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- 2010 (114) (remove)
Der Siedlungsbau in Hanoi kan heutzutage - über 20 Jahre nach dem Beginn der Renovierungspolitik udn der Markwirtschaft, die dem Städtebau eine große Gelegenheit zur Verbesserung gegeben haben - zurückblickend und eingeschätz werden. Die letzten 20 Jahre sind eine kurze Zeit in der tausendjährigen Geschichte der Stadt, trotzdem entwickelte sich die Stadt in diesem Zeitraum am schnellsten und auch am problematischten aus Sicht der Umwelt. Ohne eine passende Entwicklungsstategie oder eine geeignete Maßnahme bei der Stadtplanung vergrößert sich der Konflikt Ökonomie - Ökologie immer weiter. ... Die Findung eines neuen Wohnkonzeptes im Gleichgewicht zwischen Ökonomie und der Ökologie ist eine hochaktuelle Frage geworden.
Energie-basierte Auslegung von Tragsystemen für Hochhäuser in Abhängigkeit von der Größenordnung
(2010)
Angelehnt an Entwicklungen des aktuellen Hochhausbaus, die Gebäudehöhen von über 600 m vorsehen, behandelt die vorliegende Arbeit Möglichkeiten der Konzeption von Aussteifungssystemen. Ein ausgewähltes Tragwerk aus Stahlbetonschubwänden und einer Höhe von 800 m wird mit der 3D-Analyse-Software ETABS (Version 9.0.9) bemessen. Dieses Tragwerk wird mit extremen Einwirkungen infolge Wind und Erdbeben belastet. Da ein solch hohes Gebäude außerhalb der Anwendungsgrenzen internationaler Normen liegt, wird ein eigener Ansatz für den Lastfall Wind zur Analyse des Schwingungsverhaltens gewählt. Aufbauend auf den Ergebnissen der Analyse werden Möglichkeiten der Reduktion bzw. Dämpfung von kritischen Gebäudeschwingungen diskutiert. Die konkrete Dämpfungsvariante „Passiver Schwingungsdämpfer“ (Tuned Mass Damper) wird, unter Verwendung von Optimierungskriterien, in ETBAS modelliert und in die Berechnungen eingebunden. Dieses Tragwerk wird zwei kleineren Tragwerken (H = 200 m bzw. 400 m) gegenübergestellt und mittels dem MIPS-Konzept (Material-Input pro Serviceeinheit) analysiert. Ziel ist es dabei, qualitative Aussagen zur Nachhaltigkeit und ökologischer Effizienz besonders hoher Gebäude zu treffen.
In nonlinear simulations the loading is, in general, applied in an incremental way. Path-following algorithms are used to trace the equilibrium path during the failure process. Standard displacement controlled solution strategies fail if snap-back phenomena occur. In this contribution, a path-following algorithm based on the dissipation of the inelastic energy is presented which allows for the simulation of snap-backs. Since the constraint is defined in terms of the internal energy, the algorithm is not restricted to continuum damage models. Furthermore, no a priori knowledge about the final damage distribution is required. The performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated using nonlinear mesoscale simulations.
ESTIMATING UNCERTAINTIES FROM INACCURATE MEASUREMENT DATA USING MAXIMUM ENTROPY DISTRIBUTIONS
(2010)
Modern engineering design often considers uncertainties in geometrical and material parameters and in the loading conditions. Based on initial assumptions on the stochastic properties as mean values, standard deviations and the distribution functions of these uncertain parameters a probabilistic analysis is carried out. In many application fields probabilities of the exceedance of failure criteria are computed. The out-coming failure probability is strongly dependent on the initial assumptions on the random variable properties. Measurements are always more or less inaccurate data due to varying environmental conditions during the measurement procedure. Furthermore the estimation of stochastic properties from a limited number of realisation also causes uncertainties in these quantities. Thus the assumption of exactly known stochastic properties by neglecting these uncertainties may not lead to very useful probabilistic measures in a design process. In this paper we assume the stochastic properties of a random variable as uncertain quantities caused by so-called epistemic uncertainties. Instead of predefined distribution types we use the maximum entropy distribution which enables the description of a wide range of distribution functions based on the first four stochastic moments. These moments are taken again as random variables to model the epistemic scatter in the stochastic assumptions. The main point of this paper is the discussion on the estimation of these uncertain stochastic properties based on inaccurate measurements. We investigate the bootstrap algorithm for its applicability to quantify the uncertainties in the stochastic properties considering imprecise measurement data. Based on the obtained estimates we apply standard stochastic analysis on a simple example to demonstrate the difference and the necessity of the proposed approach.
By the use of numerical methods and the rapid development of computer technology in the recent years, a large variety, complexity, refinement and capability of partial models have been achieved. This can be noticed in the evaluation of the reliability of structures, e.g. the increased use of spatial structural systems. For the different fields of civil engineering, well developed partial models already exist. Because these partial models are most often used separately, the general view is not entirely illustrated. Until now, there has been no common methodology for evaluating the efficiency of models; the trust in the prediction of a special engineering model has generally relied on the engineer’s experience. In this paper the basics of evaluation of simple models and coupled partial models of frame structures will be discussed using sustainable numerical methods. Furthermore, quality classes (levels) of design tasks will be defined based on their practical relevance. In addition, analysis methods will be systemized. After analysis of different published assessment methods, it may be noted, that the Efficiency Indicator Method (EWM) is most suitable for the observed evaluation problem. Therefore, the EWM was modified to the Model Efficiency Analysis (MEA) for the purpose of a holistic evaluation. The criteria are characterized by two groups, benefit and expenditure, and it is possible by calculating the quotient (benefit/expenditure) to make a statement about the efficiency of the observed models. Presently, the expenditure value is not a subject of investigation, and so the model efficiency is calculated only by the benefit value. This paper also contains the associated criteria catalog, different normalization methods, as well as weighting possibilities.
The present article proposes an alternative way to compute the torsional stiffness based on three-dimensional continuum mechanics instead of applying a specific theory of torsion. A thin, representative beam slice is discretized by solid finite elements. Adequate boundary conditions and coupling conditions are integrated into the numerical model to obtain a proper answer on the torsion behaviour, thus on shear center, shear stress and torsional stiffness. This finite element approach only includes general assumptions of beam torsion which are independent of cross-section geometry. These assumptions essentially are: no in-plane deformation, constant torsion and free warping. Thus it is possible to achieve numerical solutions of high accuracy for arbitrary cross-sections. Due to the direct link to three-dimensional continuum mechanics, it is possible to extend the range of torsion analysis to sections which are composed of different materials or even to heterogeneous beams on a high scale of resolution. A brief study follows to validate the implementation and results are compared to analytical solutions.
FREE VIBRATION FREQUENCIES OF THE CRACKED REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS - METHODS OF CALCULATIONS
(2010)
The paper presents method of calculation of natural frequencies of the cracked reinforced concrete beams including discreet model of crack. The described method is based on the stiff finite elements method. It was modified in such a way as to take into account local discontinuities (ie. cracks). In addition, some theoretical studies as well as experimental tests of concrete mechanics based on discrete crack model were taken into consideration. The calculations were performed using the author’s own numerical algorithm. Moreover, other calculation methods of dynamic reinforced concrete beams presented in standards and guidelines are discussed. Calculations performed by using different methods are compared with the results obtained in experimental tests.
