Author: Nina

GSP-GVW: Concrete Asset Structure Failure Review (Goulbourn Valley Water)

Nina NEW

Background

Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) provides water and sewerage services to approximately 130,000 people in 54 cities, towns and villages across more than 20,000 square kilometres in northern Victoria.  GVW also provides water and sewerage services to a large and diverse food manufacturing industry in the Goulburn Valley – the food bowl of Australia.  Providing these water and sewerage services requires 37 separate water treatment plants for roughly 59,000 properties across 54 towns, 26 wastewater management facilities for approximately 50,700 properties across 30 towns and 1,800 kilometre of buried water mains and sewers.

These 63 geographically dispersed water and wastewater systems are a defining feature of the operating environment of GVW, which has a major influence on the capital investment program, operational costs and customer service response times.

Provision of high quality water and trade waste services to food processing industries is a major business focus due to their individual impact on Goulburn Valley Water’s systems.

The geographic area of Goulburn Valley Water comprises the local government areas of:

  • Shire of Moira;
  • Shire of Campaspe;
  • City of Greater Shepparton;
  • Shire of Mansfield;
  • Shire of Mitchell;
  • Shire of Murrindindi; and
  • Shire of Strathbogie.

The main activities undertaken by Goulburn Valley Water are:

  • Harvesting and treatment of raw water;
  • Planning and management of headworks;
  • Reticulation of treated water to customers;
  • Collection and transportation of wastewater including trade waste;
  • Treatment and beneficial re-use of recycled water;
  • Beneficial recycling of wastewater treatment by-products such as biosolids and biogas;
  • Development and implementation of programs for the conservation and efficient use of water;
  • Planning with communities for their future water and wastewater services;
  • Community education about sustainable water management.

Goulburn Valley Water provides a range of services defined as Prescribed Services and Declared Services (regulated services) in clause 7 of the Water Industry Regulatory Order 2014 in respect of which the ESC has the power to regulate price standards and conditions of service and supply.

The regulated services provided by Goulburn Valley Water are as follows:

  • Retail water services;
  • Retail recycled water services;
  • Retail sewerage services;
  • Storage operator and bulk water services;
  • Bulk sewerage services
  • Bulk recycled water services;
  • Connection services;
  • Services to which developer charges apply;
  • Trade waste services.

Goulburn Valley Water does not provide drainage services (stormwater), irrigation services and irrigation drainage services.

Concrete Asset Structure Failure Review

Review literature and data for concrete asset failures in a water authority context. Calculate the deterioration of the concrete and infestation of H2S into sewers.  Specifically, focus upon sewerage pump station assets, which have a lifecycle of 50-100 years where H2S is present.

Review literature and reports from University of Queensland, Sydney Water etc, where H2S reduces the expected life of assets and how this impacts maintenance and collect data from the Water Industry sector and identify key issues in the literature.

Highlight high H2S pump stations in the Goulburn Valley asset base and the impact of waste- water on assets where concrete is weakened, take samples, install penetration device to assess deterioration of  vulnerable assets, collect various field data, and undertake destructive testing. Inform GVW about vulnerable concrete structure assets and useful life of its assets and provide robust advice about best approaches to design life of assets and methodology for calculating asset life.

 Deliverables:

The deliverables of this project will be staged with an initial focus on literature review and data collection and some filed work.

Governance:

This project will be managed through weekly meetings of the students () whom will seek draft approval from the Project Managers (Dr Biplob Pramanik and Marcos Anastassiou) and through frequent contact with the Project Sponsor (Michael Welk) to ensure work is satisfactory.

Reporting Requirements:

There will be draft approval and/or progress reporting fortnightly to the project managers.

Assumptions and Constraints:

Primarily governed by ready access to the relevant  GVW data

Risks and Minimisation Strategies:

Incomplete data collection resulting in inaccurate recommendations.

  • This will be minimised by collecting as much data as possible from as many sources as possible.

Low data resolution.

  • The highest resolution data available will be sourced to ensure accuracy.

Guidelines/Standards:

Water Act 1989

Water Industry Act 1994

 

 

 

GSP – GVW: Process Control Failure Study (Goulburn Valley Water Network)

Nina NEW

Background

Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) provides water and sewerage services to approximately 130,000 people in 54 cities, towns and villages across more than 20,000 square kilometres in northern Victoria.  GVW also provides water and sewerage services to a large and diverse food manufacturing industry in the Goulburn Valley – the food bowl of Australia.  Providing these water and sewerage services requires 37 separate water treatment plants for roughly 59,000 properties across 54 towns, 26 wastewater management facilities for approximately 50,700 properties across 30 towns and 1,800 kilometre of buried water mains and sewers.

These 63 geographically dispersed water and wastewater systems are a defining feature of the operating environment of GVW, which has a major influence on the capital investment program, operational costs and customer service response times.

Provision of high- quality water and trade waste services to food processing industries is a major business focus due to their individual impact on Goulburn Valley Water’s systems.

The geographic area of Goulburn Valley Water comprises the local government areas of:

  • Shire of Moira;
  • Shire of Campaspe;
  • City of Greater Shepparton;
  • Shire of Mansfield;
  • Shire of Mitchell;
  • Shire of Murrindindi; and
  • Shire of Strathbogie.

