Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Framing (Building) Design and construction'
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Subaaharan, S. S. "Improved modelling and design of portal frame building systems." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1998. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36068/7/Subaaharan%20Thesis.pdf.
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The traditional approach for the design of steel portal frame building systems is based
on the idealised two-dimensional behaviour of a bare internal frame in the system. This
approach totally ignores the integral action of other structural components in the
system. In order to design the portal frame building system based on its 'true' threedimensional
behaviour, it is necessary that other structural components such as steel
roof and wall cladding systems and end frames (or their effects) are included in the
analysis. In the UK and USA, this has been achieved using the principles of stressedskin
(diaphragm) action. However their design is limited to valley-fixed cladding
systems and therefore, their results can not be used for crest-fixed cladding systems
used in Australia. This thesis describes an improved three dimensional modelling using
an equivalent truss member method to simulate steel cladding systems and an improved
design method which includes the shear strength of crest-fixed cladding system. It also
includes the development of essential cladding data for this process.
In the first stage of this research program, a total of 19 shear/racking experiments was
carried out on large- scale profiled steel claddings and sandwich panel systems up to a
size of 6 m x 6 m. These experiments produced the shear strength and flexibility data
required for the improved three dimensional modelling. Despite the use of crest fixing
with screw fasteners, the conventional profiled thin steel claddings provided reasonably
good shear capacit\~s. The failure was ductile in the case of conventional cladding
systems whereas it was brittle and the capacity was the same in the case of stronger
sandwich panel systems. Therefore, an improved fastening system was developed
which resulted in approximately 2.5 times larger shear strength and improved ductility.
The new system had sufficient shear capacity that eliminated the conventional cross
bracing members used in portal frame buildings:
Analytical formulae were developed to predict the shear strength of these cladding
systems and the simple connection tests to obtain the basic tearing loads are described.
The results obtained using these formulae agreed well with the corresponding
experimental results. The shear strengths of the cladding systems not considered in this
investigation can be predicted using these analytical formulae, and the basic tearing loads of connections using the simple connection tests.
An improved three-dimensional computer modelling was developed by considering
columns, rafters, purlins and girts as beam elements and roof and wall claddings as
equivalent truss (tension only) members. Shear flexibility values found
experimentally for the steel cladding and sandwich panel systems were used to
determine the equivalent truss member sizes required in the improved three
dimensional analysis using 'MicroStran'. This model was validated using available
full-scale experimental data of a typical portal frame building. This investigation
clearly indicated that there are considerable differences between the design actions
obtained from the two and three-dimensional modelling and analyses. It revealed the
reduction in design action effects when the latter method was used.
An improved design method was developed considering the design action effects from
the improved three-dimensional computer modelling and the shear strength of the wall
and roof cladding system in the bracing design. A typical medium size portal frame
building with conventional steel cladding systems was designed using the improved
method which showed that reduction in member sizes was small and that cost saving in
building was only 4 %. This is mainly because the shear strength and stiffness of the
profiled steel cladding systems are not large enough; however, they will be adequate for
smaller buildings such as garage and farm sheds.
Finally, an innovative port~l frame system incorporating the conventional steel frames,
sandwich panels as roof and wall claddings and steel rectangular hollow sections as
purlins and girts at wider spacing was developed. The conventional roof and wall cross
bracing members were eliminated because of the greater shear capacity of sandwich
panel systems. The portal column size was also reduced. The use of improved
modelling and design methods thus led to a cost saving of approx. 8 % for the new
system. The new system appears to be very efficient and has the potential of becoming
the future portal frame system.
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Cahill, Jaspar. "A CAD system for steel-framed housing." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2000.
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Abbaker, Abdelfattah Elnur. "Behavior of lightweight framing systems for buildings." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2006. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/81109/.
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Presented in this thesis are the results from two distinct investigations on the behaviour of lightweight framing systems for buildings. One investigation concerns the characterisation of cold-formed steel sections of novel shape for the design of columns in modular construction, and this is reported in the first part of thesis. The second new investigation is for a theoretical analysis to determine the elastic critical buckling load for shear-flexible frames of fibre reinforced polymer sections. This work is detailed in the second part to the thesis. Modular 2000 Ltd. fabricated the column specimens that were characterized for the research on lightweight steel modular construction. To determine the reSistance of nine different column types a series of nominal concentric strength tests were conducted on specimens of 2.7 m length having a new E-section shape. The novelty to the shape is that it has no flat elements and is continuously curved in plan. Open E-sections are of S350 structural grade steel, are nominally 100x43 mm in plan, and have wall thicknesses of either 1.5 or 2 mm. Various bracket and enclosure combinations were the variables in the nine column types tested. These were connected to the E-sections by MIG plug-welding. Except for the 100x40x1.5 mm C-enclosure of S350, the other attachment components were of steel grade CR4, at 1.5 mm thickness. There were five column types with E-sections of 2.0 mm thickness and four with 1.5 mm thickness. Reported are the salient results from 54 strength tests, where the mode of failure was global buckling about the minor-axis of the E-column. To also determine the local buckling strength, and the effective area, a small series of stud column tests were performed on 200 mm long specimens of the 1.5 mm open E-section only. To support the understanding gained from the series of full-sized physical tests on E-columns, a programme of theoretical work is presented which is used to determine the design strengths of the column types and to predict the elastic and inelastic critical loads of a curved panel. Theory is also used to find a plasticity reduction factor for the E-section, which is required to "establish the effective area for local buckling. BS 5950-5: 1998 gives a code of practice for the design of cold-formed thin gauge sections. This current guidance is specific to steel sections comprising Simple shaped members that are of flat elements bounded either by free edges or by bends. The new results from the combined theoretical and eXperimental studies to characterise E-columns are evaluated and used to make recommendations on how SS 5950-5: 1998, and, in particular, Section 6 for members in compression, can be used with E-sections to design modular units. In the second part of the thesis the author shows how a static analysis for plane frames of shear-flexible members, written by a previous Warwick University PhD student, can be modified to calculate the elastic critical buckling load for overall instability. The modified sframe programme provides a practical analysis tool that, importantly, includes non-linearity by way of second-order P-L1 effects with shear-flexible functions and semi-rigid joint action. In conventional frame analysis shear-flexibility is ignored when members are of isotropic material (steel), and by way of a preliminary parametric study the author shows why the influence of shear deformation on reducing the buckling load of shear-flexible frames should not be neglected when the material is of fibre reinforced polymer. By studying the change in critical load in simple frame problems it is found that there is an interaction between shear-flexibility and the torsional stiffness given to the beam-to column joints. Moreover, the study on the instability of shear-flexible frames provides evidence to suggest that the relative stiffness values for joint classification boundaries are likely to be lower than those for steel frames by Eurocode 3 (BS EN 1993-1: 2005). This is an important finding for when a structural Eurocode or other code of practice is drafted for lightweight framed structures of fibre-reinforced polymer materials. Although the work presented in this thesis is from two distinct investigations the deliverables are important to the sustainable development of lightweight framing systems for buildings.
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Fallah, M. H. "The potential use of lightweight steel framing for residential building construction in Iran." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.392924.
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GRAHN, ANTON, and ADAM THÅLIN. "FraMe : Design and construction of an automatically framing camera mount." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-279830.
