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 45

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GOOD R EADING | MANAGEMENT

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FEATURE | C ontrol/SCADA

This m onth's feature covers automated cattle management, an automation

tsystem a Grosvenor mine, a partnership of Yokogawa and McAfee, as well as

ABB g iving the University of Queensland access to automation technology.

There's a lso an announcement of Windows 8 support and a US report on

SCADA v ulnerabilities. Lastly there's new products from Rockwell Automation,

Advantech, O mron, Automated Control and Turck. Compiled by Conrad Bem.

Automated c attle management

system nears commercialisation

n A ustralian technology company aims to and C AWD Engineering. The company develops products A commercialise the world's first fully automated and licensable IP for remote livestock management. Ninti system for mustering and managing cattle on large One conducts research, training and research application rangelands. in remote Australia and administers the CRC for Remote Alice Springs-based Precision Pastoral is manufacturing Economic Participation. the Remote Livestock Management System (RLMS), which The federal government has announced it will provide is estimated to save cattle producers around $68 a head in a $350,000 grant to help Precision Pastoral to develop, annual operational costs. demonstrate and take its automated management system to Precision Pastoral is a joint venture between Ninti One Australian and international markets.

| ® t -

The s olar powered weigh station that's part of Precision Pastoral's Remote Livestock Management System.

48 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Control/SCADA|FEATURE

"So f ar humanity has not

managed r angelands that well."

Mark A shley, acting managing director of Ninti One, of management actions such as mustering, drafting, said that RLMS "introduces to graziers and pastoralists the monitoring calving rates and fertility, controlling access same sort of precision available to dairy and beef farmers to feed supplements, and tracking animal growth rates to on much smaller properties - enabling them to muster, determine optimum sale times." weigh, monitor, draft and hold pastoral cattle for market The current prototype RLMS is undergoing field trials over large distances". and research projects with producers throughout remote "It saves time, money, labour and capital by using Australia. Even in the harsh conditions, the system has smart remote technology. It can potentially transform achieved a 92% up-time and a 99% drafting accuracy. In the economics and sustainability of extensive grazing in weight tracking tests, it recorded cattle weights with 97% the Australian rangelands - but also in places like the accuracy. grasslands of Asia, the Americas and Africa," he said. Ashley said that the RLMS does more than help graziers The RLMS is a combination of hardware and software to monitor and muster cattle "hands-off" and save money: that uses telemetry to identify, weigh and draft individual "Potentially it is part of an even more sophisticated system animals w hen they come that h elps graziers precisely in for a drink of water, match grazing pressure to the explained Tim Driver, the available pasture, as reported CEO of Precision Pastoral. by satellites from space. "Cattle are trained to "This can help reduce the present themselves to the massive worldwide problem RLMS for recording, then of rangeland degradation return themselves to the by making grazing systems paddock - unless they are much more sustainable, ready for market, in which retaining good cover of case a drafting gate sends native grasses and vegetation them to a holding paddock to - and also locking up more await collection by the stock carbon. transporter," said Driver. "Rangelands occupy 40% "It uses solar power to run of the Earth's land surface. radio-frequency identification They are the largest area of readers, which recognise the managed land on the planet, unique electronic tag in each but so far humanity has not animal's ear when it passes managed them that well. a gate. The animal is then "Precision pastoralism will automatically weighed and improve the management drafted. The whole process of both the rangelands and is overseen by software that their animals - as well as has been trialled in real-life preserving the pastoral conditions on Australian livelihoods of millions of cattle stations over the past people. This represents three years. a profound contribution "This enables producers by Australian science and to monitor individual technology to a more

cattle whenever they drink sustainable world." M Cattle a bout to enter a weigh station, part of Precision and carry out a range Pastoral's Remote Livestock Management System.

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 49 FEATURE | C ontrol/SCADA

New c oal mine to get US $38 million

automation and electrification

BB, a p ower and automation technology group, has won a US $38 m illion order to design, engineer and supply an integrated automation and electrification system for Anglo American's new Grosvenor coal mine in Queensland near Moranbah, about 1000km northwest of Brisbane. The Grosvenor coal mine is expected to produce 5Mt/a of metallurgical coal for export markets over its projected life of 26 years. Metallurgical coal is a key raw material in steelmaking that is used by 70% of the world's steel A r endering of an operator workplace that is part of ABB's 800xA automation system. The system producers. The new mine will will be used at the Grosvenor coal mine to integrate and control all processes and power systems. feature a standard longwall design and will target the same coal seam as Anglo American's existing Moranbah North mine. The mine is expected to start production in 2013 with commissioning of the longwall in 2016. Partnership t o enhance ABB's system for the mine aims to improve energy and production efficiency, and also to provide a reliable control system security electrical supply with a reduced amount of space required for the main substation. Yokogawa E lectric and cyber security company ABB's delivery includes Unigear ZS1 switchgear McAfee a nnounced the signing of a partnership and water-cooled multi-drive equipment for a smaller agreement to offer IT security solutions for the substation footprint. The ZS1 is primary distribution industrial automation world. medium voltage switchgear designed for indoor Building on Yokogawa's work in control system installations. solutions and McAfee's cyber security experience, The customised solution will also use ABB's System the partnership seeks to address digital threats to 800xA automation system to integrate and control all industrial control systems. processes and power systems. It is an automation platform In particular, the partners will collaborate to offer which focusses on integration in three areas; assets, plant Yokogawa's customers solutions to avoid gaps between data and software/hardware. different IT systems, across proprietary solutions ABB's scope of supply also includes a 66kV substation, and expanded communication channels and running power and distribution transformers, 15 modular pre- common operating systems and applications. fabricated switchrooms equipped with medium-voltage This partnership addresses the issue that industrial switchgear along with intelligent low-voltage motor process control systems typically have a three to five control centres, power quality systems and multi-drive times longer lifecycle than typical commercial systems. variable speed drives. The company will provide design, Yokogawa posits that since both system technology engineering, testing and project commissioning as well as and cyber threats are constantly changing, automation other site services. system suppliers should adopt a lifecycle approach to Equipment delivery is scheduled to commence in the industrial cyber security. M middle of 2013. M

50 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Control/SCADA|FEATURE

www.ealit.ug.edu.au

Alex K uhr, ABB country manager, shakes hands with Prof Graham Shaffer (r), executive dean of the University of Queensland ArchitectureFaculty of Engineering, a nd Information Technology.

