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One major research focus in the Material Science and Engineering Community in the past decade has been to obtain a more fundamental understanding on the phenomenon 'material failure'. Such an understanding is critical for engineers and scientists developing new materials with higher strength and toughness, developing robust designs against failure, or for those concerned with an accurate estimate of a component's design life. Defects like cracks and dislocations evolve at
nano scales and influence the macroscopic properties such as strength, toughness and ductility of a material. In engineering applications, the global response of the system is often governed by the behaviour at the smaller length scales. Hence, the sub-scale behaviour must be computed accurately for good predictions of the full scale behaviour.
Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations promise to reveal the fundamental mechanics of material failure by modeling the atom to atom interactions. Since the atomistic dimensions are of the order of Angstroms ( A), approximately 85 billion atoms are required to model a 1 micro- m^3 volume of Copper. Therefore, pure atomistic models are prohibitively expensive with everyday engineering computations involving macroscopic cracks and shear bands, which are much larger than the atomistic length and time scales. To reduce the computational effort, multiscale methods are required, which are able to couple a continuum description of the structure with an atomistic description. In such paradigms, cracks and dislocations are explicitly modeled at the atomistic scale, whilst a self-consistent continuum model elsewhere.
Many multiscale methods for fracture are developed for "fictitious" materials based on "simple" potentials such as the Lennard-Jones potential. Moreover, multiscale methods for evolving cracks are rare. Efficient methods to coarse grain the fine scale defects are missing. However, the existing multiscale methods for fracture do not adaptively adjust the fine scale domain as the crack propagates. Most methods, therefore only "enlarge" the fine scale domain and therefore drastically increase computational cost. Adaptive adjustment requires the fine scale domain to be refined and coarsened. One of the major difficulties in multiscale methods for fracture is to up-scale fracture related material information from the fine scale to the coarse scale, in particular for complex crack problems. Most of the existing approaches therefore were applied to examples with comparatively few macroscopic cracks.
Key contributions
The bridging scale method is enhanced using the phantom node method so that cracks can be modeled at the coarse scale. To ensure self-consistency in the bulk, a virtual atom cluster is devised providing the response of the intact material at the coarse scale. A molecular statics model is employed in the fine scale where crack propagation is modeled by naturally breaking the bonds. The fine scale and coarse scale models are coupled by enforcing the displacement boundary conditions on the ghost atoms. An energy criterion is used to detect the crack tip location. Adaptive refinement and coarsening schemes are developed and implemented during the crack propagation. The results were observed to be in excellent agreement with the pure atomistic simulations. The developed multiscale method is one of the first adaptive multiscale method for fracture.
A robust and simple three dimensional coarse graining technique to convert a given atomistic region into an equivalent coarse region, in the context of multiscale fracture has been developed. The developed method is the first of its kind. The developed coarse graining technique can be applied to identify and upscale the defects like: cracks, dislocations and shear bands. The current method has been applied to estimate the equivalent coarse scale models of several complex fracture patterns arrived from the pure atomistic simulations. The upscaled fracture pattern agree well with the actual fracture pattern. The error in the potential energy of the pure atomistic and the coarse grained model was observed to be acceptable.
A first novel meshless adaptive multiscale method for fracture has been developed. The phantom node method is replaced by a meshless differential reproducing kernel particle method. The differential reproducing kernel particle method is comparatively more expensive but allows for a more "natural" coupling between the two scales due to the meshless interpolation functions. The higher order continuity is also beneficial. The centro symmetry parameter is used to detect the crack tip location. The developed multiscale method is employed to study the complex crack propagation. Results based on the meshless adaptive multiscale method were observed to be in excellent agreement with the pure atomistic simulations.
The developed multiscale methods are applied to study the fracture in practical materials like Graphene and Graphene on Silicon surface. The bond stretching and the bond reorientation were observed to be the net mechanisms of the crack growth in Graphene. The influence of time step on the crack propagation was studied using two different time steps. Pure atomistic simulations of fracture in Graphene on Silicon surface are presented. Details of the three dimensional multiscale method to study the fracture in Graphene on Silicon surface are discussed.
The advent of high-performance mobile phones has opened up the opportunity to develop new context-aware applications for everyday life. In particular, applications for context-aware information retrieval in conjunction with image-based object recognition have become a focal area of recent research. In this thesis we introduce an adaptive mobile museum guidance system that allows visitors in a museum to identify exhibits by taking a picture with their mobile phone. Besides approaches to object recognition, we present different adaptation techniques that improve classification performance. After providing a comprehensive background of context-aware mobile information systems in general, we present an on-device object recognition algorithm and show how its classification performance can be improved by capturing multiple images of a single exhibit. To accomplish this, we combine the classification results of the individual pictures and consider the perspective relations among the retrieved database images. In order to identify multiple exhibits in pictures we present an approach that uses the spatial relationships among the objects in images. They make it possible to infer and validate the locations of undetected objects relative to the detected ones and additionally improve classification performance. To cope with environmental influences, we introduce an adaptation technique that establishes ad-hoc wireless networks among the visitors’ mobile devices to exchange classification data. This ensures constant classification rates under varying illumination levels and changing object placement. Finally, in addition to localization using RF-technology, we present an adaptation technique that uses user-generated spatio-temporal pathway data for person movement prediction. Based on the history of previously visited exhibits, the algorithm determines possible future locations and incorporates these predictions into the object classification process. This increases classification performance and offers benefits comparable to traditional localization approaches but without the need for additional hardware. Through multiple field studies and laboratory experiments we demonstrate the benefits of each approach and show how they influence the overall classification rate.