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The scope of this bachelor’s thesis was to investigate the use of infrared light to track an object in an image. The goal of the report was to build a full-scale prototype of a camera mount to understand what type of setup is ideal for delivering good tracking performance with infrared (IR) light, an IR-camera and a reflector. The tracker used IR-lights that shines light on the reflector which makes it the brightest spot in the image. Visible light was removed with an analog filter in front of the camera. A microcomputer, in this case a Raspberry Pi 3B+ was used to process the image from the camera, find the brightest spot and then turn the camera with two servo-motors. This resulted in a twoaxis motion that made sure that the brightest spot always stays in the middle of the frame. The testing of the system was done in two steps. First of all, five different shapes of reflector was tested to establish which shape ensures the best tracking performance, in all lighting conditions. The results from the testing was then compared to other visionbased tracking methods covered in other bachelorss thesis’ at KTH. The results showed that IR-tracking perform well in conditions with low ambient light while other visionbased tracking methods, like color tracking works better in conditions with lots of light.I den här rapporten undersöks användningen av infrarött ljus för att spåra ett objekt i en bild. Målet med rapporten var att bygga en fullskalig prototyp av ett kamerafäste för att undersöka vilken typ av uppsättning som kunde leverera god prestanda gällande bildspårning med hjälp av infrarött (IR) ljus, en IR-kamera och en reflex. För spårningen användes IR-lampor som lyste på reflexen i syfte att göra den till den ljusaste punkten i bilden. Synligt ljus filtrerades bort med ett analogt filter som sattes framför kameran. En mikrodator i form av en Raspberry Pi 3B+ användes för att behandla bilden från kameran, identifiera ljusaste punkten och sedan rotera kamerafästet med hjälp av två servomotorer. Rotationen skedde kring två axlar för att se till att reflexen alltid befann sig mitt i bild. Testningen av uppsättningen gjordes i två steg. Först analyserades fem olika former på reflexen för att undersöka vilken form som bäst försäkrade att reflexen alltid är ljusaste punkten i bilden, även vid olika ljusförhållanden. Testresultaten från det andra testet kunde sedan jämföras med tidigare kandidatuppsatser som skrivits vid KTH. Det konstaterades att IR-spårning ger bättre prestanda vid ljusförhållanden med svagt ljus, medan spårning med hjälp av färgigenkänning ger bättre prestanda vid förhållanden med mycket ljus.
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Robinson, Adrian C. "ISBU modular construction and building design prototypes." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2017. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/27480.
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With the use of industrialised construction increasing, Buro Happold (BH) commissioned this research as part of on-going initiatives to address the lack of efficiency in design and construction. The research considers two major case studies where modularisation has been used to minimise complexity and increase standardisation. Referred to in this thesis as construction product prototypes and building design prototypes , the two studies examine firstly the product development of an Intermodal Steel Building Unit (ISBU) used in multi-storey construction and secondly a modular station pre-design used and repeated on four station buildings. The ISBU is based on a standard ISO dry-freight container and its use in modular construction maximises the use of factory based off-site methods (OSM); this should improve consistency of product outcome with minimised impact on site. Very little academic work has been published on ISBU modular construction. The research therefore looks in detail at the process of ISBU modular product development and its engineering performance. It also compares production and procurement of the units on supplier-driven accommodation buildings in comparison to similar but non-modular client-led projects. Using multiple stages of project team interviews and project document analysis, the research data is coded, measured and analysed to describe the processes of product and design prototyping. The research demonstrates that the ISBU product was developed and refined through several major building projects and has reasonable engineering performance characteristics but may be more suited to temporary buildings. The principle of modular pre-designs as found in stations has benefits for rationalising the design process and simplifying and internalising complexities of construction. The research considers solutions for problems that are ill defined and a design process that is difficult to assimilate. This part of the research uses models for framing and problem/solution co-evolution to solve problems of ill definition and linear/non-linear design processes by building on Gero s (1990) design prototyping theory model. Modularisation of the station designs was successful in reducing design effort and allowed a repeatable pre-design to be refined, but the design team struggled with the bespoke nature of the project designs. The comparison of case study data to models for manufacturing, procurement and design prototype development has led to a better understanding as to how these designs were achieved and how these same approaches could be applied in future.
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Jones, Andrew M. "Design and construction for traditional house building." Thesis, Aston University, 1990. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/14272/.
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This study is concerned with quality and productivity aspects of traditional house building. The research focuses on these issues by concentrating on the services and finishing stages of the building process. These are work stages which have not been fully investigated in previous productivity related studies. The primary objective of the research is to promote an integrated design and construction led approach to traditional house building based on an original concept of 'development cycles'. This process involves the following: site monitoring; the analysis of work operations; implementing design and construction changes founded on unique information collected during site monitoring; and subsequent re-monitoring to measure and assess Ihe effect of change. A volume house building firm has been involved in this applied research and has allowed access to its sites for production monitoring purposes. The firm also assisted in design detailing for a small group of 'experimental' production houses where various design and construction changes were implemented. Results from the collaborative research have shown certain quality and productivity improvements to be possible using this approach, albeit on a limited scale at this early experimental stage. The improvements have been possible because an improved activity sampling technique, developed for, and employed by the study, has been able to describe why many quality and productivity related problems occur during site building work. Experience derived from the research has shown the following attributes to be important: positive attitudes towards innovation; effective communication; careful planning and organisation; and good coordination and control at site level. These are all essential aspects of quality led management and determine to a large extent the overall success of this approach. Future work recommendations must include a more widespread use of innovative practices so that further design and construction modifications can be made. By doing this, productivity can be improved, cost savings made and better quality afforded.
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Aeck, Richard Hull. "Cannoli Framing: The Turnstijl Houses and Configure-to-Order." Thesis, Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/19727.
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Fox, Stephen John. "Application of design for manufacture principles to building design and construction." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2001. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19207/.
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The aim of this thesis is to answer the two research questions: how can design for manufacture be applied during building component design and building design?; and how can the application of design for manufacture be successful in improving the productivity and quality of building component production and building construction? These two questions emerged during exploratory research focused on the use of design to improve construction industry productivity and quality. Subsequent review of manufacturing literature revealed that the two key principles of design for manufacture are standard production design improvement rules and standard production design evaluation metrics. Review of construction literature, and a survey involving over one hundred and fifty industry practitioners, revealed that, whilst rules and metrics for building components and buildings do not currently exist, there are no fundamental reasons why they could not be developed and applied successfully. These findings led to the generation of the research hypothesis: design for manufacture principles can be applied successfully to building components and buildings. The research hypothesis was tested by two interventions, action research within a private business which manufactures and installs building components, and a case study with a multi-national company which designs and constructs buildings. These interventions resulted in significant business benefits. Further, they confirmed that it is both technically feasible and economically viable to apply rules and metrics to building component design and building design, and that doing so can improve the productivity and quality of building component production and building construction. Following analysis of research findings, strategic plans were developed for the successful application of rules and metrics. These were validated through interviews with senior construction industry practitioners. Contributions to knowledge include the strategic plans for successful application of rules and metrics. These cover the full range of organisations working in the construction industry and, together with the detailed descriptions of the interventions, offer practical guidance for industry practitioners seeking to improve productivity and quality. The research also makes a contribution in the area of research methodology. It has shown that threats to research validity in the construction industry can be counteracted by applying a quasi-experimental perspective to action research interventions and case studies.
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Knight, Kevin Brian. "The Effect of Green Insulation Standards on Moisture Accumulation within Framing of Residential Structures." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31027.
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Green building standards recommend use of a variety of new thermal insulation products. However, durability of wooden framing used in conjunction with new insulation materials has not been thoroughly examined, specifically in reference to interstitial condensation. This research used a single-sided hot-box design to measure moisture content of wood framing during a 60-day period. The resulting moisture content of the wood framing was compared as tested with spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane versus fiberglass batt insulation. The average moisture content of framing insulated with cellulose and polyurethane was greater than framing insulated with fiberglass. Based on the results from this research, the use of spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane insulation materials may increase the risk of structural durability.
Green building standards, such as LEED for Homes or the National Green Building Standard, emphasize creating energy efficient structures to limit negative impact on the environment. Green building practices employed to increase energy efficiency of the building enclosure may overlook possible adverse effects that these practices may have on structural durability. Because spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane insulation increase moisture content of wooden framework within building enclosures, it can be deduced that energy efficient insulation may increase risk of moisture-related biodeterioration of the building enclosure. After review of points awarded for insulation materials within LEED for Homes and the National Green Building Standard, results from this study imply that the National Green Building Standard does not emphasize durability of wooden structures in their guidelines at the present time.Master of Science
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Leung, Chi-ming. "Design consultancy vs design and build consultancy : present trends in the construction industry /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1995. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B14038869.
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Bengtson, Anna. "Framing technological development in a concrete context : the use of wood in the Swedish construction industry /." Uppsala : Dept. of Business Studies (Företagsekonomiska institutionen), Univ, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-3482.
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Hwang, Seok-Ho. "Design and Construction of Nanoarchitectures Using Smart Building Blocks." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1145885525.
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Brown, Robert Stephen. "Sustainable design and construction strategies for research building typologies." [Gainesville, Fla.] : University of Florida, 2003. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/UFE0000850.
