Engineering Commons^™

Introduction To Prefabrication And Automation In Construction, Luciana Debs, Jiansong Zhang, Yunfeng Chen

School of Construction Management Technology Open Educational Resources

New developments and recent advances in construction methods have the potential to change the future of the architecture, engineering and construction industry. Prefabrication, along with modular construction, provides a safe and controlled environment for the production of building construction elements and raises the need for improved collaboration and coordination from design to manufacturing and from transportation to final assembly. Prefabrication also provides relief from the skilled construction labor shortage while opening up new opportunities for mass customization within the building industry. Prefabrication and modular construction automation are emerging expansion routes for the construction industry. In addition, integral to developing the …

Retrospective Analysis Of Participatory Decision-Making In A Park's Construction In Lafayette, Indiana, Joshua Randall

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The Creative Park project has been an ongoing collaboration between Purdue Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), Faith Community Development Corporation, and the residents of Lincoln Neighborhood in Lafayette, Indiana. It was initiated by Faith in 2017 as an open-ended attempt to increase local children’s interactions with creative and complex thinking as well as decreasing time spent indoors at the Hartford Hub. Through several iterations of designs, an interdisciplinary team with one consistent member has developed a plan to build a treehouse-themed park to be constructed in spring 2020. Throughout this time two major themes have arisen: that the collaboration …

Datumate, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Datumate is digitally transforming civil engineering processes used in construction, surveying and infrastructure inspection markets with fully automated, highly precise, cost effective and safe tools. It utilizes state-of-the-art image processing and advanced drones and camera technologies dramatically reducing the amount of time surveying crews spend in the field, speeding up construction progress checks and shortening infrastructure inspection duration, while maintaining survey grade accuracy. The intuitive, simple and automated solutions increase productivity by saving field and office time in civil engineering and inspection projects of roads, intersections, stockpile volumes, topography, piping, industrial facilities, bridges, property surveys, building facades, railways, cellular infrastructure …

Netpoint®, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The vast majority of construction scheduling software uses a combination of spreadsheets and Gantt charts for developing and depicting Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules. While this paradigm works for the expert scheduler, it is not conducive to collaboration, and it is prohibitively difficult for non-scheduling experts to understand.

NetPoint® provides a dynamic, visual interface conducive to touch and gestural input. Activities are drawn directly on a time-scale and may be placed on the same row or arranged automatically using codes or the WBS. Such control of the presentation makes it easier to communicate the plan to any type of audience. …

Smartvid.Io, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The collection, organization, and retrieval of industrial media is a pervasive challenge that is especially glaring for companies in the AEC industry. Construction projects often generate large volumes of pictures & videos from the field for tracking progress and communicating between engineers, contractors, and subcontractors. It is not uncommon for field personnel to capture hundreds of photos per week on any given jobsite.

Smartvid.io is a cloud-based software solution designed for the specific needs of industrial media. The application’s internal deep-learning engines, collectively nicknamed VINNIE (for ‘Very Intelligent Neural Network for Insight and Evaluation’), use speech and image recognition to …

Hillman Composite Beam (Hcb®), Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Hillman-Composite Beam (HCB®), is an innovative structural member for use in highway and railroad bridges as well as marine facilities. The HCB is essentially a lightweight reinforced concrete beam strengthened and protected by a corrosion-resistant and resilient Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP) shell.

The beam is comprised of three main components, a concrete arch (compression reinforcement), an FRP bottom flange encapsulating steel strands tying the ends of the arch together (tension reinforcement) and the FRP shell. Galvanized Rebar “shear connectors” are used to make the beam composite with the concrete deck in the same manner as pre-stressed concrete beams.

The …

Multimedia Techniques For Construction Education And Training, Wayne A. Bunnell

Open Access Theses

The current profession of civil engineering often focuses education and training on code compliance rather than constructability and construction techniques. Also, it is well accepted that it takes a decade or more for engineers to develop a high-level project construction understanding and many state departments of transportation rely on in-field training for entry-level inspectors, with little or no education provisions for contractors. This research investigated the use of time-lapse photography to develop training and education material that will improve the understanding of project construction and crucial quality control specifications of an entry-level engineer, contractor, or inspector. Overall, the project team …

Portable Modular Conveyor, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Portable Modular Conveyor-Material Placer (PMC) is a quick, easy, dependable and cost effective way to place materials in the limits of the confined grade or work area. This specialized piece of equipment was developed to place concrete in front of a concrete slip form-paving machine. The typical method of placing concrete requires a self-propelled belt placer, which is very expensive to purchase and mobilize to the jobsite. The PMC creates a significant cost savings in labor and equipment with the PMC. It is a direct replacement for conventional material placing equipment, including all in grade belt placing machines. As …

Mining Big Data To Create A Tool For Empirical Observation Of Continuous Safety Improvement In A Construction Company - A Progressive Case Study In The Lean Environment, Nicolas J. Michuda

Open Access Theses

In any iterative process, without a system of measurement, controlled improvement cannot be recorded. This is especially true in the construction industry, where error occurs, often with fatal repercussions. As part of a process to facilitate the establishment of this metric, an entirely new application was created. The goal of this application is to measure the causal factors that lead to incidents, which will allow the user and administration to track the circumstances and types of incidents. This enables the company to focus on these problem areas and improve through training. By analyzing these incident trends over time, the company …

Post-Tensioned Concrete Shear Wall, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The post-tension concrete shear wall by Tipping Mar will replace the conventional concrete shear wall in earthquake prone areas in many instances, depending on the height and scale of the building.

