The weathering of plastics and composites is a problem because of the loss of both physical and mechanical properties that it causes in these materials. But this weathering effect has been difficult, and in some cases, impossible to characterize without the destruction of the plastic or composite part. Clearly a rapid, reliable, and non-destructive test for the extent of the weathering damage is critically needed. A recent problem that arose at Superyacht Solutions, a boat repair company in Australia, required a solution to just this problem. Such a test was developed for Superyacht Solutions, and is being applied across a wide range of plastic materials. The chemical foundation upon which this solution rests is also being confirmed. The Superyacht Solutions problem was that a boat was brought in for repair which was yellowing dramatically. Surface erosion was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) surface studies. A loss of mechanical properties was also suspected. A new spectroscopic method of analysis was developed that not only identified the problem as extensive oxidation, but was able to quantify the extent of damage that occurred through a non-destructive technique. This method has also been applied to other plastics with encouraging initial results. The method used and its theoretical basis are included in this thesis.

Commodity hauling of bulk goods is a growing enterprise that has expanded from hauling agricultural products to hauling many other bulk products. Commodity trailers are used to haul agricultural products from storage facilities to processing plants. These trailers are designed for highway use but are frequently required to work in field conditions as well. In many cases this environment overstresses these trailers and results in permanent irreparable damage. In addition to the structural problems of these trailers, the current systems for unloading the bulk produce from these trailers have serious inadequacies. While functional, the currently used chain and non-chain driven belt discharge devices are expensive and often problematic, requiring frequent maintenance and replacement. Furthermore, the discharge device also causes damage to the produce. This thesis provides innovative solutions to these two key problems and introduces a completely new trailer design that can be used for both field and road conditions. The main chassis of the trailer has a framework of ribs supported by two I-beams. This unique rib design combined with the main I beams act as large vertebra, which results in a rigid underbody that maintains flexibility and strength. Special consideration was taken while creating this design to account for dynamic loading on soft muddy soils or uneven surfaces while still maintaining the desired lightweight trailer characteristics. In addition to the improved trailer frame and body design, a simple and effective device for unloading bulk products was constructed. The new design-a belt-over-chain system-is actually two separate systems performing one job in unison with different characteristics and speeds. The system works by means of a hydraulic orbit motor that actuates the drive chains into motion. The weight of bulk commodities on the chain presses the unattached conveyor belt against the chain and cross-members, creating friction, which advances the conveyor belt. This thesis solves two of the problems associated with hauling bulk produce from the field to the storage facility and sets the groundwork for improving the hauling capabilities used to move commodities from the field. Finally, this thesis introduces a new commodity self-unloading trailer for hauling produce, which has a belt system that preserves quality and a body design that provides trailer longevity.

This study was conducted to determine how much time would be saved in the homebuilding cycle when field superintendents received training. The study took place during the 2007 calendar year with a production homebuilder in southern Nevada. New technologies and techniques were introduced during weekly training meetings that were held at both the corporate office and construction job sites. A scheduling tool was introduced along with new procedures and policies. The superintendents were required to report daily on the tasks that had been completed. This gave the superintendent and upper management the ability to follow the home throughout the building process and track the results. Additionally, new policies were created to improve build quality and increase customer satisfaction. This study compared over 300 homes built in 2006 (untrained superintendents) versus nearly 300 homes built in 2007 (trained superintendents). A substantial reduction in cycle time was found when compared to the homes built before the training period, with some projects reducing their average cycle time by over 140 days. Superintendent satisfaction in regards to the training was found to be above average. Through the reduction in cycle time, the company reduced their daily interest costs by nearly 3 million dollars.

Research plays a large role in the advancement of any industry. It is particularly important that relevant research is performed in an industry as large and critical as the construction industry. A review of literature shows that historically research has not played a major role in the advancement of the construction industry. The work of this thesis was to explore whether there has been a change in this relationship, or not. This thesis explored whether the construction-related research being done is in alignment with the needs of industry. Comparisons of the rankings of construction research and industry views were done to evaluate their correlation to each other. This evaluation was done through a review of literature of four construction research journals. Articles were gathered and classified in common construction themes. Each research theme was given a ranking based on the quantity of articles classified into common construction themes. The research ranking demonstrated that the most popular research theme was training/ human resources, followed by management/ risks and technology/ innovation. A survey was sent to 259 industry professionals asking them to rank the 22 construction themes. A response rate of 14% was achieved through the survey respondents. Survey respondents determine that the most important research theme is constructability, followed by estimating/ bidding and economics/cost control. Findings demonstrate that there was no correlation between the themes that were popularly researched and what is most important to the construction professionals.

Natural fibers have received attention in recent years because of their minimal environmental impact, reasonably good properties, and low cost. There is a wide variety of natural fibers suitable for composite applications, the most common of which is flax. Flax has advantages in tensile strength, light weight, and low cost over other natural fibers. As with other natural and synthetic fibers, flax is used to reinforce both thermoset and thermoplastic matrices. When flax is used in thermoplastic matrices, polypropylene and polyethylene are the main resins used. Although at first glance flax may seem to be a cheaper alternative to fiberglass, this may not necessarily be as advantageous as one would hope. A full economic valuation should be based on raw material costs and full processing costs. Although flax fibers used in composites are generally a waste product from linen flax, they require additional processing which can significantly reduce flax's economic advantage over glass. This paper attempts to place some measure of economic comparison coupled with property comparisons between natural (mainly flax) fibers and glass fibers. Our tests compare tensile, flexural, and drop impact properties, as well as heat sensitivity, and colorant acceptance.