Nähert man sich der Frage nach den Zusammenhängen zwischen Strukturalismus und generativen algorithmischen Planungsmethoden, so ist zunächst zu klären, was man unter Strukturalismus in der Architektur versteht. Allerdings gibt es letztlich keinen verbindlichen terminologischen Rahmen, innerhalb dessen sich eine solche Klärung vollziehen könnte. Strukturalismus in der Architektur wird oftmals auf ein formales Phänomen und damit auf eine Stilfrage reduziert. Der vorliegende Text will sich nicht mit Stilen und Phänomenen strukturalistischer Architektur auseinandersetzen, sondern konzentriert sich auf die Betrachtung strukturalistischer Entwurfsmethoden und stellt Bezüge her zu algorithmischen Verfahren, wobei das Zusammenspiel zwischen regelgeleitetem und intuitivem Vorgehen beim Entwerfen herausgearbeitet wird.
We give a sufficient and a necessary condition for an analytic function "f" on the unit disk "D" with Hadamard gap to belong to a class of weighted logarithmic Bloch space as well as to the corresponding little weighted logarithmic Bloch space under some conditions posed on the defined weight function. Also, we study the relations between the class of weighted logarithmic Bloch functions and some other classes of analytic functions by the help of analytic functions in the Hadamard gap class.
This cumulative dissertation investigates aspects of consumer decision making in hedonic contexts and its implications for the marketing of media goods through a series of three empirical studies. All three studies take place within a common theoretical framework of decision making models, applying parts of the framework in novel ways to solve real-world marketing research problems (study 1 and 2), and examining theoretical relationships between variables within of the framework (study 3). One notable way in which the studies differ is their theoretical treatment of the hedonic component of decision making, i.e. the role and conceptualization of emotions.
In this paper we present an inverse method which is capable of identifying system components in a hydro-mechanically coupled system, i.e. for fluid flow in porous media. As an example we regard water dams that were constructed more than hundred years ago but which are still in use. Over the time ageing processes have changed the condition of these dams. Within the dams fissures might have grown. The proposed method is designed to locate these fissures out of combined mechanical and hydraulic measurements. In a numerical example the fissures or damaged zones are described by a smeared crack model. The task is now to identify simultaneously the spatial distribution of Young’s modulus and the hydraulic permeability due to the fact, that in regions where damages are present, the mechanical stiffness of the system is reduced and the permeability increased. The inversion is shown to be an ill-posed problem. As a consequence regularizing methods have to be applied, where the nonlinear Landweber method (a gradient type method combined with a discrepancy principle) has proven to be an efficient choice.
Das Bund-Länder-Programm "Soziale Stadt" hat die Aufgabe, Stadtteile mit besonderem Entwicklungsbedarf zu fördern. Das negative Image ist einerseits Ursache, andererseits auch Folge von sozialen und städtebaulichen Problemlagen und Entwicklungen im Stadtteil. Diese Abwärtsspirale soll durch das Programm aufgebrochen werden. Der Autor nähert sich interdisziplinär dem Imagebegriff an und zeigt die Auswirkungen des Programms "Soziale Stadt" auf die Großwohnsiedlung Jena-Winzerla. Die Studie erfasst anhand des semantischen Differentials das Image im Stadtteil, wie es von den Bewohnern beurteilt wird und vergleicht es mit der Sicht von Außen. Der Einfluß des Programms auf das Image wird durch Experteninterviews beleuchtet. Das Beispiel eigt die Entwicklungen, die das Programm "Soziale Stadt" bewirken kann. Es werden aber auch Grenzen deutlich. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden abschließend Überlegungen angestellt, in welche Richtungen die Entwicklungen innerhalb des Förderprogramms gelenkt werden sollten, um das Image nachhaltig zu verbessern und betroffene Stadtteile adäquat zu fördern.
Reducing energy consumption is one of the major challenges for present day and will continue for future generations. The emerging EU directives relating to energy (EU EPBD and the EU Directive on Emissions Trading) now place demands on building owners to rate the energy performance of their buildings for efficient energy management. Moreover European Legislation (Directive 2006/32/EC) requires Facility Managers to reduce building energy consumption and operational costs. Currently sophisticated building services systems are available integrating off-the-shelf building management components. However this ad-hoc combination presents many difficulties to building owners in the management and upgrade of these systems. This paper addresses the need for integration concepts, holistic monitoring and analysis methodologies, life-cycle oriented decision support and sophisticated control strategies through the seamless integration of people, ICT-devices and computational resources via introducing the newly developed integrated system architecture. The first concept was applied to a residential building and the results were elaborated to improve current building conditions.
Nonlinear analyses are characterised by approximations of the fundamental equations in different quality. Starting with a general description of nonlinear finite element formulation the fundamental equations are derived for plane truss elements. Special emphasis is placed on the determination of internal and external system energy as well as influence of different quality approaches for the displacement-strain relationship on solution quality. To simplify the solution procedure the nonlinear function describing the kinematics is expanded into a Taylor series and truncated after the n-th series term. The different kinematics influence speed of convergence as well as exactness of solution. On a simple truss structure this influence is shown. To assess the quality of different formulations concerning the nonlinear kinematic equation three approaches are discussed. First the overall internal and external energy is compared for different kinematical models. In a second step the energy content related to single terms describing displacement-strain relationship is investigated and used for quality control following two different paths. Based on single ε-terms an adaptive scheme is used to change the kinematical model depending on increasing nonlinearity of the structure. The solution quality has turned out satisfactory compared to the exact result. More detailed investigations are necessary to find criteria for the threshold values for the iterative process as well as for decision on number and step size of incremental load steps.
Euclidean Clifford analysis is a higher dimensional function theory offering a refinement of classical harmonic analysis. The theory is centered around the concept of monogenic functions, i.e. null solutions of a first order vector valued rotation invariant differential operator called the Dirac operator, which factorizes the Laplacian. More recently, Hermitean Clifford analysis has emerged as a new and successful branch of Clifford analysis, offering yet a refinement of the Euclidean case; it focusses on the simultaneous null solutions, called Hermitean (or h-) monogenic functions, of two Hermitean Dirac operators which are invariant under the action of the unitary group. In Euclidean Clifford analysis, the Clifford-Cauchy integral formula has proven to be a corner stone of the function theory, as is the case for the traditional Cauchy formula for holomorphic functions in the complex plane. Previously, a Hermitean Clifford-Cauchy integral formula has been established by means of a matrix approach. This formula reduces to the traditional Martinelli-Bochner formula for holomorphic functions of several complex variables when taking functions with values in an appropriate part of complex spinor space. This means that the theory of Hermitean monogenic functions should encompass also other results of several variable complex analysis as special cases. At present we will elaborate further on the obtained results and refine them, considering fundamental solutions, Borel-Pompeiu representations and the Teoderescu inversion, each of them being developed at different levels, including the global level, handling vector variables, vector differential operators and the Clifford geometric product as well as the blade level were variables and differential operators act by means of the dot and wedge products. A rich world of results reveals itself, indeed including well-known formulae from the theory of several complex variables.
