New final project reports and journal articles showcasing the latest CRC research is now available on the website. The details are in the May summary below.
CRC final reports
The final project report for the Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure project has been written by Prof Sujeeva Setunge (RMIT University), Prof Priyan Mendis (University of Melbourne), Prof Karu Karunasena (University of Southern Queensland), Prof Kevin Zhang (RMIT University), Prof Dilanthi Amaratunga (University of Huddersfield), A/Prof Weena Lokuge (University of Southern Queensland), Dr Nilupa Herath (University of Melbourne), Dr Long Shi (RMIT University), Dr Hessam Mohseni (RMIT University), Dr Huu Tran (RMIT University) and Kanishka Atapattu (RMIT University). Major findings of the research include the identification of the levels of hazard exposure which could lead to failure of structures and the other parameters affecting failure. Further, methods of modelling road structures under different loading regimes were developed with case studies of typical structures. New design approaches for building back better have been proposed for floodway structures based on parametric analysis of typical types of floodways. A major utilisation outcome of the project is a resilient floodway design guide, published in collaboration with the Institution of Public Works Engineers Australia Queensland.
The Developing effective emergency management partnerships in remote northern Australian communities project has been completed and the final project report has been written by Dr Bev Sithole, Otto Bulmaniya Campion, Glenn James, Danny Burton, Maratja Dhamarrandji, Hmalan Hunter-Xenie from Charles Darwin University’s Aboriginal Research Practitioners network and the Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Ltd. Through extensive consultations undertaken with regional emergency management agencies and Indigenous community partners across northern Australia, this project has established that an ongoing priority is to support the building of more effective emergency management agency-community partnership arrangements in remote communities, based on empowerment of and better engagement with community governance structures. This project explored community governance issues and aspirations among Yolngu and Bininj (Aboriginal people from east Arnhem Land and central and west Arnhem Land respectively) in two major communities: Galiwin’ku and Ramingining. In recognising persistent and systemic marginalisation issues, such as poor communication and engagement, project leaders sought to provide a stronger foundation for partnerships at a community level and a clear direction to emergency management and other agencies to adopt for more effective and mutually beneficial partnership arrangements in service delivery.
Dr Nazmul Khan, Amila Wickramasinghe, Dr Mahmood Rashid and A/Prof Khalid Moinuddin from Victoria University have written the final project report for the completed Fire spread prediction across fuel types project. This research tested two established reliable physics-based models—the Fire Dynamics Simulator and FIRESTAR3D—to simulate bushfire scenarios in three broad areas: sub-canopy wind flow, firebrand transport, and propagation of grass and forest fires. The team has made significant inroads into providing usable outputs as well as understanding various aspects of bushfire behaviour. This project was established to create a capability and capacity in Australia to conduct research and understand physical-based wildfire modelling approaches. There are several international groups developing these models, and it is imperative that Australia can interact and work alongside these researchers to translate the findings to the Australian context.
CRC reports
The Understanding heatwave and building codes in NSW project, commissioned by Resilience NSW, has been completed and two reports have been published, summarising the research into building standards and heatwaves to strengthen mitigation in NSW. The project reviewed key literature and considered the overall comprehensiveness of NSW building codes in terms of their contributions to selected elements of heatwave resilience. The final report, written by Prof Alan March, Dr Crystal Legacy, Dr Georgia Warren-Myers and Dr Leonardo Nogueira de Moraes from the University of Melbourne, identifies opportunities and issues relating to the contribution of building codes to natural hazard resilience and suggests that there is no effective acknowledgement of heatwave in the National Construction Code and that there is limited integration between building and other key systems such as land use planning, health services and emergency response. The summary report outlines a generalised method to assess building codes, their application in New South Wales, and related mechanisms in terms of their contribution to natural hazard resilience, identifying areas for improvement and further research.
