Architectural Engineering Commons^™

Portable Pressure Device To Evaluate Lateral Formwork Pressure Exerted By Fresh Concrete, Ahmed F. Omran, Kamal H. Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Use of a reliable and accurate measuring system to determine lateral pressure exerted on formwork by self-consolidating concrete can lead to economic and safe formwork systems. In this paper, a portable and field-compatible pressure device is developed to enable factors affecting lateral pressure of fresh concrete on formwork system to be explored prior to conducting onsite full-scale tests. The pressure device requires a sample of 16 L of fresh concrete to determine lateral pressure envelope that can be exerted by a concrete column of up to 13 m in height. The pressure device enables the simulation of such concrete head …

Wind-Induced Torsion Vibration Of The Super High-Rise Building Of Shenzhen Energy Center, Feng Ruo-Qiang, Ye Jihong, Guirong Yan, Li Qing-Xiang, Yao Bin

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Synchronous Multipoint Scanning System Technique in Wind Tunnel Tests and Random Vibration Theory Method Were Used to Analyze the Wind-Induced Torsion Vibration of Some Irregularly Shaped Super High-Rise Buildings in Downtowns. the Torsion Vibration Modes and the Spectra of Torsion Wind Load Were Studied, and the Proportions of Mean Wind Torsion, Inertia Torsion and the Mass Eccentricity Torsion Caused by Horizontal Inertia Forces Are Discussed. the Following Conclusions Can Be Drawn. First, the Third and Fourth Modes Have Torsion Vibration Shapes, and their Frequencies Are in the High-Energy Area of the Spectra of the Torsion Wind Load; the Third …

Teaching Archtecture, Engineering And Construction Disciplines: Using Various Pedagogical Styles To Unify The Learning Process, Jill Nelson, John W. Lawson

Architectural Engineering

The Architectural Engineering Department at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) teaches introductory sophomore level statics and mechanics of materials courses to students in three departments in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. These courses are unique in that students in the Architectural Engineering Department share coursework with students in the Architecture and Construction Management Departments. While learning and problem solving in these multidisciplinary courses have many advantages, they also offer many challenges. The learning preference of the students in these three distinctly different disciplines requires a fresh approach to the course structure. The courses …

A Structural Engineering Master's Program -- The Trials And Tribulations, Cole C. Mcdaniel, Allen Estes

Architectural Engineering

This paper is specifically intended for the advertised session in the CE Division on “current issues affecting graduate CE programs such as double dipping, accreditation of masters programs, combined MS/BS degree, research versus practice oriented masters degrees, etc.” California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) is a predominately undergraduate university. Cal Poly has recently expanded master’s level graduate programs to support advanced education and faculty-student professional development opportunities. The Architectural Engineering Department in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) started a structural engineering master’s degree program six years ago and has graduated five separate classes. …

Interdisciplinary Design - Forming And Evaluating Teams, Allen Estes, Brent Nuttall, Jill Nelson P.E., Margot Mcdonald, Gregory F. Starzyk Jd

Architectural Engineering

The College of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic State University has offered an upper division, interdisciplinary experience for every student in the form of a project based, team oriented five unit studio laboratory. The course is now in its fifth year and requires small teams of architecture, engineering and construction students to complete the schematic level design of an actual building for a real client. The quality of the projects and student deliverables has been outstanding and students are clearly meeting the objective to prepare an integrated building design. The other course objective is to function as a …

Rating Low Levels Of Ambient Noise In Performing Arts Facilities, Lily M. Wang, Brent A. Kraay

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have indicated that common indoor noise rating metrics, such as Noise Criteria NC and Room Criteria RC, do not best correlate to human perceptions of annoyance and distraction in typical office environments. Based on investigations conducted at the University of Nebraska using noise levels between 30 – 60 dBA, the author has proposed that an effective indoor noise rating method should begin with a rating of level (either dBA or sones), then an assessment of spectral quality, tones, and fluctuations. How well would such a system work at very low levels of ambient noise, though, as found in …

Quantifying The Just Noticeable Difference Of Reverberation Time With Band-Limited Noise Centered Around 1000 Hz Using A Transformed Up-Down Adaptive Method, Matthew G. Blevins, Adam T. Buck, Zhao Peng, Lily M. Wang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This study seeks to quantify the just noticeable difference (JND) of reverberation time (RT) using band-limited noise. ISO 3382-1 lists the JND of reverberation metrics at 5% based on work by Seraphim (1958). However, others have found the JND of RT to be higher from 6% to 39%. Many of these studies utilized band-limited stimuli, e.g. speech, music motifs and bandlimited noise. A previous study by the authors conducted on 30 subjects using white noise demonstrated a JND of RT at 22%. To further verify these results and investigate potential upward frequency masking, the present study was conducted following the …