Students g ain access to advanced

automation technology

BB h as announced a five-year sponsorship research h igher degree students with scholarships as A agreement with the University of Queensland (UQ) well as offering paid internships over the lifetime of the valued at approximately $500,000. Students of the sponsorship. W Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology now have access to the ABB Mechatronics Teaching Laboratory, which is equipped with ABB's System 800xA control system, IRB 120 industrial robot and drives _Automation s pecialist packages. The university will run courses each year with ABB announces Windows 8 guest lecturers, giving a minimum of 120 students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with ABB's support System 800xA and automation equipment in areas such as control engineering, mine ventilation and mine dvantech,n a industrial platform computing and management. automation device company, has announced One of the two ABB drives packages consists of an support f or Microsoft's new operating system, ACS800 variable speed drives (VSD) and AC motors. Windows 8. This support encompasses 90 devices Another combines ABB's DCS800 VSD with a Baldor DC across Advantech's human machine interface, open motor and gives students exposure to the energy efficiency embedded controller as well as data acquisition and capabilities of these devices and knowledge in how they control products, with the only exception being the can be applied to reduce energy consumption across a TPC-1071H human machine interface product. variety of mining applications. The support entails that the devices take advantage In addition to the onsite equipment, ABB will be of some core Windows 8 features, including the providing undergraduate scholarships for low socio- touch optimised interface colloquially known as economic or indigenous students. ABB has committed Metro and formally known as Natural User Interface, to awarding a minimum of one three-year scholarship cloud connectivity, Windows to go (which allows annually, which will give these students the opportunity for Windows 8 Enterprise Edition to run off a USB to complete their higher learning at the University of drive) and secure boot (a security feature that prevents Queensland. ABB country manager Axel Kuhr also tampering with Windows 8 when it starts up). M announced that ABB will sponsor a number of full-time Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 51

FEATURE | C ontrol/SCADA

Report e xposes SCADA vulnerabilities

Sa U government report has said that vulnerabilities report s aid that the device could be used as an access point in i nternet accessible SCADA devices are an "area could be used to access an entire control systems network. of concern'. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Working with ICS-CERT, the researchers whittled down Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has summarised their initial list of 460,000 targets down to 7200 that were research that found specialised search engines like Shodan directly related to SCADA control systems spread across can find SCADA devices that are accessible remotely the US. by the internet. The report also covered findings about Leverett also made use of Shodan to find over 20,000 inherent vulnerabilities in specific industrial control vulnerable SCADA devices. A significant number of system products. these devices were from US ICS-CERT discussed its state and federal government work with Bob Radvanovsky organisations. As with the work and Jake Brodsky from on Project SHINE, ICS-CERT InfraCritical, a critical The m ajor shortcoming contacted the organisations infrastructure protection to let them know of the research group, and its work was that these devices discovered vulnerabilities. with Eireann Leverett from ICS-CERT also compiled IOActive, a computer security were protected by a list of 171 specific company. vulnerabilities in industrial Radvanovsky and Brodksy "weak, default, or non- control system products, with collaborated on Project the most common being Shodan Intelligence Extraction existent logon credential buffer overflow attacks. Buffer (SHINE), which used Shodan overflows take advantage of to expose internet-accessible a "buffer" of data within a requirements". SCADA devices. Shodan is a program. This buffer can store freely accessible online search only a finite amount of data, engine that uses a variety of and when data is directed to parameters, like manufacturer an already full buffer it can and g eographic location, to search for any device accessible corrupt data or, if maliciously designed, alter the typical via t he internet. These can be relatively innocuous like operation of a program. a voice over IP phones, but the researchers found that The full newsletter can be found at "critical infrastructure assets" can also be found without ics-cert.us-cert.gov. M difficulty. The major shortcoming was that these critical devices were protected by "weak, default, or non-existent logon credential requirements". Once compromised, ICS-CERT's

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52 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

Control/SCADA|FEATURE

New P roducts

Programmable c ontroller Automation c ontrol panel

ockwell A utomation has released the Allen-Bradley dvantech h as launched a 17in model TPC-1771H RMicr0850 programmable controller. This device Aautomation control panel. It is a standalone computer controls the operation of connected equipment. It is suited for industrial applications. The panel provides designed for larger stand-alone machine applications like a choice between PCle and mini-PCle expansion slots and material handling, packaging and solar panel positioning an integrated digital I/O module. In the event of a power applications. failure, there is a battery backup IMB SRAM. Other models Up to three pulse train output motion axes are in the series use a fanless Intel Atom D525 processor, 4GB supported. Home, Stop, MoveRelative, MoveAbsolute and DDR3 RAM and a resistive touch screen. MoveVelocity native instructions make motion applications It has multiple I/O ports; two RS-232 with isolation, straightforward. Micro850 programmable controllers with one RS-422/485 (RS-485 with auto flow control and an embedded Ethernet port support higher performance isolation), two USB 2.0 host ports and two Gigabit communications to HMI. When configuring PanelView Ethernet ports. For data storage the fanless panels also Component and Connected Components Workbench include a Compact Flash Slot and a 2.5in SATA hard disk software, controller variable names can be directly drive. The panels are NEMAA4/ IP65 approved so they can referenced. M be cleaned without risk of damage, and they can operate in au.rockwellautomation.com a temperature range of 0° to 50°C. M www.advantech.com

Passive j unction box Digital t emperature urck h as introduced a six-port M12 passive junction Tbox, designed to integrate multiple devices into controller a single unit. It is suited for factory automation applications, for example packaging and material handling. mron h as released the Digital Temperature With one or two discrete signals per port, the six-port O Controller E5AC. It monitors and controls process junction box is capable of providing up to 12 discrete temperatures. The controller can take sample signals. The junction box consolidates several discrete measurements every 50ms, and has a body depth of devices in an area to one device, which is then connected 60mm. It controller communicates without the need for to a controller via a single cable. This eliminates each specific programs and also controls valves. The controller device requiring its own individual cable. has a 96mm white PV display, connects to a computer It provides 2A of current per signal and up to 9A total using a proprietary communications conversion cable, and current per junction box. It features IP67-rated ingress has four auxiliary ports, up to six event inputs, a transfer protection and can operates in temperatures ranging from output and a remote SP input. M -~40°C to 85°C. W www.ia.omron.com www.turck.com.au

Magnetic a ngle encoder

utomated C ontrol and ASM have introduced Athe PRDS1, a compact magnetic angle sensor. It provides wear-free angle measurement over a range of up to 360°, making it suitable for machinery applications like assembly lines, packaging machines and medical equipment. The sensor is 12mm in diameter and 50mm in depth. By utilising an independent target magnet that provides an air gap between it and the sensor, the complete measuring range of up to 0° to 360° is obtained in a non-contact manner. The PRDS1 has a range of incremental digital outputs available and is manufactured from stainless steel. An integral M12 thread incorporated into the M12 body The T urck six-port M12 passive junction box allows for several provides sealing options from IP67 to IP6IK. M devices to be integrated and operate as a single unit. www.automatedcontrol.com.au

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 53

INNOVATION C ASE STUDY

Opening t he mind to a

world of possibilities

Dianne B oddy recently became an honorary fellow of Engineers Australia, recognising her lifetime achievements. She has designed 65 different types of conveying systems, including 38 patents and approximately 2000 documented designs. In this a rticle, she reflects on her career.

