Search results for: tall office buildings.

Authors: I. Grigoratos, R. Monteiro

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Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and reduced urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In this context, the project ‘Improved Tools for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Algeria’ (ITERATE) aims at seismic risk mitigation in Algeria. Past earthquakes in North Algeria caused extensive damages, e.g. the El Asnam 1980 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and Boumerdes 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. This paper will address a number of proposed developments and considerations made towards a further improvement of the component of seismic hazard. In specific, an updated earthquake catalog (until year 2018) is compiled, and new conversion equations to moment magnitude are introduced. Furthermore, a network-based method for the estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of the minimum magnitude of completeness is applied. We found relatively large values for M_c, due to the sparse network, and a nonlinear trend between M_w and body wave (m_b) or local magnitude (M_L), which are the most common scales reported in the region. Lastly, the resulting b-value of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution is sensitive to the declustering method.

Keywords: Conversion equation, magnitude of completeness, seismic events, seismic hazard.

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Authors: J. Urbánek Jiří, Krahulec Josef, Johanidesová Jitka, F. Urbánek Jiří

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This paper deals with using of prevailing operation system MS Office (SmartArt...) for mathematical models, using DYVELOP (Dynamic Vector Logistics of Processes) method. It serves for crisis situations investigation and modelling within the organizations of critical infrastructure. In first part of paper, it will be introduced entities, operators, and actors of DYVELOP method. It uses just three operators of Boolean algebra and four types of the entities: the Environments, the Process Systems, the Cases, and the Controlling. The Process Systems (PrS) have five “brothers”: Management PrS, Transformation PrS, Logistic PrS, Event PrS and Operation PrS. The Cases have three “sisters”: Process Cell Case, Use Case, and Activity Case. They all need for the controlling of their functions special Ctrl actors, except ENV – it can do without Ctrl. Model´s maps are named the Blazons and they are able mathematically - graphically express the relationships among entities, actors and processes. In second part of this paper, the rich blazons of DYVELOP method will be used for the discovering and modelling of the cycling cases and their phases. The blazons need live PowerPoint presentation for better comprehension of this paper mission. The crisis management of energetic crisis infrastructure organization is obliged to use the cycles for successful coping of crisis situations. Several times cycling of these cases is necessary condition for the encompassment for both emergency events and the mitigation of organization´s damages. Uninterrupted and continuous cycling process brings for crisis management fruitfulness and it is good indicator and controlling actor of organizational continuity and its sustainable development advanced possibilities. The research reliable rules are derived for the safety and reliable continuity of energetic critical infrastructure organization in the crisis situation.

Keywords: Blazons, computational assistance, DYVELOP method, critical infrastructure.

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Authors: Antigoni Panagiotopoulou, Lemonia Ragia

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High-resolution satellite images can provide detailed information about change detection on the earth. In the present work, QuickBird images of spatial resolution 60 cm/pixel and WorldView images of resolution 30 cm/pixel are utilized to perform automatic change detection in urban and suburban areas of Crete, Greece. There is a relative time difference of 13 years among the satellite images. Multiindex scene representation is applied on the images to classify the scene into buildings, vegetation, water and ground. Then, automatic change detection is made possible by pixel-per-pixel comparison of the classified multi-temporal images. The vegetation index and the water index which have been developed in this study prove effective. Furthermore, the proposed change detection approach not only indicates whether changes have taken place or not but also provides specific information relative to the types of changes. Experimentations with other different scenes in the future could help optimize the proposed spectral indices as well as the entire change detection methodology.

Keywords: Change detection, multiindex scene representation, spectral index, QuickBird, WorldView.

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Authors: M. Lashgari

Abstract:

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) in buildings are known to be an effective means for resisting lateral forces. By using un-stiffened walls and allowing them to buckle, their energy absorption capacity will increase significantly due to the postbuckling capacity. The post-buckling tension field action of SPSWs can provide substantial strength, stiffness and ductility. This paper presents the Finite Element Analysis of low yield point (LYP) steel shear walls. In this shear wall system, the LYP steel plate is used for the steel panel and conventional structural steel is used for boundary frames. A series of nonlinear cyclic analyses were carried out to obtain the stiffness, strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity of the LYP steel shear wall. The effect of widthto- thickness ratio of steel plate on buckling behavior, and energy dissipation capacities were studied. Good energy dissipation and deformation capacities were obtained for all models.

