Architectural Engineering Commons^™

Foreign Object Debris Detection For Airport Pavement Images Based On Self-Supervised Localization And Vision Transformer, Travis Munyer, Daniel Brinkman, Xin Zhong, Chenyu Huang, Iason Konstantzos

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Supervised object detection methods provide subpar performance when applied to Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection because FOD could be arbitrary objects according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specification. Current supervised object detection algorithms require datasets that contain annotated examples of every to-be-detected object. While a large and expensive dataset could be developed to include common FOD examples, it is infeasible to collect all possible FOD examples in the dataset representation because of the openended nature of FOD. Limitations of the dataset could cause FOD detection systems driven by those supervised algorithms to miss certain FOD, which can become dangerous …

Robotics In Architecture <> Robotic Architecture: Why Can’T A Building Be As Smart As A Car?, Josh Vermillion

Creative Collaborations

The built environment is rich with opportunities for embedding and integrating digital technologies and sensors to create responsive and adaptable systems—to become smarter. This poster outlines selected moments from a thirteen-year body of work in research, design, and prototyping of responsive systems that act spatially with the environment at installation scale.

Robotics, sensing, physical computing, and digital fabrication are all topics that have been prioritized by U.S. funding programs such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Education. This poster presents the start of a framework--based around the concept of tinkering--for introducing these systems …

Visualizing The Operative And Managing Complexity: Communicating The Design-Fabrication Feedback Loop With The International Tile Industry, Josh Vermillion

Creative Collaborations

School of Architecture faculty members Joshua Vermillion and Paul Morrison led a multi-disciplinary group of students from Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Theater in a design-build elective, sponsored entirely by companies in the tile and coverings industry. The key to these sorts of collaborations between industry and academe is to see the production, fabrication, and assembly process as something that can inform design, and as a result, the design can augment production by strategic design decision-making. This feedback loop, connecting both ends of the design-production continuum, can yield interesting design research questions. One such question arose repeatedly throughout this semester of …

Optimization Of Mixture Parameter For Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Reactive Powder Concrete Under External Sulfate Attack Using Taguchi Method, Umut Bakhbergen, Chang Seon Shon, Dichuan Zhang, Jong Ryeol Kim, Jenny Liu

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is defined as a cementitious composite material with an optimized size of granular constituents, very low water-to-binder ratio (w/b), pozzolanic materials like silica fume (SF), and discontinuous fiber reinforcement. RPC applications include bridge decks and girders, seismic columns, wind turbine towers, and pile foundations. Especially, a durable and robust RPC pile foundation with long service life is essential in building construction because continuous maintenance is impossible. Moreover, natural in-situ conditions such as water table, temperature, and sulfate concentration in soil to which the pile foundation is exposed are critical and related to deteriorating the pile foundation. …

Upcycling Steel Slag In Producing Eco-Efficient Iron–Calcium Phosphate Cement, Yue Ma, Yunlong Luo, Hongyan Ma, Xintao Zhou, Zhongqiu Luo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the present study, steel slag powder (SSP) was utilized as the raw material to prepare iron-calcium phosphate cement (ICPC) by reacting with ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP). The influences of the raw materials (SSP/ADP) mass ratios ranging from 2.0 to 7.0 on the properties and microstructures of ICPC pastes were investigated. The compressive strengths of ICPC pastes at all ages firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of SSP/ADP, and the SSP/ADP of 6.0 gave the highest strength. Crystalline mundrabillaite and amorphous phases [i.e. Fe(OH)₃, Al(OH)₃ and H₄SiO₄] were formed as the …

Homogenous Flow Performance Of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Self-Consolidating Concrete For Repair Applications: Developing A New Empirical Set-Up, Naimeh Nouri, Masoud Hosseinpoor, Ammar Yahia, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study, a new empirical Square-Box test was employed to evaluate the homogeneous flow performance of fiber-reinforced self-consolidating concrete (FR-SCC) under confined-flow conditions that are typical of repair applications. The Square-Box set-up consisted of a closed-circuit box, providing 2.4-m flow distance and a closed-surface cross section of 100-mm width and 200-mm height, equipped with 0 and 4 rows of reinforcing bar grids with 45-mm clear spacing. The flow performance was assessed in terms of dynamic stability and passing ability. The investigated mixtures were considered as diphasic suspensions of fiber-coarse aggregate (F-A > 5 mm) in suspending mortars containing particles finer …

