Floor Of Building Research Articles

Earthquake perception data highlight natural frequency details of Italian buildings

As the distance from an earthquake increases, the percentage of people who do not feel it also increases. The average transition distance between “felt” and “not felt” reports is mainly determined by the magnitude and depth of the earthquake, but it also depends on the observation floor and building height. Buildings act as resonators and can amplify the shaking at specific frequencies. We analyzed over 286,000 crowdsourced reports to study the effect of floor and building height on earthquake perception. We found that, compared to average values, there is an increase in the percentage of “felt” reports on the highest floors and a decrease in the lowest floors of buildings of all heights. We determined the range within which an observer is likely to feel an earthquake (perception boundary) and examined how it varies with magnitude. We found that as the building height increases, people on higher floors perceive medium to high magnitude earthquakes progressively better than lower magnitude ones. We compared the perception boundary with a model of seismic response spectra to estimate the vibration frequency perceived by observers on each floor/building height combination. Our results show that the value of the fundamental period increases with building height for the top floor, and that higher vibration modes become more evident for buildings with more than 6 stories. In addition, we observed that the height of the building also affects the vibration of the basement, with the frequency tending to decrease as the building height increases. Concerning macroseismic intensity estimation, we show that in tall buildings, observations made on both the upper and lower floors must be considered outside the normal range, and that earthquake perception also changes as a function of magnitude and distance, pointing out the importance of collecting an adequate number of observations to sample different locations of observers.

Problems of mass housing typology development for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine

The article examines the problems of designing mass housing for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. One of these problems is the changes in regulatory documents in the field of construction and architecture, which were developed before the start of Russia's large-scale aggression and approved after its start, which significantly increase the estimated cost of new housing. As a result of the analysis of the experience of Ukraine’s reconstruction after World War II, it was found that mass housing construction and provision of housing to all who need it in conditions of limited resources are impossible without maximally reducing the cost of construction and operation of residential buildings. The need to suspend all recent changes in regulatory documents, which lead to a significant increase in the estimated cost of construction, is argued.
 It is noted that in the conditions of possible large-scale emergency or planned power outages, which make it impossible to mass-use such evacuation routes as smoke-free stairwells of types N2, N3, N4, the use of fire elevators for rescuing people, the use of fire-proof lobby of the 1st type for arrangement of fire-safe zones for people with reduced mobility (PRM), the safest place for placing apartments for PRM is the ground floor of a residential building.
 One of the promising options for mass housing is defined as sectional houses of medium storeys.
 Corridor residential buildings of medium storey are proposed as a promising type of housing for temporary accommodation of internally displaced persons. Planning solutions for fire safety zones on a typical floor for medium-rise residential buildings and multi-story residential buildings with a conventional height of up to 26.5 m have been developed.

Spatial Distribution and Long-Term Persistence of Wolbachia-Infected Aedes aegypti in the Mentari Court, Malaysia.

Dengue is endemic in Malaysia, and vector control strategies are vital to reduce dengue transmission. The Wolbachia strain wAlbB carried by both sexes of Ae. aegypti was released in Mentari Court, a high-rise residential site, in October 2017 and stopped after 20 weeks. Wolbachia frequencies are still being monitored at multiple traps across this site, providing an opportunity to examine the spatiotemporal distribution of Wolbachia and mosquito density with respect to year, residential block, and floor, using spatial interpolation in ArcGIS, GLMs, and contingency analyses. In just 12 weeks, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were established right across the Mentari Court site with an overall infection frequency of >90%. To date, the Wolbachia frequency of Ae. aegypti has remained high in all areas across the site despite releases finishing four years ago. Nevertheless, the Wolbachia invaded more rapidly in some residential blocks than others, and also showed a relatively higher frequency on the eighth floor. The Ae. aegypti index tended to differ somewhat between residential blocks, whilst the Ae. albopictus index was relatively higher at the top and bottom floors of buildings. In Mentari Court, only a short release period was required to infiltrate Wolbachia completely and stably into the natural population. The results inform future releases in comparable sites in a dengue control programme.

