doi:10.3850/978-981-07-7136-2_302
Advancements and Achievements in Structural Steel in Australia
Professor Brian Uy
Professor of Structural Engineering and Director,
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety,
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering,
The University of New South Wales
UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Email: b.uy@unsw.edu.au
URL: www.cies.unsw.edu.au
Biography
Brian Uy is Professor of Structural Engineering and Director of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and
Safety in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of New South Wales. He was
Professor of Structural Engineering and the Foundation Director of the Institute of Infrastructure Engineering
at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) during 2012 and was Head of School of Engineering (equivalent
to Dean of Engineering, Built Environment and Design) and the Director of the Civionics Research Centre at the
University of Western Sydney from 2007-2011. During his tenure at UWS he was also a member of the
Australian Council of Engineering Deans and Australian Deans of Built Environment & Design and one of
three Australian Members of the Global Engineering Dean’s Council during that period.
Brian was previously Professor of Structural Engineering and Head of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong from 2004-2007. He has also held academic and consulting positions at the University of New South Wales, Sydney; Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, London; National University of Singapore; Ove Arup and Partners (now ARUP); Wholohan Grill and Partners (now WorleyParsons) and Wargon Chapman and Partners (now Hyder).
Brian is currently a member of the Standards Australia Committee BD01 on Steel Structures, BD02 on Concrete Structures and BD90 on Bridge Structures and is the Chairman of BD32 on Composite Structures. He is also the Chairman of the Australia Regional Group of the Institution of Structural Engineers, United Kingdom, which has over 500 members in Australia. Brian is a chartered engineer in Australia, the UK and USA and regularly provides higher level consulting advice for certification for major national manufacturing and infrastructure companies and in forensic/expert witness purposes for many of Australia’s leading legal practices.
Brian has been involved in research in steel-concrete composite structures for over 20 years and he has coauthored over 540 articles including over 135 journal articles. Much of this research has been underpinned by competitive grant funding from most of the Australian Research Council granting schemes and from industry totalling over $22 million Australian dollars. Brian serves on the editorial boards of eleven international journals for structural engineering and is a significant contributor to international codes of practice in steel and composite construction. He currently serves on the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Task Committee 5 on Composite Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) – Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), Technical Committee on Composite Construction.
Abstract
Structural steel and its use in Australia can be traced back well over a century with its use in iconic bridge projects and prolific widespread use in general. Its prolific use in building projects has amuch shorter history of half a century inmulti-storey buildings of the 1960’s in Sydney when building height restrictions were lifted. This paper will trace the advancements and achievements in structural steel in bridges and building projects, stadia and transport infrastructure in Australia over the last century. The development of Australian Standards for the use of structural steel and composite steel-concrete structures in buildings and bridges will also be provided. This will include a review of the current project on the Australian Bridge Design Code AS5100: Part 6 for Steel and composite structures and Part 8 which also includes new aspects to deal with retrofitting and strengthening to deal with the current challenges facing the management of ageing infrastructure. The paper will also review aspects of the new Australia/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS2327 on Composite steel-concrete structures for buildings which incorporates the design of slabs, beams, columns and systems as well as the mooted development of a Australia/New Zealand Standard on Steel structures AS/NZS 4100. The paper will conclude with an analysis of the future, including a review of existing and future building and infrastructure projects and the use of structural steel. Future research into structural steel in Australia will also be provided at the conclusion of this paper.