Keywords: low yield point steel, steel plate shear wall, thin plates, elastic buckling, inelastic buckling, post-buckling.

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Authors: S. Nazar, M. A. Ismaeil

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This paper presents a comparative study of static analysis procedure for seismic performance based on UBC-1997 and SBC-301-2007(Saudi Arabia). These building codes define different ductility classes and corresponding response reduction factors based on material, configuration and detailing of reinforcements. Codes differ significantly in specifying the procedures to estimate base shear, drift and effective stiffness of structural members. One of the major improvements made in new SBC (based on IBC-2003) is ground motion parameters used for seismic design. In old SBC (based on UBC) maps have been based on seismic zones. However new SBC provide contour maps giving spectral response quantities. In this approach, a case study of RC frame building located in two different cities and with different ductility classes has been performed. Moreover, equivalent static method based on SBC-301 and UBC-1997 is used to explore the variation in results based on two codes, particularly design base shear, lateral loads and story drifts.

Keywords: Ductility Classes, Equivalent Static method, RC Frames, SBC-301-2007, Story drifts, UBC-1997.

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Authors: A. Pensiri, K. Nantaporn, P. Parichut

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Tourism is very important to the economy of many countries due to the large contribution in the areas of employment and income generation. However, the rapid growth of tourism can also be considered as one of the major uses of water user, and therefore also have a significant and detrimental impact on the environment. Guest behavior in water usage can be used to manage water in hotels for sustainable water resources management. This research presents a study of hotel guest water usage behavior at two hotels, namely Hotel A (located in Kathu district) and Hotel B (located in Muang district) in Phuket Province, Thailand, as case studies. Primary and secondary data were collected from the hotel manager through interview and questionnaires. The water flow rate was measured in-situ from each water supply device in the standard room type at each hotel, including hand washing faucets, bathroom faucets, shower and toilet flush. For the interview, the majority of respondents (n = 204 for Hotel A and n = 244 for Hotel B) were aged between 21 years and 30 years (53% for Hotel A and 65% for Hotel B) and the majority were foreign (78% in Hotel A, and 92% in Hotel B) from American, France and Austria for purposes of tourism (63% in Hotel A, and 55% in Hotel B). The data showed that water consumption ranged from 188 litres to 507 liters, and 383 litres to 415 litres per overnight guest in Hotel A and Hotel B (n = 244), respectively. These figures exceed the water efficiency benchmark set for Tropical regions by the International Tourism Partnership (ITP). It is recommended that guest water saving initiatives should be implemented at hotels. Moreover, the results showed that guests have high satisfaction for the hotels, the front office service reveal the top rates of average score of 4.35 in Hotel A and 4.20 in Hotel B, respectively, while the luxury decoration and room cleanliness exhibited the second satisfaction scored by the guests in Hotel A and B, respectively. On the basis of this information, the findings can be very useful to improve customer service satisfaction and pay attention to this particular aspect for better hotel management.

Keywords: Hotel, tourism, Phuket, water usage.

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Authors: Ben Richard Hughes, Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry

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The main aim of this work is to establish the capabilities of new green buildings to ascertain off-grid electricity generation based on the integration of wind turbines in the conceptual model of a rotating tower [2] in Dubai. An in depth performance analysis of the WinWind 3.0MW [3] wind turbine is performed. Data based on the Dubai Meteorological Services is collected and analyzed in conjunction with the performance analysis of this wind turbine. The mathematical model is compared with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results based on a conceptual rotating tower design model. The comparison results are further validated and verified for accuracy by conducting experiments on a scaled prototype of the tower design. The study concluded that integrating wind turbines inside a rotating tower can generate enough electricity to meet the required power consumption of the building, which equates to a wind farm containing 9 horizontal axis wind turbines located at an approximate area of 3,237,485 m2 [14].

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, green building, horizontal axis wind turbine, rotating tower, velocity gradient.

