Yunus Ballim holds B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD degrees in civil engineering from University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (Wits). After six years in the construction industry, he was awarded the Portland Cement Institute Research Fellowship based at Wits in 1989, was appointed as a lecturer in 1992 and he currently holds a personal professorship in Civil Engineering at Wits. He was the Head of the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering from 2001 to 2005. His research is mainly in cement and concrete materials science and he has held a National Research Foundation rating as a researcher since 1994. He is a Senior Member of RILEM and has served on a number of their international Technical Committees.
He served as the founding President of the African Materials Research Society and held the Bram Fisher-Oxford Fellowship in 2000. Between 2006 and 2012, he served as the Deputy Vice Chancellor - Academic and the Vice-Principal at Wits. He served two terms as a member of the Commission for Higher Education in South Africa and was Chair of the Higher Education Quality Council. He is presently a professor in Civil Engineering at Wits and is member of the Council of Umalusi, where he also serves as Chair of the Assessments Standards Committee.
In 2012 and 2013, he was the Chair of the Board of the National Institute for Higher Education in the Northern Cape and has recently ended a 6-year term as the founding Vice-Chancellor of the new Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley.
Senior Professor Leslie Petrik (PhD) is a leading and well-established expert in the field of environmental remediation, water treatment and beneficiation of industrial wastes. Prof Leslie Petrik has independently developed the Environmental and Nano Sciences (ENS) research group, in the Department of Chemistry at UWC. The ENS group explores a broad suite of material science topics and applications in environmental remediation, water purification and industrial processes.
After a considerable period employed in industry, L.Petrik worked for 12 years as Senior Scientific Officer in the Catalysis Research Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering at UCT mentoring PG students and undertaking industrial contract research. Thereafter she held various academic positions at UWC over the last 17 years whilst obtaining her MSc in 2003 and PhD in 2008 in Chemistry on a part time basis. She was appointed to the rank of Professor in 2014 and as Senior Professor in 2018.
Her publications include 3 granted patents; 10 book chapters; 169 journal publications; 306 conference presentations. Google Scholar h-index 35 ; i10-index 83; Citations 3733; NRF Rating:C1
Prof Petrik was the winner of the prestigious 2017/2018 National Science and Technology Forum NSTF-South32 Water Research Commission Award for an outstanding contribution to science, engineering, technology (SET) and innovation. Moreover she was also selected as NSTF finalist for NSTF-Engineering Research Capacity Development Award and the NSTF-Green Matter Award in the same year. In 2016 she received the Business Women of the Year Award in the Science and Technology Category and in 2015 she received the Water Research Commission Research Awards in the category Transformation and Redress.
Since 2003 Prof Petrik has supervised to completion 27 PhD, 58 MSc students and mentored 21 Post Doctoral Fellows at UWC. In 2020, she supervises 30 registered students (19 PhD; 11 MSc) who are associated with the overall research projects of the ENS group. All students have been supported by ENS grants and funds raised by L.Petrik. Many young intern students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) have received their practical training on diverse projects and have completed their NDT Chem Eng qualifications and proceeded to graduate with their Btech and MTech supported by funding and leadership from Prof Petrik.
Much of the research is done in collaboration with industry partners such as Eskom, TESP, Sasol, Coaltech, and Anglocoal. SMME partners include BiofuelsON, Agriprotein. Other funders include THRIP, NRF, WRC and TIA. Industry has shown their interest in several of the innovations and patents with memoranda of understanding and non-disclosure agreements in place between UWC and industry for several of the processes. The Technology office at UWC has also assisted with marketing the technologies. Pilot plants at several scales have been designed, built, commissioned and demonstration studies are ongoing. The patents and licence agreements in place show the innovations.
Prof Petrik has many international collaborative linkages, most notably with KTH, Sweden, University of Missouri, USA; the University of Strasbourg, France; Lapeenranta University of Technology and Helsinki University in Finland, Stavanger University in Norway; the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia; the Institute of Opto-Electronics in Bucharest, Romania; and many others.
Prof Wynand Steyn is HOD and professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria. He is a professionally registered pavement engineer with a research interest in vehicle-pavement interaction, accelerated pavement testing, pavement engineering, pavement materials, Civiltronics and instrumentation. He has authored, co-authored and edited 36 journal papers, 21 book chapters (author / co-author / editor) and 107 conference papers. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal for Pavement Engineering and the International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, and has a B3 National Research Foundation (NRF) rating. He is a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE) and an adjunct professor at the Chang’an University in Xian, and the Shandong Jianzhu University in Jinan, China.
I worked for 9 years in the structures division of Royal Haskoning DHV (previously SSI) primarily on the design of buildings, bridges and dam related structures. One of the projects which I worked was the design of 7th Avenue pedestrian bridge which has a triangulated steel deck and a vertical post tensioned concrete pylon, this project won the 2010 SAISC award for the bridge category.
In 2011 I joined the lecturing staff of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Pretoria. Since then I have been involved in lecturing both undergraduate and post graduate structural subjects and I have also authored and co-authored various journal and conference papers related to research that I have undertaken.
I have recently completed my PhD study on integral bridges. For this study we installed over 500 sensors into a newly built 90m long integral bridge in the Free State. This project was joint winner of the Innovation in Concrete Fulton Award in 2017.