Dianne B oddy's 400 cans/min syruping machine.

E n gineering, for me, was the most exciting career I "NO". I r ecall loving physics and hating mathematics until could h ave imagined. I was excited by the possibility I suddenly discovered what I could do with it, and I was of creating state-of-the-art machinery and designing indifferent in the humanities. I would have been around complete process plants. As it turned out I have been the 20 percentile mark of my year, based on general exam involved in activities as diverse as researching robotic results. So I was not and never have been "brilliant" - equipment, designing high-gravity research equipment "passionate" yes. and been part of the development of a revolutionary new I was never able to attend university. My mother vehicle suspension. struggled as a war widow and I simply had to have gainful I have also been involved in materials testing, mining employment. This was not easy as I had no specific exploration, container loading and whatever came my qualifications but I landed a job in a large engineering way - around 2000 projects for which I typically had sole works to trace engineering drawings for their engineers. I mechanical design authority. In the process I developed had direct access to all the company's designs and massive my own workshops, learnt to machine, assemble, install workshop facilities, covering boiler making, sheet metal many of my own control systems and commissioned plant work, fabrication, machining, pattern making, tool making, that I built myself. I tackled every design project brought and assembly and testing bays. I was fascinated - it was a to me. Becoming the 2010 recipient of the AGM Michell creator's heaven. Naturally I wanted to design. Medal was the most exciting event to happen in my career I learned the benefit of mentors who are all around now exceeding 60 years! us. I had an elderly and kindly design office manager, an Was I an exceptional student? The answer is a definite energetic and knowledgeable sales manager and a works

54. E ngineers Australia | February 2013 INNOVATION C ASE STUDY

An a utomatic manipulator for manual shearing capable of accessing the entire fleece, designed by Boddy.

manager a ll of whom encouraged and direct c areer in sales but making myself assisted me. Mentors feel immensely invaluable in engineering food plant. proud and satisfied to pass on their Three years later, I was promoted to "My d esign knowledge. It is also important that supervise the design of all equipment young engineers have challenge and the relating to food products handled by philosophy was opportunity to have achievements which the company and to develop ranges of maintain their youthful enthusiasm and existing equipment. create confidence in them. Deny that always I am not a good general sales person, in their early employment and you risk but any plant or automation that I have stifling or snubbing out what could have to simplify." proposed was so carefully thought out been a vital asset. that I could all but guarantee getting an I saw my opening and starting making order to design it, then to manufacture it copious notes about everything I could find relating to and finally see it commissioned. My confidence in selling harvesting, canning and packaging of food products. This my own concepts was boundless. led me to being invited to join sales trips to the various This was best illustrated in the 1960s when the first large canneries and food manufacturing plants that existed high-speed can seamers became available, doubling the in those days (the 1950s). I studied how they handled output of their earlier models. This generated the need and processed different products, some one way and for a new generation of high-speed sterilisers for syruping some another. I secretly carried a stop watch and counters machines to cook and cool the canned product. Three making notes as to the number of operators doing European manufacturers had developed differing solutions different tasks, conveyor widths and speeds, marrying such using columns of water to achieve a valveless transit into data to specific equipment that we had likely supplied. pressure zones at elevated temperatures. A US company I could see the efficiency with which various sectors of had designed a fourth concept, built by our Melbourne such plants might enjoy with the ebb and flow of differing plant, that was an utter functional disaster. product sizes and varieties. I observed the environment in It was in this climate that I undertook to design and which plant had to operate, how it was serviced and the sell a vacuum syruping machine at nearly twice the state- calibre of the staff available to operate and service it. All of-the-art speed using a totally original fifth conceptual of this was to ensure that I could design the very best of arrangement. My reputation was such that I had no anything I was likely to be involved in. I was not seeking a problem in ... Story continues over to 56-57 ...

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 55 YOUNG E NGINEERS

Why e thics matter to Australian

engineers working in Asia

by J ames Polkinghorne

nprecedented e conomic growth across rn

Asia and the subsequent demand for new ger

or upgraded infrastructure is presenting nr e immense opportunities for Australias engineering

community. Asia offers Australian firms gn increasing access to a large and diverse array of

markets, allowing them to expand their businesses

from both volume and geographic standpoints "L4, and better position themselves to offset the dependence on cyclical domestic demand. However, despite the many benefits available by conducting business in Asia, it is critical that Australian engineers can also identify and manage the risks associated with operating in markets where ethical standards may vary. There are several reasons why this issue is so important to engineers as we move further James P olkinghorne on site. into the Asian Century. Firstly, relatively unknown Australian and international anti- corruption laws have been enacted in the past decade with s uch incidents is a less tangible but also very serious and are being increasingly enforced, posing serious risks consequence. Clearly it is essential then that Australian to businesses and individuals alike who are prepared to engineers do not fall into the mindset that operating across engage in unethical practice. For instance, punishments Asia's diverse cultures is an excuse to adopt flexible ethical for Australians caught bribing foreign officials range from standards, as the personal and business risks are simply too multi-million dollar fines for their companies and jail great to test. terms for both the individuals involved and their directors. There are also broader economic impacts to consider.

In some Asian countries the death penalty may even be The presence of corruption within the engineering industry imposed for the same offence. Furthermore, the reputational causes tremendous inefficiencies within a country's damage to businesses and their employees associated economy, as the combined value of its services are critical

INNOVATION C ASE STUDY

... S tory continued from 54-55 ... convincing the client wearn o the expensive carrier chains, we made a same day

that we could deliver a machine with this output. sale. In less than six months we designed the equipment,

I proposed a radical new way of inserting cans into and manufactured it, assembled it and commissioned what out of the conveyor flights bringing the feed and discharge today would have exceeded one million dollars worth of back to ground level but still requiring several stories plant. in height to gain the pressure needed. It was then that I I moved out of the food processing industry towards

realised that by pressurising the head sprocket assembly the end of the seventies, doing numerous projects by following that of the pressure dome I could force the reputation. I later secured the position of consulting water column to virtually the top of the plant which, in mechanical design engineer at the University of Western conjunction with a second pressurised section, allowing a Australia heading a mechanical design team to research

substantial lowering of the plant's overall height to 6.7m, and develop robotic sheep shearing, gaining many patents fitting into their existing building. and writing numerous papers.