Performance Of No Vibration / No Admixture Masonry Grout Containing High Replacement Of Portland Cement With Fly Ash And Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag, James P. Mwangi, Craig V. Baltimore Dr, Eric W. Bateman

Architectural Engineering

When hollow concrete masonry is used for construction in high seismic regions, structural designs typically require fully grouted walls. For a fully grouted 203x203x406 mm (8x8x16) concrete masonry unit (CMU), 52 percent of total volume is grout. Grouting process is labor-intensive, time consuming and has a high energy demand due to requirements of consolidation in each and subsequent grout lifts. Self-consolidating grout with admixtures has been successfully used without segregation in walls of up to 3.86 m (12.67 ft.) in height. Investigation of self-consolidating grout mixes without admixtures has potential for sustainability improvement. This paper reports on the compression strength …

Effects Of Background Noise Alternating Between Two Levels At Varying Time Intervals On Human Perception And Performance, Andrew Hathaway, Lily M. Wang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This research experiment aims to better quantify human perception and performance under increased background noise levels of varying intervals. Twenty-seven participants were tested over five 30 minute sessions where they were subjected to RC-29(H) and RC-47(RV) conditions created by broadband noise fluctuating on different time intervals. These intervals varied from two minutes to ten minutes, simulating the conditions of a noisy HVAC system turning on and off. The performance results of an arithmetic test dealing with short-term memory and a subjective questionnaire will be presented and compared to a similar test using broadband noise bursts and correlated to noise metrics …

Effects Of Reverberation And Noise On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Zhao Peng, Lily M. Wang, Siu Kit Lau, Adam M. Steinbach

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of adverse signal-to-noise-ratios on non-native English-speaking listeners' performance on speech recognition using recall tasks, as well as implied that comprehension skills were more impaired than recognition skills under reverberation and noise. The authors have themselves previously conducted a pilot study on three native and three non-native Englishspeaking listeners to examine the effects of reverberation and noise using speech comprehension tasks. Those results suggested that speech comprehension performance is worse under longer reverberation times (RT), and that a longer RT is more detrimental to speech comprehension by non-native listeners than native listeners. This paper …

Seismic Performance Comparison Of A Fixed-Base Versus A Base-Isolated Office Building, Nicholas Reidar Marrs

Master's Theses

The topic of this thesis is base isolation. The purpose of this thesis is to offer a relative understanding of the seismic performance enhancements that a typical 12-story steel office building can achieve through the implementation of base isolation technology. To reach this understanding, the structures of a fixed-base office building and a base-isolated office building of similar size and layout are designed, their seismic performance is compared, and a cost-benefit analysis is completed. The base isolation system that is utilized is composed of Triple Friction Pendulum (TFP) bearings.

The work of this thesis is divided into four phases. First, …

Cal Poly Brocade Challenge 2013, Chandler Morehardt, Alexa Coburn, Juan Silva, Kerry Sun, Greg Wang, Raul Chagoya, Jd Torres

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Comparative Pedestrian Visibility Under Solid State Led Sources, Dana Younis

Theses

One of the important factors in striving towards sustainable urban living is the safety of pedestrians. This safety is influence by many factors, one of which is the ability of drivers to see pedestrians. During the night, pedestrian visibility becomes more difficult, especially on two-way streets, where headlamps of cars from the opposite direction cause glare to drivers. Newer types of headlamps are using LEDs and Xenon which are glarier than older halogen types.

This study is arranged in two parts. The first part of which examines the effect of oncoming car headlamps on pedestrian night time visibility. Detection distance …

Evaluating The Performance Of Urban Public Plazas In Al Ain Downtown In Relation To Physical Characteristics And Social Principles, Merai Ismail Al-Zoubi

Theses

The thesis studies the existing problems of AI Ain Downtown plazas mainly from the physical and social points of view. AI Ain downtown plazas are designed to provide a high level of social life. The main problem of these plazas is that they are used by only a particular social group. This study intends to develop a framework for evaluating and enhancing the urban public spaces in AI Ain city.