Der inhaltlichen Qualitätssicherung von Bauwerksinformationsmodellen (BIM) kommt im Zuge einer stetig wachsenden Nutzung der verwendeten BIM für unterschiedliche Anwen-dungsfälle eine große Bedeutung zu. Diese ist für jede am Datenaustausch beteiligte Software dem Projektziel entsprechend durchzuführen. Mit den Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) steht ein etabliertes Format für die Beschreibung und den Austausch eines solchen Modells zur Verfügung. Für den Prozess der Qualitätssicherung wird eine serverbasierte Testumgebung Bestandteil des neuen Zertifizierungsverfahrens der IFC sein. Zu diesem Zweck wurde durch das „iabi - Institut für angewandte Bauinformatik” in Zusammenarbeit mit „buildingSMART e.V.“ (http://www.buildingsmart.de) ein Global Testing Documentation Server (GTDS) implementiert. Der GTDS ist eine, auf einer Datenbank basierte, Web-Applikation, die folgende Intentionen verfolgt:
• Bereitstellung eines Werkzeugs für das qualitative Testen IFC-basierter Modelle
• Unterstützung der Kommunikation zwischen IFC Entwicklern und Anwendern
• Dokumentation der Qualität von IFC-basierten Softwareanwendungen
• Bereitstellung einer Plattform für die Zertifizierung von IFC Anwendungen
Gegenstand der Arbeit ist die Planung und exemplarische Umsetzung eines Werkzeugs zur interaktiven Visualisierung von Qualitätsdefiziten, die vom GTDS im Modell erkannt wurden. Die exemplarische Umsetzung soll dabei aufbauend auf den OPEN IFC TOOLS (http://www.openifctools.org) erfolgen.
An introduction is given to Clifford Analysis over pseudo-Euclidean space of arbitrary signature, called for short Ultrahyperbolic Clifford Analysis (UCA). UCA is regarded as a function theory of Clifford-valued functions, satisfying a first order partial differential equation involving a vector-valued differential operator, called a Dirac operator. The formulation of UCA presented here pays special attention to its geometrical setting. This permits to identify tensors which qualify as geometrically invariant Dirac operators and to take a position on the naturalness of contravariant and covariant versions of such a theory. In addition, a formal method is described to construct the general solution to the aforementioned equation in the context of covariant UCA.
In this paper the influence of changes in the mean wind velocity, the wind profile power-law coefficient, the drag coefficient of the terrain and the structural stiffness are investigated on different complex structural models. This paper gives a short introduction to wind profile models and to the approach by Davenport A. G. to compute the structural reaction of wind induced vibrations. Firstly with help of a simple example (a skyscraper) this approach is shown. Using this simple example gives the reader the possibility to study the variance differences when changing one of the above mentioned parameters on this very easy example and see the influence of different complex structural models on the result. Furthermore an approach for estimation of the needed discretization level is given. With the help of this knowledge the structural model design methodology can be base on deeper understanding of the different behavior of the single models.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine kraftschlüssige Verbindungstechnik für modulare, schalenartige Faserverbundbauteile vorgestellt. Die Verbindung basiert auf der Verklebung mit lokal begrenzten Stahlblechen. Aus dem Verbindungsansatz wird die Verklebung zwischen Stahl und Faserverbundkunststoff vertiefend betrachtet. Ziel sind die Wahl von technologischen Randbedingungen, die Erarbeitung eines Vorschlages zur numerischen Berechnung und Bemessung und die Formulierung konstruktiver Empfehlungen zum Entwurf von Verklebungen. Mechanische Kennwerte werden in Zugversuchen ermittelt und direkt auf die nichtlinearen Berechnungen übertragen. Technologische Einflüsse und die Streuungen aus realen Verklebungen werden über die Nachrechnung von Zugscherversuchen in die Bemessung integriert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Verklebungen ausreichende Festigkeiten und ein zufriedenstellendes Bruchverhalten aufweisen. Die Kombination aus einer Werkstattverklebung und einer baustellengerechten Montage ermöglicht eine materialgerechte und effiziente Verbindungen für Faserverbundkonstruktionen unter den Randbedingungen des Bauwesens.
In the last two decades, many cities have faced changes in their economic basis and therefore adopted an entrepreneurial approach in the municipal administration accompanied by city marketing strategies. Brazilian cities have also adopted this approach, like the case of Florianópolis. Florianópolis has promoted advertising campaigns on the natural resources of the Island of Santa Catarina as well as on its quality of life in comparison to other cities. However, due also to such campaigns, it has experienced a great demographic growth and, consequently, infrastructural and social problems. Nevertheless, it seems to have a good image within the national urban scenario and has been commonly considered an “urban consumption dream” for many Brazilians. This paradoxical situation is the reason why it has been chosen as the research object in this dissertation. Thus, the questions of this research are: is there a gap between the promise and the performance of the city of Florianópolis? If so, can tourists and residents recognize it? And finally, how can this gap be demonstrated? Accordingly, the main objective of this research is to propose a conformity assessment approach applicable to cities, by which the content of city advertisement campaigns can be compared to its performance indicators and satisfaction degree of its consumers. Therefore, this approach is composed by different methods: literature and legislation reviews, semi-structured and structured interviews with experts and inhabitants, an urban centrality development analysis, a qualitative discourse analysis of advertising material (including images), a qualitative content analysis of newspaper reports and a questionnaire survey. Finally, the theses are: yes, there is a gap between promise and performance of Florianópolis; this promise is a result of city marketing campaigns which advertise its natural features and at the same time hiding its urban aspects, supported by some political and private actors, mainly interested in the development of tourism and real estate market in the city; this gap has been already recognized by tourists and more intensively by residents; the selected methods worked as a kind of conformity assessment for cities and tourist destinations; and last but not least, since there is a gap, it designates the practice of “make-up urbanism”. Research limitations are the short time frame covered by this analysis and small and non-representative samples. However, its relevance lies in the attempt to fill in two disciplinary lacunas: a conformity assessment approach for cities and the creation of knowledge about Florianópolis and its further presentation at an international level, on the one hand. On the other hand, the transfer of this approach to other cities would help explaining a (common) contemporary urban phenomenon and appeal for more ethical conduct and transparency in the practices of city marketing.
MICROPLANE MODEL WITH INITIAL AND DAMAGE-INDUCED ANISOTROPY APPLIED TO TEXTILE-REINFORCED CONCRETE
(2010)
The presented material model reproduces the anisotropic characteristics of textile reinforced concrete in a smeared manner. This includes both the initial anisotropy introduced by the textile reinforcement, as well as the anisotropic damage evolution reflecting fine patterns of crack bridges. The model is based on the microplane approach. The direction-dependent representation of the material structure into oriented microplanes provides a flexible way to introduce the initial anisotropy. The microplanes oriented in a yarn direction are associated with modified damage laws that reflect the tension-stiffening effect due to the multiple cracking of the matrix along the yarn.
The evident advances of the computational power of the digital computers enable the modeling of the total system of structures. Such modeling demands compatible representations of the couplings of different structural subsystems. Therefore, models of dynamic interaction between the vehicle and the bridge and models of a bridge bearing, a coupling element between the bridge's superstructure and substructure, are of interest and discussed within this paper. The vehicle-bridge interaction may be described as a function connecting two sets of behavior. In this case, the coupling is embodied by mutual parameters that affect both systems, such as the frequency content of the bridge and the vehicle. Whereas the bridge bearings are elements used specifically to couple, in such elements the deformation and the transferred loads are used in characterizing the coupling The nature of these couplings and their influence on the bridge response is different. However, the need to assess the amount of dynamic response transferred by or within these couplings is a common argument.