The main activities undertaken by Goulburn Valley Water are:

  • Harvesting and treatment of raw water;
  • Planning and management of headworks;
  • Reticulation of treated water to customers;
  • Collection and transportation of wastewater including trade waste;
  • Treatment and beneficial re-use of recycled water;
  • Beneficial recycling of wastewater treatment by-products such as biosolids and biogas;
  • Development and implementation of programs for the conservation and efficient use of water;
  • Planning with communities for their future water and wastewater services;
  • Community education about sustainable water management.

Goulburn Valley Water provides a range of services defined as Prescribed Services and Declared Services (regulated services) in clause 7 of the Water Industry Regulatory Order 2014 in respect of which the ESC has the power to regulate price standards and conditions of service and supply.

The regulated services provided by Goulburn Valley Water are as follows:

  • Retail water services;
  • Retail recycled water services;
  • Retail sewerage services;
  • Storage operator and bulk water services;
  • Bulk sewerage services
  • Bulk recycled water services;
  • Connection services;
  • Services to which developer charges apply;
  • Trade waste services.

Goulburn Valley Water does not provide drainage services (stormwater), irrigation services and irrigation drainage services.

Process Control Failure Study

This project shall aim to examine major failures in process control in water treatment and wastewater treatment plants. The aim of the study is to better predict areas of failure in the operation of these plants. The project shall involve an extensive review of literature around failures in water and waste water treatment plants and then take existing data from SCADA systems to review and analyse problems and failures. Where are the process interlocks or lack of process controls?

Deliverables:

The deliverables of this project will be staged with an initial focus on data collection.

Deliverable Description Initial Timing Estimate
Commencement Workshop Collect Data from GVW (data for 2019-20)

●        Orientation to the project

●        Historical issues re process control and SCADA systems

●        Individual student briefs and research questions

 Feb

Early March
Milestone 1 Project Plan March
Milestone 2 Some preliminary analysis of Data

·       Evaluation of data

 

 May
Milestone 3 Progress report. Early June
Milestone 4 Draft Project Report. Early September
Milestone 5 Project Report. End September
A presentation on the project report. End October

Governance:

This project will be managed through weekly meetings of the students () whom will seek draft approval from the Project Managers (Prof. John Mo and Marcos Anastassiou) and through frequent contact with the Project Sponsor ( Michael Welk) to ensure work is satisfactory.

Reporting Requirements:

There will be draft approval and/or progress reporting fortnightly to the project managers.

 Assumptions and Constraints:

Primarily governed by ready access to the relevant SCADA data

 Risks and Minimisation Strategies:

Incomplete data collection resulting in inaccurate recommendations.

  • This will be minimised by collecting as much data as possible from as many sources as possible.

Low data resolution.

  • The highest resolution data available will be sourced to ensure accuracy.

 Guidelines/Standards:

Water Act 1989

 

GSP – GVW: Pump Station Control in the Goulburn Valley Water Network (2 projects)

Nina NEW

Background

Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) provides water and sewerage services to approximately 130,000 people in 54 cities, towns and villages across more than 20,000 square kilometres in northern Victoria.  GVW also provides water and sewerage services to a large and diverse food manufacturing industry in the Goulburn Valley – also know as the food bowl of Australia.  Providing these water and sewerage services requires 37 separate water treatment plants for approximatley 59,000 properties across 54 towns, 26 wastewater management facilities for approximately 50,700 properties across 30 towns and 1,800 kilometre of buried water mains and sewers.

These 63 geographically dispersed water and wastewater systems are a defining feature of the operating environment of GVW, which has a major influence on the capital investment program, operational costs and customer service response times.

Provision of high quality water and trade waste services to food processing industries is a major business focus due to their individual impact on Goulburn Valley Water’s systems.

The geographic area of Goulburn Valley Water comprises the local government areas of:

  • Shire of Moira;
  • Shire of Campaspe;
  • City of Greater Shepparton;
  • Shire of Mansfield;
  • Shire of Mitchell;
  • Shire of Murrindindi; and
  • Shire of Strathbogie.

The main activities undertaken by Goulburn Valley Water are:

  • Harvesting and treatment of raw water;
  • Planning and management of headworks;
  • Reticulation of treated water to customers;
  • Collection and transportation of wastewater including trade waste;
  • Treatment and beneficial re-use of recycled water;
  • Beneficial recycling of wastewater treatment by-products such as biosolids and biogas;
  • Development and implementation of programs for the conservation and efficient use of water;
  • Planning with communities for their future water and wastewater services;
  • Community education about sustainable water management.

Goulburn Valley Water provides a range of services defined as Prescribed Services and Declared Services (regulated services) in clause 7 of the Water Industry Regulatory Order 2014 in respect of which the ESC has the power to regulate price standards and conditions of service and supply.

The regulated services provided by Goulburn Valley Water are as follows:

  • Retail water services;
  • Retail recycled water services;
  • Retail sewerage services;
  • Storage operator and bulk water services;
  • Bulk sewerage services
  • Bulk recycled water services;
  • Connection services;
  • Services to which developer charges apply;
  • Trade waste services.

