Elevator Shaft Research Articles

高層ビルのエレベーターシャフトにおける煙突効果の防止策 （第1報）換気計算によるエレベーター扉前後の差圧の再現

高層ビルのエレベーターシャフトにおける煙突効果の防止策 （第1報）換気計算によるエレベーター扉前後の差圧の再現

Construction sites in Miami-Dade County, Florida are highly favorable environments for vector mosquitoes.

Urbanization is increasing globally, and construction sites are an integral part of the urbanization process. It is unknown to what extent construction sites create favorable breeding conditions for mosquitoes. The main objectives of the present study were to identify what species of mosquitoes are present at construction sites and the respective physical features associated with their production. Eleven construction sites were cross-sectionally surveyed for the presence of mosquitoes in Miami-Dade County, Florida including in areas previously affected by the Zika virus outbreak in 2016. A total of 3.351 mosquitoes were collected; 2.680 adults and 671 immatures. Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus comprised 95% of all collected mosquitoes and were the only species found in their immature forms breeding inside construction sites. Results for the Shannon and Simpson indices, considering both immature and adult specimens, yielded the highest values for Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti. The individual rarefaction curves indicated that sampling sufficiency was highly asymptotic for Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti, and the plots of cumulative species abundance (ln S), Shannon index (H) and log evenness (ln E) (SHE) revealed the lack of heterogeneity of species composition, diversity and evenness for the mosquitoes found breeding in construction sites. The most productive construction site breeding features were elevator shafts, Jersey plastic barriers, flooded floors and stair shafts. The findings of this study indicate that vector mosquitoes breed in high numbers at construction sites and display reduced biodiversity comprising almost exclusively Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus. Such findings suggest that early phase construction sites have suitable conditions for the proliferation of vector mosquitoes. More studies are needed to identify modifiable worker- and organizational-level factors to improve mosquito control practices and guide future mosquito control strategies in urban environments.

Design Methodology of Base Plates with Column Eccentricity in Two Directions under Bidirectional Moment

Base plate is a critical structural component responsible for transferring loads from the structure to the foundation. By increasing the contact surface between the column foot and the foundation, base plates contribute to more manageable distribution of column forces and the resulting stresses in the substructure. The off-center positioning of column on the base plate, which is sometimes unavoidable because of the limitations imposed by elevator shaft, adjacent buildings, etc. could be a major design issue. This paper investigates the effects of column eccentricity on the design and stress distribution of base plates and the impact of stiffeners on the thickness of these plates. In this investigation, a comparison is made between the superposition method and the finite element method in terms of their evaluation of stress levels under the base plate with column eccentricity. The study also aims to determine the magnitude and distribution of maximum stresses with plate’s thickness and dimensions and column’s position on the plate taken into account. The results show that the superposition method can be confidently used in the force analysis and design of base plates with column eccentricity under bidirectional moments.

MULTI® - rope-less elevator demonstrator at test tower Rottweil

Background: The world’s first linear motor driven passenger elevator system MULTI® started test operation at test tower Rottweil, Germany. A full scale showcase has been installed, the commissioning is finished and extensive testing activities are performed. The new test tower in Rottweil provides the perfect test and certification environment to get this ground-breaking product onto the market.
 The propulsion of the cars is based on an ironless long-stator linear motor with distributed active drive, motor and sensor elements. This technology allows cars to move individually in the same elevator shaft without any ropes. The same type of linear motor will also be used to exchange cars horizontally from one shaft to another. Herewith a movement of the cars in a loop or any vertical and horizontal travel path can be realized. The testing procedures to characterize the operation of the MULTI® include measurements of electrical, mechanical and thermal quantities.
 Smart energy management feeds power of descending cars for rising cars. To overcome the high power demand for acceleration cars, an energy buffering system is installed.
 Aim: This paper focuses on the power and energy management of the MULTI® demonstrator. The benefit of intelligent buffering strategy is depicted.
 Methods: Full scale prototype, numerical simulation, testing and measurement. 
 Results: This paper presents first measurement results of the MULTI® demonstrator mainly focusing on the power and energy characteristics of the propulsion system.
 Conclusion: Using an energy buffering system, the peak input power of the MULTI® can be reduced to 50% of the peak power level without energy buffer. The power from downward moving cars is recuperated and used for upward driving cars, balanced by the energy buffer without stressing the grid.