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Authors: Gil Hwan Na , Woo Young Jung , Tae Kwon Ha

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Most buildings have been using anchor bolts commonly for installing outdoor advertising structures. Anchor bolts of common carbon steel are widely used and often installed indiscriminately by inadequate installation standards. In the area where strong winds frequently blow, falling accidents of outdoor advertising structures can occur and cause a serious disaster, which is very dangerous and to be prevented. In this regard, the development of high-performance anchor bolts is urgently required. In the present study, 25Cr-8Ni-1.5Si-1Mn-0.4C alloy was produced by traditional vacuum induction melting (VIM) for the application of anchor bolt. The alloy composition is revealed as a duplex microstructure from thermodynamic phase analysis by FactSage® and confirmed by metallographic experiment. Addition of Nitrogen to the alloy was found to reduce the ferritic phase domain and significantly increase the hardness and the tensile strength. Microstructure observation revealed mixed structure of austenite and ferrite with fine carbide distributed along the grain and phase boundaries.

Keywords: Anchor bolt, Duplex stainless steel, FactSage®, Hardness, Thermodynamic phase analysis.

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Authors: Y. Araki, M. Kim, S. Okayama, K. Ikago, K. Uetani

Abstract:

We study dynamic instability in high-rise steel moment resisting frames (SMRFs) subjected to synthetic long-period ground motions caused by hypothetical huge subduction earthquakes. Since long duration as well as long dominant periods is a characteristic of long-period ground motions, interstory drifts may enter the negative postyield stiffness range many times when high-rise buildings are subjected to long-period ground motions. Through the case studies of 9 high-rise SMRFs designed in accordance with the Japanese design practice in 1980s, we demonstrate that drifting, or accumulation of interstory drifts in one direction, occurs at the lower stories of the SMRFs, if their natural periods are close to the dominant periods of the long-period ground motions. The drifting led to residual interstory drift ratio over 0.01, or to collapse if the design base shear was small.

Keywords: long-period ground motion, P-Delta effect, high-rise steel moment resisting frame (SMRF), subduction earthquake

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Authors: Masoud Nasri, Rahele Hekmatpanah

Abstract:

Growing world population has fundamental impacts and often catastrophic on natural habitat. The immethodical consumption of energy, destruction of the forests and extinction of plant and animal species are the consequence of this experience. Urban sustainability and sustainable urban development, that is so spoken these days, should be considered as a strategy, goal and policy, beyond just considering environmental issues and protection. The desert-s climate has made a bunch of problems for its residents. Very hot and dry climate in summers of the Iranian desert areas, when there was no access to modern energy source and mechanical cooling systems in the past, made Iranian architects to design a natural ventilation system in their buildings. The structure, like a tower going upward the roof, besides its ornamental application and giving a beautiful view to the building, was used as a spontaneous ventilation system. In this paper, it has been tried to name the problems of the area and it-s inconvenience, then some answers has pointed out in order to solve the problems and as an alternative solution BADGIR (wind-catcher) has been introduced as a solution knowing that it has been playing a major role in dealing with the problems.

Keywords: Productivity, Sustainable development, hot aridzones, climate design, BADGIR (wind-catcher)

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Authors: Carole A. El Raheb, Hassan K. Abdel-Salam, Ingi Elcherif

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An architect carrying the design process alone is the main reason for the deterioration of the quality of the architectural product as the complexity of the projects makes it a multi-disciplinary work; then, the Integrative Design Process (IDP) must be applied in the architectural firm especially from the early design phases to improve the product’s quality and to eliminate the ignorance of the principles of design causing the occurrence of low-grade buildings. The research explores the Integrative Design (ID) principles that fit in the architectural practice. Constraints facing this application are presented with strategies and solutions to overcome them. A survey questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a number of recognized Egyptian Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms that explores their opinions on using the IDP. This survey emphasizes the importance of the IDP in firms and presents the reasons preventing the firms from applying the IDP. The aim here is to investigate the potentials of integrating this approach into architectural firms emphasizing the importance of this application which ensures the realization of the project’s goal and eliminates the reduction in the project’s quality.

Keywords: Application, architectural firms, integrative design principles, integrative design process, the project quality.