Goulburn Valley Water does not provide drainage services (stormwater), irrigation services and irrigation drainage services.

A student project in collaboration with RMIT University to evaluate the efficiency of pumps in the network with respect to different types of starting mechanism for the pumps has been initiated in January 2020.  SCADA data from two pump stations, i.e. Shepperton and Sunday Creek, are used to investigate how this evaluation could be approached.  The SCADA data come with two large Excel files:

  • Interval Data Sunday Creek PS & Shepp HLPS.xlsx (electrical system data)
  • Shepparton HLP values 20190101 to 20200101.xlsx (water system data)

SCADA data cover readings from 0:00 hours on 1 January 2019 to 23:55 on 31 December, 2019.  The water system data are in 5 minutes interval, but the electrical system data are in 15 minutes interval.  The two sets of data are synchronised to 5 minutes interval by linearly interpolating the 15 minutes interval data of the electrical system.

Investigations so far

The data file contains comprehensive data set of Shepperton HL Pump Station.  Hence, the following investigations are made on Shepperton HL Pump Stations only.  Several data investigative processes have been initiated:

  • Preliminary power data audit

A critical question that needs to be addressed is accuracy of the data.  Accurate, reliable data support conclusions derived from the data set, otherwise, any outcome is questionable.  Pump operations depend on pressure acting on the system.  This preliminary power data audit uses a theoretical electrical power formula for 3 phase delta circuit and computes the individual and total power drawn by the machines.  The result shows the computed electrical power differs from the recorded electrical power (in the electrical data file).  Further investigation of how water flowrate and power are related is required.

  • Pressure-based analysis

The amount of water pumped through the station is closely related to the power drawn by the pumps in the station.  This analysis goes into detail 5 minutes interval data and examine how the recorded waterflow can be used to reversely compute the power used by the pumps.  Due to complexity of the computation, only a preliminary snapshot of the data on first day of SCADA data is analysed.  The result shows that the pressure gauge value is constant and does not show any significant variations irrespective of change of water level in the ODR tower.  It is also noticed in this investigation process that there are discrepancies of frequency data (related to motor speed) with the electrical system data.  It is later found that the frequency data might have been dislocated in time by about half a day.

  • Power-based analysis

The power-based analysis assumes that the power drawn by a pump is proportional to the current it draws.  Since the recorded power is lower than the computed power, it is assumed actual power is proportional to computed power of pumps.  With reference to the manufacturer’s supplied pump curves, which have been fitted to a second order regression curve, the respective water flowrates are computed to check if the data can be reconciled.  The result shows that this method seems to generate water flowrate curve matching the trends of pump utilisation in the recorded durations, but it also highlights the issue that the pumps’ performances have deviated from the manufacturer’s pump curves.

  • Pump performance calibration by single pump operating data

To investigate if the pumps have performed differently, without the need for on-site experiments, the pump system data are filtered to obtain records for each of the 6 pumps when they are operating by its own, i.e. only one pump is running at that time.  This exercise turns out to be very valuable in identifying some potential issues in the pumps.  The single pump operating data are plotted as pump curve, i.e. using daily flowrate as x-axis and power as y-axis.  The data are statistically fitted to a second order regression curve in the same way as the digitised pump manufacturer’s curves.  The result shows that the pumps have been drawing more power than the initial manufacturer’s data.

  • Daily water flowrate investigation

The new pump curves calibrated in (4) are used to compute the water flowrate for several selected days.  Focus of this investigation is on whether the total power drawn by the system can be substantiated by the amount of water being pumped.  The result shows that the power data match well for single pump operation, as expected.  For two pumps operation, there seems to be about 8% to 15% power unaccounted for with the water flowrate computed power.  It is therefore suspected that the higher pressure head delivered by one pump causes turbulence losses in the flow path of another pump.

  • Matching pressure head pump speed control

The single pump performance data are calibrated again this time focusing on the pressure head relationship with the daily water flowrate.  The calibrated pump curves for pressure head vs water flowrate are computed in the same way statistically.  It is worth to note that although the pressure gauge values seem to be constant in relation to the ODR tower level, there are some observable variations when the data is computed against daily water flowrates.  The new pressure head pump curves are used to compute potential power savings if the pressure head delivered by two pumps are equalised to the lower pressure values.  Physically, this means one of the pumps, i.e. the pump delivering higher pressure should be slowed down.  According to pump laws, the power drawn by the pump at its slowed down speed is proportional to square root of the cube of speed ratio.  The result shows about 12% power savings if the assumptions made in different parts of the computational process are correct.

Follow-up projects in 2021

The above investigations are carried out on the initial data set extracted from the historical SCADA data repository.  Some of the data are suspected to be inaccurate.  The context of some information, e.g. pressure gauge value representing what, is also unknown.  Interpretation of the data in relation to the overall system performance is doubtful.  Discussion on the possibility of implementing a speed control algorithm to the motors so that pump pressure head can be adjusted intelligently leads to the conclusion that some changes to the system PLC might be required.

