 | The research team: Associate Professor Ernest Baafi, Dr Chris Lukey, ... The research team: Associate Professor Ernest Baafi, Dr Chris Lukey, Dr Jan Nemcik and Associate Professor Ian Porter, are pictured with Gary Gibson from ACARP, who have awarded the team $1.2M in funding for their project. |
Road to success: UOW research team gets $1.2M to overhaul road building practice
23 Dec 2008 | Kate McIlwain
A group of researchers from the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering have secured a total of more than $1.5 million for a project that will change the way we build roads.
The Alternative Skin Reinforcement project will make roadway development safer, cheaper and easier to install.
The UOW team - Ernest Baafi, Chris Lukey, Jan Nemcik and Ian Porter - are developing polymeric materials to replace steel mesh in underground coal mine roadways, which researchers say is a ‘radical’ new approach to roadway development.
The project started in 2006 with $50,000 funding from the University Research Council and coal-mining companies, and continued in 2007 with $100,000 of industry backing.
After encouraging results the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) awarded the research team $308,000 to continue the project for one year until September 2008.
Now, a further $1.2 million has been awarded by ACARP to continue development, research and testing.
Current road building practices can be dangerous and time consuming – they involve manually cutting the roadway within the coal seam, then supporting the opening using steel mesh and rock bolts.
The new system being developed by the UOW research team can be spray-applied, sets within a few seconds, and can then be bolted through.
“In recent tests, the polymer system has been shown to even adhere well to wet coal surfaces, providing an additional support mechanism,” researcher Dr Chris Lukey said.
The polymeric system is also safer and more cost-effective.
“Automated application of the new skin reinforcement system removes personnel from the cut face, significantly reducing the likelihood of injury,” Dr Lukey said.
“An additional advantage is an increase in the rate at which roadways can be cut, with an obvious economic benefit.”
Over the next two years, the team will be carrying out tests above and underground and improving the automated process. The system is due to be commercialised and introduced to the worldwide mining business by 2010.
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