Integrated and Computationally-Efficient Analysis Method for FRP Building Floor Panels

Integrated and Computationally-Efficient Analysis Method for FRP Building Floor Panels

Real-Time Indoor Positioning Based on BLE Beacons and Pedestrian Dead Reckoning for Smartphones

Nowadays, smartphones have become indispensable in people’s daily work and life. Since various sensors and communication chips have been integrated into smartphones, it has become feasible to provide indoor positioning using phones. This paper proposes such a solution based on a smartphone, combining Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) in the particle filter framework to realize real-time and reliable indoor positioning. First, the smartphone’s built-in accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope are used to provide data measurements and formulate a feasible method for PDR. Second, a range-free weighted centroid algorithm is proposed to realize BLE-based localization with low computation complexity. However, a single positioning technology has limitations, e.g., the cumulative error of PDR and the received signal strength fluctuation of BLE. Finally, to exploit the complementary strengths of each technology, a fusion framework utilizing a particle filter is proposed to combine PDR and BLE-based methods and provides more stable and accurate positioning results. Experiments are conducted on a floor in a campus building. Experimental results show that our proposed fused positioning method offers more accurate and stable performance in the long run compared with single PDR or BLE-based positioning. The achieved average positioning error is 1.34 m, which is reduced by 24.16% compared with PDR positioning and 10.60% compared with BLE-based positioning. Moreover, about 95% of the positioning errors are smaller than 1.7 m. The proposed fused positioning method has a vast application prospect in indoor navigation, indoor user tracking, and interactive experience for indoor visitors.

ANALISIS DAYA DUKUNG PONDASI TERHADAP PENAMBAHAN LANTAI DENGAN STRUKTUR ATAP PLAT BETON GEDUNG RUMAH SAKIT UNIMUS

Semarang City, the capital city of Central Java Province, is one of the cities with a dense population in Indonesia of 1.7 million people and ranks 4th in the region with a population of Central Java. With increasing population growth and limited land for infrastructure development, adding a building floor can solve infrastructure with limited land by utilizing every building space. This study uses the Meyerhof method in 1956 regarding the bearing capacity of deep foundations using NSP-T data and ETABS v18.1 application as an analysis of the superstructure. The results of this study found that the carrying capacity of single and group foundations with Meyerhof calculations with a foundation bearing capacity of 906.189 tons was able to support the maximum load of the superstructure of 647.637 tons after obtaining the addition of one floor and changing the steel roof structure to a concrete slab roof by using the roof as open areas and connections between buildings.

Vulnerability Analysis of Rectorate Building of UIN Mataram against Earthquakes Based on Microtremor Data

Lombok Earthquake in 2018 caused several damages to buildings, including buildings at UIN Mataram. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out mitigation efforts to reduce losses caused by the earthquake. This study aims to analyze the level of vulnerability of the Rectorate Building of UIN Mataram based on microtremor data. Microtremor signal recording was performed using a 3-component Digital Portable Seismograph, type TDL 303S with a Feedback Short Period Seismometer sensor type DS-4A, GPS, and Laptop. The recording time for each measurement point was 40 minutes with a sampling rate of 100 Hz. The natural frequency of the Rectorate Building of UIN Mataram is 4.15 Hz for the N-S component, and 4.05 Hz for the E-W component. The natural frequency of the Rectorate Building is following the SNI (2002) standard. The resonance index value of the Rectorate Building with the surrounding land is in a low category so that the Rectorate Building is classified as safe against earthquakes. The highest building Vulnerability Index is on the 3rd floor of the Rectorate building, especially in the south wing. For disaster mitigation, the 3rd floor can be converted as a room with minimal staff to reduce the possibility of casualties in the event of an earthquake in the future.