Synergistic Effect Of Shrinkage Mitigating Materials On Rheological Properties Of Flowable And Thixotropic Cement Paste, Kamran Aghaee, Ricarda Sposito, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the effect of individual and combined additions of CaO-based expansive agent (EA), shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA), and super absorbent polymer (SAP) on key characteristics of flowable cement paste mixtures proportioned with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.40. Of special interest is the effectiveness of these admixtures to mitigate shrinkage of cementitious materials for 3D printing. Static and dynamic yield stress, plastic and apparent viscosities, and thixotropy were evaluated at 20-min intervals up to 90 min. Compressive strength development and autogenous shrinkage were also determined. A factorial design approach was developed to evaluate the synergetic effects of the shrinkage …

Spiral Deployment Of Optical Fiber Sensors For Distributed Strain Measurement In Seven-Wire Twisted Steel Cables, Post-Tensioned Against Precast Concrete Bars, Yanping Zhu, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

On-time monitoring and condition assessments of steel cables provide mission-critical data for informed decision making, ensuring the structural safety of post-tensioned concrete structures. This study aimed to develop a spiral deployment scheme of distributed fiber optic sensors (DFOS) and to monitor/assess the post-tensioned force in seven-wire twisted steel cables, based on the pulse-pre-pump Brillouin optical time domain analysis. Each DFOS was placed in a spiral shape between two surface wires of a steel cable and glued to the steel cable by epoxy. Image observations were conducted to investigate the entireness and bonding condition between the optical fiber and the steel …

Characterizing And Modeling The Coupled Hydro-Mechanical Cyclic Behavior Of Unsaturated Soils Using Constant Water Content Oedometer And Direct Shear Tests, Beshoy Riad, Xiong Zhang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most transportation infrastructures are constructed on compacted soils that are typically unsaturated above the groundwater table. The soils are subjected to cyclic traffic loadings and seasonal wetting–drying cycles. Although problems associated with unsaturated soils are ubiquitous in the US, coupled hydro-mechanical analysis is rarely included in the design/analysis of transportation geosystems. This can be attributed to two main reasons: (a) there are no simple devices/methods which can be used to rapidly characterize stress–strain behavior for unsaturated soils, and (b) there is a lack of a constitutive model to study coupled hydro-mechanical cyclic behavior for unsaturated soils in a consistent way. …

Benefits And Drawbacks Of Using Multiple Shrinkage Mitigating Strategies On Performance Of Fiber-Reinforced Mortar, Kamran Aghaee, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shrinkage mitigating strategies have been successfully used to prevent concrete cracking. Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficiency of shrinkage mitigating materials (SMM), such as expansive agent (EA), shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA), and superabsorbent polymer (SAP) on reducing shrinkage and cracking; however, few studies have addressed the limitations of using these materials. In addition, the mechanism of negative effect on microstructure and mechanical properties when these materials are used at high contents or in combinations is not well defined. This study investigates the effect of CaO-based EA, SRA, and SAP on compressive strength development, fiber pull-out strength, and shrinkage of fiber-reinforced …

A Novel Iron Phosphate Cement Derived From Copper Smelting Slag And Its Early Age Hydration Mechanism, Yunlong Luo, Xintao Zhou, Zhongqiu Luo, Hongyan Ma, Yu Wei, Qin Liu

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Copper slag (CS), a by-product of copper smelting, is normally stockpiled, leading to wastes of resource and space as well as environment pollution. It has not been massively reutilized as a supplementary cementitious material in Portland cement due to its low reactivity. In the present study, CS is for the first time utilized as the base component to prepare an iron phosphate cement (IPC) by reacting with ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) at room temperature. The influence of the raw materials mass ratio (CS/ADP) on the microstructure and performance of IPC pastes are investigated. It is found that the compressive strength …