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Authors: Marius Mosoarca, Victor Gioncu, Ovidiu Cosma

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Historic religious buildings located in seismic areas have developed different failure mechanisms. Simulation of failure modes is done with computer programs through a nonlinear dynamic analysis or simplified using the method of failure blocks. Currently there are simulation methodologies of failure modes based on the failure rigid blocks method only for Roman Catholic churches type. Due to differences of shape in plan, elevation and construction systems between Orthodox churches and Catholic churches, for the first time there were initiated researches in the development of this simulation methodology for Orthodox churches. In this article are presented the first results from the researches. The theoretical results were compared with real failure modes recorded at an Orthodox church from Banat region, severely damaged by earthquakes in 1991. Simulated seismic response, using a computer program based on finite element method was confirmed by cracks after earthquakes. The consolidation of the church was made according to these theoretical results, realizing a rigid floor connecting all the failure blocks.

Keywords: Dinamic analysis, failure mechanism, rigid blocks seismic simulation.

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Authors: M. Afshin, A. Sohankar, M. Dehghan Manshadi, M. R. Daneshgar, G. R. Dehghan Kamaragi

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In this paper, the influence of upstream structures on the flow patternaround and inside the wind-catcher is experimentally investigated by smoke flow visualization techniques. Wind-catchers are an important part of natural ventilation in residential buildings or public places such as shopping centers, libraries, etc. Wind-catchers might be also used in places of high urban densities; hence their potential to provide natural ventilation is dependent on the presence of upstream structures. In this study, the two-sided wind-catcher model was based on a real wind-catcher observed in the city of Yazd, Iran. The present study focuses on the flow patterns around and inside the isolated two-sided wind-catcher, and on a two-sided wind-catcher in the presence of an upstream structure. The results show that the presence of an upstream structure influences the airflow pattern force and direction. Placing a high upstream structure reverses the airflow direction inside the wind-catcher.

Keywords: Natural Ventilation, Smoke Flow Visualization, Two-Sided Wind-Catcher.

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Authors: J. Witzany, T. Čejka, R. Zigler

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With respect to the dissipation of energy through plastic deformation of joints of prefabricated wall units, the paper points out the principal importance of efficient reinforcement of the prefabricated system at its joints. The method, quality and amount of reinforcement are essential for reaching the necessary degree of joint ductility. The paper presents partial results of experimental research of vertical joints of prefabricated units exposed to monotonously rising loading and repetitive shear force and formulates a conclusion that the limit state of the structure as a whole is preceded by the disintegration of joints, or that the structure tends to pass from linearly elastic behaviour to non-linearly elastic to plastic behaviour by exceeding the proportional elastic limit in joints.Experimental verification on a model of a 7-storey prefabricated structure revealed weak points in its load-bearing systems, mainly at places of critical points around openings situated in close proximity to vertical joints of mutually perpendicularly oriented walls.

Keywords: dissipative energy, dynamic and cycling load repetitive load, working diagrams of joints

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Authors: Azin Shakibabarough, Mojtaba Valinejadshoubi, Ashutosh Bagchi

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Structural vibration means repetitive motion that causes fatigue and reduction of the performance of a structure. An earthquake may release high amount of energy that can have adverse effect on all components of a structure. Therefore, decreasing of vibration or maintaining performance of structures such as bridges, dams, roads and buildings is important for life safety and reducing economic loss. When earthquake or any vibration happens, investigation on parts of a structure which sustain the seismic loads is mandatory to provide a safe condition for the occupants. One of the solutions for reducing the earthquake vibration in a structure is using of vibration control devices such as dampers and base isolators. The objective of this study is to investigate the optimal positions of friction dampers and base isolators for better seismic response of 2D frame. For this purpose, a two bay and six story frame with different distribution formats was modeled and some of their responses to earthquake such as inter-story drift, max joint displacement, max axial force and max bending moment were determined and compared using non-linear dynamic analysis.

Keywords: Fast nonlinear analysis, friction damper, base isolator, seismic vibration control, seismic response.