In order to understand what can be done and what needs to be upgraded in the system to achieve the estimated level of power savings, the following student projects are proposed to verify analysis results and to project to possible outcomes:

(1) Experimental pump curves calibration

Accurate pump performance is critical to the accuracy of power savings analysis.  This project aims to re-construct operational performance curves of all 6 high lift pumps for two important performance parameters:

  • Power (electrical power drawn by the pump) vs Daily water flowrate. The water flowrate should range from 0 Ml/d to whatever maximum water flowrate possible for that pump.
  • Pressure head vs Daily water flowrate. The same water flowrate range in (a) will be used.  Preferably, an electronic water pressure sensor should be installed at the outlet pipe of each of the pumps.  However, if that is not feasible due to physical configuration constraints, multiple pressure gauges are still required at different locations of the piping system so that the hydraulic conditions could be verified with theoretical pressure head computation.

The two performance parameters can be measured simultaneously in the same experimental setting.

Two students are required to ensure the experiments are done with reliable processes and data recordings.  It is expected that at least two hours of operating data at different water flowrates, motor speeds and outlet pressure conditions would be required.  Two trips of the two students to Shepperton are planned: Trip 1 will collect majority of data for first trial pump curve compilation, Trip 2 will be a data validation trip as well as collecting any missing data (could be due to situation in Trip 1 or due to findings after analysing first set of data).  Due to distance, an overnight stay in Shepperton for both trips is required.

(2) Computational analysis

The 6 initial investigations are done on Excel manually.  Cells are hard coded and hence the possibilities of analysis method variations are limited.  For example, investigations (3) and (5) are restricted a few days’ operating data due to frequent change of pump use preference.

While follow-on project (1) prepares for the data, this follow-on project (2) will develop an analysis software based on the methods applied in the 6 initial investigations so that when the calibrated pump curves are ready, the numerical analysis can be done quickly.  To prepare for this ideal situation, two activities are required in this student project:

  • Work with GVW data specialist to extract 2020 data in agreed format for both water system and electrical system. The new data will be processed initially in the same way as the 2019 data set to test if there is any inconsistency.
  • Develop analysis software with the primary objective of computing potential power savings. Extending from the primary objective, the software will be developed to allow flexible incorporation of different speed control algorithms to be incorporated into the historical data stream to examine effect of various control methods, i.e. not just pressure matching, but also on possible water flowrate matching, power balancing, etc.

Two students are required to work collaboratively for capturing analysis ideas, system performance data matching, software development.  Most of the project activities are desk based but a short trip to Shepperton to understand the physical system will be most beneficial to the students.  The short trip will be day return.

Future work

The proposed follow-on projects are focused on Shepperton HL Pump Station.  It is expected that the analysis experience and findings such as control algorithms can be applied to other pump stations.  However, to maximise the opportunity for success, this proposal does not include investigative adaptation of the findings to other pump facility settings, nor any other system parameter investigations.

Deliverables:

The deliverables of this project will be staged with an initial focus on data collection.

Deliverable Description Initial Timing Estimate
Commencement Workshop
  • Collect Data from GVW (data for 2019-20)
  • Orientation to the project
  • Historical issues re pump efficiency
  • Overview of work 2020
  • Individual student briefs and research questions
 Feb

Early March
Milestone 1 Project Plan March
Milestone 2 Some preliminary analysis of Data

·       Evaluation of data

 

 May
Milestone 3 Progress report. Early June
Milestone 4 Draft Project Report. Early September
Milestone 5 Project Report. End September
A presentation on the project report. End October

Governance:

This project will be managed through weekly meetings of the students whom will seek draft approval from the Project Managers (Prof. John Mo and Marcos Anastassiou) and through contact with the Project Sponsor (Michael Welk) to ensure work is satisfactory.

 Reporting Requirements:

There will be draft approval and/or progress reporting fortnightly to the project managers.

 Assumptions and Constraints:

Primarily governed by ready access to the relevant SCADA data

 Risks and Minimisation Strategies:

Incomplete data collection resulting in inaccurate recommendations.

  • This will be minimised by collecting as much data as possible from as many sources as possible.

Low data resolution.

  • The highest resolution data available will be sourced to ensure accuracy.

 Guidelines/Standards:

Water Act 1989

Water Industry Act 1994

 

GSP-AHC-04: Environmental Management Plan for Access Health and Community

Nina ONGOING

BACKGROUND:

Access Health and Community (AccessHC) provides high quality health and community services for its local community, focussing its efforts on those who have reduced access or increased complexity due to their health, social or personal determinants. It is Australia’s oldest community health service and is now a major player in health and community services in the inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

The organization has 15 sites across the cities of Yarra, Boroondara, Manningham and Whitehorse with more than 350 staff and over 250 Volunteers. The sites range from large three storey mixed clinical and office buildings of 50-80 staff to small residential houses converted into community houses, or bases for outreach staff. Three properties are owned by AccessHC, some are collocated with other services, and the remainder are rented from councils. This means there is a mix of energy and waste streams and contracts and a mixed ability to create change due to constraints of the tenancy or property type.

AccessHC is highly committed to be a greener workplace. AccessHC would like to engage RMIT students in a project to assess its environmental performance and then develop an environmental management plan for the whole organisation.

