Abstract: The purpose of this research is to upgrade a pleasing, sustainable and safe shelter in the Afghan urban community. It also aims to maintain traditional housing, which is fitted to its environment, while attempting to upgrade it with new, traditional standards. The three main objectives of this study are to upgrade the traditional courtyard house to become safe and sustainable today and tomorrow; to fit the contemporary house environmentally and culturally, and to suppress or reduce the broad gap between traditional and contemporary housing. The paper tries to exhibit and analyze the sustainably best practices available in both traditional and contemporary courtyard housing in Afghanistan. For instance, the use of thick walls and Tawa-Khana (floor heating system) shows the best sustainable practice in that context.
Abstract: The layout optimization of building blocks of unequal areas has applications in many disciplines including VLSI floorplanning, macrocell placement, unequal-area facilities layout optimization, and plant or machine layout design. A number of heuristics and some analytical and hybrid techniques have been published to solve this problem. This paper presents an efficient high-quality building-block layout design technique especially suited for solving large-size problems. The higher efficiency and improved quality of optimized solutions are made possible by introducing the concept of Promising Infant Clusters in a constructive placement procedure. The results presented in the paper demonstrate the improved performance of the presented technique for benchmark problems in comparison with published heuristic, analytic, and hybrid techniques.
Abstract: Experimental and analytical studies were carried out to investigate the structural behavior of precast foamed concrete sandwich panels (PFCSP) of total number (6) as one-way action slab tested under lateral load. The details of the test setup and procedures were illustrated. The results obtained from the experimental tests were discussed which include the observation of cracking patterns and influence of aspect ratio (L/b). Analytical study of finite element analysis was implemented and degree of composite action of the test panels was also examined in both experimental and analytical studies. Result shows that crack patterns appeared in only one-direction, similar to reports on solid slabs, particularly when both concrete wythes act in a composite manner. Foamed concrete was briefly reviewed and experimental results were compared with the finite element analyses data which gives a reasonable degree of accuracy. Therefore, based on the results obtained, PFCSP slab can be used as an alternative to conventional flooring system.
Abstract: As the number of fire accidents is gradually raising, many studies have been reported on evacuation. Previous studies have mostly focused on evaluating the safety of evacuation and the risk of fire in particular buildings. However, studies on effects of various parameters on evacuation have not been nearly done. Therefore, this paper aims at observing evacuation time under the effect of fire initiated location. In this study, evacuation simulations are performed on a 5-floor building located in Seoul, South Korea using the commercial program, Fire Dynamics Simulator with Evacuation (FDS+EVAC). Only the fourth and fifth floors are modeled with an assumption that fire starts in a room located on the fourth floor. The parameter for evacuation simulations is location of fire initiation to observe the evacuation time and safety. Results show that the location of fire initiation is closer to exit, the more time is taken to evacuate. The case having the nearest location of fire initiation to exit has the lowest ratio of successful occupants to the total occupants. In addition, for safety evaluation, the evacuation time calculated from computer simulation model is compared with the tolerable evacuation time according to code in Japan. As a result, all cases are completed within the tolerable evacuation time. This study allows predicting evacuation time under various conditions of fire and can be used to evaluate evacuation appropriateness and fire safety of building.