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Authors: Yan Lyu, Yiqun Pan, Zhizhong Huang

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In the design stage of a new building, the energy model of this building is often required for the analysis of the performance on energy efficiency. In practice, a certain degree of geometric simplification should be done in the establishment of building energy models, since the detailed geometric features of a real building are hard to be described perfectly in most energy simulation engine, such as ESP-r, eQuest or EnergyPlus. Actually, the detailed description is not necessary when the result with extremely high accuracy is not demanded. Therefore, this paper analyzed the relationship between the error of the simulation result from building energy models and the geometric simplification of the models. Finally, the following two parameters are selected as the indices to characterize the geometric feature of in building energy simulation: the southward projected area and total side surface area of the building. Based on the parameterization method, the simplification from an arbitrary column building to a typical shape (a cuboid) building can be made for energy modeling. The result in this study indicates that no more than 7% prediction error of annual cooling/heating load will be caused by the geometric simplification for those buildings with the ratio of southward projection length to total perimeter of the bottom of 0.25~0.35, which means this method is applicable for building performance simulation.

Keywords: building energy model, simulation, geometric simplification, design, regression

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Authors: Christos Spandonidis, Stefanos Tsantilas, Elias Sedikos, Nektarios Galiatsatos, Fotios Giannopoulos, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Nikolaos Demagos, Dimitrios Reppas, Christos Giordamlis

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In the present paper, a low cost, compact and modular Internet of Things (IoT) platform for air quality monitoring in urban areas is presented. This platform comprises of dedicated low cost, low power hardware and the associated embedded software that enable measurement of particles (PM2.5 and PM10), NO, CO, CO₂ and O₃ concentration in the air, along with relative temperature and humidity. This integrated platform acts as part of a greater air pollution data collecting wireless network that is able to monitor the air quality in various regions and neighborhoods of an urban area, by providing sensor measurements at a high rate that reaches up to one sample per second. It is therefore suitable for Big Data analysis applications such as air quality forecasts, weather forecasts and traffic prediction. The first real world test for the developed platform took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, where 16 devices were installed in various buildings in the city. In the near future, many more of these devices are going to be installed in the greater Thessaloniki area, giving a detailed air quality map of the city.

Keywords: Distributed sensor system, environmental monitoring, Internet of Things, IoT, Smart Cities.

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Authors: Mária Csernoch, Piroska Biró

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The legends about “user-friendly” and “easy-to-use” birotical tools (computer-related office tools) have been spreading and misleading end-users. This approach has led us to the extremely high number of incorrect documents, causing serious financial losses in the creating, modifying, and retrieving processes. Our research proved that there are at least two sources of this underachievement: (1) The lack of the definition of the correctly edited, formatted documents. Consequently, end-users do not know whether their methods and results are correct or not. They are not aware of their ignorance. They are so ignorant that their ignorance does not allow them to realize their lack of knowledge. (2) The end-users’ problem solving methods. We have found that in non-traditional programming environments end-users apply, almost exclusively, surface approach metacognitive methods to carry out their computer related activities, which are proved less effective than deep approach methods. Based on these findings we have developed deep approach methods which are based on and adapted from traditional programming languages. In this study, we focus on the most popular type of birotical documents, the text based documents. We have provided the definition of the correctly edited text, and based on this definition, adapted the debugging method known in programming. According to the method, before the realization of text editing, a thorough debugging of already existing texts and the categorization of errors are carried out. With this method in advance to real text editing users learn the requirements of text based documents and also of the correctly formatted text. The method has been proved much more effective than the previously applied surface approach methods. The advantages of the method are that the real text handling requires much less human and computer sources than clicking aimlessly in the GUI (Graphical User Interface), and the data retrieval is much more effective than from error-prone documents.

Keywords: Deep approach metacognitive methods, error-prone birotical documents, financial losses, human and computer resources.

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Authors: G.R. Ashari, N.Hedayat, S. Shalbaf, E.Hajidavalloo

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In this paper a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell power system including burner, steam reformer, heat exchanger and water heater has been considered to meet the electrical, heating, cooling and domestic hot water loads of residential building which in Tehran. The system uses natural gas as fuel and works in CHP mode. Design and operating conditions of a PEM fuel cell system is considered in this study. The energy requirements of residential building and the number of fuel cell stacks to meet them have been estimated. The method involved exergy analysis and entropy generation thorough the months of the year. Results show that all the energy needs of the building can be met with 12 fuel cell stacks at a nominal capacity of 8.5 kW. Exergy analysis of the CHP system shows that the increase in the ambient air temperature from 1oC to 40oC, will have an increase of entropy generation by 5.73%.Maximum entropy generates for 15 hour in 15th of June and 15th of July is estimated to amount at 12624 (kW/K). Entropy generation of this system through a year is estimated to amount to 1004.54 GJ/k.year.

