Modern Building Construction Research Articles

Assessing the Thermal Performance of Negeri Sembilan Traditional Malay House towards Sustainable Practice

Traditional Malay house has characteristics of the passive thermal design that naturally practices climatic design strategies. Currently, Urban Heat Island (UHI), causing an increase in energy consumption for cooling purposes, especially in the residential sectors. Consequently, modern building construction has a poor passive thermal design. This study aims to assess the thermal performance of Negeri Sembilan traditional Malay house towards sustainable practice in the tropical environment. The main finding shows that house openings allow natural cross-ventilation, while less strategic house orientation towards climate factors and lightweight materials used contributes to the uncomfortable of the interior spaces reaches as much as 35ºC during the peak time of the day. This study highlights ideas and knowledge in improving the construction technology for modern architecture to produce an effective indoor thermal performance in a tropical environment. Keywords: Malay House; Traditional Architecture; Thermal Performance; Tropical; EnvironmenteISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12.1914

Strength design of welded high-strength steel beams considering coupled local and global buckling

Abstract High-strength steel (HSS) is gaining increasing use in modern building construction for several reasons, the most notable being that its increased strength can lead to a reduction in self-weight and correspondingly reduced emissions and waste during its manufacture. However, there is little guidance available in design standards when the steel grade exceeds 690 MPa. Such guidance is needed, because the use of thinner plate elements than would normally be encountered in mild steel members leads to an increased importance in local plate buckling participating in the strength limit state, and its interaction with yielding and residual stresses that are germane to HSS members. This paper investigates the buckling strength of welded HSS I-beams numerically, and based on the results of the study it proposes a corresponding strength design criterion that incorporates local buckling and lateral-torsional buckling and their interaction at the ultimate limit state. The finite element model used for the analysis is based on ABAQUS software, and it incorporates the interaction of elastic buckling, yielding, residual stresses induced by welding and geometric imperfections. The numerical formulation is validated against test results reported by several investigators, and it is then used to produce a substantive set of data to investigate the buckling strength of welded HSS beams. It is shown that the buckling strength depends primarily on two parameters: the generalised (or member) slenderness and the section slenderness. It is also demonstrated that coupled modes of failure are possible for slender sections that incorporate the interaction of local and lateral-torsional modes, which traditionally are treated simplistically in current steel design standards by using effective section properties. To overcome the limitations on guidance for the strength design of HSS beams, a set of new strength design equations are proposed from the numerical data, based on the generalised and section slendernesses.

Steel framed structures with cross laminated timber infill shear walls and semi-rigid connections

In recent years, hybrid steel-timber structures are seeing an increasing use in modern building construction at a competitive price. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a prefabricated multi-layer engineered panel wood product, manufactured by gluing layers of solid-sawn lumber at perpendicular angles. Their orientation results in excellent structural rigidity in both orthogonal directions. CLT construction materials are used not only for flooring systems and roof assemblies, but CLT infill shear walls are also gaining a lot of interest as a promising alternative for sustainable primary lateral load resistance systems. This paper extends the current research background on hybrid steel-timber structures. To achieve that, this work is conducted in such way as to explore the potentiality of incorporating CLT infill shear walls within steel framed structures with semi-rigid connections (STSW). In particular, a three-dimensional finite element model using the general-purpose finite ele-ment program ANSYS is generated herein to study the mechanical behaviour of a single-bay, two storey STSW system with semi-rigid connections. Analytical results show that the presence of CLT infill shear walls can significantly improve the performance of moment-resisting frame systems, for multi-storey buildings. Moreover, it is observed from the extended parametrical study that the STSW systems show better performance when an appropriate plastic moment ratio index is defined.

Utilização do aço para o projeto e construção de edifícios leves e modernos

utilização do aço para o projeto e construção de edifícios leves e modernos

Study on Properties of Binary Composite Cementitious Self-leveling Mortar

The binary composite cementitious self-leveling mortar is an important development direction of modern building construction. At present, there are great differences in opinions on the mixing proportion of Portland cement and aluminate cement or sulphoaluminate cement in binary system and there are few literatures comparing the fluidity and strength of the two kinds of mortar. In this paper, the fluidity, flexural strength and compressive strength of the two kinds of mortar with different dosages were compared. The research results showed that the addition of aluminate cement and sulphoaluminate cement could reduce the initial fluidity and 20min fluidity of mortars, but the decreasing degree was different. The influence of different dosages of aluminate cement and sulphoaluminate cement on the flexural strength and compressive strength of mortars was obviously different. When the dosage of aluminate cement was 0-10%, the flexural strength and 1d compressive strength of mortar could be improved remarkably. When the dosage was higher than 10%, the strengths were obviously reduced, even lower than the strengths of Portland cement mortar. The flexural strength of the mortar increased with the increase of sulphoaluminate cement in the range of test dosages, but the 1d compressive strength had little difference. When the dosage was 10%-20%, the influences of the two kinds of cement on the 28d compressive strength of mortars were basically consistent and both could improve the 28d compressive strength of mortars.