The environmental performance assessment focuses on 3 main areas:

  • Energy Consumption
  • Water Consumption
  • Waste Generation

KEY PROJECT TASKS:

  • Baselining and benchmarking study on water management at AccessHC’s sites;
  • Making recommendations on what changes AccessHC could implement on the short, medium and long term for sustainable and efficient water management;
  • Setting up a monitoring and reporting system for sustainable water management.

DELIVERABLES:

No. Description Initial Timing Estimate
1 Background research and literature review October 2020
2 Baselining and benchmarking study November – December 2020
3 Environmental targets (recommendations) January 2021
4 Action Plan and Communication Plan January 2021
5 Environmental Management Plan February 2021
6 Final presentation and report February 2021

The project report shall be written up as an environmental management plan. A suggested template includes:

  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction:
  • Background
  • About the organization
  • Prior actions and achievements
  • Environmental Policy
  • Baseline Environmental Performance
  • Overview
  • Energy Consumption
  • Water Consumption
  • Waste Generation
  • Environmental Targets:
  • Overview
  • Energy consumption
  • Water consumption
  • Waste Generation
  • Action Plan
  • Communication Plan (optional)
  • Monitoring, Review and Continuous Improvement

The project deliverables shall be written for a wide audience. It should be assumed the majority of the readers do not have an in-depth understanding of energy efficiency audits.

WORK METHOD:

TBD

KEY ATTRIBUTES:

Attributes required include:

  • Research skills
  • Intermediate understanding about environmental management and sustainable development
  • Self-motivated.

 

GSP-PT OSR: Renewable Energy Resources Mapping

Nina COMPLETED

Background:

Sukarame is a rural village located in West Java Province, Indonesia. It is bounded by Mount Halimun Salak National Park to the North and Pelabuhan Ratu Bay to the South. The location proximity from Jakarta (145km) and its unique natural ecosystem has created a huge potential for research, therapeutic activity, as well as tourist attraction.

Onsen Sukarame Resort Corporation Ltd (PT OSR) is developing a master plan for an Onsen Sukarame Resort (OSR) over a total area of 30ha in Sukarame, stretching 4km of river and including 6 hot springs. PT OSR would like to engage RMIT staff and students in various research projects to incorporate sustainable development principles in their development plan and make OSR a self-sufficient and sustainable destination in Indonesia.

PT OSR aims for 100 percent renewable energy (RE) supply at the resort. At this moment they are using one Pelton Turbine (water-wheel turbine) to generate electricity for the development/construction work at the site. However, this turbine will be inadequate to meet the sites’ energy needs once the resort is operational. It is important to explore all possible RE options at the site so that PT OSR can maximise the opportunities and achieve their target.

Project aim:

This project aims to evaluate what the renewable energy sources are available at this site and quantify their possible electricity generation capabilities.

Project Activities:

– Exploring the electrical grid arrangements in Sukarame, such as export restrictions, supply limitations, energy costs for import/export, possibilities for net metering, green energy purchasing etc.,

– Exploring the technical and economic merits of various renewable energy options, such as solar PV, geothermal, micro hydro, wind and biomass.

– Calculate the potential for hydro power generation.

– Simulating the potential for solar energy generation on site. This may include a large commercial solar system installed on the current helicopter landing area (government land) or distributed solar which is installed on selected rooftops across the site.

Methodology

This project will require the student to generate a realistic load profile from the site. i.e. extrapolate designed building loads, mechanical plant, ancillary loads (E. V’s etc.) to establish the temporal/seasonal requirement for energy.

This project will explore energy storage as well as import/export via grid coupling to achieve the lowest cost energy security. Required generation capacity will also be minimised via careful design of loads, e.g. keep peak loads to a minimum using demand management, hydro for baseload and solar for daily peaks, etc.

Considerable attention will be paid to understanding the need for cooling at the site, as given the humidity of the location and the presence of mosquitos, resort customers are likely will heavily on refrigerated air conditioning.

Deliverables

No. Main Deliverable Description Estimated Timing
1 Project Plan Students discuss with PT OSR and RMIT academic supervisors about a detailed project plan. February 2020
2 Literature Review Review relevant literature (published data). March 2020
3 Data Collection and Analysis PT OSR provide students with all required information and data.

Students analyze the data and draft the report

 March – April 2020
4 Draft Report Draft Report May 2020
5 Final Report Final Report End of June 2020

 

Work Method

– This project will be supervised by Dr. Mahdi Jalili and Dr. Cameron Stanley from School of Engineering, RMIT University.

– Final year students will implement this project as Capstone Engineering project.

– The supervisors help students identify learning objectives at the start of the project, provide them with technical advice during the project implementation, and evaluate their work at the end of the project.

– Students conduct the research in Melbourne, Australia.

– PT OSR will appoint a person-in-charge to help students access data.

Future Life Saving Facilities (Research Design Studio)

Nina COMPLETED

What is a design studio?