There are many different approaches to simulate the mechanical behavior of RC−Frames with masonry infills. In this paper, selected modeling techniques for masonry infills and reinforced concrete frame members will be discussed − stressing the attention on the damaging effects of the individual members and the entire system under quasi−static horizontal loading. The effect of the infill walls on the surrounding frame members is studied using equivalent strut elements. The implemented model consider in−plane failure modes for the infills, such as bed joint sliding and corner crushing. These frame member models differ with respect to their stress state. Finally, examples are provided and compared with experimental data from a real size test executed on a three story RC−Frame with and without infills. The quality of the model is evaluated on the basis of load−displacement relationships as well as damage progression.
The application of partly decoupled approach by means of continuum mechanics facilitates the calculation of structural responses due to welding. The numerical results demonstrate the ability of a qualitative prediction of welded connections. As it is intended to integrate the local effects of a joint in structural analysis of steel constructions, it is necessary to meet higher approaches towards quality. The wide array of material parameters are presented, which are affecting the thermal, metallurgical and mechanical behavior, and which have to be identified. For that purpose further investigations are necessary to analyze the sensitivity of the models towards different material properties. The experimental determination of every material parameter is not possible due to the extraordinary laborious efforts needed. Besides that, experimentally identified parameters can be applied only for the tested steel quality for measured temperature-time regimes. For that reason alternative approaches for identification of material parameters, such as optimization strategies, have to be applied. After a definition of material parameters a quantitative prediction of welded connections will also be possible. Numerical results show the effect of phase transformation, activated by welding process, on residual stress state. As these phenomena occur in local areas in the range of crystal and grain sizes, the description of microscopic phenomena and their propagation on a macroscopic level due to approaches of homogenization might be expedient. Nevertheless, one should bear in mind, the increasing number of material parameters as well as the complexity of their experimental determination. Thus the microscopic approach should always be investigated under the scope of ability and efficiency of a required prediction. Under certain circumstances a step backwards, adopting a phenomenological approach, also can be beneficial.
Several results concerning the distribution of the headway of busses in the flow behind a traffic signal are presented. In the main focus of interest is the description of analytical models, which are verified by the results of Monte-Carlo-Methods. The advantage of analytical models (verified, but not derived by simulation methods) is their flexibility with respect to possible generalizations. For instance, several random distributions of the flow incoming to the traffic signal can be compared. The attention will be directed at the question, how the primary headway H (analyzed in front of the traffic signal) is mapped to the headway H’ analyzed behind of the traffic signal and how the random distribution of H is mapped to that of H’. For the traffic flow in front of the traffic signal several models will be discussed. The first case considers the situation, that busses operate on a common lane with the individual motor car traffic and the traffic flow is saturated. In the second situation, busses operate on a separated bus lane. Moreover, a mixed situation is discussed to model as close to reality as possible.
Planning and construction processes are characterized by the peculiarity that they need to be designed individually for each project. It is necessary to set up an individual schedule for each project. As a basis for a new project, schedules from already finished projects are used, but adaptions are always necessary. In practice, scheduling tools only document a process. Schedules cover a set of activities, their duration and a set of interdependencies between activities. The design of a process is up to the user. It is not necessary to specify each interdependency, and completeness and correctness need to be checked manually. No methodologies are available to guarantee properties such as correctness or completeness. The considerations presented in the paper are based on an approach where a planning and a construction process including the interdependencies between planning and construction activities are regarded as a result. Selected information need to be specified by a user, and a proposal for an order of planning and construction activities is computed. As a consequence, process properties such as correctness and completeness can be guaranteed with respect to user input. Especially in Germany, clients are allowed to modify their requirements at any time. This leads to modifications in the planning and construction processes. This paper covers a mathematical formulation for this problem based on set theory. A complex structure is set up covering objects and relations; and operations are defined that guarantee consistency in the underlying and versioned process description. The presented considerations are based on previous work. This paper can be regarded as the next step in a series of previous work describing how a suitable concept for handling, planning and construction processes in civil engineering can be formed.
MULTI-SITE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SCHEDULING CONSIDERING RESOURCE MOVING TIME IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
(2010)
Under the booming construction demands in developing countries, particularly in Vietnam situation, construction contractors often perform multiple concurrent projects in different places. In construction project scheduling processes, the existing scheduling methods often assume the resource moving time between activities/projects to be negligible. When multiple projects are deployed in different places and far from each other, this assumption has many shortcomings for properly modelling the real-world constraints. Especially, with respect to developing countries such as the Vietnam which contains transportation systems that are still in backward and low technical standards. This paper proposes a new algorithm named Multi-Site Construction Project Scheduling - MCOPS. The objective of this algorithm is to solve the problem of minimising multi-site construction project duration under limited available conditions of renewable resources (labour, machines and equipment) combining with the moving time of required resource among activities/projects. Additionally, in order to mitigate the impact of resource moving time into the multi-site project duration, this paper proposed a new priority rule: Minimum Resource Moving Time (MinRMT). The MinRMT is applied to rank the finished activities according to a priority order, to support the released resources to the scheduling activities. In order to investigate the impact of the resource moving time among activities during the scheduling process, computational experimentation was implemented. The results of the MCOPS-based computational experiments showed that, the resource moving time among projects has significantly impacted the multi-site project durations and this amount of time can not be ignored in the multi-site project scheduling process. Besides, the efficient application of the MinRMT is also demonstrated through the achieved results of the computational experiment in this paper. Though the efforts in this paper are based on the Vietnamese construction conditions, the proposed method can be usefully applied in other developing countries which have similar construction conditions.
For many applications, nonuniformly distributed functional data is given which lead to large–scale scattered data problems. We wish to represent the data in terms of a sparse representation with a minimal amount of degrees of freedom. For this, an adaptive scheme which operates in a coarse-to-fine fashion using a multiscale basis is proposed. Specifically, we investigate hierarchical bases using B-splines and spline-(pre)wavelets. At each stage a leastsquares approximation of the data is computed. We take into account different requests arising in large-scale scattered data fitting: we discuss the fast iterative solution of the least square systems, regularization of the data, and the treatment of outliers. A particular application concerns the approximate continuation of harmonic functions, an issue arising in geodesy.
A stress based remodeling approach is used to investigate the sensitivity of the collagen architecture in humane eye tissues on the biomechanical response of the lamina cribrosa with a particular focus on the stress environment of the nerve fibers. This approach is based on a multi-level biomechanical framework, where the biomechanical properties of eye tissues are derived from a single crimped fibril at the micro-scale via the collagen network of distributed fibrils at the meso-scale to the incompressible and anisotropic soft tissue at the macro-scale. Biomechanically induced remodeling of the collagen network is captured on the meso-scale by allowing for a continuous reorientation of collagen fibrils. To investigate the multi-scale phenomena related to glaucomatous neuropathy a generalized computational homogenization scheme is applied to a coupled two-scale analysis of the human eye considering a numerical macro- and meso-scale model of the lamina cribrosa.