The framework is classified into two main dimensions; physical and social. Each dimension has a set of principles that affect the performance of the plaza. A descriptive analysis method is …

Architectural Engineering Earthquake Shake Table, Garrett Gudgel, John Whitmer, Brandan Williams

Mechanical Engineering

The Architectural Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, owns and operates a single-axis earthquake shake table that previously was only capable of basic wave motion. After implementing a computer based interface to the existing system, Mechanical Engineering student seniors were able to create control algorithms that can take existing or user created acceleration data from earthquakes as well as any user defined position data to be accurately run on the earthquake shake table.

Long-Term Low Do Enriches And Shifts Nitrifier Community In Activated Sludge, Guoqiang Liu, Jianmin Wang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the activated sludge process, reducing the operational dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration can improve oxygen transfer efficiency, thereby reducing energy use. The low DO, however, may result in incomplete nitrification. This research investigated the long-term effect of low DO on the nitrification performance of activated sludge. Results indicated that, for reactors with 10- and 40-day solids retention times (SRTs), complete nitrification was accomplished after a long-term operation with a DO of 0.37 and 0.16 mg/L, respectively. Under long-term low DO conditions, nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) became a better oxygen competitor than ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and, as a result, no …

Collective Chord Behavior In Large Flexible Diaphragms, J. W. Lawson, C. N. Yarber

Architectural Engineering

The seismic behavior of large low-rise buildings with rigid walls and flexible diaphragms will be dominated more by the diaphragm’s seismic response than by the very stiff vertical walls. For practitioners, estimating the stiffness of large flexible diaphragms is important for computing building setbacks from property lines and adjacent structures as well as evaluating structural integrity under seismic loads. In addition, researchers attempting to accurately model a building’s dynamic behavior need to assemble an accurate diaphragm stiffness prediction. The traditional diaphragm chord model consists of a single continuous line of axial resistance at the diaphragm boundaries; however, as this paper …

Pump Controller Design For Variable Primary Flow Configuration Systems, Yifan Shi

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pump systems are utilized widely in Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems. There are mainly three configuration types: (1) the constant primary-only flow configuration, (2) the constant primary/variable secondary flow configuration, and (3) the variable primary-only flow configuration. This thesis focuses on finding the optimal control strategy for it and programming a controller for easy in-field usage.

In this thesis, the pump brake horse power (BHP) of the three pump configurations is simulated and compared using varying control methods. The best pump efficiency staging and DP reset control methods are implemented into the pump controller. A one month field experiment …

Investigating The Effect Specific Credits Of The Leed Rating System Have On The Energy Performance Of An Existing Building, Richelle Fosu

Department of Computer Graphics Technology Degree Theses

Throughout this thesis the potential financial and energy usage impact an upgrade to green building standards would have on an antiquated building has been analyzed. The extent of the implementation of specific LEED rating system credits that relate directly or indirectly to the energy consumption of a building have been demonstrated, through the means of several simulations using Revit, eQuest, Ecotect and Vasari simulation tools. This thesis also attempted to provide a clear understanding and overview of the plausibility of the suggested upgrades to be made, with regards to financial investment required for such upgrades, by using simple payback calculations …

Vulnerability Of Progressive Collapse In Reinforced Concrete Flat-Plate Buildings, Jinrong Liu

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• Progressive collapse is the spread of initial local failure, causing partial or
  even total collapse of a building.
• Flat plate structure is widely used for office and residential buildings.
• There is a large inventory of older flat plate building without continuous slab bottom reinforcement through columns.
• Limited knowledge exists regarding the risk of disproportionate collapse in
  older flat-plates under sudden column removal during abnormal events.
• Reliable mechanical model is needed for structural evaluation.

Precast Concrete Insulated Wall Panel Corbels Without Thermal Bridging, Mohamed Elkady

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The common practice in corbel design is to block out the insulation in order to provide a solid concrete area at the corbel location. This connection practice results in thermal bridging, which significantly reduces the energy performance of the panel. For example, the PCI Design Handbook indicates that the reduction in thermal resistance caused by a solid part with an area equal to 9% of the total panel surface area is as high as 42%. This paper presents a discussion of a new concept for corbel design of insulated wall panels with the thermal break totally preserved. Two different designs …

Evaluation Of Statistical Energy Analysis For Prediction Of Breakout Noise From Air Duct, Himanshu S. Malushte

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The breakout noise from an air-conditioning duct is of immense concern in order to maintain a sound environment at home, office spaces, hospitals, etc. The challenge lies in correctly estimating the breakout noise by knowing the breakout sound transmission loss from the air duct. The ASHRAE Handbook: HVAC Applications (ASHRAE, 2011) currently lists some of theoretical transmission loss values for limited duct dimensions and gages (duct-wall thickness) at the octave band frequencies. Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) is promising to predict the sound transmission loss for breakout noise for any given air duct configuration, particularly at high frequency. Though there are …