The NSW Rural Fire Service commissioned the CRC to undertake research into people’s experiences of the 2019/20 NSW bushfires for the project, Community attitudes and experiences of the 2019/20 NSW bushfire season, which is now complete. The findings of this research has been summarised in the report, Black Summer - how the NSW community responded to the 2019-20 bushfire season, written by Dr Josh Whittaker (NSW RFS), Dr Katharine Haynes (University of Wollongong), Carrie Wilkinson (University of Wollongong), Dr Matalena Tofa (Macquarie University), Tasmin Dilworth (Macquarie University), Jessica Collins (Macquarie University), Lillian Tait (Macquarie University) and Stephanie Samson (University of Wollongong). Eight key themes of the fires were investigated, including: risk communication; effect of prolonged and repeated exposure to bushfire on planning, preparation and responses; effect of previous experience and exposure to bushfire on planning, preparation and responses; sheltering practices; experiences of tourists and visitors; awareness and attitudes toward bushfire risk reduction; building standards; and community recovery and resilience.
The Enabling sustainable emergency volunteeringproject team comprising Hawa Muhammad Farid (University of Western Australia, Dr Darja Kragt (University of Western Australia), A/Prof Patrick Dunlop (Curtin University), Prof Marylène Gagné (Curtin University), Dr Alex Luksyte (University of Western Australia) and Dr Djurre Holtrop (University of Western Australia), have written the report, State Emergency Service (SES): Volunteer views on experiences, wellbeing, and motivations – Findings from the Cultural Assessment Tool (CAT) Survey 2019-20. The team investigated ways to improve the retention rates of their emergency service volunteers, developing and administering a Cultural Assessment Tool (CAT) in the form of an online survey from September 2018 to February 2019. The findings of the 18-19 survey were then used to inform the design of the follow-up CAT survey conducted in 19-20. The key purpose of the 19-20 survey was to assess the current state of volunteering within the SES in 2019 and 2020, in addition to tracking changes in the SES volunteering experience over the last 12 months.
Celeste Young (Victoria University), Prof Roger Jones (Victoria University) and Dr Craig Cormick (Instinct and Cormick) have written Growing the seeds: recovery, strength and capability in Gippsland communities for the Understanding experiences and recovery capabilities of diverse communities in Gippsland post 2019/20 bushfires project, which was supported with funding from the CRC. The report provides a starting point for assessing and understanding community capability practically, and to provide an indicative status of these in East Gippsland and Wellington Shires following the bushfires. It uses a systemic assessment of social, economic and risk contexts to examine community strengths and capabilities, and identify potential future pathways.
Journal articles
Relating to the Hazards, culture and Indigenous communities project is research by Dean Freeman (ACT Parks and Conservation Services), Bhiamie Williamson (Australian National University) and Dr Jessica Weir (Western Sydney University), published in the Australian Geographer. Cultural burning and public sector practice in the Australian Capital Territory shares experiences of helping to create a cultural burning program as Aboriginal people but not as Traditional Custodians. The paper documents the steps taken to build support, create opportunities and engage Ngunnawal and Ngambri Traditional Custodians, and identifies early positive results and challenging matters being generated.
Drawing on research from the Remeasurement of burnt permanent plots in Tasmanian wet eucalypt forest - 2019andHow do wet eucalypt forests burn? Managing Tasmania’s most dangerous fuel type projects is the paper Bioclimatic drivers of fire severity across the Australian geographical range of giant Eucalyptus forests, published in the Journal of Ecology. Written by PhD student James Furlaud, Dr Lynda Prior, Dr Grant Williamson and Prof David Bowman from the University of Tasmania, the study aims to characterise how climate shapes the likelihood of low- and high-severity wildfire across Australian tall wet Eucalyptus-dominated forest (TWEF). The research team performed a continental-scale analysis of fuels in 48 permanent plots in early-mature stage TWEF, estimating fuel loads and measuring understorey microclimate. They then used fuel moisture and fire behaviour equations to predict the historical frequency with which TWEF could burn and what fire severities were expected, investigating how this varies across different TWEF climate regions.
Published in the Journal of Earthquake Engineering is the paper the selection and scaling of ground motion accelerograms for use in stable continental regions, written by Yiwei Hu (University of Melbourne), Prof Nelson Lam (University of Melbourne), Dr Scott Menegon (Swinburne University of Technology) and Prof John Wilson (Swinburne University of Technology). The paper, relating to the Cost-effective mitigation strategy for building related earthquake risk project, presents an application of the Conditional Mean Spectrum (CMS) methodology for sourcing accelerogram records for use in dynamic analyses of structures in intraplate regions of lower seismicity. A step-by-step illustration of the methodology is presented using the south-eastern Australia region as an example.