Nodal integration of finite elements has been investigated recently. Compared with full integration it shows better convergence when applied to incompressible media, allows easier remeshing and highly reduces the number of material evaluation points thus improving efficiency. Furthermore, understanding it may help to create new integration schemes in meshless methods as well. The new integration technique requires a nodally averaged deformation gradient. For the tetrahedral element it is possible to formulate a nodal strain which passes the patch test. On the downside, it introduces non-physical low energy modes. Most of these "spurious modes" are local deformation maps of neighbouring elements. Present stabilization schemes rely on adding a stabilizing potential to the strain energy. The stabilization is discussed within this article. Its drawbacks are easily identified within numerical experiments: Nonlinear material laws are not well represented. Plastic strains may often be underestimated. Geometrically nonlinear stabilization greatly reduces computational efficiency. The article reinterpretes nodal integration in terms of imposing a nonconforming C0-continuous strain field on the structure. By doing so, the origins of the spurious modes are discussed and two methods are presented that solve this problem. First, a geometric constraint is formulated and solved using a mixed formulation of Hu-Washizu type. This assumption leads to a consistent representation of the strain energy while eliminating spurious modes. The solution is exact, but only of theoretical interest since it produces global support. Second, an integration scheme is presented that approximates the stabilization criterion. The latter leads to a highly efficient scheme. It can even be extended to other finite element types such as hexahedrals. Numerical efficiency, convergence behaviour and stability of the new method is validated using linear tetrahedral and hexahedral elements.
In the paper presented, reinforced concrete shells of revolution are analyzed in both meridional and circumferential directions. Taking into account the physical non-linearity of the material, the internal forces and the deflections of the shell as well as the strain distribution at the cross-sections are calculated. The behavior of concrete under compression is described by linear and non-linear stress-strain relations. The description of the behavior of concrete under tension must account for tension stiffening effects. A tri-linear function is used to formulate the material law of reinforcement. The problem cannot be solved analytically due to the physical non-linearity. Thus a numerical solution is formulated by means of the LAGRANGE Principle of the minimum of the total potential energy. The kinematically admissible field of deformation is defined by the displacements u in the meridional and w in the radial direction. These displacements must satisfy the equations of compatibility and the kinematical boundary conditions of the shell. The strains are linearly distributed across the wall thickness. The strain energy depends on the specific of the material behavior. Using integral formulations of the material law [1], the strain energy of each part of the cross-section is defined as a function of the strains at the boundaries of the cross-sections. The shell is discretised in the meridional direction. Various methods of numerical differentiation and numerical integration are applied in order to determine the deformations and the strain energy. The unknown displacements u and w are calculated by a non-restricted extremum problem based on the minimum of the total potential energy. From mathematical point of view, the objective function is a convex function, thus the minimum can be determined without difficulty. The advantage of this formulation is that unlike non-linear methods with path-following algorithms the calculation does not have to account for changing stiffness and load increments. All iterations necessary to find the solution are integrated into the “Solver”. The model presented provides many ways of investigating the influence of various material parameters on the stresses and deformations of the entire shell structure.
An energy method based on the LAGRANGE Principle of the minimum of total potential en-ergy is presented to calculate the stresses and strains of composite cross-sections. The stress-strain relation of each partition of the cross-section can be an arbitrary piecewise continuous function. The strain energy is transformed into a line integral by GAUSS’s integral theorem. The total strain of each partition of the cross-section is split into load-dependent strain and pre-strain. Pre-strains have to be taken into account when the cross-section is pre-stressed, retrofit-ted or influenced by shrinkage, temperature etc. The unconstrained minimum problem can be solved for each load combination using standard software. The application of the method presented in the paper is demonstrated by means of examples.
NONZONAL WAVELETS ON S^N
(2010)
In the present article we will construct wavelets on an arbitrary dimensional sphere S^n due the approach of approximate Identities. There are two equivalently approaches to wavelets. The group theoretical approach formulates a square integrability condition for a group acting via unitary, irreducible representation on the sphere. The connection to the group theoretical approach will be sketched. The concept of approximate identities uses the same constructions in the background, here we select an appropriate section of dilations and translations in the group acting on the sphere in two steps. At First we will formulate dilations in terms of approximate identities and than we call in translations on the sphere as rotations. This leads to the construction of an orthogonal polynomial system in L²(SO(n+1)). That approach is convenient to construct concrete wavelets, since the appropriate kernels can be constructed form the heat kernel leading to the approximate Identity of Gauss-Weierstra\ss. We will work out conditions to functions forming a family of wavelets, subsequently we formulate how we can construct zonal wavelets from a approximate Identity and the relation to admissibility of nonzonal wavelets. Eventually we will give an example of a nonzonal Wavelet on $S^n$, which we obtain from the approximate identity of Gauss-Weierstraß.
The article presents analysis of stress distribution in the reinforced concrete support beam bracket which is a component of prefabricated reinforced concrete building. The building structure is spatial frame where dilatations were applied. The proper stiffness of its structure is provided by frames with stiff joints, monolithic lift shifts and staircases. The prefabricated slab floors are supported by beam shelves which are shaped as inverted letter ‘T’. Beams are supported by the column brackets. In order to lower the storey height and fulfill the architectural demands at the same time, the designer lowered the height of beam at the support zone. The analyzed case refers to the bracket zone where the slant crack. on the support beam bracket was observed. It could appear as a result of overcrossing of allowable tension stresses in reinforced concrete, in the bracket zone. It should be noted that the construction solution applied, i.e. concurrent support of the “undercut” beam on the column bracket causes local concentration of stresses in the undercut zone where the strongest transverse forces and tangent stresses occur concurrently. Some additional rectangular stresses being a result of placing the slab floors on the lower part of beam shelves sum up with those described above.
We present the way of calculation of displacement in the bent reinforced concrete bar elements where rearrangement of internal forces and plastic hinge occurred. The described solution is based on prof. Borcz’s mathematical model. It directly takes into consideration the effects connected with the occurrence of plastic hinge, such as for example a crack, by means of a differential equation of axis of the bent reinforced concrete beam. The EN Eurocode 2 makes it possible to consider the influence of plastic hinge on the values of the reinforced concrete structures. This influence can also be assumed using other analytical methods. However, the results obtained by the application of Eurocode 2 are higher from those received in testing. Just comparably big error level occurs when calculations are made by means of Borcz’s method, but in the latter case, the results depend on the assumptions made beforehand. This method makes it possible to apply the experimental results using parameters r1 i r0. When the experimental results are taken into account, one could observe the compatibility between the calculations and actual deflections of the structure.
Sand-bentonite mixtures are well recognized as buffer and sealing material in nuclear waste repository constructions. The behaviour of compacted sand-bentonite mixture needs to be well understood in order to guarantee the safety and the efficiency of the barrier construction. This paper presents numerical simulations of swelling test and coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) test on compacted sand-bentonite mixture in order to reveal the influence of the temperature and hydraulic gradients on the distribution of temperature, mechanical stress and water content in such materials. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to identify the parameters which influence the most the response of the numerical model. Results of back analysis of the model parameters are reported and critically assessed.