The nonlinear behavior of concrete can be attributed to the propagation of microcracks within the heterogeneous internal material structure. In this thesis, a mesoscale model is developed which allows for the explicit simulation of these microcracks. Consequently, the actual physical phenomena causing the complex nonlinear macroscopic behavior of concrete can be represented using rather simple material formulations. On the mesoscale, the numerical model explicitly resolves the components of the internal material structure. For concrete, a three-phase model consisting of aggregates, mortar matrix and interfacial transition zone is proposed. Based on prescribed grading curves, an efficient algorithm for the generation of three-dimensional aggregate distributions using ellipsoids is presented. In the numerical model, tensile failure of the mortar matrix is described using a continuum damage approach. In order to reduce spurious mesh sensitivities, introduced by the softening behavior of the matrix material, nonlocal integral-type material formulations are applied. The propagation of cracks at the interface between aggregates and mortar matrix is represented in a discrete way using a cohesive crack approach. The iterative solution procedure is stabilized using a new path following constraint within the framework of load-displacement-constraint methods which allows for an efficient representation of snap-back phenomena. In several examples, the influence of the randomly generated heterogeneous material structure on the stochastic scatter of the results is analyzed. Furthermore, the ability of mesoscale models to represent size effects is investigated. Mesoscale simulations require the discretization of the internal material structure. Compared to simulations on the macroscale, the numerical effort and the memory demand increases dramatically. Due to the complexity of the numerical model, mesoscale simulations are, in general, limited to small specimens. In this thesis, an adaptive heterogeneous multiscale approach is presented which allows for the incorporation of mesoscale models within nonlinear simulations of concrete structures. In heterogeneous multiscale models, only critical regions, i.e. regions in which damage develops, are resolved on the mesoscale, whereas undamaged or sparsely damage regions are modeled on the macroscale. A crucial point in simulations with heterogeneous multiscale models is the coupling of sub-domains discretized on different length scales. The sub-domains differ not only in the size of the finite elements but also in the constitutive description. In this thesis, different methods for the coupling of non-matching discretizations - constraint equations, the mortar method and the arlequin method - are investigated and the application to heterogeneous multiscale models is presented. Another important point is the detection of critical regions. An adaptive solution procedure allowing the transfer of macroscale sub-domains to the mesoscale is proposed. In this context, several indicators which trigger the model adaptation are introduced. Finally, the application of the proposed adaptive heterogeneous multiscale approach in nonlinear simulations of concrete structures is presented.
The numerical simulation of damage using phenomenological models on the macroscale was state of the art for many decades. However, such models are not able to capture the complex nature of damage, which simultaneously proceeds on multiple length scales. Furthermore, these phenomenological models usually contain damage parameters, which are physically not interpretable. Consequently, a reasonable experimental determination of these parameters is often impossible. In the last twenty years, the ongoing advance in computational capacities provided new opportunities for more and more detailed studies of the microstructural damage behavior. Today, multiphase models with several million degrees of freedom enable for the numerical simulation of micro-damage phenomena in naturally heterogeneous materials. Therewith, the application of multiscale concepts for the numerical investigation of the complex nature of damage can be realized. The presented thesis contributes to a hierarchical multiscale strategy for the simulation of brittle intergranular damage in polycrystalline materials, for example aluminum. The numerical investigation of physical damage phenomena on an atomistic microscale and the integration of these physically based information into damage models on the continuum meso- and macroscale is intended. Therefore, numerical methods for the damage analysis on the micro- and mesoscale including the scale transfer are presented and the transition to the macroscale is discussed. The investigation of brittle intergranular damage on the microscale is realized by the application of the nonlocal Quasicontinuum method, which fully describes the material behavior by atomistic potential functions, but reduces the number of atomic degrees of freedom by introducing kinematic couplings. Since this promising method is applied only by a limited group of researchers for special problems, necessary improvements have been realized in an own parallelized implementation of the 3D nonlocal Quasicontinuum method. The aim of this implementation was to develop and combine robust and efficient algorithms for a general use of the Quasicontinuum method, and therewith to allow for the atomistic damage analysis in arbitrary grain boundary configurations. The implementation is applied in analyses of brittle intergranular damage in ideal and nonideal grain boundary models of FCC aluminum, considering arbitrary misorientations. From the microscale simulations traction separation laws are derived, which describe grain boundary decohesion on the mesoscale. Traction separation laws are part of cohesive zone models to simulate the brittle interface decohesion in heterogeneous polycrystal structures. 2D and 3D mesoscale models are presented, which are able to reproduce crack initiation and propagation along cohesive interfaces in polycrystals. An improved Voronoi algorithm is developed in 2D to generate polycrystal material structures based on arbitrary distribution functions of grain size. The new model is more flexible in representing realistic grain size distributions. Further improvements of the 2D model are realized by the implementation and application of an orthotropic material model with Hill plasticity criterion to grains. The 2D and 3D polycrystal models are applied to analyze crack initiation and propagation in statically loaded samples of aluminum on the mesoscale without the necessity of initial damage definition.
In der Arbeit werden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, die Tragfähigkeit von Queranschlüssen an Trägern aus Voll- und Brettschichtholz abzuschätzen. Die Tragfähigkeit dieser Anschlüsse wird nicht allein durch die Tragfähigkeit der mechanischen Verbindungsmittel selbst begrenzt. Die Tragfähigkeit der Verbindungsmittel wird in dieser Arbeit a priori als hinreichend betrachtet. Sie kann z. B. nach der Theorie von JOHANSEN bestimmt werden. Insbesondere bei solchen Anschlüssen, welche unterhalb der Schwerachse von Trägern angeordnet sind, erzeugen die durch die Verbindungsmittel eingeleiteten Lasten Beanspruchungen, welche die Tragfähigkeiten dieser Anschlüsse bestimmen. Die Abschätzung der Tragfähigkeit auf der Basis von Spannungen hat bei dieser Problemstellung methodische Schwächen. Bauteile aus Holz können unter Gebrauchsbedingungen rißbehaftet sein. Mit den Methoden der Linear-Elastischen Bruchmechanik kann die Tragfähigkeit von rißbehafteten Bauteilen beurteilt werden. Es werden wegen der Vielzahl möglicher Ausführungvarianten lediglich Anschlüsse betrachtet, welche mit stiftförmigen Verbindungsmitteln hergestellt werden. Zur Bestimmung bruchmechanischer Kennwerte werden numerische Methoden angewendet. Es werden wichtige Parameter dieser Anschlüsse untersucht und hinsichtlich ihrer Berücksichtigung im Rechenmodell bewertet. Zur Verifizierung des Rechenmodells werden Vergleiche mit experimentellen Untersuchungen anderer Wissenschaftler angestellt. Der Einsatz verschiedener Versagenskriterien wird diskutiert. Schließlich wird ein formaler Zusammenhang zur Abschätzung der Tragfähigkeit für einzelne Verbindungsmittel hergestellt. Weiterhin wird die Tragfähigkeit von praxisüblichen Anschlüssen anhand einfacher Zusammenhänge aufgezeigt.
In recent decades, a multitude of concepts and models were developed to understand, assess and predict muscular mechanics in the context of physiological and pathological events.
Most of these models are highly specialized and designed to selectively address fields in, e.g., medicine, sports science, forensics, product design or CGI; their data are often not transferable to other ranges of application. A single universal model, which covers the details of biochemical and neural processes, as well as the development of internal and external force and motion patterns and appearance could not be practical with regard to the diversity of the questions to be investigated and the task to find answers efficiently. With reasonable limitations though, a generalized approach is feasible.
The objective of the work at hand was to develop a model for muscle simulation which covers the phenomenological aspects, and thus is universally applicable in domains where up until now specialized models were utilized. This includes investigations on active and passive motion, structural interaction of muscles within the body and with external elements, for example in crash scenarios, but also research topics like the verification of in vivo experiments and parameter identification. For this purpose, elements for the simulation of incompressible deformations were studied, adapted and implemented into the finite element code SLang. Various anisotropic, visco-elastic muscle models were developed or enhanced. The applicability was demonstrated on the base of several examples, and a general base for the implementation of further material models was developed and elaborated.