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Oti, Jonathan E. "The development of unfired clay building materials for sustainable building construction." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2010. https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/studentthesis/the-development-of-unfired-clay-building-materials-for-sustainable-building-construction(ca64fe55-b35e-4d3f-a1a9-49308e1501c9).html.
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Currently there is a growing pressure on energy efficiency for new buildings in the UK and worldwide. This has arisen partly due to the increasing awareness of the public for sustainable building construction. In addition, there is pressure on building materials manufacturers, due to new government regulations and legislations that are targeting energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions in new buildings. This research work reports on unfired clay building materials (unfired clay bricks) technology for sustainable building construction. The technology aims at the reduction of the high energy input, especially that arising from firing clay bricks in kilns. The research has investigated the use of lime or Portland cement as an activator to an industrial by-product (Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag-GGBS) to stabilise Lower Oxford Clay (LOC). Portland cement was used in the formulation of the unfired clay brick tests specimens predominantly as a control. The development of an unfired clay brick in this current work is considered by the researcher as a significant scientific breakthrough for the building industry. Another breakthrough is the fact that only about 1.5% lime was used for GGBS activation. This is a very low level of usage of lime that is not comparable to, or sufficient for, most road construction applications, where far less strength values are needed and where 3-8% lime is required for effective soil stabilisation. Hence, the final pricing of the unfired clay brick is expected to be relatively low. Industrial scale brick specimens were produced during two separate industrial trials. The first trial was at Hanson Brick Company Ltd, Bedfordshire, UK, while the second was carried out at PD Edenhall Ltd, Bridgend, South Wales, UK. The results clearly demonstrate that all key parameters such as compressive strength, thermal properties and durability were within the acceptable engineering standards for clay masonry units. From the environmental and sustainability analysis results, the unfired clay material has shown energy-efficiency and suggests a formidable economical alternative to the firing of clay building components. This study is one of the earliest attempts to compare fired and unfired clay technology, and also to combine energy use and CO2 emission for unfired clay bricks relative to those bricks used in mainstream construction. This is an attempt to come up with one parameter rating. The overall results suggest that the spinoff from this technology is an invaluable resource for civil engineers and other built environment professionals who need quick access to up-to-date and accurate information about the qualities of various building and construction materials.
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Weathers, Thomas A. (Thomas Anthony). "Opportunities for building design and construction resulting from local resources." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39298.
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Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-51).
Current and future generations of architects must learn to operate effectively in an era of unprecedented resource constraints if they want to achieve their design intentions. This thesis addresses the architect's role in resource consumption. Specifically, it explores the potential for design and construction constrained to local resources. This research encompasses the following questions:What are the material resources local to MIT? What are the architectural and logistical limitations of using those resources in buildings? How might this research shape a building at MIT? By auditing local resources and industries, this thesis highlights unique opportunities for an architect to mobilize sustainable materials for MIT's growth. The subsequent design exercise transforms this knowledge into building strategies responsive to material and energy constraints. This new building serves to increase the density of MIT's east campus, developing underutilized lots on the edge of a future quad and rehabilitating a condemned structure. A framework of fixed and fluid components allows for sustainable adaptation, creating a flexible environment sought by emerging interdisciplinary groups.
by Thomas A. Weathers.
M.Arch.
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Lee, Cheuk Woon. "Design & build in Hong Kong : an alternative procurement method /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1994. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25947254.
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Harris, Brenden Roy. "Design to maintenance: A new construction design and building life cycle management approach." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2021. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/213059/1/Brenden_Harris_Thesis.pdf.
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The thesis develops a systematic and innovative approach to integrating commercial building design and maintenance so as to advance the body of knowledge of building life cycle management. Different from other studies, this approach extended the beneficial outcomes beyond the traditional capital focused outcome to the whole building life cycle. Participatory action research was employed and a number of mega commercial project case studies have demonstrated the research has improved traditional engineering practices significantly by linking design and error costs to maintenance, which resulted in improving asset life and values.
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Dong, Yahong, and 董雅紅. "Life cycle sustainability assessment modeling of building construction." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/206665.
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Building industry is one of the most influential economic sectors, which accounts for 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) globally and 40% of the world energy consumption. To achieve the goal of sustainable development, it is necessary to understand the sustainability performance of building construction in the environmental, the economic and the social aspects. This study quantitatively evaluates impacts of building construction in the three aspects by using the recently developed life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) methodology, in which environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA), environmental life cycle costing (ELCC), and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) are integrated. The scope of this research covers ‘cradle-to-site’ life cycle stages, from raw material extraction to on-site construction.
Three life-cycle models are developed, namely the Environmental Model of Construction (EMoC), the Cost Model of Construction (CMoC), and the Social-impact Model of Construction (SMoC). EMoC is a comprehensive ELCA model that evaluates environmental impacts of building construction by considering eighteen impact categories. CMoC is an ELCC model that provides analyses on construction costs and externalities. SMoC is an innovative S-LCA model being able to quantify social impacts of building construction in thirteen social impact categories. The three models are then integrated into a newly proposed LCSA framework.
In order to select an appropriate LCIA method for EMoC, the differences among existing life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods are investigated. It is found that LCIA methods are consistent in global impact categories, while inconsistent in regional impact categories. ‘ReCiPe’ is selected as the LCIA method to be used in EMoC. Midpoint and endpoint approaches of ‘ReCiPe’ can lead to different interpretations. Endpoint approach emphasizes on certain impact categories and can only be used when midpoint results are provided.
A life cycle inventory is established for ready mixed concrete and precast concrete based on site-specific data from concrete batching plant and precast yard. EMoC is employed to compare environmental performance of precast and cast-in-situ construction methods. It is found that adoption of precast concrete can significantly improve environmental performance of building construction. SMoC suggests that adoption of precast concrete can have both negative and positive impacts on local employment.
A case study is conducted to test the model performance. It demonstrates that environmental impacts of ‘cradle-to-site’ construction activities are mostly attributed to the material stage. The external cost due to carbon emission is about 2% of the total construction cost. Environmental-friendly on-site construction practices can significantly improve social performance of building construction.
The major findings of this study are verified through interviews with the local experts in Hong Kong. These validation interviews confirm that the proposed LCSA framework and the developed models contribute to the building industry in Hong Kong. In particular, this study can be used as a supplementary to the building assessment scheme, HK BEAM Plus. Results from this study can improve the understanding of building sustainability.published_or_final_version
Civil Engineering
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
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Oliver, Gabriel. "A Wall Building." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34951.
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This thesis investigates a constructive technique, within the materials and methods of conventional practice, which allows for a common building material such as concrete block to carry form and beauty. Furthermore, this project seeks to demonstrate the role human ingenuity, patience, attention, and perception can continue to play in architecture and construction.
The project focuses on an experimental wall type consisting of regular eight inch concrete half-block masonry units, stack-bonded in elevation and subtly transformed in plan to reveal a gradual shift of the exposed faces of the units. A wall was constructed at the Building Research and Demonstration Facility to investigate one example of this wall type.Master of Architecture
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Lobel, Joshua M. "Building information : means and methods of communication in design and construction." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43747.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77).
Architects are trained and practiced in the means and methods of design. These are distinct from the physical means and methods of construction, which have traditionally been in the hands of contractors. The successful realization of construction does not necessitate or rely on a direct link between the processes of design and construction. However, the constructibility of a design is dependent on an effective means of communicating between the two. This thesis illustrates that the perceived complexity of constructibility is often predicated on the efficacy of communication between the designer and the contractor. I present three models of communication: a linear transmissive model similar to that of Shannon and Weaver, a "speech-circuit" model based on that of Saussure, and a semiotic-constructionist model derived from Peirce and Papert. Through interviews, observations, and experiments with practicing architects and architecture students, I investigate the implications of these models on the perceived and contractual roles and responsibilities of architects and contractors. My findings suggest that in design, communication is also an act of design and construction. Best illustrated by the constructionist model of communication, acts of making and re-making are fundamental to the way that architects and contractors relate to design information. The automation of these acts through emerging technologies - such as BIM - lead to increased reliance on fixed data constructs in lieu of dynamic, individual interpretations of information. This can result in the loss of expert knowledge which does not fit a standardized model, and the dis-integration of meaningful communication between design and construction information.