Abstract: This study investigated the differences in the objective parameters of sound depending on the changes in the lengths of the lateral surfaces of a space and on the replacement of the sound absorbers that are placed on these surfaces. To this end, three models of room were chosen. The widths and heights of these rooms were the same but the lengths of the rooms were changed. The smallest room was 8 m. wide and 10 m. long. The lengths of the other two rooms were 15 m. and 20 m. For each model, the differences in the objective parameters of sound were determined by keeping all the material in the space intact and by changing only the positions of the sound absorbers that were placed on the walls. The sound absorbers that were used on the walls were of two different sizes. The sound absorbers that were placed on the walls were 4 m and 8 m. long and story-height (3 m.). In all model room types, the sound absorbers were placed on the long walls in three different ways: at the end of the long walls where the long walls meet the front wall; at the end of the long walls where the long walls meet the back wall; and in the middle part of the long walls. Except for the specially placed sound absorbers, the ground, wall and ceiling surfaces were covered with three different materials. There were no constructional elements such as doors and windows on the walls. On the surfaces, the materials specified in the Odeon 10 material library were used as coating material. Linoleum was used as flooring material, painted plaster as wall coating material and gypsum boards as ceiling covering (2 layers with a total of 32 mm. thickness). These were preferred due to the fact that they are the commonly used materials for these purposes. This study investigated the differences in the objective parameters of sound depending on the changes in the lengths of the lateral surfaces of a space and on the replacement of the sound absorbers that are placed on these surfaces. To this end, three models of room were chosen. The widths and heights of these rooms were the same but the lengths of the rooms were changed. The smallest room was 8 m. wide and 10 m. long. The lengths of the other two rooms were 15 m. and 20 m. For each model, the differences in the objective parameters of sound were determined by keeping all the material in the space intact and by changing only the positions of the sound absorbers that were placed on the walls. The sound absorbers that were used on the walls were of two different sizes. The sound absorbers that were placed on the walls were 4 m and 8 m. long and story-height (3 m.). In all model room types, the sound absorbers were placed on the long walls in three different ways: at the end of the long walls where the long walls meet the front wall; at the end of the long walls where the long walls meet the back wall; and in the middle part of the long walls. Except for the specially placed sound absorbers, the ground, wall and ceiling surfaces were covered with three different materials. There were no constructional elements such as doors and windows on the walls. On the surfaces, the materials specified in the Odeon 10 material library were used as coating material. Linoleum was used as flooring material, painted plaster as wall coating material and gypsum boards as ceiling covering (2 layers with a total of 32 mm. thickness). These were preferred due to the fact that they are the commonly used materials for these purposes.
Abstract: The ductility is an important parameter in the nonlinear behavior of portal structures reinforced concrete. It may be explained by the ability of the structure to deform in the plastic range, or the geometric characteristics in the map may influence the overall ductility. Our study is based on the influence of geometric slenderness (Lx / Ly) on the overall ductility of these structures, a study is made on a structure has 05 floors with varying the column section of 900 cm², 1600 cm² and 1225 cm². A slight variation in global ductility is noticed as (Lx/Ly) varies; however, column sections can control satisfactorily the plastic behavior of buildings.
Abstract: The present paper examines the impact noise
transmission through some floor building assemblies. The Acoubat
software numerical simulation has been used to simulate the impact
noise transmission through different floor configurations used in
Algerian construction mode. The results are compared with the
available measurements. We have developed two experimental
methods, i) field method, and ii) laboratory method using Brüel and
Kjær equipments. The results show that the different cases of floor
configurations need some improvement to ensure the acoustic
comfort in the receiving apartment. The recommended value of the
impact sound level in the receiving room should not exceed 58 dB.
The important results obtained in this paper can be used as platform
to improve the Algerian building acoustic regulation aimed at the
construction of the multi-storey residential building.
Abstract: With 40% of total world energy consumption,
building systems are developing into technically complex large
energy consumers suitable for application of sophisticated power
management approaches to largely increase the energy efficiency
and even make them active energy market participants. Centralized
control system of building heating and cooling managed by
economically-optimal model predictive control shows promising
results with estimated 30% of energy efficiency increase. The research
is focused on implementation of such a method on a case study
performed on two floors of our faculty building with corresponding
sensors wireless data acquisition, remote heating/cooling units and
central climate controller. Building walls are mathematically modeled
with corresponding material types, surface shapes and sizes. Models
are then exploited to predict thermal characteristics and changes in
different building zones. Exterior influences such as environmental
conditions and weather forecast, people behavior and comfort
demands are all taken into account for deriving price-optimal climate
control. Finally, a DC microgrid with photovoltaics, wind turbine,
supercapacitor, batteries and fuel cell stacks is added to make the
building a unit capable of active participation in a price-varying
energy market. Computational burden of applying model predictive
control on such a complex system is relaxed through a hierarchical
decomposition of the microgrid and climate control, where the
former is designed as higher hierarchical level with pre-calculated
price-optimal power flows control, and latter is designed as lower
level control responsible to ensure thermal comfort and exploit
the optimal supply conditions enabled by microgrid energy flows
management. Such an approach is expected to enable the inclusion
of more complex building subsystems into consideration in order to
further increase the energy efficiency.
