Tämän työn tavoitteena oli tutkia millä toimenpiteillä saadaan kehitettyä kiinteistöhuollon ympäristöjohtamista. Ympäristöjohtamiseen liittyvissä asioissa mukailtiin osittain ISO 14001-2015 ympäristöjärjestelmän standardia. Kiinteistöhuoltoala on viime vuosina kehittynyt voimakkaasti ja tämä tuo haasteita ympäristöjohtamisen hallintaan. Suurin osa työstä liittyy vahvasti elinympäristöön kuten ihmisten koteihin ja heidän omistamiin kiinteistöihin. Alaan liittyvä päivittäinen työ on näkyvää ja kiinteistöhuollon toiminta täytyy olla julkisuuskuvankin kautta hyvin selkeää ja positiivista mielikuvaa aiheuttavaa toimintaa. Lähitulevaisuudessa alaan kohdistuvat vaatimukset tilaajapuolelta sekä työnantajilta työntekijöiden osaamista kohtaan tulevat kasvamaan entisestään. Tämän johdosta on tarpeellista laatia ympäristöjohtamisen kehittämisestä selkeä ohjeistus, koska siihen liittyvät asiat ovat merkittävä osassa lähes kaikkien elämässä tavalla tai toisella. Kiinteistöhuoltoyrityksillä on ollut ja tulee jatkossakin olemaan isoja haasteita uusien toimintamallien luomisessa sekä niiden perehdyttämisessä työntekijöilleen. Tämän työn osalta pyritään keskittymään myös niihin osa-alueisiin. Kiinteistöhuoltoala on viime aikoina kasvanut vauhdikkaasti mm. ulkoistuksien johdosta. Ympäristöjohtamisjärjestelmän luominen nostattaa myös viranomaisten sekä kaikkien sidosryhmien luottamusta yrityksen toimintaa kohtaan ja uskoa siihen, että yritys kykenee tuottamaan sopimuksen mukaiset palvelut. Työhön liittyi paljon tutkimusta myös lainsäädännön suhteen. Lisäksi työssä on pyritty tutustumaan tulevaisuuden lakimuutoksiin sekä niiden tuomiin oletettuihin vaikutuksiin ympäristövaatimusten osalta. Myös sidosryhmien vaatimuksia on pohdittu ja arvioitu mitä ne mahtaisivat tulevaisuudessa olla. Näihin vaatimuksiin liittyen kiinteistöhuollon ympäristöjohtamisjärjestelmän kehittämiseen on jo nyt lisätty sellaisia asioita, joita ei välttämättä alalla yleisesti ole käytössä. Ne auttavat mahdollisesti yritystä olemaan entistä parempi ympäristöasiat huomioon ottava yritys verrattuna kilpailijoihin ja muihin saman alan toimijoihin. Tämän kautta yrityksellä on selkeästi parempi mahdollisuus pärjätä valtakunnallisissa sopimusten kilpailutuksissa. Tämän työn tuloksena kiinteistöhuoltoalan sekä ylipäänsä kiinteistöalaan liittyvillä yrityksillä on työkalut valmiina luomaan itselleen ympäristöjohtamisjärjestelmä, jonka se voi käytännössä suoraan sertifioida akkreditoidulla toimijalla. Ympäristöjärjestelmän rakentaminen on kaikille yrityksille erittäin haasteellista ja se vaatii runsaasti resursseja sekä yrityksen toimintatapojen kriittistäkin arviointia. Tämä työ on selkeä ja suoraan kiinteistöalalle kehitetty opas jo olemassa olevan ympäristöjohtamisjärjestelmän kehittämiseen tai kokonaan uuden järjestelmän luomiseen. Työssä myös esitetään selkeästi riskikartoitukseen liittyviä toimenpiteitä ja valmiita taulukoita työn liitteissä, joita voi käyttää apuna oman ympäristöjohtamisjärjestelmän luomisessa. / The aim of this thesis was to examine what measures could be used to develop the environmental management of real estate maintenance. Part of the ISO 14001-2015 environmental management system standard was one aspect of this thesis. The property management industry has developed strongly in recent years and this brings challenges to management and environmental management. Most of the work is strongly related to a living environment such as people’s homes and property owned by them. The daily work associated with the field is visible and the operations of real estate maintenance must be a very clear and positive image creating activity through the public image. In the near future, the demands from customers and demands of employees’ knowledge will increase. Consequently, there is a need for clear guidance on the development of environmental management, since the related issues are significant in our lives. Property maintenance companies have and will continue to face major challenges in creating new operating models and familiarizing them to their employees. This work also seeks to focus on these areas. The property management sector has recently grown rapidly, for example outsourcing is increasing by the state and municipalities. Creating an environmental management system also raises the confidence of the authorities and all stakeholders in the company’s business and believes that the company is capable of delivering contracted services. Much research was also involved in the work in terms of legislation. In addition, efforts have been made to look into the future changes in the law and their expected impacts on environmental requirements. The demands of stakeholders have also been considered and evaluated what they might be in the future. To these requirements, the development of the environmental management system for real estate maintenance has already added things that are not necessarily available in the industry in general. They will possibly help the company to have a better environmental concern than competitors and other operators in the same field. This gives the company clearly better able to compete in national biddings. As a result of this work, the real estate industry and companies in the real estate sector in general have the tools ready to set up an environmental management system, which can in practice be directly certified by an accredited actor. The construction of the environmental system is a very challenging task for all companies, requiring a wealth of resources and a critical evaluation of the company’s operating methods. This work is a clear and direct guide to the real estate industry to develop an existing environmental management system or to create a completely new system. The work also clearly outlines risk mapping measures and prepared tables in job appendices that can be used to create own environmental management system.

