Design contest prestige for engineering students

Griffith engineering students Micheal Berry and Robert Bartus are celebrating after achieving success at the 2012 International Capstone Design Contest on Renewable Energy Technology in South Korea.

The third year Bachelor of Engineering students, who are specialising in civil

engineering, took out the runner-up prize for their development of a methodology to measure the environmental impact on concrete structures.

“Currently there is no method for determining the environmental impact or the arbon footprint on concrete residential and office buildings,” icheal said.

“herefore Robert and I developed a methodology to measure this impact on tructures that have used conventional methods of concrete design as well as hose which will use new methods of concrete design in the future.

“y using the method of post-tension concrete, we are able to reduce the aterials used in concrete slab construction which increases the efficiency of slab onstruction as well as reduces the impact on the environment.

“Post tension concrete provides a 35 per cent reduction in concrete volume and a 57 per cent reduction in steel mass compared to conventional methods of the same volumes and concrete strength. It also provides a 50 per cent saving in embodied energy and a 43 per cent saving in global warming potential compared

to conventional methods of the same volumes and concrete strength.”

Organised by the Offshore Wind Energy Centre at South Korea’s Mokpo National University, the contest aimed to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to present state-of-the-art renewable technology; however entries

could involve all aspects of improving the environment.

It was the first time that Griffith University had entered a team in the prestigious

contest and Micheal said he was “thoroughly stoked”.

Comprising 43 domestic teams and 13 inter-national teams, he said their entry in

the contest was the only one which focused on the civil engineering discipline.

“Additionally, we were the only third year students whereas all the other entrants

were made up of fourth year students with slightly more experience than ourselves.

“It was a fantastic experience for Robert and I to represent the university on an inter-national scale and we are now both looking forward to going back to South Korea in the near future and learning more about the structural engineering practices in place there.

“We also have a lot to thank our academic supervisor for. Dr Jeung-Hwan Doh from the Griffith School of Engineering went far beyond the call of duty in guiding us with our project and accompanying us on a superb trip to South Korea.”

Dr Jeung-Hwan Doh described Micheal and Robert as “very well organised and presented at the contest and extremely deserving of the award”.