Noise and vibration measurements of a machine-room-less elevator system

A trend in the design of new condominium buildings is the use of “machine-room less” (MRL) elevator systems. The primary difference between MRL elevator systems and more traditional elevator systems is that, rather than locating the hoist machinery in a rooftop penthouse, the hoist machinery is installed in the elevator shaft. In this location (which is typically closer to residential units), there is greater potential for the operation of the machinery to result in complaints from residents of excessive noise and vibration levels. This paper presents a case study of noise and vibration measurements that were conducted in a condominium building with a MRL elevator system. Measurements were conducted both within the affected residential unit as well as in the elevator shaft. In conducting the measurements, particular attention was paid to determining the effectiveness of the vibration isolation that was provided for the elevator hoist machinery within the elevator shaft.

Multi-sensors measuring system for geodetic monitoring of elevator guide rails

The elevator guide rails geometry, which covers such features as rectilinearity, verticality, parallelism and span, is of key importance as uninterrupted, failure-free operation of elevators and safety of elevators’ users are prerequisites. The geometric parameters have to measured and controlled periodically according to elevators industry standards. The paper discusses the construction and principles of operation of developed Multi-Sensors Measuring System (MSMS) in the control of geometric parameters of elevator guide rails. The system is made of laser rangefinders and two laser emitters with a collimation system. To detect and register the location of laser spots the system uses CCD/CMOS detectors. The elements of the system are deployed in the elevator shaft. This solution allows you to control the position of the laser beams in the external reference system and to determine the torsion angles of the guide rails in the elevator shaft. Algorithm and data processing chain are also provided in the paper. The experimental results demonstrate that the system ensure elevator check according to current industry standard.

Automated Part Recognition Technology of 3D Measurement data for Elevator Renewal

This paper proposes an automatic part recognition technology for 3D point cloud data of elevator shaft. The measurement system is used for elevator renewal proposal. The 3D point cloud data is measured by 3D laser scanner. A conventional method using 3D point cloud data are required by GUI-based human instruction. In order to reduce lead-time of elevator renewal proposal, Hitachi Ltd. has developed an automatic parts recognition technology and an automatic measurement technology for the 3D point cloud data of elevator shaft. The automatic parts recognition technology is characterized by graph network on voxel representation of point cloud data. These developed technologies enable to reduce 80% of field study time and drawing creation time.

엘리베이터 로프의 동적 모델 검증을 위한 로프 진동 실험

In this paper, the vibration characteristic of elevator rope was verified. To this end, the dynamic model of elevator rope was derived using Rayleigh-Ritz method. And the numerical simulation was carried out for theoretical predictions. To calculate the response of elevator rope, the parameters of real elevator was considered. Based on numerical simulation, the vibration experiments were carried out to validate the dynamic model of elevator rope. To measure the vibration of elevator rope, the CCD camera and the line laser was considered. And the image processing technique was applied to calculate the horizontal displacement of elevator rope. Measurement equipment was installed in elevator shaft at 3 m, 29 m, and 51 m from the base level. Shaker was equipped at the bottom of elevator rope to excite the rope. In experiments, the displacement of rope was measured when the elevator rope was subjected to each natural frequencies. Experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

Gas flow behavior and flow transition in elevator shafts considering elevator motion during a building fire

This paper explored the transition of flow in an elevator shaft and analyzed how the gas flow is affected by the moving elevator car during a building fire. A 3D model was built through ANSYS Fluent, the elevator motion was resolved through dynamic mesh theory. Flow fields in the elevator shaft were compared to describe the flow transition. Pressure distributions were applied to explain how the transition was accomplished and how the gas flow was influenced by the moving elevator car. Chemical reaction in the room released large amounts of CO2 and CO. The change in CO2 and CO concentration in the shaft was applied to measure the influence of elevator motion on the flow. At the start of the simulation, the gas moved slowly and smoothly upwards in the area between the elevator car and the top. As the elevator car moved, this area shrank steadily and significantly. In the end, this area disappeared and the transition of flow status in the entire shaft had been accomplished. The elevator motion decreased the pressure inside the shaft as well as the lobby. While the elevator car moved upwards with 1.75 m/s, the pressure in the lobby was decreased by 142.9% while the CO2 and CO concentration was increased compared to the case with still elevator cars, which indicated that more fire smoke flew into the lobby when the elevator car moved in the shaft.