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THERMO-HYGRAL ALKALI-SILICA REACTION MODEL IN CONCRETE AT THE MESOSCALE
(2010)
This research aims to model Alkali-Silica Reaction gel expansion in concrete under the influence of hygral and thermal loading, based on experimental results. ASR provokes a heterogeneous expansion in concrete leading to dimensional changes and eventually the premature failure of the concrete structure. This can result in map cracking on the concrete surface which will decrease the concrete stiffness. Factors that influence ASR are parameters such as the cement alkalinity, the number of deleterious silica from the aggregate used, concrete porosity, and external factors like temperature, humidity and external source of alkali from ingression of deicing salts. Uncertainties of the influential factors make ASR a difficult phenomenon to solve; hence my approach to this matter is to solve the problem using stochastic modelling, where a numerical simulation of concrete cross-section with integration of experimental results from Finger-Institute for Building Materials Science at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. The problem is formulated as a multi-field problem, combining heat transfer, fluid transfer and the reaction rate model with the mechanical stress field. Simulation is performed as a mesoscale model considering aggregates and mortar matrix. The reaction rate model will be conducted using experimental results from concrete expansions due to ASR gained from concrete prism tests. Expansive strains values for transient environmental conditions due to the reaction rate will be determined from calculation based on the reaction rate model. Results from these models will be able to predict the rate of ASR expansion and the cracking propagation that may arise.
Building information modeling offers a huge potential for increasing the productivity and quality of construction planning processes. Despite its promising concept, this approach has not found widespread use. One of the reasons is the insufficient coupling of the structural models with the general building model. Instead, structural engineers usually set up a structural model that is independent from the building model and consists of mechanical models of reduced dimension. An automatic model generation, which would be valuable in case of model revisions is therefore not possible. This can be overcome by a volumetric formulation of the problem. A recent approach employed the p-version of the finite element method to this problem. This method, in conjunction with a volumetric formulation is suited to simulate the structural behaviour of both „thick“ solid bodies and thin-walled structures. However, there remains a notable discretization error in the numerical models. This paper therefore proposes a new approach for overcoming this situation. It sugggests the combination of the Isogeometric analysis together with the volumetric models in order to integrate the structural design into the digital, building model-centered planning process and reduce the discretization error. The concept of the isogeometric analysis consists, roughly, in the application of NURBS functions to represent the geometry and the shape functions of the elements. These functions possess some beneficial properties regarding numerical simulation. Their use, however, leads to some intricacies related to the setup of the stiffness matrix. This paper describes some of these properties.
Since the 90-ties the Pascal matrix, its generalizations and applications have been in the focus of a great amount of publications. As it is well known, the Pascal matrix, the symmetric Pascal matrix and other special matrices of Pascal type play an important role in many scientific areas, among them Numerical Analysis, Combinatorics, Number Theory, Probability, Image processing, Sinal processing, Electrical engineering, etc. We present a unified approach to matrix representations of special polynomials in several hypercomplex variables (new Bernoulli, Euler etc. polynomials), extending results of H. Malonek, G.Tomaz: Bernoulli polynomials and Pascal matrices in the context of Clifford Analysis, Discrete Appl. Math. 157(4)(2009) 838-847. The hypercomplex version of a new Pascal matrix with block structure, which resembles the ordinary one for polynomials of one variable will be discussed in detail.
The paper is devoted to a study of properties of homogeneous solutions of massless field equation in higher dimensions. We first treat the case of dimension 4. Here we use the two-component spinor language (developed for purposes of general relativity). We describe how are massless field operators related to a higher spin analogues of the de Rham sequence - the so called Bernstein-Gel'fand-Gel'fand (BGG) complexes - and how are they related to the twisted Dirac operators. Then we study similar question in higher (even) dimensions. Here we have to use more tools from representation theory of the orthogonal group. We recall the definition of massless field equations in higher dimensions and relations to higher dimensional conformal BGG complexes. Then we discuss properties of homogeneous solutions of massless field equation. Using some recent techniques for decomposition of tensor products of irreducible $Spin(m)$-modules, we are able to add some new results on a structure of the spaces of homogenous solutions of massless field equations. In particular, we show that the kernel of the massless field equation in a given homogeneity contains at least on specific irreducible submodule.
As numerical techniques for solving PDE or integral equations become more sophisticated, treatments of the generation of the geometric inputs should also follow that numerical advancement. This document describes the preparation of CAD data so that they can later be applied to hierarchical BEM or FEM solvers. For the BEM case, the geometric data are described by surfaces which we want to decompose into several curved foursided patches. We show the treatment of untrimmed and trimmed surfaces. In particular, we provide prevention of smooth corners which are bad for diffeomorphism. Additionally, we consider the problem of characterizing whether a Coons map is a diffeomorphism from the unit square onto a planar domain delineated by four given curves. We aim primarily at having not only theoretically correct conditions but also practically efficient methods. As for FEM geometric preparation, we need to decompose a 3D solid into a set of curved tetrahedra. First, we describe some method of decomposition without adding too many Steiner points (additional points not belonging to the initial boundary nodes of the boundary surface). Then, we provide a methodology for efficiently checking whether a tetrahedral transfinite interpolation is regular. That is done by a combination of degree reduction technique and subdivision. Along with the method description, we report also on some interesting practical results from real CAD data.
In this paper we consider the time independent Klein-Gordon equation on some conformally flat 3-tori with given boundary data. We set up an explicit formula for the fundamental solution. We show that we can represent any solution to the homogeneous Klein-Gordon equation on the torus as finite sum over generalized 3-fold periodic elliptic functions that are in the kernel of the Klein-Gordon operator. Furthermore we prove Cauchy and Green type integral formulas and set up a Teodorescu and Cauchy transform for the toroidal Klein-Gordon operator. These in turn are used to set up explicit formulas for the solution to the inhomogeneous version of the Klein-Gordon equation on the 3-torus.
