Floor Of Building Research Articles

Spatial distribution characteristics of PM2.5 concentration around residential buildings in urban traffic-intensive areas: From the perspectives of health and safety

The impact of traffic pollution on the health and safety of residents that live in roadside residential buildings has been a major concern for governments. This study investigated the spatial distributions of PM2.5 concentration due to road traffic emissions and put forward a spatial distribution model for the estimation of PM2.5 concentration (SDC) based on Machine Learning. Meanwhile, based on the SDC model, the decrease in life expectancy (DLE) of residents was assessed. On-site monitoring of PM2.5 concentration was conducted on different floors of a typical residential building situated by the roadside. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation was conducted for the spatial distribution analysis of PM2.5 concentration, which was verified by measurements. The findings show the PM2.5 concentration decreased from 74μg/m3 to 43μg/m3 within 0 to 120 m distance from the road, and decreased from 73 μg/m3 to 42 μg/m3 within 0 to 60 m height; these locations had a maximum DLE of 5.11 years. The concentration of PM2.5 was stabilized within 40 to 45μg/m3 when the height was above 60 m (roughly the 17th floor from the ground) and the distance was 120 m away from the road. The DLE in these locations was stabilized within 0.62 years to 0.91 years. The SDC model was established to efficiently predict the DLE of residents and PM2.5 concentration along roadside. These findings would facilitate the development of precaution guidelines for urban pollution as well as the future planning of urban health and safety buildings.

Is Compact Urban Form Good for Air Quality? A Case Study from China Based on Hourly Smartphone Data

In previous studies, planners have debated extensively whether compact development can improve air quality in urban areas. Most of them estimated pollution exposure with stationary census data that linked exposures solely to residential locations, therefore overlooking residents’ space–time inhalation of air pollutants. In this study, we conducted an air pollution exposure assessment by scrutinizing one-hour resolution population distribution maps derived from hourly smartphone data and air pollutant concentrations derived from inverse distance weighted interpolation. We selected Wuhan as the study area and used Pearson correlation analysis to explore the effect of compactness on population-weighted concentrations. The results showed that even if a compact urban form helps to reduce pollution concentrations by decreasing vehicle traveling miles and tailpipe emissions, higher levels of building density and floor area ratios may increase population-weighted exposure. With regard to downtown areas with high population density, compact development may locate more people in areas with excessive air pollution. In all, reducing density in urban public centers and developing a polycentric urban structure may aid in the improvement of air quality in cities with compact urban forms.

Kerentanaan dan Strategi Adaptasi Masyarakat Terhadap Bencana Rob di Kawasan Pesisir Kecamatan Sayung Kabupaten Demak

Sayung Subdistrict is part of Demak Regency which is located in the northern-coastal region has experienced tidal floods with vulnerable socio-economic in decades. This study aims to determine the level of community vulnerability and the effectiveness of the community adaptation strategy in dealing with the tidal flood. Meanwhile, quantitative and qualitative approaches are used to explore people's adaptations and vulnerability. By used a random sampling technique, people in the Siwulan Village, Bedono Village, Timbulsloko Village and Surodadi Village was choosen as the research's population. The variables are: community's vulnerability (physical, economic, social and cultural); and adaptation strategies. Questionnaires, observations and documentation has been done for data collecting. The Livelihood Vunerability Index (LVI) is used to measure and analyze the variables by using a score-calculation with 4 criteria including very-effective, effective, less-effective, ineffective. Based on the data, structural adaptations, including road dredging, embankment construction and raise floor elevation are considered effective to very effective. While raising household furniture was considered effective to very-effective by the people of Bedono Village, Timbulsloko Village and Surodadi Village, while the Sriwulan Village community considered the structural adaptation to be less effective if it was not accompanied by the elevation of the building floor.