Numerical studies on fire hazards of elevator evacuation in supertall buildings

Long evacuation time is a key fire safety concern for crowded supertall buildings. Elevator evacuation appears to be the only choice but fire safety provisions are not specially designed for the use of elevators. A fire safe elevator system was proposed earlier for supertall buildings by providing elevator accessible on each floor level and passing through the refuge place. The fire hazard associated with this design has been studied numerically through an example building in this paper. Smoke spread to the elevator system was considered in the study. The effect of ventilation of the shaft, stack effect and wind effect on smoke movement were studied by empirical equations in fire engineering and justified by computational fluid dynamics. Different designs of smoke extraction with pressurization system were evaluated by analysing the smoke dispersion and pressure distributions. The effect of fire at different heights on smoke spread was also investigated. Results show that the smoke extraction system can only delay smoke spread to the elevator shaft near the fire source for a short time. The “four-floor approach” pressurization system can confine the smoke in the area of fire floor for a sufficiently long time period for safe evacuation.

Effects of nonlinear modelling of the base-isolation system on the seismic analysis of r.c. buildings

Long-duration and high-amplitude horizontal velocity pulses are expected at sites located near an active fault; these are able to generate notable displacement at the level of the isolation system and pounding effects between closely spaced structural parts (e.g. in the case of an insufficient seismic gap between the elevator and building). A base-isolated commercial building, recently built in the Sicilian town of Augusta, designed in line with the former Italian seismic code, is considered as test structure. In particular, an r.c. framed structure with rectangular plan, composed of a basement and three storeys above ground level, is seismically isolated with a hybrid system including sixteen high-damping-rubber bearings (HDRBs) and twenty steel-PTFE low friction flat sliding bearings (LFSBs). An elevator shaft with steel framed structure crossing the isolation level is also placed in non symmetrical way along the longitudinal axis. A computer code for the nonlinear seismic analysis of base-isolated r.c. framed structures is improved by adding advanced nonlinear models of HDRBs and LFSBs. Finally, nonlinear dynamic analysis of the Augusta building is carried out with reference to near-fault earthquakes selected from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center database and scaled in line with the design hypotheses adopted.

ТЕРМИНОЛОГИЯ ИЛИ ИДЕОЛОГИЯ — ПРЕПЯТСТВИЕ БЕЗОПАСНОЙ ЭВАКУАЦИИ ЛЮДЕЙ ИЗ ВЫСОТНЫХ ЗДАНИЙ ПРИ ПОЖАРЕ

Pre-historic (with respect to the progress of elevator unit fire protection) understandings of the early last century, of CEOs of the national fire safety standardisation system like “Effected by high temperatures, elevator control gets out of order and elevators are blocked inside elevator shafts. It is impossible to quickly identify the elevator position when the power is switched off; the people being inside elevators, die” for decades such concept doomed population of multistoried buildings in our country to foot evacuation at forcedly deactivated elevator units. Recognition by the State programme “Accessible environment” 35 % of country population as disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility compelled them to permit using elevators for transporting fire-fighting units to rescue such people. However, as before, two thirds of multistoried building population are still forced to escape from fire hazard through staircases. At the same time, elevator units, not designated for transporting fire-fighting brigades, will be idle waiting, with open doors, at the ground floor; although, the fire protection level of both types of elevators is the same. The data provided in the article demonstrate that elevator units in the high-rise building must be not only the means which within everyday operation of high-rise buildings, provide for to all the demographic categories of the population accessibility of business and residential environment which is located hundreds of metres high from the ground level. They must guarantee as well availability of safety zones for them on the ground at occurrence of emergency situations as provided by the Technical Regulations on Safety of Buildings and Structures. In the meantime, this paradox turns into codes of regulations for designing and fire-safety protection of high-rise buildings, which development is funded by the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation. To-date regulations of high-rise building fire safety must implement the requirement that automatic fire-extinguishing systems must extinguish fire inside premises prior to occurrence of critical values of fire hazards. In such a case, criteria of safe evacuation will be complied with throughout the evacuation ways, including elevators; thus, there will be excluded a necessity of getting out to burning building facade in search of escaping from impact of fire hazards using individual rescue means or mobile fire-rescue equipment, which is traditional for ideology of fire-fighting organisation. Currently, national manufacturers of fire-fighting protection and fire-extinguishing systems demonstrate a capability to ensure effective functioning of this system complex with a probability of 0.999. The fire-extinguishing systems being developed are intended to reveal these opportunities in designing practice - only then they will be in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 01.01.2018 No. 2 “On approval of Fundamentals of the State Policies of the Russian Federation in the area of fire safety for the period of up to 2010”.

