TSE is primarily a research laboratory and the majority of work undertaken is specialized and unique. This type of work generally does not include standardized tests but instead focuses on generating data related to unusual properties or characteristics that are poorly understood. TSE is highly experienced at developing new and effective testing solutions that provide information not available through standard approaches to testing. These test methods are often highly challenging and demand high performance equipment that is seldom available at other laboratories.
On the other hand, many aspects of material performance can be investigated using standard tests repeated many times over while varying parameters such as material composition or structural design. In these circumstances, standard tests need to be performed with a high degree of confidence so that customers are secure in the knowledge that similar tests undertaken earlier or later are comparable. For this reason, TSE has focused on specific tests that have been practiced and refined over many years, such as ASTM C-1550 and C-1609. Extensive research has been undertaken to test the sensitivity of these test methods to variations in procedure and errors in inputs. This has included investigations of probability density functions for both test inputs and outputs, and Monte Carlo simulations of the effects of errors on material performance in completed structures. The experience gained through this work is available for further investigation of risk and reliability using other types of materials and structures.
TSE also acts as a conduit for consultants in mathematical and statistical analysis related to structural and materials engineering. This includes risk and reliability analysis, error propagation, analytical modeling of structural behaviour and vibration, and statistical modeling and analysis. These capabilities are usually incorporated into larger research projects spanning several months or years and focus on challenging topics for which standard solutions are not available. Finite Element modeling is usually sub-contracted to firms such as Cardno. It should be noted that almost all the researchers employed or sub-contracted by TSE have doctoral qualifications and a long record of publication within the respective fields of expertise.
The unique position and experience that TSE possesses within the materials and structures research industry has been recognized through the appointment of the director, Dr. E.S. Bernard, as chairman of ASTM sub-committee C9.42 for Fiber-Reinforced Concrete. He is also founding chair of the Australian Shotcrete Society, and is a member of the American Concrete Institute, Concrete Institute of Australia, and IABSE. NATA accreditation to ISO 17025 currently extends only as far as ASTM C-1550 and C-1609 test methods for FRC/FRS. Accreditation is not being sought for any other test as the majority of research undertaken within the laboratory does not involve standardized tests. TSE has the laboratory number 14700.
Current and Past Research Projects
Some of the research projects undertaken by Dr. E.S. Bernard to date include the following:
- Buckling and stability of thin-walled structures
- Design of glass structures
- Corrosion assessment in concrete structures
- Development of C-1550 round panel test
- Post-crack design of FRC structure using toughness data
- Strain rate effects in concrete
- The influence of friction on output of structural and materials test methods
- Error propagation in standardized test methods
- Early-age performance development in concrete
- Design of FRS linings for tunnels and mines
Extensive fiber and mix design development has been undertaken for material manufacturers including EPC/Hagihara, Propex Concrete Systems, W.R. Grace, Rinker, Rocla, Dow Chemical, and 3M.
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Papers published by the director of TSE, include:
Refereed Journal Papers
"Tests of Profiled Steel Decks with V-Stiffeners", Journal of Structural Engineering , ASCE, Vol. 119, No. 8, August 1993
Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Tests of Profiled Steel Decks with Flat-hat Stiffeners", Journal of Structural Engineering , ASCE, Vol. 121, No. 8, August 1995
(Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Strength Design Curves for Thin-Walled Sections Undergoing Distortional Buckling", Journal of Constructional Steel Research , 31 (1994), pp169-186. (Hancock, G.J., Kwon, Y.B. and Bernard, E.S.)
"Flange Curling in Profiled Steel Decks", Thin-Walled Structures , Vol. 25, No. 1, pp 1-29, 1996. (Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Design Methods for Profiled Steel Decks with Intermediate Stiffeners", Journal of Constructional Steel Research , Vol. 38, No. 1, pp 61-88, 1996. (Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Measurement and assessment of geometric imperfections in thin-walled panels", Thin-walled Structures , Vol. 33, pp103-126, 1999. (Bernard, E.S., Coleman, R. and Bridge, R.Q.)