Hybrid active control of adjacent buildings interconnected by viscous dampers utilizing type-2 fuzzy controller considering soil-structure interaction

Viscous dampers (VDs) connecting adjacent multi-story buildings are significantly useful not only for preventing severe earthquake-induced pounding, but also for mitigating the response of buildings. In the current study, in addition to utilizing viscous dampers, enhanced hybrid active tuned mass dampers (EHATMDs) are used at the top of asymmetric buildings and active tendons (ATs) are used at the sixth floor of symmetric buildings, while all these buildings are interconnected by VDs. The interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller (IT2FLC) is employed to produce real-time active forces applied to the actuators of EHATMDs and ATs. Moreover, soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects are considered. The aim is to assess the performance of all the mentioned controllers in mitigating both the translational and torsional responses of structures rested on soft soil. To reach these goals, three different layouts of adjacent buildings, including asymmetric and symmetric buildings, are taken into account. The results showed that the layout where asymmetric buildings were controlled by VDs in both main directions had the highest performance.

Seismic performance of low-rise building using graded concrete as flexural elements

Graded concrete is a material innovation in the field of civil engineering that aims to create environmentally friendly and economical construction materials. Previous research has shown that graded concrete increases material rigidity so that graded concrete can increase the level of serviceability of structures, indicated by the decreasing of deflection. Investigations on the performance of structures using graded concrete as building material need to be studied further with broader structural indicators. Further studies related to structural performance including base shear reactions, fundamental periods, storey stiffness, storey drift, and storey displacement, should also be discussed. In this study, a 3-storey residential building is modelled using ETABS in 3D approach. The effect of disparity in concrete strength on structural performance is examined. The buildings that employ graded concrete as a construction material can offer a better level of occupant comfort due to the lesser vibration period generated. The application of graded concrete in beam components can increase the value of the storey stiffness. It is because of the greater the modulus of elasticity, the greater the stiffness produced by the beam. It increases the confinement of the enclosed plate so that the stiffness of the building floor also increases. The use of high strength concrete in the beams will change the mode shape of the structure from flexure to shear type. In shear mode shape, the column will form a double curvature so that the mode shape of the structure tends to form a convex pattern. The benefit of the shear-type mode shape is the lesser value of storey displacement at the top level.

BORDER SPACE OF A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING AS AN ELEMENT OF SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL COMFORT OF PEOPLE: FEATURES OF FORMATION, CHARACTERISTICS, SIGNS

In this publication, a study of the border space of the city is carried out as a conditional zone of direct contact of various social groups near multi-storey residential buildings. Based on the analysis of domestic and foreign scientific works on this topic, the characteristic features of the terms socially active boundary space and the space of the courtyard are clarified, general and distinctive features of their identification on the territory are highlighted. In accordance with the analysis of scientific works on this topic, the structure of the city's border spaces has been adjusted, which includes the following levels:
 
 macrolevel of the placement of border spaces in the city;
 meso-level geometrical and functional characteristics of boundary spaces;
 micro-level of the structure of the boundary space in the context of social activity.
 
 By analyzing the world and domestic experience of designing socially active boundary spaces, the hierarchy of their structural elements is highlighted. The main types of border spaces of the city are public, private and mixed border spaces. For example, the primary elements of the formation of any boundary space are the building itself, the street space and the inner courtyard space, which can be characterized by functional and geometric indicators. In the structure of the public boundary space, the planning and volumetric-spatial structure of the house and belonging to the transit or communicative component of the street space are distinguished. In a private and mixed boundary space, the second macro-level includes the spatial division of the courtyard into a buffer, transit and communication function. The last hierarchical level of this model is the level of structural elements that provide social activity in boundary spaces. At the planning level of the building, this is an exploited roof, a developed entrance group of elements, a system of the first floors of a residential building outside the main volume. At the level of volumetric-spatial solutions, the social activity of the boundary spaces is provided by interesting solutions of facades, low or medium storeys, the arrangement of loggias and balconies. In private border spaces at this level, such elements are niches and bay windows, terraced facades, and others. This model, due to the presence of many means of increasing social activity in the border spaces of a residential building, allows one to continue research on the allocation of architectural and spatial techniques for the implementation of projects of socially active border spaces of the city.

