Architectural Engineering Commons^™

Implementation Of Integrated Commissioning, Retrofits, And Control Optimization Process In A Small Commercial Building, Xiangnan Shi

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

A large amount of the primary energy consumed in the US is derived from the built environment followed by energy consumed in the transportation and industrial sectors. Consequently, improving the energy efficiency of buildings is an important part of ensuring a more sustainable world for future generations. Of the various techniques employed to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, commissioning and retrofits continue to be the most widely applied solutions. Control optimization, mainly imbedded with continuous commissioning so far, is not applied as widely. Even though there are currently a few applications that integrate all three techniques, no comparison has …

Inhabiting The Periphery: A Dialogue Between Individual And Site, Robert Oliver Kown

Masters Theses

What is a periphery? We can think about this word in more than one way. First off, peripheries are places that exist as spatial conditions in cities, They indicate edges and places that have been left behind. Spaces that have lost their meaning. But in this thesis I will use the word in another way as well. What does the periphery mean for us today? What are those parts of our lives that have been marginalized, and how can we begin to reclaim what has been lost? It is the aim of this thesis to address these issues of the …

Optimized Control Strategies For A Typical Water Loop Heat Pump System, Xu Lian

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

Water Loop Heat Pump (WLHP) System has been widely utilized in the Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry for several decades. There is no doubt about the energy saving potential of this type of system from the design and construction perspective. However, there are still many unsolved problems, such as high loop pump energy consumption, low heat pump efficiency and high electricity cost due to improper operation, although the system design intension was to save energy. Thus, how to control the WSHP to realize its energy-efficient value is an innovative but practical topic on which this thesis will focus. …

How The New Architectural Engineering Program Criteria Differs From The New Civil Engineering Program Criteria, Allen Estes

Architectural Engineering

There are 17 ABET accredited architectural engineering (AE) programs in the country and over 200 civil engineering (CE) programs. To gain accreditation, a program must meet the ABET general criteria common to every engineering program and specific criteria that are unique to an individual program. The American Society of Civil Engineers is the lead professional society in this effort for both CE and AE programs. Recently the Civil Engineers rewrote and implemented the Civil Engineering ABET Program Criteria to incorporate changes in the ABET general criteria, the publication of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge I, and the work accomplished …

Interdisciplinary Design: The Saga Continues, Brent Nuttall, Jill Nelson, Allen Estes

Architectural Engineering

The College of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo is the only college in the nation that has departments of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Construction Management in the same college. The institution has a 60 year tradition of collaboration between the engineering, architecture and construction disciplines, particularly at the lower division level. To enhance this collaboration, the college committed to providing an upper division interdisciplinary experience to every student in the form of a project based, team oriented five unit studio that every student would take. This new course, launched in 2009, requires small …

International Sustainability Through Knowledge Transfer Considering Culture And Resources – Sledgehammer Attacks On Adobe Masonry Walls, Craig V. Baltimore, David Lambert

Architectural Engineering

In terms of knowledge and technology innovation, sustainability is defined as the ability for a society or culture to develop, incorporate and maintain knowledge and technology in a long term manner without continued outside input. In rural East Africa, the prevalence of low-cost building materials and unskilled labor produce buildings that provide poor security for charitable groups working to improve the quality of life for communities and individuals there. Medicine and other medical supplies are targeted by thieves for their high value. Buildings constructed of the most common building material in the region, adobe masonry, are easily broken into by …

In-Plane Cyclic Shear Performance Of Interlocking Compressed Earth Block Walls, David William Bland

Master's Theses

This thesis presents results from testing of interlocking compressed earth block (CEB) masonry shear walls. CEBs are low strength earth masonry units sometimes stabilized with cement or lime. The interlocking compressed earth blocks (ICEBs) used in this experiment are dry stacked interlocking hollow units, which can be reinforced and grouted after they are laid. Although significant research has been undertaken to optimize the material properties of CEBs, little has been done to investigate the performance of structural systems currently being built using this technology.

