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Business enterprises find themselves forced to choose between plots within a predetermined site instead of choosing a site within a region to be distinguished for industrial uses. Their traditional role in making their own market studies regarding inputs and outputs is no longer valid under the new circumstances. The central planner has taken over their role and given them limited paths along which they can practice their production. Site selection has turned into plot selection within a predetermined site. Modeling is a technique used in regional planning, which allows the demonstration of certain industrial park related relations in a numerical form. The science of mathematics is widely used in this technique because of its ability to set relations in a logical relationship that can clarify the dilemma under discussion and reflect results in numerical form. This paper observes the relationship between the architectural product and its effect on the urban fabric in regions and provinces by means of scientific modeling. The developed method for the clarification of the relationship between the industrial parks and urban localities in Jordan can by used to determine similar cases elsewhere. A new model for the evaluation of big-scale projects, such as industrial parks, which was developed in the author's dissertation at the Graz University of Technology, is going to be presented. This modeling technique was called the Ranking Model (RM). The constructed RM gives no solutions for existing regional planning disparities, but rather points to possible solutions according to the strategies followed in each country.
Die Aufgaben des Bauwesens erfordern den direkten Zugriff auf Objekte einer Datenbasis, die in dem Arbeitsspeicher einer Sitzung und in mehreren Binärdateien verteilt sind. In den Methoden einer Anwendung soll jedes Objekt unabhängig vom Ort seiner Speicherung mit seinem Namen als persistentem Identifikator direkt ansprechbar sein. Bei Bedarf sollen Objekte automatisch aus Dateien nachgeladen werden. Der Anwender soll bestimmen können, in welcher Datei ein bestimmtes Objekt gespeichert wird. Die Zugriffszeit auf ein Objekt soll im Mittel mit der Zugriffszeit auf ein Objekt in einer Java-Methode vergleichbar sein. Ein Konzept einer generalisierten Datenbasis wird vorgestellt. Seine Leistungsfähigkeit wird mit der vorhandenen Software für die Aufbewahrung und Verwaltung von Daten im Bauwesen verglichen. Es erweist sich als zweckmäßig, bereits im Entwurf einer Anwendung streng zwischen persistenten und transienten Objekten zu unterscheiden. Alle persistenten Objekte der Anwendung werden benannt. Unbenannte persistente Objekte der Java Plattform, beispielsweise Kollektionen und graphische Objekte, sind ebenfalls mit einem Griff (einem von der Datenbasis zugeteilten Namen) speicherbar. Der Zugriff auf ein Objekt ist schnell, da nur primitive Datentypen und Strings in binärer Form ohne Rückgriff auf Datenbanken gespeichert werden.
Ein simultanes Lösungsverfahren für Fluid-Struktur-Wechselwirkungen aus dem Bereich des Bauingenieurwesens wird vorgestellt. Die Modellierung der Tragwerksdynamik erfolgt mit der geometrisch nichtlinearen Elastizitätstheorie in total Lagrangescher Formulierung. Die Strömung wird mit den inkompressiblen Navier-Stokes-Gleichungen beschrieben. Wenn Turbulenzeffekte massgeblich sind, kommen die Reynolds-Gleichungen in Verbindung mit dem k-omega-Turbulenzmodell von Wilcox zum Einsatz. Zur Beschreibung von komplexen freien Oberflächen wird die Level-Set-Methode eingesetzt. Die einheitliche Diskretisierung von Fluid und Struktur mit der Raum-Zeit-Finite-Element-Methode führt zu einem konsistenten Berechnungsmodell für das gekoppelte System. Da die isoparametrischen Raum-Zeit-Elemente ihre Geometrie in Zeitrichtung ändern können, erlaubt die Methode eine natürliche Beschreibung des infolge der Strukturbewegung zeitveränderlichen Strömungsgebiets. Die gewichtete Integralformulierung der Kopplungsbedingungen mit globalen Freiwerten für die Interface-Spannungen sichert eine konservative Kopplung von Fluid und Struktur. Ausgewählte Anwendungsbeispiele zeigen die Leistungsfähigkeit der entwickelten Methodik und belegen die guten Konvergenzeigenschaften des simultanen Lösungsverfahrens.
Prädiktive Wärmeflussregelung solaroptimierter Wohngebäude - Thermische Simulation komplexer Gebäude
(2003)
Moderne Wohngebäude heute, besonders aber die der Zukunft, werden sich zu einem großen Teil selbst mit Wärme versorgen. Hierbei spielen Entwicklungen im Bereich der Fassadenkonstruktionen eine zentrale Rolle. Zum erhöhten solaren Wärmeeintrag kommen die Eigenschaften der Wärmespeicherung und verzögerten Wärmeabgabe hinzu. Aufgrund dieser Eigenschaften definiert sich das Gebäudeverhalten neu und komplexer. Im Rahmen der Entwicklungen von Wärmeflussregelungen in solarthermisch beheizten Wohngebäuden mit neuartigen Fassaden wird in diesem Beitrag auf die Modellentwicklung moderner Fassadenkonstruktionen hinsichtlich Transparenter Wärmedämmung und Phasenwechselmaterialien im Wandverbund, kombiniert mit der regelungstechnisch interessanten Neuentwicklung von Verschattungseinrichtungen über schaltbare Schichten am Fenster, eingegangen. Der Beitrag beschreibt den Entwurf eines Regelungskonzeptes für die thermische Raumklimaregelung. Diese Untersuchungen basieren auf komplexen Simulationsmodellen, wobei bei der Modellentwicklung der neuartigen Fassadenelemente auf reale Messwerte zurückgegriffen werden konnte.
Ausgehend von mathematischen Überlegungen haben wir einfache Modellansätze zur Bearbeitung des folgenden Optimierungsproblems erarbeitet und numerische Tests durchgeführt: Eine Landkarte wird in Quadrate unterteilt, wobei jedes Quadrat mit einem Faktor zu bewerten ist. Dieser Wichtungsfaktor sei klein, wenn das Gebiet problemlos passierbar ist und entsprechend groß, wenn es sich um ein Naturschutz-gebiet, einen See oder ein schwer befahrbares Gebiet handelt. Gesucht wird nach einer günstigen Verbindung vom Punkt A zum Punkt B, wobei die durch den Wichtungsfaktor gegebenen landschaftlichen Besonderheiten zu berücksichtigen sind. Wir formulieren das Problem zunächst als Variationsproblem. Eine notwendige Bedingung, der die Lösungsfunktion genügen muß, ist die Euler-Lagrangesche Differentialgleichung. Mit Hilfe der Hamiltonschen Funktion ist es möglich, diese Differentialgleichung in kanonischer Form zu schreiben. Durch Vereinfachung des Modelles gelingt es, das System der kanonischen Gleichungen so zu konkretisieren, daß es als Ausgangspunkt für numerische Untersuchungen betrachtet werden kann. Dazu verwandeln wir die ursprüngliche Landschaft in eine >Berglandschaft<, wobei hohe Berge schwer passierbare Gebiete charakterisieren. Das einfachste Modell ist ein einzelner Berg, der mit Hilfe der Dichtefunktion einer zweidimensionalen Normalverteilung erzeugt wird. Zusätzlich haben wir Berechnungen an zwei sich überlagernden Bergen sowie einer Schlucht durchgeführt.
Seit die Datenverarbeitung in ihrer Komplexität sich der Thematik des Computer Integrated Manufacturing widmet gehört die Produktionsplanung und Steuerung zu jenen Bereichen, in denen eine Computerunterstützung am vordringlichsten erschien. Später sind betriebswirtschaftliche Gesamtlösungen entstanden, die (bis heute recht unpräzise) als Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-Systeme bezeichnet werden und in ihren Logistik-Modulen auch Funktionen der Produktionsplanung abdecken. Alle bekannten MRP-, PPS- und auch ERP-Systeme beruhen auf einer Sukzessivplanung. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Systems finden seit etwa 1995 zunehmend Interesse. Neben Demand Planning, Production Planning and Scheduling, Distribution Planning, Transportation Planning und Supply Chain Planning werden Lösungen für Anzahl und Standorte von Produktionsstätten und Auslieferungslagern, Zuordnung zu Produktionsstätten, Kapazitätsbestimmung für Arbeitskräfte und Betriebsmittel je Standort, Lagerhaltung je Teil und Lager, Bestimmung benötigter Transportmittel und Häufigkeit ihres Einsatzes, Zuordnung von Lagern zu Produktionsstätten von Märkten zu Lagern u.a.m. von APS-Systemen erwartet. D.h. APS-Systeme ergänzen ERP-Lösungen, nutzen die bereits durch das ERP-System vorhandenen Daten und benötigen neuartige Algorithmen und (Meta-) Heuristiken. Im Rahmen des Vortrages werden Modelle und Echtzeitalgorithmen zur Optimierung der Logistik für Prozesse mit kurzfristigen Anforderungen, geographisch verteilter Produktion, Lagerhaltung der Ausgangs-, Zwischen- und Endprodukte und wechselnden Transport-Bedingungen aus der Sicht der praktischen Umsetzung und Anwendung in Form einer ASP-Lösung aufgezeigt und diskutiert.
We give a summary of our results based on discrete Cauchy-Riemann operators in the plane. These operators are defined in a way that the factorization of the real Laplacian into two adjoint Cauchy-Riemann operators is possible. This property is similar to the continuous case and can especially be used for calculating the discrete fundamental solution of our finite difference operators. Based on the discrete fundamental solution we define a discrete operator that is right inverse to the discrete Cauchy-Riemann operator. In relation with this operator and an operator on the boundary we are able to prove a discrete version of the Borel-Pompeiu formula. In the second part we present a possibility to solve discrete Stokes and Navier-Stokes problems. The concept is based on the orthogonal decomposition of the space l2 into the space of discrete holomorphic functions and its orthogonal complement. By introducing the orthoprojectors P+h and Q+h we can prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution of discrete Stokes problems. In addition we state a problem that is equivalent to the discrete Navier-Stokes problem and can be used in an iteration procedure to describe the solution of this problem. For a special case of the Navier-Stokes equations we are able to calculate discrete potential and stream functions. The adapted model includes important algebraical properties and can immediately be used for numerical calculations. A numerical example is presented at the end of the article.
Usually, the co-ordination of design and planning tasks of a project in the construction industries is done in a paper based way. Subsequent modifications have to be handled manually. The effects of modifications cannot be determined automatically. The approach to specify a complete process model before project start does not consider the requirements of the construction industries. The effort of specification at the beginning and during the process (modifications) does not justify the use of standard process model techniques. A new approach is presented in the according paper. A complete process model is deducted on the basis of a core. The core consists of process elements and specific relations between them. Modifications need to be specified in the core only. The effort of specification is therefore reduced. The deduction of the complete process is based on the graph theory. Algorithms of the graph theory are also used to determine the effects of modifications during project work.
