Construction Engineering and Management Commons^™

Aei Student Design Competition: Texas Tech Sports Performance Facility, Jacob G. Kockrow

Construction Management

The AEI Student Competition is an annual event that pushes students in the disciplines of engineering and construction management to collaborate and demonstrate creative solutions to the challenges presented. This year, the competition is focused on the new Texas Tech Sports Performance Sports Facility located in Lubbock, Texas, where they tore down the existing building and are in the process of completing the new facility. Instead of recreating the plans given, we designed a brand new building to meet the project requirements, which included a $48 million budget and a 34-month construction duration. As the Construction Manager for the project, …

Implementing A Working Bim Model Halfway Through A Public Cm Multi-Prime Project: A Case Study, Jim Roth

Construction Management

The development of a BIM (building information model) model is a standard practice in today’s construction world. While the process of model adoption nearly has a written formula, implementing a BIM model in the midst of a project is a rare occurrence. This paper will examine the implementation of a working BIM model halfway through a public multiple prime contractor project managed by a construction manager (CM) in California. The project cost is roughly $20 million and of moderate complexity. This paper will outline the factors leading up to the ultimate decision of creating a working model, the process of …

Investigation Into Feasibility Of Off-Grid Small Dwelling In Slo County, Sam Labberton

Construction Management

The trend towards green, sustainable living has grown more and more in the housing industry each year since before the turn of the century; solar in the last decade alone has grown by 60% (http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-industry-data). Living on a grid that runs on unclean sources of energy already has led us into an environmental disaster some call irreversible. This paper takes a detailed look into the feasibility of a small, off-grid, dwelling that utilizes modern technology in order to live more modestly. In conjunction with great advancements in solar technology along with energy storage such as deep cycle lead-acid batteries, on-site …

Tidal Energy And How It Pertains To The Construction Industry, Armin Latifi

Construction Management

Renewable Energy is on the forefront of many global discussions. The concern of numerous scientific findings on the impact humanity has had on the environment has grown in recent years. Since alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind, have already made substantial progress, I have decided to focus my attention on tidal energy specifically. This topic will serve as the main focus of this essay. Within this essay, I will examine how tidal energy pertains to the construction industry through four distinguished chapters: (1) What kind of tidal technology exist and what does the construction aspect of these tidal …

Photovoltaic System Installation In Belize, Austin J. Stewart

Construction Management

California Polytechnic State University’s National Electrical Contractors Association Student Chapter (NECA) was selected by the ELECTRI Council to take part in its Student Passport Initiative program, through which participants engage in meaningful service-learning experiences in developing communities. The team was tasked with the design and construction of a photovoltaic system for San Pedro Roman Catholic Primary School in San Pedro, Belize, with the purpose of enabling the school to achieve carbon neutrality with respect to utility grid power consumption. The team of five students collaborated primarily with two professors, two alumni, and an accomplished electrical contractor from Belize to perform …

An Analysis Of The Benefits In Estimating At Different Pipe Union Labor Rates, A.J. Chamorro

Construction Management

This paper is an analysis of the costs and benefits of estimating at different union labor rates, based on the location of the project and which jurisdiction the project falls in. The basis of the research is a case study of a Bay Area mechanical contractor (Contractor X) which previously estimated at a single labor rate, and recently developed variable estimating. Through that case study, best practices are developed for union pipe trade estimating. The results of the case study show that estimating protocol should be determined on a project by project basis, and company resources and manpower have to …

Value Of Prefabrication Of Fire Sprinkler Components In The Fire Sprinkler Industry, Matt Fisher

Construction Management

Every day the construction industry is looking for new ways to improve time efficiency and project profitability. Companies in the past have tried value engineering and schedule crashing to save time and money. As the industry continues to grow and innovate, new concepts are being applied. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is one of these ideas that has made a large impact in the construction industry. BIM is a digital 3D modeling system that allows the user to create a complete rendering of a construction project complete with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing integrated into the model. With this model a prospective …

Case Study: Laborer Safety Training For Small To Mid-Sized General Contractors, Shawn Kuehter

Construction Management

The purpose of this study is to determine a relationship between safety spending and the resulting safety records for small to mid sized construction companies, particularly general contractors, and build on existing safety practices. It will shed light on why safety spending in construction is a very important aspect to include in any company’s budget. A case study of Quiring General, LLC, a small to mid sized general contractor based out of Fresno, CA will be the core of this paper as it includes examples of injuries of laborers and their impact they have. The impact focused on in this …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bicp Global Bim Study - Lessons For Ireland’S Bim Programme, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Reports

The Construction IT Alliance (CitA) has been promoting the benefits of digitisation in the construction and engineering industry in Ireland since its formation back in 2002. Whilst the Alliance has always strived to ensure that its members are exposed to a wide spectrum of contemporary digital tools and processes, the concept of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has dominated the focus of its activities over the past five years.