On the mechanisms of shrinkage reducing admixtures in self con-solidating mortars and concretes
(2010)
Self Consolidating Concrete – a dream has come true!(?) Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC) is mainly characterised by its special rheological properties. With-out any vibration this concrete can be placed and compacted under its own weight, without segrega-tion or bleeding. The use of such concrete can increase the productivity on construction sites and en-able the use of a higher degree of well distributed reinforcement for thin walled structural members. This new technology also reduces health risks since in contrast to the traditional handling of concrete, the emission of noise and vibration are substantially decreased. The specific mix design for self consolidating concretes was introduced around the 1980s in Japan. In comparison to normal vibrated concrete an increased paste volume enables a good distribution of aggregates within the paste matrix, minimising the influence of aggregates friction on the concrete flow property. The introduction of inert and/or pozzolanic additives as part of the paste provides the required excess paste volume without using disproportionally high amounts of plain cement. Due to further developments of concrete admixtures such as superplasticizers, the cement paste can gain self levelling properties without causing segregation of aggregates. Whereas SCC differs from normal vibrated concrete in its fresh attributes, it should reach similar properties in the hardened state. Due to the increased paste volume it usually shows higher shrinkage. Furthermore, owing to strength requirements, SCC is often produced at low water to cement ratios and hence may additionally suffer from autogenous shrinkage. This means that cracking caused by drying or autogenous shrinkage is a real risk for SCC and can compromise its durability as cracks may serve as ingression paths for gases and salts or might permit leaching. For the time being SCC still exhibits increased shrinkage and cracking probability and hence may be discarded in many practical applications. This can be overcome by a better understanding of those mechanisms and the ways to mitigate them. It is a target of this thesis to contribute to this. How to cope with increased shrinkage of SCC? In general, engineers are facing severe problems related to shrinkage and cracking. Even for normal and high performance concrete, containing moderate amounts of binder, a lot of effort was put on counteracting shrinkage and avoiding cracking. For the time being these efforts resulted in the knowledge of how to distribute cracks rather to avoid them. The most efficient way to decrease shrinkage turned out to be to decrease the cement content of concrete down to a minimum but still sufficient amount. For SCC this obviously seems to be contradictory with the requirement of a high paste volume. Indeed, the potential for shrinkage reduction is limited to some small range modifications in the mix design following two major concepts. The first one is the reduction of the required paste volume by optimising the aggregate grading curve. The second one involves high volume substitution of cement, preferentially using inert mineral additives. The optimization of grading curves is limited by several severe practical issues. Problems start with the availability of sufficiently fractionated aggregates. Usually attempts fail because of the enormous effort in composing application-optimized grading curves or mix designs. Due to durability reasons, the substitution rate for cement is limited depending on the application purpose and on environmental exposure of the hardened concrete. In the early 1980s Shrinkage Reducing Admixtures (SRA) were introduced to counteract drying shrinkage of concrete. The first publications explicitly dealing with SRA go back to Goto and Sato (Japan). They were published in 1983, which is also the time when the SCC concept was introduced. SRA modified concretes showed a substantial reduction of free drying shrinkage contributing to crack prevention or at least a significant decrease of crack width in situations of restrained drying shrinkage. Will shrinkage reducing admixtures contribute to a broader application of SCC? Within the last three decades performance tests on several types of concrete proved the efficiency of shrinkage reducing admixtures. So, at least in terms of shrinkage and cracking, concretes in general and SCC in particular can benefit from SRA application. But "One man's meat is another man's poison" and with respect to long term performance of SRA modified concretes there are still several issues to be clarified. One of these concerns the impact of SRAs on cement hydration. It is therefore an issue to know if changes in the hydrated phase composition, induced by SRA, result in undesired properties or decreased durability. Another issue is that the long term shrinkage reduction has to be evaluated. For example, one can wonder if SRA leaching may diminish or even eliminate long term shrinkage reduction and if the release of admixtures could be a severe environmental issue. It should also be noted that the basic mechanism or physical impact of SRA as well as its implementation in recent models for shrinkage of concrete is still being discussed. The present thesis tries to shed light on the role of SRA in self consolidating concrete focusing on the three questions outlined above: basic mechanisms of cement hydration, physical impact on shrinkage and the sustainability of SRA-application. Which contributions result from this study? Based on an extensive patent search, commercial SRAs could be identified to be synergistic mixtures of non-ionic surfactants and glycols. This turns out to be most important information for more than one reason and is the subject of chapter 4. An abundant literature focuses on properties of these non-ionic surfactants. Moreover, from this rich pool of information, the behaviour of SRAs and their interactions in cementitious systems were better understood through this thesis. For example, it could be anticipated how SRAs behave in strong electrolytes and how surface activity, i.e. surface tension, and interparticle forces might be affected. The synergy effect regarding enhanced performance induced by the presence of additional glycol in SRAs could be derived from the literature on the co-surfactant nature of glycols. Generally it now can be said that glycols ensure that the non-ionic surfactant is properly distributed onto the paste interfaces to efficiently reduce surface tension. In literature, the impact of organic matter on cement hydration was extensively studied for other admixtures like superplasticizer. From there, main impact factors related to the nature of these molecules could be identified. In addition, here again, the literature on non-ionic surfactants provides sufficient information to anticipate possible interactions of SRA with cement hydration based on the nature of non-ionic surfactants. All in all, the extensive study on the nature of non-ionic surfactants, presented in chapter 4, provides fundamental understanding of the behaviour of SRAs in cement paste. Taking a step further to relate this to the impact on drying and shrinkage required to review recent models for drying and shrinkage of cement paste as presented in chapter 3. There, it is shown that macroscopic thermodynamics of the open pore systems can be successfully applied to predict drying induced deformation, but that surface activity of SRA still has to be implemented to explain the shrinkage reduction it causes. Because of severe issues concerning the importance of capillary pressure on shrinkage, a new macroscopic thermodynamic model was derived in a way that meets requirements to properly incorporate surface activity of SRA. This is the subject of chapter 5. Based on theoretical considerations, in chapter 5 the broader impact of SRA on drying cementitious matter could be outlined. In a next step, cement paste was treated as a deformable, open drying pore system. Thereby, the drying phenomena of SRA modified mortars and concrete observed by other authors could be retrieved. This phenomenological consistency of the model constitutes an important contribution towards the understanding of SRA mechanisms. Another main contribution of this work came from introducing an artificial pore system, denominated the normcube. Using this model system, it could be shown how the evolution of interfacial area and its properties interact in presence of SRAs and how this impacts drying characteristics. In chapter 7, the surface activity of commercial SRAs in aqueous solution and synthetic pore solution was investigated. This shows how the electrolyte concentration of synthetic pore solution impacts the phase behaviour of SRA and conversely, how the presence of SRA impacts the aqueous electrolyte solution. Whilst electrolytes enhance self-aggregation of SRAs into micelles and liquid crystals, the presence of SRAs leads to precipitation of minerals as syngenite and mirabilite. Moreover, electrolyte solutions containing SRAs comprise limited miscibility or rather show miscibility gaps, where the liquid separates into isotropic micellar solutions and surfactant rich reverse micellar solutions. The investigation of surface activity and phase behaviour of SRA unravelled another important contribution. From macroscopic surface tension measurements, a relationship between excess surface concentration of SRA, bulk concentration of SRA and exposed interfacial area could be derived. Based on this, it is now possible to predict the actual surface tension of the pore fluid in the course of drying once the evolution of internal interfacial area is known. This is used later in this thesis to describe the specific drying and shrinkage behaviour of SRA modified pastes and mortars. Calorimetric studies on normal Portland cement and composite binders revealed that SRA alone show only minor impact on hydration kinetics. In presence of superplasticizer however the cement hydration can be significantly decelerated. The delaying impact of SRA could be related to a selective deceleration of silicate phase hydration. Moreover, it could be shown that portlandite precipitation in presence of SRA is changed, turning the compact habitus into more or less layered structures. Thereby, the specific surface increases, causing the amount of physically bound water to increase, which in turn reduces the maximum degree of hydration achievable for sealed systems. Extensive phase analysis shows that the hydrated phase composition of SRA modified binders re-mains almost unaffected. The appearance of a temporary mineral phase could be detected by environmental scanning electron microscopy. As could be shown for synthetic pore solutions, syngenite precipitates during early hydration stages and is later consumed in the course of aluminate hydration, i.e. when sulphates are depleted. Moreover, for some SRAs, the salting out phenomena supposed to be enhanced in strong electrolytes could also be shown to take place. The resulting organic precipitates could be identified by SEM-EDX in cement paste and by X-ray diffraction on solid residues of synthetic pore solution. The presence of SRAs could also be identified to impact microstructure of well cured cement paste. Based on nitrogen adsorption measurements and mercury intrusion porosimetry the amount of small pores is seen to increase with SRA dosage, whilst the overall porosity remains unchanged. The question regarding sustainability of SRA application is the subject of chapter 10. By means of leaching studies it could be shown that SRA can be leached significantly. The mechanism could be identified as a diffusion process and a range of effective diffusion coefficients could be estimated. Thereby, the leaching of SRA can now be estimated for real structural members. However, while the admixture can be leached to high extents in tank tests, the leaching rates in practical applications can be assumed to be low because of much reduced contact with water. This could be proven by quantifying admixture loss during long term drying and rewetting cycles. Despite a loss of admixture shrinkage reduction is hardly impacted. Moreover, the cyclic tests revealed that the total deformations in presence of SRA remain low due to a lower extent of irreversibly shrinkage deformations. Another important contribution towards the better understanding of the working mechanism of SRA for drying and shrinkage came from the same leaching tests. A significant fraction of SRA is found to be immobile and does not diffuse in leaching. This fraction of SRA is probably strongly associated to cement phases as the calcium-silicate-hydrates or portlandite. Based on these findings, it is now also possible to quantify the amount of admixture active at the interfaces. This means that, the evolution of surface tension in the course of drying can be approximated, which is a fundamental requirement for modeling shrinkage in presence of SRA. The last experimental chapter of this study focuses on the working mechanism and impact of SRA on drying and shrinkage. Based on the thermodynamics of the open deformable pore system introduced in chapter 5, energy balances are set up using desorption and shrinkage isotherms of actual samples. Information on distribution of SRA in the hydrated paste is used to estimate the actual surface tensions of the pore solution. In other words, this is the first time that the surface activity of the SRA in the course of the drying is fully accounted for. From the energy balances the evolution and properties of the internal interface are then obtained. This made it possible to explain why SRAs impact drying and shrinkage and in what specific range of relative humidity they are active. Summarising the findings of this thesis it can be said that the understanding of the impact of SRAs on hydration, drying and shrinkage was brought forward. Many of the new insights came from the careful investigation of the theory of non-ionic surfactants, something that the cement community had generally overlooked up to now.