Keywords: CHP mode, entropy, exergy, no of fuel cell stacks.

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Authors: Mohamed Dbouk, Ihab Sbeity

Abstract:

Spatial and mobile computing evolves. This paper describes a smart modeling platform called “GeoSEMA". This approach tends to model multidimensional GeoSpatial Evolutionary and Mobile Agents. Instead of 3D and location-based issues, there are some other dimensions that may characterize spatial agents, e.g. discrete-continuous time, agent behaviors. GeoSEMA is seen as a devoted design pattern motivating temporal geographic-based applications; it is a firm foundation for multipurpose and multidimensional special-based applications. It deals with multipurpose smart objects (buildings, shapes, missiles, etc.) by stimulating geospatial agents. Formally, GeoSEMA refers to geospatial, spatio-evolutive and mobile space constituents where a conceptual geospatial space model is given in this paper. In addition to modeling and categorizing geospatial agents, the model incorporates the concept of inter-agents event-based protocols. Finally, a rapid software-architecture prototyping GeoSEMA platform is also given. It will be implemented/ validated in the next phase of our work.

Keywords: Location-Trajectory management, GIS, Mobile- Moving Objects/Agents, Multipurpose/Spatiotemporal data, Multi- Agent Systems.

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Authors: Han Wu, Jie Wang

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Zhejiang’s special geographical environment has created characteristic mountain dwellings with climate adaptability. Among them, the terrain of southern Zhejiang is dominated by mountainous and hilly landforms, and its traditional dwellings have distinctive characteristics. They are often adapted to local conditions and laid out in accordance with the mountains. In order to block the severe winter weather conditions, local traditional building materials such as rammed earth are mostly used. However, with the development of urbanization, traditional villages have undergone large-scale changes, gradually losing their original uniqueness. In order to solve this problem, this paper takes traditional villages around Baishanzu National Park in Zhejiang as an example and selects nine typical villages in Jingning County and Longquan, respectively. Based on field investigations, this paper extracts the environmental adaptability of local traditional rammed earth houses from the perspective of “geographical embeddedness”. And then combined with case analysis, the paper discusses the translation and development of its traditional architectural methods in contemporary rammed earth buildings in southern Zhejiang.

Keywords: Rammed earth building, lighting, ventilation, geographical embeddedness, modernization translation.

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Authors: Paul Osmond

Abstract:

This paper reports a new application of material accounting techniques to characterise and quantify material stocks and flows at the “neighbourhood" scale. The study area is the main campus of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The system boundary is defined by the urban structural unit (USU), a typological construct devised to facilitate assessment of the metabolism of urban systems. A streamlined material flow analysis (MFA) was applied to quantify the stocks and flows of key construction materials within the campus USU over time, drawing on empirical data from a major campus development project. The results are reviewed to assess the efficacy of the method in supporting urban environmental evaluation and design practice, for example to facilitate estimation of significant impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions. It is concluded that linking a service (in this case, teaching students) enabled by a given product (university buildings) to the amount of materials used in creating that product offers a potential way to reduce the environmental impact of that service, through more efficient use of materials.

Keywords: Construction materials, material flow analysis, urban metabolism, urban structural unit.

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Authors: Gianluigi De Mare, Tony Leopoldo Luigi Lenza, Rino Conte

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The evolution of technology and construction techniques has enabled the upgrading of transport networks. In particular, the high-speed rail networks allow convoys to peak at above 300 km/h. These structures, however, often significantly impact the surrounding environment. Among the effects of greater importance are the ones provoked by the soundwave connected to train transit. The wave propagation affects the quality of life in areas surrounding the tracks, often for several hundred metres. There are substantial damages to properties (buildings and land), in terms of market depreciation. The present study, integrating expertise in acoustics, computering and evaluation fields, outlines a useful model to select project paths so as to minimize the noise impact and reduce the causes of possible litigation. It also facilitates the rational selection of initiatives to contain the environmental damage to the already existing railway tracks. The research is developed with reference to the Italian regulatory framework (usually more stringent than European and international standards) and refers to a case study concerning the high speed network in Italy.

