Engineering Support Research Articles

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF THE USE OF MODULAR SYSTEMS, ON THE EXAMPLE OF SEA CONTAINERS, FOR AGROECOTOURIST COMPLEXES

An important characteristic of buildings made of modular systems, such as containers, is the possibility of their use both individually and in various quantitative and combinatorial combinations, forming the buildings necessary for exposure and maintenance. For natural reasons, agroecotourism facilities are located far from places with developed construction infrastructure and main engineering support networks. This greatly complicates the construction of buildings and structures corresponding to the specifics of the activity. Objectively, there are no opportunities for the industrialization of construction. Extensive world experience shows the availability of such opportunities. Possible options for the layout of objects are discussed in the article.

A narrative inquiry into developing learner agency of engineering students in an intercultural PBL environment

ABSTRACT This study explores how engineering students develop learner agency in an intercultural PBL (problem- and project-based learning) environment, along with the factors that affect their development. Theoretically, learner agency is framed within three interrelated dimensions: intrapersonal, behavioural, and environmental. A narrative inquiry approach is adopted to investigate 11 engineering master’s students’ perceptions of their agency development. The findings reveal 10 elements perceived as ways to develop learner agency of engineering students, namely belief in their own self-efficacy, motivation, global engineering identity, goal-setting, planning, monitoring, reflecting, trust building, team atmosphere, and support from supervisors and institutions. These results also show that different factors affect the building of learner agency for engineering students, such as students’ experiences before undertaking a master’s degree, their level of advancement in the program, the culture of each study program, communication styles, and the composition of the project group.

Intellectualization of monitoring and regulation of the technological processes implementation in railway construction

The article presents abstract theorems and practical options for monitoring and regulating the technological process implementation of building a railway track object using artificial intelligence methods and tools. Railway construction as a complex dynamic system requires certain resources for its maintenance. Under these conditions, effective control over the construction work technology is of decisive importance. This can be achieved by improving the existing engineering and technical support system for railway construction through the introduction of an engineering and intellectual support subsystem for technological processes for railway facilities construction. One of the tasks of the subsystem is the effective use of automation tools with artificial intelligence elements. The deviations occurrence from planned requirements during construction work, due to the stochastic nature of railway construction, leads to violations of technology, an increase in labor costs, prime cost, an increase in duration, and as a result, a deterioration in the operational railway facility characteristics. To avoid such a development of events, a prompt review of the adopted technological solutions is necessary. To this end, within the scope of the methodology formation for engineering and intellectual support of railway construction technological processes, a system for monitoring and regulating work production has been developed. Intellectualization of monitoring the technological process implementation consists of the use of an expert system at the evaluation stage, built on a probabilistic inference model. The main purpose of the system is to process the monitoring results of the work progress during the railway track facility construction. The data obtained at the evaluation stage serve as the basis for predicting the implementation of the technological process. The essence of the forecast is based on the solution of general methodological issues of applying Markov processes. The regulation of the process implementation is based on the monitoring results. Adjusting the technological process to changing conditions of work provides flexibility in railway track facilities construction. This is achieved through rapid decision-making using the capabilities of an artificial neural network and subsequent adjustment of the work progress. Based on the theoretical study results, the article presents the practical aspects of monitoring and regulating the production of works in railway construction using intelligent technologies by the example of the construction of a flooded embankment section of a railway subgrade. The results presented in the article were obtained in the course of dissertation research carried out by the author.

Digital Storytelling in Education: A Transmedia Integration Approach for the Non-Developers

The present paper focuses on digital storytelling in education, emphasizing the teachers’ needs for familiarization with the new technological conditions. A transmedia integration approach is deployed to make productive, blended learning values while utilizing the availability of tools and reusable media assets in a component-based software engineering kind of framework. The topic is inspired by social studies and humanities, which seem to be marginalized, usually failing to make effective technological facilities, benefits, and contemporary findings. It is, therefore, necessary to modernize the approach to literary things and integrate digital means into the educational process, even in cases where a sole educator on humanities and social studies lacks multidisciplinary support in multimedia authoring and software engineering. This modernization can be made possible by introducing user-friendly tools into the process, representing not just a fashion of the time but mostly a renewal trend, aiming at revitalizing the course to attract and engage learners. Undoubtedly, today’s pupils have grown up with technological means, becoming familiar with their use so their implication causes undiminished interest in most daily activities, including schooling. In this high-tech generation, it is absurd to address the transmission of knowledge and values in outdated ways. Apart from adapting to the timely students’ needs, lesson plans on transmedia storytelling practices can also satisfy tutors, triggering their inspiration and co-creation potentials. Overall, the project aims to attract the trainees’ interest with the help of digital tools, which will be embodied in the educational processes by teachers without technical know-how, while continuously adapting to the audience’s needs. Research hypothesis and questions are formed as part of the deployed human-centered interactive design, aiming at modeling best practices for teaching classical topics, such as the “Odyssey”.