I had a copper calorimeter made and did my own heat This work expanded my private practice, gaining me transfer studies to ensure adequate cooking and cooling. a reputation in the design of research equipment for

Armed with the above and answers as to how to insert the materials testing, environmental fluid dynamics and geo- equipment into their plant and why there would be less mechanics research equipment for large centrifuges around

56 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

YOUNG E NGINEERS

for d eveloping and sustaining a vibrant financial system. engineering i ndustry bodies and especially engineering Corruption within the engineering sector ultimately hinders related businesses need to take immediate action to ensure market effectiveness by deterring foreign investment and their students, members and employees understand both the reducing productivity, anchoring a country's economic risks and consequences involved in conducting unethical growth potential and its overall competitiveness. To try business abroad. The legal risks alone are significant enough and understand the financial impact of this problem to deter Australian engineers, as excuses ranging from a Transparency International estimates that within the global lack of adequate education in foreign bribery laws or plain construction industry alone, 10% of revenue generated ignorance to their existence are baseless and will not be each year is lost to corruption. This equates to roughly considered a legitimate defence. Furthermore, the traditional $320 billion every year, which when put in context is "when in Rome" mindset too often adopted previously by approximately half a per cent of the entire global economy. people working in foreign environments will not be met Alarmingly though, this figure does not include the with any sympathy either. In fact, out-of-touch individuals financial cost of corruption from the extractive and energy who persist with this offensive, ignorant and racist mentality industries, which are ranked along with construction among will simply be the earliest examples of such laws being the top five most corrupt sectors on the planet - and enforced. notably these are all industries highly dependent upon the The engineering community is highly adept at achieving skills of engineers, particularly those trained in Australia. great technological breakthroughs, evident in the very Laws and economics aside, the effects of corruption facilities we use every day. However, the sector's continued within the engineering sector are not victimless. This kills reluctance to address a widespread culture of corruption people. Faulty workmanship, forged documentation and also has a profoundly negative effect on the lives of millions permits, or simply cost cutting on basic design principles of people throughout the world. Engineers enjoy the collectively produce substandard engineering outcomes benefits of an education that allows them to make frequent, - generally inadequate structures and services that our positive impacts to society - however the reputation and communities pay for and trust to be built correctly. What integrity of their profession is badly scarred due to the lack is most unfortunate is that the greatest victims of a corrupt of moral fortitude displayed by too many of its members. engineering industry are the people living in the most Taking that into account, as Australian engineers have disadvantaged environments. When corruption inhibits increasingly influential roles in designing and delivering projects moving forward cost effectively or from quality the infrastructure of which Asia's future is dependent, never standpoints, the poorest populations are the ones who before have their responses to ethical challenges been so don't have safe shelter during typhoons, cannot access clean important. M drinking water or enjoy basic services such as medical facilities, schools and transport systems. These are not James P olkinghorne has worked in the construction and isolated outcomes, they occur every day. engineering sectors across Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East - North Africa region. He is the co-founder and Director of Asia Ultimately corruption within the engineering industry Civil, a Singapore-based engineering and construction services kills people, increases poverty, destroys the environment, company, and founder of the Essential Infrastructure Group, compromises the delivery of essential infrastructure a charity organisation that provides engineering support to projects in disadvantaged communities worldwide. and ignores the fundamental rules of law - unjustifiable impacts when you consider it stems from unethical yet conscious decisions. Accordingly, academic institutions,

the w orld. For the US Army, I designed the servo-actuator might e xpand the flexibility of the final design. Then, and assemblies for the world's largest centrifuge at the time. only then, do I start choosing solutions and refining them In tackling difficult projects, I break them down into into an overall spatial solution. what I believe will be the necessary functional elements. In this process, I am mindful of relating the cost I then brainstorm each of these functions to see how to the outcome (from the client's perspective), the many ways I might evolve a design for just that function. physical environment in which it must operate, the type I find that it is important to do this in isolation of each of manufacturing facilities that would be available or of the remaining functions. In a sense I am seeking the required, the quality and experience of their operators and ultimate boundaries of what I would like to achieve in that service staff, and the alternatives to any uncertain aspects function, if and when I integrate it into the entire concept. of the design. I do not exclude impractical ideas as they can become My design philosophy was always to simplify being practical in association with other ideas. greatly aided by studying value analysis. Follow these I open the mind to as many ideas as possible (at least principles and you will be amazed at the quality of your 10 to 20 possible ways of doing each function). As you outcomes, the innovative material you generate and the think of one possibility it sparks two or three others and fact that you haven't just provided a solution - you have so on. I study the advantages and disadvantages of each provided the very best solution possible. M in terms of space, simplicity and cost, and whether they

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 57 KNOWLEDGE M ANAGEMENT

KMn i large organisations

rBy D Tim Kannegieter

arge o rganisations always McIvor b egan keeping a note of the L generate particular knowledge experience of people he came across in the management (KM) challenges. organisation. He also started sending them In such organisations it is inevitable snippets of news via an email list that he that issues will arise around "the established. McIvor quickly became known left hand not knowing what the as the "go-to" person for finding expertise right hand is doing". In the early in the organisation. 1990s, former CEO of HP Lew Platt In KM terms, Mclvor is what might famously said: "If only HP knew be called a "boundary spanner". The KM what HP knows, we would be three- sub-discipline of social network analysis times more productive." is devoted to identifying such people who Typical challenges for large connect different groups of people in organisations include locating organisation or, more to the point, where expertise within the organisation such people don't exist. Such roles are and reusing knowledge generated on important and should be fostered, but can't various activities in other locations be solely relied upon with an organisation and also at a later time. This of 40,000 people. very real business requirement is McIvor is now in charge of a KM deceptively difficult to address, and program that has seen the development of led to many out-of-date "expertise WorleyParson i M group manager Colin around 90 collaboration portals, variously Mclvor accepting an award for the directories" and best-practice company at the World Knowledge Forum called "virtual centres of excellence repositories that became cemeteries. last year. "discipline portals" or "communities of Many organisations used these early practice". failures as an excuse to abandon KM efforts. Nonetheless, The largest communities have several thousand the business requirement has not gone away. members and cover key disciplines such as process and With over 40,000 people in 163 offices throughout mechanical engineering. Mclvor said engineers in each 41 countries (up from 4000 people in just eight years), major discipline are encouraged to set alerts on online WorleyParsons typifies this challenge discussion boards so they can join in in engineering organisations. There is conversations and, more importantly, no set dividing line, but I would guess "We a re seeing the answer questions. that any organisation with more than "Using this approach we can pretty a few hundred employees would face much solve any problem a client has, development of similar challenges. It is instructive since there will be somebody within to look at how WorleyParsons has the organisation that has done a a whole range of addressed the issue, particularly as similar problem before or will know they won a MAKE (Most Admired somebody who has. Knowledge Enterprise) award for the informal networks "We also encourage our graduates Asia region at the World Knowledge to set alerts and follow conversations Forum last year which are just as to see how real world problems Dr Colin McIvor is the iM group get solved - kind of like an online manager - knowledge management valuable as the apprenticeship." at WorleyParsons. He fell into the There are also many niche role after working as manager of the formal system." communities covering everything advanced analysis group. He said: "I from fracture mechanics to cost had to be able to assemble teams of estimating and the use of a variety of experts quickly to solve problems that arose on projects design packages. or assist clients after catastrophic failures, like offshore McIvor said: "We have portals around very specialist explosions. At the time, it was difficult to do because as areas such as computational fluid dynamics, which may an organisation we didn't know what we knew and we only have 20 members. This allows people with very were not bringing the right people to bear on particular narrow fields of expertise, who may be the only expert at problems." a particular location, to interact with everybody else in the