Joshua M. Lobel.
S.M.
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Alekhtyar, Mumena. "Building Information Modelling and Virtual Design and Construction : Differentiations and interaction." Thesis, KTH, Fastigheter och byggande, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-231602.
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Within the last decade BIM technology products have been providing the construction industry with various tools that can be used in all construction phases and aspects with a wide set of potentials that range from visualization to simulation, scheduling and cost estimation (Kam , et al., 2016). As a result, the term BIM started to have new interpretation from a process- oriented perspective beside the product-oriented interpretation. These different interpretations and definitions of BIM creates an ambiguity regarding BIM. The ambiguity about what is BIM takes another direction when the term “Virtual Design and Constructions” VDC is used as synonym of BIM as well in many situations. VDC is defined as the use of integrated multi-disciplinary performance models of design-construction projects to support explicit and public business objectives (Kunz & Fischer, 2012). This study is an attempt to answer the following questions: What are the differences between BIM and VDC and how BIM and VDC interact and affect each other. As a result, a timeline for both terms was created based on a historical analysis for the emergence of both terms. Furthermore, more differences between VDC and BIM were located through literature reviews and empirics and this mapping was used to find how each term affects the other. The study was conducted in Tyréns Swedish consultancy company and it covered two infrastructure projects where VDC is used.
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Wise, Robert Bruce. "Technological expressionism in the tall building." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/21739.
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Diez, Jacob A. "Design for additive fabrication : building miniature robotic mechanisms." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/17668.
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Wu, Hao, and 吴昊. "A multi-objective optimization model for green building design." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2012. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B49618155.
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As a major energy consumer and CO2 emitter, buildings have an undeniably important role to play in cutting carbon emissions and combating climate change. Over the recent decades, green buildings have gained increasing attention and popularity from various stakeholders in the construction industry. Green building design practice builds upon the conventional building design practice but adds the concerns of environmental impacts and occupants’ well-being in the design philosophy.
Many researchers advocate utilizing optimization for green building design due to its capability in obtaining improved design solutions and providing building designers a better understanding of the design space. A comprehensive and in-depth review on previous relevant optimization models has revealed the following two limitations which might undermine their application in practice. Firstly, the focus of optimization in most of these models was on the reduction of cost and energy consumption while occupants’ comfort level in terms of indoor environmental quality was seldom considered. Secondly, for those models which have set comfort level of indoor environmental quality as a design objective, only thermal comfort was taken into account and thus they failed to address other essential factors governing indoor environmental quality such as visual comfort and indoor air quality.
Aiming at addressing the limitations of previous related studies, this research has developed an improved optimization model for green building design with a more comprehensive set of design objectives, namely minimization of cost, minimization of energy consumption, and maximization of occupants’ comfort level in terms of indoor environmental quality. The importance of the three design objectives and the necessity for including them in the model were verified through a series of semi-structured interviews with respondents from different stakeholder groups in relation to green building design and construction. The three design objectives are evaluated in the developed model in terms of (i) cost according to life cycle cost; (ii) energy consumption analyzed by a widely-adopted building energy performance simulation program – EnergyPlus; and (iii) comfort level of indoor environmental quality by adopting an empirical-based multivariate-logistic regression model identified from literatures. Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II, a powerful multi-objective optimization technique, was selected as the optimization engine in the developed model. The developed model was then implemented into to a prototype tool in the MATLAB environment which can be utilized by building designers to determine the appropriate design solutions. Through a hypothetical office building design problem, the applicability of the model was demonstrated. Finally, the developed model was validated through demonstration and face-to-face discussion with experts.published_or_final_version
Civil Engineering
Master
Master of Philosophy
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Crews, Joseph MacNeal. "The planning and design of mental health treatment centres." Thesis, University of Greenwich, 1999. http://gala.gre.ac.uk/8730/.
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This research thesis was developed as a planning and design reference for mental health treatment centres. This text is intended to assist planners, designers, and health practitioners to optimize patient health and comfort by providing suitable environments to facilitate care and treatment. This thesis examines and provides guidance on security issues, environmental design, the cognitive environment, and site development. Sample facility plans are also provided to demonstrate the design principles advocated. The foreword examines the historical background of mental health treatment facilities in relation to the context of care. The continuing problem of the alienating and dehumanizing effects of psychiatric hospitals on patients is also addressed. Security requirements are investigated in relation to patients' rights and personal needs. This text also examines related fire safety requirements and design measures to minimize the risks of suicides, self injuries, and assaults. Environmental design issues, including lighting, color, acoustics, construction materials, air quality, and spatial relationships, are examined in relation to mental and physical health. Cognitive issues such as wayfinding, mental maps, symbolism, and perceptions of physical environments and architectural design are explored in relation to mental health treatment facilities. Earlier research suggests that patients have difficulty making the cognitive adjustment to typical mental health treatment facilities, and this can negatively effect their therapy and potential recovery. An illustrated questionnaire was developed to help determine the types of facilities patients can relate to and experience relative comfort. This questionnaire was used to examine perceptions of buildings and designs in relation to the provision of comfortable and healthy environments. The survey revealed that patients, health care providers, and students shared similar perceptions of the built environment, and that buildings possessing features generally associated with domestic buildings (houses) were considered more comfortable than other building types. In particular, buildings with pitched roofs and brick exteriors were considered most suggestive of comfort. Horizontal windows were preferred to more common vertically oriented windows. This effect was more pronounced when windows framed a pleasant natural view. Curved interior forms were also found to be suggestive of comfort. Past, current, and emerging patterns of site and facility development are reviewed in association with their environmental context. The role of nature in the healing process, from ancient Greece to recent discoveries, is also examined. The final chapter of this thesis is a demonstration of design principles with annotated drawings of a hypothetical inpatient unit and outpatient clinic. These drawings are provided to demonstrate an integration of thesis findings and design principles. These drawings are not a definitive design or prototype, because every site and building program are different and require their own design solution.
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Jaly, Zada Aras Jalal. "Versioning of IFC-based information models for collaborative design." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33682/.
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The engineering design process is an iterative and distributed process. It is often characterized by multi-disciplinary teams in multiple places working together, on a single project, using different models and software tools. The current collaboration approaches in AEC industry often focus on integrating and managing multiple models from multi-designers. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is playing a major role in facilitating collaboration. BIM provides an opportunity to electronically model and manage the vast amount of information embedded in a building project, from conception to completion. In the design process, changes in the models are inevitable and very common. They can occur at any stage of the project, from different sources, and for various reasons, which can have significant effects on the process. Versioning is a solution for design change management. Many model versions can be created and distributed among the disciplinary teams. Despite many researches done on the subject and the availability of some software applications that deal with changes in design, the mechanism to cope with the changes among different model versions needs further studies to increase the management efficiencies and ensure designers have an up-to-date version of the model. The challenges of information exchange in project management result from: a combination of the enormous amounts of information generated, the large variety of design systems involved, and data format utilised by different disciplines at various design stages. The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard represents a paradigm shift for data and information exchange. The main goal for developing the IFC model is to provide a neutral data format to exchange information among different software programs. IFC models reflect the current state of BIM model. They do not take into consideration the process and results of latest changes among different BIM users nor record the history of earlier changes. This research work therefore investigates how to improve the process of managing the design changes from different disciplinary models. This research developed a collaborative methodology to manage the design changes in different models. It tackles the challenges of the versioning process as a change management approach. This is done through extending the capability of the existing IFC schema to control and manage different design changes in different BIM models. The proposed extended IFC incorporates the changed information of the latest model version and provides the complete history of changes of all earlier model versions. A prototype system was developed in this research to implement and validate the extended IFC and to demonstrate using it to improve the management of the whole design process. The research process involved undertaking a literature review to identify knowledge gaps and challenges in the areas of the (design process, BIM, IFC, and change management). The research also investigated and analysed the IFC standard and identified two key requirements of extending the IFC and implementing the prototype. Further aspects of this research include developing a framework to facilitate a collaborative design, extending the existing IFC schema, designing and implementing the prototype based on the extension, and validating and evaluating the extended IFC and the prototype system. The research concludes that the extended IFC to handle versioning can effectively improve collaborative design. It addressed concepts involving comparing, storing, classifying, extending managing, versioning, exchanging, and sharing of modelling information in a collaborative way. The proposed process of managing design changes covered an important gap associated with current IFC models, which can be incorporated in future releases of the IFC standard.