Abstract: One of the main purposes of designing bucklingrestrained
braces is the fact that the entire lateral load is wasted by
the braces, the entire gravitational load is moved to the foundation
through the beams, and the columns can be moved to the foundation.
In other words, braces are designed for bearing lateral load. In the
implementation of the structure, it should be noted that the
implementation of various parts of the structure must be conducted in
such a way that the buckling-restrained braces would not bear the
gravitational load. Moreover, this type of brace has been investigated
under impact loading, and the design goals of designing method
(direct motion) are controlled under impact loading. The results of
dynamic analysis are shown as the relocation charts of the floors and
switch between the floors. Finally, the results are compared with each
other.
Abstract: The floor beams of steel buildings, cold-formed steel
floor joists in particular, often require large web openings, which may
affect their shear capacities. A cost effective way to mitigate the
detrimental effects of such openings is to weld/fasten reinforcements.
A difficulty associated with an experimental investigation to establish
suitable reinforcement schemes for openings in shear zone is that
moment always coexists with the shear, and thus, it is impossible to
create pure shear state in experiments, resulting in moment
influenced results. However, Finite Element Method (FEM) based
analysis can be conveniently used to investigate the pure shear
behaviour of webs including webs with reinforced openings. This
paper presents the details associated with the finite element analysis
of thick/thin-plates (representing the web of hot-rolled steel beam,
and the web of a cold-formed steel member) having a large
reinforced opening. The study considered simply-supported
rectangular plates subjected to in-plane shear loadings until failure
(including post-buckling behaviour). The plate was modelled using
geometrically non-linear quadrilateral shell elements, and non-linear
stress-strain relationship based on experiments. Total Langrangian
with large displacement/small strain formulation was used for such
analyses. The model also considered the initial geometric
imperfections. This study considered three reinforcement schemes,
namely, flat, lip, and angle reinforcements. This paper discusses the
modelling considerations and presents the results associated with the
various reinforcement schemes under consideration.
Abstract: The paper aims at investigating the effect of number
of story on different structural components of reinforced concrete
building due to gravity and lateral loading. For the study, three
building models having same building plan of three, six and nine
stories are analyzed and designed using software package. All the
buildings are residential and are located in Dhaka city of Bangladesh.
Lateral load including wind and earthquake loading are applied to the
building along both longitudinal and transverse direction as per
Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC, 2006). Equivalent static
force method is followed for the applied seismic loading. The present
study investigates as well as compares mainly total steel requirement
in different structural components for those buildings. It has been
found that total longitudinal steel requirement for beams at each floor
is 48.57% for three storied building, 61.36% for six storied building
when the total percentage is taken as 100% in case of nine storied
building. For an exterior column, the steel ratio is 2.1%, 3.06%,
4.55% for three, six and nine storied building respectively for the first
three floors. In addition, it has been noted that total weight of
longitudinal reinforcement of an interior column is 14.02 % for threestoried
building and 43.12% for six storied building when the total
reinforcement is considered 100% for nine storied building for the
first three floors.
Abstract: This paper aims to determine Fundamental Natural
Frequency (FNF) of a structural composite floor system known as
Chromite. To achieve this purpose, FNFs of studied panels are
determined by development of Finite Element Models (FEMs) in
ABAQUS program. American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
code in Steel Design Guide Series 11 presents a fundamental formula
to calculate FNF of a steel framed floor system. This formula has
been used to verify results of the FEMs. The variability in the FNF of
the studied system under various parameters such as dimensions of
floor, boundary conditions, rigidity of main and secondary beams
around the floor, thickness of concrete slab, height of composite
joists, distance between composite joists, thickness of top and bottom
flanges of the open web steel joists, and adding tie beam
perpendicular on the composite joists, is determined. The results
show that changing in dimensions of the system, its boundary
conditions, rigidity of main beam, and also adding tie beam,
significant changes the FNF of the system up to 452.9%, 50.8%, -
52.2%, %52.6%, respectively. In addition, increasing thickness of
concrete slab increases the FNF of the system up to 10.8%.