Superplasticizers are utilized both to improve the fluidity during the placement and to reduce the water content of concretes. Both effects have also an impact on the properties of the hardened concrete. As a side effect the presence of superplasticizers affects the strength development of concretes that is strongly retarded. This may lead to an ecomomical drawback of the concrete manufacturing. The present work is aimed at gaining insights on the causes of the retarding effect of superplasticizers on the hydration of Portland cement. In order to simplify the complex interactions occurring during the hydration of Portland cement the majority of the work focuses on the interaction of superplasticizer and tricalcium silicate (Ca3SiO5 or C3S, the main compound of Portland cement clinker). The tests are performed in three main parts accompanied by methods as for example isothermal conduction calorimetry, electrical conductivity, Electron Microscopy, ICP-OES, TOC, as well as Analytical Ultracentrifugation.
In the first main part and based on the interaction of cations and anionic charges of polymers, the interactions between calcium ions and superplasticizers are investigated. As a main effect calcium ions are complexed by the functional groups of the polymers (carboxy, sulfonic). Calcium ions may be both dissolved in the aqueous phase and a constitute of particle interfaces. Besides these effects it is furthermore shown that superplasticizers induce the formation of nanoscaled particles which are dispersed in the aqueous phase (cluster formation). Analogous to recent findings in the field of biomineralization, it is reasonable to assume that these nanoparticles influence the crystal growth by their assembly process.
Based on the assumption that superplasticizers hinder either or both dissolution and precipitation and by that retard the cement hydration, the impact on separate reactions is investigated. On experiments that address the solubility of C-S-H phases and portlandite, it is shown that complexation of calcium ions in the aqueous phase by functional groups of polymers increases the solubility of portlandite. Contrary, in case of C-S-H solubility the complexation of calcium ions in solution leads to decrease of the calcium ion concentration in the aqueous phase. These effects are explained by differences in adsorption of polymers on C-S-H phases and portlandite. It is proposed that adsorption is stronger on C-S-H phases compared to portlandite due to the increased specific surface area of C-S-H phases. Following that, it is claimed that before polymers are able to adsorb on C-S-H phases the functional groups must be screened by calcium ions in the aqueous phase. It is further shown that data regarding the impact of superplasticizers on the unconstrained dissolution rate of C3S does not provide a clear relation to the overall retarding effect occurring during the hydration of C3S. Both increased and decreased dissolution rate with respect to the reference sample are detected. If the complexation capability of the superplasticizers is considered then also a reduced dissolution rate of C3S is determined. Despite the fact that the global hydration process is accelerated, the addition of calcite leads to a slower dissolution rate. Thus, a hindered unconstrained dissolution of C3S as possibly cause for the retarding effect still remains open for discussion. In the last section of this part, the pure crystallization of hydrate phases (C-S-H phases, portlandite) is fathomed. Results clearly show that superplasticizers prolong the induction time and modify the rate of crystal growth during pure crystallization in particular due to the complexation of ions in solution. But this effect is insufficient to account for the overall retarding effect. Further important factors are the blocking of crystal growth faces by adsorbed polymers and the dispersion of nanoscaled particles which hinders their agglomeration in order to build up crystals.
In the last main part of the work, the previously gathered results are utilized in order to investigate hydration kinetics. During hydration, dissolution and precipitation occur in parallel. Thereby, special attention is laid on the ion composition of the aqueous phase of C3S pastes and suspensions in order to determine the rate limiting step. All in all it is concluded that the retarding effect of superplasticizers on the hydration of tricalcium silicate is based on the retardation of crystallization of hydrate phases (C-S-H phases and portlandite). Thereby, the two effects complexation of calcium ions on surfaces and stabilization of nanoscaled particles are of major importance. These mechanisms may partly be compensated by template performance and increase in solubility by complexation of ions in solution. The decreased dissolution rate of C3S by the presence of superplasticizers during the in parallel occuring hydration process can only be assessed indirectly by means of the development of the ion concentrations in the aqueous phase (reaction path). Whether this observation is the cause or the consequence within the dissolution-precipitation process and therefore accounts for the retarding effect remains a topic for further investigations.
Besides these results it is shown that superplasticizers can be associated chemically with inhibitors because they reduce the frequency factor to end the induction period. Because the activation energy is widely unaffected it is shown that the basic reaction mechanism sustain. Furthermore, a method was developed which permits for the first time the determination of ion concentrations in the aqueous phase of C3S pastes in-situ. It is shown that during the C3S hydration the ion concentration in the aqueous phase is developed correspondingly to the heat release rate (calorimetry). The method permits the differentiation of the acceleration period in three stages. It is emphasized that crystallization of the product phases of C3S hydration, namely C-S-H phases and portlandite, are responsible for the end of the induction period.
In recent years, the discussion of digitalization has arrived in the media, at conferences, and in committees of the construction and real estate industry. While some areas are producing innovations and some contributors can be described as pioneers, other topics still show deficits with regard to digital transformation. The building permit process can also be counted in this category. Regardless of how architects and engineers in planning offices rely on innovative methods, building documents have so far remained in paper form in too many cases, or are printed out after electronic submission to the authority. Existing resources – for example in the form of a building information model, which could provide support in the building permit process – are not being taken advantage of. In order to use digital tools to support decision-making by the building permit authorities, it is necessary to understand the current situation and to question conditions before pursuing the overall automation of internal authority processes as the sole solution.
With a substantive-organizational consideration of the relevant areas that influence building permit determination, an improvement of the building permit procedure within authorities is proposed. Complex areas – such as legal situations, the use of technology, as well as the subjective alternative action – are determined and structured. With the development of a model for the determination of building permitability, both an understanding of influencing factors is conveyed and an increase in transparency for all parties involved is created.
In addition to an international literature review, an empirical study served as the research method. The empirical study was conducted in the form of qualitative expert interviews in order to determine the current state in the field of building permit procedures. The collected data material was processed and subsequently subjected to a software-supported content analysis. The results were processed, in combination with findings from the literature review, in various analyses to form the basis for a proposed model.
The result of the study is a decision model that closes the gap between the current processes within the building authorities and an overall automation of the building permit review process. The model offers support to examiners and applicants in determining building permit eligibility, through its process-oriented structuring of decision-relevant facts. The theoretical model could be transferred into practice in the form of a web application.