Modellverwaltungssysteme sind eine geeignete technologische Basis zum Management digitaler Bauwerksmodelle bei Planungstätigkeiten für den Neubau als auch für die Revitalisierung von Bauwerken. Die Unterstützung von Revitalisierungsprozessen impliziert für den Entwurf integrierter Planungsumgebungen spezifische Anforderungen wie die Repräsentation von Informationen, die mit verschiedenen Typen von Vagheit behaftet sind, die Notwendigkeit, den Soll- sowie den Ist- Zustand des Bauwerks abzubilden und die Fähigkeit des Umgangs mit temporal inkonsistenten Modellzuständen. Die erforderliche Dynamik der Domänenmodelle und die erforderliche Nutzbarkeit in Virtual Enterprises stellen weitere Ansprüche an die Realisierungsbasis der Modellverwaltungssysteme. Zur Implementierung derartiger Systeme erweist es sich als vorteilhaft, Eigenschaften objektorientierter Programmiersprachen mit nichtstatischen Typsystemen auszunutzen, da diese durch die vorhandene Metaebene sowie Introspektions- und Reflektionsmechanismen eine effiziente Realisierungsbasis bereitstellen. Zur effektiven Unterstützung synchroner kooperativer Planungstätigkeiten innerhalb einzelner Fachdisziplinen wurde ein Benachrichtigungsmechanismus realisiert, der an das Modellverwaltungssystem angekoppelte Fachapplikationen über nebenläufig vorgenommene Modifikationen am zugehörigen Domänenmodell oder an Projektinformationen informiert. Weiterhin existiert ein Mechanismus zur vereinfachten Anbindung von existierenden Applikationen, die auf statischen Partialmodellen beruhen oder standardisierte, modellbasierte Austauschformate unterstützen. Abschließend wird eine aus einem zentralen Projektserver, Domänenservern und Domänenclients bestehende hybride Systemarchitektur vorgestellt, die geeignet ist, unter den Randbedingungen kooperativer und geographisch verteilter Arbeit bei Revitalisierungsvorhaben in Virtual Enterprises eingesetzt zu werden.
Der lebensdauerorientierte Entwurf von Stabbogenbrücken, mit Zuschnitt auf die Auslegung von Hängern, die durch Ermüdung infolge wirbelinduzierter Querschwingungen gefährdet sind, wird als stochastisches semi-infinites Optimierungsproblem formuliert. Zur Lösung dieses Problems sind mehrere Modellierungsebenen erforderlich, so dass ein Mehrebenenproblem entsteht. Es wird der derzeitige Entwicklungs- und Implementierungsstand bei der Umsetzung des Mehrebenenproblems in ein Entwurfsleitsystem (Software) aufgezeigt. Außerdem werden die Konzepte der noch ausstehenden Forschungsarbeit, die bereits erfolgreich beim lebensdauerorientierten Entwurf von Industriehallen mit Rahmensystem als Haupttragwerk eingesetzt wurden, diskutiert und ihre Einbildung in die bisher umgesetzte Forschungsarbeit erläutert.
Objektorientierte Anwendungen aus dem Ingenieurwesen bestehen aus strukturierten Mengen, deren Elemente Objekte sind. Zwischen den Objekten bestehen vielfältige Abhängigkeiten. Die Beziehungen sind zur Zeit der Entwicklung einer Anwendung nur teilweise bekannt. Beziehungen zwischen Objekten müssen deshalb auch zur Laufzeit der Anwendung erzeugt und gelöscht werden können. Aufgrund des hohen Rechenaufwandes wird die Objektbasis einer Anwendung verzögert aktualisiert. Eine objektorientierte Anwendung wird auf Grundlage der Systemtheorie als System formal beschrieben. Als Elemente des Systems werden Attribute, Objekte und Objektmengen eingeführt. Die in den Methoden der Objekte implementierten Algorithmen bestimmen die Bindungsrelation des Systems. Auf Grundlage der Graphentheorie wird die Reihenfolge der Aktualisierung der Objektbasis berechnet. ...
Bei der Untersuchung hybrider Strukturen kann eine Kopplung von Modellen unterschiedlicher Modellebenen vorteilhaft sein. Durch selektive Kopplung von Tragwerks- und Querschnittsmodellen in ausgewählten Bereichen der Konstruktion kann z.B. eine Verbesserung der Abbildungsgenauigkeit erzielt werden. Dadurch werden erweiterte Aussagen über das Querschnittstragverhalten in extrem beanspruchten Teilen des Tragwerks bei optionaler Skalierbarkeit des Modellumfangs möglich. Im Beitrag werden ausgewählte Varianten der Modellbildung gegenübergestellt und bewertet. Hierbei werden Aspekte der physikalischen Nichtlinearität von hybriden Konstruktionen insbesondere von Stahlbetonkonstruktionen berücksichtigt. Die Einbeziehung von Verfahren der mathematischen Optimierung in die Berechnungsstrategie ermöglicht die Lösung der zugrunde liegenden nichtlinearen Problemstellungen unter Vorgabe von Bemessungszielen und unter Beachtung von Grenzzustandsbedingungen.
A geometrical inclusion-matrix model for the finite element analysis of concrete at multiple scales
(2003)
This paper introduces a method to generate adequate inclusion-matrix geometries of concrete in two and three dimensions, which are independent of any specific numerical discretization. The article starts with an analysis on shapes of natural aggregates and discusses corresponding mathematical realizations. As a first prototype a two-dimensional generation of a mesoscale model is introduced. Particle size distribution functions are analysed and prepared for simulating an adequate three-dimensional representation of the aggregates within a concrete structure. A sample geometry of a three-dimensional test cube is generated and the finite element analysis of its heterogeneous geometry by a uniform mesh is presented. Concluding, aspects of a multiscale analysis are discussed and possible enhancements are proposed.
We consider an industrial application consisting of the mass minimization of a frame in an injection moulding machine. This frame has to compensate the forces acting on the mould inside the machine and has to fulfill certain critical constraints. The deformation of that frame with constant thickness is described by the plain stress state equations for linear elasticity. If the thickness varies then we use a generalized plain stress state with constant thickness in the coarse grid elements. These direct problems are solved by an adaptive multigrid solver. The mass minimization problem leads to a constrained minimization problem for a non-linear functional which will be solved by some standard optimization algorithm which requires the gradients with respect to design parameters. For the shape optimization problem, we assume that the machine components consist of simple geometrical primitives determined by a few design parameters. Therefore, we calculate the gradient in the shape optimization by means of numerical differentiation which requires the solution of approximately 4 direct problems per design parameter. The adaptive solver guarantees the detection of critical regions automatically, and ensures a good approximation to the exact solution of the direct problem. This rather slow approach can be significantly accelerated by using the adjoint method to express the gradient. It will be combined with a direct implementation of several terms that appear after applying the chain rule to the gradient.
In this paper we revisit the so-called Bergman kernel method (BKM) for solving conformal mapping problems. This method is based on the reproducing property of the Bergman kernel function. The main drawback of this well known technique is that it involves an orthonormalization process and thus is numerically unstable. This difficulty can be, in some cases, overcome by using the Maple system, which makes no use of numeric quadrature. We illustrate this implementation by presenting a numerical example. The construction of reproducing kernel functions is not restricted to real dimension 2. Results concerning the construction of Bergman kernel functions in closed form for special domains in the framework of hypercomplex function theory suggest that BKM can also be extended to mapping problems in higher dimensions, particularly 3-dimensional cases. We describe such a generalized BKM-approach and present numerical examples obtained by the use of specially developed software packages for quaternions.
In ersten Teil des Vortrages wird eine Heuristik zur Approximation der Pareto Menge multikriterielle verallgemeinerter Job-Shop Scheduling-Probleme vorgestellt. Der Algorithmus basiert auf einer genetischen lokale Suche Heuristik. Die Mittelwertbildung der Startzeiten der Vorgänge wurde hierbei als Rekombinationsoperator verwendet. Als lokale Suche wurde ein Threshold Accepting Algorithmus implementiert. Der Algorithmus wurde auf einer großen Menge von Benchmark-Instanzen und den Zielfunktionen Makespan, Tardiness, Lateness und Summe der Fertigstellungszeiten getestet. Die Ergebnisse zu den verschiedenen Zielfunktionen werden vorgestellt. Die vom Algorithmus erzeugte Approximation der Pareto Menge kann eine große Anzahl von Lösungen enthalten. Aus dieser Menge muss der Entscheidungsträger eine Lösung auswählen. Da die Datenmenge schon bei moderaten Problemdimensionen sehr umfangreich wird, stellt dies ein Problem für den Entscheider dar. Deshalb muss die große Menge der Lösungen auf eine überschaubare Anzahl reduziert werden. Bei dieser Reduktion der Lösungen muss die Diversität der verbleibenden Lösungen beachtet werden. Diese Reduzierung wird als Short Listing bezeichnet und im zweiten Teil des Vortrages vorgestellt. Im ersten Schritt des Short Listings werden die Lösungen mittels Abstandsmaßen im Lösungsraum geclustert. Die dazu verwendeten Abstandsmaße werden auf den Permutationen der Vorgänge auf den Ressourcen definiert. Es wurden fünf Abstandsmaße und zwei Clusterverfahren, ein hierarchisches und ein nicht-hierarchisches, untersucht. Im zweiten Schritt wird aus jedem Cluster jeweils eine Lösung ausgewählt und dem Entscheidungsträger vorgelegt. Dabei wurden zwei Methoden untersucht. Im ersten Fall wurde die bezüglich einer Ranking-Funktion beste Lösung und im zweiten Fall die Medianlösung bezüglich des Abstandsmaßes ausgewählt. Die Abstandsmaße, Clusteralgorithmen und Auswahlmethoden wurden auf einer großen Menge von Benchmark-Instanzen verglichen. Die Ergebnisse werden im Vortrag vorgestellt.
Bei der Kopplung unterschiedlicher Bussysteme oder der Anbindung von Geräten an externe Netzwerke (z.B. an das Internet) stellt sich oft heraus, dass für diesen Anwendungszweck grundlegende Sicherheitsmechanismen fehlen. Durch intelligente Zusatzkomponenten, z.B. Residential Gateways, können bestehende Netzwerke erfolgreich miteinander gekoppelt werden, auch wenn sie sehr unterschiedliche Eigenschaften aufweisen. Die erforderlichen Anpassungen, Dienstekonversionen und Protokollumsetzungen können in die Gateways integriert werden, so dass gewohnte Betriebsarten, besonders bei der Konfiguration oder der Diagnose, beibehalten werden können. Bei der Nutzung vorhandener Hausbus-Infrastrukturen für sicherheitsrelevante Zusatzfunktionen wie Zugangskontrollen, Zeiterfassungen oder Alarmanlagen hingegen stellt dieser Ansatz keine Lösung dar, da hier die Sicherheit innerhalb des Systems erhöht werden muss. Daher wird für solche sicherheitsrelevanten Anwendungen oft eine separate Kommunikationsinfrastruktur verwendet, obwohl ein Gebäudebus, z.B. ein EIB-System, zur Verfügung steht. Eine praktikable Lösung stellt hierbei die Verwendung der Standard-Übertragungsmechanismen des EIB dar, bei denen jedoch die eigentlichen Nettodaten verschlüsselt werden. Auf diese Weise kann normaler Datenverkehr mit gesichertem Datenverkehr gemischt werden, wobei natürlich die sicherheitsrelevanten Teilnehmer erweiterte Funktionalitäten wie Ver- und Entschlüsselung aufweisen müssen. Dem Residential Gateway kommt in solchen Systemen neben der Kopplung der internen Netzwerke und deren Anbindung an das Internet auch das intelligente Management der Schlüssel zu. ...