The concept of estimation of elevator shaft control measurement results in the local 3D coordinate system

Geodetic control measurements play an important part because they provide information about the current state of repair of the construction, which has a direct impact on the safety assessment of its exploitation. Authors in this paper have focused on control measurements of the elevator shaft. The article discusses the problem of determining the deviation of elevator shaft walls from the vertical plane in the local 3D coordinate system. It presents a concept of estimation of measurements results base on the parametric method with conditions on parameters. The simulated measurement results were used to verify the concept presented in the paper.

A Comparative Study on the Influence of Ventilation on Weather- and Fire-Induced Stack Effect in the Elevator Shafts of a High-Rise Building

This work assessed the impact of ventilation on both weather- and fire-induced stack effect in an 18-story high-rise office building. Elevator shafts are considered the main route of vertical air movement. Pressure distribution induced by cold weather within the elevator shafts was calculated theoretically. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of fire in the same high-rise building under different ventilation conditions were carried out with a fire dynamics simulator. It was found that ventilation exerted a more complex impact on fire than the weather-induced stack effect. For the weather-induced stack effect, the ventilation condition of the building only affected the height of the neutral pressure plane; in fire situations, it did not only affect the height of the neutral pressure plane in a similar manner to the weather-induced stack effect, but also influenced temperature and pressure distributions in the elevator shafts. The smoke movement and the distributions of temperature and pressure in elevator shafts are also learned. The smoke movement in high rises experienced four typical stages after ignition. The ventilation condition of the fire floor influences gas flow into elevator shafts, while that of the upper floors impacts the smoke rise speed in vertical shafts. When the stack effect finally reaches steady state, the gas temperature in the shaft decreases exponentially with height. Based on this assumption, a theoretical model was presented to characterize the fire-induced stack effect in typical high rises. Results showed that the model successfully predicts the pressure distribution in high-rise buildings.

DRILL INJECTED TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION EXPERIENCE FOR THE PURPOSE OF GROUND REINFORCEMENT AND PILE ERECTION DURING RECONSTRUCTION

The drill injected technology for pile erection and shallow foundations strengthening implementation in practice is described in the article. The reconstruction of the building, the topography and geotechnical conditions of the building footprint analysis are presented. The article reveals the design solutions for reconstruction of existing building for industrial purposes, and describes the basic technological processes. It is considered design scheme of the building, the results of the spatial frame calculation, the substantiation of bases slab base strengthening necessity provided design solutions for building new above-ground building structures. The article describes the case of pile foundations for the elevator shaft building, the description of the technical solutions in piling, the results of piled-raft foundation settlement observations, which was loaded by the loads from the walls and ceilings of mine and lifting equipment. The paper discloses the design of technical solution for existing slab base of special technology foundation strengthening, the technology of amplification, as well as the results of experimental and control sensing.

PONTOS CRÍTICOS EM UNIDADES ARMAZENADORAS DE ARROZ PARA OCORRÊNCIA DE INSETOS

O Rio Grande do Sul é o principal estado produtor e armazenador de arroz do Brasil, com destaque para a região Fronteira Oeste. Objetivou-se, com este trabalho, detectar os pontos críticos para a ocorrência de insetos em duas unidades armazenadoras de arroz no município de Itaqui, Fronteira Oeste do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram realizadas inspeções visuais em duas unidades armazenadoras durante o recebimento da safra 2010/2011 e estabelecidos os critérios de presença de insetos adultos e o acúmulo de impurezas, resíduos de grãos e poeira. Foram inspecionados: o pátio de estacionamento externo e interno, balanças, moegas de descarga, área de secagem, adjacências dos silos armazenadores, indústria de beneficiamento, unidades armazenadoras de produto finalizado, laboratório e classificação, elevadores e túneis. Os resultados apontaram como pontos críticos para ocorrência de pragas, o pátio de estacionamento externo e interno, a balança, as moegas de descarga, a área de secagem, as adjacências de silos, os pés de elevadores, as esteiras transportadoras e os túneis da indústria de beneficiamento. O acúmulo de poeira e os resíduos são os principais responsáveis pelos pontos críticos.