The capitalization of ‘certified’ sustainable building sector will be investigated over the power theory of value approach of Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler. The study will be initiated by questioning why the environment problems are one of the first items on the agenda and by sharing the ideas of scholars who approaches the subject skeptically, because the predominant literature underlying the necessity and prominence of the topic is already well-known and adapted by the majority. Over the theory developed by Nitzan and Bichler, the concepts of capitalization, strategic sabotage, power, legitimacy, and obedience will be discussed. The hypothesis of “the absentee owners of the construction sector, holding the whip hand and capitalizing the ecology, control the growth and the creativity of green building production and make it carbon-dependent, in order to increase their profit margin” will be questioned. To strengthen the arguments in the hypothesis, the factors, the institutional arrangements, value measurement methods, which affect directly the net present value, will be investigated both in corporation and in building scale in detail, because net present value/ capitalization is asserted as the most important criteria by Nitzan and Bichler to make the investment decisions in the capitalist economic system. To trace the implications of power and the strategic sabotage that power caused, as the empirical dimension of this dissertation, an interface exploring the correlational ties between the climate responsive architecture and the ever changing political, economical, and social contexts and building economics praxis by decades will be developed and the expert interviews will be conducted with the design teams and the appraisers.
A parametric method for building design optimization based on Life Cycle Assessment - Appendix
(2016)
The building sector is responsible for a large share of human environmental impacts, over which architects and planners have a major influence. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a method for environmental building design optimization based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that is applicable as part of the design process. The research approach includes a thorough analysis of LCA for buildings in relation to the architectural design stages and the establishment of a requirement catalogue. The key concept of the novel method called Parametric Life Cycle Assessment(PLCA) is to combine LCA with parametric design. The application of this method to three examples shows that building designs can be optimized time-efficiently and holistically from the beginning of the most influential early design stages, an achievement which has not been possible until now.
The building sector is responsible for a large share of human environmental impacts. Architects and planners are the key players for reducing the environmental impacts of buildings, as they define them to a large extent. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) allows for the holistic environmental analysis of a building. However, it is currently not employed to improve the environmental performance of buildings during the design process, although the potential for optimization is greatest there. One main reason is the lack of an adequate means of applying LCA in the architectural design process. As such, the main objective of this thesis is to develop a method for environmental building design optimization that is applicable in the design process. The key concept proposed in this thesis is to combine LCA with parametric design, because it proved to have a high potential for design optimization.
The research approach includes the analysis of the characteristics of LCA for buildings and the architectural design stages to identify the research gap, the establishment of a requirement catalogue, the development of a method based on a digital, parametric model, and an evaluation of the method.
An analysis of currently available approaches for LCA of buildings indicates that they are either holistic but very complex or simple but not holistic. Furthermore, none of them provide the opportunity for optimization in the architectural design process, which is the main research gap. The requirements derived from the analysis have been summarized in the form of a catalogue. This catalogue can be used to evaluate both existing approaches and potential methods developed in the future. In this thesis, it served as guideline for the development of the parametric method – Parametric Life Cycle Assessment (PLCA). The unique main feature of PLCA is that embodied and operational environmental impact are calculated together. In combination with the self-contained workflow of the method, this provides the basis for holistic, time-efficient environmental design optimization. The application of PLCA to three examples indicated that all established mandatory requirements are met. In all cases, environmental impact could be significantly reduced. In comparison to conventional approaches, PLCA was shown to be much more time-efficient.
PLCA allows architects to focus on their main task of designing the building, and finally makes LCA practically useful as one of several criteria for design optimization. With PLCA, the building design can be time-efficiently optimized from the beginning of the most influential early design stages, which has not been possible until now. PLCA provides a good starting point for further research. In the future, it could be extended by integrating the social and economic aspects of sustainability.
Material failure can be tackled by so-called nonlocal models, which introduce an intrinsic length scale into the formulation and, in the case of material failure, restore the well-posedness of the underlying boundary value problem or initial boundary value problem. Among nonlocal models, peridynamics (PD) has attracted a lot of attention as it allows the natural transition from continuum to discontinue and thus allows modeling of discrete cracks without the need to describe and track the crack topology, which has been a major obstacle in traditional discrete crack approaches. This is achieved by replacing the divergence of the Cauchy stress tensor through an integral over so-called bond forces, which account for the interaction of particles. A quasi-continuum approach is then used to calibrate the material parameters of the bond forces, i.e., equating the PD energy with the energy of a continuum. One major issue for the application of PD to general complex problems is that they are limited to fairly simple material behavior and pure mechanical problems based on explicit time integration. PD has been extended to other applications but losing simultaneously its simplicity and ease in modeling material failure. Furthermore, conventional PD suffers from instability and hourglass modes that require stabilization. It also requires the use of constant horizon sizes, which drastically reduces its computational efficiency. The latter issue was resolved by the so-called dual-horizon peridynamics (DH-PD) formulation and the introduction of the duality of horizons.
Within the nonlocal operator method (NOM), the concept of nonlocality is further extended and can be considered a generalization of DH-PD. Combined with the energy functionals of various physical models, the nonlocal forms based on the dual-support concept can be derived. In addition, the variation of the energy functional allows implicit formulations of the nonlocal theory. While traditional integral equations are formulated in an integral domain, the dual-support approaches are based on dual integral domains. One prominent feature of NOM is its compatibility with variational and weighted residual methods. The NOM yields a direct numerical implementation based on the weighted residual method for many physical problems without the need for shape functions. Only the definition of the energy or boundary value problem is needed to drastically facilitate the implementation. The nonlocal operator plays an equivalent role to the derivatives of the shape functions in meshless methods and finite element methods (FEM). Based on the variational principle, the residual and the tangent stiffness matrix can be obtained with ease by a series of matrix multiplications. In addition, NOM can be used to derive many nonlocal models in strong form.
The principal contributions of this dissertation are the implementation and application of NOM, and also the development of approaches for dealing with fractures within the NOM, mostly for dynamic fractures. The primary coverage and results of the dissertation are as follows:
-The first/higher-order implicit NOM and explicit NOM, including a detailed description of the implementation, are presented. The NOM is based on so-called support, dual-support, nonlocal operators, and an operate energy functional ensuring stability. The nonlocal operator is a generalization of the conventional differential operators. Combining with the method of weighted residuals and variational principles, NOM establishes the residual and tangent stiffness matrix of operate energy functional through some simple matrix without the need of shape functions as in other classical computational methods such as FEM. NOM only requires the definition of the energy drastically simplifying its implementation. For the sake of conciseness, the implementation in this chapter is focused on linear elastic solids only, though the NOM can handle more complex nonlinear problems. An explicit nonlocal operator method for the dynamic analysis of elasticity solid problems is also presented. The explicit NOM avoids the calculation of the tangent stiffness matrix as in the implicit NOM model. The explicit scheme comprises the Verlet-velocity algorithm. The NOM can be very flexible and efficient for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). It's also quite easy for readers to use the NOM and extend it to solve other complicated physical phenomena described by one or a set of PDEs. Several numerical examples are presented to show the capabilities of this method.