Image splicing detection system using intensity-level multi-fractal dimension feature engineering and twin support vector machine based classifier

Image splicing detection system using intensity-level multi-fractal dimension feature engineering and twin support vector machine based classifier

Influence of Coupling Effects between Gravel Soil Porosity and Cement Grout Weight on Diffusion Laws and Morphologies of Penetration Grouting

The practice and theory of grouting engineering show that both injected medium porosity and grouting fluid weight play an important influence on the diffusion law and morphology of penetration grouting. However, the effects have not been well studied in the context of existing penetration grouting mechanisms. In this paper, the actual diffusion law and morphology of cement grout into the gravel soil are studied on the basis of indoor experiments, mathematical statistics, and theoretical analyses. Then, the three-dimensional space diffusion trajectory equation was quantitatively characterized. The influence of the coupling effect between gravel soil porosity and cement grout weight on diffusion morphologies of penetration grouting was discussed by the definition of the morphological deviation rate. Results show that actual penetration diffusion dimensions of cement grout into the gravel soil differ from that of theoretical values calculated by the penetration grouting mechanism, and its spatial diffusion morphology is approximated as ellipsoid. The coupling effect between gravel soil porosity and cement grout weight have a relatively significant effect on the diffusion morphologies of penetration grouting except for gravel soil with porosity <0.5 infiltrated by Newton-type and <0.4 by power-law-type cement grout, respectively. This influence is particularly significant when Bingham-type cement grout was penetrated into gravel soil with a porosity of >0.5. The research results can provide theoretical support and technical references for the practical grouting engineering of gravel soil.

Discussion on Construction Technology Control of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

Discussion on Construction Technology Control of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

Measures to Ensure the Effectiveness of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

Measures to Ensure the Effectiveness of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

A Performance of a Nanofiber Polymer in Geotechnical Engineering Support

Geotechnical engineering is a new technical system established by European and American countries in the practice of civil engineering in the 1960s. There are many methods to manufacture nanofibers, such as stretching, template synthesis, self-assembly, microphase separation, and electrospinning. Among them, electrospinning is widely used because of its simple operation, wide application range, and relatively high production efficiency. This paper aims to study how to analyze and study the properties of engineering scaffolds along the way based on nanofiber polymers. In this paper, the performance of geotechnical scaffolds is proposed, which is based on nanofibers. This paper focuses on the concept of nanofibers and geotechnical physical mechanics. In this paper, the performance of geotechnical support is designed and analyzed. The experimental results show that the initial thermal decomposition temperature of the pure SF collagen nanofiber membrane is about 250°C and that of the pure PLLA nanofiber membrane is about 330°C. When SF collagen/PLLA = 70 : 30, the initial thermal decomposition temperature of the material is about 260°C. When the mass ratio is 50 : 50, the initial thermal decomposition temperature increases to about 270°C. When the mass ratio is 30 : 70, the initial thermal decomposition temperature increases to about 280°C. This is because PLLA is a semi-crystalline polymer with certain thermal stability. Its heat resistance is better than that of pure SF collagen. With the increase in the amount of PLLA, it can effectively improve the thermal stability of blended composite nanofiber scaffolds.

Analysis of hand and face images for the purpose of engineering support for Parkinson's disease diagnosis

Engineering support in the field of recognizing Parkinson's disease against the background of other diseases, its progression and monitoring the effectiveness of drugs is currently widely implemented as part of work devoted to the use of re-cording and analysis devices equipped with sensors of movement parameters attached to the patient's body, e.g. accelerometers and gyroscopes. This material touches on an alternative approach, in which the concept of using techniques for processing selected image data obtained during a clinical examination evaluating a patient using the unified UPDRS number scale is proposed. The research was conducted on a material that corresponded to selected components of the scale and included images of faces recorded in the visible light range and images of the outer surfaces of the hand recorded with a thermal imaging camera. This was aimed at assessing the possibility of differentiating persons in terms of detecting Parkinson's disease on the basis of registered modalities. Thus, tasks aimed at developing characteristics important in the binary classification process were carried out. The assessment of features was made in a modality-dependent manner based on available tools in the field of statistics and machine learning.

