Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Resolving The Policy Paradox: The Case Of Biofuel Production In Ireland, Alan Gilmer, Mark J. Mcgarrity, Vivienne Byers

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the status of policy design and policy implementation in the biofuel sector in Ireland. The focus of the work addresses the overarching operational context of the biofuel sector in Ireland and the role of different actors in shaping and resolving inconsistencies in policy outlook and practice. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a qualitative research approach involving a series of semi-structured interviews with members of the relevant sub-groups concerned. This study sought to address two questions – whether current or proposed policy is likely to affect consumption of indigenous biofuel feedstocks …

Identification Of Key Performance Tasks To Demonstrate The Benefit Of Introducing The Facilities Manager At An Early Stage In The Building Information Modelling Process On Public Sector Projects In Ireland., Barry Mcauley

Doctoral

Modelling (BIM) governed process was investigated in this thesis. Governments are now seeking a more rewarding methodology in the management and procurement of public sector building assets. This has seen an integrated focus by International Governments on BIM as a partial solution in both managing and procuring public sector building assets. Despite BIM bringing the Facility Manager closer to project conceptualisation, there was still a reluctance and a lack of perceived benefits of having them involved earlier in the design phase. There remains a lack of clear evidence on what improved contribution the Facilities Manager can provide. This thesis provides …

Developing Graduate Attributes To Meet The Grand Challenges: What Pedagogical Factors Influence The Development Of Graduate Attributes And Does Engineering Education Ensure Graduates Can Address The Global Grand Challenges?, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

My interest in preparing graduates for a successful career in industry stems from personal experience of employing graduates as civil and structural engineers in an engineering consultancy role. The range of skills, abilities and values of each graduate was varied, and it became apparent that academic achievement, whilst important was not the defining skill for achieving early responsibility or promotion within the company. More often, the graduate who was able to communicate well and self-direct his/her work was given more responsibility and opportunity. Many graduates would define early promotion, advanced responsibility and the associated increase in salary as the beginnings …

A Literature Review Of The Evolution Of British Prefabricated Low-Rise Housing, Daniel O'Neill, Samantha Organ

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore academic papers and reports and present a chronology of the evolution of British low-rise prefabricated housing. The paper provides chronological information for construction and surveying researchers undertaking research in associated areas.

Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative literature review, providing an exploration and analysis of academic papers and reports on low-rise prefabricated housing.

Findings – A substantial literature was discovered. However, there are gaps in the available literature. The history of British construction technology is a rich research area but is under-researched. Prefabricated housing has a long history dating back …

Urban Resilience: The Regeneration Of The Dublin Docklands, Aoife Doyle

Conference papers

Resilience, and more specifically ‘urban resilience’, is a ‘fuzzy’ concept, which has gained increasing public, political and academic interest over the past two decades; particularly in the context of the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. This paper adopts an understanding of resilience as the ability of cities to change, adapt and, crucially, transform in response to stresses and strains. Yet how have cities – and urban planning – responded to the recent economic crisis; and how can one examine this in practice? This paper investigates the case of Dublin, Ireland. In particular, it utilises the resilience concept to …

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment For Utilising Laminated Veneer Bamboo As A Primary Structural Material In High-Rise Residential Buildings, Philip Kavanagh

Masters

In a time when construction is ranked as one of the world’s least sustainable industries consuming about half of the world’s non-renewable resources (Hinson, 2012), it is important to develop and advance the methods and means by which we select and use building materials and how we design, engineer and construct our architecture. This research aimed to evaluate a method for utilising laminated veneer bamboo (LVB) as a primary structural material in high-rise residential buildings and evaluate the environmental potential of LVB through a comparative life cycle analysis (LCA). The process of life cycle analysis was completed through the development …

Maximizing The Spatial Representativeness Of No2 Monitoring Data Using A Combination Of Local Wind-Based Sectoral Division And Seasonal And Diurnal Correction Factors, Aoife Donnelly, Owen Naughton, Bruce Misstear, Brian Broderick

Articles

This article describes a new methodology for increasing the spatial representativeness of individual monitoring sites. Air pollution levels at a given point are influenced by emission sources in the immediate vicinity. Since emission sources are rarely uniformly distributed around a site, concentration levels will inevitably be most affected by the sources in the prevailing upwind direction. The methodology provides a means of capturing this effect and providing additional information regarding source/pollution relationships. The methodology allows for the division of the air quality data from a given monitoring site into a number of sectors or wedges based on wind direction and …

Structural Control Of Wind Turbines With Soil Structure Interaction Included, Breiffni Fitzgerald, Biswajit Basu

