The topic of chemical oxidative degradation in rotational molded polyethylene (high-density cross-linked) chemical (sodium hypochlorite) storage tanks is an industry problem that ranks at the top of current business issues for manufacturers of chemical storage tanks. The degradation of these tanks not only compromises the physical and mechanical properties of the tank material, but reduces the life expectancy of the tank, eventually resulting in catastrophic tank failure. Premature tank failure comes at a hefty cost. The reputation of the manufacturer is questioned often resulting in immediate loss of customer satisfaction and future business. The leaking of the chemical from the failed tank serves as a liable environmental hazard that jeopardizes the safety and welfare of its surroundings – people and environment. And the associated manufacturer of the failed tank is almost certainly responsible for the repair or replacement of the tank. All these associated problems and many more related to chemical tank failure cost this relatively small industry millions of dollars annually. The need to determine the failure mechanisms of these tanks is critically important. Such an understanding will provide industry with useful knowledge that will open the door for improvements in tank performance. There is no question that a deeper understanding of failure mechanisms will improve a tank manufacturer's reputation, increase business sales, and assure environmental safety. The addition of this knowledge will also instill consumer confidence in an industry that is considered to lack refined manufacturing processes and proven quality controls. Such advancements are keys to making rotational molding a cutting-edge, technology-driven process that prepares industry for future growth and development. The purpose of this research is to provide tested empirical data and proven expert analysis that can be utilized by companies in understanding the failure mechanisms of these tanks. The information regarding this topic was collected from various tank samples taken from Poly Processing, a leading manufacturer of rotationally molded polyethylene chemical storage tanks and producer of the examined samples, and Odyssey Manufacturing, a manufacturer of bulk sodium hypochlorite and the end user of the examined samples. In the final chapter of this research, a summary is presented of the important findings regarding the purpose of the thesis study.

One of the key components of international development is to provide adequate shelter for citizens of developing countries. This is often accomplished by governmental, non- governmental, and private organizations that seek to lower the cost, increase the quality, and expand the availability of safe, sustainable housing through the use of innovative technologies. These new technologies can affect the social and/or economic structure within communities. This paper is a case study resulting from the construction of a seventy-one-home village, including infrastructure, near Yogyakarta, Indonesia by a foreign, aid-based non-governmental organization (NGO). The village was relocated less than two kilometers from its original site after a massive landslide, triggered by the 2006 earthquakes of Central Java, virtually destroyed the entire community. Four years after construction the researcher took an inductive inquiry approach through interviews with residents of the community and residents of neighboring communities to understand the social and economic impacts. The research project explored the unintended consequences to the community resulting from the NGO's use of innovative housing technologies (steel reinforced concrete domes and planned community development) without a thorough understanding of underlying community culture and interactions.

Rapid Prototyped part failure constitutes a major issue for both RP providers and customers. When parts fail the reputation of the vendor is heavily deteriorated, customer dissatisfaction increase and replacement of the broken parts is often necessary to avoid the loss of future business. Product design teams often run into situations where Rapid Prototyped parts are not able to withstand shipping and handling and delivered broken or while demonstrating and examining the parts. When done in the face of customers this builds a perception of poor quality and lack of aptitude on the design group as well as the RP processes. The rapid advance of the RP industry and technology has led users to employ RP parts for structural applications where the need to understand in great detail and accuracy the mechanical behavior of the product and its individual components is greater than ever. Models built on Rapid Prototyping (RP) equipment are most often made from polymers which frequently have mechanical properties that are inferior to those manufactured by traditional methods such as thermoforming or injection molding. Not only are the mechanical properties of RP models typically low, they are usually, at least in thin sections, directly dependent on the section or wall thickness of the models. This dependence of strength on wall thickness makes it difficult to predict a proper wall thickness for RP models, even when nominal values of material strength are known. The purpose of this work is to present and compare measured values of tensile strength and stiffness as a function of wall thickness for three RP processes and materials. These properties will assist designers estimating adequate minimum wall thicknesses for models built by the three processes. The three RP technologies included in the scope of this research are: Z Corporation (powder with polymer binder layup), Fuse Deposition Modeling and PolyJet Layup (Objet). The findings of this study establish that tensile strength and stiffness values are dependent upon wall thickness, building orientation and direction of the applied force of specimens created with the methods in consideration. It was also determined that the correlation between thickness and strength for all processes is non-linear. Due to these results a single tensile strength and modulus value for each material and all wall thicknesses do not accurately represent their behavior. However, these results will allow a designer to understand the relationship between the wall thickness and using the data provided in this work be able to model and then fabricate adequate 3D prototypes.