Using a quaternionic reformulation of the electrical impedance equation, we consider a two-dimensional separable-variables conductivity function and, posing two different techniques, we obtain a special class of Vekua equation, whose general solution can be approach by virtue of Taylor series in formal powers, for which is possible to introduce an explicit Bers generating sequence.
Steel structural design is an integral part of the building construction process. So far, various methods of design have been applied in practice to satisfy the design requirements. This paper attempts to acquire the Differential Evolution Algorithms in automatization of specific synthesis and rationalization of design process. The capacity of the Differential Evolution Algorithms to deal with continuous and/or discrete optimization of steel structures is also demonstrated. The goal of this study is to propose an optimal design of steel frame structures using built-up I-sections and/or a combination of standard hot-rolled profiles. All optimized steel frame structures in this paper generated optimization solutions better than the original solution designed by the manufacturer. Taking the criteria regarding the quality and efficiency of the practical design into consideration, the produced optimal design with the Differential Evolution Algorithms can completely replace conventional design because of its excellent performance.
PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION OF MESOSCALE MODELS FROM MACROSCOPIC TESTS USING BAYESIAN NEURAL NETWORKS
(2010)
In this paper, a parameter identification procedure using Bayesian neural networks is proposed. Based on a training set of numerical simulations, where the material parameters are simulated in a predefined range using Latin Hypercube sampling, a Bayesian neural network, which has been extended to describe the noise of multiple outputs using a full covariance matrix, is trained to approximate the inverse relation from the experiment (displacements, forces etc.) to the material parameters. The method offers not only the possibility to determine the parameters itself, but also the accuracy of the estimate and the correlation between these parameters. As a result, a set of experiments can be designed to calibrate a numerical model.
Public Private Partnership (PPP) setzt sich zunehmend als alternative Beschaffungsvariante für die öffentliche Hand durch. Im Krankenhausbereich bestehen erste Erfahrungen mit PPP, allerdings kann hier im Gegensatz zu anderen öffentlichen Bereichen noch nicht von einer Etablierung gesprochen werden. In vielen Krankenhäusern besteht Unklarheit über dieses neue Organisationskonzept. Was steckt hinter diesem Begriff, der teilweise synonym zur „Privatisierung“ verwendet wird? Ausgehend von dieser Fragestellung wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit gezeigt, dass PPP bei richtiger Anwendung eine Alternative zum Verkauf eines öffentlichen Krankenhauses darstellt. PPP ist ein Instrument, mit dem privates Know-how und Kapital für den öffentlichen Krankenhausträger nutzbar gemacht wird. Die öffentliche Trägerschaft des Krankenhauses bleibt dabei, im Gegensatz zu einer materiellen Privatisierung, erhalten. Die Rahmenbedingungen des Gesundheitswesens stellen insbesondere die öffentlichen Krankenhäuser vor große Herausforderungen. Die Lage ist zunehmend geprägt von Mittelknappheit, Sanierungsstau und stetig steigendem Wettbewerbsdruck um die Patienten. Die Reformbemühungen der Bundesregierung zur Senkung der Gesundheitsausgaben haben in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu immer neuen Gesetzesregelungen in immer kürzeren Zeitabständen geführt. Den bisher letzten großen Schritt in dieser Entwicklung stellt die Umstellung der Krankenhausvergütung auf DRG-Fallpauschalen dar. Die Auswirkungen sind insbesondere in den öffentlichen Krankenhäusern zu spüren. Defizitäre Einrichtungen, die bisher durch Subventionen gestützt wurden, werden nun nicht mehr „künstlich am Leben“ erhalten. Alle Krankenhäuser erhalten eine leistungsorientierte Vergütung, weitgehend unabhängig von den krankenhausspezifisch anfallenden Kosten. Durch diese Entwicklungen wurde das Bestreben in den Krankenhäuser, die internen Leistungsprozesse zu optimieren, weiter forciert. Dabei kommt den mit der Gebäudesubstanz verbundenen Leistungen eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Aufgrund hoher Investitionskosten und bedeutender Aufwendungen in der Nutzungsphase erreichen die nicht-medizinischen Leistungen in einem Krankenhaus einen beachtlichen Anteil an den Gesamtkosten. Fast ein Drittel der Krankenhaus-Kosten steht nicht in direkter Beziehung zum Heilungsprozess. In Deutschland macht dieser Anteil der nicht-medizinischen Abläufe jährlich rd. 18 Mrd. Euro aus. Das Optimierungspotenzial des nicht-medizinischen Leistungsbereichs, der auch die bau- und immobilienwirtschaftlichen Leistungen umfasst, wird bisher oft noch unterschätzt und ist in den meisten Fällen noch nicht ausgeschöpft. Allein schon aufgrund dessen finanzieller Bedeutung bedarf es einer verstärkten wissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung. Dieser Notwendigkeit ist bisher noch unzureichend Rechnung getragen wurden. Die vorliegende Arbeit will mit der Erforschung der Anwendbarkeit von PPP für Krankenaus-Immobilien einen Beitrag dazu leisten, diese Lücke zu schließen. Mit dieser für den deutschen Krankenhausbereich neuartigen Beschaffungsvariante wird ein Weg aufgezeigt, wie bei den nicht-medizinischen Leistungen nachhaltig Effizienzpotenziale erschlossen werden können und auf diese Weise ein Beitrag zum wirtschaftlichen Erfolg des gesamten Krankenhauses erzielt werden kann.