58 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

KNOWLEDGE M ANAGEMENT

company w ho is an expert in the same field. This leads to time, o n-budget focused and so taking time out to share a considerable amount of sharing of software experience information can take a low priority. and being able to form virtual teams instead of having "People tend to get overwhelmed as they feel they have isolated pockets. The portals also allow people with no so much information to add but never think they will have experience in these areas to find resources." the time to do it." In all the communities, "considerable use is made of Rather than putting everything in at once, McIvor profiling, identifying people's skillsets, which helps people tries to encourage senior engineers to just try to make get a quick understanding of another person's skill set. We time to put in one document per month. WorleyParsons use mapping tools to physically find where various pockets also has over 300 nominated "knowledge champions" in of expertise reside." most geographic locations as well as in joint ventures and McIvor said the main intent of these communities is alliances. These champions are people on the ground who to provide a single portal to access all the information help people get started in the KM systems, help them set WorleyParsons has in that discipline and to give access to up alerts and encourage them to complete their profiles. experts through discussion boards. They also let people know of new features and feedback The portals include a variety of information resources, information about how the systems are or are not working. including 2200 technical standards, 17,000 Wiki entries, McIvor said: "The role doesn't require a lot of time and 350 technical papers and over 2000 historical documents is funded by the location. If the systems are seen to be called "go-bys", similar to precedents used in the legal adding value, then the location will see the benefit in this." profession. All of WorleyParson's design codes and The above approach to KM is what I would describe as technical books are online along a conventional but necessary approach with a software register, equipment for large organisations. However, model database and a lessons-learned WorleyParsons also employs a variety database. "The m ain cultural other approaches. For example, job While the statistics of all the rotations are encouraged and there is content in the system are impressive, challenge is getting a graduate development organisation it's important to understand that the that shares training and development key to KM success is the facilitation of people to take tips. relationships among the community McIvor b elieves that the company members, not the population of the time to share has come a long way over the past databases. few years, from a few isolated Mclvor said: "We make sure that information on the databases to a wide range of vibrant we pick the right people to own and online communities more focused on lead each community. They are super system." connecting people than storing data. keen people who encourage others to "We are currently investigating participate. The discussion boards are increased use of social media to then seeded to ensure they generate valuable and lively allow staff to better stay connected and share information discussion. without resorting to email," Mclvor said. "What happens is that the same people often answer "We also have plans for an internal app store to questions around particular topics and they develop a facilitate access to our knowledge systems on mobile reputation. People contact them offline to talk through devices. Metadata and information tagging are being issues. So we are seeing the development of a whole investigated through a company-specific taxonomy, range of informal networks which are just as valuable allowing us to push targeted information to staff. as the formal system. Additionally, global monthly "The ability to 'crowd source' to solve problems and teleconferences are now facilitated for each discipline to innovate is also going to be increasingly important, in discuss problems, resourcing and upcoming projects." terms of how we deliver to our clients and also how we For WorleyParsons, the value proposition of its KM better engage staff. However, this is just the beginning of systems is the ability to provide enhanced services to its the journey and there is still a long way to go. customers. Mclvor said: "When you engage a person from "One of the major challenges is that a large number WorleyParsons you are gaining access to a network of of staff are not in WorleyParsons offices. This is driving global resources. We say buy one and get 39,999 free." the development of an any-device, any-time, any-where The major challenge (as in any organisation) is cultural. approach to IT development. Another challenge is that McIvor said: "The biggest evangelists of the system are the English is not universal in the organisation and this is senior managers who have lots of experience, because they being addressed by the use of auto-translating systems on can see the need for it and the benefits. its internal news services." "However, the main cultural challenge is getting people to take the time to share information on the system. All Dr T im Kannegieter is the managing editor of Engineers Media. of our managers appreciate the system but are very on-

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 59 LEADERSHIP

Margot C airnes Leadership s trategist [email protected] www.margotcairnes.wordpress.com

Blind s pots of the old-guard

e h ave heard about the patchwork economy. bad n ews is these new business models and entrepreneurs WThe thriving mining sector and the mega- are sneaking up on traditional businesses - usually rich banks contrasted against the ailing unnoticed by the boards and leaders of the old guard manufacturing and retail sectors. Some businesses and until it is too late. For example, Kodak disappeared when people are doing fine - others are struggling. But it it failed to react in time to the digital camera and retail turns out there is a third sector, tucked away in home stores are suffering at the hands of online shopping. For offices and small warehouses across the country. This the old guard, the unknown-unknowns are their biggest sector, mainly headed by bright young entrepreneurs and threat. contractors, is planting the seeds of radical Talking recently with some switched-on change. company directors, I heard them lamenting Raised in an age of social networking and How l ong befo re in-the-box thinking of their peers. It seems super IT literacy, the stars of the hidden sector that m any boards and leaders, faced with a are reshaping the way we live, relate and do theeperc r ussions radically changing business landscape are business. We know that the traditional media of not embracin g simply putting their heads in the sand and is struggling - we are less familiar with the gettingn o with business the way it used to be. bloggers and social networkers who are taking the h idden The executive recruiters who fill board and their place. We hear of the manufacturers leadership vacancies do so with traditional laying-off hundreds of workers, we hear less economyf o IT and conservative recruits who are seen as safe. about the bright self-employed IT workers and social media The old-guard business elite keep themselves who are running businesses online in areas as to t hemselves and keep the bright minds and diverse as selling cushions through to products entrepreneurs quirky thinkers at bay. for abattoirs. i s felt by the I wonder how long it will take before the I am working with some film makers who repercussions of not noticing and embracing have been scouring the planet looking for the traditional elite? the hidden economy of IT and social media best and brightest of these new entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs i s felt by the traditional elite? I people who are using the power of social wonder how skilled the old guard is at even media to involve their clients and followers in the design, understanding the impact of the new technologies and manufacture and sale of their products and services. These business models? Not that it worries the people in the entrepreneurial businesses based on radically new business hidden economy. They are excited, their businesses are models can grow extremely quickly. Famous examples of growing, their influence increases and they know that this are Facebook and Twitter - but there are thousands of the future is theirs. Where do you stand? Are you so successful but less notable examples. entrenched in the old ways that you are unaware of "what This is both good news and bad news. The good lies beneath" or do you understand the leading edge of news is there is work for bright young people. There are business, the stars creating the new way forward, currently emerging business opportunities - the future is bright. The unrecognised but having too much fun to care? M