Articles

The importance of considering soil structure interaction in structural control of wind turbines is investigated in this paper. An Euler–Lagrangian wind turbine mathematical model based on an energy formulation was developed for this purpose which considers the structural dynamics of the system and the interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane blade vibrations. Also, the interaction between the blades and the tower including a tuned mass damper (TMD) is considered. The turbine is subject to turbulent aerodynamic loading simulated using a modification to the classic Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory with turbulence generated from rotationally sampled spectra. The turbine is also subject …

Biofilm Growth Kinetics And Nutrient (N/P) Adsorption In An Urban Lake Using Reclaimed Water: A Quantitative Baseline For Ecological Health Assessment, Tianzhi Wang, Zhenci Wu, Yunkai Li, Mingchao Liang, Zhenhua Wang, Paul Hynds

Articles

Reclaimed wastewater reuse represents an effective method for partial resolution of increasing urban water shortages; however, reclaimed water may be characterized by significant contaminant loading, potentially affecting receiving ecosystem (and potentially human) health. The current study examined biofilm growth and nutrient adsorption in Olympic Lake (Beijing), the largest artificial urban lake in the world supplied exclusively by reclaimed wastewater. Findings indicate that solid particulate, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and metal oxide (Al, Fe, Mn) constituent masses adhere to a bacterial growth curve during biofilm formation and growth. Peak values were observed after ≈30 days, arrived at dynamic stability after ≈50days …

Biofilm Microbial Community Structure In An Urban Lake Utilizing Reclaimed Water, Tianzhi Wang, Yunkai Li, Tingwu Xu, Naiyang Wu, Mingchao Liang, Paul Hynds

Articles

Analyses of biofilm community structure may potentially be employed for aquatic ecosystem health assessment, however, to date, biofilm diversity within urban lakes using reclaimed water has not been examined. Accordingly, the microbial community diversity and structure of biofilms from the surface of multiple matrices with varying roughness (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 μm) were characterized using a suite of molecular techniques including scanning electron microscopy, genetic fingerprinting and phospholipid-derived fatty acid analyses. Samples were largely comprised of inorganic particles, algae and numerous bacterial species; 12 phospholipid-derived fatty acid (PLFA) types were identified, significantly less than typically associated with sewage. Both growth …

Case Studies Of Cavity And External Wall Insulation Retrofitted Under The Irish Home Energy Saving Scheme: Technical Analysis And Occupant Perspectives, Aimee Byrne, Gerard Byrne, Garrett O'Donnell, Anthony Robinson

Articles

The residential sector represents 27% of primary energy consumption in Ireland. This paper examines the case study of the Irish government’s national grant scheme to encourage energy efficiency retrofit in private housing. That is the Home Energy Saving (HES) Scheme, later rebranded the Better Energy: Homes (BEH) Scheme. The methodology involved monitoring several homes immediately before and after retrofit alongside discussions with occupants. The examination focused on specific measures commonly introduced through the HES/BEH programme − cavity and external wall insulation. It has been found that a significant decrease in heat loss through the walls was measured in all cases. …

An Alternative Stiffening Method For Rigid Chs L- Joints, Niall Holmes, Darran Kierans, Patrick Crean

Articles

No abstract provided.

State-Of-The-Art Review Of Cathodic Protection For Reinforced Concrete Structures, Aimee Byrne, Niall Holmes, Brian Norton

Articles

Cathodic protection (CP) limits the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. This can be achieved either by using a more active sacrificial anode to create a driving current, or by using inert anodes and impressing a current onto the cathode surface using an external direct current (DC) source. Impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) is preferred where widespread protection is required, particularly in reinforced concrete structures. ICCP needs a constant DC power supply that is usually provided through a grid connection or independent generators. This paper presents the currently available CP systems for …

Cement Based Batteries And Their Potential For Use In Low Power Operations, Aimee Byrne, Niall Holmes, Brian Norton

Articles

This paper presents the development of an innovative cement-electrolyte battery for low power operations such as cathodic protection of reinforced concrete. A battery design was refined by altering different constituents and examining the open circuit voltage, resistor loaded current and lifespan. The final design consisted of a copper plate cathode, aluminium plate anode, and a cement electrolyte which included additives of carbon black, plasticiser, Alum salt and Epsom salt. A relationship between age, temperature and hydration of the cell and the current it produced was determined. It was found that sealing the battery using varnish increased the moisture retention and …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

An Investigation To Evaluate The Feasibility Of An Intermodal Freight Transport System., Raja Maitra

Doctoral

The threat of greenhouse gases and the resulting climate change have been causing concern at international levels. This has led towards new sustainable policies towards reducing the anthropogenic effects on the environment and the population through promoting sustainable solutions for the freight industry. The research was prompted by the growing concerns that were no mode-choice tool to select as an alternative to road freight transport. There were growing concerns that a large percentage of transport related negativities, related various costs and pollution costs, losses arising from traffic accidents, delay costs from congestion and abatement costs due to climate impacts of …