Studying Dynamic Pricing In Electrical Power Markets With Distributed Generation: Agent-Based Modeling And Reinforcement-Learning Approach, Gasser G. Ali, Islam H. El-Adaway, Charles Sims, J. Scott Holladay, Chien Fei Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Distributed generation (DG) refers to small-scale generation resources that are located at or near end-consumers, such as photovoltaic (PV) solar systems. DG systems have become increasingly popular in recent years owing to their economic efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. However, the increasing adoption of DG is creating new obstacles for system operators due to the uncertainty in forecasting future demand. One concern is the possibility of facing a utility death spiral as a feedback loop between, on the one hand, the increasing adoption of DG and increasing electricity rates to cover generation and transmission overheads with, on the other hand, reduced …

Zero Net Energy Test House, Timothy Hemsath, James D. Goedert, Avery Don Schwer, Yong Cho

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the first phase of a residential research program to reduce the impact of new construction on the environment through research and education using a Zero Net Energy Test House as a framework. Containing four bedrooms, three and a half baths, the 1,800 square foot house, 1,000 square foot basement, is located in Omaha, Nebraska. It is being used to validate several research projects and provides a platform for applications research of a number of technological advances. Laminated photovoltaic solar panels, a wind turbine, and an occupant monitoring energy control system are some of the sustainable design innovations …

Toward Sustainable Smart Cities: Concepts & Challenges, Nabila Al-Ghabra

Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ)

The world’s urban population is growing enormously, increasing of energy usage, air toxicity, and traffic congestion in urban areas which need a furthermost effective way for solutions. Smart city as a solution is expected to solve the functionality of urban systems. It needs to improve ICT infrastructure as an authoritative, adaptable, accessible, secure, and flexible one, and improve the quality of daily lifetime, refine citizen’s healthiness as well to achieve economic growth and develop the physical infrastructure services to promote sustainable development. This research is a narrative review, kind of methodological approach presented as open research and structured as follows: …

Artificial Intelligence In Civil Infrastructure Health Monitoring—Historical Perspectives, Current Trends, And Future Visions, Tarutal Ghosh Mondal, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Over the past 2 decades, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has exponentially increased toward complete automation of structural inspection and assessment tasks. This trend will continue to rise in image processing as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet of things (IoT) markets are expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 57.5% and 26%, respectively, from 2021 to 2028. This paper aims to catalog the milestone development work, summarize the current research trends, and envision a few future research directions in the innovative application of AI in civil infrastructure health monitoring. A blow-by-blow account of the …

Common Ground Newsletter Fall 2022, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

Common Ground

- Summer camps returned in person

Flexural Strength Of Innovative Thin-Walled Composite Cold-Formed Steel/Pe-Ecc Beams, Ahmed Sheta, Xing Ma, Yan Zhuge, Mohamed Elgawady, Julie Mills, Elsayed Abd-Elaal

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A detailed experimental investigation on the flexural behaviour of an innovative precast composite element combining cold-formed steel (CFS) and engineered cementitious composites (ECC) is presented in this paper. Bonding ECC to the lightweight thin-walled CFS sections enhanced the buckling, bearing, and torsional properties of the composite sections. The proposed composite system will be used as precast flexural members in framed structures with large spans or as a rehabilitation approach for corroded cold-formed and hot-rolled steel flexural members. Simply supported beams with comparatively long spans with span-to-depth ratios of 6.83 and 13.48 were installed back-to-back and tested under a 4-point loading …

Increased Strength And Stiffness In Plywood Shear Walls Through Steel Straps, Mike Deigert, Elizabeth Claypool, Michelle Dennin, John W. Lawson

Architectural Engineering

In a recent iteration of an upper-division engineering design lab course at Cal Poly SLO, students were challenged to identify and understand the probable failure mechanism of conventionally built plywood shear walls and hypothesize how they could delay or prevent common failure mechanisms to increase the overall lateral load carrying capacity. After observing the results of a test on a conventional, code specified wall, a solution to integrate metal gauge strapping into edge nailing was developed to address the common failure mechanisms of nail head pull through and panel edge tear out. A shear wall with metal strapping installed between …

Some New Insights For Inferring Diapycnal (Irreversible) Diffusivity In Stably Stratified Turbulence, Amrapalli Garanaik, Subhas Karan Venayagamoorthy