Modern high-rise architecture in terms of historical development of Ryazan

Introduction. Preservation of historical and cultural environment is one of the most important tasks nowadays. Nevertheless, a developing city requires the development of architectural and urban environment, which contributes to the emerging of modern objects in historical areas of the city, often discordant. The primary parameter that determines the degree of discordance is the excess of the average height of the building, as well as architectural and stylistic parameters, placement in the structure of the city, etc. The problem of general increase in number of storeys in historical core of the city requires studies, analysis and definition of some restrictions in order to preserve the integrity and authenticity of the historical and cultural environment. Materials and methods. The work is based on the study of contemporary foreign and domestic solution experience of the problem of modern architecture in the conditions of historical construction image. The initial data for the studies were the materials of the current Project of zones of protection of objects of cultural heritage of Ryazan, and project materials developed in 2017. On the basis of field survey and the analysis of photographic images of buildings in the development, the nature and complexity of the architectural composition. Results. In accordance with the current Project of protection zones the most typical examples of multi-storey buildings in the historical context were identified, a characteristic and an assessment of the degree of their discordance were given. Conclusions. The study was aimed to solve the problem of preserving the integrity and authenticity of the historical and cultural environment in the construction of modern multi-storey buildings. The emerging of new buildings in historical core is necessary and inevitable, so, some architectural and urban planning techniques were revealed to reduce the degree of discordance

Facile preparation of attapulgite‐based aerogels with excellent flame retardancy and better thermal insulation properties

ABSTRACTA novel and environmentally friendly attapulgite‐based aerogel with a three‐dimensional fibrillary network structure was prepared by incorporation of nanometer‐sized natural clay crystals, in this case attapulgite (ATP), into degradable poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), cotton cellulose nanowhisker, and melamine using only a simple blending method and subsequently a freeze‐drying process. The ATP‐based aerogel exhibits an abundant porosity with an average mesopore size of 8.0 nm in diameter. Compared to fragile and rigid inorganic aerogels, the as‐prepared aerogel shows good flexibility and mechanical strength with a compressive strength of 9.65 × 104 Pa and 10.19 × 104 Pa at 20% and 40% of compressive strain, respectively. The limiting oxygen index (LOI) and vertical flame tests show that the resulting aerogel possesses excellent flame retardancy, with an LOI of 59.5%. Microcalorimetry test results show that the total heat release of the aerogel is as low as 5.1 KJ/g. Also, the sample shows a better thermal insulation property, with a thermal conductivity of about 0.045 W m−1 K−1 in air. Taking advantage of a simple and environmentally friendly fabrication, abundant natural clay resources, easy scalability, nearly no pollution emission in the process, and cost‐efficient production, the ATP‐based aerogel has great potential as ideal flame retardant and thermal insulation materials for many applications such as modern building construction or energy‐efficient coatings. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47849.

Physical properties of high-strength bolt materials at elevated temperatures

Carbon steel bolts have been broadly utilized in modern building construction. Fire performance of these components has been investigated in the published journals aiming at deriving their reduction factors at elevated temperatures. However, it should be noted that materials employed for manufacturing high-strength structural bolts may be different from country to country. Meanwhile, the present research efforts mainly focused on fire performance of carbon steel bolts instead of their material properties. Therefore, this paper developed an experimental program for investigation of the elevated-temperature material properties for three types of high-strength bolts with property classes 8.8, 10.9 and 12.9. Standard coupon specimens were milled from carbon steel bolts. The temperatures of tensile testing were in the range of 20–900 °C. The key material properties were extracted from the recorded stress–strain curves. These tested results were compared with those of high-strength bolts and steels from the literature. It was found that different materials for bolt making has a negligible influence on the deterioration of material properties at elevated temperatures, not including strains (Ɛu and Ɛf). In contrast, the strength reduction was generally faster than the majority of high-strength steels at elevated temperatures (over 300 °C). In addition, the analytical models were proposed for describing the deterioration of yield strength (fyT), Young’s modulus (EsT), ultimate strain (ƐuT) and fracture strain (ƐfT) at elevated temperatures.