Ap Alternatives Modular Solar Racking, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Solar panels have been used to generate and supply electricity in various applications such as residential and commercial buildings. Therefore, a need for a quicker approach to installation as well as the need to reduce workmanship to speed up the process is needed. Solar racks are developed through the use of automated equipment to “preassemble the racking hardware, pre-install the solar modules, and drive helical anchors into the ground rapidly”. So instead of installing one panel at a time, AP Alternatives has created a new method that uses machines to make the process easier. This new automation of the installation …

Prefabricated Building, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

With the continuous demand for construction of new buildings, an easier, more sustainable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building method is necessary to save time, energy and cost. Hence, there has been an increasing need for a system such as BROAD sustainable building (BSB). A form of prefabricated building by BROAD Sustainable Building Co., LTD (BSB). It consists of flooring and ceiling, embedded shafts of ventilation, water supply & drainage, electricity and lighting. Other items include pillars, diagonal bracings, doors, windows, walls and sanitary wares, air conditioning, air quality products, lifts, building thermal insulations.

Vertical Icf Wall System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Traditional ICF systems’ installation is tedious and labor intensive resulting in out of level, bowing, and snaking walls with a significant amount of bracing adding to the cost. ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) walls are a form of structural walls used for construction. Hobbs Vertical ICF system uses less concrete, more recycled material and requires less labor for construction. The furring assemblies and retainer clips of the Hobbs VICF system are made from 100% recycled post-industrial waste.

3d Printing For Bricks, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Building Bytes, by Brian Peters, is a project that uses desktop 3D printers to print bricks for architecture. Instead of using an expensive custom-made printer, it uses a normal standard 3D printer which is available for everyone and makes it more accessible and also easier for fabrication.

Guidelines For Construction Companies To Decide Between Outsourcing And Self-Performing For Prefabricated Components, Sebastian Soto Ortiz

Open Access Theses

Prefabrication and modularization has been used in the construction industry for decades. It has recently made a resurgence worldwide providing increased productivity, safety, quality and construction schedule. This research has focused on the situation where a construction company has decided to use prefabrication and faces two possibilities, they either will self-perform or they will outsource the construction of the prefabricated components. The decision making process used by a construction company to determine whether to outsource or self-perform prefabricated components is examined and analyzed.

Prefabrication is an industrial process in which certain components are manufactured in a specialized facility. These items …

Control Charts As A Productivity Improvement Tool In Construction, Jospeh Hubert Ault

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This study examined the use of individuals control charts to facilitate the productivity improvement of repetitive construction processes. Cycles times for excavation, forming, and reinforcing processes were observed using stratified random sampling during the construction of six residential home foundations. The cycle time information was plotted on control charts followed by an intervention, with the applicable crew members and management, to analyze the charts and propose solutions to any problems identified. Following the intervention, more samples were collected for comparison to the baseline observations collected before the intervention. The mean cycle times were compared before and after the interventions using …

Alternative Material Dowel Bars For Rigid Pavement Joints, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Over the last thirty to forty years, dowel support of the joint in Rigid Joint Pavement (RJP) has been widely used. The problem of deterioration of concrete pavement joints has resulted in the search for alternate solutions. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) and stainless steel represent corrosion resistant alternatives to conventional galvanized steel in this application. The recently study by the FHWA of Alternative Materials for Highway Construction demonstrated that even with extended wet-dry cycles of exposure to fluids of high chloride content, at various temperatures and PH levels, stainless steel had corrosion resistance hundreds and in many cases thousands of times …

Gfrc Facade Panels With Steel Stud/Flex Anchor Connection, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The ability of building cladding systems to perform successfully depends primarily on their proper design and construction. Current practices in the United States utilize GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) panels. However, new problems are being detected with such systems. The facade and its attachments (using GFRC) are not being adequately implemented to accommodate vertical and horizontal differential movement between the panels and concrete frame which is resulting in failure or cracking of the panels, and chipping off of the supporting concrete. With proper design and construction, steel stud-framed GFRC-skin cladding concept provides a versatile system for freedom of expression in …

Superpave System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Superpave is the acronym for 'SUperior PERforming Asphalt PAVEments' system. It was developed by Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) to give highway engineers and contractors the tools they need to design asphalt pavements that will perform better under extremes of temperature and heavy traffic loads.