Managing the risk of the energy performance gap in non-domestic buildings

Energy use in buildings accounts for one-third of the overall global energy consumption and total building floor area continues to increase each year as new developments are constructed and delivered. If stringent climate goals are to be met, these buildings will need to consume less energy and emit less carbon. However, design intentions for energy efficient buildings are not always met in practice. This performance gap between calculated and measured energy use in buildings threatens the progress necessary to meet these energy targets. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that contribute to the performance gap and propose solutions for reducing the gap in practice. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of two research programmes completed in the past few years was utilized for an in-depth look at the performance of around 50 non-domestic buildings in the United Kingdom. While no direct links were found between any one variable and the performance gap, several correlations exist between contributing factors indicating a complex, entangled web of interrelated problems. The multitude of the variables involved presents a formidable challenge in finding practical solutions. However, the results indicate that the combination of the ventilation strategy of a building and the building services control strategy during partial occupancy is a key determinant of the performance gap. A more straightforward procurement approach with clearly delineated targets and responsibilities, along with advanced and seasonal commissioning instituted at the beginning of a project and implemented after building completion can also be very effective in reducing the gap. Finally, mandatory requirements or an appropriate system of incentives for monitoring and disclosure of performance data can help identify many of the underlying issues affecting performance in-use and untangle some of the web of complex issues across the building sector. Practical application Awareness of the performance gap and knowledge of the factors contributing to its impact on the building industry is important for all stakeholders involved in the design, construction, operation and occupation of non-domestic buildings. Understanding potential solutions to mitigate these risks may help to reduce the prevalence and magnitude of the performance gap.

Verification of particle matter generation due to deterioration of building materials as the cause of indoor fine dust

Particles of fine dust are pollutants that adversely affect indoor air quality and exacerbate human respiratory diseases. The aging of the building was pointed out as a source of fine dust indoors. The aging of buildings has various causes of deterioration. During various deterioration, friction adversely affects the building floor finish. In this study, an accelerated friction deterioration device was used to confirm the generation of fine dust particles through the frictional deterioration of floor finishes in buildings. The study found that the concentration of fine dust particles attributed to deteriorating flooring was 327 mg/m3 in PM2.5 and 4828 mg/m3 in PM10 and confirmed that particle distribution differs depending on the surface of the flooring. Particles of 10 µm or less were observed through particle analysis. The study confirmed that fine dust particles did not diffuse in a specific direction and that the detected fine dust particles could be attributed to deterioration. Further research is needed on the detection of fine dust in degraded building finishing materials.

Evaluation of Wood Composite Sandwich Panels as a Promising Renewable Building Material.

During this study, full-size wood composite sandwich panels, 1.2 m by 2.4 m (4 ft by 8 ft), with a biaxial corrugated core were evaluated as a building construction material. Considering the applications of this new building material, including roof, floor, and wall paneling, sandwich panels with one and two corrugated core(s) were fabricated and experimentally evaluated. Since primary loads applied on these sandwich panels during their service life are live load, snow load, wind, and gravity loads, their bending and compression behavior were investigated. To improve the thermal characteristics, the cavities within the sandwich panels created by the corrugated geometry of the core were filled with a closed-cell foam. The R-values of the sandwich panels were measured to evaluate their energy performance. Comparison of the weight indicated that fabrication of a corrugated panel needs 74% less strands and, as a result, less resin compared to a strand-based composite panel, such as oriented strand board (OSB), of the same size and same density. Bending results revealed that one-layer core sandwich panels with floor applications under a 4.79 kPa (100 psf) bending load are able to meet the smallest deflection limit of L/360 when the span length (L) is 137.16 cm (54 in) or less. The ultimate capacity of two-layered core sandwich panels as a wall member was 94% and 158% higher than the traditional walls with studs under bending and axial compressive loads, respectively. Two-layered core sandwich panels also showed a higher ultimate capacity compared to structural insulated panels (SIP), at 470% and 235% more in bending and axial compression, respectively. Furthermore, normalized R-values, the thermal resistance, of these sandwich panels, even with the presence of thermal bridging due to the core geometry, was about 114% and 109% higher than plywood and oriented strand board, respectively.