"Behaviour of round steel fibre reinforced concrete panels under point loads", Materials and Structures , RILEM, Vol 33, April 2000, pp 181-188. (Bernard, E.S.)
"The Influence of Strain Rate on Performance of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Loaded in Flexure", Cement, Concrete, and Aggregates , CCAGDP, Vol. 23, No. 1, June 2001, pp11-18. (Bernard, E.S.)
"The Influence of Thickness on Performance of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete in a Round Determinate Panel Test", Cement, Concrete, and Aggregates , CCAGDP, Vol. 23, No. 1, June 2001, pp27-33. (Bernard, E.S. and Pircher, M.)
"Correlations in the behaviour of fibre reinforced shotcrete beam and panel specimens", Materials and Structures , RILEM, Vol 35, April 2002, pp 156-164. (Bernard, E.S.)
"The Role of Friction in Post-crack Energy Absorption of Fiber Reinforced Concrete in the Round Panel Test", Journal of ASTM International , January 2005, Vol. 2, No.1, pp1-12. (Bernard, E.S.)
"Crack Offset Corrections to Post-crack Performance Parameters Obtained from Third-point Loaded Fiber Reinforced Shotcrete Beams", Cement, Concrete, and Aggregates , CCAGDP, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2003, pp35-41.
(Bernard, E.S., Tutlu, E. & Diamantidis, D.)
"Lateral load capacity of single bolts connecting plywood plates", Australian Journal of Structural Engineering , Vol. 5, No. 3, 2004, pp171-184. (E.S. Bernard)
"Constitutive Modelling of Fiber Reinforced Shotcrete Panels", Journal of Engineering Mechanics , ASCE, Vol. 131, No. 5, May 2005, pp1-10. (Tran, V.N.G., Bernard, E.S., and Beasley, A.J.)
"The Influence of Toughness on the Apparent Cracking Load Capacity of Fiber Reinforced Concrete Slabs", Journal of Structural Engineering , (accepted for publication May 2006) (Bernard, E.S.)
"A Comparison of Flexural Performance for Third-point Loaded and Centrally-loaded Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams", Journal of ASTM International , (accepted for publication May 2006) (Bernard, E.S. & G.G. Xu)
"Statistical Distribution of Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beam Test Data", Journal of ASTM International , (submitted March 2006)
(Bernard, E.S. & G.G. Xu)
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Refereed Conference Papers
"Tests of Profiled Steel Decks with V-Stiffeners", 11th International Specialty Conference on Cold-formed Steel Structures , St. Louis, Missouri, October 1992. (Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Tests of Profiled Steel Decks with Flat-hat Stiffeners", International Workshop on Cold-formed Steel Structures , Darling Harbour, Sydney, February 1993. (Bernard, E.S., Bridge, R.Q. and Hancock, G.J.)
"Strength Design Curves for Thin-Walled Sections Undergoing Distortional Buckling", International Workshop on Cold-formed Steel Structures , Darling Harbour, Sydney, February 1993. (Hancock, G.J., Kwon, Y.B. and Bernard, E.S.)
"Design of Thin-Walled Sections Against Distortional Buckling", Third Pacific Structural Steel Conference , Tokyo, Japan, 1992.
(Hancock, G.J., Kwon, Y.B. and Bernard, E.S.)
"Impact Resistance of Architectural Safety Glass"', Proceedings of the Fourteenth Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials , Hobart, Tasmania, Dec. 1995. (Bernard, E.S. and Reid, S.G.)
"Improving the Setting Characteristics of Concrete Cast in Winter", Concrete ‘97 , 18th Biennial Concrete Institute of Australia Conference, May 14-16, 1997, Adelaide. (Bernard, E.S., Archibald, G., and Tyndall, C.)
"The Performance of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete in Pavements", Concrete ‘97 , 18th Biennial Concrete Institute of Australia Conference, May 14-16, 1997, Adelaide. (Bernard, E.S., Ayton, G.)
