Emeritus Prof. Adrian Page

Biography

Emeritus Professor Page is an internationally recognized researcher for his contribution to pure and applied research in the field of structural masonry and is the leader of the largest and most active masonry research group in Australia. His research has been supported by the Australian Research Council continuously since 1981 and his Chair has been supported by the clay brick industry through the Clay Brick and Paver Institute (now Think Brick Australia) since 1991. That support is continuing and is clear recognition of the relevance of his research to Australian industry. This was recognised in 2006 by the award of The Brick Industry Medal for his services to the brick industry.

Page's research first gained international recognition for his fundamental work in the 1980s on the constitutive modelling of the in-plane behaviour of masonry. Because of the complexity of the experimentation associated with this research, the results are still regularly cited and the results used by numerous international researchers in developing masonry constitutive models. This fundamental modelling work has continued, but has been complemented by a wide range of more practically oriented research and specialist consulting in the masonry area, particularly related to the development of the Masonry Structures Code AS3700 (Page has been Chair of that committee for a number of years). In this context a publication on the compressive behaviour of masonry was awarded the prestigious W H Warren and R W Chapman medals in 1988 from the Institution of Engineers Australia.

Added impetus and recognition of his research came as a result of the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake which revealed widespread problems with masonry construction. Much of the outcomes of the ensuing research have been incorporated into building regulations, and that work still continues. Over the past five years the activities of his research group have also expanded into the building science area with studies into the thermal performance of masonry housing. This work has been funded by industry and three ARC linkage grants to a total value in excess of 1.5 million dollars.

Professor Page was also the founding Chair of the highly successful Australasian Masonry Conference series and has been a member of numerous technical committees of masonry conferences in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil. He is also a member of the editorial board of Masonry International. Since 1978 he has contributed to 11 monographs, has authored or co-authored over 180 refereed publications and been awarded $5.5 million dollars of research funding from competitive and industry sources.

Professor Page is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Fellow of the Masonry Society (USA), and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle
• Bachelor of Engineering, University of New South Wales

Research

Research keywords

• Civil Engineering
• Construction
• Masonry Structures

Research expertise

• Masonry analysis, design and construction
• Material properties
• Analysis methods and constitutive models
• Member behaviour and design
• Design codes
• Sustainability, particularly the thermal performance of masonry walling systems

Collaboration

Research interests are in the field of structural masonry and building science.

Structural masonry research relates to the fundamental behaviour of masonry (constitutive material modellling, analytical techniques etc), behaviour of masonry structural elements and buildings under both static and seismic loads, and the general design of masonry structures.

Building science research is in the area of thermal performance of housing, particularly the use of thermal mass to improve the energy efficiency.

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Energy

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Honorary Fellow Engineers Australia
• Member - Fellow, The Masonry society

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Masonry Structures Code, Standards Australia

Learned Academy.

• Fellow - Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering)

Appointments

Awards

Brick Industry Medal

Centenary Medal

John H Scalzi Award

Outstanding Service Award

R G Drysdale Award