The design studio is an intensive project based course worth 24 credit points (twice the usual allocation per course).  Students work in small groups (max 14 students) with 1 or more studio leaders who are industry practitioners or have some kind of design practice.  Each studio is focused around a core set of ideas or problems.  These range from explorations in digital or computation design, cultural or poetic concerns, issues of urbanity, density or cities, small scale fabrication explorations, issues of the civic and urban narratives etc.  In the master program at RMIT we run between 18-20 studios per semester.  Each studio has a mixture of final year bachelor students + first year and second year masters students.  Our studios are vertically integrated so that younger/less experience students learn from the older/more experienced ones (as well as the studio leader).  At the start of semester students have the opportunity to ballot for the studio they’d like to take and all studios are open for balloting.

The studio runs for 14 weeks.  Balloting is in week 0.  We have a mid semester review around week 7 or 8.  The last class is in week 12 and the final presentations/assessment is in week 14.  Students submit a folio of their work in week 15 and in week 16 we pin-up and open an exhibition of all studios’ work along with the graduating thesis projects.

Each class students present ongoing work, either formally in pin-up crits or informally through workshops, desk crits and 1 on 1 sessions with their tutor.

 

Research Proposal: Future Surf Life Saving Facilities

The aim of this project is to develop design proposals speculating on the future of surf life saving in Victoria, and around Australia, and re-imagining what a surf life-saving facility might look like, how it might integrate into the urban and rural urban contexts in which they operate, how they might better operate within sensitive natural environments and what the impact of long term environmental, cultural, political and economic change might be on the institution and built form of surf life saving clubs might be.

In the initial phases of the semester students will engage in a process of research exploring:

– What is a surf life saving club and its purpose?  How has this differed over time.  What are the architectural and cultural origins of the contemporary surf life saving club, and  how are they different in different parts of Australia.  What are the equivalent architectural types in other countries? How is the culture of surf life saving linked to the questions of Australian identity.

– What are the cultural, technological, social, policy, economic and other trajectories of change that might influence the future of the surf life saving club as an architectural model.

– How does the surf life saving club future integrate issues of sustainability, and what will the impact of imminent environmental collapse on surf life saving.

Students will be allocated a rural and urban site around Victoria, and an example of SLSC in another part of Australia.  They will be asked to document and analyse these precedents and prepare a dossier of information and ideas on the model. These observations will form the basis of  a brief based that will serve as the basis for design testing through the semester.

 

Wonthaggi Surf Life Saving Club

After an initial period of briefing, the students will begin to consider these challenges at a specific site – the Wonthaggi Surf Life Saving club.  Students will visit and document the site and be briefed on the specific challenges of the site by members of the club and Emergency Services Infrastructure Authority (ESIA) personnel.  Students will use this location as a site for testing of design possibilities for Surf Life Saving Clubs for the remainder of the semester.

 

Research through Design

Students will design and test their brief on the Wonthaggi site through a mixture of precedent based explorations, design process and digital techniques, model making and other explorative processes.

Work will be presented in class weekly, and updates and adjustments to the brief made in conjunction with ongoing design and exploration.

At the mid semester review (Week 7 approx.) students will present their research, their brief and an initial conceptual design for hypothetical future Surf Life Saving club on the Wonthaggi site.

For the remainder of the semester students, students will develop and test their design further.  From this initial conceptual proposal students will be asked to take into consideration the following:

  • The relationship between the surf life saving club and the surrounding town. How does the SLSC enable other activities (community, commercial, governmental). What amenity does it offer to the city/town.
  • The civic aspect of the design – what face does this design present to the public. How does this effect public engagement and tourism opportunities.
  • Opportunities for innovative programming and multi-use engagement.
  • New technologies and fabrication techniques that address issues of cost and deployment in challenging contexts.
  • The impact of climate collapse on coastal environments and changes in the way people use the coast.

At the final presentation (Week 14) students will present printed panels (posters) showing drawings, computer renderings, diagrams, text and other graphic explanations.  This may be supplemented by digital presentations, animations, physical models, VR or Augmented Reality presentations.  It will be accompanied by verbal presentation.

The usual format for the final review is a 15-20 minute presentation to a panel including the studio leader and invited external guests from industry.

I’ve prepared a rough break down below of how a semester might play out.  I see opportunities for ESIA and local stakeholders from Wonthaggi to be involved at 4 stages – the third week, through 2 interim presentations where government and community experts can provide feedback on the design, and a final presentation in week 13 where students will show the ESIA / Wonthaggi SLSC their designs.

We prefer to separate this final presentation from the examination of the work, as this is an expert academic assessment process and is better not to involve client groups.