Keywords: Impact, compensation for financial loss, depreciation of property, railway network design, genetic algorithms.

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Authors: Payam Asadi, Ali Bakhshi

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In this study, a frame work for verification of famous seismic codes is utilized. To verify the seismic codes performance, damage quantity of RC frames is compared with the target performance. Due to the randomness property of seismic design and earthquake loads excitation, in this paper, fragility curves are developed. These diagrams are utilized to evaluate performance level of structures which are designed by the seismic codes. These diagrams further illustrate the effect of load combination and reduction factors of codes on probability of damage exceedance. Two types of structures; very high important structures with high ductility and medium important structures with intermediate ductility are designed by different seismic codes. The Results reveal that usually lower damage ratio generate lower probability of exceedance. In addition, the findings indicate that there are buildings with higher quantity of bars which they have higher probability of damage exceedance. Life-cycle cost analysis utilized for comparison and final decision making process.

Keywords: RC frame, fragility curve, performance-base design, life-cycle cost analyses, seismic design codes.

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

Abstract:

Today, developed and industrial cities have all kinds of sewage and water transfer canals, subway tunnels, infrastructure facilities, etc., which have caused underground cavities to be created under the buildings. The presence of these cavities causes behavioral changes in the structural behavior that must be fully evaluated. In the present study, using Abaqus finite element software, the effect of cavities with 0.5 and 1.5 meters in diameter at a depth of 2.5 meters from the earth's surface (with a circular cross-section) on the performance of the foundation and the ground (soil) has been evaluated. For this purpose, the Kobe earthquake was applied to the models for 10 seconds. Also, pore water pressure and weight were considered on the models to get complete results. The results showed that by creating and increasing the diameter of circular cavities in the soil, three indicators; 1) von Mises stress, 2) displacement and 3) plastic strain have had oscillating, ascending and ascending processes, respectively, which shows the relationship between increasing the diameter index of underground cavities and structural indicators of structure-foundation-soil.

Keywords: Underground excavations, foundation, structural substrates, Abaqus software, Kobe earthquake, time history analysis.

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Authors: Yuko Hiramatsu, Fumihiro Sato, Atsushi Ito, Hiroyuki Hatano, Mie Sato, Yu Watanabe, Akira Sasaki

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This paper presents a mobile phone application developed for sightseeing in Nikko, one of the cultural world heritages in Japan, using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacon. Based on our pre-research, we decided to design our application for young people who walk around the area actively, but know little about the tradition and culture of Nikko. One solution is to construct many information boards to explain; however, it is difficult to construct new guide plates in cultural world heritage sites. The smartphone is a good solution to send such information to such visitors. This application was designed using a combination of the smartphone and beacons, set in the area, so that when a tourist passes near a beacon, the application displays information about the area including a map, historical or cultural information about the temples and shrines, and local shops nearby as well as a bus timetable. It is useful for foreigners, too. In addition, we developed quizzes relating to the culture and tradition of Nikko to provide information based on the Zeigarnik effect, a psychological effect. According to the results of our trials, tourists positively evaluated the basic information and young people who used the quiz function were able to learn the historical and cultural points. This application helped young visitors at Nikko to understand the cultural elements of the site. In addition, this application has a function to send notifications. This function is designed to provide information about the local community such as shops, local transportation companies and information office. The application hopes to also encourage people living in the area, and such cooperation from the local people will make this application vivid and inspire young visitors to feel that the cultural heritage site is still alive today. This is a gateway for young people to learn about a traditional place and understand the gravity of preserving such areas.

Keywords: BLE beacon, smartphone application, Zeigarnik effect, world heritage site, school trip.

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Authors: Golnaz Moghimi, Alireza Afsharghotli, Alireza Rezaei

Abstract:

Construction waste has been gradually increased as a result of upsizing construction projects which are occurred within the lifecycle of buildings. Since waste management is a major priority and has profound impacts on the volume of waste generated in construction stage, the majority of efforts have been attempted to reuse, recycle and reduce waste. However, there is still room to study on lack of sufficient knowledge about waste management in construction industry. This paper intends to provide an insight into the effect of project management knowledge areas on waste management solely on construction stage. To this end, a survey among Iranian building construction industry contractors was conducted to identify the effectiveness of project management knowledge areas on three jobsite key factors including ‘Site activity’, ‘Training’, and ‘Awareness’. As a result, four management disciplines were identified as most influential ones on amount of construction waste. These disciplines were Project Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resource Management, and Integration Management. Based on the research findings, a new model was presented to develop effective construction waste strategies.