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Bridgewater, Colin. "A new approach to the design of buildings for automated construction." Thesis, University of Reading, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.315496.
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Liu, Zhen. "Building Information Modelling (BIM) aided waste minimisation framework." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14971.
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Building design can have a major impact on sustainability through material efficiency and construction waste minimisation (CWM). The construction industry consumes over 420 million tonnes of material resources every year and generates 120 million tonnes of waste containing approximately 13 million tonnes of unused materials. The current and on-going field of CWM research is focused on separate project stages with an overwhelming endeavour to manage on-site waste. Although design stages are vital to achieve progress towards CWM, currently, there are insufficient tools for CWM. In recent years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been adopted to improve sustainable building design, such as energy efficiency and carbon reduction. Very little has been achieved in this field of research to evaluate the use of BIM to aid CWM during design. However, recent literature emphasises a need to carry out further research in this context. This research aims to investigate the use of BIM as a platform to help with CWM during design stages by developing and validating a BIM-aided CWM (BaW) Framework. A mixed research method, known as triangulation, was adopted as the research design method. Research data was collected through a set of data collection methods, i.e. selfadministered postal questionnaire (N=100 distributed, n=50 completed), and semistructured follow-up interviews (n=11) with architects from the top 100 UK architectural companies. Descriptive statistics and constant comparative methods were used for data analysis. The BaW Framework was developed based on the findings of literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews. The BaW Framework validation process included a validation questionnaire (N=6) and validation interviews (N=6) with architects. Key research findings revealed that: BIM has the potential to aid CWM during design; Concept and Design Development stages have major potential in helping waste reduction through BIM; BIM-enhanced practices (i.e. clash detection, detailing, visualisation and simulation, and improved communication and collaboration) have impacts on waste reduction; BIM has the most potential to address waste causes (e.g. ineffective coordination and communication, and design changes); and the BaW Framework has the potential to enable improvements towards waste minimisation throughout all design stages. Participating architects recommended that the adoption of the BaW Framework could enrich both CWM and BIM practices, and most importantly, would enhance waste reduction performance in design. The content should be suitable for project stakeholders, architects in particular, when dealing with construction waste and BIM during design.
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Kiwan, Mohd S. A. A. "Integration of building design and construction information : a neutral object-oriented model." Thesis, University of Dundee, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.320532.
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Mattappadan, Sooraj Mohandas. "Organizational Dynamics Leading to the Implementation of Sustainable Design in Building Construction." Thesis, North Dakota State University, 2012. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26810.
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This study focused on construction project organizational dynamics, leading to implementation of sustainable construction. Data were derived from a questionnaire responded by construction industry practitioners. Results identified the need for promoting sustainable construction by cost and value benefits to the industry rather than environmental and social benefits. This approach promotes the interest of people who will not be conceived behind the environmental reasoning behind sustainable building. Also the factors that ranked the relatively low were those that do not provide considerable benefits to the organization during the construction phase. Higher initial investment, and the uncertainties of the time to recover it appear to be barriers to implementation of sustainable construction, although construction professionals were of the opinion that lower life-cycle cost and increased building value could easily repay it. The results of this study would benefit future construction-project participants who encounter organizational challenges in implementing sustainable designs in their project.North Dakota State University. Department of the Construction Management and Engineering
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Maleck, Andrea Eden. "Second-order inelastic and modified elastic analysis and design evaluation of planar steel frames." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/19610.
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Kaatz, Ewelina. "Developing a building sustainability assessment model for the South African built environment : searching for new appoaches to improve the effectiveness of building assessment." Doctoral thesis, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30115.
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The fundamental premise of research presented in this thesis is the search for conceptual approaches and practical measures to enhance the practice of building assessment in fostering sustainable construction. Hence, this thesis advances the theory for the practice of building assessment that incorporates the principles of sustainable development. The research findings are communicated via a functional specification for a building sustainability assessment model, suitable to the South African context. The research focuses primarily on process-related aspects of building assessment. Important insights for the development of the model's specification are gained from the review of the practice and experience of Environmental Assessment (EA) in addressing sustainability at a project level. Lessons are also drawn from the Process Protocol (PP), which provides a means of describing the building project process in a way that is transparent and accessible to building stakeholders. The most relevant insights sourced from these two fields of expertise are grouped into three key themes. These include integration (i.e. integration of sustainability principles, stakeholder values and perspectives), transparency and accessibility (i.e. open participation and communication competence) and collaborative learning (i.e. active involvement and transfer of knowledge). It is proposed that these themes form key outcomes of building assessment and be viewed as crucial functionalities of the model.
The model is presented as a generic method that can be customised to suit the context of its application. The potential use scenarios of the model, identified in this thesis, include the formulation of a building project proposal, a building project sustainability appraisal and a building performance audit. The use of process maps produced through this research facilitates the identification of interfaces between the model and the building process in terms of decision-points and associated information needs in each use scenario. The model's user personas are also discussed (i.e. building stakeholders) with regard to the potential benefits and challenges of their participation in the building assessment process. The theory for building assessment advanced in this thesis was validated during a workshop with South African academics and built environment practitioners, held at the University of Cape Town.
The thesis concludes that building assessment methods can do more than assess the sustainability of a building. More importantly, they provide a means of introducing the principles of sustainable development into the processes that produce the built end-product. This suggests a need to move beyond the terminology of building assessment and instead talk of enhancement models that would facilitate a shift in the practice of building assessment from measuring to one of proactive improvement.
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Poon, Joanna L. K. "Development of a process model for the design stage of building projects." Thesis, University of Wolverhampton, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2436/111548.
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Davies, Ivor. "Moisture conditions in external timber cladding : field trials and their design implications." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2011. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/4702.
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This thesis describes the development of technical guidance on timber facade design. The study involved a state-of-the-art review; an exposure trial of external cladding made from Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and the production of construction details and associated information. It was undertaken because timber is an increasingly common cladding material in the UK, being used on low-rise residential buildings and for medium-rise and non-domestic buildings. The risks have, therefore, increased but this is not reflected in published guidance. Sitka spruce was used due to its availability in the UK and its similarity to Norway spruce (P. abies) which is widely used for cladding in Scandinavia. The exposure trial indicated that the moisture content range in timber facades is wider than accepted. The minimum moisture content of around 10% appears to be similar for all types of timber cladding and all species. The maximum appears to vary between species according to their fibre saturation point and is influenced by construction detailing and workmanship. A preliminary model of these interactions is proposed. From a theoretical standpoint, the moisture conditions observed in the trial mean that the (commonly quoted) mean moisture content is all but irrelevant. The mode is a more representative statistic as in most cases the data are skewed towards the fibre saturation point for the species concerned. Most detailing combinations had a moisture content near to the fibre saturation point throughout the winter. Sitka spruce is, therefore, only suitable as external cladding in the UK if preservative treated. Around 40 construction details were produced. They integrate, for the first time, all of the performance requirements applicable to low- and medium-rise timber facades in the UK. The work's key benefit is that the guidance arising from this study rationalises and improves facade design. Further research is, however, needed to validate the moisture content model and extend it to other timber species.
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Jobe, Jeffrey M. "Blast resistant forced entrty [sic] steel stud wall design." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5850.
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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (January 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.
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Fahdah, Ibrahim. "Distributed IT for integration and communication of engineering information for collaborative building design." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2008. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10448/.