Test results are reported for three 1800 mm x 1800 mm wall specimens constructed with cement …

Forced Vibration Testing And Analysis Of Pre- And Post- Retrofit Buildings, Erica Dawn Jacobsen

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Forced Vibration Testing and Analysis of Pre- and Post- Retrofit Buildings

Erica Dawn Jacobsen

The primary goal of the thesis was to detect the retrofit through vibration testing of both buildings. The secondary goal focused on correctly identifying the behavior of the building through FVT, comparing that behavior to computational model predictions, and determining the necessary level of detail to include in the computational modeling. Forced vibration testing (FVT) of two stiff-wall/flexible-diaphragm buildings yielded natural frequencies and mode shapes for the two buildings. The buildings were nearly identical with the exception that one had been retrofitted. Both buildings were …

Transferts De Chaleur Dans Un Réacteur Thermochimique Solaire Muni D’Un Récepteur Volumique Poreux, Hernando Romero Paredes Rubio

Hernando Romero Paredes Rubio

Un réacteur thermochimique solaire de 1 kW muni d’une structure céramique poreuse en céramique est modélisé pour simuler les transferts thermiques a l’intérieur du récepteur volumétrique. Le modèle développé a été utilisé pour prévoir le comportement thermique du réacteur en fonction des différentes conditions opératoires qui concernent le débit de gaz inerte, le flux solaire incident, la porosité, la longueur du récepteur, et la prise en compte de réactions chimiques. Les résultats montrent que la température maximale est de 1850K pour une concentration solaire de 1000 soleils. La température diminue de manière significative lorsque le débit de gaz augmente. Un …

A Virtual Supply Airflow Rate Meter In Rooftop Air Conditioning Units, Daihong Yu

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

Virtual sensing technology aims to estimate difficult to measure, expensive, or new quantities by using multifarious mathematical models along with non-invasive and low-cost measurements. Such embedded intelligence is a key to improving the performance of building systems in terms of functionality, safety, energy efficiency, environmental impacts, and costs. Considering the progress that has been achieved over many various fields (e.g., process controls, automobiles, avionics, autonomous robots, telemedicine) within the last two decades, numerous intelligent features have been incorporated and enabled that would otherwise not be possible or economical.

To identify the potential opportunities and research/development needs of virtual sensing technology …

How Much Do U.S. University Students Know, And Want To Know, About Sustainability And Green Building? The Findings Of A Survey, And Possible Implications For General Elective Curricula., Jeremy R. Farner

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Using the survey approach, this investigation examined the attitudes and interest of college students at two universities in different geographic locations within the United States. Approximately 24,000 students from all disciplines and majors at Weber State University (WSU) in Utah, and 4,000 at Purdue University in Indiana, were invited to participate in a study to determine current knowledge, familiarity, and interest in topics within the sustainability and Green Building educational arena. The goal of this study was to determine what students already know, would like to know, and how much interest there would be in developing …

Develop Energy Dashboard For Real-Time Campus Energy Use Monitoring, Hsui-Lin Winkler, Charlene Hoegler, William Batina

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

Investigations Of The Relationships Between Unoccupied Classroom Acoustical Conditions And Elementary Student Achievement, Lauren M. Ronsse

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

Current building standards recommend specific unoccupied background noise levels and reverberation times for classroom spaces. While clear communication in elementary school classrooms may be critical for successful learning environments, the existing research does not show a consistent connection between the classroom acoustics parameters specified in building standards and student achievement. This research seeks to determine what acoustical conditions should be attained in elementary school classrooms to optimize student achievement.

In this dissertation, acoustical studies in two midwestern United States public school systems are described. Unoccupied background noise level (BNL) and reverberation time (RT) measurements were gathered in a range of …

How Much Do U.S. University Students Know, And Want To Know, About Sustainability And Green Building? The Findings Of A Survey, And Possible Implications For General Elective Curriculum., Jeremy R. Farner

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Using the survey approach, this investigation examined the attitudes and interest of college students at two universities in different geographic locations within the United States. Approximately 24,000 students from all disciplines and majors at Weber State University (WSU) in Utah, and 4,000 at Purdue University in Indiana, were invited to participate in a study to determine current knowledge, familiarity, and interest in topics within the sustainability and Green Building educational arena. The goal of this study was to determine what students already know, would like to know, and how much interest there would be in developing …

