New online - March 2018

New journal articles and reports on CRC research are available online.

Dr Trent Penman and Dr Thomas Duff who lead the Threshold conditions for extreme fire behaviour project have published an article in Forests. The article explains the notion of collecting data to better understand fire behaviour research and how to make research findings relevant in an international context. The paper analyses the information routinely collected during bushfires in Australia and conducts a review of the research methodologies and how they may be able to supplement existing data.

A paper on CRC research from the Out of uniform project by Dr Blythe McLennan has been published in Voluntas. The paper analyses the ‘Be Ready Warrandyte’ project which discusses community-based disaster risk management in Australian communities. Focusing on the relationship and interactions between community and governments, the paper identifies leadership and its impacts on relationships and power-sharing as an important area. The research proposes that complementarity, authority, incentives and credible commitment are the four conditions for enabling coproduction that are more effective than either government or citizen production alone.

The Improving flood forecast skill using remote sensing data project has had two papers published. The first in Water Resources Research by Stefania Grimadli, Yuan Li, Jeffrey Walker and Valentijn Pauwels investigates the accuracy of flood forecasting and how river geometry, which is based on the cross-section shape, depth and width of a river, can be used along with satellite and numerical models to enhance flood forecasting. The paper discovered that measuring river geometry along an entire river length is impossible, therefore the team developed a method to represent river geometry using a limited amount of time and money. This objective was achieved using available satellite imagery complemented with a few measurements. 

The second paper in the Journal of Hydrology examines remote sensing derived soil moisture and compares it with a streamflow calibration scheme to create a streamflow forecasting model. Prof Pauwels, Stefania Grimadli, Yuan Li and Jeffrey Walker conducted tests in three types of modelling arrangements including a lumped model; a semi-distributed model with only the outlet gauge available for calibration, and a semi-distributed model with multiple gauges available for calibration. Findings show that a more consistent and statistically significant improvement can be achieved at gauged sites not used in the calibration, due to the spatial information introduced by the remotely sensed soil moisture data.

CRC PhD student Korah Parackal has had his work on wind severity published in the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. Korah’s paper examines the effects that wind can have on rafter connections, where a localised failure can cause the loss of a large section of the roof. Using a wind tunnel and a 1/50 model of a gable house, Korah recorded the pressure on different aspects of the roof. These patterns of wind load and their correlations give a means of identifying which parts of the roof and which approach wind directions may result in the initiation of a progressive failure of batten to rafter connections.  

The research team of Akvan Gajanayake, Hessam Mohseni, Kevin Zhang, Jane Mullett and Sujeeva Setunge from the Measuring social, environmental and economic consequences of road structure failure due to natural disasters PhD project have had their research published in Procedia Engineering. The  paper looks at how communities have become disaster resilient by developing better road structures, bridges and flood-ways to connect individuals and communities. This paper identifies adaptation methods practiced by disaster affected communities targeted at increasing their accessibility and mobility, and analyses how such adaptation activities can minimise the negative effects brought on by the failure of road structures.

CRC Associate student David Barton relives his personal account of the Black Saturday bushfires in his PhD thesis, Disaster in relation to attachment, loss, grief and recovery: the Marysville experience. David focuses on the theme of recovery and the experiences of the Marysville community in the aftermath of the fires. David completed his PhD with RMIT University after starting it with the former Bushfire CRC.

Former CRC PhD student Grace Vincent, has published a paper in the International Journal of Wildland Fire. The journal article observes the sleep cycles and deprivation of wildland firefighters who work in volatile working environments for extended periods of time. It focuses on the reasons and solutions for how these conditions are impacting the health and safety of firefighters, and how agencies can implement strategies to improve and manage firefighters’ sleep and reduce any adverse impacts on their work.