-A nonlocal operator method for the dynamic analysis of (thin) Kirchhoff plates is proposed. The nonlocal Hessian operator is derived from a second-order Taylor series expansion. NOM is higher-order continuous, which is exploited for thin plate analysis that requires $C^1$ continuity. The nonlocal dynamic governing formulation and operator energy functional for Kirchhoff plates are derived from a variational principle. The Verlet-velocity algorithm is used for time discretization. After confirming the accuracy of the nonlocal Hessian operator, several numerical examples are simulated by the nonlocal dynamic Kirchhoff plate formulation.
-A nonlocal fracture modeling is developed and applied to the simulation of quasi-static and dynamic fractures using the NOM. The phase field's nonlocal weak and associated strong forms are derived from a variational principle. The NOM requires only the definition of energy. We present both a nonlocal implicit phase field model and a nonlocal explicit phase field model for fracture; the first approach is better suited for quasi-static fracture problems, while the key application of the latter one is dynamic fracture. To demonstrate the performance of the underlying approach, several benchmark examples for quasi-static and dynamic fracture are solved.
Tropical coral reefs, one of the world’s oldest ecosystems which support some of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet, are currently facing an unprecedented ecological crisis during this massive human-activity-induced period of extinction. Hence, tropical reefs symbolically stand for the destructive effects of human activities on nature [4], [5]. Artificial reefs are excellent examples of how architectural design can be combined with ecosystem regeneration [6], [7], [8]. However, to work at the interface between the artificial and the complex and temporal nature of natural systems presents a challenge, i.a. in respect to the B-rep modelling legacy of computational modelling.
The presented doctorate investigates strategies on how to apply digital practice to realise what is an essential bulwark to retain reefs in impossibly challenging times. Beyond the main question of integrating computational modelling and high precision monitoring strategies in artificial coral reef design, this doctorate explores techniques, methods, and linking frameworks to support future research and practice in ecology led design contexts.
Considering the many existing approaches for artificial coral reefs design, one finds they often fall short in precisely understanding the relationships between architectural and ecological aspects (e.g. how a surface design and material composition can foster coral larvae settlement, or structural three-dimensionality enhance biodiversity) and lack an integrated underwater (UW) monitoring process. Such a process is necessary in order to gather knowledge about the ecosystem and make it available for design, and to learn whether artificial structures contribute to reef regeneration or rather harm the coral reef ecosystem.
For the research, empirical experimental methods were applied: Algorithmic coral reef design, high precision UW monitoring, computational modelling and simulation, and validated through parallel real-world physical experimentation – two Artificial Reef Prototypes (ARPs) in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia (2012–today). Multiple discrete methods and sub techniques were developed in seventeen computational experiments and applied in a way in which many are cross valid and integrated in an overall framework that is offered as a significant contribution to the field. Other main contributions include the Ecosystem-aware design approach, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for coral reef design, algorithmic design and fabrication of Biorock cathodes, new high precision UW monitoring strategies, long-term real-world constructed experiments, new digital analysis methods and two new front-end web-based tools for reef design and monitoring reefs. The methodological framework is a finding of the research that has many technical components that were tested and combined in this way for the very first time.
In summary, the thesis responds to the urgency and relevance in preserving marine species in tropical reefs during this massive extinction period by offering a differentiated approach towards artificial coral reefs – demonstrating the feasibility of digitally designing such ‘living architecture’ according to multiple context and performance parameters. It also provides an in-depth critical discussion of computational design and architecture in the context of ecosystem regeneration and Planetary Thinking. In that respect, the thesis functions as both theoretical and practical background for computational design, ecology and marine conservation – not only to foster the design of artificial coral reefs technically but also to provide essential criteria and techniques for conceiving them.
Keywords: Artificial coral reefs, computational modelling, high precision underwater monitoring, ecology in design.
A Flexible Model for Incorporating Construction Product Data into Building Information Models
(2006)
When considering the integration and interoperability between AEC-FM software applications and construction products' data, it is essential to investigate the state-of-the-art and conduct an extensive review in the literature of both Building Information Models and electronic product catalogues. It was found that there are many reasons and key-barriers that hinder the developed solutions from being implemented. Among the reasons that are attributed to the failure of many previous research projects to achieve this integration aim are the proprietary developments of CAD vendors, the fragmented nature of construction product data i.e. commercial and technical data, the prefabrication versus on-site production, marketing strategies and brand-naming, the referencing of a product to the data of its constituents, availability of life-cycle data in a single point in time where it is needed all over the whole life-cycle of the product itself, taxonomy problems, the inability to extract search parameters from the building information model to participate in the conduction of parametric searches. Finally and most important is keeping the product data in the building information model consistent and up-to-date. Hence, it was found that there is a great potential for construction product data to be integrated to building information models by electronic means in a dynamic and extensible manner that prevents the model from getting obsolete. The study has managed to establish a solution concept that links continually updated and extensible life-cycle product data to a software independent building information model (IFC) all over the life span of the product itself. As a result, the solution concept has managed to reach a reliable building information model that is capable of overcoming the majority of the above mentioned barriers. In the meantime, the solution is capable of referencing, retrieving, updating, and merging product data at any point in time. A distributed network application that represents all the involved parties in the construction product value chain is simulated by real software tools to demonstrate the proof of concept of this research work.