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In recent years, the rapid development of new information technologies has significantly impacted on the product development process as strategic means to gain competitive advantage in a global market. In the engineering domain, powerful computer-based tools such as Computer Aided Design systems enable engineers to perform various design tasks and realise product concepts in the early phase of the product development process. However, the increasing complexity of modern products as well as the globalization of product development further necessitate distributed and collaborative design environments. This is where different computer systems and dispersed specialists in similar or different disciplines need to collaboratively be involved in shared design activities. Therefore, the integration and communication of engineering information are two of the most key technical factors in ensuring successful collaboration. The current application of information technology in supporting collaboration during the design process is limited to either a document-based or a common format-based exchange level. These methods provide relatively simple forms of collaboration compared with desired distributed and collaborative design environments that can deliver more effective ways of collaboration. The work detailed in this research investigates the advantages of using modern distributed information technologies alongside a suitable framework and a product model to support multi-disciplinary collaborative design. The work also involves exploring other important issues related to real-time collaborative design environments. These are design transaction management, access control, communication, and version management. The research work employs modern technology and distributed computing to enhance the processes of collaborative building design. The research proposes a framework and a product model to extend the functionalities of stand-alone and single-user design systems to facilitate synchronous collaborative design where distributed designers can work concurrently on a centralised shared model and carry out all necessary communication and data exchanges electronically. The implemented framework proposes a data transaction management approach that ensures efficient concurrent access to the model data and maintains data consistency. The framework also employs software agents to automatically access and operate on the information exchanged among the collaborators. The proposed product model in this work extends an adopted model to support access right control and version management. The work is implemented in an experimental software as a client-server model. .Net technology is used for implementing the framework and the product model and virtual reality technology is used to allow for intuitive interaction with the system. The research concludes that the utilisation of the modern distributed technologies can effectively induce change in the design process toward a more collaborative and concurrent design. As demonstrated within this work, these technologies with a suitable system design can meet the main requirements of a real-time collaborative building design system.
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Kilaire, Aneel. "Design of an integrated passive and active double facade system for UK offices." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2012. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30860/.
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The Egan Report, changes to Part L Building regulations, and the importance of office workers is challenging designers to improve the construction process, reduce operational carbon emissions, and enhance occupant comfort for office buildings in the United Kingdom. This thesis proposes a double skin facade system with integrated environmental systems to overcome these challenges. The Facade deals with a number of conflicting requirements and a single-storey, naturally ventilated cavity, unitised Double Facade has been proposed to resolve them. The two key determinants for the Active Environmental System have been prefabrication and operational carbon emissions. To address these issues a decentralised system, comprising of a Reversible Air Source Heat Pump, Heat Exchanger, Active Beam and Active Trench is proposed, and integrated into the Double Facade. A key part of the design process has been working with industrial partners to develop the design and realise a full-scale prototype. This has been tested and evaluated in terms of key aspects of the comfort, weather and aesthetic performance. An appraisal of the product demonstrates that it achieves proof of concept; it is highly prefabricated and enhanced occupant comfort and carbon emissions targets can be met.
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Oti, Akponanabofa Henry. "Building information modelling for sustainability appraisal of conceptual design of steel-framed buildings." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2014. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14335/.
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In the construction sector, capturing the building product in a single information model with good interoperable capabilities has been the subject of much research efforts in at least the last three decades. Contemporary advancements in Information Technology and the efforts from various research initiatives in the AEC industry are showing evidence of progress with the advent of building information modelling (BIM). BIM presents the opportunity of electronically modelling and managing the vast amount of information embedded in a building project, from its conception to end-of-life. Researchers have been looking at extensions to expand its scope. Sustainability is one such modelling extension that is in need of development. This is becoming pertinent for the structural engineer as recent design criteria have put great emphasis on the sustainability credentials in addition to the traditional criteria of structural integrity, constructability and cost. Considering the complexity of nowadays designs, there is a need to provide decision support tools to aid the assessment of sustainability credentials. Such tools would be most beneficial at the conceptual design stage so that sustainability is built into the design solution starting from its inception. This research work therefore investigates how contemporary process and data modelling techniques can be used to map and model sustainability related information to inform the structural engineer’s building design decisions at an early stage. The research reviews current design decisions support systems on sustainability and highlights existing deficiencies. It examines the role of contemporary information modelling techniques in the building design process and employs this to tackle identified gaps. The sustainability of buildings is related to life cycle and is measured using indicator-terms such as life cycle costing, ecological footprint and carbon footprint. This work takes advantage of current modelling techniques to explore how these three indicators can be combined to provide sustainability assessment of alternative design solutions. It identifies the requirements for sustainability appraisal and information modelling to develop a requisite decision-support framework vis-à-vis issues on risk, sensitivity and what-if scenarios for implementation. The implementation employed object-oriented programming and feature modelling techniques to develop a sustainability decision-support prototype. The prototype system was tested in a typical design activity and evaluated to have achieved desired implementation requirements. The research concludes that the utilized current process and data modelling techniques can be employed to model sustainability related information to inform decisions at the early stages of structural design. As demonstrated in this work, design decision support systems can be optimized to include sustainability credentials through the use of object-based process and data modelling techniques. This thesis presents a sustainability appraisal framework, associated implementation algorithms and related object mappings and representations systems that could be used to achieve such decision support optimization.
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Bibby, Lee. "Improving design management techniques in construction." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2003. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/793.
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Recent years has seen a significant drive away from traditional procurement routes with contractors finding themselves with an increasing responsibility for control of design - a process they have had little experience in managing. They now have to adapt accordingly. The learning curve is steep, not least because many projects must now be delivered fast track while co-ordinating increasingly complex fabric and content of buildings without a platform of accepted good practice to manage the design process. This is a major factor preventing the UK construction industry from delivering projects on time, to budget and to the specified quality. There is a need to educate an increasing number of people in design management techniques to equip them to manage today's fast moving and demanding projects. However, many current design management tools are insufficiently developed for industry application. Therefore, to improve design management in the industry, current techniques must be modified to align them with the needs of the modern design manager. This research has developed and tested a training initiative aimed at improving design management practice within a major UK Design and Construct Contractor. It comprises a Design Management Handbook, Design Management Training, Team Support and Project Monitoring. The Design Management Handbook is the core of the training initiative. It addresses critical aspects of design management practice and provides design management tools. Training provides guidance to project teams on the tools and practices. In Team Support project teams are supported in the implementation of the new practices and tools to help embed new ways of working in company practice. Project Monitoring establishes the impact of the new practices on project performance to demonstrate that they are working and thus reinforce change. To establish the training initiative's effectiveness and key findings, the impact of the initiative on design management performance has been explored. The research has established which practices and tools were used, which were not, as well as an understanding the applicability and performance of each Handbook practice and tool. From this, barriers to implementing new design management tools in industry were identified and strategies developed in order to overcome such barriers.
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Kintingu, Simion Hosea. "Design of interlocking bricks for enhanced wall construction, flexibility, alignment accuracy and load bearing." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2009. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/2768/.
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The worldwide housing shortage has stimulated a search for appropriate, easy, fast and cost-effective new ways of wall construction. Among many technologies found to have promise is mortarless technology using dry-stack interlocking bricks/blocks. This thesis is about such mortarless walling technology and in particular: how to improve wall-construction flexibility, the effects of brick irregularities on wall alignment accuracy and wall behaviour (stiffness, strength) when subject to lateral forces. The flexibility of mortarless technology (MT) has been enhanced by the development of new bricks (centre-half bat and tee brick): the introduction of closer bricks led to the formation of two new bonds (patterns) namely Shokse and Lijuja bonds. It is now possible to construct more than half-brick-thick walls, to attach more than half-brickwide piers (buttresses) onto walls, and, using special bricks, to construct polygonal and curved walls using interlocking bricks. Three methods (theoretical modeling, physical experiments and computer simulation) were used to analyze the effects of brick imperfections on wall alignment accuracy. Theoretical analysis confirmed that brick moulders should concentrate on achieving parallel top and bottom faces rather than achieving true square-ness. Physical column assembly compared three brick-laying strategies namely: “random”, “reversing” and “replace”. The columns assembled using the “reversing” and “replace” strategies realized alignment improvement factors of 1.6 and 2.9 respectively over “random” strategy. The research also revealed that grooving, to prevent bricks making contact near their centre lines, improved column alignment by factor 2.13 and stiffness by factor 2.0, thus allowing construction of longer and higher walls without strengthening measures. In order to attain alignment accuracy in accordance with BS 5628-3:2005 in a dry-stack mortarless wall, this research recommends using full bricks with top and bottom surface irregularities not exceeding ±0.5mm for un-grooved bricks, and up-to ±0.9mm for grooved bricks. Further analysis was undertaken with respect to resource-use implications (cement, water, soil) of employing MT. Using MT will save 50% of wall construction cost and 50% cement consumption, which ultimately will reduce 40% of carbon emissions.