Um die entsprechende Qualität der ÖPNV zu erreichen, sollte man das Verhältnis zwischen der Bedienungsqualität und dem Kostenaufwand analysieren. In den Bedingungen der anwachsenden Konkurenz aus der Seite der PKW und anderen Fuhrunternehmern soll man die Handlungen, die grösste Effektivität gewährleisten, aufnehmen. Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten die diese Qualität verbessern können, wie z.B. steigernde Frequenz der Fahrzeuge, Vergrößerung der Geschwindigkeit, Pünktlichkeit und Regelmäßigkeit, Einführung der Niederfußfahrzeuge und vieles mehr. Ich versuche in meinem Referat die Aspekte zu analysieren, die mit der Frequenz verbunden sind, d.h. die Erhöhung der Frequenz und das Erhalten der konstanten Häufigkeit der Linienbusse. Das Referat umfasst die Modelle und die Beispiele. In Verbindung mit den Untersuchungen, die die Bereitschaft der Bezahlung für die Verbesserung der Qualität betreffen, kann man schon Entscheidungen treffen, die unterschiedlichen Standard der Fahrt bestimmen.
Im Vortrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Zuverlässigkeit und gewissen strukturellen Parametern eines Verkehrsnetzes besteht. Das Verkehrsnetz wird hierzu als bewerteter Graph aufgefasst. Zur Analyse der Verkehrsnetzzuverlässigkeit werden die Kanten mit ihren Verfügbarkeiten (>Zuverlässigkeiten<) bewertet. Die Zuverlässigkeit des Verkehrsnetzes hat einen großen Einfluss auf die Beurteilung des Straßennetzes. Im Sinne einer Regressionsanalyse soll der Zusammenhang mit weiteren, speziell für die Betrachtung von Verkehrsnetzen entwickelten strukturellen Kenngrößen untersucht werden, das sind insbesondere die Dispersion des Verkehrsnetzes und die Unterentwicklung des Netzes. Aus der Vielzahl der theoretisch denkbaren Verkehrsnetzstrukturen spiegelt die Ring-Radius-Struktur die realen Straßennetze am besten wider. Solche Ring-Radius-Strukturen kommen in vielen Städten vor. Die Berechnung der Verkehrsnetzzuverlässigkeit erfolgt mittels eines Algorithmus, der auf dem Prinzip der vollständigen Enumeration aller möglichen Kombinationen der Verfügbarkeit bzw. Nichtverfügbarkeit der einzelnen Kanten basiert und die gewünschte Kenngröße exakt bestimmt. Obwohl der Algorithmus speziell auf eine möglichst geringe Rechenzeit ausgerichtet ist, bleibt das Verfahren doch numerisch recht aufwendig. An Hand von zehn verschiedenen Ring-Radius-Strukturen wird der Nachweis eines Zusammenhangs zwischen den strukturellen Kenngrößen und der Verkehrsnetzzuverlässigkeit geführt. Damit können mittels struktureller Bewertungen (die mit einem vergleichsweise geringen Aufwand an Input-Daten und Rechenzeit bestimmbar sind) Aussagen über die Zuverlässigkeit des Verkehrsnetzes getroffen werden.
Die Sicherung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit im Bereich des Bauwesens, insbesondere kleinerer und mittelständischer Betriebe erfordert ein aktives Handeln als Antwort auf die sich ändernde Wettbewerbssituation. Einen wesentlichen Wettbewerbsvorteil können kleine unternehmerische Einheiten durch höhere Flexibilität, schnelle Reaktion auf Kundenwünsche oder aktuelle Situationen auf der Baustelle und Marktnähe erreichen. Dazu ist es nötig, die Informations- und Kommunikationsströme durch Einsatz standardisierter und kostengünstiger Hard- und Software wie z.B. Handhelds zu unterstützen und insbesondere die existierenden Hindernisse im Informationsfluss zwischen Baustelle und Büro zu beseitigen. Am Beispiel der Projekte >IuK - SystemBau< und >eSharing< wird eine Einführungsstrategie für >Mobile Computing< in kleinen unternehmerischen Einheiten des Bauwesens (KMU) basierend auf einer umfangreichen Anforderungsanalyse vorgestellt. Folgende Aspekte sollen beschrieben werden: durchgängiger Einsatz der Technik unter Beachtung der verschiedenen Qualifikationsniveaus, Einführungsunterstützung durch Schulungen, Prozessanalyse und mögliche Integration in bestehende Software-Umgebungen sowie Feldtests.
Poland is not situated in any seismic region of the earth, however there are still areas were underground mining is being conducted. In these areas, so-called 'paraseismic tremors', are very frequent phenomena. In the situation when a building examination is realized in order to define its safety, it is necessary to make a complete analysis, in which an influence of tremors should be included. To decide if a building is able to carry out any dynamic loads or not, it is necessary to compute its dynamic characteristics, i.e. natural frequencies. It is not possible using any standard techniques. After diagnosis a building in situ by an expert, computer techniques together with specialized software for dynamic, static, and strength analyses become a suitable tool. In this paper a special attention was paid to a typical twelve-store WGP (Wroclaw Great Plate) prefabricated building, concerning special type of joints. During dynamic actions these joints have a decisive influence on building's behavior. Paraseismic tremors are especially dangerous for these buildings and can be the reason of pre-failure states. It can be difficult and very expensive to prepare laboratory investigations of the part of a building or of a separate joint; therefore the computer modeling suitable to investigate behavior of such elements and whole buildings under different kinds of loads was used.
The vibration control of complicated mechanical structures is impossible without proper mathematical models that allow to have a true apprehension of events occurring in structural member before the starting of the experiment and correct the diagnostic experiment in case of need. An approach that implies using of a discrete model reflecting all required features of a prototype system and permitting of an effective analytical and numerical investigation is proposed in the work. At first a discrete model of a bladed disk with flaw is considered. Taking into account the symmetry of the structure by utilization of mathematical tools of group presentation theory the number of degrees of freedom of the system is diminished. Small damage of the disk is regarded as perturbation of structure symmetry. The distinction of vibration characteristics such as natural frequencies and mode shapes of damaged and undamaged systems is determined theoretically with the help of perturbation theory and can be used as an effective diagnostic criterion of a small-scale damage of the structure. In the second part of the work a non-linear two-mass model of an acoustic emission in a damaged structure is proposed. On basis of the numerical integration of the nonlinear differential equations and expansion of the derived solution into a Fourier series free and forced vibrations of the model are investigated. It is shown that proposed model reflects all characteristic properties of vibrations of damaged structures: reduction of natural frequency, sub- and super-resonances, acoustic effects.
Die digitale Unterstützung der Planungsprozesse ist ein aktueller Forschungs- und Arbeitsschwerpunkt der Professur Informatik in der Architektur (InfAR) und der Juniorprofessur Architekturinformatik der Fakultät Architektur an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Verankert in dem DFG Sonderforschungsbereich 524 >Werkzeuge und Konstruktionen für die Revitalisierung von Bauwerken< werden Konzepte und Prototypen für eine fachlich orientierte Planungsunterstützung entwickelt. Im Rahmen unseres Forschungsschwerpunkt zur digitalen Unterstützung der Planungsprozessen, das folgende Forschungsprojekt namens, >Integrated Planning Support System for Low-Income Housing< (IPSS) konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung einer Sammlung von computergestützten Werkzeugen, um Benutzer-entworfene Wohnungen zu unterstützen, mittels der integrativen Kombinierung von Information Systems Leistungen, Computer Assisted Designwerkzeugen und online Kommunikationstechniken. Mit diesem Set von integrierten Planungswerkzeugen erwarten wir, Bewohnern von ressourcenmangelnden Gemeinden zu ermöglichen, ihre Wohnungen-Ausdehnung effizient zu planen. In diesem Sinne, ist es auch unser Ziel die räumliche, funktionale und vielleicht auch die konstruktive Qualität Benutzer-entworfener Wohnungen zu verbessern.
In dem interdisziplinären und internationalen Verbundprojekt >2MN - Module für die multimediale netzbasierte Hochschullehre< werden diverse Lehr- und Lernmodule für ingenieur- und informationswissenschaftliche Studiengänge realisiert. Die benötigten Funktionalitäten für die Bereitstellung der verschiedenen Unterrichtsmaterialien sowie für Kommunikation, Betreuung der Kurse oder auch administrative Aufgaben im Netz werden von der in diesem Projekt entwickelten systemunabhängigen Lernplattform ELAT, der >Environment for Learning and Teaching<, zur Verfügung gestellt. Speziell für das Fachgebiet Baustatik werden vom Institut für Mechanik und Statik der Universität der Bundeswehr München einzelne Kapitel nach didaktischen Gesichtspunkten multimedial mit Text, Graphik, Bildern, Animationen und kurzen Videoclips zum systematisch angeleiteten Wissenserwerb aufbereitet. Interaktive Übungen geben Rückmeldung über den individuellen Lernfortschritt des Online-Studenten. Die Förderung der Eigeninitiative der Lernenden spielt dabei ebenso eine wichtige Rolle wie die Berücksichtigung nutzerspezifischer Lernpräferenzen. Einfach zu bedienende Statikprogramme wie der >Drehwinkeltrainer< sollen den angehenden Statikern als Kontroll- und Experimentierumgebung dienen. Das Online-Dictionary >Wörterbuch Bauwesen< erleichtert die Arbeit bei der Übersetzung baustatischer Fachtermini. Weitere Baustatik-Anwendungen, beispielsweise die Stabilitätsberechnung von Stabwerken, die Bestimmung von Querschnittswerten und die Berechnung von Biege- und Einflusslinien mit der Methode, können ortsunabhängig mit einem Pocket-PC genutzt werden.
We present a model derived to describe tunnel fires. The model originates in a compressible description of the air in the tunnel. It takes into account the strong buoyancy forces and at the same time the small Mach-number of the airflow. We comment on the derivation, on analytical results and on numerical simulations of the model. The model has been validated using data from real tunnel fire experiments. It shows good agreement with the real situation.
Der Bauablauf unterliegt vielen Unwägbarkeiten. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist dieses Problem im Umfeld der Revitalisierung von Bauwerken. In weiten Teilen sind die auszuführenden Arbeiten nur schwer im Vorfeld planbar. Die Ursachen hierfür liegen großteils in der Problematik des Bauens im Bestand und dem aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen geringen Umfang von Analysen. Häufig treten verdeckte, im Vorfeld der Baumaßnahme nicht erkannte Schäden auf oder Materialstrukturen und Bauteilqualitäten wurden in der Planung unzureichend berücksichtigt. Alte Ausführungsunterlagen sind oft nicht verfügbar. Viele zur Ausführung bestimmter Arbeiten nötige Informationen fehlen und werden erst zum unmittelbaren Ausführungszeitpunkt bekannt. Einzelne Arbeiten sind nur schwer kalkulierbar bzw. planbar. Sie sind in Art und Umfang zunächst nicht bekannt und müssen gegebenenfalls als neue Vorgänge im Plan berücksichtigt werden. Diese besondere Situation bedarf einer gezielten Berücksichtigung. Die Planung des Bauablaufes muss in einer flexiblen und leicht anpassbaren Art und Weise erfolgen. Im folgenden Beitrag wird ein Ansatz zur Entwicklung eines solchen Prozessmodells vorgestellt, der im Rahmen des SFB 524 >Werkstoffe und Konstruktionen für die Revitalisierung von Bauwerken< an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar untersucht und vorangetrieben wurde und wird. Das vorgestellte Modell kann kurzfristig flexibel auf die realen Gegebenheiten reagieren und ermöglicht trotzdem eine Planung und Steuerung des gesamten Ablaufs. Es enthält nicht wie bisher üblich deterministische Daten in starren Anordnungsbeziehungen. Vielmehr werden die Daten der Prozesse und die Beziehungen der Prozesse untereinander in einer nichtdeterministischen, unscharfen Form modelliert....