MPTP: Motion-planning-aware task planning for navigation in belief space

We present an integrated Task-Motion Planning (TMP) framework for navigation in large-scale environments. Of late, TMP for manipulation has attracted significant interest resulting in a proliferation of different approaches. In contrast, TMP for navigation has received considerably less attention. Autonomous robots operating in real-world complex scenarios require planning in the discrete (task) space and the continuous (motion) space. In knowledge-intensive domains, on the one hand, a robot has to reason at the highest-level, for example, the objects to procure, the regions to navigate to in order to acquire them; on the other hand, the feasibility of the respective navigation tasks have to be checked at the execution level. This presents a need for motion-planning-aware task planners. In this paper, we discuss a probabilistically complete approach that leverages this task-motion interaction for navigating in large knowledge-intensive domains, returning a plan that is optimal at the task-level. The framework is intended for motion planning under motion and sensing uncertainty, which is formally known as belief space planning. The underlying methodology is validated in simulation, in an office environment and its scalability is tested in the larger Willow Garage world. A reasonable comparison with a work that is closest to our approach is also provided. We also demonstrate the adaptability of our approach by considering a building floor navigation domain. Finally, we also discuss the limitations of our approach and put forward suggestions for improvements and future work.

The Possibility of Using the Ultra-Thin Liquid Thermal Insulation to Insulate the Ceiling above the Basement in Residential Buildings

The issues of energy saving, as well as comfortable operation of buildings in modern construction practice are relevant. The experience of operation of the premises, located above the basement, shows that the most common problem is the cooling of the floor slab and, as a consequence, the presence of a cold floor. The article presents the results of calculations on the change of thermal properties of the ceiling above the basement in residential buildings. A variant of insulation of the ceiling with ultra-thin liquid insulation is proposed. The graphical analysis of the problem is carried. As a result of graphical analysis, it was revealed that the proposed method of insulation makes it possible to increase the floor temperature in the rooms of the ground floor in the residential buildings.

Bridge-type buildings on small rivers of cities as a solution to transport problems

The article deals with bridge-type buildings over small rivers of cities as an urban planning tool that facilitates transport problems in these cities. A large number of small rivers in cities, which create insurmountable obstacles for vehicles, separate urban districts preventing vehicles from moving from one district to another taking the shortest route. This circumstance forces vehicles to travel on major highways, overloading them and creating essential congestions. Embankments along small rivers also lead traffic flows to the main highways. As a result of the conducted research, the authors propose to create bridge-type buildings with transport turnpikes through these obstacles, using them for the infrastructure necessary for the city. Such bridge-type buildings can be constructed at the level of embankments, avoiding access trestles that significantly clutter up the adjacent streets and require reconstruction of the surrounding territories. Small bridge-type buildings for these purposes with a span of up to 25 m based on steel-reinforced concrete structures are not expensive and can be financed by investors in case of their interest to rent premises located on the floors of such bridge-type buildings.

A Proposed Ideal Network Design for Collaborative Workspace Businesses

Collaborative workspace businesses are now a trend in developing countries such as the Philippines. Coworking space is a business service provision model that lets individuals and teams work independently or collaboratively in a shared office space. In the Philippines, there is a big trend in starting a coworking space business. The millennial generation, which comprises the bulk of the metropolitan sector, is the main reason behind coworking space growth. Computer networking can contribute to the improvement of sales and customer retention and service of coworking space businesses. Implementing managed network services will reduce operational, maintenance, service, hardware, software, and infrastructure costs. Managed network services can enable the coworking space business to focus on its primary business goals In this paper, an ideal network design for collaborative workspace businesses was developed. The building floor layout is essential for the managed networks' design. It was determined that a two-story floor layout is ideal for the company and for implementing the proposed network design. Analysis of ideal network management was proposed in administration, operation, security, and maintenance. Detailed logical and physical network designs with ideal network equipment and technologies were created to improve the coworking space business's services by implementing managed networks.