<p> Post-earthquake reconnaissance following past earthquakes in the US and other seismic-prone countries illustrates that the majority of building losses (injury, dollar loss and downtime) resulted from damage to nonstructural components (NSCs) and building contents. NSCs damages can severely compromise a building functionality, even if the building does not suffer significant structural damages. NSCs can be classified either as primarily displacement/deformation-sensitive or acceleration-sensitive. This study focuses on acceleration-sensitive components. </p><p> Previous studies on NSCs are mostly based on the responses of simplified models of primary systems and components. These models, while providing valuable insight into understanding the influential parameters on NSCs seismic demands and behavioral patterns, may not adequately represent the characteristics present in the response of actual buildings. In the first part of this dissertation, acceleration responses of a wide variety of instrumented buildings and code-based designed building models are evaluated to: (<i>i</i>) identify the most important limitations of using simplified numerical models, (<i> ii</i>) quantify the most influential parameters that control NSC responses, (<i>iii</i>) evaluate the design equivalent static equations of ASCE 7-16 for acceleration-sensitive NSCs, (<i>iv</i>) assess alternative design equivalent static equations proposed as part of a recent project sponsored by the Applied Technology Council (Project ATC-120), and (<i>v</i>) develop modifications and improvements to the proposed ATC-120 equations. </p><p> In the second part of this dissertation, modern seismic protection techniques are studied that can decrease seismic input demands to a building, as opposed to modifying the seismic resistance of a building, which is the approach taken in current US design seismic provisions. The conventional base-isolation and tuned-mass-damper concepts are utilized to develop an innovative seismic control system (i.e., partial mass isolation, PMI) that can reliably enhance the seismic performance of the structural elements and NSCs so that the building can be occupied and remain functional immediately after a design earthquake. The practicality, limitations, effectiveness, and robustness of the PMI system for protecting the structural and nonstructural components of building structures are discussed and evaluated.</p><p>

Construction organizations typically deal with large volumes of project data containing valuable information. It is found that these organizations do not use these data effectively for planning and decision-making. There are two reasons. First, the information systems in construction organizations are designed to support day-to-day construction operations. The data stored in these systems are often non-validated, nonintegrated and are available in a format that makes it difficult for decision makers to use in order to make timely decisions. Second, the organizational structure and the IT infrastructure are often not compatible with the information systems thereby resulting in higher operational costs and lower productivity. These two issues have been investigated in this research with the objective of developing systems that are structured for effective decision-making. A framework was developed to guide storage and retrieval of validated and integrated data for timely decision-making and to enable construction organizations to redesign their organizational structure and IT infrastructure matched with information system capabilities. The research was focused on construction owner organizations that were continuously involved in multiple construction projects. Action research and Data warehousing techniques were used to develop the framework. One hundred and sixty-three construction owner organizations were surveyed in order to assess their data needs, data management practices and extent of use of information systems in planning and decision-making. For in-depth analysis, Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) was selected which is in-charge of all transportation-related construction projects in the Miami-Dade county. A functional model and a prototype system were developed to test the framework. The results revealed significant improvements in data management and decision-support operations that were examined through various qualitative (ease in data access, data quality, response time, productivity improvement, etc.) and quantitative (time savings and operational cost savings) measures. The research results were first validated by MDT and then by a representative group of twenty construction owner organizations involved in various types of construction projects.