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Vermeulen, Bernard. "The role of a design engineer in safety of building projects." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86355.
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Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.One of the causes for money to be wasted on construction sites is accidents. The reason is that an accident on site is an unplanned event typically relating to the loss of production or the loss of life. Many industry stakeholders and role players have focused on construction health and safety and to improve this area of concern; however, construction health and safety are not significantly improving. Construction still continues to contribute a large number of fatalities and injuries relative to other industry sectors. During the construction phase, poor construction health and safety performance is attributable to a lack of management commitment, inadequate supervision, and a lack of health and safety training and - systems. Health and safety systems do not only include excellent health and safety management on site, but rather an integrated approach on health and safety issues from the conceptual design phase by all stakeholders participating. This integrated approach includes the design done by the engineer. The inspiration behind this research is the question of whether South African Engineers design buildings safe for construction. The lack of knowledge by engineers with regard to construction processes, the lack of health and safety enforcement in the engineering offices and construction sites, and whether engineers adhere to safe design principles is the subject of investigation in this research. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the role of the design engineer in the safety of building projects. Specifically, it investigates to what extent the design engineer can contribute to site safety, and to what extent this is actually taking place. The Construction Regulations states the engineer can be appointed to act on behalf of a client and should share any information that might affect the health and safety of construction employees with the contractor. By means of a literature study, the investigation of case studies and the investigation of questionnaires to which a percentage of South African engineers responded, this research identified the information that should be shared by the design engineer with the contractor. The information can be shared by indicating hazardous activities or - locations on the actual drawings. Information can also be shared by specifying and reminding the contractor of certain health and safety hazards in the health and safety specifications of the building project. Although the Construction Regulations state that the safety hazards associated with most construction processes are the responsibility of the contractor, it will be beneficial for the safety of the employees if the engineer also consults the contractor on the hazards identified by him or her during the early design stages. Early collaboration between the engineer and contractor is also beneficial for the safety of construction employees. The result is an integrated approach towards safety hazard identification and mitigation. Having adequate knowledge with regard to construction processes allows the engineer to be aware of possible safety hazards. This will result in the correct information to be shared with the contractor and incorporated into the early design phases of the project to ensure a healthy and safe working environment. The study shows that a percentage of South African engineers have a lack of site experience, a lack of safety training, a lack of knowledge with regard to the content of the Construction Regulations, and a lack of knowledge with regard to construction processes. These shortcomings can be detrimental to site safety.
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Andresen, Inger. "A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method for Solar Building Design." Doctoral thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art, 2000. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-451.
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The background for this thesis is based on the assumption that the success of solar buildings relies on the assessment and integration of all the different design objectives, called criteria. These criteria are often quite complicated to deal with (e.g. environmental loading) and may be conflicting. The different design issues and the many different available energy technologies call for different areas of expertise to be involved in the design of solar buildings. This makes it difficult to evaluate the overall “goodness” of a proposed design solution. Also, the communication between design professionals and the client becomes complicated.
The goal of this work was therefore to produce a means for the design team and clients to be able to better understand and handle holistic solar design. A first hypothesis was that a structured approach for evaluating design alternatives might be a means to this end.
In order to specify an approach that would fit into the building design process, an analysis of design process theory and building design practice was carried out (chapter 2). Also, special solar design issues were investigated. This analysis resulted in the following conclusions:
· Most building design processes start out with no clearly defined goals or criteria of success. The design criteria are refined and discovered through evaluation and feedback on alternative design proposals.
· Design involves a lot of subjective value judgements, and decisions are often based on experience, “gut feeling”, or intuition. Design options are evaluated based on quantitative and qualitative performance measures. There exists no objective optimal design solution.
· It is possible to identify some main activities that are common to most design processes. These are categorized into 4 main tasks: problem formulation, generation of alternatives, performance prediction and evaluation. The activities are very much overlapping and dependent on each other.
· Decision-making in design happens mainly through evaluation of proposed design solutions.
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Jerome, Adeline. "Integration of LCA into the building design process." Thesis, KTH, Hållbara byggnader, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-251814.
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The required estimation of performances of a building cannot be limited to its energy efficiency anymore. Environmental issues are rising concerns into national policies. However, information about construction products is still segmented into several distinct databases: the construction company gathered data for its design process into private pricing databases while environmental declarations from manufacturers are available in a public database. The interconnection of the different information about the same product is difficult because of the difference of data formatting and representation. The objective of this project was to provide first tools to facilitate this interconnection between the design process of the company and environmental data, considering incoming requirements from the new thermal regulation of 2020. This led to the creation of a SQL environmental database, based on environmental declarations, more adapted for statistical analysis than a document-based database. Specific data management functions were also developed to homogenise unit representation and to spot product performances for the purpose of multi-criteria analysis of products Finally, an estimation of the distinctiveness of products through a selection of key words was tested. The comparison of lists of words provided good performances for their classification into a limited number of lots. But it is not sufficient to identify items that can be related to the same construction product. So further works is needed into the creation of a semantic metric model of construction vocabulary.
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Marín, Sáez Julia. "Design, Construction and Characterization of Holographic Optical Elements for Building-Integrated Concentrating Photovoltaics." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Lleida, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/669230.
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El principal objectiu d'aquesta tesi és el disseny, construcció i caracterització d'un sistema de concentració solar format per dues lents cilíndriques hologràfiques i una cèl•lula fotovoltaica de silici per integració arquitectònica en façanes. L'ús d'Elements Òptics Hologràfics (EOHs) en lloc d'elements refractius o miralls suposa avantatges com la selectivitat cromàtica i la facilitat d'integració en façanes. D'altra banda, cal fer seguiment en una direcció.
Els EOHs han estat dissenyats de manera que s'acobla l'espectre solar amb la resposta espectral de la cèl•lula per obtenir una concentració òptica màxima en el rang espectral desitjat i per tant, corrent elèctrica màxima. S'ha desenvolupat un algoritme de traçat de raigs basat en la Teoria d'Ones Acoblades per analitzar local i globalment EOHs i sistemes hologràfics. Les simulacions han estat validades amb resultats experimentals de EOHs registrats a fotopolímer Bayfol HX. També s'han estudiat EOHs que operen en el règim de transició entre el règim de Bragg i el de Raman-Nath, observant els avantatges que ofereix per a aplicacions d'il•luminació amb espectre ample.El principal objetivo de esta tesis es el diseño, construcción y caracterización de un sistema de concentración solar formado por dos lentes cilíndricas holográficas y una célula fotovoltaica de Silicio para integración arquitectónica en fachada. El uso de Elementos Ópticos Holográficos (EOHs) en lugar de elementos refractivos o espejos supone ventajas como la selectividad cromática y la facilidad de integración en fachada. Por otro lado, es necesario realizar seguimiento en una dirección. Los EOHs han sido diseñados de forma que se acopla el espectro solar con la respuesta espectral de la célula para obtener una concentración óptica máxima en el rango espectral deseado y por lo tanto, corriente eléctrica máxima. Se ha desarrollado un algoritmo de trazado de rayos basado en la Teoría de Ondas Acopladas para analizar local y globalmente EOHs y sistemas holográficos. Las simulaciones han sido validadas con resultados experimentales de EOHs registrados en fotopolímero Bayfol HX. También se han estudiado EOHs que operan en el régimen de transición entre el régimen de Bragg y el de Raman-Nath, observándose las ventajas que ofrece para aplicaciones de iluminación con espectro ancho.
The main objective of this thesis is the design, construction and characterization of a solar concentrating system formed by two cylindrical holographic lenses and a Silicon PV cell for the scope of façade building integration. The use of Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) instead of refractive or reflective elements implies advantages such as chromatic selectivity and ease of integration on a façade. On the other hand, tracking is necessary in one direction. The HOEs have been designed to couple the solar spectrum with the spectral response of the PV cell in order to provide maximal optical concentration on the target spectral range and therefore maximal electrical current. A ray-tracing algorithm based on Coupled Wave Theory has been developed to locally and globally analyze HOEs and holographic systems. Simulations have been validated with experimental results of HOEs recorded on Bayfol HX photopolymer. HOEs operating in the transition regime between the Bragg regime and Raman-Nath regime have also been studied, showing the promising advantages it offers for broadband spectrum illumination applications.