The goal of the collaborative research center (SFB 532) >Textile reinforced concrete (TRC): the basis for the development of a new material technology< installed in 1998 at the Aachen University is a complex assessment of mechanical, chemical, economical and productional aspects in an interdisciplinary environment. The research project involves 10 institutes performing parallel research in 17 projects. The coordination of such a research process requires effective software support for information sharing in form of data exchange, data analysis and data archival. Furthermore, the processes of experiment planning and design, modification of material compositions and design parameters and development of new material models in such an environment call for systematic coordination applying the concepts of operational research. Flexible organization of the data coming from several sources is a crucial premise for a transparent accumulation of knowledge and, thus, for a successful research in a long run. The technical information system (TRC-TIS) developed in the SFB 532 has been implemented as a database-powered web server with a transparent definition of the product and process model. It serves as an intranet server with access domains devoted to the involved research groups. At the same time, it allows the presentation of selected results just by granting a data object an access from the public area of the server via internet.
Hyperbolic Qp-scales
(2003)
The Qp-scales were first introduced in [1] as interpolation spaces between the Bloch and Dirichlet spaces in the complex space. ... However, such treatment presents the disadvantage of only considering the Euclidean case. In order to obtain an approach to homogeneous hyperbolic manifolds, the projective model of Gel'fand was retaken in [2]. With the help of a convenient fundamental solution for the hyperbolic (homogeneous of degree ®) D® (see [5]) it was introduced in [7] and [3] equivalent Qp scales for homogeneous hyperbolic spaces. In this talk we shall present and study some properties of this hyperbolic scale.
As it is well known, the approximation theory of complex valued functions is one of the main fields in function theory. In general, several aspects of approximation and interpolation are only well understood by using methods of complex analysis. It seems natural to extend these techniques to higher dimensions by using Clifford Analysis methods or, more specific, in lower dimensions 3 or 4, by using tools of quaternionic analysis. One starting point for such attempts has to be the suitable choice of complete orthonormal function systems that should replace the holomorphic function systems used in the complex case. The aim of our contribuition is the construction of a complete orthonormal system of monogenic polynomials derived from a harmonic function system by using sistematically the generalized quaternionic derivative
Die Bearbeitung von Bauprojekten erfordert ein hohes Maß an Fachwissen verschiedener Disziplinen. Dabei kommt eine Vielzahl spezialisierter Fachmodelle zum Einsatz. Zur Übernahme der Daten von anderen Planern in das eigene, neu zu erstellende Fachmodell sind die verfügbaren Inhalte aus verschiedenen Modellen vom Fachplaner entsprechend seiner Anforderungen anzupassen und um spezifische Inhalte zu ergänzen. Dabei ergeben sich Beziehungen, welche die Zusammenhänge und Abhängigkeiten der Fachmodelle untereinander aufzeigen. Eine zugleich allgemeingültige sowie vollständige Vordefinition des durch die Beziehungen beschriebenen Modellverbundes ist kaum möglich. Zur rechnerinternen Abbildung erfolgt aus diesem Grund eine Zerlegung des Modellverbundes in Partialmodelle und entsprechende Verknüpfungen. Die Beschaffenheit des Beziehungsgeflechtes hängt sowohl von der Qualität der Datenmodelle als auch von der Beschreibungsgüte der Verknüpfungstypen, deren Definition ein hohes Maß an Fachwissen erfordern, ab. Mit einem Konzept zur Strukturierung und Zerlegung der Verbindungen in Basiselemente sowie der Integrationsmöglichkeit zu komplexeren Elementen wird eine einfachere Erstellung, Wartung und Anpassung von umfassenden baufachlichen Inhalten ermöglicht. Zur Sicherung einer hochwertigen Beschreibung des Modellverbundes ist ein an die Fähigkeiten des Ingenieurs ausgerichteter Zugang zur Spezifikation und Anpassung der Beziehungsdefinitionen unverzichtbar.
Iso-parametric finite elements with linear shape functions show in general a too stiff element behavior, called locking. By the investigation of structural parts under bending loading the so-called shear locking appears, because these elements can not reproduce pure bending modes. Many studies dealt with the locking problem and a number of methods to avoid the undesirable effects have been developed. Two well known methods are the >Assumed Natural Strain< (ANS) method and the >Enhanced Assumed Strain< (EAS) method. In this study the EAS method is applied to a four-node plane element with four EAS-parameters. The paper will describe the well-known linear formulation, its extension to nonlinear materials and the modeling of material uncertainties with random fields. For nonlinear material behavior the EAS parameters can not be determined directly. Here the problem is solved by using an internal iteration at the element level, which is much more efficient and stable than the determination via a global iteration. To verify the deterministic element behavior the results of common test examples are presented for linear and nonlinear materials. The modeling of material uncertainties is done by point-discretized random fields. To show the applicability of the element for stochastic finite element calculations Latin Hypercube Sampling was applied to investigate the stochastic hardening behavior of a cantilever beam with nonlinear material. The enhanced linear element can be applied as an alternative to higher-order finite elements where more nodes are necessary. The presented element formulation can be used in a similar manner to improve stochastic linear solid elements.
The conventional way of describing an image is in terms of its canonical pixel-based representation. Other image description techniques are based on image transformations. Such an image transformation converts a canonical image representation into a representation in which specific properties of an image are described more explicitly. In most transformations, images are locally approximated within a window by a linear combination of a number of a priori selected patterns. The coefficients of such a decomposition then provide the desired image representation. The Hermite transform is an image transformation technique introduced by Martens. It uses overlapping Gaussian windows and projects images locally onto a basis of orthogonal polynomials. As the analysis filters needed for the Hermite transform are derivatives of Gaussians, Hermite analysis is in close agreement with the information analysis carried out by the human visual system. In this paper we construct a new higher dimensional Hermite transform within the framework of Quaternionic Analysis. The building blocks for this construction are the Clifford-Hermite polynomials rewritten in terms of Quaternionic analysis. Furthermore, we compare this newly introduced Hermite transform with the Quaternionic-Hermite Continuous Wavelet transform. The Continuous Wavelet transform is a signal analysis technique suitable for non-stationary, inhomogeneous signals for which Fourier analysis is inadequate. Finally the developed three dimensional filter functions of the Quaternionic-Hermite transform are tested with traditional scalar benchmark signals upon their selectivity at detecting pointwise singularities.
On the basis of the little material available (an architecture plan and some photographs) a computer model is developed for a bullet shaped dome, part of the Belgian Congo pavilion, created by the architect Henry Lacoste for the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931 in Paris. The ingenious and elegant wooden skeleton of the dome is approximated in two stages. The first approximation focusses on the curves traced on the dome by the wooden laminae, which appear to be loxodromes, cutting the meridians by a constant angle. In a second approximation the very specific joints of the laminae are taken into consideration. The resulting computer image shows an astonishing resemblance with the photographs. Finally, the shapes and dimensions of all laminae are calculated, enabling a possible reconstruction of the dome.
Die heutige Situation in der Tragwerksplanung ist durch das kooperative Zusammenwirken einer größeren Anzahl von Fachleuten verschiedener Disziplinen (Architektur, Tragwerksplanung, etc.) in zeitlich befristeten Projektgemeinschaften gekennzeichnet. Bei der Abstimmung der hierdurch bedingten komplexen, dynamischen und vernetzten Planungsprozesse kommt es dabei häufig zu Planungsmängeln und Qualitätseinbußen. Dieser Artikel zeigt auf, wie mit Hilfe der Agententechnologie Lösungsansätze zur Verbesserung der Planungssituation erreicht werden können. Hierzu wird ein Agentenmodell für die vernetzt-kooperative Tragwerksplanung vorgestellt und anhand der Planung einer Fußgängerbogenbrücke anschaulich demonstriert. Das Agentenmodell erfasst (1) die beteiligten Fachplaner und Organisationen, (2) die tragwerksspezifischen Planungsprozesse, (3) die zugehörigen (Teil-)Produktmodelle und (4) die genutzte (Ingenieur-)Software. Hieraus leiten sich die drei Teilmodelle (1) agentenbasiertes Kooperationsmodell, (2) agentenbasierte Produktmodellintegration und (3) Modell zur agentenbasierten Software-Integration ab. Der Fokus des Artikels liegt auf der Darstellung des agentenbasierten Kooperationsmodells.
Seit mehr als fünfzig Jahren werden zur Untersuchung der Tragwerkssicherheit auch Methoden der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung herangezogen. Ungeachtet der inzwischen erreichten Fortschritte und der offensichtlichen Vorzüge, konnte dieses Vorgehen in der Praxis bis jetzt noch nicht ausreichend Fuß fassen. Im Beitrag wird das Problem der Tragwerkssicherheit mit einem neuartigen Verfahren behandelt. Im Unterschied zu den üblichen probabilistischen Methoden geht es nicht von Verteilungsfunktionen aus. Vielmehr werden die maßgebenden Zufallsgrößen in den Mittelpunkt gestellt und direkt in die Rechenvorschrift eingeführt. Als mathematisches Hilfsmittel dienen die WIENERschen Chaos-Polynome. Sie stellen im Raum der Zufallsgrößen mit beschränkter Varianz eine Basis dar, mit der sich eine beliebige Zufallsgröße nach orthogonalen Polynomen GAUSSscher Zufallsgrößen entwickeln läßt. So entsteht ein effektiver Formalismus, der sich eng an die herkömmliche Deformationsmethode anlehnt und als deren probabilistische Verallgemeinerung angesprochen werden darf. Die Methode liefert die Grenzzustandsbedingung als Funktion der auf das Tragwerk wirkenden Zufallsgrößen. Die Versagenswahrscheinlichkeit kann daher durch Monte-Carlo-Simulation bestimmt werden. Die mit der Auswertung des Wahrscheinlichkeitsintegrals der First Order Reliability Method (FORM) verbundenen Schwierigkeiten werden vermieden. An einem Beispieltragwerk wird dargestellt, wie sich Veränderungen gewisser Konstruktionsparameter auf die Versagenswahrscheinlichkeit auswirken.
Maxwell's equations can be rewritten in terms of a Dirac operator D+a. The advantage is that in this setting Maxwell's equations are treated as a system of first order differential equations. To ensure the uniqueness of a non-homogeneous differential equation in the whole space additional conditions are needed.