Determination of the optimal thickness of vertical air channels in double-skin solar façades

Using interior air layers in building envelopes has become popular in modern building design and construction. With the help of solar radiation, the air natural convection in these air layers provide multiple benefits to the building envelopes. The flow and heat transfer process of the solar driven natural convection in the air channels can greatly influence the performance of these envelopes. This study numerically investigates the flow and heat transfer process in the vertical air channels of double-skin solar façades, and evaluates the influence factors of the temperature and velocity fields, in order to determine the optimal channel thickness. The results show that the flow transition, velocity promotion and temperature increase mainly occur in the near-wall regions. For vertical channels with the height of 2-4m, the thickness of 0.1-0.8m and the input heat flux of 100-400W/m2, the flow rate varies between 0.042 kg/s and 0.255kg/s, and the range of the temperature rise is 0.66-14.70℃. Increases in the channel height and the input heat flux may result in a straight increase in the flowrate and the temperature, while the influence of the channel thickness on the flow rate and the temperature rise is limited. For air channels intending to improve ventilation capacity, the channel thickness should not be bigger than 0.6m; while for channels with the purpose of supplying warm air, the thickness should be less than 0.2m.

Seismic fragility assessment for moment-resisting concrete frame with setback under repeated earthquakes

This research study was carried out to analyse the seismic behaviour of ten types of six-storey moment-resisting concrete frames, which were one regular frame and nine setback frames with different building configurations. In this analysis, the setback buildings were mainly studied because they have become increasingly popular in modern multi-storey building construction due to their functional and aesthetic architecture. Incremental dynamics analysis (IDA) was performed on these frames under three sets of repeated ground motion records. Based on the IDA curve, life safety (LS) performance level was considered as the main guideline to develop the fragility curves. The maximum inter-storey drift percentages at each storey level, for all frames and location of plastic hinges for each frame, were clearly determined through IDA. From the fragility curve results, the probability of reaching or exceeding the life safety performance state was determined. The regular frame showed the lowest probability as compared to other frames. Therefore, it is known that the building configuration of frames affects the building’s seismic performance, and thus it should be considered in the building’s seismic design.

Facility management and building information modeling during operation and maintenance

BIM is a concept and also a method currently applied throughout the world in the modern building construction. The impact and benefits of the BIM method are clear across all stages of the life cycle of buildings (project, realization, operation, demolition). The longest and most expensive phase of buildings life is the operation and usage part. Many common aspects and linkage of processes between the BIM method and the facility management, i.e. a modern asset management method, can provide greater efficiency for these activities, help reduce the cost of required building operations and maintenance and save time for individual activities. The BIM can be understood as an information management of buildings. Many common elements can create a synergy of processes related to the management of buildings. The article discusses these aspects and emphasizes the listing of the basic data and processes that are necessary for mutual interconnectedness.

Environmental analysis of cities with hot climate and rugged terrain

Having hot windless climate and rugged terrain resulting from the lack of sufficient aeration, southern cities are in extreme environmental conditions. Urban construction on a rugged terrain affects the established local microclimate by changing the structure of the environment and hydrogeological conditions. In addition, the development of urban space and the construction of modern high-rise buildings significantly affect the aerodynamics of the environment. In hot climate, the urban environment has stable zones suffering from lack of natural air circulation and high concentration of harmful emissions. The article analyzes the factors that aggravate the environmental situation of cities with a rugged terrain and high temperatures. Insufficient aeration and high intensity of solar radiation in the urban environment are identified as the main factors of unfavorable environment in cities with rugged terrain. Based on the analysis of the climatic parameters of the cities of Sochi, Makhachkala and field observations in the city of Dushanbe, we identified conditions under which local air circulation is formed, contributing to the improvement in the environmental situation. The aeration formation models for urban space with different landscaping options are built. The analysis will enable to make the accurate assessment of the factors affecting the formation of aeration of thermal origin and their role in improving the environment of cities with hot, windless climate.

Institutional Developments in Odisha: Discussing Construction of Modern Buildings.

Institutional Developments in Odisha: Discussing Construction of Modern Buildings.

