Construction Engineering Commons^™

Strategies For Reducing The Environmental Impacts Of Construction, Alex Stewar

The Professional Constructor

In order to carry out a successful and sustainable construction project, quality project planning isessential. In this paper, I will discuss how design and preconstruction are the most important parts of a sustainableconstruction project. The three main points will be about the importance of selling sustainability to the owner, choosingthe proper project delivery method to integrate team members, and planning for the future when designing the project.Finally, I will touch on how my own education through the Construction Science and Management program at ClemsonUniversity has prepared me for this new era of construction.

Peering In: Improving Existing Buildings With Colorful Increments, Daire Heneghan

Master's Theses

Existing office buildings’ embodied energy, history and culture offer something a newly constructed building cannot. On the other hand, new office buildings’ adoption of new technologies and building philosophies offer a range of sustainable efficiencies previously unavailable. Combining these efficiencies with elements that embrace human diversity and well- being offer the opportunity to not only mend our existing buildings’ deteriorating physical bodies but aid in creating workplaces that promote good physical and mental health.

This project provides recommendation on how an existing high-rise commercial building can incorporate a number of incremental improvements that continually evolve to meet rapidly changing market …

Measuring Internal Flush Doors In Accordance With Arm4 - An Introductory Worked Example, Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

This demonstration is addressed to students taking (Irish) measurement or quantities modules at first year / entry level of quantity surveying related programmes. The worked example has been carried out using traditional handwritten quantity surveying processes on traditional dimension paper. It is acknowledged that this would be carried out using measurement software or on-screen measurement technology in actual practice. The traditional handwritten approach has been retained in order to enable novice students to develop the necessary measurement skills and build confidence through direct contact with drawn media and written taking off processes. In addition the presentation illustrates how the work …

Designing A Residence In Sweden, Umeki Earl, Olivia Bufalini

School of Human Sciences Research Showcase

The project was to design a home for the Nordstroms, a family who lived in Sweden. The challenge was to design a home for the family of four with a maximum square footage of 1100 square feet using the codes and space allocations required for another country. Meeting the needs of the client required much research. RESEARCH included studying the regional climate, the municipal building codes, and city regulations. Thorough research of building construction framing methods, insulation types and installation methods, site planning, materials and finishes were also essential for completing the project.

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 …

Development Of Coordination Control For Multiple Rooftop Units, Denchai Woradechjumroen, Haorong Li, Akekachai Deesiri

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Rooftop Units (RTUs) have been widely applied in providing space heating and cooling for commercial buildings. In total, they serve over 60% of the commercial building floor space in the U.S. Even through the current control approaches of a RTU can maintain the zone temperature corresponding to a set point temperature, it performs inefficiently due to several factors such as limited sensing capability, non- coordinated local control, inherent oversizing effects and so on. In addition to unnecessary power consumptions, the current control and operation technology on RTUs also lead to the space humidity problem, equipment efficiency degradation, and premature failure. …

A Need For Evidence-Based And Multidisciplinary Research To Study The Effects Of The Interaction Of School Environmental Conditions On Student Achievement, Josephine Lau, Lily M. Wang, Clarence E. Waters, James A. Bovaird

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Healthy Schools initiative, a research team from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on establishing how environmental conditions in K-12 school buildings impact student scholastic achievement. The objectives of the research project are: (1) to study comprehensively the impacts of a wide set of indoor environmental factors (including indoor air quality, thermal, lighting and acoustic conditions) on student achievement; (2) to investigate how these environmental conditions interact with each other to impact student achievement; (3) to rank order the environmental variables in terms of their relative impact on …

Fault Diagnosis Of Refrigerant Charge Based On Pca And Decision Tree For Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems, Jiangyan Liu, Huanxin Chen, Jiangyu Wang, Guannan Li, Haorong Li, Wenju Hu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems are easily subjected to performance degradation due to refrigerant leakage, mechanical failure or improper maintenance after years of operation. Ideal VRF systems should equip with fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) program to sustain its normal operation. This paper presents the fault diagnosis method for refrigerant charge faults of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems. It is developed based on the classification and regression tree (CART) algorithm. Data of the experimental VRF system is used to test the advantages of the CART method. Results show that the decision tree can achieve desirable diagnosis efficiency on undercharge faults, …

Ua1c11/81 Robert Eversoll Photograph Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Slides of the Environmental Sciences & Technology Building under construction.

Cognitive Radio For Smart Grid With Security Considerations, Khaled Shuaib, Ezedin Barka, Nedaa Al Hussien, Mohammed Abdel-Hafez, Mahmoud Alahmad

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate how Cognitive Radio as a means of communication can be utilized to serve a smart grid deployment end to end, from a home area network to power generation. We show how Cognitive Radio can be mapped to integrate the possible different communication networks within a smart grid large scale deployment. In addition, various applications in smart grid are defined and discussed showing how Cognitive Radio can be used to fulfill their communication requirements. Moreover, information security issues pertained to the use of Cognitive Radio in a smart grid environment at different levels and layers are …

A Prediction Method For Overall Economic Value Of Fault Detection And Diagnostic Tools For Rooftop And Split Systems, David Yuill, James Braun

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) tools for air-conditioning application may perform well or poorly, but it is difficult to characterize this performance in a meaningful way. Some recently proposed evaluation techniques have provided various statistics to characterize FDD performance, but these results can be difficult for a potential adopter of FDD to understand. A new method of characterizing FDD performance by predicting the overall economic value of the FDD tool is proposed in this paper. It is applicable to FDD tools intended for air-cooled unitary airconditioners, such as rooftop units (RTU) and split systems. The method gives an estimated dollar …

