Welcome

The Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability (CIPAR) comprises the following areas of international research strength:

• Structural reliability and risk assessment of complex systems,
  Modelling of deterioration of steel, reinforced concrete and glass fibre reinforced structures,
• Performance, durability and reliability of structural masonry,
• Investigations of retrofitting for deteriorated structures,
• Influence of natural and man-made hazards on infrastructure risk and safety,
• Energy performance of buildings and building materials,
• Security risk assessment,
• Risk-based decision-making, and
• Life-cycle and sustainability issues for new materials, buildings and infrastructure. 

The Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability comprises ten academic and research staff. In the past five years CIPAR staff have published over 220 peer-reviewed research papers and obtained over $4.2 million in research funding from the Australian Research Council and industry. This places CIPAR at the forefront of international research in structural and reliability engineering. The two main research groups within CIPAR are:

Risk and reliability research efforts are directed to structural aspects of bridges, buildings, and other new and existing built infrastructure, as well as other engineering systems. Emphasis is placed on predicting service life performance, particularly the effect of deterioration and maintenance on safety, life-cycle costs and remaining service life of structural steel, masonry and concrete structures. Recent work on risk-based decision-making includes security risks due to explosive blast loading, housing damage due to cyclones and maintenance of existing infrastructure. Experimental and modelling techniques have been developed for corrosion of steel and reinforced concrete specimens in accelerated and natural environments. The principles of risk and reliability have been applied to a range of other hazards and engineering systems, such as the risk-cost-effectiveness of counter-terrorism measures for aviation security and the effects of climate change on built infrastructure.

In the area of structural masonry there has been a long-standing interest in the behaviour of masonry under a variety of loading conditions from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. Both basic properties of masonry assemblages and the behaviour of masonry structures are of interest, with input being made to Australian Standards. Major areas of research include  the serviceability performance (cracking and durability) of masonry, seismic behaviour of unreinforced masonry, lateral load design methods for masonry wall panels, structural reliability of masonry, retrofitting of unreinforced masonry using fibre reinforced polymers, fundamental bond studies, and the thermal performance of masonry housing.  There are close links to the brick industry through Think Brick Australia who have supported a Professorship in this area since 1992.

Professor Mark Stewart
Phone: 02 4921 6027,
Fax: 02 4921 6991
Email: Mark.Stewart@newcastle.edu.au