Engineering Commons^™

Smartball™: Free Swimming Leak Detection System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Leak detection systems measure ultrasonic noise, infrared temperature variances or electrical flux to detect leakage in structures like, pipes, tanks, geo-membrane retaining structures etc. SmartBall® is a free flowing leak detection system developed by Pure Technologies. It consists of a foam ball that has a smaller aluminum ball at its core. This aluminum core houses an ultrasonic device that sends ultrasonic signals and also collects the reflected sound waves.

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Proposal For A Construction Industry Digital Competency Centre For Ireland, Alan V. Hore

Conference papers

The Irish construction industry is facing a series of fundamental challenges that is affecting every player in the AEC lifecycle from architects to owners to tenants. Despite technology advances in recent years, the Irish construction industry lags behind other industries in respect to Information Communications Technology (ICT) investments. Despite a pressing need for innovation, procurement and tendering procedures in Ireland largely discourages new ideas and puts further pressure on wafer-thin margins that characterise the construction sector. This paper will reflect on the deliverables of the Construction Information Technology Alliance (CITA) in Ireland, which was formed in partnership between the Technological …

Implementing Ecommerce In The Irish Construction Industry, Alan V. Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

The current methods of ordering, delivering and invoicing of materials in the construction in-dustry is enormously inefficient, with vast quantities of paperwork, duplication of effort, scanning, re-keying and resolving mismatches between invoices, delivery dockets and purchase orders. The objective of this pa-per is to set out the progress that is being made by the Construction IT Alliance (CITA) in Ireland to support the implementation of eCommerce in the Irish construction industry. The authors will present the result of a pilot project in 2006 which demonstrated that the technology necessary for implementing an electronic supply chain exists and could be deployed …

Citax: A Collaborative Ict Standards Model For The Irish Construction Industry, Alan V. Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

The Irish construction industry is facing a series of fundamental challenges that is affecting every player in the AEC lifecycle, from architects to engineers to quantity surveyors to owners to tenants. Despite technological advances in recent years, the Irish construction industry lags behind other industries in respect to ICT investments. Although there is a pressing need for innovation, existing procurement and tendering procedures in Ireland largely discourage new ideas and put further pressure on thin margins that characterise the competitiveness of the construction sector. The low level of inter-company ICT connectivity reflects the general fragmented and adversarial nature of the …

Energy Efficiency In Cold-Weather High-End Custom Homes, Joseph R. Kearl

Theses and Dissertations

Nationally, there is increasing interest in energy efficient homes due to growing energy costs and increased awareness. However, many builders haven't yet incorporated energy saving products and practices into homes. Many builders don't have the resources to evaluate available options and prefer to rely on the experiences of other builders. The purpose of this study was to create energy efficiency benchmarks for cold-weather, high-end custom homes and evaluate current building practices. A list of energy-efficient products and practices was created through a review of relevant literature. A group of expert builders was formed into a committee to help determine energy …

Evaluation Of The Role Of Driver’S Knowledge Of Who Has The Right-Of-Way Contributes To Interstate On-Ramp Crashes, Deogratias Eustace, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

The knowledge of drivers on who has the right-of-way between the one on mainline lanes of a freeway and the one entering the freeway through on-ramp junction lane was evaluated. In addition, drivers’ opinions on how to make the on-ramp junctions safer were collected. A survey instrument with 21 items requesting drivers’ information in regard with demographics, freeway driving experience, knowledge of right-of-way and merging practices was used for data collection. The results show that crashes are relatively rare events and for some reasons, most of them never happen but result into near misses, which can not be reported and …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Freight Tours In A Congested Urban Area Using Disaggregated Data: Characteristics And Data Collection Challenges, Miguel Andres Figliozzi, Lynsey Kingdon, Andrea Wilkitzki

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Confidentiality issues are usually an insurmountable barrier that precludes the collection of detailed and complete freight data. However, when detailed disaggregated truck activity data is available, the analysis of commercial vehicle routes and trip chain structures can provide insightful information about urban commercial vehicle tours, travel patterns, and congestion levels. Where truck data is usually aggregated and cross-sectional, this research analyzes several months of detailed truck activity records in a congested urban area and thus contributes a level of investigation unavailable with aggregated data. To the best of the author's knowledge, there is no published research regarding the analysis of …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Training Module In Regional And Municipal Governance Of Public Private Partnerships, Louis Gunnigan

Conference papers

This module concentrates on the issues important to those who will be setting up PPPs and who are involved in government at a regional or municipal level.