<p> Demand for the Earth observation has risen in the past few decades. As technology advanced, remote sensing techniques have become more and more essential in various applications, such as landslide recognition, land use monitoring, ecological observation. Among the existing techniques, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has the advantage of making day-and-night acquisitions in any weather conditions. The characteristics of SAR secure the applicability of delivering reliable measurements over cloudy areas and performing measurement without any external energy source. However, SAR images suffer from lower spatial and spectral resolution compared to the optical ones. The coherent nature of radar signals also results in speckles which make the acquired images noisy. </p><p> To overcome the aforementioned issues, one can consider analyzing a long series of SAR-based observations over the same area. In that sense, spatial correlations of the image pixels can be studied based on similarity of temporal statistics. Adaptive image processing can thus be created. In the past, such an adaptive procedure was only applied for slow movement detection using SAR interferometry (InSAR). For the first time, we propose a full framework that allows processing the SAR images in an adaptive manner without losing the original resolution. This framework, namely Hybrid Analysis for Synthetic Aperture Radar (HASAR), exploits information in single-polarized/multi-temporal data stacks and focuses on two applications: change detection and image classification. Three techniques are developed in this study. First, we propose a new hypothesis testing procedure to identify pixels behaving similarly over time. Compared with conventional methods, the proposed test provides similarity measurements regardless of temporal variabilities and outliers. Its effectiveness paves the way for the following two techniques. Second, we develop an automatic change detection approach which utilizes spatiotemporal observations obtained by the first technique to locate abrupt changes in the imaged areas. Compared with existing methods, this approach does not require parameter-tuning procedures, giving a fully unsupervised solution for multi-temporal change analysis. Last, we deliver an efficient solution for classifying single-polarized datasets. A first-level classifier is implemented to analyze the spatiotemporal observations previously mentioned. Different from any other existing methods, the proposed method does not need polarimetric information for solving the multi-class problem. Its effectiveness greatly improves the added value of the single-polarization datasets. </p><p> Various experiments have been made to test the effectiveness of each proposed technique. First of all, the results from TerraSAR-X datasets in Los Angeles and Hong Kong signify that the proposed testing procedure is able to deliver effective extraction of statistically homogeneous pixels. Next, the detected changes from ERS-02 datasets in Taiwan show good matches with ground truth. Compared with conventional pairwise change analysis, the proposed multi-temporal change analysis provides much more observations that can be used for change analysis. The detected changes can be better located through the temporal statistics. Only historically significant changes will be considered as changes, which greatly reduces the false alarm rate. Finally, the results of multi-class classification from TanDEM-X and COSMO-SkyMed datasets in Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively, reveal high classification accuracies without complicated training procedures. It thus provides an entirely new solution for classifying the single-polarized datasets. By collectively utilizing different attributes (amplitude/coherence), dimensionalities (space/time), and processing approaches (pixel-based/object-based), the HASAR system augments the information content of the SAR data stacks. It, therefore, shows high potentials for continuous Earth monitoring.</p><p>