Historical aspects of prestressed concrete application in the Russian construction industry

The article is devoted to the history of development, implementation, practice and prospects of development of reinforced concrete prestressing technology in Russia. It is important to expand the scope of application of prestressing technology. As practice shows abroad, it is widely used in road construction. The high level of rigidity and crack resistance of prestressed concrete determines the effectiveness of its use in the construction of highways and runways. Pre-stress, which increases the rigidity and resistance of structures to cracking, increases their endurance when working on the impact of repeated loads. This is due to a decrease in the voltage drop in the reinforcement and concrete, caused by changes in the external load. Properly designed structures and buildings are generally safe to use and more reliable, especially in seismic areas. On the basis of this technology can be made a significant step forward in the field of high-rise construction, where the main problem is due to the fact that the upper floors are extremely loaded lower. In the proposed embodiment, the number of storeys of the building can be doubled without increasing the load on the ground floor and the base. International experience shows high efficiency of the high efficiency of application of the preliminary voltage monolithic slab foundations of long, monolithic beamless slabs, the supporting device and the pedestals under heavy equipment, in load-bearing monolithic constructions of underground structures, including multi-storey. There are examples of pre-stress during the restoration of historical monuments. As practice shows, the prestressing of reinforced concrete demonstrates new opportunities and defines the prospect of development of reinforced concrete as a material for the construction of modern buildings and structures.

Numerical Analysis for Reinforced Concrete Beams with Circular Openings in Flexural and Shear Zones Strengthened by Steel Plates

In the modern building construction, openings in beams are necessary to accommodate several service pipes and ducts. Due to these openings, high stress concentration occurs at its edges. Local cracks also appear around the openings as a result of the reduction in the beam stiffness, the load carrying capacity and the shear capacity. There are many studies which were conducted to develop and test different strengthening methods for the beams opining to increase the ultimate load capacity of the beams. However, from a practical point of view, it is better to have one strengthening method having the same specifications to be used in both; shear and flexural zones for circular opining beams in buildings. In spite of the prior studies, no study has addressed this issue; therefore, there is a need to study such a case. In this paper, an analytical study was conducted to investigate the behavior of the reinforced concrete (RC) beams with circular openings in flexural and shear zones strengthened by steel plates. A 3D FE modeling (ABAQUS 6.12) software was used to simulate five different specimens of RC beams. The study results showed that when the openings were strengthened by steel plates, the ultimate load carrying capacity increased, but the deflection was decreased when compared to the openings without strengthening. In addition, the model reliability was verified via good agreements between the experimental and numerical results.

Numerical Analysis for Reinforced Concrete Beams with Circular Openings in Flexural and Shear Zones Strengthened by Steel Plates

In the modern building construction, openings in beams are necessary to accommodate several service pipes and ducts. Due to these openings, high stress concentration occurs at its edges. Local cracks also appear around the openings as a result of the reduction in the beam stiffness, the load carrying capacity and the shear capacity. There are many studies which were conducted to develop and test different strengthening methods for the beams opining to increase the ultimate load capacity of the beams. However, from a practical point of view, it is better to have one strengthening method having the same specifications to be used in both; shear and flexural zones for circular opining beams in buildings. In spite of the prior studies, no study has addressed this issue; therefore, there is a need to study such a case. In this paper, an analytical study was conducted to investigate the behavior of the reinforced concrete (RC) beams with circular openings in flexural and shear zones strengthened by steel plates. A 3D FE modeling (ABAQUS 6.12) software was used to simulate five different specimens of RC beams. The study results showed that when the openings were strengthened by steel plates, the ultimate load carrying capacity increased, but the deflection was decreased when compared to the openings without strengthening. In addition, the model reliability was verified via good agreements between the experimental and numerical results.

Characteristics and Construction Technology Analysis of Static Pressure Prestressed Pipe Piles in Construction Engineering

The development of urbanization has led to an increase in the number and scale of construction projects and the types of building construction engineering are getting advance and diverse due to the rapid development of technology. One of them is the static pressure prestressed pipe pile which is the most common used technology in modern building construction work. Â It is mainly used for pile foundation in construction work and it has the advantages in less pollution, low noise and high efficiency compared to the traditional pile foundation. Study on the characteristics of static pressure prestressed pipe pile must be carried out and strengthened the research in order to increase the effectiveness and quality of static pressure prestressed pipe pile on construction works. This paper is mainly to analyzed the characteristic and construction technology of static pressure prestressed pipe piles on building construction work.