Abstract Developing and emerging tropical Asian countries have encountered fast urban development due to the migration of farmers seeking a better life in the city. This resulted in a lack of appro-priate infrastructure and inappropriate social services in many cities. Municipal solid waste management is no exception and is in fact often placed at the bottom of the list of priorities for the cities’ appropriate urban management plans since laws and regulations must first be for-mulated and implemented. The problem of unmanaged municipal solid waste certainly leads to air pollution, disease, and to soil and water contamination. These problems in tropical climates are compounded with high temperature, high-level humidity, heavy rainfall and frequent flooding. Stagnant water and leachate from waste quickly become the breeding grounds of in-sects, rodents and bacteria, thus creating a health hazard for workers and local populations. Moreover, water and groundwater contamination may lead to serious environmental degrada-tion with direct impacts on water supplies, and in the fast degradation of agricultural products, the backbone of most tropical Asian countries. Many cities still allow or tolerate dumping of waste in uncontrolled sites, and open burning that disperses particulates that most likely contain dioxins and furans. Even with increasingly scarce land availability within or in proximity of the cities, sanitary landfill is still the most often cho-sen disposal method around Asia because of its lower cost when compared to modern treatment systems. Yet, most of these landfill sites do not have proper lining, daily covering, methane recovery devices, leachate control systems, nor do they have long-term closure and monitoring plans, which implies short and long-term hazards. Some municipalities opted for incineration, which usually entails high operation and maintenance costs because of the need for supple-mental fuel and often-inappropriate running conditions. Although tropical conditions appear to favor certain disposal systems such as composting, appropriate technology needs to be identi-fied in order to reduce operation and maintenance costs while ensuring good quality outputs; compost plants have often been closed because of poor quality products due to the high content of plastic and glass particulates in the finished product. Tropical Asian cities are now required to identify affordable and sustainable solutions for the management of their increasing amount of waste generated daily, while ensuring minimal environmental impact, social acceptance and minimal land use. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a user-friendly decision-making tool for public administrators and government officials in tropical Asian developing and emerging cities. This tool was developed based on a list of selected decision-making issues necessary in making an informed decision. The decision-making tool is to be used by decision-makers in making a pre-liminary assessment of a most appropriate waste management and treatment system for their municipality. Tropical Asian cities must consider a number of issues when deciding on their waste management plan such as the continuously changing quantum and composition of waste associated with the increasing population and income per capita, the high humidity levels, and the often-limited financial resources. Other determinant factors include legal, political, institu-tional, social and technical issues. Furthermore, administrators must realize the importance of each stage involved in waste management, which includes waste generation, collection, trans-port, waste characteristics, disposal and treatment. To better understand the complexity of the issues involved in tropical Asian municipalities, the city of Bangkok, Thailand’s largest city and capital, was selected as a case study for the management of its 9,000 tonnes of waste gen-erated daily. Numerous interviews, meetings along with the review of documents, reports and site visits offered an inside view of the tropical city’s various decision-making issues towards its waste management plan, and examine specific problems encountered by the city’s decision-makers. The review and analysis of the decision-making issues involved in Bangkok’s waste management plan showed how the decision-making tool can be used in various Asian tropical cities. In conclusion, waste management in an emerging tropical country involves specific challenges that need to be addressed. Economical, technical and social criteria need to be fully understood as to capacitate government officials in the selection of the most appropriate urban waste man-agement system. Limited budgets, lack of public awareness and poor systems’ management often cloud decision-makers in choosing what appears to be the best solution in the short term, but more costly over the years. Weather conditions and scarcity of land in proximity of the city make waste management especially challenging. The decision-making framework offers a tool to decision-makers, as to facilitate the understanding and identification of key issues necessary in the formulation of a sustainable urban waste management plan and in the selection of a tech-nically, economically and socially acceptable integrated MSW management system. A detailed feasibility study and master plan will follow the preliminary study as to define the plant´s specifications, its location and its financing.
Interactive scientific visualizations are widely used for the visual exploration and examination of physical data resulting from measurements or simulations. Driven by technical advancements of data acquisition and simulation technologies, especially in the geo-scientific domain, large amounts of highly detailed subsurface data are generated. The oil and gas industry is particularly pushing such developments as hydrocarbon reservoirs are increasingly difficult to discover and exploit. Suitable visualization techniques are vital for the discovery of the reservoirs as well as their development and production. However, the ever-growing scale and complexity of geo-scientific data sets result in an expanding disparity between the size of the data and the capabilities of current computer systems with regard to limited memory and computing resources.
In this thesis we present a unified out-of-core data-virtualization system supporting geo-scientific data sets consisting of multiple large seismic volumes and height-field surfaces, wherein each data set may exceed the size of the graphics memory or possibly even the main memory. Current data sets fall within the range of hundreds of gigabytes up to terabytes in size. Through the mutual utilization of memory and bandwidth resources by multiple data sets, our data-management system is able to share and balance limited system resources among different data sets. We employ multi-resolution methods based on hierarchical octree and quadtree data structures to generate level-of-detail working sets of the data stored in main memory and graphics memory for rendering. The working set generation in our system is based on a common feedback mechanism with inherent support for translucent geometric and volumetric data sets. This feedback mechanism collects information about required levels of detail during the rendering process and is capable of directly resolving data visibility without the application of any costly occlusion culling approaches. A central goal of the proposed out-of-core data management system is an effective virtualization of large data sets. Through an abstraction of the level-of-detail working sets, our system allows developers to work with extremely large data sets independent of their complex internal data representations and physical memory layouts.
Based on this out-of-core data virtualization infrastructure, we present distinct rendering approaches for specific visualization problems of large geo-scientific data sets. We demonstrate the application of our data virtualization system and show how multi-resolution data can be treated exactly the same way as regular data sets during the rendering process. An efficient volume ray casting system is presented for the rendering of multiple arbitrarily overlapping multi-resolution volume data sets. Binary space-partitioning volume decomposition of the bounding boxes of the cube-shaped volumes is used to identify the overlapping and non-overlapping volume regions in order to optimize the rendering process. We further propose a ray casting-based rendering system for the visualization of geological subsurface models consisting of multiple very detailed height fields. The rendering of an entire stack of height-field surfaces is accomplished in a single rendering pass using a two-level acceleration structure, which combines a minimum-maximum quadtree for empty-space skipping and sorted lists of depth intervals to restrict ray intersection searches to relevant height fields and depth ranges. Ultimately, we present a unified rendering system for the visualization of entire geological models consisting of highly detailed stacked horizon surfaces and massive volume data. We demonstrate a single-pass ray casting approach facilitating correct visual interaction between distinct translucent model components, while increasing the rendering efficiency by reducing processing overhead of potentially invisible parts of the model. The combination of image-order rendering approaches and the level-of-detail feedback mechanism used by our out-of-core data-management system inherently accounts for occlusions of different data types without the application of costly culling techniques.
The unified out-of-core data-management and virtualization infrastructure considerably facilitates the implementation of complex visualization systems. We demonstrate its applicability for the visualization of large geo-scientific data sets using output-sensitive rendering techniques. As a result, the magnitude and multitude of data sets that can be interactively visualized is significantly increased compared to existing approaches.
Recent years have seen a gradual shift in focus of international policies from a national and regional perspective to that of cities, a shift which is closely related to the rapid urbanization of developing countries. As revealed in the 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects published by the United Nations, 51% of the global population (approximately 3.6 billion people) lives in cities. The report predicts that by 2050, the world’s urban population will increase by 2.3 billion, making up 68% of the population. The growth of urbanization in the next few decades is expected to primarily come from developing countries, one third of which will be in China and India.
With rapid urbanization and the ongoing growth of mega cities, cities must become increasingly resilient and intelligent to cope with numerous challenges and crises like droughts and floods arising from extreme climate, destruction brought by severe natural disasters, and aggregated social contradictions resulting from economic crises. All cities face the urban development dynamics and uncertainties arising from these problems. Under such circumstances, cities are considered the critical path from crisis to prosperity, so scholars and organizations have proposed the construction of “resilient cities.” On the one hand, this theory emphasizes cities’ defenses and buffering capacity against disasters, crises and uncertainties, as well as recovery after destruction; on the other hand, it highlights the learning capacity of urban systems, identification of opportunities amid challenges, and maintenance of development vitality. Some scholars even believe that urban resilience is a powerful supplement to sustainable development. Hence, resilience assessment has become the latest and most important perspective for evaluating the development and crisis defense capacity of cities.