 

Week Class Activity Task
Week 1 Introductory presentation by ESIA. Students to visit urban SLSC. Conduct survey of historical architectural SLSC station precedents.  Archival research on issues in SLS.
Week 2 Review Task 1. Students to visit rural SLSC. Explore examples of interstate and overseas life saving clubs and coastal building. Further Archival research on issues in SLS.  Prepare working issues brief.
Week 3 Present Task 2. Visit to Wonthaggi site. Presentation by Wongthaggi SLSC stakeholders. Review WSLSC issues.  Site analysis and observation.
Week 4 Present site analysis and research brief. Prepare preliminary design response.
Week 5 Present design options Respond to feedback and prepare mid semester design response.
Week 7 Mid semester presentation to RMIT & ESIA Respond to feedback and integrate complex technical requirements
Week 8 In progress presentation Develop project
Week 9 In progress presentation Develop project
Week 10 In progress presentation Develop project
Week 11 In progress presentation Develop project
Week 12 In progress presentation Prepare presentation
Week 13 Final project presentation to ESIA & WSLSC only Prepare presentation
Week 14 Final examination. Prepare presentation

 

The expectation is that the outcomes that are produced are not simply problem solving or simply responding to a brief. We expect our students to be ambitious, future focused and prepared to take risks in order to contribute value through design to a project. At RMIT Architecture, we are training students to be speculative thinkers.  This means using design to go beyond the brief and imagine future scenarios that might not yet be known.  When we engage with real projects the projects will usually be more conservative, but we are keen to make sure students remain ambitious on provocative.

Proposed Budget

To deliver this project we are requesting a small budget in order to translate the outcomes of the studio into a format that is appropriate for broader dissemination, and in which the critical learnings are presented as transferrable and relevant to the research brief provided by ESIA.

As information on the full scope of the project has not been negotiated and established with ESIA, we suggest the following cost base and breakdown.

This budget is preliminary and subject to approval of RMIT Research & Innovation and finance departments.

 

Activity Rate Cost
RMIT Staff regional travel allowance $1000
Research Assistant to review, redraw and reformat design proposals for publication 160 (4 weeks) hours @ $45.81 + 25% oncosts $9162
Graphic Designer $1800
Book printing costs ISBN registration $100

Book printing costs $4000

 $4100
Large format poster printing 42 sheets @ $30 $1260
Sub Total $17,322
GST $1,732.20
Total $19,054.20

 

GSP-WW: Toxicity of Influents

Nina COMPLETED

Project title: Toxicity of Influents

Project aim:

Western Water established a project with RMIT to develop a method to model the risk of potential toxins (with a focus on tree root foam) into Western Water’s Recycled Water Plants (RWPs). These toxins could add stress to the biomass of the activated sludge, which would decrease the effectiveness of the treatment process. ATP is used as a stress indicator of the biomass.

The main objectives of the project are to:
– Assess the feasibility of ATP as a test method to determine the toxicity of influent. If successful, implement testing across Western Water’s RWPs to minimise the loss of biomass, and protect the plant operations, quality of recycled water and biosolids.
– Verify a threshold value for root foaming chemicals in the influent to assist the field operation team in the planning of root foaming activities in the sewer.

Industry partner: Western Water

Western Water provides water, sewerage and recycled water services to 61,000 properties with a population of 162,000 across a region of 3,000 square kilometres to the north-west of Melbourne. Since the authority’s establishment 20 years ago, Western Water has seen its service population more than double. This strong growth rate is projected to continue as suburbs around Melton and Sunbury develop over the coming decade. Nearly all towns in the service area now have a secure water supply through provision of alternate supplies to local water. These include interconnection to adjoining supply systems as well as access to Melbourne water.

GSP-SV: As built verification program

Nina COMPLETED

Project title: Waste Transport Model

Industry partner: Sustainability Victoria (SV)

Sustainability Victoria supports Victorians to be more sustainable in their everyday life; in homes and in jobs, schools and communities and in the systems and infrastructure that support a thriving Victorian economy and lifestyle. SV aims to improve the way Victoria manages its resources and help communities to take action on climate change. SV provide expert advice and guidance in energy, materials and waste. SV conducts research and demonstrate what is possible and inspires people to make sustainable change above and beyond legal requirements.

Background:

SV is running the Zero Net Carbon Homes Pilot Program to develop sustainably-designed residential homes in Victoria and provide technical and marketing expertise to builders to facilitate the development, marketing and sales of such homes.

In order to build a zero net carbon home, home builders will need to complete zero net carbon home design modelling and an as-built verification assessment.

An as-built verification (ABV) assessment is a quality assurance test:

  • evaluates the energy efficiency of a home after it is built
  • ensures the home meets a zero net carbon standard.

The test involves an independent evaluator visiting a home and rating the home’s air tightness and insulation integrity.

Evaluators perform blower door tests, using fans to simulate wind blowing against the building’s exterior to identify air leakages in the building’s envelope.

Thermal imaging is used in conjunction with blower door testing to locate missing or poorly installed insulation that may result in the movement of heat/cool into and out of the building.

Project aim/expected outcomes:

The project aims to review current methods for ABV assessment in Victoria (including blower door test and thermography), assess their risks and recommend mitigation plans.
The review may extend to other methods being used overseas focusing on best practices.

DELIVERABLES:

No. Main Deliverable Description Estimated Timing
1 Project Plan Students discuss with SV and RMIT academic supervisors about a detailed project plan. March 2020
2 Project Implementation Students collect data/information and write report. April-May 2020
3 Progress Report Students contact SV and RMIT supervisor on a weekly basis to discuss the project tasks and update the project progress. April-May 2020
4 Final report and presentation Report/present on project outcomes End of June 2020

Work method:

    • Students are required to attend the kick-off meeting with SV to fully understand the requirements from SV. A returned project brief together with a project plan is required after this meeting.
    • Students then work on their own and/or under the supervision/instructions of the supervisor to meet the agreed timeline.
    • SV will appoint a contact person who helps students with data access or any question/queries regarding the requirements of the project.