Superhydrophobic fluorine-rich conjugated microporous polymers monolithic nanofoam with excellent heat insulation property

The exploitation of multifunctional materials with both low thermal conductivity and high flame retardant property is of great importance for construction of modern energy-effective buildings. Here, we report the design and synthesis of fluorine-rich conjugated microporous polymers (FCMPs) monolithic nanofoam through a Sonogashira–Hagihara coupling reaction. The FCMPs monolithic nanofoam exhibits a high specific surface area of up to 1194 m2 g−1 and interestingly superhydrophobic wettability with a water contact angle of 160°. The FCMPs monolithic nanofoam possesses a low thermal conductivity of 0.021 W m−1 K−1, which can compete with the most of low thermal conductivity materials such as silicon aerogel (0.02 W m−1 K−1), indicating excellent thermal insulation capability. Microcalorimetry (MCC) test results show that the FCMPs monolithic nanofoam possesses excellent flame retardant performance with a low peak heat release rate (pHRR) value of 10.4–11.2 W g−1, which is nearly one order magnitude lower than that of the flame retardant materials reported so far. Compared with those brittle inorganic thermal insulation materials as well as the CMPs usually are formed as unprocessable powder, the elastomeric FCMPs monolithic nanofoam is flexible and mechanical robust, which in turn could be engineered as different shapes for practical applications. Taking these advantages, the FCMPs monolithic nanofoam may have great potentials as anti-proofing, novel heat insulation materials with better flame retardant properties for modern building construction or other energy-efficient coatings.

Lifecycle assessment of vacuum heat-insulation

Vacuum insulated panels are becoming more and more common in building practices. Therefore, environmental analysis through vacuum insulated panels lifecycle and environmentally reasoned choice of components for their production are currently important. Rigorous research inn area of vacuum insulated panels development were conducted by such organizations as Brunel University London, Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg, FHBB Muttenz, TU München, Bayerisches Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung e.V., Ift Rosenheim, NIPTIS named after S.S. Ataev, etc. In Russian Federation the environmental analysis through vacuum insulated panels lifecycle was barely paid attention to, although there are interesting suggestions concerning utilization of different raw materials.The goal of this research is to study the possibilities of vacuum insulated panels production projects in Russian Federation and their environmental assessment.Such methods as ecoindicator-99, environmental restrictions and gross energy were used in environmental analysis through vacuum insulated panels lifecycle. The main method of lifecycle analysis is an integrated accounting of environmental criteria in accordance with the ISO 14000 international standard. In particular, the most important indicators of such account are greenhouse-warming potential (kg CO2-equivalent), ozone layer depletion potential (kg CFC-11-equivalent), acidification potential (kg SO2-equivalent), photooxidants generation potential (kg ethylene-equivalent, eutrophication potential (kg PO42-equivalent), primary power consumption from renewable and exhaustible sources. The choice of environmentally preferable components suggests using qualimetry methods.Results of the research confirm that environmental pressure of vacuum insulated panels functional unit (1 m2) through its lifecycle are compatible with pressure of other heat-insulating materials (like glass-wool). When examining different indexes of the ecoindicator-99 system, environmental impacts are almost identical. The attribute «human health» of vacuum insulated panels is a bit inferior to that of glass-wool and the attribute «resources consumption» are that many superior than that of alternative fibrose heat-insulation. In general, results of the research show wide horizons of vacuum insulated panels utilization in modern building construction from the environmental point of view, while there is a range of technological problems to be solved.As a conclusion to the research, we suggest environmentally preferable constructive solutions with the utilization of vacuum insulated panels. Those solutions provide lowering the environmental impact and cost of vacuum heat-insulation systems, alternate solutions for joints due to utilization of back-up insulated systems and different heat-insulation materials, as well as protecting panels from depressurization by integrating them into building envelope.

The structural capacity of laminated timber compression elements in fire: A meta-analysis

Modern building construction is increasingly applying laminated timber products as structural members for larger and more ambitious projects, both commercial and residential. As a consequence, designers require reliable knowledge and design tools to assess the structural capacity of laminated mass timber elements in fire. This paper reviews and assesses available data and methods to design for fire resistance of laminated mass timber compression elements. Historical data from fire resistance tests is presented and compared against the available design calculation methods. The underlying assumptions of the thermal and structural analyses applied within the presented calculation methodologies are discussed. The resulting meta-analysis suggests that the available methods are all able to make reasonable predictions (with an average mean absolute error (MAPE) of 22% across methods) of the fire resistance of glued-laminated columns exposed to standard fires; however, the available methods for CLT walls give inconsistent (MAPE of 46% across all methods and 30% excluding extreme outliers) and potentially non-conservative results (up to 88% of investigated cases are statistically non-conservative). Additional research on loaded compression elements is therefore needed.