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In the AEC (Architecture / Engineering / Construction) industry a number of individuals and organisations collaborate and work jointly on a construction project. The resulting consortium has large pool of expertise and experience and can be defined as a Virtual Organisation (VO) formed for the duration of the project. VOs are electronically networked organisations where IT and web based communication technology play an important role in coordinating various activities of these organisations. This paper describes the design, development and implementation of a Grid enabled application called the Product Supplier Catalogue Database (PSCD) which supports collaborative working in consortia. As part of the Grid-enabling process, specialised metadata is being developed to enable PSCD to effectively utilise Grid middleware such as Globus and Java CoG toolkits. We also describe our experience whilst designing, developing and deploying the security service of the application using the Globus Security Interface (GSI).
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.
The conceptual structure of an application that can support the structural analysis task in a distributed collaboratory is described in (van Rooyen and Olivier 2004). The application described there has a standalone component for executing the finite element method on a local workstation in the absence of network access. This application is comparable to current, local workstation based finite element packages. However, it differs fundamentally from standard packages since the application itself, and its objects, are adapted to support distributed execution of the analysis task. Basic aspects of an object-oriented framework for the development of applications which can be used in similar distributed collaboratories are described in this paper. An important feature of this framework is its application-centred design. This means that an application can contain any number of engineering models, where the models are formed by the collection of objects according to semantic views within the application. This is achieved through very flexible classes Application and Model, which are described in detail. The advantages of the application-centred design approach is demonstrated with reference to the design of steel structures, where the finite element analysis model, member design model and connection design model interact to provide the required functionality.
This paper will present a number of technical aspects for one of the most elaborate instrumentation and data acquisition projects ever undertaken in Canada. Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge built over ice covered seawater has been equipped with the state of the art data acquistition devices and systems as well as data transfer networks. The Bridge has been providing a fixed surface connection between Prince Edward Island and Province of New Brunswick in Canada since its opening in 1997. The Bridge has a rather long design service life of 100 years. Because of its large size and long span length, its design is not covered by any existing codes or standards worldwide. The focus of the paper is to introduce the data acquisition, transfer, processing and management systems. The instrumentation and communications infrastructure and devices will be presented in some details along with the data processing and management systems and techniques. Teams of engineers and researchers use the collected data to verify the analysis and design assumptions and parameters as well as investigate the short-term and long-term behaviour and health of the Bridge. The collected data are also used in furthering research activities in the field of bridge engineering and in elevating our knowledge about behaviour, reliability and durability of such complex structures, their components and materials.
In the field of Civil Engineering, the content of reinforcement concrete design course (RC course) has complicated design procedures and many difficult specifications to recognize, so most of the students regard the RC course a tough course, and teachers very often find the class time insufficient. Also, teachers of the RC course usually spend a lot of time in organizing the examinations for handling tedious calculations and complicated logical reasoning. Furthermore, correcting examination papers with partial scoring takes even more time of the teacher’s. Therefore, the objective of this research is to design and develop a partial scoring assessment system to meet the needs in engineering design courses, such as the RC course. This assessment system can generate test items with variable parameters. It also supports inference diagnosis on the examinee’s misconceptions and gives partial scores in grading the examination. In this research, the example test subject is the analysis of rectangular reinforced concrete beam with single layer steel bars.
The design of mobile IT systems, especially the design of wearable computer systems, is a complex task that requires computer science knowledge, such as that related to hardware configuration and software development, in addition to knowledge of the domain in which the system is intended to be used. Particularly in the AEC sector, it is necessary that the support from mobile information technology fit the work situation at hand. Ideally, the domain expert alone can adjust the wearable computer system to achieve this fit without having to consult IT experts. In this paper, we describe a model that helps in transferring existing design knowledge from non-AEC domains to new projects in the construction area. The base for this is a model and a methodology that describes the usage scenarios of said computer systems in an application-neutral and domain-independent way. Thus, the actual design information and experience will be transferable between different applications and domains.
The presented work focuses on collaboration- experiences gathered with complex design and engineering projects, using the learning platform POLE- Europe. Within the POLE environment student-teams from different universities, disciplines and cultural backgrounds are assigned to real-world projects with clearly defined design - tasks, usually to be accomplished within one semester while working in a virtual environment for most of the time. The concept of POLE and the information and collaboration technology is described.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The paper gives a general overview and concerns with a specified set of computer-aided analysis modules for hybrid structures loaded by extreme excitations. All problems are solved by methods of linear, quadratic or nonlinear mathematical optimization, that leads to very effective and economic design solutions. All approaches are derived from general optimization problem that can be easily altered to conform to specific design tasks. Some advantages and possibilities of hybrid structural modeling (single or mixed model-supported) are discussed. The methods will be illustrated by an example structure and optimization schemes.
There are many construction projects in China and mass documents are exchanged among the multi-party, including the owner, the contractor and the engineer in the projects. Based on previous studies, an approach to the utilization of the exchanged documents is established by using data warehouse technology and a prototype system called EXPLYZER is developed. The approach and the prototype system are verified through their application in a construction project. It is concluded that the approach can support the decision-making in project management.
Re-examination of the behaviour of structures can be necessary due to deterioration or changes in the traffic situation during their lifetime. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is widely used in order to accomplish numerical analysis. Considering the development of computer performance, more detailed FEM models can be analyzed, even on site, with mobile computers. To compensate the increasing amount of data needed for the model input, measures need to be taken to save time, by distributing the work. In order to provide consistency to the model, fedback data must be checked upon reception. A local wireless computer network of ultra-portable devices linked together with a computer can provide the coordination necessary for efficient parallel working. Based on a digital model consisting of all data gathered, structural modelling and numerical analysis are performed automatically. Thus, the user is released from the work that can be automatized and the time needed for the overall analysis of a structure is decreased.
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.
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.
The objective of the joint project 'Life cycle optimised system solutions for densified housing with massive wood technology', short form Basys, was the development and application of an open building system for sustainable construction in a virtual enterprise. Four partners coming from building economy and a university institute developed the building system in a comprehensive planning process. By applying massive wood technology, most requirements of densified housing can be met and individual buildings can be produced on demand.
Current software solutions for real estate planning, construction and use, do not model the complete life cycle of a building. Well-integrated software tools exist for the planning and construction phases. Data integrity exists throughout the planning and construction phases, but problems occur at the transition to the use-phase. At this interface, the complete data set of planning and execution gets lost. Another software deficiency is that current software solutions don’t handle construction work and maintenance work equally. This is why a new software generation is demanded, which continuously covers the entire workflow process from the planning phase to the demolition of a building. New data concepts have to be developed, which allow bringing work items for construction together with work items for real estate use.
This paper describes an ongoing research on the representation and reasoning about construction specifications, which is part of a bigger research project that aims at developing a formalism for automating the identification of deviations and defects on construction sites. We specifically describe the requirements on product and process models and an approach for representing and reasoning about construction specifications to enable automated detection and assessment of construction deviations and defects. This research builds on the previous research on modeling design specifications and extends and elaborates concept of contexts developed in that domain. The paper provides an overview of how the construction specifications are being modele d in this research and points out future steps that need to be accomplished to develop the envisioned automated deviation and defect detection system.