Network Convenor Professor Priyan Mendis - University of Melbourne B.E. (1982); Ph.D. (Monash 1987); FIE (Aust) 1997 Employment history 2008 - Professor and Reader, University of Melbourne 2001 - A/Prof. and Reader, University of Melbourne 1996 - Visiting Associate Prof., University of Minnesota, USA 1994 - Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne 1991 - Lecturer, University of Melbourne 1988-1991 Structural Engineer, Connell Wagner Ltd.

Prof Mendis has a distinguished and internationally recognised track record for research in behaviour of concrete structures under extreme loading such as impact, blast, fire and earthquakes as evidenced by publishing a book, 51 peer-reviewed journal papers and 83 conference papers. He was also the Chairman of the American Concrete Institute, International Committee on high-strength concrete from 1996-2001. He is the chairman of the working group nominated to revise the Australian Concrete Standard, AS3600 to include High-strength Concrete (HSC) up to 100 MPa and a key member of the strength and fire design sub-committees. His book on design of HSC members, is used by majority of the engineers in Australia, to design these members.

Prof Mendis is presently the head of the Advanced Protective Technology of Engineering Structures (APTES) research group at the University of Melbourne. Eight Ph.D. students and fourteen M.Eng. students have successfully completed projects under his supervision. The success in obtaining ARC and other research grants recognises a high level of research achievement. A/Prof Mendis has been successful in attracting continuous ARC funding since 1992. Research work on performance of buildings in Australia under extreme loads (blast and impact) was presented to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet during the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) meeting on the 5th Dec. 2002 (). Also this work appeared in different media; TV (Channels 9,10), several newspaper articles (The Australian, Herald Sun and The Age) and radio interviews (ABC, Radio Adelaide and Radio Darwin) in 2002/2003. He has been invited to lecture to both researchers and practising engineers on various topics related to behaviour of concrete members under extreme loading, both in Australia and overseas countries such as UK, USA and S.E. Asia. He has been invited to review technical papers in a number of reputable journals and conferences.

Prof Mendis led an Australian-Indonesian joint engineering forensic team to investigate the structural damage to buildings in the Bali Bombing (The Executive Summary is available at APTES website). He has been invited by organisations such as the Concrete Institute of Australia, Cement and Concrete Association, Institute of Engineers, Malaysian Dept. of Defence to deliver presentations on performance of buildings under blast loading and impact. He was also invited to review research applications on blast protection of buildings by the Singapore Research Council. Based on the research and publications, A/Prof Mendis has been invited by major consulting firms throughout Australia to review structural designs involving concrete in many major projects. These reviews resulted in significant cost savings. He has also been invited to discuss protective technology of structures (subjected to bomb blasts and impact) by major consulting firms. Presently he is involved in designing critical concrete elements subjected to impact loading for a landmark structure in Australia. He is also working with consultants to design protective barriers (for bomb blasts) for some structures in Australia and Indonesia.

Prof Mendis is the Managing Editor of the Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering (ISSN 1443-9255). It is the first web-based journal in structural engineering in the world. This journal was launched in 2001 and already there are more than 5000 subscribers from more than 60 countries around the world (free for subscribers). A special edition on Design of Structures subjected to Extreme Loading will be published this year.

Significant grants received (last five years)

Publications

• Total peer-reviewed research publications (Last 5 years) Journal: 25; Conference: 33

• Total peer-reviewed research publications (entire career) Journal: 51; Conference: 83

Ten Significant Publications (Peer-reviewed)

1.   MENDIS, P., NGO, T. and LAM, N., “Blast-Resilient Design for Buildings Structures”, Special Edition on Homeland Security, Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, pp. 65-80 (2004).

2.   NGO, T., MENDIS, P., HIRA, A. and RAMSAY, J., “Design Considerations for Protection of Building Façades from Bomb Blasts”, Special Edition on Homeland Security, Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, pp. 41-50 (2004).

3.   MENDIS, P., NGO, T., KUSUMA, G., LUMANTARNA, B., SUDARSANA, K. and SUSILA, A., “The Bali bombing – Assessment and Analysis of blast damage to building structures”, The Ninth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, Bali, Indonesia, Dec. 2003, paper No. MMR 101 (CD-only).

4.   MENDIS, P., “Design of high-strength concrete members, State-of-the-art”, Progress in Structural Engineering and Mechanics Journal (invited paper), Vol.5:1, Jan-March, pp. 1-15 (2003).

5.   NGO, T., MENDIS, P. and KUSUMA, G., “Vulnerability assessment of concrete tall buildings subjected  to extreme  loading  conditions”,  Proc. of the CIB-CTBUH International Conf. On Tall Buildings- Strategies for performance in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Global leaders summit on Tall buildings,  October 2003, Malaysia, pp. 591-598.

6.   ONGAH, R., MENDIS, P., and SANJAYAN, J., “Performance of Normal and High-Strength Reinforced Concrete Walls in Fire”, Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Structures (ASSCCA’03), Sydney, June 2003, pp. 643-649.

7.   MENDIS, P., “Design of High-strength Concrete Members: State-of-the-art”, Published by EA Publishers Ltd., 2001 (http://www.engaust.com.au), ISBN No. 0858258080.

8.   STEHLE, J., GOLDSWORTHY, H. and MENDIS, P., “An Experimental Study of Reinforced Concrete Wide Band Beams under Earthquake Loading”, American Concrete Institute Structural Journal, Vol. 98:3, May-June (2001).

9.  CHANDLER, A.M and MENDIS, P., “Performance of reinforced concrete frames using force and displacement based seismic assessment methods”, Engineering Structures Journal, V.22:4, pp.352-363 (2000).

10. MENDIS, P., “The behaviour of high-strength concrete slender columns”, American Concrete Institute Structural Journal, Vol. 97, No. 6, Nov-Dec, pp. 895-901 (2000).