Timetable and roadmap for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality of China's building sector

Carbon mitigation effectiveness in the building sector profoundly determines the achievement of the “Dual carbon” target. However, the timetable and roadmap for the building sector to achieve such a target are still lacking. This study constructs a STIRPAT-PLS model framework to clarify the impact of the key factors from various dimensions on building carbon emissions across sub-sectors. Then, a dynamic scenario simulation model is established and applied in China to explore the dynamic evolutionary paths, and the timetable and roadmap are ultimately formulated. The results show that building sector will probably peak at 2.99 (± 0.09) Gt CO2 in 2036 (± 1). Rural residential buildings will peak earliest in 2026 (± 1), followed by urban residential and commercial buildings: in 2036 (± 2) and 2038 (± 1). Achieving carbon neutrality will require the building sector to peak its carbon emissions in 2026 with 2.16–2.40 Gt CO2. The remaining 0.56–0.81 Gt CO2 by 2060 will be offset by negative carbon technologies. Dynamic sensitivity analysis shows that building floor space per capita and energy intensity significantly promote the emission peaks, and population and building floor space per capita markedly impact the peaking times. This study can promote the development of the theory and model for carbon emissions prediction. It can also offer a scientific basis for governments to set effective carbon-reduction targets and paths.

The Prediction of Abrasion Resistance of Mortars Modified with Granite Powder and Fly Ash Using Artificial Neural Networks

This paper predicts the abrasion resistance of a cementitious composite containing granite powder and fly ash replacing up to 30% of the cement weight. For this purpose, intelligent artificial neural network (ANN) models were used and compared. A database was built based on mix composition, curing time, and curing method. The model developed to predict the abrasion resistance of the cementitious composites containing granite powder and fly ash was shown to be accurate. It was proved by the very high values of the accuracy parameters that were above 0.93 in the case of the coefficient of the determination R2 and very low values of the errors, which were about 10% in the case of mean average percentage error. This method can be used especially for designing cement mortars with granite powder and fly ash additives replacing cement in a range from 0 to 30% of its weight. These mortars can be used for floors in industrial buildings.

Where are cities under pressure? – An indicator for measuring the impact of building changes on urban density

In the course of urbanisation, cities are becoming increasingly dense with high local variability. Worldwide, there is a high demand for living space, especially in larger cities, which leads to settlement pressure. It is a declared goal to further densify cities in order to avoid the consumption of ecologically valuable land. But cities that are too densely built also bring negative consequences. Therefore, it is important to understand and describe the densification processes of cities. To better describe settlement densification processes, we have developed a novel indicator that can be used to determine changes in the development density, which is of interest from a planning perspective. The indicator takes into account both the extent of the building change and the existing development. If an area is already intensively developed, a newly constructed building will result in a higher density than if that building were built in a previously undeveloped area. The indicator can also be used to measure deconstruction effects symmetrically, so that densification and de-densification processes can be analysed in parallel. In addition, various spatial entities such as cadastral parcels, grid cells or city districts can be used as reference areas for indicator calculation. In addition to an area-based analysis, we have also taken into account the number of storeys of each building, which allows us for more precise calculations. We tested the indicator in this study using the City of Hamburg as an example. Freely accessible building floor plans and parcels from 2015 and 2020, taken from the Authoritative Real Estate Cadastral Information System (ALKIS) of the City of Hamburg, served as the data basis. Furthermore, we used land use data to examine how various land use classes differ in terms of density development. The results show that extensive densification is often observed on previously built-up land, especially in the city centre, which indicates particularly high settlement pressure. Newly developed residential areas are also densely built up, but comparatively do not contribute to such high building density. On the one hand, this indicates an efficient and thus sparing use of the finite resource of land in the city. On the other hand, it points to increasingly dense development in the city centre.

Quality management of the newborn screening network: the Chinese experience.

Quality management of the newborn screening network: the Chinese experience.