Intelligent Computing Methods for Contextual Driving in Smart Engineering Model Systems

An engineering model system (EMS) is a complex purposeful structure of representation and description type content that is developed during development and application; in other words, it represents the lifecycle of an industrial product. The essential improvements for systems operated that are autonomous, situation controlled, and include cyber physical features of products dramatically changed requirements relative to EMS. Engineering modeling platforms (EMPs) experienced major improvements to cope with new requirements by smart products. These improvements were related to system level representation, autonomous active model features, situation level reaction to changed contexts, system and physical level virtual execution, and the support of situation-level human intervention. The lifecycle support of smart product engineering requires EMS, which behaves as a digital twin of a physically existing products and has an active connection with its contextual world, particularly with cyber units of the cyber physical system that it represents. The work in this paper aimed to develop new methods that can be implemented in EMS under developments in EMP. This is a new area of research that is motivated and at the same time enforced by moving engineering activities into highly integrated and automated complex model spaces. This paper focuses on context driving and the autonomous features of EMS as well as utilization-organized intellectual-property-powered intelligent computing relative to the definition and application of contextually connected object parameters in EMS. It introduces several latest results by the authors as a contribution for EMS to cope with the new requirements. These contributions include a new scenario called the lifecycle representation of contexts (LRC) to enhance integration in EMS, handling contexts in contextually connected autonomous unit (CCAU), organizing the intelligent content of EMS in proposed level-sublevel structure of LRC, and examining findings about situation-level cooperation between human and autonomous process.

Research on the Construction Technology and Control Measures of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

Research on the Construction Technology and Control Measures of Deep Foundation Pit Support in Construction Engineering

Column Penetration and Diffusion Mechanism of Bingham Fluid Considering Displacement Effect

The diffusion progress of grout is hindered by groundwater, which means the diffusion distance cannot reach the designed values required in engineering for water plugging or reinforcement. In this study, based on the generalized Darcy’s law and the continuity equation of steady column penetration, a column diffusion mechanism for Bingham fluid, considering the displacement effect of grout on groundwater, is proposed. This diffusion mechanism is then validated by the penetration grouting experiments that have been previously performed. The influences of the grouting pressure, groundwater pressure, water–cement ratio and penetration coefficient of porous media on the diffusion radius are analyzed. Based on the Comsol Multiphysics platform, a three-dimensional numerical simulation program for this mechanism is developed using computer programming technology. Numerical simulations of the penetration and diffusion morphology of Bingham cement grout in porous media are then carried out. The results show that the theoretical calculation values of diffusion radius obtained from this mechanism are closer to the experimental values than those obtained from the column penetration grouting theory of Bingham fluid, without considering the displacement effect. The results of this study can provide theoretical support for practical grouting engineering.

Mathematical model of linear and non-linear proppant concentration increase during hydraulic fracturing – a solution for sequential injection of a number of proppant types

It is known that much of the technology aimed at intensifying fluid inflow by means of hydraulic fracturing involves the use of proppant. In order to transport and position grains in the fracture, a uniform supply of proppant with a given concentration into the fracturing fluid is ensured. The aim of the operation is to eliminate the occurrence of distortions in the injection program of proppant HF. A mathematically accurate linear increase of concentration under given conditions is possible only if the transient concentration is correctly defined. The proposed approach allows to correctly form a proppant HF work program for both linear and non-linear increase in proppant concentration. The scientific novelty of the work lies in application of a new mathematical model for direct calculation of injection program parameters, previously determined by trial and error method. A mathematical model of linear and non-linear increase of proppant concentration during HF was developed. For the first time, an analytical solution is presented that allows direct calculation of parameters of the main HF stages, including transient concentrations for given masses of the various types of proppant. The application of the mathematical model in formation of a treatment plan allows maintaining correct proppant mass distribution by fractions, which facilitates implementation of information and analytical systems, data transfer directly from a work program into databases. It is suggested to improve spreadsheet forms used in production, which would allow applying mathematical model of work program formation at each HF process without additional labour costs. The obtained mathematical model can be used to improve the software applied in the design, modelling and engineering support of HF processes.

DIFFERENCES IN ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNICAL MEASURES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WORKS ON RECONSTRUCTION AND MAJOR OVERHAUL OF OBJECT OF CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION

Any capital construction object is subject to wear and tear during operation. Bearing, enclosing structures, networks of engineering and technical support are subject to the influence of negative environmental factors. To maintain them in a normal technical condition, current repairs are carried out, and in case of significant physical wear and tear, capital repairs are carried out. At the same time, the developer may need to mount engineering systems that did not previously exist, as well as an increase in the area, volume and other technical and economic indicators of the capital construction object. The article discusses the differences and features of the design of these events from the point of view of legislation in the Russian Federation.