Adaptive Photovoltaic Configurations For Decreasing The Electrical Mismatching Losses, Mohamed Amer Chaaban

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

Electrical mismatching losses in photovoltaic systems are of great interest to system designers. In this thesis, an adaptive photovoltaic (PV) system is proposed based on novel flexible switch matrixes that form different possible topologies. This system maximizes the generated power in real-time for utility interactive systems in a modified inverter configuration. The proposed system uses fewer components and achieves maximum efficiency during shading and module mismatches by reconfiguring the PV modules based on real-time solar insolation, current operational conditions, and maximum efficiency criterion. Simulation tools are used to demonstrate that the proposed topologies provide improvement in efficiency over existing traditional …

Real-Time Power Monitoring, Home Automation And Sustainability, Wisam Nader

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

As the supply and demand of electrical energy is challenged within the context of environmental awareness and national security, the need to evaluate and advance each side is growing in importance. The electrical distribution system plays a critical role in the built environment as it is an enabling product, an intangible necessity used to power our systems. In order to manage our energy and prevent the consequences caused by energy wastage we need to develop tools for the built environment to become elastic with its consumption to respond to the national smart grid. To advance the research in this field, …

Using The Hyatt Regency Skywalk Collapse Case Study In Engineering Education., John W. Lawson, Pamalee A. Brady

Architectural Engineering

To this day, the 1981 skywalk collapse in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency resulted in the worst loss of life from a structural engineering mistake in United States history. While many important engineering lessons can be drawn from this disaster, it is just as important to recognize the broader lessons learned in the design and construction process as a whole that can be successfully brought into the classroom. Numerous organizations have undertaken the task of envisioning how engineering education can meet the demands of the future. ABET’s baccalaureate degree accreditation criteria, ASCE’s Body of Knowledge and Body of Knowledge 2 …

Stochastic Hybrid Embodied Co2-Eq Analysis: An Application To The Irish Apartment Building Sector, Adolf Acquaye, Aidan Duffy, Biswajit Basu

Articles

Although embodiedCO2-eq analysis has seen recent developments as evident in the establishment of the ISO14040 and 14044 LCA standards, it is recognized that due to weaknesses in gathering data on product-related emissions,embodiedCO2-eq values are probabilistic. This paper presents a stochastic analysis of hybrid embodied CO2-eq in buildings to account for this weakness in traditional methods and, by way of example, applies it to an Irish construction-sector case study. Using seven apartment buildings, 70,000 results are simulated with Monte Carlo analysis and used to derive probabilistic and cumulative embodied CO2-eq intensity distributions for apartment buildings in Ireland. A Wakeby distribution with …

Impacts Of Static Pressure Reset On Vav System Air Leakage, Fan Power And Thermal Energy- Part 1: Theoretical Model And Simulation, Mingsheng Liu, Jingjuan Feng, Zhan Wang, Lixia Wu, Keke Zheng, Xiufeng Pang

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

As for a variable air volume (VAV) System, the air duct static pressure is a typical control variable maintained by modulating supply fan speed. The static pressure equals to the summation of the duct pressure loss downstream of the sensor to the terminal box and box inlet static pressure. Typically, the air duct static pressure is set as a constant set point based on the system design information and sensor location. However, under partial load conditions, the terminal dampers have to be closed more since the required airflow which directly leads to much less pressure loss. This the static pressure …

Application Of Wireless Sensor Network (Wsn) Technologies In Optimal Static Pressure Reset In Variable Air Volume (Vav) System, Keke Zheng, Haorong Li, Huojun Yang

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Optimization of the static pressure reset is always critical in the pursuit of maximum savings of fan power and thermal energy consumption in a VAV system. This paper theoretically investigated three static pressure reset methods, i.e. VAV terminal unit damper position based, outside air temperature based and air flow based, and proposed an optimal static pressure reset method. Subsequently, hourly simulations of a building in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, was implemented and validated that the VAV system with the optimal reset method could consume the least fan energy without sacrificing thermal comfort. Furthermore, in consideration of typical advantages or wireless technologies …