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

New insight for inferring diapycnal diffusivity in stably stratified turbulent flows is obtained based on physical scaling arguments and tested using high-resolution direct numerical simulation data. It is shown that the irreversible diapycnal diffusivity can be decomposed into a diapycnal length scale that represents an inner scale of turbulence and a diapycnal velocity scale. Furthermore, it is shown that the diapycnal length scale and velocity scale can be related to the measurable Ellison length scale (LE) that represents outer scale of turbulence and vertical turbulent velocity scale (w ′) through a turbulent Froude number scaling analysis. The turbulent Froude number …

Investigation On Chloride Binding Capacity And Stability Of Friedel's Salt In Graphene Oxide Reinforced Cement Paste, Wu Jian Long, Xuanhan Zhang, Gan Lin Feng, Jing Xie, Feng Xing, Biqin Dong, Jinrui Zhang, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Chloride binding capacity is one of the important factors affecting chloride induced rebar corrosion in reinforced concrete structures. Moreover, the stability of Friedel's salt will also affect the chloride binding capacity of cement-based materials. This study investigates the effect of graphene oxide (GO) on the chloride binding capacity of cement paste and stability of Friedel's salt under different pH conditions. Experiments of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were performed to analyze the phase assemblage, micro morphology, element ratio and the enhanced mechanisms. Results showed that the 0.2 wt% GO addition …

Leveraging Lessons Learned From A Virtual Hands-On Outreach Program To Cultivate Diversity In The Next Generation Of Structural Engineers, Anahid Behrouzi, Nicole Buck, Sarah Navias

Architectural Engineering

A challenge that continues to face the structural engineering (SE) profession is the recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented minority (URM) groups, underscored over the years by findings reported on by the SE3 project committee. One approach to address this is by developing and conducting early outreach efforts with diverse populations of K-12 students, so they are aware of SE’s meaningful contributions to society and the intriguing technical problem- solving opportunities in this field. During these educational activities it is also important for young students to be exposed to engineering practitioner-educators who represent diverse backgrounds and whose lived experience …

A Parametric Study Of The New Wood Diaphragm Design Force Methods, John Lawson, Emily Taylor

Architectural Engineering

Since the introduction of seismic design provisions in U.S. building codes and standards, a single generally-accepted method has existed for determining seismic design forces on diaphragms. Recently, an alternate procedure was introduced in the Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-16) (ASCE, 2016), and an additional alternate procedure is introduce in its next edition ASCE 7-22 (ASCE, 2022) for single-story rigid-wall flexible-diaphragm (RWFD) buildings. Suddenly the determination of seismic diaphragm forces has become a much more complex choice. The two newer alternate methods are based on better predictive modeling research; however, it is of …

Critical Evaluation Of Time And Cost Of Terrestrial Laser Scanning For Construction Automated Qa Analysis, Joao Rocha, Davitt Lamon

Capstone Reports

Many governments agencies and private owners are demanding up-to-date information related to the current conditions of their facilities. Conventional QA is time-consuming and inefficient; thus, 3D terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology has been adopted due to the fast speed and high accuracy in acquiring data. Automated QA analysis can reduce the labour and time needed, reduce the costs, and improve the overall project efficiency. However, very few research efforts have been made to study the benefits of the automated QA analysis in a quantitative way. The process of the TLS-based geometric QA based in an automated data analysis process is …

Anti-Washout Concrete: An Overview, Hao Lu, Xiao Sun, Hongyan Ma

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Anti-washout concrete (AWC) is a special cement-based material that can be directly employed in underwater environments without dispersion. It was developed around 50 years ago, and more than 150 journal articles and technical reports have been published. This paper provides a holistic review about the basic fresh-state and hardened-state properties of the AWC, such as water (washout) resistance, consistency, bleeding and segregation resistance, mechanical properties, and durability, as well as relevant testing methods. The discrepancies between AWC's characteristics and those of conventional concrete are clearly presented. The mixture compositions, supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), and other conditions that affect AWC's performance …

The Use Of Gpr To Investigate The Effect Of Steel Fiber Distribution On The Mechanical Behavior Of Frc, Paola Machado Barreto Manhães, José Tavares Araruna Júnior, Genda Chen, Neil Lennart Anderson, Erik Valloti Pereira, Flávio De Andrade Silva