Ultrascreen - Sight And Sound Barrier Partition Walls, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Panels have been widely used for many years to act as sight and sound barriers in most of the highways and in residential areas where visual privacy is needed. The United States Gypsum Company, early in the 1980's started developing technologies to improve and reduced costs using lightweight cement panels. Recently, USG along with AFM Corporation introduced ULTRASCREEN: Sight and Sound Barrier. This lightweight panels require no special equipment for installation, maintenance, or replacement making them beneficial. This latest development also creates a system with good acoustical performance and excellent strength to weight ratio.

Substiwood™ - Concrete Lumber, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

In the United States, wood lumber products have always formed the primary (and secondary) elements of many types of construction, especially in the single-and multi-family housing sector. A new cementitious material, 'concrete lumber' products (SubstiwoodTM) developed by Substiwood Inc. is structurally strong, durable, nailable with conventional screws and nails, and sawable using hand or electric saws. Unlike other construction alternatives to wood framing, the SubstiwoodTM products essentially maintain the existing wood frame construction methods, processes, equipment, and skilled labor.

Frp Rebar (Afrp, Cfrp, Gfrp), Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Insufficient concrete cover, poor design or workmanship, and presence of large amounts of aggressive agents including environmental factors all can lead to cracking of the concrete and corrosion of the steel rebar. The problems of steel corrosion are avoided with the use of FRPs because FRP materials are nonmetallic and noncorrosive. In addition, FRP materials exhibit several properties including high tensile strength, that make them suitable for the use as structural reinforcement. Furthermore, codes and design guide provisions have been recently prepared for the use of FRP bars in concrete structures for bridges and buildings.

Dis Seismic Isolater, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Seismic isolation bearings isolate a structure from the ground motion produced by an earthquake. The energy absorption devices are designed to absorb the energy associated with an earthquake. This seismic (Base) Isolator consists of alternate layers of rubber and steel bonded together, with a cylinder of pure lead tightly inserted through a hole in the middle. The rubber layers allow the isolator to easily displace sideways, reducing the earthquake loads felt by the building and its occupants. They also act as a spring, ensuring that the structure returns to its original position after the shaking has stopped.

Tru-Frame Steel Truss, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

After earthquakes, repair and replacement of structural elements is time consuming and expensive. This new truss system contains several diagonal elements designed to absorb seismic energy and yield at prescribed levels. Standard moment frame design requires 100% visual inspection and ultrasonic testing which is eliminated when using the Tru-Frame system. Since all Tru-Frame connections are single pass fillet welds and tension control bolts, they can be visually inspected any time after completion without need for additional testing. This allows subsequent trades to start their work sooner.

Post-Tensioned Steel Structure, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Welded steel Moment-Resisting Frames (MRFs) were long considered as one the most earthquake-resistant types of structures. Recently, the idea of applying the post-tensioning technology to achieve moment resistant structural systems has been investigated at the University of California, San Diego. Since 1996, moment-resisting connections using post-tensioning concepts have been developed and tested for precast concrete beam-to-column connections, and concrete shear walls.

Attachment Of Steel Decking Using Mechanical Fasteners And Powder Actuated Or Pneumatic Tools, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

An alternative method of attaching steel metal decks onto open web bar joist or structural steel beams. Erectors require a fast, reliable, efficient fastening method that can be used independent of weather conditions, and is easy, cost effective and verifiable. Attachment of the deck panels has historically been performed using puddle welding, with self-drilling screws used only when necessary. Today, special nails, driven either by powder propellant (powder actuated tools) or by compressed air (pneumatic tools), are experiencing ever-increasing usage due to the speed, versatility and cost-effectiveness benefits derived by the installer and owner.

Precast Concrete Beam-To-Column Connection System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Compared to conventional concrete constructions, precast concrete is a better option which is more cost-effective for production, transport, and erection when columns and beams can be fabricated independently. The BSF connection is a hidden beam and connection for gravity loads that eliminates the need for projecting column corbels. From a steel box cast into the concrete beam end, a sliding steel “knife” plate with a safety notch is cantilevered into a steel box that has been cast into the concrete column.

Smart Sewer Assessment Systems, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The need for accurate preventive assessment of sewer conditions is increasing world wide. The new method utilizes qualified inspection systems that are automated and that utilize artificial intelligence to assess whether or not a crack in the surface of the pipe exists. The KARO system is one example. Developed by the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology (BMBF) and four partners from both industry and research institutions. This system is composed of a mobile control and surveillance station, and a mobile robot.

Lean Project Delivery System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Lean Construction Institute, (LCI), founded in August 1997, is currently doing research to develop knowledge regarding the design and implementation of project based production systems in the design, engineering, and construction of capital facilities. Lean Project Delivery System (LPDS) model consists of 13 modules, 9 of which are organized in 4 interconnecting triads or phases extending from project definition to design to supply and assembly, plus 2 production control modules and the work structuring module, both conceived to extend through all project phases, and the post-occupancy evaluation module, which links the end of one project to the beginning of …

Dynamic Construction Visualizer, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Dynamic Construction Visualizer (DCV) is general-purpose 3D visualization system that allows simulation model developers to animate modeled operations with chronological and spatial accuracy in 3D virtual space. The system is independent of any particular simulation-modeling program or CAD modeling software.