The Floor Plan Design Method of Exhibition Halls in CGAN-Assisted Museum Architecture

The floor plan designs of traditional museum exhibition halls are generally developed according to the position and streamlined accessibility of the exhibits. However, there are often many floors in the same building, and multi-story exhibition halls are similar, so architects often spend a large amount of time and energy designing floors individually. Thus, this paper proposes a conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN)-based method for designing the floor plans of museum exhibition halls, which can help architects to work more efficiently. In this study, the basic concepts and structures of CGAN are first introduced; then, the design and training process of the CGAN model used are described in detail, and the datasets and evaluation metrics adopted are briefly described. In the Results and Discussion sections, this paper presents an example of the generated floor plan design of a museum exhibition hall and evaluates and analyzes the floor plan design of a museum exhibition hall generated using the proposed method. Finally, this paper summarizes the advantages of the proposed method, but also notes its shortcomings. If the number of data sets is not sufficient, the scope of the application will be relatively small. For example, museums converted from certain historical buildings are not applicable. The research results show the following: (1) the method proposed in this paper takes advantage of the CGAN model and can generate a museum exhibition hall floor plan design with certain regularity according to the given conditions, rather than pure random generation. (2) This method can automatically generate a variety of plan designs for museum exhibition halls in different schemes, providing designers with more choices and flexibility. (3) This method can carry out design optimization through human–computer interaction, and iterative improvement can be carried out according to user needs and feedback, which improves the practicability of the design.

Identification of a load model for crowd-rhythmic activities based on acceleration measurements of a building floor

The floors of modern buildings are prone to excessive vibrations induced by human actions, especially when a group of people perform rhythmic activities in a coordinated manner. A reliable model for this load case, taking into account the experimentally observed group effect, is thus essential for the serviceability assessment of such structures. In this paper, a frequency-domain load model for either a single person or multiple individuals was established for two rhythmic activities. The model parameters were determined by an indirect identification method from acceleration responses. An extensive experimental test campaign was conducted on a steel–concrete composite floor in order to provide input data for identification, including experimental modal analysis and human-induced vibration tests for up to 32 individuals. The load parameters were first determined for the single-person load model. Root Mean Square (RMS) forces were then calculated from the identified load models, and corresponding coordination factors as a function of crowd size are suggested. A decreasing exponential was obtained for up to 8 persons for skipping and 12 persons for jumping, followed by a constant plateau for larger groups. The proposed models involve a global coordination factor to be used in conjunction with the identified model corresponding to skipping and jumping activities. A comparison of the proposed model and three existing coordination factor models against experimentally identified forces was performed. The comparison revealed the accuracy of the suggested models with respect to experimentally identified forces, whereas differences to existing factors were found especially for jumping.

การลดต้นทุนในการติดตั้งโครงหลังคาประเภทโครงถัก

The objectives of this research were to: 1) to reduced costs incur in the installation of reducing of trusses installing, 2) to improved work processes to be more efficient y applying Lean's approach In practice, MUDA theory and 7 WASTE were overproduction, waiting, unnecessary movement (transporting), unprofitable work (inappropriate processing), excessive inventory (unnecessary inventory), unnecessary motions, and defect in order to work efficiently. Then compared the information before and after revision. The results of this study indicated that: 1) after studying, analyzing and improving the working process, the cost of installing the roof truss per area was reduced (Unit per square meters). Project I had installation cost for truss type roof trusses 194.43 baht per square meters. Project II had installation cost for truss type roof trusses 89.91 baht per square meters. It showed that cost was reduced for 104.52 baht per square meters, accounting for 53.76 percentage. Or calculated as reduced cost from Project I to 74,780 baht, accounting for 30.3 percentage. 2) Completed time for installation was reduced for 795 minutes or 1.66 days, accounting for 25.4 percentage. Consequently, work was completed successfully within 4.86 days as planned (5 days) without overtime work. This way could reduce cost when comparing the ratio of the area of project II. The area was greater than 643.91 square meters, accounting for 33.66 percentage. In addition, the weight of the steel frame was greater than 13 tons, accounting for 34.21 percentage. Even though it was using to lift the building floor 72 times, it could be reduced waste. It could be actually reduced the time of installing of trusses it so true. It has resulted in a lot of efficiency and productivity within the organization. Whether it was about a faster time, quality inspection of workpieces before installation, collecting details of the workpieces, editing workpieces conveniently, quickly and it will have also reduced the risk of working at heights.