Furthermore, the results demonstrate that variation in rigidity of
secondary beam, height of composite joist, and distance between
composite joists, and thickness of top and bottom flanges of open
web steel joists insignificant changes the FNF of the studied system
up to -0.02%, -3%, -6.1%, and 0.96%, respectively. Finally, the
results of this study help designer predict occurrence of resonance,
comfortableness, and design criteria of the studied system.
Abstract: Massive rock avalanches formed some of the largest landslide deposits on Earth and they represent one of the major geohazards in high-relief mountains. This paper interprets a very large sedimentary fan (the Sernio fan, Valtellina, Northern Italy), located 20 Km SW from Val Pola Rock avalanche (1987), as the deposit of a partial collapse of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD), afterwards eroded and buried by debris flows. The proposed emplacement sequence has been reconstructed based on geomorphological, structural and mechanical evidences. The Sernio fan is actually considered anomalous with reference to the very high ratio between the fan area (≈ 4.5km2) and the basin area (≈ 3km2). The morphology of the fan area is characterised by steep slopes (dip ≈ 20%) and the fan apex is extended for 1.8 km inside the small catchment basin. This sedimentary fan was originated by a landslide that interested a part of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, involving a wide area of about 55 km². The main controlling factor is tectonic and it is related to the proximity to regional fault systems and the consequent occurrence of fault weak rocks (GSI locally lower than 10 with compressive stress lower than 20MPa). Moreover, the fan deposit shows sedimentary evidences of recent debris flow events. The best current explanation of the Sernio fan involves an initial failure of some hundreds of Mm3. The run-out was quite limited because of the morphology of Valtellina’s valley floor, and the deposit filled the main valley forming a landslide dam, as confirmed by the lacustrine deposits detected upstream the fan. Nowadays the debris flow events represent the main hazard in the study area.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify human walking vertical force by using FFT power spectrum density from the experimental acceleration data of the human body. An experiment on human walking is carried out on a stationary floor especially paying attention to higher components of dynamic vertical walking force. Based on measured acceleration data of the human lumbar part, not only in-phase component with frequency of 2fw, 3fw, but also in-opposite-phase component with frequency of 0.5 fw, 1.5 fw, 2.5 fw where fw is the walking rate is observed. The vertical vibration of pedestrian bridge induced by higher components of human walking vertical force is also discussed in this paper. A full scale measurement for the existing pedestrian bridge with center span length of 33 m is carried out focusing on the resonance phenomenon due to higher components of human walking vertical force. Dynamic response characteristics excited by these vertical higher components of human walking are revealed from the dynamic design viewpoint of pedestrian bridge.
Abstract: Due to the interference effects, the intrinsic
aerodynamic parameters obtained from the individual component
testing are always fundamentally different than those obtained for
complete model testing. Consideration and limitation for such testing
need to be taken into account in any design work related to the
component buildup method. In this paper, the scaled model of a
straight rectangular canard of a hybrid buoyant aircraft is tested at 50
m/s in IIUM-LSWT (Low Speed Wind Tunnel). Model and its
attachment with the balance are kept rigid to have results free from
the aeroelastic distortion. Based on the velocity profile of the test
section’s floor; the height of the model is kept equal to the
corresponding boundary layer displacement. Balance measurements
provide valuable but limited information of overall aerodynamic
behavior of the model. Zero lift coefficient is obtained at -2.2o and
the corresponding drag coefficient was found to be less than that at
zero angle of attack. As a part of the validation of low fidelity tool,
plot of lift coefficient plot was verified by the experimental data and
except the value of zero lift coefficients, the overall trend has under
predicted the lift coefficient. Based on this comparative study, a
correction factor of 1.36 is proposed for lift curve slope obtained
from the panel method.