Rather than a general abstract concept, urban resilience is a comprehensive measurement of a city’s level of development. The dynamic development of problems is reflected through quantitative indicators and appraisal systems not only from the perspective of academic research, but also governmental policy, so as to scientifically guide development, and measure and compare cities’ development levels. Although international scholars have proposed
quantitative methods for urban resilience assessment, they are however insufficiently systematic and regionally adaptive for China’s current urban development needs. On the basis of comparative study on European and North American resilient city theories, therefore, this paper puts forwards a theoretical framework for resilient city systems consistent with China’s national conditions in light of economic development pressure, natural resource depletion, pollution, and other salient development crises in China. The key factors influencing urban resilience are taken into full consideration; expert appraisal is conducted based on the Delphi Method and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to design an extensible and updatable resilient city evaluation system which is sufficiently systematic, geographically adaptable, and sustainable for China’s current urban development needs. Finally, Changsha is taken as the main case for empirical study on comprehensive evaluation of similar cities in Central China to improve the indicator system.
Multi-user projection systems provide a coherent 3D interaction space for multiple co-located users that facilitates mutual awareness, full-body interaction, and the coordination of activities. The users perceive the shared scene from their respective viewpoints and can directly interact with the 3D content.
This thesis reports on novel interaction patterns for collaborative 3D interaction for local and distributed user groups based on such multi-user projection environments. A particular focus of our developments lies in the provision of multiple independent interaction territories in our workspaces and their tight integration into collaborative workflows. The motivation for such multi-focus workspaces is grounded in research on social cooperation patterns, specifically in the requirement for supporting phases of loose and tight collaboration and the emergence of dedicated orking territories for private usage and public exchange. We realized independent interaction territories in the form of handheld virtual viewing windows and multiple co-located hardware displays in a joint workspace. They provide independent views of a shared virtual environment and serve as access points for the exploration and manipulation of the 3D content. Their tight integration into our workspace supports fluent transitions between individual work and joint user engagement. The different affordances of various displays in an exemplary workspace consisting of a large 3D wall, a 3D tabletop, and handheld virtual viewing windows, promote different usage scenarios, for instance for views from an egocentric perspective, miniature scene representations, close-up views, or storage and transfer areas. This work shows that this versatile workspace can make the cooperation of multiple people in joint tasks more effective, e.g. by parallelizing activities, distributing subtasks, and providing mutual support.
In order to create, manage, and share virtual viewing windows, this thesis presents the interaction technique of Photoportals, a tangible interface based on the metaphor of digital photography. They serve as configurable viewing territories and enable the individual examination of scene details as well as the immediate sharing of the prepared views. Photoportals are specifically designed to complement other interface facets and provide extended functionality for scene navigation, object manipulation, and for the creation of temporal recordings of activities in the virtual scene.
A further objective of this work is the realization of a coherent interaction space for direct 3D input across the independent interaction territories in multi-display setups. This requires the simultaneous consideration of user input in several potential interaction windows as well as configurable disambiguation schemes for the implicit selection of distinct interaction contexts. We generalized the required implementation structures into a high-level software pattern and demonstrated its versatility by means of various multi-context 3D interaction tools.
Additionally, this work tackles specific problems related to group navigation in multiuser projection systems. Joint navigation of a collocated group of users can lead to unintentional collisions when passing narrow scene sections. In this context, we suggest various solutions that prevent individual collisions during group navigation and discuss their effect on the perceived integrity of the travel group and the 3D scene. For collaboration scenarios involving distributed user groups, we furthermore explored different configurations for joint and individual travel.
Last but not least, this thesis provides detailed information and implementation templates for the realization of the proposed interaction techniques and collaborative workspaces in scenegraph-based VR systems. These contributions to the abstraction of specific interaction patterns, such as group navigation and multi-window interaction, facilitate their reuse in other virtual reality systems and their adaptation to further collaborative scenarios.
Container sind nicht nur das bei weitem wichtigste Transportmittel für die allermeisten Waren, mit denen wir tagtäglich zu tun haben. Container sind, vielleicht wegen ihrer schlichten, klaren Ausdruckskraft, zu dem Symbol der Globalisierung geworden und vieler Phänomene, die man mit dieser Entwicklung in Zusammenhang bringt. Dabei handelt es sich um ein durch und durch ambivalentes Symbol. Container stehen genauso für die beeindruckende Dynamik des modernen Kapitalismus und den ihm trotz aller Krisen zugrunde liegenden Optimismus wie für die Ängste und Einwände dagegen; gegen die Indifferenz eines rein auf Optimierung ausgelegten logistischen Organisationshandelns und gegen die zwangsweise Annäherung und Angleichung ehedem entfernter Weltgegenden durch die exponentielle Vermehrung der Transport- und Kommunikationsvorgänge. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit liegt im 20. Jahrhundert. Sie untersucht die (Vor)Geschichte und Theorie des Containers als moderner Kulturtechnik und zentralem Bestandteil eines weltumspannenden logistischen Systems. Und sie zeigt ihn als Element eines Denkens und Organisationshandelns in modularen, beweglichen Raumeinheiten, das sich auch auf viele andere Bereiche außerhalb des Warentransports übertragen lässt. Dafür beschreibt und analysiert sie "Containersituationen" in so unterschiedlichen Feldern wie Handel und Transport, Architektur, Wissenschaften, Kunst und den sozialen Realitäten von Migranten und Seeleuten.