"The Influence of Edge Restraint on Flexural Behaviour in Square Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete Slabs", Proceedings of CONSEC'98 Conference , Tromsø, Norway, June 22-23, 1998 (Bernard, E.S.)
"The use of shotcrete in Australian construction and mining industries", Concrete Institute of Australia 19th Biennial Conference , Sydney, 5-7 May, 1999. (Bernard, E.S. and Clements, M.J.K.)
"The Influence of Loading Conditions on Punching Resistance in Fibre Reinforced Concrete Panels", International Symposium of Punching Resistance in Concrete Slabs , IABSE, Stockholm, June 8-9, 2000. (Bernard, E.S. and Nyström, E.M.C.)
"Performance of multi-layered polymer and fibre reinforced concrete panels", Shotcrete: Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 53-58, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2001. (Bernard, E.S.)
"The influence of curing on the performance of fibre reinforced shotcrete panels", Shotcrete: Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 59-64, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2001. (Bernard, E.S. and Clements, M.J.K.)
"Punching and rock bolt assembly through a fibre reinforced concrete panel", Shotcrete: Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 65-70, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2001. (Bernard, E.S. and Harkin, S.)
"The M5 motorway: an education in Quality Assurance for fibre reinforced shotcrete", Shotcrete: Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 145-156, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2001. (Hanke, S.A., Collis, A. and Bernard, E.S.)
"The application of Yield Line Theory to Round Determinate Panels", Shotcrete: Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 245-254, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2001. (Tran. V.G., Beasley, A.J. and Bernard, E.S.)
"Shotcrete design and specification for the Cross City Tunnel, Sydney", Shotcrete: More Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 27-38, Taylor & Francis, London, 2004. (Asche, H.R. and Bernard, E.S.)
"Creep of cracked fibre-reinforced shotcrete panels", Shotcrete: More Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 47-58, Taylor & Francis, London, 2004. (Bernard, E.S.)
"Durability of cracked fibre-reinforced shotcrete", Shotcrete: More Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 59-66, Taylor & Francis, London, 2004. (Bernard, E.S.)
"Design performance requirements for fibre-reinforced shotcrete using ASTM C-1550", Shotcrete: More Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 67-80, Taylor & Francis, London, 2004. (Bernard, E.S.)
"Reliability-based resistance design of FRS tunnel linings", Shotcrete: More Engineering Developments , Bernard (ed.), pp 109-126, Taylor & Francis, London, 2004. (Diamantidis, D. and Bernard, E.S.)
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Other Papers
"Measurement of Post-cracking Performance in Fibre Reinforced Shotcrete", Australian Shotcrete Conference , Sydney, October 8-9, 1998. (Bernard, E.S.)
"Variability in Toughness Estimates for FRS Derived Using Beam and Panel Tests", Australian Shotcrete Conference , Sydney, October 8-9, 1998. (Bernard, E.S. and Clements, M.J.K)
"Developments in determining the performance of steel fibre reinforced shotcrete", Proceedings of the 10 th Australian Tunnelling Conference , Melbourne, March 1999. (Clements, M.J.K, and Bernard, E.S.)
"Experimental factors affecting punching resistance in fibre reinforced concrete panels", Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Sprayed Concrete , Gol, Norway, 26-29 September, 1999, pp47-57. (Bernard, E.S. and M.C.P. Curnow)
"The use of round determine panels for QA of post-crack performance in FRS", Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Sprayed Concrete , Davos, Switzerland, 22-26 September, 2002, pp1-10.
(Bernard, E.S., Hanke, S.A. and Collis, A.)
"Age-dependent behaviour of fibre-reinforced shotcrete", Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Sprayed Concrete , Davos, Switzerland, 22-26 September, 2002, pp11-25. (Bernard, E.S., and Hanke, S.A.)
"Early-age Test Methods for Fiber-Reinforced Shotcrete", Shotcrete , Spring 2005, pp16-20. (Bernard, E.S.)
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