Flow of hot gases in vertical shafts with natural and forced ventilation

This paper presents the results from an experimental investigation on the flow of hot gases induced by pressure and buoyancy in vertical shafts. This flow circumstance simulates the propagation of smoke and other combustion products in vertical elevator shafts due to fire in high-rise, multistoried, buildings. The effect of natural and forced ventilation, occurring through shaft openings or vents, on the spread of smoke and hot gases is of particular interest with respect to the development of hazardous conditions in the building. Different configurations are investigated, such as natural and forced ventilation at the top or the bottom of the vertical shaft. The inflow conditions for the hot gases, at a vertical opening near the base of the shaft, are varied and characterized in terms of the inlet Grashof and Reynolds numbers. Extensive temperature measurements are taken within the shaft. These data are used to investigate the steady state thermal field that arises for various scenarios. These results may then form the basis for developing appropriate approaches for smoke mitigation in high-rise building fires. Flow visualization, using smoke and a Schlieren system, is also used to study the flow characteristics in the shaft and near the hot gas inlet. The results obtained indicate that a wall plume arises in several cases and a relatively well-mixed flow in others. A strong wall flow arises at high Grashof numbers and low Reynolds numbers, while increasing Reynolds numbers leads to greater mixing in the shaft. The resulting flow and its effect on the spread of hot gases and temperature decay are investigated for different shaft configurations and inlet conditions. It is found that the best smoke or hot gas removal and lowest shaft temperatures occur with natural ventilation at the top and forced ventilation up from the shaft bottom. It is also shown that forced downward flow at the top can be used to arrest smoke spread, as well as to minimize the effects of the fire.

Looking inside

looking inside

Coupling of Very Low Frequency Through-the-earth Radio Signals to Elongated Conductors

Through-the-earth (TTE) radio signals (400–9000 Hz) have been observed to couple to elongated conductors present near the transmitter (Tx). This phenomenon, which greatly increases signal range, is poorly understood. Experimental and numerical data are combined to better understand the potential of such a communication link. A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) code is used with a thin wire approximation to model the elongated conductors, which include railway tracks and an elevator shaft. The coupling effect, attributed to currents induced in the elongated conductor, is characterized based on measurements of the three magnetic field components in the vicinity of the conductors. The ability of FDTD to handle arbitrary material geometries makes it an effective tool not only for reconciling theoretical and experimental results, but also for predicting the viability of TTE communication links in different settings, and to optimize the placement of the Tx and receiver.

Simulating quality assurance and efficiency analysis between construction management and engineering geodesy

Abstract High-rise building construction is highly complex and involves many different disciplines. Such projects can only be accomplished efficiently and with appropriate quality by means of an overall optimized construction process. However, the understanding of the term “quality” among involved participants is not always equivalent. E.g. providing required tolerances of elevator shaft walls constantly throughout the concrete works is often a challenging task during the execution of in-situ concrete works. This paper is based on the scientific research project “Efficiency optimization and quality control of engineering geodesy processes in civil engineering” (Effizienzoptimierung und Qualitatssicherung ingenieurgeodatischer Prozesse im Bauwesen - EQuiP), which aimed at developing a method for instant quality assurance in construction based on geodetic surveying techniques, and at the same time optimizing the efficiency of the process, e.g. with respect to time. This paper shows how hierarchical and modular modeling of construction and geodetic processes using high-level Petri nets delivers a base for a real time quality evaluation and re-planning on construction site. As an example, this modeling approach is simulated for the construction of concrete stairs and elevators core of a characteristic high-rise structure. The concrete works were considered to be carried out using climbing formwork. Three different scenarios are shown in this paper. The first scenario is simulated with deterministic durations and validates the developed Petri net. The second scenario uses stochastic process durations to show the robustness of the construction process. Finally, disturbances and delays are integrated and an automated rescheduling based on prioritized alternative paths is used.