Traffic and transport pressures are problematic for three main reasons: they stifle economic growth, contribute to higher carbon emissions, and inconvenience millions of people. Together with public and private clients, I help to relieve these pressures in our ever-expanding cities, through sustainable development and innovation.
As the former Director of the Northern Advisory Group & Botswana at Royal HaskoningDHV, I led teams of smart people who design robust and integrated transport networks and mobility nodes that improve urban movement. Through smart, environmentally-conscious approaches, we help our clients to enhance society and change lives.
With considerable experience in urban traffic control, strategic transport planning, multi-disciplinary project management, and property development, I approach every project with dynamic thinking, sustained focus, and financial and business acumen.
My career highlights include designing an advanced parking management system that improved efficiency at Brisbane Airport’s domestic terminal parking from 65% to 95%; developing an Intelligent Transport System Framework for the City of Johannesburg; and optimising and synchronising mobility arterials and traffic signals, to help the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) reduce congestion, improve traffic flow, and decrease emissions.
Good to know:
I have completed successful projects in South Africa, Botswana, Australia, and the USA.
I have been published in various technical magazines, including SAICE, Engineering News, and Thinking Highways.
My qualifications include BSc (Hons) degrees in civil engineering and transportation planning, and a number of specialised courses in transport and road safety.
I’m registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE).
I enjoy biking and deep sea diving.
I have been voted father of the year, every year, by my two kids, Miamae and Jayden.
Research Focus Area:
Jacques’ main research focus is on 3D printing of concrete (3DPC). He believes this technology has the potential to industrialise the construction industry. Early reports indicate 3DPC can reduce construction times and waste by 50% respectively. Furthermore, it also enables for increased architectural freedom. This construction process, however, requires significantly more research before mass adoption thereof in the South African construction sector.
PhD Title:
Rheo-mechanics modelling of 3D concrete printing constructability
Publications:
• van Zijl, Kruger, Cho & Zeranka. 2018. 3D printing polymer fibre concrete. In Proceedings of the International Inorganic-Bonded Fiber Composites Conference (IIBC), Cape Town, South Africa.
• Kruger, Cho, Zeranka & van Zijl. 2018. Multi-physics approach for improved thixotropy of cement-based materials for 3DPC. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on 3D Construction Printing (3DcP), Melbourne, Australia.
• Cho, Kruger, Zeranka & van Zijl. 2019. 3D printable concrete technology and mechanics. Concrete Beton Journal, 1:7-14. eISSN 2521-8263.
• Kruger, van den Heever, Cho, Zeranka & van Zijl. 2019. High-performance 3D printable concrete enhanced with nanomaterials. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Materials, Systems and Structures, Rovinj, Croatia.
• Bester, van den Heever, Kruger, Zeranka & van Zijl, 2019. Benchmark structures for 3D concrete printing. In Proceedings of the fib Symposium on Innovations in Materials, Design and Structures, Krakow, Poland.
• S. Cho, J. Kruger, S. Zeranka, A.S. van Rooyen & G.P.A.G. van Zijl. 2019. Mechanical evaluation of 3D printable nano-silica incorporated fibre-reinforced lightweight foam concrete. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures (FRAMCOS-X), Bayonne, France. DOI: 10.21012/FC10.232696
• Kruger, Zeranka & van Zijl. 2019. Quantifying constructability performance of 3D concrete printing via rheology-based analytical models. In Proceedings of the 2nd International RILEM Conference on Rheology and Processing of Construction Materials (RheoCon2), Dresden, Germany.
• S. Cho, J. Kruger, A.S. van Rooyen, S. Zeranka & G.P.A.G. van Zijl. 2019. Rheology of 3D printable lightweight foam concrete incorporating nano-silica. Proceedings of the 2nd International RILEM Conference: Rheology and Processing of Construction Materials (RheoCon2), Dresden, Germany. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-22566-7_43
• M. van den Heever, F.A. Bester, P.J. Kruger & G.P.A.G. van Zijl. 2019. Effect of Silicon Carbide (SiC) nanoparticles on 3D printability of cement-based materials. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation (SEMC 2019), Cape Town, South Africa. DOI: 10.1201/9780429426506
• J. Kruger, S. Zeranka & G. van Zijl. 2019. An ab initio approach for thixotropy characterisation of (nanoparticle-infused) 3D printable concrete. Construction and Building Materials, 224:372-386. DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.07.078
• J. Kruger, S. Zeranka & G. van Zijl. 2019. 3D concrete printing: A lower bound analytical model for buildability performance quantification. Automation in Construction, 106: 102904. DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2019.102904
• Kruger, Zeranka & van Zijl. 2019. A rheology-based quasi-static shape retention model for digitally fabricated concrete. Submitted to Construction and Building Materials Journal.
• Kruger, Cho, Zeranka, Viljoen & van Zijl. 2020. 3D concrete printer parameter optimisation for high rate digital construction avoiding plastic collapse. Composites Part B: Engineering, 183: 107660. DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107660
• G.P.A.G. van Zijl, J. Kruger, S. Cho, A.S. van Rooyen, F.A. Bester, M. van den Heever, P. Mogale. 2019. Towards sustainable employment in industrialised construction. Construction Printing Technology Worldwide Journal, 1:18-23.
Collaboration:
Research exchange with Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands, October – December 2018, collaboration effort on 3D printing of concrete. Currently typing journal paper.
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