In the history of 'villages' in Shenzhen, rich traditional cultural resources that are directly related to the folk life in urban corporate community still exist today, synchronously agricultural economy of urban corporate community is transformed into joint-stock economy, and natural villages are transformed into 'heterogeneous' space of city. The most significant fact in the modern social transition is that modern societies have surpassed traditional societies, and cities have surpassed the country. Weber, Durkheim, Tönnies, Simmel and others devoted themselves to cultivating the essence of social transition. The most influential theory to observe and analyze it is the two-tiered approach of ideal type. Tönnies made distinction between 'Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft', Durkheim distinguished 'mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity', and Redfield analyzed 'folk society and urban society'. In those classical theories, the former transit to the later is considered to be a general rule of transition from traditional society to modern society, and from traditional community to modern community. However, ever since Redfield used the dependent relationship and interactive framework of 'great tradition' and 'little tradition' to explain various complicated phenomena in the transition from tradition to modern in 1950s, he suggested that a folk-urban continuum can be formed in the transition from folk society to urban society. 'Both terms, ‘city’ and ‘country’, are not and have never been limited or restricted to their obvious denotations: ‘city’ is not and has never been only urban. As a category it always encompasses (includes, embodies, embraces) itself and its opposite, the country' (Hassenpflug 2002, 46). Generally, social groups and culture characterized by weak 'potential' will take their own 'little tradition' as 'bridge' and agency, in order to enter or melt themselves into a 'great tradition' that embodies great 'potential' to seek for space to live and develop. There are many different types of transitions that villagers enter and get melt into 'great tradition' through their individual 'little tradition'. There are exploration and development of traditional resources in 'segmentation', such as the frequent relation between a great flow of peasants to cities and the network of kinship, and of earthbound relations; alternatively, there are assistances and utilization of resources of a whole corporate network, such as the traditional corporate community’s organization of local resources during the process of non-agriculturization of villages; and 'villages' in Shenzhen is of the latter situation. The following conclusion can be made based on the above analyses: urban corporate community formed in the process of non-agricultural development and urbanization is an organizing dependency on which villagers melt into city and adapt to urban life. The unique inner-structure and function determine that comparing with other organizations, it has a better performance, efficiency and more humanity care. Firstly, corporate community which is re-organized in the non-agricultural process currently is the only and the most effective organizational resources that can be utilized and has significant meanings in protecting villagers’ interest and benefit; secondly, in the short term, other approaches do not have the advantage and the effect as urban corporate community has on the focusing degree of public affairs in the comprehensive urbanization process; thirdly, the 'new' key connotation of urban corporate community, including its community management functions, is the main reason for which such community has the rationality of being; fourthly, urban corporate community will inevitably face many problems in the urbanization due to its inner fixed characteristics (lack of external support), but to a certain degree it has the ability to self-repair and problem solving under the precondition that, the government and society have a fair, impersonal view of 'villages', and base on this view providing multi-supports, especially providing rational system arrangement and policy supports. Consequently, in order to preserve and protect social system and cultural heritage within the 'villages', and gradually make the coordinative development of 'great tradition' represented by cities and of 'little tradition' represented by 'villages', 'soft reconstruction' rather than 'hard reconstruction' should be adopted by the government, during the recent reconstruction of 'villages' in Shenzhen.
The research examines the system of strategic and territorial planning of St. Petersburg focusing on Lomonosov (Oranienbaum) as its case study. The study provides the analysis of the planning documentation developed for the city in the post-Soviet period. In particular, it elaborates on the currently enforced Strategy of Economic and Social Development of St. Petersburg-2030 (2014) and the City General Plan (2005), discussing the aspects of their development and implementation, as well as complex interrelation.
Thereby, peculiarities of the spatial development of the St. Petersburg agglomeration are also investigated, elaborating on the state policy on agglomerations, historic development of St. Petersburg and relations with the Leningrad Region, governance and imbalances of the St. Petersburg spatial development, including proposed development scenarios.
Consequently, the study employs a highly indicative case of the Lomonosov town municipal unit aiming to illustrate the practical implementation of administrative, territorial and strategic policies in a given context within a system of the state planning adopted in St. Petersburg, in particular, taking into consideration recently proclaimed necessity for the transition to a polycentric city model following an innovative scenario for the socioeconomic and spatial development.
In particular, Lomonosov (Oranienbaum) is explored egarding its current socio-economic situation and development scenarios: industrial site and cultural tourism. The Oranienbaum museum and nature-reserve is also thoroughly assessed with regard to its cultural tourism potential.
Finally, the urban environment of Lomonosov (Oranienbaum) is comprehensively scrutinized in terms of its historic development, residential housing typology, UNESCO World Heritage preservation and local urban heritage. In conclusion, the data on Lomonosov present in the St. Petersburg strategic and territorial planning documents is provided.
Die Dissertation „Hey! I’m an Angel! Zum Verhältnis von Medium, Subjekt und Wirklichkeit in Eija-Liisa Ahtilas Videoinstallationen“ untersucht in der Hauptsache vier zentrale Videoinstallationen Ahtilas aus den Jahren 1995 bis 2014. Grundlegend ist die These, dass Ahtilas Arbeiten nicht, wie bisher angenommen, in den Kontext einer medien-, erkenntnis- und subjektkritischen Videokunst einzuordnen sind. Stattdessen werden sie als mediale Vehikel intersubjektiv geprägter Wirklichkeitserfahrungen für das Subjekt bereitgestellt: Entgegen dem aktuellen Forschungsstand arbeitet sich Ahtila nicht an der Kritik des Mediums Film/Video ab, das einen wirklichkeitsverfälschenden oder -ersetzenden Einfluss auf das manipulierte Subjekt nimmt. Vielmehr nutzt die Künstlerin das Potenzial des Mediums Film/Video aus, um einem relativ stabilen Subjekt die Wirklichkeitserfahrungen Anderer zu öffnen und auf diese Weise seinen Erfahrungshorizont zu erweitern.
Der systematische Schwerpunkt der Arbeit liegt erstens darauf, ein sich durch Ahtilas bisheriges Schaffen ziehendes ‚Ziel‘ der Integration der Betrachterin in eine intersubjektive Erfahrungssphäre nachvollziehbar zu machen. Hierfür wird insbesondere eine Perspektive auf die frühen Arbeiten entwickelt, in der die Brüche in Ahtila Arbeiten integrative statt distanzierende Wirkung haben. Zweitens wird in eingehenden Analysen der Wandel verständlich, der sich zwischen Ahtilas früher Schaffensphase (1995 – 2002) und der aktuellen Schaffensphase (seit 2010) hinsichtlich der Art und Weise vollzieht, wie diese Integration gelingt. Es zeigt sich, dass der Einstieg in die intersubjektiv geprägten Erfahrungssphären in der frühen Phase ästhetisch konstituiert ist. Mit der aktuellen Schaffensphase werden hingegen alltägliche Formen der Empathie und Mimesis zentral, sowie deren leibliche Konsequenzen für die Betrachterin. Drittens wird eine zunehmende pragmatische Tendenz darin deutlich, die Integration der Betrachterin in die Erfahrungen Anderer zu ermöglichen. Dies wird vor dem Hintergrund eines allgemeinen pragmatischen Zuges aktueller zeitgeistiger Bewegungen erläutert. Viertens wird gezeigt, dass Ahtilas Arbeiten auf der Annahme einer Kontinuität in gewisser Hinsicht von der außerfilmischen Wirklichkeit in die filmische Fiktion hinein basieren, sowie auf dem Verständnis filmischer Fiktionen als virtuelle Weltfassungen. Ahtila fragt auf der Grundlage dieses Verständnisses filmischer Fiktion nicht nach der Wahrheit dieser Fiktion als These über die Wirklichkeit, wie es dem Forschungskanon über die Künstlerin zu entnehmen ist. Sondern nach der Wirksamkeit der filmischen Fiktion für die Wirklichkeit.