BIM can be described as a digital tool that facilitates everybody to better understand a building or structure through the use of a digital model which draws on a range of data …

Road Zipper™, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Construction work zones are growing in number around the world. The natural aging of existing roadway infrastructure ensures that more and more maintenance and rehabilitation will be required. Work zones, by their very definition, create two major problems that must be addressed in some way: safety and mobility. In the United States, highway work zones are responsible for almost 25% of all non-recurring congestion and 10% of overall congestion. Vehicle accidents are more common in work zones, and traffic congestion through work zones on urban arterials and freeways is often considered to be “unavoidable." To address these issues, ROAD ZIPPER™ …

Factors Associated With Crash Severities In Built-Up Areas Along Rural Highways Of Nevada: A Case Study Of 11 Towns, Pramen P. Shrestha, Joseph Shrestha

ETSU Faculty Works

In 2014, 32,675 deaths were recorded in vehicle crashes within the United States. Out of these, 51% of the fatalities occurred in rural highways compared to 49% in urban highways. No specific crash data are available for the built-up areas along rural highways. Due to high fatalities in rural highways, it is important to identify the factors that cause the vehicle crashes. The main objective of this study is to determine the factors associated with severities of crashes that occurred in built-up areas along the rural highways of Nevada. Those factors could aid in making informed decisions while setting up …

Investigating Students’ Perception Using Construction Management Simulations, Saeed Rokooei, James D. Goedert, Asregedew Woldesenbet

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Faculty Publications

Today, construction programs are incorporating a wide variety of active learning methods in their curricula to improve student learning outcomes and induce a more knowledge retention rate. Simulations and educational games are one of the fast growing and effective active learning methods that have been implemented in many programs. However, there are few instances of such learning methods applied in construction programs and a limited number of research projects have been conducted to investigate short-term and long-term outcomes of these methods and applications. This paper presents construction students’ perceptions of tested simulations with regards to the features, knowledge gained, level …

Compact Facility For Testing Steady And Transient Thermal Performance Of Building Walls, Aimee Byrne, Gerard Byrne, Anthony Robinson

Articles

Energy efficiency retrofit of buildings represents a key effort in reducing EU energy demand by 20% by 2020. However, predictions tend to overestimate savings by large percentages. The shortfall in savings can be attributed to incorrect predictive techniques, comfort takeback along with other behavioural and workmanship variables. Common predictive techniques related to heat loss tend to be based on the U-value of the building envelope. This paper presents the design of a more straightforward and compact version of the traditional Hot-Box apparatus (measures U-value) which instead determines the thermal resistance of samples of building envelope. U-value includes the need to …

Increasing Efficiency In The Construction Industry And Construction Management Classrooms Using Computer Software, Tina T. Bien

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to identify the best computer software programs that are the most effective within the construction industry. Companies are gradually shifting from manual practices to various software and technologies to optimize business and communication efficiency. With the plethora of software available, the industry does not fully understand which software are the most effective for addressing the challenges of the industry. As the industry is struggling with integrating these software into their company structure, more money is being spent to tackle the challenges that face the construction industry today. Companies that do not integrate construction technology …

The Impact Of Owner Practices And Procedures On Construction Project Safety Performance, Huang Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Construction sites are dangerous work environments. One traditional assumption prevails in the construction industry that construction safety should be the sole responsibility of the contractor. However, some safety researchers gradually begin to challenge this assumption. The elementary research in this field try to validate the existence of relationship of the owner’s practices and safety performance, which indicates that the involvements of the owner have a positive impact on improvement of safety performance. Therefore, the owner can and should take a responsibility of the project safety. Some subsequent research focus on collecting and summarizing the best safety practices and procedures of …

Pavement Condition Index And Cost Of Ownership Analysis On Preventative Maintenance Projects In Kentucky, Dominic J. Michels

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has seen increasing use over time of preventative maintenance treatments on its asphalt pavements. Performance of two of the most prevalent treatments employed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) – Thin Asphalt Overlay (Thinlay) and Microsurfacing – had yet to be examined in-depth through condition surveys. This thesis describes the data collection process to find the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of each preventative maintenance site in Kentucky from the last 10 years. With PCI from each site, deterioration curves were generated for each treatment – providing the estimated life extension benefit of each. The analysis then …

Quantitative Analysis Of The Impact Of Craft Labor Availability On Construction Project Performance, Hossein Karimi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

A shortage of skilled craft labor in the North American construction industry has been an unfortunate cyclic trend since the late 1980s. This shortage has been reported and discussed frequently by numerous past studies in the context of construction industry. The 2008 U.S. recession was at least one period when the craft shortage temporarily improved, as witnessed by spikes in construction unemployment rates above 20% due to the work slowdowns. However, the current economic recovery period is once again experiencing craft shortages in some sectors of the U.S. construction industry. Although the past literature provides wealth of information about influence …