Building Information Modeling has provided many benefits to the architectural, engineering, construction and facilities management communities. Many studies have been done to validate the asserted benefits, including benefits to the field of estimating. The studies on estimating are currently limited to the realm of conceptual estimates, and have only treated detailed estimates in the abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine how BIM was being used by companies in a hard bid, or detailed estimate scenario. The research team used the Deseret Towers housing project at Brigham Young University as the basis for the research. A building information model (BIM) was provided to all bidders on the project, and at the conclusion of the bidding process a survey was used to determine how the contractors used the model in their bidding processes. The findings determined that a few of the contractors did use the model for quantity takeoff, and one actually used the quantities as the basis for the submitted bid. Additionally, the survey attempted to determine the prevailing attitudes of the estimators toward BIM as a tool in estimating, and their opinions of the future of BIM in estimating.

In this study, friction spot welding was used to join DP980 steel sheet. Four different ultra-hard tool materials were used with the objective of determining which tool material produced the highest number of acceptable-strength welds. Three of the tools were composed of various mixtures of polycrystalline cubic Boron Nitride (PCBN), Tungsten, and Rhenium. These materials are referred to herein as Q60, Q70, and Q80, the "Qxx" designation denoting the percentage of the volume of the tool material composed of PCBN. The fourth tool tested was composed entirely of PCBN. The Q70 tool produced approximately 1100 welds of acceptable strength before average weld strength decreased below the acceptable value, and the Q60 tool produced approximately 600 welds of acceptable strength. The Q80 material did not produce any welds with strengths above the acceptable value. However, Q80 produced the greatest number of welds of consistent strength. The PCBN tool, being the hardest, also did not produce any welds of acceptable strength, and failed at 257 welds. This failure is presumed to be a result of a tool/parameter mismatch which caused excessive loads on the tool. This research revealed that the weld parameters and tool materials used in this study will not generally provide for feasibility of implementation in industry. Further advances in weld parameter selection, tool geometry, and tool materials will be necessary in order to make friction spot joining of high strength steels an economically viable option.

There has been an increase in adoption of building information modeling (BIM) by commercial contractors over the past few years but there is not a clear indication of current application or the frequency of each use. This research was undertaken to determine the frequency and best practices of using BIM in commercial construction. Leading commercial contracting firms were contacted and employees were selected to complete a telephone survey that was designed to determine how they are using BIM. It was found that BIM is being used with more frequency on projects, with plans to continue to implement it even further on all projects that allow for its use. Most companies are incorporating trade contractors in their coordination meetings but are taking the lead to ensure a high standard is maintained. Trade contractors are given responsibility to resolve smaller clashes while bringing the larger problems to the clash detection meetings. The model quality being received is increasing as well the frequency of models being received from the design team; however, there is a lack of consensus as to the level of development requirement to ensure the model can be used for facilities management. Commercial contractors are adopting building information modeling for a variety of reasons. These include client requirements, innovative technology strategies, and fear of being left behind. Overall its use improves processes within their companies. The general agreement is that BIM is having a positive impact on profitability, schedules and sales. BIM further improves the efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness. The best practices undertaken by commercial contractors include using BIM as a sales and marketing tool, utilizing subcontractors knowledge and allowing them to resolve minor clashes, having combination of BIM teams and BIM experts and investing in training employees and further development of BIM uses.

This thesis researched the accuracy of measured energy data in comparison to estimated hand calculation data and estimated building energy performance simulation data. In the facility management industry, there is minimal evidence that building energy performance software is being used as a benchmark against measured energy usage within a building. Research was conducted to find examples of measured energy data compared to simulated data. The study examined the accuracy of a simulation software and hand calculations to measured energy data. Data suggests that comparisons may be made between building energy performance simulated data and measured data, though comparisons are solely based on each individual case. Data suggests that heating load simulation data is more accurate for benchmarks than cooling load simulation data. Importing models into Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS) was not as successful as was expected. When only four of the initial ten building models chosen imported successfully, the remaining twenty-five other building models were imported. Only two of the twenty-five models successfully imported into GBS. The sample size of this research changed from ten to six. The results of this study show that GBS simulated data was close to actual data for the heating loads. For the cooling loads, however, GBS simulated data was consistently low in comparison to the actual data. The results of this study show that hand calculations were consistently low and not as close as GBS simulated data when compared to the actual data for the heating loads. The opposite was true with the cooling loads as hand calculations were consistently high in comparison to actual data.

The location of distribution centers is an important strategic decision in supply chain design, particularly as it relates to service quality, productivity, and profitability of the firm. There has been extensive research performed on distribution location models which require the use of complex algorithms and assumptions that make use of these models difficult in practice for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have limited capital and resources. Studies have also failed to capture and quantify potential business results of using more sophisticated methods. In this study, a deterministic and static location-allocation model is designed using a prototype software tool. The tool is a collection of Excel/VBA programs formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model. Research was done in conjunction with a personal care products company that provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the manual methods typically used in SMEs with the results of the software tool and the potential business impact. Both quantitative data, including customer locations and order information, as well as qualitative data were collected from the company. A total of five models were simulated using the prototype software tool, including one model of the current supply chain for use as a base comparison, and four future-state models of potential distribution center (DC) location scenarios. The objective in each of these models was to minimize transportation costs while maintaining the desired service fulfillment levels. The use of the prototype software tool resulted in a more optimal supply chain solution. The optimized DC location resulted in a network design with a 6.5% reduction in transportation costs from the base model, and a 0.8% reduction in transportation costs from a location previously chosen by the company. The results also provided insight into considering weighted shipping volume in location analysis as it can serve as a magnifier of business impact and rapid diminishing returns when shipping product below an average of 10 pounds. The use of an optimization tool was shown to mitigate many issues SMEs encounter in attempting to synthesize multiple variables in the DC location problem.