A realistic and reliable model is an important precondition for the simulation of revitalization tasks and the estimation of system properties of existing buildings. Thereby, the main focus lies on the parameter identification, the optimization strategies and the preparation of experiments. As usual structures are modeled by the finite element method. This as well as other techniques are based on idealizations and empiric material properties. Within one theory the parameters of the model should be approximated by gradually performed experiments and their analysis. This approximation method is performed by solving an optimization problem, which is usually non-convex, of high dimension and possesses a non-differentiable objective function. Therefore we use an optimization procedure based on genetic algorithms which was implemented by using the program package SLang...
In modernen Gebäuden nimmt die Komplexität der Heizungstechnik ständig zu. Damit wird es auch immer schwieriger, ein ökologisch und ökonomisch vernünftiges Zusammenspiel der Komponenten zu gewährleisten. Die Vernetzung der verschiedenen Komponenten eines Heizsystems mittels Netzwerktechnik aus der EDV soll helfen, die Energieeffizienz zu erhöhen. Embedded Systems und Mikrocontroller fungieren als Regler für die Teilsysteme. Durch Kommunikation untereinander sollen sie ihr Regelverhalten aneinander anpassen. Eine Internetanbindung ermöglicht die Nutzung weiterer Informationen für die Betriebsführung. Außerdem kann der Internetanschluss für die Fernwartung der Anlage genutzt werden. Mit kleinen, im Webbrowser eines Rechners ausgeführten Java-Programmen, sogenannten Applets, können die Betriebszustände von Heizsystemen in Echtzeit visualisiert werden. Durch das Aufzeichnen von Betriebsdaten wird deren Analyse ermöglicht.
SYSBAT - An Application to the Building ProductionBased on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
(2003)
Our proposed solution is to enable partners of a construction project to share all the technical data produced and handled during the building production process by building a system through the use of internet technology. The system links distributed databases and allows building partners to access remotely and manipulate specific information. It provides an updated building representation that is being enriched and refined all along the building production process. A recent collaboration with Nemetschek France (subsidiary company of Nemetschek AG, AEC CAD software leader) focus on a building product repository available in a web context. The aim is to help building project actors to choose a technical solution that fits its professional needs, and maintain our information system with up to date information. It starts with the possibility to build on line building product catalogs, in order to link Allplan CAD entities with building technical features. This paper presents the conceptual approaches on which our information system is built. Starting from a general organization diagram organization, we focus on the product and the description branches of construction works (including last IFC model specifications). Our aim is to add decisional support to the construction works selection process. To do so, we consider the actor's role upon the system and the pieces of information each one needs to achieve a given task.
The research of the best building design requires a concerted design approach of both structure and foundation. Our work is an application of this approach. Our objective is also to create an interactive tool, which will be able to define, at the early design stages, the orientations of structure and foundation systems that satisfy as well as possible the client and the architect. If the concerns of these two actors are primarily technical and economical, they also wish to apprehend the environmental and social dimensions of their projects. Thus, this approach bases on alternative studies and on a multi-criterion analysis. In this paper, we present the context of our work, the problem formulation, which allows a concerted design of Structure and Foundation systems and the feasible solutions identifying process.
Wahrnehmung und Verarbeitung von Ereignissen bei der verteilten Planung im baulichen Brandschutz
(2003)
Der Bauplanungsprozess ist durch ein hohes Maß an Kooperation zwischen Planungsbeteiligten verschiedener Fachrichtungen gekennzeichnet. Hierbei werden zum einen Planungen auf der Basis von Planungsinformationen anderer Planungsbeteiligter detailliert, zum anderen geben Planungen einzelner auch wichtige Rahmenbedingungen für die Gesamtplanung vor. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt einen Ansatz zur ganzheitlichen Unterstützungen verteilter Planungen am Beispiel des baulichen Brandschutzes. Der Antrag trägt hierbei der verteilten und parallelen Planung Rechnung, wie sie heute bei der Planung großer und mittlerer Bauwerke angewendet wird. Die Verteiltheit wird nicht nur für die Planungsbeteiligten modelliert, sondern auch die einzelnen Planungsinformationen liegen im gemeinsamen Kooperationsverbund verteilt vor. Der Fokus dieses Beitrags liegt auf der Wahrnehmung von Planungsänderungen und Ereignissen während der Planung und die Verarbeitung dieser Informationen um eine durchgängige Planung zu gewährleisten. Dies wird zum einen durch das CoBE Awarenessmodell erreicht, mit dem Ereignisse erkannt und dem Informationsverbund zur Verfügung gestellt werden können. Zum anderen werden die Ereignisbehandlung und die darauf folgende fachgerechte Informationsverarbeitung mit Hilfe eines Multi-Agentensystems beschrieben.
Mobile Software-Agenten für neuartige Funktionen und Nutzeffekte in intelligenten Gebäudesystemen
(2003)
Anwendungsbezogene Software innerhalb vernetzter Gebäude nimmt immer mehr zu. Neue Standards erlauben den einfachen Fernzugriff, um neue Services zu installieren oder um Updates aufspielen zu können. Zu diesem Thema wird der OSGi-Standard vorgestellt, der ein Management von Software während des Betriebs vornehmen kann. Außerdem nimmt die Netzlast der heterogenen Netze innerhalb und zu den Häusern stetig zu. Hier können mobile Softwareagenten ihre Vorteile gegenüber herkömmlichen, statischen Kommunikationsmechanismen hervorheben. Im folgenden Text wird die Integration solcher mobilen Softwareagenten in bestehende Standards intelligenter Häuser beschrieben und anhand des Innovationszentrum Intelligentes Haus Duisburg (www.inhaus-duisburg.de) beispielhaft erläutert. Nach der Einleitung wird in Kapitel 2 der aktuelle Stand der Technik beschrieben. Dabei wird vor allem auf den OSGi-Standard und die Technik der mobilen Softwareagenten eingegangen. Im Kapitel 3 wird stehen vor allem Voranalysen zur Fernwartung, Optimierungen von Regelungen und die Integration dynamischer Netzteilnehmer im Vordergrund, die durch die beschriebenen Mechanismen erleichtert werden. Im Kapitel 4 werden die Ergebnisse kurz zusammengefaßt und einen Ausblick gegeben.
Organisational and human issues have been highlighted, among other issues (ICT infrastructures, legal and contractual, etc.), as key elements in enhancing the competitiveness of the construction sector. More specifically, the importance of human resources has been recognised, especially training and professional development, in order to cultivate a stable workforce. The paper provides a review of the key training needs for the construction sector with particular reference to the uptake and exploitation of new technologies and working practices, presents an action plan to address learning and training needs, and proposes an eight-stage iterative learning and training methodology. The results will be of particular interest to managers in stakeholder organisations of all sizes throughout the sector, plus academic and research bodies intending to continue construction ICT research.
The construction industry is a project-based business bringing together many different organisations to complete a desired goal. The strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has enabled this goal to be completed more effectively. Two issues require addressing, the technology itself and the implementation factors of the technology. Such implementation factors should consider, among other factors, the legal and contractual issues associated with the use of ICT, training requirements and its effects on the organisational culture. To date the legal and contractual issues have not been extensively covered, and it is recognised that the technologies have not been properly covered by any recognised legal and contractual practices. This in turn is threatening to inhibit the growth and prosperity of the use of the technology on construction projects. This paper discusses these legal and contractual issues and describes methods and tools that can be used to enable the growth of technology to be used in a legal and contractually valid environment.
To support research in the building sector and in order to help it move towards a new digital economy, the European Commission under the 5th Framework initiative, especially the IST programme, funded various RTD projects. The opportunity to bring these IST projects together was acknowledged so that stronger links can be created under a clustering umbrella and that, moreover, links of those projects with their RTD environment could be facilitated. This has been the objective of work carried out within the ICCI (IST-2001-33022) Cluster project. This paper introduces the main aims and objectives of the project, and then presents its principal outcomes. In a second part, it synthesises the underlying concepts, technology and tools that will make ICT-based Construction a reality in a near future, and gives recommended actions for the industry, the EC and the Construction ICT R&D in Europe, giving some benefit of this project experience to the three communities.
The research reported in this article was conducted to mainly explore the two common numeric prediction techniques, the model tree and the regression tree, when used in conjunction with bagging as a wrapper method. Bagging is used to improve the prediction accuracy of these two algorithms, and results are compared with the ones obtained earlier by the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm. From the conducted experiments, both the bagged regression tree and bagged model tree produce better results than not only their corresponding regression tree and model tree alone, but also the KNN with optimal value of k equal to 7. In addition, the bagged model tree yields the lowest prediction errors and a highest correlation coefficient of 0.81. It is demonstrated that it is feasible to use the bagged model tree for engineering applications in prediction problems such as estimating the remaining service life of bridge decks.
This article discusses how the failures of construction projects could be prevented. The focus is on using IT tools in communication. The article is based on the findings of the PROLABproject. The project seeks to find solutions for how the information can effectively be used in project management, specially in construction projects, what kind of procedures help the management of the knowledge and how the obstacles for efficient ways of administrating the information can be removed. These obstacles can be either related to use of new technology or to organization culture. The paper discusses e-mail as a medium of communication with the media richness framework (Fulk & Boyd 1991) based on the interviews done with the participants of construction projects. We found out that the emails were used in both rich way and not so rich way. Obstacles of rich use of IT communication were partly technical and partly psychological. Technology acceptance model (TAM) is used to study the actual use of emails in communication. Obstacles of the use of emails were mostly individual differences like the skills to use the system or external variables like they did not have proper software to open the attachments. Also people talked about information overload. Emails often push too much information. Keywords: IT tools, Communication, Knowledge management, Construction
This paper reports on the latest results in the development of a new approach for simulating the thermal behavior of buildings that overcomes the limitations of conventional heat-transfer simulation methods such as FDM and FEM. The proposed technique uses a coarse-grain approach to model development whereby each element represents a complete building component such as a wall, internal space, or floor. The thermal behavior of each coarse-grain element is captured using empirical modeling techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs). The main advantages of the approach compared to conventional simulation methods are: (a) simplified model construction for the end-user; (b) simplified model reconfiguration; (c) significantly faster simulation runs (orders of magnitude faster for two and three-dimensional models); and (d) potentially more accurate results. The paper demonstrates the viability of the approach through a number of experiments with a model of a composite wall. The approach is shown to be able to sustain highly accurate longterm simulation runs, if the coarse-grain modeling elements are implemented as ANNs. In contrast, an implementation of the coarse-grain elements using a linear model is shown to function inaccurately and erratically. The paper concludes with an identification of on-going work and future areas for development of the technique.
A/E/C Team members, while collaborating on building projects, rely on past experiences and content through the use of project design archives (whether in paper or digital format). This leads to underutilization of potential knowledge, as decision-making of data, information, and knowledge reuse is limited by access to these archives, due to sheer size and inconvenient presentation. This paper presents an integrated solution that leverages two technologies CoMem (Corporate Memory) and iRoom (interactive Room) developed at Stanford. This addresses critical limitations, i.e., content, context, visualization and interactivity, constraining the process of collaborative exploration towards knowledge reuse and decision-making.