Analysis Of Cost And Energy Performance Of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems In Southern Louisiana, Claudia De Lourdes Duran Tapia

LSU Master's Theses

In the last three decades of geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry, there has been an urge to present data, especially performance and itemized installation cost, as a plan to reduce the lack of knowledge and trust towards GHP systems for heating and cooling. The potential of GHPs in hot and humid climates is significant [Tao and Zhu, 2012]. However, past research efforts have demonstrated this potential through the use of simulation rather than real-time data. Therefore, the scope of work for this research is to investigate GHP system applications for residential buildings in areas with hot and humid climates. Based …

Travel Time Estimation And Prediction For Urban Arterial Roads, Porntep Puangprakhon

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Travel time information has been accepted as the core of advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) and advanced traffic management systems (ATMS). Providing the accurate travel time information to traffic operators and travelers allows them to make informed decisions, leading to more advantage for individual road users and the entire transportation system. Most of the traffic information providers normally deliver the current traffic conditions or current travel times to public assuming the state of traffic remains constant in the near future. Aimed at the more effective applications, short-term future traffic conditions have been proposed as a valuable piece of information in …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Proposed Method Of Correcting The Construction Entries In The 2006 Philippine Input-Output Table, Albert E. Lamberte, Krista Danielle Yu, Caesar Cororation

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The construction of national input-output (IO) tables follows internationally acceptable standards such as the United Nations Systems of National Accounts (UN SNA) and European System of Accounts (ESA). These standards are used to ensure tractability and coherence between country tables. The 2006 Philippine IO table published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) assumes that the construction sector does not provide any input to the production of output for any economic sector. With the booming infrastructure development in the Philippines, this assumption that intermediate demand for construction output has a value of zero is unreasonable. This study proposes a corrective approach …

Study Of Liquefaction Mechanism In Chiang Rai Province, Lindung Zalbuin Mase

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ทางภาคเหนือของประเทศไทยได้เผชิญภัยแผ่นดินไหวครั้งใหญ่ถึง 2 ครั้งคือ แผ่นดินไหวที่ศูนย์กลางอยู่ ที่เมืองทาร์เลย์ในประเทศเมียนมาปี ค.ศ. 2011 และแผ่นดินไหว ที่อ.แม่ลาว จ.เชียงรายในปี ค.ศ. 2014 งานวิจัยนี้จึงดำเนินการศึกษาการเกิดทรายเหลวระหว่างการเกิดแผ่นดินไหวโดยเฉพาะในจังหวัดเชียงราย งานวิจัยนี้เริ่มจากการวิเคราะห์ด้วยสูตรเชิงประสบการณ์โดยใช้ข้อมูลในหลายพื้นที่ในภาคเหนือ การศึกษาผลตอบสนองแผ่นดินไหวสามารถนำไปใช้ประเมินผลของการแผ่ขยายของคลื่นแผ่นดินไหวในชั้นดินได้ นอกเหนือจากนี้ มีการสำรวจพื้นที่ด้วยการทดสอบไมโครทริมเมอร์และการวิเคราะห์สเปกตรัมคลื่นผิวดินบริเวณพื้นที่ที่เคยเกิดทรายเหลวในระหว่างแผ่นดินไหวทั้งสองครั้ง การวิเคราะห์ผลตอบสนองต่อการเกิดทรายเหลวแบบหนึ่งมิติเพื่อสังเกตพฤติกรรมพลศาสตร์ของชั้นดินพบว่า ชั้นทรายชั้นแรกและชั้นที่สองของบริเวณที่ทำการศึกษามีโอกาสการเกิดทรายเหลวค่อนข้างสูง นอกเหนือจากนี้ ผลวิเคราะห์การแผ่ขยายของคลื่นพบว่า ที่บริเวณอ.แม่สาย ชายแดนไทย-เมียนมา อาจเกิดความเสียหายต่ออาคารความสูงปานกลางจากการขยายตัวของคลื่นแผ่นดินไหวได้ เนื่องจากการสั่นพ้องระหว่างดินและโครงสร้าง ส่วนผลการสำรวจพื้นที่ยังพบว่าสภาพทางธรณีวิทยาประกอบไปด้วยชั้นดินตะกอนของแม่น้ำที่มีความต้านทานต่อแรงเฉือนค่อนข้างต่ำ พฤติกรรมของดินพวกนี้ระหว่างการแผ่ขยายคลื่นน่าจะโอกาสเกิดทรายเหลวได้ง่าย การศึกษานี้น่าใช้แนะนำวิศวกรท้องถิ่นเพื่อให้ตระหนักถึงความไม่ปลอดภัยต่อแผ่นดินไหวและการเกิดทรายเหลวในพื้นที่ภาคเหนือโดยเฉพาะในจังหวัดเชียงรายได้