Feasibility of Multi-Zone Simulation for Estimating Contributions of Outdoor Particulate Pollution to Indoor Particulate Matter Concentration

As concerns about the health effects of particulate matter (PM) are growing, controlling indoor PM has become vital for ensuring occupants’ health. Active strategies, such as air purification and high-performance filtering, are widely implemented to control indoor PM. However, passive strategies, including air-tightness and compartmentalization, are promising alternatives, as demonstrated by recent studies. To enhance the implementation of passive strategies, an appropriate evaluation method for passive designs must be established. The objective of this study was to investigate whether a multi-zone-based method is suitable for the evaluation of passive strategies. Multi-zone simulations were performed for four seasons, and indoor/outdoor concentration (I/O) ratios were obtained for the exterior, interior, and corridor on every floor of the reference building. The I/O ratios at different locations indicated that the outdoor particle transport in the building was accurately estimated according to the airflow rate and path. Moreover, in addition to the effects of changes in the outdoor temperature on PM transport through the building envelope, the particle size is a significant factor affecting indoor PM concentrations. The results of this study indicated that the multi-zone method can effectively estimate the number of outdoor particles that penetrate the building envelope in different seasons and the indoor particle concentration at different indoor locations.

Sound environment in an urban apartment building during and after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Quiet areas, such as quiet communities, are encouraged to maintain a harmonious and peaceful urban living environment, and the design approach has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Related residential standards define the thresholds of quietness concerning noise pollution problems. However, the variations in height across floors of high-rise buildings and time in sound environments have not been detailed. The city of Shanghai experienced a citywide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 showing the evidence of quietness with marked reductions in anthropogenic noise. Here, we conducted noise monitoring in a 14-story apartment building surrounded and shielded by other buildings in a typical urban community during and after lockdown. The mean value of the equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (L Aeq ) of all 14 floors after lockdown was higher than that during lockdown, and the differences were 3.6 and 3.1 dB during the daytime and night-time periods, respectively. The L Aeq values at low heights were slightly lower than those at high heights during and after lockdown. The variations due to the different heights were not great. However, the change tendency from the ground to the top floors was similar and correlated during and after lockdown. The difference between the maximum and minimum values of the floors was 3 dB during the daytime period and 4.5 to 5.1 dB during the night-time period. The day equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (L day ) and night equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (L night ) at the middle building height increased 4.0 and 1.3 dB, respectively, after lockdown. The L Aeq change tendency during a daily cycle during and after lockdown was similar and highly correlated. The differences in the frequency characteristics of noise level were larger within the 63 to 2,000 Hz range. We suggest that the building represents a typical quiet living condition in high-density habitats in China. Notably, the difference is approximately 3 to 4 dB, and the patterns of variation in height and time are similar between the absence and limited presence of anthropogenic noise. In practice, it would be useful to consider specific floor level or time of day.

Seismic mitigation of a benchmark twenty-story steel structure based on intermodal targeted energy transfer (IMTET)

This study investigates a new intermodal targeted energy transfer (IMTET) concept for rapid, effective, and purely passive seismic mitigation of a benchmark large-scale model of a twenty-story steel structure. IMTET is based on extremely rapid nonlinear scattering of seismic input energy from low to high frequency modes of a building. This effect is achieved by introducing strategically placed, local strong vibro-impact nonlinearities that are generated by contacts of the building floors with a relatively light, yet stiff, auxiliary core structure. Accordingly, the performance of IMTET is studied here, with the benchmark structure realized through a set of previously established performance criteria. The seismic loads are simulated based on records from three historical earthquakes, namely the 1995 Kobe, 1994 Northridge, and 1940 El Centro. To assess the robustness of the proposed passive nonlinear mitigation mechanism, the clearance distributions as well as the core structure parameters, are optimized for a specific seismic excitation (Kobe). Subsequently, the optimized design is tested against the two other historical earthquake records to demonstrate the effectiveness of the IMTET for these cases as well. The numerical results show that the vibro-impacts rapidly, robustly, and almost irreversibly redistribute the seismic input energy from low to high frequency structural modes, thus realizing a highly effective passive earthquake protective system. In addition, when optimized, this new concept can be realized fully passively, without the need to add any mass to the building, and at the cost of only moderate increases in the resulting floor accelerations and local stresses. In addition, the nonlinear vibro-impacts between the floors and the core structure reduce the seismic input energy to the building compared to the no core case, adding an additional benefit to the seismic mitigation approach. Therefore, the IMTET methodology for seismic mitigation has the potential to significantly enhance the seismic performance of building structures.