Keywords: Awareness, PMBOK, site activity, training, waste management.

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Authors: M. Anwar, M. G. Rasul, M. M. K. Khan

Abstract:

The benefits of rooftop greenery systems (such as energy savings, reduction of greenhouse gas emission for mitigating climate change and maintaining sustainable development, indoor temperature control etc.) in buildings are well recognized, however there remains very little research conducted for quantifying the benefits in subtropical climates such as in Australia. This study mainly focuses on measuring/determining temperature profile and air conditioning energy savings by implementing rooftop greenery systems in subtropical Central Queensland in Australia. An experimental set-up was installed at Rockhampton campus of Central Queensland University, where two standard shipping containers (6m x 2.4m x 2.4m) were converted into small offices, one with green roof and one without. These were used for temperature, humidity and energy consumption data collection. The study found that an energy savings of up to 11.70% and temperature difference of up to 4°C can be achieved in March in subtropical Central Queensland climate in Australia. It is expected that more energy can be saved in peak summer days (December/February) as temperature difference between green roof and non-green roof is higher in December- February.

Keywords: Extensive green roof, Rooftop greenery system, Subtropical climate, Shipping container.

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Authors: Leo Laine, Morgan Johansson

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To meet the civilizations future needs for safe living and low environmental footprint, the engineers designing the complex systems of tomorrow will need efficient ways to model and optimize these systems for their intended purpose. For example, a civil defence shelter and its subsystem components needs to withstand, e.g. airblast and ground shock from decided design level explosion which detonates with a certain distance from the structure. In addition, the complex civil defence shelter needs to have functioning air filter systems to protect from toxic gases and provide clean air, clean water, heat, and electricity needs to also be available through shock and vibration safe fixtures and connections. Similar complex building systems can be found in any concentrated living or office area. In this paper, the authors use a multidomain modelling language called Modelica to model a concrete wall as a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system with elastoplastic properties with the implemented option of plastic hardening. The elastoplastic model was developed and implemented in the open source tool OpenModelica. The simulation model was tested on the case with a transient equivalent reflected pressure time history representing an airblast from 100 kg TNT detonating 15 meters from the wall. The concrete wall is approximately regarded as a concrete strip of 1.0 m width. This load represents a realistic threat on any building in a city like area. The OpenModelica model results were compared with an Excel implementation of a SDOF model with an elastic-plastic spring using simple fixed timestep central difference solver. The structural displacement results agreed very well with each other when it comes to plastic displacement magnitude, elastic oscillation displacement, and response times.

Keywords: Airblast from explosives, elastoplastic spring model, Modelica modelling language, SDOF, structural response of concrete structure.

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Authors: E. Osorio Schmied

Abstract:

Architects commonly attempt a depiction of organic forms when their works are inspired by nature, regardless of the building site. Nevertheless it is also possible to try matching structures with natural scenery, by applying a phenomenological approach in terms of spatial operations, regarding perceptions from nature through architectural aspects such as protection, views, and orientation. This method acknowledges a relationship between place and space, where intentions towards tangible facts then become design statements. Although spaces resulting from such a process may present an effective response to the environment, they can also offer further outcomes beyond the realm of form. The hypothesis is that, in addition to recognising a bond between architecture and nature, it is also plausible to associate such perceptions with the inner ambient of buildings, by analysing features such as daylight. The case study of a single-family house in a rainforest near Valdivia, Chilean Patagonia is presented, with the intention of addressing the above notions through a discussion of the actual effects of inhabiting a place by way of a series of insights, including a revision of diagrams and photographs that assist in understanding the implications of this design practice. In addition, figures based on post-occupancy behaviour and daylighting performance relate both architectural and environmental issues to a decision-making process motivated by the observation of nature.

Keywords: Architecture, design statements, nature, perception.

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