Optimum Patch Design For Repairing Cracked Steel Plates Using Genetic Algorithm, Bach Kim Do

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research presents a design optimization process that combines the finite element (FE) method, genetic programming (GP), and optimization solvers, i.e., genetic algorithm (GA) and nonlinear programming, for double-sided fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) patches used to repair center-cracked steel plates under tension fatigue. An optimization statement is to minimize the patch volume and reduce the stress intensity factor (SIF) range at crack tips below the fatigue threshold range. A detailed three-dimensional (3D) FE model of patch-repaired cracked plates is developed to compute SIF. A total of 864 FE models of patch-repaired cracked plates with different combinations of design parameters are then …

Evaluating The Readability Of Radio Frequency Identification For Construction Materials, Younghan Jung, Michael M. Jeong

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which was originally introduced to improve material handling and speed production as part of supply chain management, has become a globally accepted technology that is now applied on many construction sites to facilitate real-time information visibility and traceability. This paper describes a senior undergraduate project for a Construction Management (CM) program that was specifically designed to give the students a greater insight into technical research in the CM area. The students were asked to determine whether it would be possible to utilize an RFID system capable of tracking tagged equipment, personnel and materials across an entire …

Cfrp Retrofitting Schemes For Prestressed Concrete Box Beams For Highway Bridges, Hussein A. Herish, Zia Razzaq

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper investigates various retrofitting schemes for a prestressed concrete box beam using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets with the goal of increasing flexural strength. A simply-supported box beam is studied with a constant uniformly distributed load and three gradually increasing concentrated loads proportional to HS20 truck loading of the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Various retrofitting schemes are considered each with single, double, and triple CFRP sheets, respectively, installed in high compression and tension regions. Cross-sectional nonlinear moment-curvature relations are developed and coupled with a finite-difference solution algorithm to predict load-deflection relations for both retrofitted …

Influence Of Crumbed Para Rubber Modifier In Aggregate Blend On Deformation Resistance Properties Of Hot Mix Asphalt, Hatthaphone Silimanotham

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research presents the influence of crumbed para rubber which is added into a portion of aggregate in hot mix asphalt (HMA) during the batch mixing process or called "Dry Process". The dry process has an advantage on its simplicity of quality inspection and less modification in the hot mix plant production process. This study has investigated the effects of adding crumbed para rubber particles on the engineering properties related to permanent deformation resistance of asphalt concrete. In this study, the asphalt mixture is prepared via Marshall Mix design, which contained with limestone and asphalt cement of Pen 60/70 at …

Multi-Layered Elastic Medium Under Axisymmetric Loading And Surface Energy Effects, Kanin Tarntira

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Multi-layered nano-scale structures have been found in a wide range of applications these days. Since the surface energy effect is presented at the nano-scale level, a novel calculation scheme is required to accurately capture the mechanical behaviors of such structures. In this study, a solution scheme for analysis of a multi-layered elastic medium with influence of surface energy effects subjected to axisymmetric loading by adopting Gurtin-Murdoch surface elasticity theory is presented. The standard Love's representation and Hankel integral transform are employed to derive the general solutions, and the obtained solutions are employed in the determination of the stiffness matrix for …

Factors Affecting Building Damage And People's Preparedness For Earthquake In Chiang Rai, Narongdej Intaratchaiyakit

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

On May 5, 2014, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale occurred in Chiang Rai, Thailand. This earthquake was the strongest earthquake in Thailand at the Mae Lao District region. It also caused building damage and casualties. In this research, 277 participants living in village no.2 and village no.7 of Dong Mada, a sub-district at Mae Lao district in Chiang Rai, were selected. A questionnaire was used to interview these participants, and the data were analyzed by Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, a Mann-Whitney U test, and a Kruskal-Wallis test. The objective of this study was to …

Weakly Singular Boundary Integral Equation Method For Analysis Of Generalized T-Stresses Of Cracks In 3d Coupled-Field Media, Naruethep Sukulthanasorn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This thesis presents the development of a weakly singular boundary integral equation method for the analysis of the generalized T-stress of isolated cracks embedded in a coupled-field whole space. A pair of weak-form integral equations, one for crack-face generalized traction and the other for the gradient of the crack-face generalized displacement, is established in a general framework allowing various types of materials including elastic, piezoelectric, piezomagnetic and piezoelectromagnetic solids, general crack geometry and loading conditions to be handled in a unified fashion. In addition, the final governing integral equations contain only weakly singular kernels and this, as a result, renders …