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Mahdad, Sadeghi. "Achieving design quality in building projects : an evolving understanding of critical success factors and stakeholder attributes." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/83228/.
Full textAbstract:
Good building design can provide a myriad of benefits. There is ample evidence suggesting an association between design attributes and various outcomes for users and other stakeholders of built environments. Despite is importance, design quality is found to be overlooked in building projects in favour of other objectives such as time and cost. Recent initiatives have attempted to highlight the value of design quality, however, their focus have been mainly on post project completion and building evaluation. ‘How’ design quality - with its complex nature –is achieved during the projects has seen little empirical attempt. The research in this thesis, therefore, aimed to improve the understanding of design quality achievement in building projects by exploring the critical success factors (CSFs) and stakeholder attributes. A multi-phase, mixed methods approach was developed to fulfil this aim. In the first phase, the theory and methods offered in ‘project success’ and ‘stakeholder management’ assisted in devising a developmental process to a) identify, validate and evaluate the CSFs, and to b) explore stakeholder attributes using three major analysis models. A preliminary interview study, then, explored the viewpoints of 11 architects on the topic and verified the research aim and directions. A matrix-based model was also used to map the bi-directionality between design quality and its stakeholders. The second phase, consisting of a qualitative study followed by a quantitative one, first identified 36 potential CSFs from the perspective of 10 experts and then validated 28 of them through a questionnaire survey of 129 individuals with architecture and client backgrounds. ‘Brief’, ‘communications’ and ‘leadership’ were revealed as the most important CSFs. Using principal Component Analysis to assess the interrelationships between the CSFs in 126 building projects extracted 7 components that could meaningfully represent the CSFs. Moreover, Regression Analysis was employed to establish the causal relationship between these components and the design quality success criteria of functionality, build quality and impact. It was found that the components collectively contribute to the achievement of design quality in real projects but differently to each of its success criteria. Also, by applying the second stakeholder model, it was found that clients and architects had the highest level of power, proximity and urgency with regard to design quality decisions while users and facility managers were low in these attributes. In phase 3, Social Network Analysis was used to model and visualise the stakeholder relationships with regard to design quality in a case project (third stakeholder model). 21 members of the stakeholder groups were approached and their involvement, influence and communication effectiveness were assessed. Apart from the evolving understanding obtained through the above process, the research contributed by developing conceptual frameworks for a) design quality CSFs, b) design quality related stakeholder relationships, and c) success criteria of building projects. Moreover, for the first time, the dynamism of stakeholder communications in a construction project was visualised for different stages. Based on the knowledge emerged, the research also proposed a holistic evaluation of design quality achievement to enhance the current DQI tool.
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Eaves, Stephanie. "Building and maintaining healthy construction workers for longer working lives through better workplace design." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/21185.
Full textAbstract:
Globally, there is an ageing population resulting in an older workforce; in the UK it is predicted that by 2050 over one third of the workforce will be aged over 50. Construction involves heavy manual labour where working into later life may be difficult and natural, age-related decline is exacerbated by working conditions. Co-developing ideas with workers using participatory approaches can facilitate positive, healthy change in the workplace. The aim of this thesis is to explore ways in which construction workers jobs and workplaces can be made healthier, easier and safer to facilitate healthy ageing and longer working lives. An in-depth interview study with 80 construction workers explored their understanding of their health and wellbeing at work and ideas for improvement. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire identified a high prevalence of symptoms in workers of all ages in the knees, lower back, wrists and hands. Many of these symptoms were considered to be work related; interestingly, this did not affect Work Ability Index ratings. Workers had good ideas to improve their health and wellbeing at work; over 400 changes had been made or were being sustained by workers around improving manual handling, PPE, tools and machinery and health and wellbeing. A further 265 new suggestions were made concerned with education and supervision, facilities and human resources. In-depth focus groups with senior stakeholders (n=18) in three construction organisations explored barriers and opportunities for change. They were concerned about the health and wellbeing of their workers; were keen to hear their ideas; and identified poor communication within the whole workforce as a barrier to change. Opportunities to improve the situation included better feedback to workers, and interactive toolbox talks to encourage idea generation and sharing experiences. Finally, participatory workshops with senior stakeholders and trades workers (n=23) captured ideas for the development of a resource for the industry to facilitate longer working lives. Participants strongly suggested that the resource should facilitate communication between the workforce and supervisors by being visually engaging, strongly health-related and interactive, to capture and maintain the attention and involvement of the workforce.
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Nassar, Khaled. "A Framework for Building Assembly Selection and Generation." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29138.
Full textAbstract:
In practice, the building design process can be divided into three major stages; schematic design, design implementation and construction documents development. The majority of the time in the building design delivery process is spent in the latter two stages. Computers can greatly aid the designer in the latter two stages, by providing a tool that helps in choosing the best assemblies for a particular design and, helping in automating the process of construction detail generation. There is lack of such a tool in the architecture design domain.
In this dissertation, a novel approach for the selection and generation of building assemblies is presented. A building product model is described. In this model the building is broken down into assemblies. Each assembly has a graphical representation. By using the assemblies' representations a designer can specify his/her design concept. These assemblies are intelligent. They know how to select the correct assembly constructions for each particular design situation, based on a set of defined criteria and constraints. The different kinds of criteria and constraints that affect the selection of assemblies are identified, and examples are provided. A selection procedure is developed that can perform the selection taking into consideration the various criteria and constraints to produce a best compromise solution.
A computer prototype is developed on top of a traditional computer graphics package (AutoCAD) as a proof of concept. In the prototype, the design knowledge is encapsulated and intelligence is added to the building assemblies of a specific construction type. This intelligence allows the assemblies to be automatically selected and analyzed. Several examples of assemblies are developed in the computer prototype.
The treatment of building components as intelligent objects will significantly increase the efficiency of design in terms of economy and performance. This is because issues related to the specific design can be addressed in an organized way. Issues like cost, constructability, and other performances can be taken into consideration at the design level. The approach described here provides a more efficient and time saving way for selection of building assembly constructions.Ph. D.
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Malan, Heinrich. "A study on green building solutions in Botswana 2014." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/97177.
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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research assignment was done to determine the status and awareness of green building solutions in Gaborone, Botswana for the year 2014. In a third world country like Botswana, design and development of ‘green building’ is low on the agenda. As with many other third world countries, other basic needs and services are missing and many people believe that all of those should be sorted out before items such as green building solutions can be looked at. Interviews were conducted with executives of companies in the property development industry or companies that make use of commercial office space. Through these executives, access was gained to the employees who were requested to complete an online survey. The focus of the interviews and surveys was to gain information of the companies’ awareness of and involvement in green building solutions, their view on the willingness to pay for such solutions and on its implementation in the future. In the findings, it became clear that cost is the most important aspect, especially when renting, while when investing, most participants were willing to contribute towards green building solutions with the understanding that this would contribute to lower running costs, and therefore returns on the investment made.
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Gundogan, Handan. "Motivators And Barriers For Green Building Construction Market In Turkey." Master's thesis, METU, 2012. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614371/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
&lsquoGreen Buildings&rsquo
play an important role to increase the implementation of sustainable strategies in the construction industry. Although there is a process of change within Turkish building environment towards implementation of green strategies nowadays, limited research has been conducted to search the reasons that drive the market and the important barriers that block the green building movement. This thesis is intended to fill this gap in the literature and contribute to the field of knowledge regarding green building construction in Turkey. The results shall benefit both government and market practitioners for the development of green building market. The data presented in this thesis are mainly obtained from a comprehensive questionnaire survey developed based on a deep literature search. The questionnaire is completed by professionals who have an interest on this topic or who have involvement in green building projects. In order to analyze the gathered data, a variety of statistical methods are used and the results are evaluated in detail. In addition to questionnaire survey, six case study green building projects in Turkey are examined and so a snapshot picture of current situation of the green movement is taken. Accordingly, financial considerations, faced difficulties and lessons learned are explained. The findings shall assist in understanding the real needs for green building development in Turkish construction sector. Finally, recommendations for government and researchers are presented so as to steer the construction sector in the direction of sustainability.