Architectural Engineering Commons^™

Need For Aeromedical Evacuation High-Level Containment Transport Guidelines, Shawn G. Gibbs, Jocelyn J. Herstein, Aurora B. Le, Elizabeth L. Beam, Theodore J. Cieslak, James V. Lawler, Joshua L. Santarpia, Terry L. Stentz, Kelli R. Kopocis-Herstein, Chandran Achutan, Gary W. Carter, John J. Lowe

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Circumstances exist that call for the aeromedical evacuation high-level containment transport (AE-HLCT) of patients with highly hazardous communicable diseases. A small number of organizations maintain AE-HLCT capabilities, and little is publicly available regarding the practices. The time is ripe for the development of standards and consensus guidelines involving AE-HLCT.

Hvac System Remote Monitoring And Diagnosis, Jeffrey N. Arensmeier, Gregg M. Hemmelgarn, Fadi M. Alsaleem, Priotomo Abiprojo

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A monitoring system for an HVAC system of a building includes a monitoring server located remotely from the building. The monitoring server receives, from a device installed at the building, (i) time-domain current data based on a measured aggregate current supplied to a plurality of components of the HVAC system, and (ii) data based on frequency-domain current data of the measured aggregate current. Based on the received data, the monitoring server accesses (i) whether a failure has occurred in a first com ponent of the plurality of components and (ii) generates a preliminary advisory in response to determining that the …

Strategies And Resources For Government Agencies To Utilize Disadvantaged Business Enterprises In Transportation Design-Build Projects, Baabak Ashuri, Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy, Stephanie Amoaning-Yankson, Yunping Liang, Yang Cao

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program was established to provide opportunities for businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, such as minority-owned and women-owned businesses, to participate in federally funded transportation-related projects. Such DBE participation has increasingly been achieved over the years with the appropriate guidance for traditional project delivery: design-bid-build. However, in recent times the onset of alternative project delivery methods, such as design-build (DB), has introduced challenges for state DOTs trying to implement the DBE program using traditional approaches. This paper presents a synthesis of strategies and resources being used in state DOTs to achieve …

Skip This Chore: Cleaning Your Air Conditioner Condenser Probably Won't Make It Work Better, David Yuill

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

I asked my neighbor who hoses off his air conditioner condenser every spring why he does it. “Because my dad always told me I had to,” he said.

Conventional wisdom like what my neighbor’s dad imparted may always seem right. But through my HVAC scholarship – the study of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems – I’ve learned that this particular presumption is probably wrong.

Heat Pump And Air Conditioning Grading Systems And Methods, Fadi Mohammad Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

An expectation module determines an expected average power consumption of a heat pump for a predetermined period as a function of indoor and outdoor temperatures of the building during the predetermined period. A difference module determines a power difference between an average power consumption of the heat pump during the predeter mined period and the expected average power consumption of the heat pump for the predetermined period. A grade determination module determines a grade of the heat pump for the predetermined period based on the power difference of the predetermined period. A reporting module generates a displayable report including the …

Building Envelope And Interior Grading Systems And Methods, Fadi Mohammad Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A difference module determines differences between an outdoor ambient temperature and an indoor temperature, determines a first average of the differences , and determines a second average of the differences. A storing module stores a first data point, the first data point including the first average and a first total run time of a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, and stores a second data point, the second data point including the second average and a second total run time of the HVAC system. A fitting module fits a line to the first and second data points. An envelope …

Post-Earthquake Assessment And Numerical Modeling Of Freestanding Heritage Structures, M. Khalid Saifullah, Christine E. Wittich

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Historic and heritage structures are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, where damage or collapse can not only lead to loss of a structure but also the loss of irreplaceable heritage. Many heritage structures can be classified as freestanding (detached) structures, including unreinforced masonry walls, classical multi-drum columns, and statue-pedestal systems. However, the seismic response of freestanding structures (sliding, rocking, rock-slide, overturning) is poorly predicted by existing methods due to geometric non-linearities as well as sensitivity to interface conditions and modeling parameters. Previous studies have focused on analytical modeling of simplified systems and/or experimentation under controlled laboratory conditions. In contrast, this paper …