The Echoes of Noise: Residential Exposure to Traffic and Risk of Tinnitus.

The Echoes of Noise: Residential Exposure to Traffic and Risk of Tinnitus.

Impossible Voyages: Wangechi Mutu at Storm King

Impossible VoyagesWangechi Mutu at Storm King Irina Sheynfeld (bio) "My work is for my daughters and my sons and the next generation who will hopefully continue to create new ways of telling our histories and of stitching us all back together."1 —Wangechi Mutu Kenyan-born American multidisciplinary visual artist Wangechi Mutu (b. 1972) brings her fantastical menagerie of beings to the expansive landscape of Storm King Art Center, an open-air museum about ninety miles north of New York City. The artist divides her time in the studio between Nairobi and New York City and in her practice, she incorporates elements from both worlds. Her work has been described as deeply feminist and informed by both Afrofuturism—a cultural aesthetic that combines science fiction, history, and fantasy to explore the African American experience—and Symbiocene, a term coined in 2011 by Glen Albrecht, that describes a new era in human history that is characterized by harmonious interactions between humans and all other living beings. Eight large-scale sculptures populate the museum hill and about twenty additional works, including two films, span two floors of the main museum building. This is perhaps one of the artist's most comprehensive solo shows to date. Mutu's work is an intervention into Storm King's pastoral, hilly landscape and it encourages a conversation between museums past and present. It also makes us think anew about the importance of ritual and its creation, as well as the new meaning of one's journey through life. In her practice, Mutu doesn't just rethink existing mythologies but she often creates new ones. She conjures fantastical, futuristic female beings and creates worlds for them to travel through. Mutu deals with themes of reinventing the journey, rewriting mythology, and reconstructing ritual. The artist creates new creatures on a voyage through unknown territory. Both of her most recent sculptural groups, In Two Canoe (2022) and Crocodylus (2020), depict travelers whose destination and purpose are [End Page 101] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. In Two Canoe, 2022 Bronze 180 × 68 × 72 in (457.2 × 172.7 × 182.9 cm) Edition 1/3 unknown, while Shavasana I and II (2019) present us with those whose journey has just ended. On top of Museum Hill, at the center of the park and right in front of the museum building, there is a fifteen-foot-long bronze fountain, In Two Canoe. It consists of two patinated olive-green humanoid female figures seated inside a water-filled boat. Both women's legs are spread wide and hang down over the sides of the canoe into the earth as slender mangrove roots. In an interview with the New York Times, Mutu explains that, "Mangroves are migratory. This plant has moved everywhere and has made journeys like those who were kidnapped from Africa and taken to the Americas. The water seals this unified story we've created for ourselves. We are all connected on this sphere of earth and the water is how we go and find each other." But where are two giantesses going in a boat that is filled to the brim with water? The unexpected placement of the water—inside rather than outside of the boat—makes one wonder how these woodland leaf-covered aliens are going to get anywhere. Does it mean that their mysterious journey is doomed from the get-go? Mutu's beings are simultaneously awe- and fear-inspiring. The couple in Canoe recalls a small stone plaque from the mid-fourteenth century [End Page 102] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. In Two Canoe, 2022 Bronze 180 × 68 × 72 in (457.2 × 172.7 × 182.9 cm) Edition 1/3 BCE, Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Their Three Daughters Under the Strahlenaton. The stele, which is housed at the Neues Museum in Berlin, is unique in the three-thousand-year history of Egyptian Art, as it depicts Pharaoh and his wife not idealized in a canonical way but as equals seated in front of each other.2 One notices a striking resemblance between the figures [End Page 103] of Mutu's Canoe and those depicted on the Akhenaten plaque; they share...

Light–weight Impact Sound Evaluation of CLT Wooden Building Floors

Light–weight Impact Sound Evaluation of CLT Wooden Building Floors