The modern manufacturing world has been driven to compete in a more international and interconnected system. This has led to increased focus upon frameworks and architectures to guarantee quality, high market acceptance, and reduce cost. Modern manufacturing design processes evolved largely from Henry Ford at Ford Motor Company, and Alfred Sloan at General Motors. Their structures embody two different focuses on quality and value engineering which have influenced many recent design frameworks. In the 1970s a heavy emphasis was placed upon Design for Manufacturing, which uses group technology, commonality of processes, and continual focus to reduce part count. Some companies have desired a design process that better accounts for new market needs and Voice of the Customer changes, allowing them to break out of the old processes by using a new framework called Design for Six Sigma. Contextual and survey analysis contrasting DFSS and DFM showed these systems have different definitions of what creates value; which causes a different focus on how to improve value. As the market frequently errs at knowing when to apply DFM or DFSS, using a simple case study of a product with high part and assembly cost, teams were challenged to create a better flashlight using both DFM for part reduction, and DFSS for function improvement. The aim was to increase value. Value has been defined by the formula: value = (performance + capability) / cost or as value = function/cost. Results from the case study combining DFM and DFSS constructs demonstrate a total value engineering construct. It was also shown that DFM indicated effectiveness for a slow-changing market with cost reduction focus, and DFSS demonstrated effectiveness for analyzing continually changing market needs. Disruptive innovations can replace a formerly lull market, for which DFM can be completely unprepared; while DFSS is not effective in slow product-change markets. Incorporating the best of DFSS and DFM creates a Total Value Engineering framework.

The Design/Bid/Build (DBB) delivery method has historically been the most popular and the most effective means of determining the least cost for building a project based upon a set of construction documents. In recent years, however, other project delivery methods, including but limited to Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) and Design/Build (DB), have slowly taken a share of the construction market away from the DBB delivery method. The choice of delivery method that will produce the best value for an owner in the measurements of efficiency in quality, cost, and timeliness depends upon the type of project and the business culture of the project owner. A unique opportunity for a comparative study was presented by the Meetinghouse Facilities Department (MFD) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The MFD completed over 200 repetitive meetinghouse projects in the U.S. over a five-year period (1999-2003), contracting approximately two-thirds of the projects using a CM/GC delivery method with an attached partnering agreement. The remaining meetinghouses were contracted using a DBB delivery method. A comprehensive comparison was conducted measuring all of the efficiencies created by the selection of delivery method, including short- and long-term costs, direct and indirect costs, construction cycle time, and quality assessment scores. After identifying and then adjusting for several confounding variables in the historical data, the statistical analysis provided evidence that the CM/GC delivery method proved to be the best value for the MFD by producing a total cost savings of over 5.5 percent on the meetinghouse projects when compared to the DBB meetinghouse projects. Construction cycle time was 20% shorter on the CM/GC meetinghouse projects and quality assessment (QA) scores were consistently higher. In regards to a 10-year life cycle repair costs, the CM/GC delivery method produced a higher quality meetinghouse, reducing repair costs by 34% when compared to the DBB meetinghouse projects.

Passive solar design can be an effective means of reducing conditioning loads in residential buildings by utilizing free solar heat during the heating season, and blocking unwanted solar heat during the cooling season. The objective of this thesis was to use energy modeling software to simulate the effect that incorporating passive solar design strategies into typical New England style houses would have on their energy usage for heating and cooling. The designs that were studied were Capes, Colonials, and Saltboxes. Four versions of increasing energy efficiency were studied for each style. After measuring baseline energy usage for each model, four passive solar variables were incorporated: orientation, allocation of windows to southern façade, shading devices, and thermal mass. After determining the ideal orientation of each building, 300 combinations of window allocation, shading device depth, and amount of thermal mass were simulated for each model. From this pool of simulations, the model with the lowest conditioning costs was selected and compared to its respective baseline design. As a general trend for each style, as the level of energy efficiency decreased, the savings from incorporating passive solar design increased. For the colonial models, the savings ranged from $422-$150. For the Saltbox models, the annual savings ranged from$398-$116. For the Cape models, the savings ranged from $303-$75.