During the past three decades, the use of roundabouts has increased throughout the world due to their greater benefits in comparison with intersections controlled by traditional means. Roundabouts are often chosen because they are widely associated with low accident rates, lower construction and operating costs, and reasonable capacities and delay. In the planning and design of roundabouts, special attention should be given to the movement of pedestrians and bicycles. As a result, there are several guidelines for the design of pedestrian and bicycle treatments at roundabouts that increase the safety of both pedestrians and bicyclists at existing and proposed roundabout locations. Different design guidelines have differing criteria for handling pedestrians and bicyclists at roundabout locations. Although all of the investigated guidelines provide better safety (depending on the traffic conditions at a specific location), their effects on the performance of the roundabout have not been examined yet. Existing roundabout analysis software packages provide estimates of capacity and performance characteristics. This includes characteristics such as delay, queue lengths, stop rates, effects of heavy vehicles, crash frequencies, and geometric delays, as well as fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and operating costs for roundabouts. None of these software packages, however, are capable of determining the effects of various pedestrian crossing locations, nor the effect of different bicycle treatments on the performance of roundabouts. The objective of this research is to develop simulation models capable of determining the effect of various pedestrian and bicycle treatments at single-lane roundabouts. To achieve this, four models were developed. The first model simulates a single-lane roundabout without bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The second model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and mixed flow bicyclists. The third model simulates a singlelane roundabout with a combined pedestrian and bicycle crossing, while the fourth model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and a bicycle lane at the outer perimeter of the roundabout for the bicycles. Traffic data was collected at a modern roundabout in Boca Raton, Florida. The results of this effort show that installing a pedestrian crossing on the roundabout approach will have a negative impact on the entry flow, while the downstream approach will benefit from the newly created gaps by pedestrians. Also, it was concluded that a bicycle lane configuration is more beneficial for all users of the roundabout instead of the mixed flow or combined crossing. Installing the pedestrian crossing at one-car length is more beneficial for pedestrians than two- and three-car lengths. Finally, it was concluded that the effect of the pedestrian crossing on the vehicle queues diminishes as the distance between the crossing and the roundabout increases.

Rooftop equipment failures pose significant threats during tropical cyclones because detached equipment may hinder post-storm recovery efforts, delay building re occupancy, and become windbore debris. The objectives of this study were to measure the wind loads exerted on a full scale rooftop equipment specimen, and to develop mitigation techniques that would alleviate severe rooftop equipment wind loads. A test building was outfitted with a/c condenser units, which were instrumented with force and pressure transducers to measure the aerodynamic loading effects. The study found that lateral forces measured in the full scale configuration compared well with a previous tunnel study, but differences existed between the uplift forces and overturning moments. Additionally, a full scale gust effect factor was found to be significantly higher than the wind tunnel results and the nominal value used in ASCE 7. Wind screens placed around the rooftop equipment were found to effectively alleviate the aerodynamic loading effects.

abstract: Increased priority on the minimization of environmental impacts of conventional construction materials in recent years has motivated increased use of waste materials or bi-products such as fly ash, blast furnace slag with a view to reduce or eliminate the manufacturing/consumption of ordinary portland cement (OPC) which accounts for approximately 5-7% of global carbon dioxide emission. The current study explores, for the first time, the possibility of carbonating waste metallic iron powder to develop carbon-negative sustainable binder systems for concrete. The fundamental premise of this work is that metallic iron will react with aqueous CO2 under controlled conditions to form complex iron carbonates which have binding capabilities. The compressive and flexural strengths of the chosen iron-based binder systems increase with carbonation duration and the specimens carbonated for 4 days exhibit mechanical properties that are comparable to those of companion ordinary portland cement systems. The optimal mixture proportion and carbonation regime for this non-conventional sustainable binder is established based on the study of carbonation efficiency of a series of mixtures using thermogravimetric analysis. The pore- and micro-structural features of this novel binding material are also evaluated. The fracture response of this novel binder is evaluated using strain energy release rate and measurement of fracture process zone using digital image correlation (DIC). The iron-based binder system exhibits significantly higher strain energy release rates when compared to those of the OPC systems in both the unreinforced and glass fiber reinforced states. The iron-based binder also exhibits higher amount of area of fracture process zone due to its ability to undergo inelastic deformation facilitated by unreacted metallic iron particle inclusions in the microstructure that helps crack bridging /deflection. The intrinsic nano-mechanical properties of carbonate reaction product are explored using statistical nanoindentation technique coupled with a stochastic deconvolution algorithm. Effect of exposure to high temperature (up to 800°C) is also studied. Iron-based binder shows significantly higher residual flexural strength after exposure to high temperatures. Results of this comprehensive study establish the viability of this binder type for concrete as an environment-friendly and economical alternative to OPC. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil and Environmental Engineering 2015

