Contact Madoc Sheehan (madoc.sheehan@jcu.edu.au) Employer James Cook University State/Province Queensland (Australia) Title Kevin Stark Research Fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Full-time) Employment Dates Apr. 1999 — Jan. 2002 Duration 100% (2 years, 9 months) Tasks and Duties I developed control systems to reduce electricity consumption of aquaculture pond aerators by utilizing solar energy to produce oxygen naturally. Publication of oxygen transfer rates at different speeds also informed manufacturers in better designs. I also developed four entirely new units and taught ten units of study in the Civil, Systems, and Environmental Engineering undergraduate programs at JCU. Representative Projects 2000-2001 Bingle Bay, North Queensland I assessed sediment removal capacity of settling ponds and constructed wetlands by installing and maintaining data loggers after I designed and collaborated with QDPI northern fisheries to install flow measurement and controls weirs.
1999 and 2000 I design and commissioned the aerator test facility at James Cook University Douglas campus. I the process I procured ASCE Standard: Measurement of Oxygen Transfer in Clean Water, dissolved oxygen monitoring sensor/dataloggers and stockpiled sodium metabisulfite and provided testing of prototypes submitted by industry. My inclusion of a variable frequency inverter ibn the power supply resulted in significant process control improvements as published (Aquacultural Engineering 26: 129-147). My discovery that speed of rotation is a significant performance factor of paddlewheel aeration as conventional gearbox drives cause paddlewheel backsplashing. #
Consequently I was funded to design and deploy variable speed drive (VSD) process control at working aquaculture facilies 2000-2001, including Cardwell and Ayr in North Queensland and near the Gold Coast in southeast Queensland. I procured large capacity VSDs, daylight photo sensors, and datalogging power meters and employed Electricians to install these into the existing circuits. I then worked to monitor and compare the performance of the process controlled area of aquaculture facilities with nominal 7/24 100% energized facilities.
2000-2001 I contributed substantially to teaching Environmental Engineering at James Cook University, including the following subject that I developed and delivered:
[CS3006] Ecological Engineering (Env Eng II) - 2000 collaboration with W. Shipton
[CS4002] Hydraulic Engineering 2001, part 2 Catchment Hydrology Open Channel Flow
[CS4007] Sustainable Design, Waste and Pollution Technology, 2001 (Env Eng III)
[CS4008] Water and Wastewater Engineering (Env Eng IV) 2001 module 3 - Sediment Transport and Storm Water Treatment
[CS4009] Environmental Engineering Design, 2001 Aquacultural Engineering
[EG4011] and [EG4011] Thesis Part 1 and 2 (year long research projects) - 1999 (2 students), 2000 (4 students), 2001 (3 students)