The module is centred on five tasks, namely:

• How to identify PPP opportunities and to find the best private sector partners for a PPP;
• How to organize a PPP programme within a government by enhancing cooperation amongst the relevant departments and ministries, local, regional and national authorities;
• How to be an effective manager and leader in a dynamic PPP unit;
• How to engage public support for PPPs;
• How to use international instruments to …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bulk Behavior Of Nanostructured Aluminum: Nanocrystalline Powders Compaction, Canning And Consolidation Via Intense Plastic Straining, Mohamed Mahmoud Hamed Shamma

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Guidelines For The Application Of Recycled Concrete Aggregate In The Egyptian Construction Industry, Ahmed Moustafa Essam Aly Kamel

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Construction industry is one of the most important fractions of economy worldwide. This industry consumes enormous amounts of raw materials and produces considerable waste. The optimization of construction material usage not only saves costs but also can significantly contribute towards sustainable development. The concept of recycling the construction and demolition rubble is being addressed in this study as a solution. The recycling of concrete, resulting from both the construction activities and the demolition activities, in order to be used as a source of aggregate is being focused upon in this study. Although the idea of using recycled concrete has been …

Comparing The Feasibility Of Cutting Thin-Walled Sections From Five Commonly Used Metals Utilizing Wire Electric Discharge Machining, Richard C. Stephenson

Theses and Dissertations

Wire Electric Discharge Machining (wire-EDM) is a non-traditional machining process. Controlled electric sparks are successively used to vaporize part of a workpiece along a programmed path in order to machine a desired part. Because there is no tool that comes in direct contact with the workpiece, it is possible to machine thin, delicate parts. This thesis was designed to observe and analyze the differences in cutting capabilities for a conventional wire-EDM machine when cutting thin-walled sections from five commonly used metals utilizing a variation of roughing and finishing passes. The five metals that were used in this study are: Aluminum …

Friction Stir Welding Of High-Strength Automotive Steel, Eric Michael Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a study on the ability to create acceptable welds in thin-plate, ultra-high-strength steels (UHSS) by way of friction stir welding (FSW). Steels are welded together to create tailor-welded blanks (TWB) for use in the automotive industry. Dual Phase (DP) 590, 780, and 980 steel as well as Transformation-Induced Plasticity (TRIP) 590 steel with thicknesses ranging from 1.2 mm to 1.8 mm were welded using friction stir welding under a variety of processing conditions, including experiments with dissimilar thicknesses. Samples were tested under tensile loads for initial determination if an acceptable weld had been created. Acceptable welds …

Our Legacy Of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge And The Cost Of Deferred Maintenance, David Westerling, Steve Poftak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The Longfellow Bridge, connecting Boston and Cambridge, is in bad shape, due not only to its age and the ravages of our weather, but also to a troubling and persistent lack of maintenance. Fixing the bridge, in effect paying the bill for our unwillingness to maintain it, is estimated to cost at least $180 million, with the potential for cost overruns reaching into the hundreds of millions. The neglect of the Longfellow Bridge is symptomatic of a problem that encompasses almost all the assets owned by the Commonwealth.