Experiencing Extreme Height For The First Time: The Influence Of Height, Self-Judgment Of Fear And A Moving Structural Beam On The Heart Rate And Postural Sway During The Quiet Stance, Mahmoud Habibnezhad, Jay Puckett, M. S. Fardhosseini, Houtan Jebelli, Terry Stentz, L. A. Pratama

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Falling from elevated surfaces is the main cause of death and injury at construction sites. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, an average of nearly three workers per day suffer fatal injuries from falling. Studies show that postural instability is the foremost cause of this disproportional falling rate. To study what affects the postural stability of construction workers, we conducted a series of experiments in the virtual reality (VR). Twelve healthy adults—all students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—were recruited for this study. During each trial, participants’ heart rates and postural sways were measured as the dependent factors. …

Prediction Of Stress Increase At Ultimate In Unbonded Tendons Using Sparse Principal Component Analysis, Eric Mckinney, Minwoo Chang, Marc Maguire, Yan Sun

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

While internal and external unbonded tendons are widely utilized in concrete structures, an analytical solution for the increase in unbonded tendon stress at ultimate strength, ∆f_ps, is challenging due to the lack of bond between strand and concrete. Moreover, most analysis methods do not provide high correlation due to the limited available test data. The aim of this paper is to use advanced statistical techniques to develop a solution to the unbonded strand stress increase problem, which phenomenological models by themselves have done poorly. In this paper, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Sparse Principal Component Analysis (SPCA) …

A Practitioner’S Guide To Small Unmanned Aerial Systems For Bridge Inspection, Sattar Dorafshan, Robert J. Thomas, Calvin Coopmans, Marc Maguire

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Small unmanned aerial system(s) (sUAS) are rapidly emerging as a practical means of performing bridge inspections. Under the right condition, sUAS assisted inspections can be safer, faster, and less costly than manned inspections. Many Departments of Transportation in the United States are in the early stages of adopting this emerging technology. However, definitive guidelines for the selection of equipment for various types of bridge inspections or for the possible challenges during sUAS assisted inspections are absent. Given the large investments of time and capital associated with deploying a sUAS assisted bridge inspection program, a synthesis of authors experiences will be …

Hvac System Air Filter Diagnostics And Monitoring, Priotomo Abiprojo, Fadi M. Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A system and method for monitoring a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building is provided. A monitoring server, located remotely from the building, receives operating parameter data from a monitoring device at the building that measures an operating parameter of the HVAC system. The monitoring server generates a plurality of data clusters from the operating parameter data, each data cluster corresponding to operating parameter data generated during steady-state operation of the HVAC system. The monitoring server calculates an average operating parameter value for each data cluster. The monitoring server calculates normalized operating parameter values based on …

Comparison Of Wind Farm Layout Optimization Results Using A Simple Wake Model And Gradient-Based Optimization To Large-Eddy Simulations, Jared J. Thomas, Jennifer Annoni, Paul Fleming, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

The models used during wind farm layout optimization use simplifying assumptions that can alter the design space. Some characteristics of the simple models may negatively influence the resulting layouts. In this paper, we perform wind farm layout optimization using a simple wake model and compare the resulting improvements to large-eddy simulation (LES) results to confirm that the layout was actually improved. We begin by describing the models used, including changes specific for use with gradient-based optimization. We then compare our models’ output to previously published model and LES results. Using the models described, we performed gradient-based wind farm layout optimization …

Best Practices For Wake Model And Optimization Algorithm Selection In Wind Farm Layout Optimization, Nicholas F. Baker, Andrew P.J. Stanley, Jared J. Thomas, Andrew Ning, Katherine Dykes

Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of two case studies regarding the wind farm layout optimization problem. We asked members of the computational optimization and wind communities to take part in the studies that we designed. Nine individuals participated. Case study 1 considered variations in optimization strategies for a given simple Gaussian wake model. Participants were provided with a wake model that outputs annual energy production (AEP) for an input set of wind turbine locations. Participants used an optimization method of their choosing to find an optimal wind farm layout. Case study 2 looked at trade-offs in performance resulting from variation …