60 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

SNAPSHOT

Re-engineering a t ourist attraction

nthea H ammon is overseeing a A$30 million upgrade of the Scenic Railway, one of the world's steepest with a slope of 52°. As joint managing director, she oversees maintenance and capital projects at Scenic World in the Blue Mountains, NSW. The maintenance team includes another engineer as well as ten tradespeople. In addition to the railway, Scenic World also includes the Scenic Skyway which travels 720m suspended 270m above the rainforest, the Scenic Cableway which descends into the Jamison Valley and a 2 Akm boardwalk. The railway upgrade includes a new hand-built train designed by Swiss firm Garaventa, refurbished 310m track Scenic W orld joint managing director Anthea Hammon and her dog Jazz with the through a tunnel and a rainforest corridor, new winch which will be used to haul the new train. Proto: C amitte WatsH and expanded platforms with historical information panels for tourists. Hammon explained that the new train will be hauled by a winch really e xciting because it's the first project I have really with two fully redundant 560kW AC motors. This will driven from start to finish," Hammon said. allow Scenic World to eliminate the counterweight that Hammon's interest in engineering was sparked by currently makes up for the existing lower-rated motor. watching her father, an electrician, design and build a The new train will be the fifth since Hammon's rollercoaster that ended up never being opened to the grandfather Harry took over the mining lease in 1945 public. She graduated in mechanical engineering from the and converted the coal railway into a tourist attraction. University of NSW, hoping to build rollercoasters in the "Garaventa has never built any carriages like ours before," US. But she ended up joining the family business. "I came Hammon said. "The carriages were made to reflect the old back at the end of my degree and said: 'Dad, I think I need train and the history of the site, but also they needed to to come and run the maintenance department and help comply with all the modern standards. There is a very fine you out'." After her father retired in 2011, Hammon and line between where you have to add safety but you don't her brother David took over as joint managing directors. want it to feel like safety." Scenic World uses bespoke equipment supplied from One of the project's main challenges is minimising the Switzerland and the in-house team does all maintenance shut-down periods for the attraction. When Engineers except for the six-yearly inspections done by specialist Australia visited, the existing train was still taking tourists riggers. "It's always a bit of a challenge to keep thinking: as civil works were under way on both sides of the track. How would the Swiss have done it?"," Hammon said. "You The train is also being used to replace the track. "We have can always be learning from the way they design things." three special trolleys that we hang on the front of the Hammon is active in the Australian Amusement existing train," Hammon said. "[Garavental rip out a piece Leisure and Recreation Association as well as international of track down the line. Then they put a piece of track on organisations. She is a member of the ME51 Amusement the trolley, drive the train down to where the track finishes Rides and Devices Standards Committee and the ME51- and then using a little winch system they winch the new 01 Standards Committee for Ropeways. Recently the piece of track into place. Then they have to demolish the committee produced a new Australian Standard for next section, come up, get the track and go down. ropeways based on the Canadian code. Hammon has also "It's nearly like you are building back in 1880 when you represented Australia at an international amusement parks first built the train, because there is literally no other way standards meeting in Russia and attends international to build things on a 52° slope." conferences. "Meeting someone [from companies] like Sisag is the electrical and controls subcontractor, while Disney who get millions and millions of visitors a year is CWA is the carriages subcontractor. Sinclair Knight pretty cool;" she said. Merz is the engineer and project manager. PMDL is the Hammon wants to leave her mark on the family architect and civil works are being delivered by Grindley business but hopes to eventually move to Switzerland to Constructions. work for Garaventa or a rollercoaster company. "It's my The new train is scheduled to open at Easter. "It's been favourite place except for Australia." M

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 61

SUSTAINABILITY

Terence J eyaretnam fDirector o Net Balance ([email protected]) based in Melbourne.

Losing t ouch

with nature

ow m any hours did you spend last weekend out in preserving s omething they may never have seen? nature, trail walking or bird-watching? In fact, how This unfortunate outcome is a syndrome known as many hours did you spend last year? You are likely nature deficit disorder. The significant collapse of children's to count the number of hours with ease. engagement with nature, which is even faster than the Why is nature worth maintaining contact with, and collapse of the natural world, is recorded in Richard Louv's preserving? The value of the world's ecosystem services book Last Child in the Woods, as well as a report published and natural capital has been estimated to be US$33 recently by the National Trust called Natural Childhood trillion, nearly double the annual global GDP output. This (http://goo.gl/BOvAo). The statistics are telling. may come as a surprise, because society does not fully In the UK, the area in which children may roam appreciate the true value of essential life nutrients such as unsupervised has decreased 90% since 1970. The clean water and air, food, medicinal plants and cultural proportion of children regularly playing in wild places and health benefits afforded to us by mother nature. has fallen from more than half to fewer than one in 10. Why is this an issue? Not only does nature represent Statistics show Britain's children watch more than 17h/ our greatest asset, but we have an innate need to connect week of television, up 12% since 2007, and 20h/week with nature. Known as biophilia, this need is a primal urge online. This amounts to about half their waking lives in that is in us today, as it was for our prehistoric ancestors. front of a screen, up 40% in a decade. The National Trust Continuing to distance our children from nature is a report also discusses the multitude of health, community, future environmental catastrophe in the making - those environmental and educational benefits that result from young people who we are depending on to save the children's contact with nature. The report needs to be environment would know even less about it than us. considered seriously in policy, planning and design of How can we expect these people to be passionate about future communities. M

ENGINEERS A USTRALIA

TECHNICAL J OURNALS

Engineers A ustralia invites papers from authors for its learned Technical Journals (formerly called Transactions). The Journals are:

M A ustralasian Journal of Engineering Education M A ustralian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering M Australian Journal of Civil Engineering M Australian Journal of Structural Engineering M A ustralian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering M Australian Journal of Water Resources M A ustralian Journal of Mechanical Engineering ® Transport Engineering in Australia.

For a uthors to submit a paper, all they need to do is register themselves on Engineers Australia's online submission and tracking system at . The system will then walk them through the necessary steps to complete their submission. Papers cane b submitted in any electronic format, as automatically c onverts them into a PDF for easy viewing by editors and reviewers.