Collaborative Design Processes: A Class on Concurrent Collaboration in Multidisciplinary Design
(2004)
The rise of concurrent engineering in construction demands early team formation and constant communication throughout the project life cycle, but educational models in architecture, engineering and construction have been slow to adjust to this shift in project organization. Most students in these fields spend the majority of their college years working on individual projects that do not build teamwork or communication skills. Collaborative Design Processes (CDP) is a capstone design course where students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Florida learn methods of collaborative design enhanced by the use of information technology. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to collaborate from remote locations via the Internet on the design of a facility. An innovation of this course compared to previous efforts is that students also develop process designs for the integration of technology into the work of multidisciplinary design teams. The course thus combines both active and reflective learning about collaborative design and methods. The course is designed to provide students the experience, tools, and methods needed to improve design processes and better integrate the use of technology into AEC industry work practices. This paper describes the goals, outcomes and significance of this new, interdisciplinary course for distributed AEC education. Differences from existing efforts and lessons learned to promote collaborative practices are discussed. Principal conclusions are that the course presents effective pedagogy to promote collaborative design methods, but faces challenges in both technology and in traditional intra-disciplinary training of students.
Re-using knowledge in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms can lead to greater competitive advantage, improved designs, and more effective management of constructed facilities. This paper discusses the importance of exploration and discovery of reusable knowledge from a corporate archive as opposed to simple search and retrieval. We describe and illustrate through a scenario of use an exploration framework and prototype, CoMemTM that formalizes the added value of exploration in the process of knowledge reuse. We discuss two exploration activities: (i) Breadth- Only overview exploration that assist a user to rapidly localize pockets of re-usable knowledge from the large corporate archive and (ii) Iterative breadth-depth exploration that enables a user to identify those re-usable components of the Corporate Memory that may yield design issues that were not originally considered.
This paper describes a research project that addresses the difficulties in dealing with regulatory documents such as national and regional codes. These documents tend to be voluminous, heavily cross-referenced, possibly ambiguous and even conflicting at times. There are often multiple documents that need to be consulted and satisfied; however it is a difficult task to locate all of the relevant provisions. In addition, sections dealing with the same or similar conceptual ideas sometimes lay down conflicting requirements. We propose a framework for regulation representation, analysis and comparison with emphasis on the extraction of similarities between provisions. We focus on accessibility regulations, whose intent is to provide the same or equivalent access to a building and its facilities for disabled persons. An XML regulatory repository is developed to extract structural as well as non-structural features from government regulations to help user understanding and computational analysis. A similarity analysis is performed between different sources of regulations. In order to achieve a better comparison between provisions, we employ a combination of feature matching and structural analysis. Results are shown on comparisons between American and European codes, as well as on the domain of electronic-rulemaking.
This ethnographic study reports on emerging work processes and practices observed in the AEC (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) Global Teamwork program, i.e., what people experience when interacting with and through collaboration technologies, why people practice in the way they do, how the practice fits into the environment and changes the work patterns. It presents the experience of two high-performance typical but extreme AEC teamwork cases adopting and adapting to collaboration technologies and how these technologies in practice impact their work processes. The findings illustrate the importance of collaboration technologies in cross-disciplinary, global teamwork. Observations indicate that high performance teams that use the collaboration technologies effectively exhibit collaboration readiness at an early stage and manage to define a “third way” to meet the demands of the cross-disciplinary, multi cultural and geographically distributed AEC workspace. The observations and implications represent the blueprint for yearly innovations and improvements to the design of the AEC Global Teamwork program.
We present a software prototype for fluid flow problems in civil engineering, which combines essential features of Computational Steering approaches with efficient methods for model transfer and high performance computing. The main components of the system are described: - The modeler with a focus on the data management of the product model - The pre-processing and the post-processing toolkit - The simulation kernel based on the Lattice Boltzmann method - The required hardware for real-time computing
In this paper, a circulation-type society is expressed by recurrent architecture network described with multi-agent model which consists of the following agents: user, builder, reuse maker, fabricator, waste disposer, material maker and earth bank (see Fig.1). Structural members, materials, resources and monies move among these agents. Each agent has its own rules and aims, regarding structural damages, lifetime, cost reduction, numbers of structural members and structural systems. Reasonable prices of members (fresh, reused, recycled and disposed) can be optimized by GAs in this system considering equal distribution of monies among agents.
The purpose of this research is to develop the method to retrieve a building name from the impression of the building. First, the images of the building are registered as database by the questionnaire. Next, the images of the objective building are compared with the degree of matching in image databases, and the building with high synthetic matching degree is retrieved. This system could get a good retrieval result. Moreover, image processing was done, and image databases are trained by neural network from the amount of characteristics of the image, and the retrieval system by image processing was examined.
Most retaining walls and box culverts built for arterial road construction are simple, and the design process of these structures is often repetitive and labor-intensive because they are so similar in structural configuration. Although some integrated design automation systems developed for retaining walls and box culverts have expedited the design process of these structures, the process of collecting and distributing the resultant engineering documents has not been fully integrated with the computer applications. We have been developing a Web-based design automation system to manage the resultant documents as well as to speed up the repetitive design process. Manipulation of engineering drawings in the Web page is one of the critical functions needed for Web-based design automation. eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and XML-based vector graphics are expected to facilitate the representation of engineering drawings in the Web page. In this paper, we present how we used XML and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) to compose engineering drawings and represent them in the Web page. XML Data Island we designed to define drawing components turned out effective in manipulating the engineering drawings in the Web page.
This paper describes the concept and experiences of the international Open Distance Learning Course ‘HydroWeb’. This course deals with the introduction of Web-based Collaborative Engineering in standard education programmes of water related engineering and civil engineering based on information sharing. Organized under the umbrella of IAHR and ETNET21 this course is collaboration from several universities from all over the world. Started in 1999 the course demonstrates the potential and innovative opportunities of Web-Technology in education, research and engineering: Students from the different partner universities form small distributed teams to solve a given engineering problem in a time window of two weeks. To overcome the spatial distribution the students apply modern Web technology such as video conferencing, application sharing and document management. All results as well as the final reports are presented as Web document on a shared Web-based project platform (http://www.hydro-web.org). Besides the experiences to apply standard Web tools and working methods based on information sharing instead the conventional information exchange in the daily engineering work the students improve their soft skills operate successfully in international and interdisciplinary project environments as part of the ‘Technical Culture’ of nowadays.
For planning in existing built contexts, the building survey is the starting point for initial planning proposals, for the diagnosis and documentation of building damages, for the creation of objectives catalogues, for the detailed design of renovation and conversion measures and for ensuring fulfilment of building legislation, particularly by change of use and refitting. An examination of currently available IT-tools shows insufficient support for planning within existing contexts, most notably a deficit with regard to information capture and administration. This paper discusses the concept for a modular surveying system (basic concept, separation of geometry from semantic data, and separation into sub-systems) and the prototypical realisation of a system for the complete support of the entire building surveying process for existing buildings. The project aims to contribute to the development of a planning system for existing buildings. ...
For the management or reorganisation of existing buildings, data concerning dimensions and construction are necessary. Often these data are given exclusively by paper-based drawings and no digital data such as a computer based product model or even a CAD-model are available. In order to perform mass calculation, damage mapping or a recalculation of the structure these drawings of the building under consideration have to be analysed manually by the engineer. This is a very time-consuming job. In order to close this gap between drawings of an existing building and a digital product model an approach is presented in this paper to digitise a drawing, to build up geometric and topologic models and to recognise construction parts of the building. Finally all recognised parts are transformed into a three-dimensional geometric model which provides all necessary geometric information for the product model. During this import process the semantics of a ground floor plan has to be converted into a 3D-model.
Preparation and provision of building information for planning within existing built contexts
(2004)
A prerequisite for planning within existing built contexts is precise information regarding the building substance, its construction and materials, possible damages and any modifications and additions that may have occurred during its lifetime. Using the information collected in a building survey the user should be able to “explore” the building in virtual form, as well as to assess the information contained with regard to a specific planning aspect. The functionality provided by an information module should cover several levels of information provision ranging from ‘simple retrieval’ of relevant information to the analysis and assessment of stored information with regard to particular question sets. Through the provision of basic functionality at an elementary level and the ability to extend this using plug-ins, the system concept of an open extendable system is upheld. Using this modular approach, different levels of information provision can be provided as required during the planning process.
Complex gridshell structures used in architecturally ambitious constructions remain as appealing as ever in the public realm. This paper describes the theory and approach behind the software realisation of a tool which helps in finding the affine self-weight geometry of gridshell structures. The software tool DOMEdesign supports the formal design process of lattice and grid shell structures based upon the laws of physics. The computer-aided simulation of suspension models is used to derive structurally favourable forms for domes and arches subject to compression load, based upon the input of simple architectonic parameters. Irregular plans, three-dimensional topography, a choice different kinds of shell lattice structures and the desired height of the dome are examples of design parameters which can be used to modify the architectural design. The provision of data export formats for structural dimensioning and visualisation software enables engineers and planners to use the data in future planning and to communicate the design to the client.
Building activities in the construction industry in Germany increasingly concentrate on building measures in or involving the existing built environment. Before planning can begin, buildings must be surveyed in whole or in part with the surveying of geometric data playing a dominant role. The geometric survey is typically undertaken using geodetic or photogrammetric measuring techniques and equipment that have been adapted for use in building surveying. Accordingly appropriate technical knowledge is required in order to be able to operate them as well as a considerable financial investment. Such equipment and surveying methods are usually adaptations from other disciplines. The paper discusses and presents approaches to developing “new” equipment for building surveying, devised with the needs of building surveying in mind – redesigns or new designs for surveying tools. The designs are the result of an inter-disciplinary project between the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Product Design at the Bauhaus Universität Weimar.
Three-dimensional models of urban objects play an important role in the urban applications such as urban planning, environmental concerning, or urban disaster mitigations. While the modeling of urban objects is time consuming and storage costing. This paper presents solutions for this. Buildings with regular shapes and plane roofs are constructed into computer models by identifying of graphic elements from the digital maps of urban area to get building base plane and building heights. Buildings with irregular shapes and non-plane roofs are constructed into computer models by employment of a specific system developed by the authors. Road objects and topologies are constructed into computer models by employment of specific algorithms. The solutions presented in this paper has been used in the development of urban disaster mitigation system for Shantou, China.
The contribution describes the didactical integration of wireless access networks for the campus of the University of Karlsruhe in the education of architects and engineers. It focuses on the development of an interdisciplinary communication network to encourage and promote the communication and collaboration between students. The project assumes that significant learning progresses in net-based learning scenarios are based upon the synchronous and asynchronous cooperation between the students themselves. The remote cooperation across borders of disciplines makes high demands on capacity in communicating and cooperating of the involved persons as well as on the supporting tools. Therefore, the collective acquisition of knowledge and cooperation has to be trained intensively during the studies. Based on the design and project oriented cooperation platform netzentwurf.de the authors developed the tools “Jobadmin“ to administrate multidisciplinary workgroups, the “Swarm Knowledge Catalogue“ to collect and store knowledge and “LivingCampus“, an instrument providing basic services for dynamic communication.