GSP-CSRD 02: Solutions for Cleaner Energy in Central Coast Vietnam

Nina NEW

Project context and aim:

There are at least six power plants potentially located along the coast line of central Vietnam. The cumulative negative impacts will be huge and out of control if all of them are put into operation. This project aims to raise the awareness on negative impacts of coal production, promote cleaner energy, and encourage relevant agencies to be transparent in energy demand investigation.

Project tasks:

  • Desk study (literature review) on coal power development in the Mekong region and Vietnam and its impacts on human health and the environment.
  • Engineering solutions for mitigating the negative impacts of coal power production.
  • Recommend alternations for cleaner energy in Vietnam.

 Project deliverable:

 No. Main Deliverable Description Estimated Timing
1 Project Plan Students discuss with RMIT academic supervisors and CSRD about a detailed project plan. May 2020[1]
2 Literature Review in Melbourne Students review relevant literature. May-June, 2020
3 Field Work in Hue, Vietnam

 

 Students travel to Vietnam to collect data, analyze data and write the report.

Note: Travel dates are flexible.

 July-October 2020 (minimum 12 weeks)
6 Final report Final Report and Presentation on research findings. Oct/Nov 2020

 

Funding:

  • Students will receive a semester grant from New Colombo Plan funding to cover international air tickets and other expenses in Vietnam.
  • Only undergraduate Australian citizens are eligible for project funding.

Applications:

  • Students submit CVs and latest academic transcripts to Nina Nguyen at: nina.nguyen@rmit.edu.au

[1] the timeline of the project is currently scheduled for semester 2 of 2020. It can be changed depending on students’ enrolment at RMIT.

 

GSP-PHA 02: Food Waste Management at Hotels in Phuket, Thailand

Nina NEW
GSP-PHA 02: Food Waste Management at Hotels in Phuket, Thailand

BACKGROUND:        

The Phuket Hotels Association (PHA) is dedicated to promoting the island as a quality destination for international travelers from all walks of life.

Today, PHA has over 70 members comprising small boutique hotels to large international chains who have joined together to promote the island as Brand Phuket, to raise money to educate local Phuket residents though the association’s scholarship fund, and assist and educate with the environmental best practices to reduce any harmful impact that tourism has on the island.

In October 2019, PHA engaged two Master of Environmental Science and Technology students from RMIT University in a project to examine the status of waste management practices at hotels in Phuket. The project focused on single-use plastic waste and recognized food waste as an important issue for the hotels to tackle with in 2020.

PROJECT AIM:

This project aims to improve food waste management practices at PHA’s member hotels. The project consists of two parts:

Part 1: Review of food waste management practices at the participating hotels in Phuket. The review should cover, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • Waste collection and disposal;
  • Weights or volume (MASS);
  • Handling & sorting;
  • Auditing;
  • Staff and Visitors’ awareness;
  • Policy and guidelines from the hotels and local authorities.

Part 2: Developing guidelines for food waste management at hotels in Phuket:

  • Identify areas for improvement
  • Set a benchmark for food waste management practice
  • Recommendations

DELIVERABLES:

No. Main Deliverable Description Estimated Timing
1 Project Plan Students discuss with PHA and university academic supervisors about a detailed project plan. February 2020
2 Literature Review Students work under their academic supervisors to review relevant literature. March – April 2020
3 Data Collection/ Site visit A trip to Phuket

Students collect data through a fieldtrip to Phuket with support from PHA and its member hotels.

 

Students present initial observations and discuss best practices at a seminar/workshop at the end of the fieldtrip.

 1-14/7/2020
4 Data Analysis Students analyses data and develop guidelines for food waste management at hotels in PHA. July – September 2020
5 Draft report Draft Report September 2020
6 Final report Final Report October 2020
7 Presentation Presentation on research findings. October 2020

Note: The outcomes and recommendations should be simple, economically viable and well documented with photographs, so it is easy for other hotels to adopt as “best practices”.

WORK METHOD:

  • Students will be selected from relevant Honours and Masters programs at RMIT.
  • RMIT academic supervisors help students identify learning objectives at the start of the project, provide them with technical advice during the project implementation, and evaluate their work at the end of the project.
  • PHA will appoint the contact person who help students access to data at the hotels in Phuket.

FUNDING/FELLOWSHIP:

  • RMIT University will help Australian students access travel grants to fly to Phuket and cover the insurance for the students during the time they stay in Phuket to implement this project.
  • Possible funding will be sourced from PHA members to cover local cost such as food, transportation, accommodation and other related costs in Phuket.

DESIRED STUDENT ATTRIBUTES:

Selection criteria includes:

  • Relevant experience and background in waste management
  • Ability to conduct research including field surveys
  • Customer service and communications skills (need to communicate with different people)

SELECTION PROCESS:

  • Students being interested in this projects and meet the above attributes are required to submit their CVs and academic transcript to nguyen@rmit.edu.au
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