Assessment of Terrorist Attack Risk of a BWR Nuclear Power Plant Using Monte Carlo Simulations

The security of nuclear power plants becomes an ever more important issue after the tragedy of the World Trade Center of New York City on September 11, 2000. Utilities around the world have significantly increased the resources used to enhance the security of nuclear power plants. In this study, a mathematical model based on Monte Carlo simulations is developed to calculate the probability of invaders being located in a building in the vital area, on a floor of the building, and in a region of the floor when invaders break into the vital area successfully. In the model, it is assumed that invaders have no specific target to sabotage and they have no prior knowledge of the layout of the plant. Invaders are running around randomly in the vital area, and Monte Carlo simulations are used to trace their paths on a floor. The results can help the security of a nuclear power plant locate invaders in the vital area. If it is assumed that the damage caused by the invaders is similar to the damage induced by a fire, the product of the probability of invaders being located in a region and the fire conditional core damage probability of the region ijk (CCDPF,ijk) from a fire hazard probabilistic safety assessment can be used to prioritize the importance of the region to the risk of terrorist sabotage and to allocate resources that enhance physical protection. The summation of the product for all the region is the conditional core damage probability of terrorist attack (CCDPS). The surrogate plant used in the present study is a typical General Electric–designed Boiling Water Reactor-6 with Mark III containment. The vital area in this study has six entrances and three buildings: turbine, control, and auxiliary. Among the 196 regions considered in the analysis, the majority (between 85% and 92% for different entrances) have the Pijk of locating terrorist probability of less than 10−2. The top three average Pijk regions are located in the turbine building. The eight regions with CCDPF,ijk equal to 1.0 of the plant contribute 86.8% of the total average CCDPS. Region AUX56, which is the corridor on the third floor of the auxiliary building, contributes 33.9% of the risk of core damage. Region AUX14, which is the corridor on the first floor of the auxiliary building, contributes 17.1% of this risk.

A nonlinear geometric model for pre-stressed steel–concrete composite beams

Steel–concrete composite beams are commonly employed in civil constructions such as multi-storey building floors and long-span bridges. In case of significant span to depth ratios, excessive deflections and noticeable crack widths at the concrete slab may occur at the serviceability stage. In this context, internal or external pre-stressed tendons can be used as a remediation. In the latter case, significant effects of geometric non-linearity may arise due to the strain incompatibility between the external tendon and the composite member, resulting in a variable tendon eccentricity during deformation. In this paper, second-order effects are evaluated in eight pre-stressed steel–concrete composite beams for which experimental results are available. Hence, a three-dimensional finite element model using a Lagrangian description is proposed. The external tendons are represented by one-dimensional catenary elements, whereas the reinforced concrete slab and steel profile are modeled by shells finite elements. Slipping at the slab-beam interface and tendon-deviator locations are also included in the analysis. For the studied externally pre-stressed beams, the introduction of nonlinear geometric behavior yields lower collapses loads in relation to its linear counterpart, varying this difference between 6.4 and 9.1%.

Study and Analysis on the Thermal Environment Test in Guanzhong Farm Residential in Winter

Rural residences in Guanzhong area have suffered from poor indoor thermal environment and backward energy-saving methods for a long time in winter. In order to study the local thermal environment, improve residents’s thermal comfort in winter and reduce building energy consumption. The research team conducted a typical winter solstice day Conduct thermal environment test and field survey on typical residential buildings in Guanzhong area, and quantify the test data to get the results: 1. Local solar energy resources have a certain potential. 2. The indoor thermal environment is severely humid and cold so that thermal comfort is low. 3. The first floor of residential buildings can basically meet thermal comfort requirements. According to the results of energy consumption calculations, Guanzhong’s farm buildings consume too much energy. In response to the national energy conservation and emission reduction policy, some improvement measures are needed to improve the atmospheric environment. Taking into account the local climate adaptability, residents’ living habits and economic conditions, measures are proposed to reduce the area of the north window by a certain percentage, install additional sunshine rooms, and transform the second floor south to a balcony.