The uniqueness and the long life cycle of buildings imply a dynamically modifiable building model. The technological foundation for the management of digital building models, a dynamic model management system (MMS), developed by our research group, allows to explicitly access and to modify the object model of the stored planning data. In this paper, the integration of constraints in digital building models will be shown. Constraints are conditions, which apply to the instances of domain model classes, and are defined by the user at runtime of the information system. For the expression of constraints, the Constraint Modelling Language (CML) has been developed and will be described in this paper. CML is a powerful, intuitively usable object-oriented language, which allows the expression of constraints at a high semantic level. A constrained-enabled MMS can verify, whether an instance fulfils the applying constraints. To ensure flexibility, the evaluation of constraints is not implicitly performed by the systems, but explicitly initiated by the user. A classification of constraint types and example usage scenarios are given.
The increasing demands in building and civil engineering – with regard to the growing amount of legal requirements and the needs of a flexible usage of the building - requires an optimisation of all processes during the planning and construction phases. This aim can be only reached by transferring of innovative information and communication technologies in the field of cooperation of all partners in a building project. In this article the enhancement of the existing planning processes based on an improved information management is introduced. Since the late 90ies the availability of hardware and software infrastructures for a networkbased cooperation, e.g. email, in small and middle-sized companies increased the problems of an unstructured communication in the planning and construction processes. These problems have not been solved by the usage of the upcoming project communication systems either, which are often used as a simple medium for data transfer. Because of the easy way of distributing documents to all planning partners a huge amount of files and subsequent versions can be stored so that the planners often have to scope with an information overflow. The underlying hierarchical structures based on simple files stored in tree views are not sufficient for an adequate representation of the different specific views of the planners and the management of relationships between the three information domains building structure, costs and time schedules. ..
Construction is a conservative industry that over the last twenty ye ars has experienced drastic changes in the way that interdisciplinary teams interact to design and execute a project. In this article we offer a general overview of how the main participants cooperate in the different phases of a construction project, and which are some of the main areas for communication improvement. We also explore the communication tools used in the exchange of information, and identify the main causes of information breakdown. The general framework of this study is of application to both standard and green projects. At the end of the article we discuss the peculiarities of green buildings. Our goal is to offer a series of industry insights derived from the perspective of a general contractor aimed at identifying the areas where contributions in computing and information exchange could have a greater impact on the successful completion of a project.
An important feature of the 2003 SARS outbreak in Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong was that many health care workers (HCWs) developed SARS after caring for patients with SARS. This has been ascribed to inadequate or ineffective patient isolation. However, it is difficult for dense cities to provide sufficient isolation facilities within a short period of time. This has raised concerns from the public for new strategies in the planning and design of isolation facilities. Considering that SARS or other infectious diseases could seriously damage our society’s development, isolation facilities that could be rapidly and economically constructed with appropriate environmental controls are essential. For this reason, the design team of the Department of Architecture collaborated with a special task force from the Faculty of Medicine, who are the frontline medical officers treating the SARS patients, to design Rapidly Assembled Isolation Patient Wards. Both architecture and medicine are well established disciplines, but they have little in common in terms of the mode of knowledge construction and practice. This induced much intellectual exploration and research interest in conducting this study. The process has provided an important reference for cross disciplinary studies between the architectural and medical domains.
This paper examines the impact of information technology (IT) utilization on construction firm performance. Based on empirical data collected from 74 US construction firms, the analyses provide evidence that IT has a positive impact on overall firm performance, schedule performance, and cost performance. Firm performance is a composite score of several metrics of performance: schedule performance, cost performance, customer satisfaction, safety performance, and profit. No relationship is found between IT utilization and customer satisfaction, safety, or profit, although this may be due to limitations of the study given strong correlations between IT utilization and cost and schedule performnance. The empirical evidence of positive association between performance and IT use provided by this research is significant to both construction practice and research literature. This evidence should encourage firms to adopt and invest in IT tools.
The paper describes a concept for the step-by-step computer-aided capture and representation of geometric building data in the context of planning-oriented building surveying. Selected aspects of the concept have been implemented and tested as prototypes. The process of step-by-step capture and representation is determined by the order in which the user experiences the building. Only the information that the user knows (can see) or can reasonably deduce is represented. In addition approaches to the flexible combination of different measuring techniques and geometric abstractions are described which are based upon geodetic computational adjustment.
The construction industry is a supportive industry in China. IT (information technolgy), including computer technology and communication technology, as a whole is regarded as the most important means to upgrade the construction industry so that research projects were organized by Chinese government to further the application of IT in the construction industry. This study originated from one of the projects and is aimed at grasping the general situation on the application of IT in the construction industry. A questionnaire was designed for the survey, which used stratified proportional sampling method, and was carried out under the help of a government agency. This study can not only provide sound foundation for the government to make relative policies, but also reveal references for the firms in construction industry to apply IT in their business. This paper presents the preliminary result of the survey.
In recent years, the survey is performed for repair, such as a bridge and a building built in past, spending great expense. And it is anxious for the survey technique that doesn’t need cost and time more. Then, we made an idea of the technique of precise 3D model creation by 2D pictures. However, the technique of performing the improvement in accuracy of convergent photographing and automatic acquisition of corresponding points was not established. Therefore, in this research, we try to obtain a semi-automation of corresponding points acquisition from initial corresponding points and the improvement in accuracy of convergent photographing. Moreover, we applied the research to the used house of Japanese real estate, and the applicable field was selected as the high needs of the residence of 3D model. And we developed the system that everyone could create Web / 3D model house by VRML easily without requiring expensive apparatuses or expertise.
The planning of projects in building engineering is a complex process which is characterized by a dynamical composition and many modifications during the definition and execution time of processes. For a computer-aided and network-based cooperation a formal description of the planning process is necessary. In the research project “Relational Process Modelling in Cooperative Building Planning” a process model is described by three parts: an organizational structure with participants, a building structure with states and a process structure with activities. This research project is part of the priority program 1103 “Network-Based Cooperative Planning Processes in Structural Engineering” promoted by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Planning processes in civil engineering can be described by workflow graphs. The process structure describes the logical planning process and can be formally defined by a bipartite graph. This structure consists of activities, transitions and relationships between activities and transitions. In order to minimize errors at execution time of a planning process a consistent and structurally correct process model must be guaranteed. This contribution considers the concept and the algorithms for checking the consistency and the correctness of the process structure.
Let the information of a civil engineering application be decomposed into objects of a given set of classes. Then the set of objects forms the data base of the application. The objects contain attributes and methods. Properties of the objects are stored in the attributes. Algorithms which the objects perform are implemented in the methods of the objects. If objects are modified by a user, the consistency of data in the base is destroyed. The data base must be modified in an update to restore its consistency. The sequence of the update operations is not arbitrary, but is governed by dependence between the objects. The situation can be described mathematically with graph theory. The available algorithms for the determination of the update sequence are not suitable when the data base is large. A new update algorithm for large data bases has been developed and is presented in this paper.
The management of resources is an essential task in each construction company. Today, ERP systems and e-Business systems are available to assist construction companies to efficiently organise the allocation of their personnel and equipment within the company, but they cannot provide the company with the idle resources for every single task that has to be performed during a construction project. Therefore, companies should have an alternative solution to better exploit expensive resources and compensate their fixed costs, but also have them available at the right time for their own business activities. This paper outlines the approach taken by the EU funded project “e-Sharing” (IST-2001-33325) to support resource management between construction companies. It will describe requirements for the management of construction resources, its core features, and the integration approach. Therefore, we will outline the approach of an integrated resource type model supporting the management and classification of construction equipment, construction tasks and qualification profiles. The development is based on a cross-domain analysis and evaluation of existing models. ...
This paper presents a specific modeling technique that is focused on preparing planning processes in civil engineering. Planning processes in civil engineering are characterized by some peculiarities so that the sequence of planning tasks needs to be determined for each planning project. Neither the use of optimized partial processes nor the use of lower detailed and optimized processes guarantee an optimal overall planning process. The modeling technique considers these peculiarities. In a first step, it is focused on the logic of the planning process. Algorithms based on the graph theory determine that logic. This approach ensures consistency and logical correctness of the description of a planning process at the early beginning in its preparation phase. Sets of data – the products of engineers like technical drawings, technical models, reports, or specifications – form the core of the presented modeling technique. The production of these sets of data requires time and money. This is expressed by a specific weighting of each set of data in the presented modeling technique. The introduction of these weights allows an efficient progress measurement and controlling of a planning project. For this purpose, a link between the modeling technique used in the preparation phase and the execution phase is necessary so that target and actual values are available for controlling purposes. The present paper covers the description of this link. An example is given to illustrate the use of the modeling technique for planning processes in civil engineering projects.
The design of building projects involves several types of resources such as architects, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and draftsmen, among others. For design firms to stay in business in this very competitive market, they need to manage their resources in a way that improves productivity and cost effectiveness. This task, however, is not simple and requires thorough analysis of process-level operations, resource use, and productivity. Typically, these operational aspects are the responsibility of the design office manager who assigns available resources to the different design projects to save time and lower design expenses. It is noted that limited studies have been carried out in the literature to model overall organizational operations and behavioral aspects, particularly in firms specialized in the design of building projects. In an effort to simplify the modeling process, a simplified modeling and simulation tool is used in this research. A simulation model representing an actual design office was developed assuming that the office performs designs for small, medium, and large size building projects. The developed model was used to simulate several alternatives and examine various resource assignment strategies. The simulation was conducted over ten years and the resulting productivity and income was measured.
The growing competition pressure in the building industry increases the demands on the design and construction processes in respect to economical, technical and time aspects. These demands require efficient improvements of the value-added chain, which can be realized mainly with the usage of innovative information- and communication-technologies. To support the collaboration of all participants involved in a certain building project the Workflow-Management-System “BauKom-Online” has been developed. In the focus of the system is to support the coordination of the participants and their information exchange. Such a software-method is well suited to ensure a high quality planning process. The modelling of business-processes enables a better self-comprehension of the participants work and helps to enhance the project performance. The system architecture of BauKom-Online contains two basic components: the processmodelling tool and the workflow-engine. The process-model contains of activities and states of the planning and construction processes and their relations. These connected processes compose the workflow. Such a process-model for engineering purposes has to satisfy several needs, e.g., the consideration of planning and building alternatives, dynamic changes of the model during execution of the project and the linkage to further technical objects like costs, building structure, specifications and documentmanagement. Furthermore, the scheduling of the project can be done within the process-model and can be visualized as a Gantt-diagram. ...
Applications for civil engineering tasks usually contain graphical user interfaces for the engineering processes. Persistent objects of the applications are stored to data bases. The influence of the interaction between a graphical user interface and a data base for the development of an civil engineering application is investigated in this paper. A graphic application for the linear elastic analysis of plane frames, which was previously developed with standard tools of the Java platform, is compared to a redesigned implementation using a generalized data base for persistent objects. The investigation leads to the following results : - A strict distinction between persistent and transient objects influences the class structure of an application, in particular the class structure of a graphical user interface. - The structure of an application depends on the logic for updating of references to persistent and transient graphical objects after an application is read from a file. - The complexity of the reference management can usually be handled better by just in time referencing associated with String - identifiers rather than by automated referencing associated with Name - identifiers.