Multi-Objective Time-Cost Optimization Using Cobb-Douglas Production Function And Hybrid Genetic Algorithm, Zhigang Shen, Ashkan Hassani, Qian Shi

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Existing research on construction time-cost tradeoff issues rarely explore the origin of the crashing cost. Crashing cost function was either assumed without much justification, or came from historical data of some real projects. As a result the conclusions of the papers can hardly be used to guide allocations of labor and equipment resources respectively. The authors believe Cobb-Douglas function provides a much-needed piece to modeling the cost functions in the construction time-cost tradeoff problem during the crashing process. We believe this new perspective fills a gap of existing time-cost tradeoff research by considering project duration, labor and equipment cost as …

Parameters Influencing Pressure During Pumping Of Self-Compacting Concrete, Dimitri Feys, Geert De Schutter, Ronny Verhoeven

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Main Difference between Conventional Vibrated Concrete (CVC) and Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is Observed in the Fresh State, as SCC Has a Significantly Lower Yield Stress. on the Other Hand, the Placement of SCC by Means of Pumping is Done with the Same Equipment and Following the Same Practical Guidelines Developed for CVC. It Can Be Questioned Whether the Flow Behavior in Pipes of SCC is Different and Whether the Developed Practical Guidelines Can Still Be Applied. This Paper Describes the Results of Full-Scale Pumping Tests Carried Out on Several SCC Mixtures. It Shows Primarily that the Slump or Yield …

Special Section On Natural Treatment Systems: More Than Just A Solution To Pollution, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Bowling Green, Kentucky - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Fortifications (Sc 899), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 899. Photocopies and documentation of plans of Civil War forts in Bowling Green, Kentucky. While these may have all been drawn in 1865, the plans have earlier dates on them.

Offshore Anchor Piles Under Mooring Forces: Centrifuge Modeling, Mohamed I. Ramadan, Stephen D. Butt, Radu Popescu

Architectural Engineering

Offshore anchor piles are seafloor moorings that keep the position of floating structures during a harsh environment. These piles are usually subjected to a wide range of monotonic and cyclic lateral-to-oblique pullout forces. Centrifuge tests were carried out to study the behavior of offshore anchor piles under mooring forces in saturated dense sand. The tests were carried out at different loading angles. All piles were jacked into the sand bed in-flight. The pile models were instrumented with strain gauges. Bending moment, soil pressure, and pile lateral deflection profiles are presented and discussed. It was found that there is a significant …

Survey Of Suitable Plants For Cal Poly's Green Wall, Katrina Burritt

Horticulture and Crop Science

Green wall technology is a growing industry in the United States and has been very successful for a several years throughout Europe. The objective of this survey was to study the success of several different species of plants on a vertical wall facing south at Cal Poly’s Horticultural Department Unit. At first the focus was aimed at using California native species, because it was thought that natives would be better acclimated to the exposure in this specific location. It became apparent that plants should not be selected for the wall based just on the fact that they are California natives. …

Response Surface Method Based On Radial Basis Functions For Modeling Large-Scale Structures In Model Updating, Linren Zhou, Guirong Yan, Jinping Ou

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Response Surface (RS) Method based on Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) is Proposed to Model the Input-Output System of Large-Scale Structures for Model Updating in This Article. as a Methodology Study, the Complicated Implicit Relationships between the Design Parameters and Response Characteristics of Cable-Stayed Bridges Are Employed in the Construction of an RS. the Key Issues for Application of the Proposed Method Are Discussed, Such as Selecting the Optimal Shape Parameters of RBFs, Generating Samples by using Design of Experiments, and Evaluating the RS Model. the RS Methods based on RBFs of Gaussian, Inverse Quadratic, Multiquadric, and Inverse Multiquadric Are …

Structural Engineering Students For Haiti: A Student-Run, Student-Initiated Organization For The Benefit Of The Haitian People, Andrew Jimenez, Alex Daddow

Architectural Engineering

On August 2nd 2012, a group of 10 students from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo traveled to Léogâne, Haiti to construct a bell tower for the Saint Rose de Lima Parish. The trip consisted of four days of construction, and three days of touring. The seven days in Haiti were a result of three months of planning by a student-run, student-initiated group called Structural Engineering Students for Haiti, or SESH. The following report documents the planning, execution and lessons learned from this trip. The planning included everything from fund raising to disease prevention. The trip was successful because the bell …