Abstract: Nowadays, energy dissipation devices are commonly
used in structures. High rate of energy absorption during earthquakes
is the benefit of using such devices, which results in damage
reduction of structural elements, specifically columns. The hysteretic
damping capacity of energy dissipation devices is the key point that it
may adversely make analysis and design process complicated. This
effect may be generally represented by Equivalent Viscous Damping
(EVD). The equivalent viscous damping might be obtained from the
expected hysteretic behavior regarding to the design or maximum
considered displacement of a structure. In this paper, the hysteretic
damping coefficient of a steel Moment Resisting Frame (MRF),
which its performance is enhanced by a Buckling Restrained Brace
(BRB) system has been evaluated. Having foresight of damping
fraction between BRB and MRF is inevitable for seismic design
procedures like Direct Displacement-Based Design (DDBD) method.
This paper presents an approach to calculate the damping fraction for
such systems by carrying out the dynamic nonlinear time history
analysis (NTHA) under harmonic loading, which is tuned to the
natural system frequency. Two MRF structures, one equipped with
BRB and the other without BRB are simultaneously studied.
Extensive analysis shows that proportion of each system damping
fraction may be calculated by its shear story portion. In this way,
contribution of each BRB in the floors and their general contribution
in the structural performance may be clearly recognized, in advance.
Abstract: High frequency automotive interior noise above 500
Hz considerably affects automotive passenger comfort. To reduce this
noise, sound insulation material is often laminated on body panels or
interior trim panels. For a more effective noise reduction, the sound
reduction properties of this laminated structure need to be estimated.
We have developed a new calculate tool that can roughly calculate the
sound absorption and insulation properties of laminate structure and
handy for designers. In this report, the outline of this tool and an
analysis example applied to floor mat are introduced.
Abstract: There is currently a gap in the technology covering the
rapid establishment of control after a reconfiguration in a
Reconfigurable Manufacturing System. This gap involves the
detection of the factory floor state and the communication link
between the factory floor and the high-level software. In this paper, a
thin, hardware-supported Middleware Management System (MMS) is
proposed and its design and implementation are discussed. The
research found that a cost-effective localization technique can be
combined with intelligent software to speed up the ramp-up of a
reconfigured system. The MMS makes the process more intelligent,
more efficient and less time-consuming, thus supporting the
industrial implementation of the RMS paradigm.
Abstract: Floorplanning plays a vital role in the physical design
process of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) chips. It is an
essential design step to estimate the chip area prior to the optimized
placement of digital blocks and their interconnections. Since VLSI
floorplanning is an NP-hard problem, many optimization techniques
were adopted in the literature. In this work, a music-inspired
Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is used for the fixed die outline
constrained floorplanning, with the aim of reducing the total chip
area. HS draws inspiration from the musical improvisation process of
searching for a perfect state of harmony. Initially, B*-tree is used to
generate the primary floorplan for the given rectangular hard
modules and then HS algorithm is applied to obtain an optimal
solution for the efficient floorplan. The experimental results of the
HS algorithm are obtained for the MCNC benchmark circuits.
Abstract: In this study, the pedestrian simulation VISWALK
integration and application platform ant algorithms written program
made to construct a renovation engineering schedule planning mode.
The use of simulation analysis platform construction site when the user
running the simulation, after calculating the user walks in the case of
construction delays, the ant algorithm to find out the minimum delay
time schedule plan, and add volume and unit area deactivated loss of
business computing, and finally to the owners and users of two
different positions cut considerations pick out the best schedule
planning. To assess and validate its effectiveness, this study
constructed the model imported floor of a shopping mall floor
renovation engineering cases. Verify that the case can be found from
the mode of the proposed project schedule planning program can
effectively reduce the delay time and the user's walking mall loss of
business, the impact of the operation on the renovation engineering
facilities in the building to a minimum.