62 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

EAs i running nanotechnology work health Award 2 013, and RTSA Individual Award 2013 - e mbracing the challenges and opportunities and safety seminars. The seminars are 21 Mar are now open. Nominations close 22 Feb. For more conference has been issued. Submissions are due in Canberra and 29 Apr in Brisbane. For more information: rtsa.com.au/awards. Feb 22, with the conference being held 10 May in information: www.engineersaustralia.org.au/ Nominations f or the 2013 Young Environmental Hobart. For more information: www.airah.org.au/ events/nanotechnology-work-health-and-safety- Engineer of the Year are now open. Nominations iMIS15_Prod/AIRAH. seminar. close 28 February. For more information: www. A c all for papers is now open for the 2013 Registrations a re open for the National Electrical engineersaustralia.org.au/environmental-college/ International Conference on Radar. Paper Building Services and Industrial Installations awards. topics may include radar systems technologies, (NEBSII) Conference and Exhibition 2013, Sydney signal design, modelling and management with from 16-18 Apr. For more information: www. submissions due by 28 Feb. For more information: engineersaustralia.org.au/nebsil. A c all for abstracts for AIRAH's Refrigeration 2013 www.aomevents.com/Radar2013/Call_for_Papers. The M ining, Electrical and Mining Mechanical Engineering Society (MEMMES) Convention 2013 will be held on 19-20 Apr at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Hunter Valley. For more information: www. engineersaustralia.org.au/memmes-convention. Engineering E ducation Australia, Engineers Austra- www.eeaust.com.au/online-diploma-project- The 1 5th Australian International Aerospace lia's subsidiary company organising a wide range m anagement. Congress will be held from 25-28 Feb in of professional development courses, seminars and This s eries of 3 one-day workshops on Becoming Melbourne. For more information: www.aiac15. other events. To register for any of its courses go to Chartered: Writing Competency will be held in com/invitation. www.eeaust.com.au. A// courses are eligible for Adelaide on 28 Feb and Sydney 14 Mar. For more CPD points. Upcoming courses include: The 2 013 Sir Eric Neal Address will be held on 27 information: www.eeaust.com.au/eChartered- Feb by the EA South Australia Division. For more The D iploma of Project Management is for Writing-Series. information: www.engineersaustralia.org.au/ project managers who are "currently" or "soon A two day course called Writing Winning events/2013-sir-eric-neal-address. to be" managing projects from an "end to end" Technical Documents will be run in Adelaide on perspective. It is delivered in the context of The 9 th Annual Australian Roads Summit is to 27-28 Feb, Brisbane 6-7 Mar, and Perth 21-22 engineering, over a 12-month period, within a be held from 27 Feb-1 Mar in Melbourne. For more Mar. For more information: www.eeaust.com.au/ structured online environment (including online information: www.acevents.com.au/roads. Writing-Winning-Technical-Documents. assessment s upport). For more information:

Nominations f or the RTSA Graduate Engineer Inquiries: E ngineering Education Australia 03 9274 9600, email [email protected], web www.eeaust.com.au Award 2013, RTSA Young Railway Engineer

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Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 63 OBITUARIES

Peter B roughton Taylor 1943-2013

E n gineers Australia has paid Taylor s erved as national president tributeo t former chief executive of the Institute of Public Works Peter Taylor who passed away Engineers Australia in 1999-2001 from cancer in January. EA national and received the Centenary Medal president Dr Marlene Kanga expressed in 2003 for his contribution to local her condolences to his family on behalf government engineering. of the Council, Congress, staff and Taylor became chief executive of 100,000 members. Engineers Australia in February 2004. "As former chief executive, Peter "During his seven year term as led a change process that saw the chief executive, Peter was highly organisation grow into a major regarded for his great leadership skills, force within the global engineering his strategic approach and his ability profession," she said. to identify practical solutions with "His commitment and lasting determination and resolve," Kanga said. contribution to the profession and this Past national president Rolfe organisation will not be forgotten." Hartley said: "Peter put Engineers Before b ecoming chief executive A civil engineer, Taylor graduated Australia on a sound financial of Engineers Australia, Peter Taylor from the Royal Military College footing and introduced the strategic served in the Army and worked in Duntroon, the University of planning process and new by-laws local government. Queensland and the Indian Defence that today guide the organisation. Services Staff College. He held He drew the divisions and national engineering appointments in the office of Engineers Australia into Australian Army from 1968 to 1976, a single organisation with a strong including active service in Vietnam, common purpose and vision. He saw before beginning a career in local clearly that Engineers Australia is a government, initially in Hobart, members' organisation and that it then Launceston, and finally in draws its strength from the spirit and Toowoomba, where he rose to become enthusiasm of the membership, an chief executive of Toowoomba City enthusiasm that he certainly shared. Council. The continued development that Taylor's friend and former RSL Engineers Australia is embarking on national president Bill Crews, paid today would not be possible without tribute to his military and local the stable foundations that Peter Taylor government achievements: "He provided." sought to establish a structured Past national president Julie working environment within which Hammer said: "Peter's leadership of he encouraged, trained, and mentored EA brought with it a strong emphasis his people to achieve their full on planning and accountability, potential. He brought his considerable something that was probably instilled engineering, financial management in him during his engineering and corporate governance skills and and Army training. Peter's legacy experience to bear to provide strategic is an organisation with enviable frameworks, set clear and achievable financial security for its members. objectives, and lead his team to achieve His leadership also encouraged them. collaboration and teamwork amongst "He has touched the lives of many staff and office bearers, liberally laced in a most positive way. He did so with a good dose of humour." M while making substantial contributions to the communities within which he lived, particularly in Toowoomba, and also demonstrating a love and commitment to his family which has been an inspiration to those who had the privilege of knowing him well"

64 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

OBITUARIES

Paul G rundy 1936-2013

E n gineers Australia and the Structural Engineers ( IABSE) in 1999 and served on College m ourn the loss of Professor numerous IABSE committees. Emeritus Paul Grundy, one of Grundy became a Member of the Australia's leading engineers in the field Order of Australia in recognition of his of disaster risk reduction and a passionate tireless work in 2008 in trying to save lives educator at Monash University. and property from rare but catastrophic Grundy graduated from the University disasters. of Melbourne with a bachelor of civil He was involved in a major initiative engineering in 1957, followed by an following the disastrous Indian Ocean MEngSc in 1960, and completed his PhD earthquake and tsunami of 26 December at the University of Cambridge, UK in 2004, forming a group to develop and 1961. implement the Guide for disaster reduction He then returned to Australia to serve on the Coasts of the Indian Ocean. He at Monash University from 1966 to 2000. launched the Joint Working Commission During this time he held the positions of Professor E meritus Paul Grundy for Disaster Reduction on Coasts in 2005. Chair Professor of Structural Engineering was an expert in disaster risk He said: "The simple idea of making and then head of the Department of Civil reduction. structures disaster-resilient has to be Engineering. embedded in a wider system to make the Grundy's central interest was the lifetime performance community resilient; this includes early warning systems of structures (bridges, buildings, ship and offshore and community education." structures) in hostile environments under dynamic and In 2010, Grundy was awarded the John Connell repeated loading. He was involved in research into load Gold Medal by Engineers Australia for his outstanding spectrums, fatigue and fracture, incremental collapse, risk achievements in structural engineering. In 2011, he assessment and life extension applied to wrought iron, toured Australia as an Eminent Speaker on "Disaster risk steel, concrete, composite and fibre-reinforced materials. reduction - the engineer's role". After his retirement, he continued consulting on Grundy mentored young engineers throughout his structural integrity, including advice on the West Gate career and was a role model for others to emulate. Bridge in Melbourne. Engineers Australia, the Structural College board and Grundy became chair of the Australian group of members pass on their heartfelt sorrow to Grundy's family the International Association for Bridge and Structural at this most difficult time. MI