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Construction-Related Market Trends In Apec Countries Using Gis, Low Sui Pheng, Benny Raphael, Faisal Manzoor Arain

Business Review

GIS (Geographical Information System) is a means of representing data in digital form that has been used increasingly in various domains. GIS has the ability to capture,model, manipulate, retrieve, analyze and present geographically referenced data. In managing overseas building projects, research and analysis are especially crucial. It is necessary to collect enough information of the country that is related to the rule of law, government policies, and the performance of individual economic sectors, among other things. Although GIS has been shown to be a useful tool in various types of planning and management, it has not been used so far …

Properties Of Light Transmitting Concrete, Dina Abdel Mohsen Abou Alia

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development Of Knowledge Base Of Concrete Bridge Maintenance System, Bahre Karam

Masters Theses

Bridges are the key elements of any transportation system of a country. Bridges are expensive structures and therefore, it's essential to maintain and repair them on regular basis. Almost one third of the bridges in United States are reported to be in some what deteriorated conditions. This Research presents the development of knowledge base for decision support system for concrete bridges.

During this research various concrete bridge problems are investigated including COlTosion, delamination, cracks, spalling and scour etc. The inspection tools and techniques are addressed in order to identify these problems both for above and below water surface. The various …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Construction Superintendent Skill Sets, David E. Gunderson, Philip Barlow, Allan J. Hauck

Construction Management

This is the first of a series of articles reviewing the results of an ongoing qualitative research project designed to document construction superintendent skill sets and develop postsecondary curricula to support superintendent education. Varying views of the role of the superintendent and an historical perspective are presented in a review of literature. The research methodology for the entire project, as well as this first phase, is presented. Data have been coded and analyzed from the interviews with seven superintendents to date and the results of these analyses are provided. Themes that emerged in these interviews include people skills, understanding the …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Behaviour Of Reinforced Self-Consolidating Concrete Frames, Aly Said, Moncef Nehdi

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Multi-storey reinforced concrete (RC) structural frames represent some of the most congested structural elements. Placing and consolidating concrete in such structural frames imposes substantial challenges. This offers a unique area of application for self-consolidating concrete (SCC) because of its inherent ability to flow under its own weight and fill congested sections, complicated formwork and hard-to-reach areas. Research is, however, needed to demonstrate the ability of SCC structural frames adequately to resist vertical and lateral loads. In the present study, full-scale 3 m high beam-column joints reinforced as per the Canadian Standards CSA A23·3-94 and ACI-352R-02 were made with normal concrete …

Objective Test Methods For Waveguide Audio Synthesis, Steven Gregory Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Acoustic Physical Modeling has emerged as a newer musical synthesis technique. The most common form of physical modeling synthesis in both industry and academia is digital waveguide synthesis. Commercially available for the past thirteen years, the top synthesizer manufacturers have chosen to include physical modeling synthesis in their top of the line models. In the area of audio quality testing, the most common tests have traditionally been group listening tests. While these tests are subjective and can be expensive and time-consuming, the results are validated by the groups' proper quality standards. Research has been conducted to evaluate objective testing procedures …

Lifetime Testing Of Wire-Grid Polarizers With Selected Over-Coatings, Steven J. Malone

Theses and Dissertations

Wire-grid polarizers (WGPs) offer superior extinction, durability, angle of incidence, and heat resistance when compared to traditional organic polarizers. WGPs are found in applications such as high lumen lighting, laser devices, high lumen digital cinema projectors, LED packaging, and other integrated optical applications and are driving the need for over-coatings. Over-coating a WGP has been found to increase lifetime and durability. This research provides lifetime data on coated and uncoated WGPs. WGPs over-coated with 100nm of SiO2, 300nm of MgF2, and with no over-coating were heated to temperatures of 450 ºC, 500 ºC, and 550 ºC and timed until they …

Significant Trade Contractor Performance Characteristics As Evaluated By Big-D Construction, Conrad C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to determine which aspects, other than price, of trade contractor performance are the most important to the general contractor, Big-D Construction. The impression a trade contractor leaves on the project manager and superintendent provides an indication of their performance. To determine what tasks trade contractors perform that most greatly impact overall perception of the general contractor's project manager and superintendent, hundreds of trade contractors were evaluated in ten separate categories and were then given an overall rating. The correlation between each category and the overall rating was found. The categories were then sorted from …