Reasons for the collapse of ceilings during the construction of monolithic buildings

Construction works, as a rule, differ in complexity and hazards of works. Nowadays, cases of collapses of a formwork of the cast concrete section of a building under construction in the course of concreting became frequent. Accidents entail death of people and significant material losses. Purpose of the research: the purpose of the research is to study accidents occurred during installation of in-situ concrete floors of buildings and to reveal the typical causes of a formwork system collapse. The initial materials were the data on the causes of accidents at construction sites obtained on the basis of the analysis of statistical materials on injuries, as well as data on the identified violations of the requirements for safe work practices in capital construction and reconstruction of buildings and structures. A total of 148 accidents at construction sites from 1997 to 2019 were considered. The paper systematizes some main errors and violations of technologies committed in the course of in-situ concrete works. Typical causes common for all formwork collapses during concrete works for in-situ floor slabs installation are revealed. Among the objective causes of accidents and high injury rate in this type of construction works the following should be highlighted: the lack of method statements and construction plans; lack of supervision of the correct and safe execution of works; shortcomings in the organization of training and testing of labor protection knowledge; violation of technological regulations and safety rules.

A New Estimate of Building Floor Space in North America

Floor space is a key variable used to understand the energy and material demands of buildings. Using recent data sets of building footprints, we employ a random forest regression model to estimate the total floor space (conditioned and unconditioned) of the North American building stock. Our estimate for total floor space in 2016 is 88033 (+15907/-21861) million m2, which is 2.9 times higher than current estimates from national statistics offices. We also show how floor space per capita (m2 cap-1) is not constant across the North American region, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of building stocks. As a critical variable in integrated assessment models to project energy and material demands, this result suggests that there is much more unconditioned floor space than previously realized. Furthermore, when estimating material stocks, flows, and associated embodied carbon emissions, total floor space per-capita estimates, such as those presented in this study, offer a more comprehensive approach in comparison to national statistics that do not capture unconditioned floor space. This result also calls for an investigation as to why there is such a vast difference between estimates of conditioned and total floor space.

Quantitative Analysis of Waiting Length and Waiting Time for Frame Construction Work Activities Using a Queue Model; Focusing on Korean Apartment Construction

The frame construction of an apartment complex that consists of multiple buildings encounters various uncertainties, owing to the complex relationships between units of work. Currently, the period of such a construction is calculated based on the number of floors of the highest building in the complex. This study quantitatively analyzes an apartment frame construction period using a queue model and evaluates the validity of the estimated period. In this regard, a methodology is proposed for analyzing the construction period by applying the concept of a customer and a server. A case study on the duration of an apartment frame construction period is conducted with the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, which has supplied the largest number of apartments in South Korea. It was found that the stable state of a queue system was observed when the rate of server utilization was applied to the basement and above-ground floors. However, a stable state was not reached on the ground floor. This study includes non-working days in its calculation and quantitatively analyzes uncertainty factors during construction. Therefore, the findings can be practically utilized to quantitatively plan the durations of work units in an apartment frame construction.

INDOOR LOCALIZATION USING ACCELEROMETER AND GYROSCOPE SMARTPHONE BASED

Indoor localization is one of the more accurate technologies to be used to determine indoors or buildings. Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) is a method of determining the user's position by adding a method that occurs to a known initial position. The displacement that occurs is estimated with the help of an accelerometer sensor attached to the user as a step detector and to determine the direction towards the user using a gyroscope sensor. System testing is carried out in the Institut Teknologi Sumatera’s campus environment on the 2nd floor of Building C and D. The results from the detection of steps get an error rate of 1.13% using a threshold of 0.8.