A geotechnical centrifuge to underpin Australia's energy and construction

该提案旨在建立一个土工离心机，能够在高达130倍地球重力加速度的情况下旋转土壤和比例模型，以重现原位应力条件。直径4米的离心机将允许在具有挑战性的环境中对大型岩土工程基础设施进行建模，例如海上风力基础和隧道，在这些环境中，全尺寸测试是禁止的。该设施将为澳大利亚领先的岩土工程团队提供必要的物理建模能力。这将促进安全、创新和经济的工程解决方案，以开发新的能源资源，并建设2500亿美元的计划基础设施，以支持澳大利亚未来十年快速发展的城市。

This proposal aims to establish a geotechnical centrifuge capable of spinning soils and scale-models at up to 130 times Earth’s gravitational acceleration to recreate in-situ stress conditions. The 4 m diameter centrifuge will allow modelling of large geotechnical infrastructure in challenging environments, such as offshore wind foundations and tunnels, where full scale tests are prohibitive. The facility will afford Australia’s leading geotechnical engineering groups with essential physical modelling capability. This will facilitate safe, innovative and economic engineering solutions to unlock new energy resources and construct the $250 billion of planned infrastructure to support Australia's fast-growing cities in the coming decade.