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The present work focuses on the steel fiber distribution in self-consolidating concrete short beams. The objective is to assess the feasibility of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) in evaluating the homogeneity of fibers within concrete materials, for use in testing laboratories to study the modes of placing and compaction employed for preparing specimens during quality control or material development. Self-consolidating concrete beams were cast, tested, and evaluated. A GPR survey employing a concrete scanning system with a shielded 1.2 GHz center frequency was performed on self-consolidating casted short beams just before a monotonic four-point bending test was carried out. After …

Llam-Mdcnet For Detecting Remote Sensing Images Of Dead Tree Clusters, Zongchen Li, Ruoli Yang, Weiwei Cai, Yongfei Xue, Yaowen Hu, Liujun Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Clusters of dead trees are forest fires-prone. To maintain ecological balance and realize its protection, timely detection of dead trees in forest remote sensing images using existing computer vision methods is of great significance. Remote sensing images captured by Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) typically have several issues, e.g., mixed distribution of adjacent but different tree classes, interference of redundant information, and high differences in scales of dead tree clusters, making the detection of dead tree clusters much more challenging. Therefore, based on the Multipath dense composite network (MDCN), an object detection method called LLAM-MDCNet is proposed in this paper. First, …

Professional And Organizational Leadership Role In Ethics Management: Avoiding Reliance On Ethical Codification And Nurturing Ethical Culture, Islam H. El-Adaway, Marianne Jennings

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The engineering profession has experienced some ethical cases that were rarely reported, scrutinized, or discussed because: they did not necessarily represent violations of existing codes even if they breached ethical principles; those within the organization were not prepared to take steps to address the issues or impose sanction; an/or some of the personnel associated with these cases resorted to silence to avoid being labeled as trouble-makers in their organizations and, perhaps, more broadly, in society. The goal of this paper is to heighten managerial awareness of ethical issues, interrelated ethical lapses, and appropriate responsive actions within professional engineering communities. As …

The Use Of Alkaline Co2 Solvent For The Co2 Curing Of Blast-Furnace Slag Mortar, Seong Ho Han, Yubin Jun, Jae Hong Kim

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Moving toward carbon neutrality in the construction industry involves utilizing CO₂ to produce construction materials. CO₂ curing of cement-based materials induces carbonation at an early age, which enhances strength and performance. A new process for the CO₂ curing is proposed using CO₂-dissolved curing water, which needs no massive CO₂-gas chamber encasing cement-based materials in mild pressure. Gaseous CO₂ was dissolved in 1 M aqueous KOH solution beforehand, and mortar samples made with ground-granulated blast furnace slag were submerged and cured. The CO₂-water curing for 3 days carbonated the samples but …

Coupled Effect Of Fiber And Granular Skeleton Characteristics On Packing Density Of Fiber-Aggregate Mixtures, Naimeh Nouri, Masoud Hosseinpoor, Ammar Yahia, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The addition of fiber to cementitious materials enhances mechanical performance but can reduce workability of the fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) mixtures. This can be due to the negative effect of fibers on packing density (PD) of the fiber-coarse aggregate (F-A) combination. The performance of FRC, as a diphasic suspension, is dependent on the characteristics of both F-A (suspended-solid skeleton) and mortar (suspending liquid) phases. PD can reflect the voids within the F-A skeleton to be filled with mortar. An adequate optimization of the characteristics of the F-A skeleton can modify the performance of FRC in fresh and hardened states. The F-A …

Design, Integration, And Evaluation Of Iot-Based Electrochromic Building Envelopes For Visual Comfort And Energy Efficiency, Qingqing Sun

All Dissertations

Electrochromic glazing has been identified as the next-generation high-performance glazing material for building envelopes due to its dynamic properties, which allow the buildings to respond to various climate conditions. IoT technologies have improved the sensing, communication, and interactions of building environmental data. Few studies have been done to synthesize the advancements in EC materials and building IoT technologies for better building performance. The challenge remains in the lack of compatible design and simulation tools, limited understanding of integration, and a paucity of evaluation measures to support the convergence between the EC building envelopes and IoT technologies. This research first explores …