abstract: A simplified bilinear moment-curvature model are derived based on the moment-curvature response generated from a parameterized stress-strain response of strain softening and or strain-hardening material by Dr. Barzin Mobasher and Dr. Chote Soranakom. Closed form solutions are developed for deflection calculations of determinate beams subjected to usual loading patterns at any load stage. The solutions are based on a bilinear moment curvature response characterized by the flexural crack initiation and ultimate capacity based on a deflection hardening behavior. Closed form equations for deflection calculation are presented for simply supported beams under three point bending, four point bending, uniform load, concentrated moment at the middle, pure bending, and for cantilever beam under a point load at the end, a point load with an arbitrary distance from the fixed end, and uniform load. These expressions are derived for pre-cracked and post cracked regions. A parametric study is conducted to examine the effects of moment and curvature at the ultimate stage to moment and curvature at the first crack ratios on the deflection. The effectiveness of the simplified closed form solution is demonstrated by comparing the analytical load deflection response and the experimental results for three point and four point bending. The simplified bilinear moment-curvature model is modified by imposing the deflection softening behavior so that it can be widely implemented in the analysis of 2-D panels. The derivations of elastic solutions and yield line approach of 2-D panels are presented. Effectiveness of the proposed moment-curvature model with various types of panels is verified by comparing the simulated data with the experimental data of panel test. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil and Environmental Engineering 2015

abstract: The influence of temperature on soil engineering properties is a major concern in the design of engineering systems such as radioactive waste disposal barriers, ground source heat pump systems and pavement structures. In particular, moisture redistribution under pavement systems might lead to changes in unbound material stiffness that will affect pavement performance. Accurate measurement of thermal effects on unsaturated soil hydraulic properties may lead to reduction in design and construction costs. This thesis presents preliminary results of an experimental study aimed at determining the effect of temperature on the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function (kunsat). Pressure plate devices with volume change control were used to determine the SWCC and the instantaneous profile method was used to obtain the kunsat function. These properties were measured on two fine-grained materials subjected to controlled temperatures of 5oC, 25oC and 40oC. The results were used to perform a sensitivity analysis of the effect of temperature changes on the prediction of moisture movement under a covered area. In addition, two more simulations were performed where changes in hydraulic properties were done in a stepwise fashion. The findings were compared to field measured water content data obtained on the subgrade material of the FAA William Hughes test facility located in Atlantic City. Results indicated that temperature affects the unsaturated hydraulic properties of the two soils used in the study. For the DuPont soil, a soil with high plasticity, it was found that the water retention was higher at low temperatures for suction levels lower than about 10,000 kPa; while the kunsat functions at the three temperatures were not significantly different. For the County soil, a material with medium plasticity, it was found that it holds around 10% more degree of saturation at 5°C than that at 40°C for suction levels higher than about 1,000 kPa; while the hydraulic conductivity at 40°C was at least one order of magnitude higher than that at 5°C, for suction levels higher than 1,000 kPa. These properties were used to perform two types of numerical analyses: a sensitivity analysis and stepwise analysis. Absolute differences between predicted and field measured data were considered to be acceptable, ranging from 4.5% to 9% for all simulations. Overall results show an improvement in predictions when non-isothermal conditions were used over the predictions obtained with isothermal conditions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil and Environmental Engineering 2015

abstract: Crack sealing is considered one of the least expensive and cost effective maintenance activity used on pavements. In some cases, crack sealing suffers from premature failure due to various material, environmental, and construction issues. A survey that was conducted as part of this study showed that the highest sealant failure year occurring on the second year. Therefore, any attempt to increase the sealants’ service life by addressing and improving the sealant properties and their resistance to failure will benefit the effectiveness of this treatment. The goal behind this study was to evaluate the potential improvement in performance of hot applied sealant material commonly used in the Phoenix area, and evaluate the performance of using a neat binder modified with crumb rubber (at 5 and 10% by weight of binder) as a low-grade sealing material. The sealants was also modified with crumb rubber at 2.5, and 5% by weight fo the sealant. Six ASTM tests were conducted for the comparison. These tests are the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and Cone Penetration Test (CPT), Resilience Test, Softening Point Test, Brookfield Viscometer Test, and Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR). The results showed that adding only crumb rubber to a neat binder for its potential use as a crack sealant is inadequate to meet the specifications expected for sealants. However, the modification of the sealant with crumb rubber showed some benefits, such as increased elasticity and decreased temperature susceptibility. A crumb rubber content of 2.5% by weight of the sealant was recommended. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil Engineering 2016