Integrated Engineering Workflow focused on the Structural Engineering in the Industrial Environment
(2004)
The engineering and construction industry has been slow to exploit the full potential of information technology. The industry is highly fragmented, price sensitive, risk-adverse, and profit margins are small. Each project is unique with a small amount of technological innovation opportunities to capitalise on from one project to the next. Technological innovations that have been taking place are just simulating the old traditional paper workflow. Engineering information in digital form is being conveyed using traditional paper representations, which have to be interpreted by humans before the information can be used in other applications, thereby creating ‘islands of information’. It can be seen that poorly implemented IT strategies are duplicating paperwork, rather than reducing or eliminating it (Crowley et al., 2000). This paper will introduce the Integrated Engineering Workflow (IEW) concept to re-organise a structural discipline working on multi-disciplinary projects so as to maximise the advantages offered by new information technology.
As a result of the pilot-project “Grundwasser-Online” the supervision and the active controlling of large monitoring- and catchment-areas are realised by a co-operative integration of all related institutions, a synchronisation-process to combine all distributed data into one central server database, and a high-level eGovernment-Service to provide evaluated information over the internet. Based on this software system the local authorities are able to supervise the groundwater-levels and to find adequate decisions, which finally result in official permissions for the usage of groundwater-reservoirs by the water supply companies.
Available construction time-cost trade-off analysis models can be used to generate trade-offs between these two important objectives, however, their application is limited in large-scale construction projects due to their impractical computational requirements. This paper presents the development of a scalable and multi-objective genetic algorithm that provides the capability of simultaneously optimizing construction time and cost large-scale construction projects. The genetic algorithm was implemented in a distributed computing environment that utilizes a recent standard for parallel and distributed programming called the message passing interface (MPI). The performance of the model is evaluated using a set of measures of performance and the results demonstrate the capability of the present model in significantly reducing the computational time required to optimize large-scale construction projects.
Cost and Schedule Controlling in Relation to Liquidity Management during Construction Projects
(2004)
The present paper describes a software application which can be used for relating the scheduled events of a construction project with the respective financial parameters, leading to an overall improvement in general controlling and liquidity management. For this purpose, existing construction schedules are taken and details of the assignment are recorded. Thus it becomes possible to assess a future payment status should changes in the designated schedule occur.
The methods currently used for scheduling building processes have some major advantages as well as disadvantages. The main advantages are the arrangement of the tasks of a project in a clear, easily readable form and the calculation of valuable information like critical paths. The main disadvantage on the other hand is the inflexibility of the model caused by the modeling paradigms. Small changes of the modeled information strongly influence the whole model and lead to the need to change many more details in the plan. In this article an approach is introduced allowing the creation of more flexible schedules. It aims towards a more robust model that lowers the need to change more than a few information while being able to calculate the important propositions of the known models and leading to further valuable conclusions.
Some key facts about the economic environment of construction industry are explained. It is shown that construction industry is very heterogeneous and has changed drastically during the recent years due to a rapidly moving commercial environment. Two examples of todays’s use of virtual construction tools in construction projects are presented. The first example is the document control for a large international project. The second is the application of 4D modelling in the preconstruction phase of a dam project. It is shown that virtual construction, is a major international trend that currently takes up speed. Some generic industry needs for Research and Development which aims at short and medium term results are presented.
As computer programs become ever more complex, software development has shifted from focusing on programming towards focusing on integration. This paper describes a simulation access language (SimAL) that can be used to access and compose software applications over the Internet. Specifically, the framework is developed for the integration of tools for project management applications. The infrastructure allows users to specify and to use existing heterogeneous tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Primavera Project Planner, and AutoCAD) for simulation of project scenarios. This paper describes the components of the SimAL language and the implementation efforts required in the development of the SimAL framework. An illustration example bringing on-line weather forecasting service for project scheduling and management applications is provided to demonstrate the use of the simulation language and the infrastructure framework.
Indentation experiments have been carried out over the past century to determine hardness of materials. Modern indentation machines have the capability to continuously monitor load and displacement to high precision and accuracy. In recent years, research interests have focussed on methods to extract material properties from indentation load-displacement curves. Analytical methods to interpret the indentation load-displacement curves are difficult to formulate due to material and geometric nonlinearities as well as complex contact interactions. In the present study, an artificial neural network model was constructed for interpretation of indentation load-displacement curves. Large strain-large deformation finite element analyses were first carried out to simulate indentation experiments. The data from finite element analyses were then used to train the artificial neural network model. The artificial neural network model was able to accurately determine the material properties when presented with load-displacement curves which were not used in the training process. The proposed artificial neural network model is robust and directly relates the characteristics of the indentation loaddisplacement curve to the elasto-plastic material properties.
The truss model for predicting shear resistance of reinforced concrete beams has usually been criticized because of its underestimation of the concrete shear strength especially for beams with low shear reinforcement. Two challengers are commonly encountered in any truss model and are responsible for its inaccurate shear strength prediction. First: the cracking angle is usually assumed empirically and second the shear contribution of the arching action is usually neglected. This research introduces a nouvelle approach, by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for accurately evaluating the shear cracking angle of reinforced and prestressed concrete beams. The model inputs include the beam geometry, concrete strength, the shear reinforcement ratio and the prestressing stress if any. ...
This paper is a report of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and its potential applications in the commercial construction industry. RFID technology offers wireless communication between RFID tags and readers with non line-of-sight readability. These fundamental properties eliminate manual data entry and introduce the potential for automated processes to increase project productivity, construction safety, and project cost efficiency. Construction contractors, owners, and material suppliers that believe technology can further develop methods and processes in construction should feel obligated to participate in RFID studies for the advancement of the construction industry as a whole.
At the start of the conceptual design process, designers start to give tangible form to their thoughts by sketching. This helps with reasoning and communicates ideas to other members of the team. Sketches are gradually worked up into more formal drawings which are then passed to the other stages of the design process. There are however some problems with basing early ideas on sketching. For example, due to their ad-hoc nature, sketches tend only to be diagrammatic representations and so designers cannot be sure that their ideas are feasible and what is being proposed meets the constraints described in the client brief. This can result in designers wasting time working up ideas which prove to be unsuitable. Also the process of constraint checking is complex and time consuming and so designers tend limit their search of possible options and instead choose satisfying rather than good solutions. This paper describes the INTEGRA project which examines the role of sketching in early conceptual design and how this can be linked to other aspects of the process and particularly automated constraint checking using an IT based approach. The focus for the work is the design of framed buildings. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted and the work has been undertaken in close collaboration with practising designers and clients.
Building project, with many different players involved, requires open and commonly accepted standard for product model description. Product model based design tools support easy comparisons of design alternatives and optimisation of design solution technical quality. This supports client s decision-making and design target comparisons through the whole building project. Use of product models enable these tasks to meet both schedule and cost requirements Olof Granlund is using product models and interoperable software as the main tool in projects. The use and the realised benefits are illustrated by examples from 3 different real projects: University building, where product models were used already in the very early phases by the whole design team. Office building for research organisation, where product models were used in so called self-reporting building system. Headquarters for international company, where product models were widely used for building performance analysis and visualisations in design phase as well as for facilities management system configuration for operational phase.
This paper focuses on a new three-level discretisation strategy which enables the transition between continuum/structural (I) and structural/black box modelling (II). The transition (I) is realised by means of a model adaptive concept based on an innovative finite element technology. For transition (II) we apply the truncated balanced realisation method (TBR). The latter represents an established system theoretical model reduction technique which is here combined with a novel substructure technique. The approach provides a modular concept to facilitate the computational analysis of complex structures. The final goal is to apply the strategy to life time estimation.
The promise of lower costs for sensors that can be used for construction inspection means that inspectors will continue to have new choices to consider in creating inspection plans. However, these emerging inspection methods can require different activities, resources, and decisions such that it can be difficult to compare the emerging methods with other methods that satisfy the same inspection needs. Furthermore, the context in which inspection is performed can significantly influence how well certain inspection methods are suited for a given set of goals for inspection. Context information, such as weather, security, and the regulatory environment, can be used to understand what information about a component should be collected and how an inspection should be performed. The research described in this paper is aimed at developing an approach for comparing and selecting inspection plans. This approach consists of (1) refinement of given goals for inspection, if necessary, in order to address any additional information needs due to a given context and in order to reach a level of detail that can be addressed by an inspection activity; (2) development of constraints to describe how an inspection should be achieved; (3) matching of goals to available inspection methods, and generation of activities and resource plans in order to address the goals; and (4) selection of an inspection plan from among the possible plans that have been identified. The authors illustrate this approach with observations made at a local construction site.
The approach discussed here is part of research into an overall concept for digital instruments which support the entire planning process and help in enabling planning decisions to be based upon clear reasoning and plausible arguments. Such specialist systems must take into account currently available technology, such as networked working patterns, object-orientation, building and product models as well as the working method of the planner. The paper describes a plausibility instrument for the formulation of colour scheme proposals for building interiors and elevations. With the help of intuitively usable light simulations, colour, material and spatial concepts can be assessed realistically. The software prototype “Coloured Architecture” is conceived as a professional extension to conventional design tools for the modelling of buildings. As such it can be used by the architect in the earliest design phases of the planning process as well as for colour implementation on location.
Structural engineering projects are increasingly organized in networked cooperations due to a permanently enlarged competition pressure and a high degree of complexity while performing the concurrent design activities. Software that intends to support such collaborative structural design processes implicates enormous requirements. In the course of our common research work, we analyzed the pros and cons of the application of both the peer-to-peer (University of Bonn) and multiagent architecture style (University of Bochum) within the field of collaborative structural design. In this paper, we join the benefits of both architecture styles in an integrated conceptual approach. We demonstrate the surplus value of the integrated multiagent–peer-to-peer approach by means of an example scenario in which several structural engineers are co-operatively designing the basic structural elements of an arched bridge, applying heterogeneous CAD systems.
Although there are some good reasons to design engineering software as a stand-alone application for a single computer, there are also numerous possibilities for creating distributed engineering applications, in particular using the Internet. This paper presents some typical scenarios how engineering applications can benefit from including network capabilities. Also, some examples of Internet-based engineering applications are discussed to show how the concepts presented can be implemented.
Assuring global consistency in a cooperative working environment is the main focus of many nowaday research projects in the field of civil engineering and others. In this paper, a new approach based on octrees will be discussed. It will be shown that by the usage of octrees not only the management and control of processes in a network-based working environment can be optimised but also an efficient integration platform for processes from various disciplines – such as architecture and civil engineering – can be provided. By means of an octree-based collision detection resp. consistency assurance a client-server-architecture will be described as well as sophisticated information services for a further support of cooperative work.
The worldwide growth of communication networks and associated technologies provide the basic infrastructure for new ways of executing the engineering process. Collaboration amongst team members seperated in time and location is of particular importance. Two broad themes can be recognized in research pertaining to distributed collaboration. One theme focusses on the technical and technological aspects of distributed work, while the other emphasises human aspects thereof. The case of finite element structural analysis in a distributed collaboratory is examined in this paper. An approach is taken which has its roots in human aspects of the structural analysis task. Based on experience of how structural engineers currently approach and execute this task while utilising standard software designed for use on local workstations only, criteria are stated for a software architechture that could support collaborative structural analysis. Aspects of a pilot application and the results of qualitative performance measurements are discussed.