I syfte att effektivisera byggandet i Sverige trädde den 1 januari 2015 två nya bestämmelser ikraft;; en bestämmelse avseende förbud mot kommunala byggnadstekniska särkrav samt en lag avseende nya riktlinjer för kommunala markanvisningar.  Förbudet mot kommunala byggnadstekniska särkrav regleras genom 8 kap. 4a § i plan-­ och bygglagen (2010:900), PBL, och innebär att kommuner inte längre får ställa egna byggnadstekniska egenskapskrav som byggherrar måste anpassa sig efter. Bestämmelsen avser framförallt genomförande av detaljplaner i samband med markanvisningsavtal eller exploateringsavtal. Med byggnadstekniska särkrav menas krav som går längre än de föreskrifter som tillhör de byggnadstekniska kraven i 8 kap. 4 § PBL och som finns i PBF, BBR och EKS. Vid tillämpning av stoppregeln har de situationer där kommunen agerar i rollen som fastighetsägare undantagits. Det innebär att förbudet inte omfattar kommunens möjlighet att ställa egna byggnadstekniska krav i samband med markanvisningar som avser upplåtelse av mark, utan enbart att de markanvisningar som avser marköverlåtelser omfattas av förbudet.  I enlighet med lag (2014:899) om riktlinjer för kommunala markanvisningar ska kommuner upprätta markanvisningspolicys innehållande de riktlinjer som gäller för markanvisningar inom kommunen. På så sätt har intentionen varit att gynna konkurrensen mellan olika byggherrar genom mer tydliga villkor och ökad transparens vid kommunala avtalsförhandlingar.  Trots införandet av stoppregeln har det framkommit att vissa kommuner fortfarande ställer byggnadstekniska särkrav. Av en pågående och aktuell debatt i ämnet framgår att det även finns olika uppfattningar om huruvida bestämmelsen ens utgör ett förbud. Detta examensarbete har utförts i syfte att redogöra för vad stoppregeln i 8 kap. 4a § PBL egentligen innebär i samband med kommunala markanvisningar, hur kommuner förhåller sig till stoppregeln samt hur de i praktiken agerar kring bestämmelsen. För att erhålla relevant material till vår studie har vårt arbete baserats på dels en granskning av 34 olika markanvisningsavtal och markanvisningspolicys från 10 kommuner och dels intervjuer via e-­post med 13 kommuner.  Vår studie visar att det fortfarande ställs särkrav vid kommunala markanvisningar. I 13 av de 34 markanvisningsavtal som granskats påträffades särkrav och då vanligen inom området för energihushållning. Studien visar också att kommuner överlag är medvetna om att stoppregeln är menad som ett förbud och att många också förhåller sig till det. Däremot har det också bekräftats att det finns ett klart missnöje med stoppregeln, då det framförallt hindrar kommunernas arbete att främja ett hållbart byggande. Studien visar också att stoppregeln kan upplevas otydlig när det gäller tillämpningen vid kommunal markanvisning. Detta med hänsyn till att det av stoppregelns ordalydelse framgår att lagen inte är tillämplig för situationer där kommunen handlar som fastighetsägare, vilket är den roll som många kommuner ser sig verka i under markanvisningsprocessen. / In order to streamline construction in Sweden two new regulations took effect in January 1, 2015. One concerning the prohibition of municipal construction engineering demands and one regarding guidelines for municipal land development agreements. The prohibition of municipal construction engineering demands is regulated in 8 chap. 4a § PBL (2010:900), which means that municipalities no longer can set their own construction engineering requirements that developers must adapt to. This provision relates primarily to the implementation of “detailed plans” for land development agreements or exploitation agreements. The term construction engineering demands mean requirements that go beyond the regulation of the building construction requirements in 8 chap. 4 § PBL, which is contained in the PBF, BBR and EKS. When applying the “stop rule”, there are situations where the municipalities acts in the role of property owners and therefore have been exempted from the “stop rule”. This means that the prohibition does not include the municipality's ability to set their own building construction requirements in conjunction to land developments related to land lease. Only land developments that are related to land sale are covered by the prohibition.  According to the new law referring to guidelines for municipal land development agreements, municipalities must establish a policy containing the guidelines for land developments within the municipality. Thus, the intention has been to support competition between different constructors through more clear conditions and increased transparency in municipal contract negotiations. Despite the introduction of the “stop rule”, it has been found that some municipalities still impose specific construction engineering demands. An ongoing and current debate on the subject shows that there are also different perceptions as to whether the provision even constitutes a ban or not.  This bachelor thesis has been carried out with a view of explaining what the regulations in 8 chap. 4a § PBL really means in conjunction to land development agreements and how the municipalities relate to the “stop rule” and act in the practice regarding to the provision. In order to obtain relevant material for the essay, our work has been based on inventory of 34 different contracts of land development agreements and the policies of ten municipalities and interviews by e-­mail with 13 municipalities. Our study shows that the municipalities still are using construction engineering demands in land development agreements. In 13 of the 34 contracts examined, construction engineering demands were found, usually in the area of energy effectivity. At the same time, the study also discovers that municipalities are aware that the “stop rule” is considered a ban and that many of the municipalities abides to the new regulations. On the other hand, it has also been confirmed that there is a clear dissatisfaction with the “stop rule”, as it prevents in particular the municipalities efforts to promote sustainable construction. Through our study it has also been found that the “stop rule” can be perceived as unclear as regards to the process of land developments. This, in view of the fact, that the wording of the “stop rule” shows that the law does not apply to situations where the municipality acts as property owners, which is the role many municipalities consider themselves in when they establish contracts referring to the process of land developments.