Stuart H ornery 1939-2012

Former L end Lease executive chairman Stuart Hornery in l ife insurance, superannuation, funds management, ndied o 31 December 2012. information technology, payroll systems and banking He was named an Honorary Fellow of Engineers as well as construction and real estate across Australia, Australia in 2002, a grade awarded for conspicuous service USA, Europe and Asia. During his tenure, the company to the engineering profession or outstanding achievement. grew from a market capitalisation of $30 million to an Born in Muswellbrook, NSW, Hornery began his international conglomerate capitalised at $10 billion. working life with BHP in Newcastle before moving to the On his retirement from Lend Lease in 2000, the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board with employees and shareholders recognised his contribution by Randwick Council. establishing the Hornery Institute to support community In 1964 he graduated in civil engineering from the development. University of NSW and became a site engineer with Lend He has also served as director of Westpac, IBM Asia Lease's civil construction business Civil and Civic. Ten Pacific and IBM Global Services Australia. years later, he rose to chief executive. Hornery was a member of the Australian National In 1977 he was appointed general manager of the Lend Training Authority from its inception in 1992, and Lease Group and a year later became managing director. chairman from 1995 until 2002. The organisation was In 1988 he was appointed executive chairman of Lend responsible for the strategic direction of vocational Lease Corporation, a position he would hold for nearly education in Australia. 25 years. During that time, the company changed from He was named Officer in the Order of Australia in 1988 an engineering contractor, project manager and property and received the Centenary Medal in 2001. MW investor to a financial services company, specialising

Engineers A ustralia | February 2013 65

SUSTAINABILITY

Restaurant c hain teams up

to build biodiesel plant View o nline cDonald's A ustralia has teamed up with Neutral Fuels to open a new biodiesel processing facilityn i Dandenong that will convert the restaurant's waste cooking oil to biodiesel that will then be used by the McDonald's transport fleet trucks owned and operated by distribution partner Martin Brower throughout Victoria. The goal is to have the entire Martin Brower distribution truck fleet powered by this pure biodiesel blend from McDonald's used vegetable oil. McDonald's said its restaurants around the country already recycle their used cooking oil, but this is the first time the business has utilised the oil as another valuable internal resource. As all the company's restaurants use the same type of oil for the same length of time, the Louise A sher, Victorian minister for innovation, services and small business next quality of the biodiesel is as consistent to Karl Feilder, chairman of Neutral Fuels. The yellow tinted liquid in the glass is as the quality of the feedstock. Neutral biodiesel, while the reddish brown liquid in the other glass is used cooking oil from a Fuels' biorefinery currently has capacity McDonald's restaurant. for 1.5ML/a, operating with significant spare capacity as the company expects that McDonald's will use 700kL/a of biodiesel in Victoria. commitment t o innovation and further reducing our McDonald's Australia director of sustainability Tracey environmental impact." Monaghan said: "This initiative demonstrates McDonald's She added that: "With the initiative established in

The b iodiesel production process

1. O il pre-heat and t he soaps using a specifically designed ion exchange The used cooking oil is filtered then pre-heated in an resin. The soapy biodiesel is heated in a vacuum tank to insulated stainless steel pre-heat tank to a reaction tem- remove residual methanol. It is then passed through the perature of 65°C. ion exchange resin column at a controlled rate and pres- 2. Transesterification sure to ensure there is sufficient residence time for the The heated oil is pumped into the first tank where methanol resin to work. and a catalyst solution of potassium methylate are injected 5. Residual Methanol Removal proportionately into the stream of hot oil. Reaction resi- Once the biodiesel has passed through the purification dence time is usually 30 minutes to 40 minutes before the column it is discharged to the residual methanol removal oil is automatically pumped to the glycerol separation unit. module and is then pumped into the finished biodiesel tank. 3. Separation and methanol recovery 6. Additives The precipitation and separation of the biodiesel and If any winterisation or anti-oxidant additives are needed, glycerol phase takes place through the continuous flow they are added at this stage. glycerol separator (patent pending). The biodiesel is then 7. Commercially ready for sale pumped into the purification buffer tank to remove and Finally, the biodiesel is stored in tanks from which the recover any residual methanol. McDonald's trucks are refuelled. 4. Product purification and drying The biodiesel is purified to remove the dissolved catalyst

66 E ngineers Australia | February 2013

SUSTAINABILITY

Victoria,e w will look into implementing it in other states." small f ootprint that requires only a suitable concrete base, Working with Neutral Fuels has already proven utility connections, vehicle access and safety containment. successful for McDonald's in Dubai where its logistics fleet "Unlike older technologies that require large plants has driven more than one million kilometresw on pure constructed on site, Green Fuels technology is modular, biodiesel converted from its used cooking oil. compact, highly automated, clean, and shipped anywhere Neutral Fuels chairman Karl Feilder said that the work in the world to enable local production close to the in Dubai had shown biodiesel was a sustainable long-term feedstock source and/or biodiesel users. Crucially, it alternative, adding that: "In a traditionally volatile market, reduces biodiesel plant start-up time to less than six there is a considerable economic advantage in predictable months." diesel pricing." Biodiesel production requires the separation of glycerine In February 2012, the Dubai Road and Transport which has traditionally been done by energy and cost Authority recognised the two companies for their intensive equipment such as settling tanks and centrifuges. commitment to sustainable transport when the Crown Green Fuels has patented a unique glycerine separator Prince of Dubai awarded them with the Dubai Award for technology, GSX, to replace these cumbersome options. Sustainable Transport in the Environmental Protection A Neutral Fuels spokesperson said: "We use a waterless Category. purification process which requires minimum resource Victorian innovation, services and small business input and provides consistent results. The purification minister Louise Asher officially launched the Dandenong technology has few moving parts, offers chemical processing plant in early December. precision, reduces operating costs and reliably automates The plant was manufactured by Green Fuels, a UK- processing. The entire production process minimises based company that specialises in decentralised biodiesel waste to a relatively small amount of spent resin that is production equipment. Neutral Fuels said: "As in Dubai, suitable for normal solid waste disposal to landfill or our Dandenong premises are leased. The plant has a very incineration." M

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