Lateral-Torsional Buckling Of Frp I-Section Beams, Mojtaba B. Sirjani, Zia Razzaq

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents the outcome of an experimental and theoretical investigation into the load-carrying capacity of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) I-section beams subjected to four-point loading. The overall lateral-torsional buckling, web and flange local buckling as well as material rupture load estimates are also made using the American Society of Civil Engineers Load and Resistance Factor Design (ASCE-LRFD) Pre-Standard for FRP Structures. Lateral-torsional buckling failure mode is found to govern for each of the beams studied. The study also revealed that the height of applied loads relative to the shear center has a very significant influence on lateral-torsional buckling load …

Elasto-Plastic Transient Dynamic Response Of Tubular Section Steel Cantilever Beam Under Impact Loading, Alial Aloosi, Zia Razzaq

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents the outcome of an experimental and theoretical investigation into the loadcarrying capacity of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) I-section beams subjected to four-point loading. The overall lateral-torsional buckling, web and flange local buckling as well as material rupture load estimates are also made using the American Society of Civil Engineers#x2019; Load and Resistance Factor Design (ASCELRFD) Pre-Standard for FRP Structures. Lateral-torsional buckling failure mode is found to govern for each of the beams studied. The study also revealed that the height of applied loads relative to the shear center has a very significant influence on lateral-torsional buckling load …

Normalized Effect Of Condenser Fouling And Refrigerant Charge On Performance Of Vapor Compression Air Conditioning Systems, Mehdi Mehrabi, David Yuill

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Several laboratory experiments have studied the effect of faults on vapor compression cycle air-conditioning systems. There has been a particular focus on refrigerant charge variation, which is believed to be quite common in air conditioners, and a lesser focus on heat exchanger fouling. The majority of the published results evaluate the fault effects on particular system operating parameters in one unit. For example, the effect on capacity and efficiency are typically evaluated. The results differ from one study to the next. The current paper summarizes the effects for all of the results available in the literature for condenser fouling and …

A Thermo-Activated Wall For Load Reduction And Supplementary Cooling With Free To Low-Cost Thermal Water, Yuebin Yu, Fuxin Niu, Heinz-Axel Guo, Denchai Woradechjumroen

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A building envelope serves as a thermal barrier and plays an important role in determining the amount of energy used to achieve a comfortable indoor environment. Conventionally, it is constructed and treated as a passive component in a building thermal energy system. In this article, a novel, mini-tube capillary-network embedded and thermal-water activated building envelope is proposed to turn the passive component into active, therefore broaden the direct utilization of low-grade thermal energy in buildings. With this proposed approach, low-grade thermal water at a medium temperature close to the ambient environment can be potentially utilized to either counterbalance the thermal …

Student Absenteeism And The Comparisons Of Two Sampling Procedures For Culturable Bioaerosol Measurement In Classrooms With And Without Upper Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation Devices, Chunxiao Su, Josephine Lau, Shawn G. Gibbs

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Upper room ultraviolet germicidal irradiance (UVGI) has been shown to reduce the concentration of bioaerosols in controlled chambers. However, there is a lack of experimental results on the reduction of bioaerosol concentrations by UVGI devices in actual uncontrolled buildings. This study was carried out in an American elementary school in the Midwest. Two sampling procedures were carried out in six selected classrooms with similar dimensions that were separated into two groups: (1) UVGI exposure group and (2) non-UVGI control group. Two-stage Tisch culturable impactors were utilized to collect airborne culturable bacteria and fungi. Monthly samples were collected during unoccupied period …

Use Of Concept Maps To Illustrate Barriers To Construction Industry Inter-Organizational Communication: A Comparative View From Students And Professionals, Mark Shaurette

Bowen School of Construction Faculty Publications

Because of the fragmented nature of construction industry inter-organizational communication, construction industry stakeholders must rely on information exchanges in order to produce new information and directives for the process. This communication process does not always happen smoothly due to possible barriers during the information flow. The purpose of this study is to understand these potential information flow barriers and to use concept maps to engage students in discussions about communication within the construction industry. Concept map activities performed with industry professionals and senior construction management students in separate phases are described. To complement the concept map findings, interviews with key …

Fault Detection And Diagnosis Process For Oversizing Design On Multiple Packaged Air-Conditioning Units, Denchai Woradechjumroen, Haorong Li, Thanapat Promwattanapakee

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems are seldom designed or commissioned properly. The situation leads to abrupt or degradation faults resulting in inefficient energy uses, excessive energy consumption and high service costs. To solve these aforementioned problems, fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) is utilized to firstly detect any abnormal conditions of a system and then diagnoses and determines their causes. In order to apply this concept in HVAC oversizing designs, this paper proposes the state-of-art procedure of a FDD procedure for analyzing the inherently faulty design (oversizing) of multiple packaged air-conditioning units used to supply cooling for an open …

Compressor Having A Control And Dagnostic Module, Hung M. Pham, Fadi M. Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

An apparatus includes a Voltage sensor, a current sensor, and a controller. The Voltage sensor measures Voltage values of alternating current power Supplied to a capacitor. The capaci tor is electrically coupled to a compressor. The current sensor measures current values of the alternating current power. The controller is configured to receive the Voltage values and the current values. The controller is configured to determine a first power factor value based on at least one of the voltage values and at least one of the current values. The controller is configured to selectively detect a first capacitor fault in response …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.