The monetary quantification of inconveniences caused to the road users by ongoing construction activities is known as the Road Users Costs (RUCs). While the importance of RUCs is widely known, some highway agencies lack an appropriate methodology to compute RUCs. Thus, there is a need to develop a framework to compute RUCs that can be adopted quickly by highway agencies. This study reviewed existing literature and conducted a nationwide survey to identify and summarize the current practices of computing RUCs. It developed an enhanced framework and tool to compute RUCs that balances the effort required to calculate RUCs and the accuracy of the results. This enhanced framework accounts for the spatiotemporal variation of RUCs. The results of the study are expected to enable highway agencies to quickly and accurately compute RUCs to make better project management decisions, such as selecting the best contractor that minimizes the agency costs and RUCs.

The demand for pollution-free and recyclable engineering materials has been increased as the cost of energy and environmental concerns have risen. Green material design can lead to better environmental quality and sustainability of civil infrastructure. Road construction is one of the largest consumers of natural resources. Beneficial utilization of recycled materials can result in an important opportunity to save the mining and use of virgin materials, to preserve energy, and to save landfill space. Two main research questions addressed in this study are: (1) How much pollution, energy, natural resources, time and money can be salvaged by applying recycling materials to Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA)?, (2) What are the optimum mix designs for those recycled materials in HMA?, and (3) Can multiple recycled materials be used at the same time to compensate each other*s drawbacks? This study evaluates the structural performance and environmental-economical cost and benefit by substituting one or a combination of three recycled materials in HMA. The three recycled materials are Recycled Asphalt Shingle (RAS), Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) Bottom Ash, and Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA). Performance evaluation of the HMA including those recycled materials has been performed by a series of laboratory experimental tests while the environmental impact was investigated by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In addition, Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) method has been employed to evaluate the benefit of the aforementioned recycled materials. In 2008, the Florida Legislature established a new statewide recycling goal of 75% to be achieved by the year 2020. The impact of this research aligns with this policy as it introduces a sustainable HMA that reduces the necessity of virgin aggregate and asphalt binder to 50% and 20%, respectively. In terms of environmental and economic impacts, in comparison with the regular HMA, it generates 25% less greenhouse gas emission, and for a period of 20 years, the cost of construction and maintenance would be 65% less.

Application of PV Panels in Large Multi-Story Buildings Feasibility Study Sara Kayal The awareness of global warming along with an ever increasing demand for a new source of energy has brought a strong interest in harnessing natural resources such as solar energy. This thesis evaluates the viability of applying photovoltaic (PV) panels in high-rise commercial buildings of around 20 stories. Specifically, the thesis is intended to provide a pre-planning tool during the early design stage for architects and designers who are considering the deployment of PV panels in new multi-story construction. The first three chapters cover a comprehensive literature review and describe several case studies of the application of PV panels in multi-story buildings. The first chapter serves as an introduction to the objectives and rationale of PV panel research. Chapter 2 explains the physics and characteristics of PV panel technology that is applicable to multi-story buildings. Various PV panel types are explored in this chapter and it is suggested that window-based PV panels are the most suitable type for multi-story buildings in which the available roof area is small in area and limited in flexibility due to competition with other uses. Chapter 3 investigates factors that influence the efficiency of PV panels. These factors reduce the efficiency of PV panels to about 10-15%. In Chapter 4 a study model is presented to validate the results of the previous chapters and to determine the feasibility of PV panel systems with the aid of computer model analysis and simulation. The study model includes a base case of a 20-story building that is surrounded by four adjacent buildings, one adjacent to each orientation. Five configurations of the base model with different arrangements of PV panels were analyzed. First, electrical energy of the base case was calculated without applying any PV panels. The second and third configurations include PV panels on all of the available façade areas on a typical summer and winter day, respectively. The fourth and fifth configurations feature PV panels on only the top 10 floors. The simulation results show that although some savings accrue over a 25-year life-cycle period, these savings pale in comparison with the initial capital cost associated with the purchase and installation of the PV panels. It was also found that although crystalline silicon panels have a higher initial cost, their superior efficiency and performance present them as better candidates for PV panel applications. In addition, as expected, the south orientation provides potentially the largest amount of electricity production. In Chapter 5 the simulation results are summarized. The simulation studies address the application of PV panels from three different perspectives, namely: economics; technical feasibility; and, subjective factors. The first four chapters confirm that PV panels, at the current level of technology, are not an efficient and cost effective solution for multi-story buildings. They can satisfy only a very small portion of the electrical energy demand of the building at a very high initial capital cost. However, some strategies are suggested for mitigating the dual problems of inadequate PV production volume and high initial costs. Subjective factors account for other benefits that are not related to economic considerations. These factors include educational, promotional, and business line promotion benefits that could accrue to the building owner.