Automated generation of a hierarchical building systems control structure

Latest developments pertaining to advanced building control systems have led to an increased level of technological and operational complexity of this domain. In this context, the present contribution describes a scalable and automated method for system mapping and generation of a hierarchical and classical closed-loop control scheme. Flexible system model views facilitate coordination and communication across the pertinent engineering domains and support control-related cross-disciplinary work processes. Thereby, the underlying concept comprises a structural mapping of the physical building and its systems to a modular zone concept. With these zones, an automated process generates a hierarchical multi-level control scheme. The proposed approach entails links to the structure of BIM and IFC data models. The resulting model represents the building's physical components and control systems. The conceptual model is of special importance when advanced building control strategies such as multi-parameter control, hierarchical control, and model-based controls are involved.

Risk Assessment of Water Inrush of a Coal Seam Floor Based on the Combined Empowerment Method

With the exploitation of the lower coal seams of the Taiyuan Formation, the Ordovician limestone water inrush in the floor became more serious. This paper considers the 162 and 163 mining areas of the Jiangzhuang Coal Mine, in Shandong Province, China. A comprehensive analysis of the geological and hydrogeological conditions of the mining area revealed the following: water pressure and water richness provide the water source and power for the floor water inrush; the thickness of the effective aquifer and the ratio of brittle rock can restrain floor water inrush; fault structures provide water inrush channels; and mining damage is an artificial interference and increases the probability of water inrush. Therefore, six factors: the water pressure of the Ordovician limestone aquifer, water abundance of the Ordovician limestone aquifer, equivalent thickness of effective aquifuge, brittle rock ratio, fracture structure, and mining destruction were selected as the influencing factors on water penetration of the bottom plate, and drawing software was used to establish a mining area map of related factors. The improved fuzzy hierarchical analysis method is more suitable for analyzing multi-objective decisions than the traditional hierarchical analysis method, but the weighting of results is influenced by expert experience. The entropy weight method is data-driven, and the empowerment results are objective. The improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight method were coupled together, to determine the weight of each factor. The new method is not only data driven, but also takes empirical experience into consideration, making the empowerment results more reasonable. An evaluation of coal floor water inrush was established using MapGIS10.6, which is a general tool-type geographic information system software developed by the China University of Geosciences; and the risk of Ordovician limestone water inrush in the floor of the study area was classified into four levels: dangerous, relatively dangerous, relatively safe, and safe. The whole evaluation process is simple, but the evaluation results have practical importance and are very efficient, providing theoretical support for coal mine water prevention and control engineering.

Black men doctoral scientists and engineers persisting: Peer support and racism in science and engineering

AbstractDrawing on racial battle fatigue as theoretical framing and critical race methodology, we offer the counterstories of 16 Black men doctoral scientists and engineers who relied on same race peer support to successfully persist in their science and engineering (S&E) doctoral programs. Our analysis of narratives and interviews yielded three themes that illustrate the men's engagement with Black peers and how racism influences the types of peer relationships they formed in their S&E doctoral programs. Further, we describe three types of same race peer relationships that support Black men as they pursue S&E doctoral degrees. We underscore the salience of racism and recommend expanding research in S&E by: (1) including the lived experiences of Black men scientists and engineers in the scholarly literature, and (2) highlighting the importance of same race peer networks as academic, emotional, and social structures for Black men persisting in S&E. Within, we offer implications for science education, higher education, and S&E researchers interested in creating supportive S&E environments for Black men.

Detection of Cause-Effect Relationships in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Based on an Engineering Graph

AbstractAlthough Life Cycle Sustainability Assessments (LCSA) are important in evaluating the sustainability of complex products and services, there is no sufficient support for engineers performing LCSA. The concept of an Engineering Graph focuses on the relations of data within engineering. It provides a model that leverages existing data in engineering and extendibility to include specialized databases and open and public data from the semantic web. This paper proposes a concept of how Engineering Graphs can be used to address the issues of LCSA and support engineers.

Identifying Factors Influencing the Design of a Suitable Knowledge Base in Product Engineering Projects

AbstractDuring product engineering, engineers draw on existing knowledge as a basis. This knowledge is applied in design processes either by adopting elements, alternating some attributes, or changing the solution principles. While concepts for design reuse exist, the proactive design of a suitable knowledge base is still a challenge. In this paper, we show influencing factors in engineering and their influence on the knowledge base. These factors are of the areas market, company, project, and team. Based on our results, we intent to develop a support for engineers to set up the knowledge base.