A study was performed to develop an interactive plane frame analysis program. The program was designed to run on Unix-based workstations and to be independent of the hardware platform. This was achieved by selecting the XWindow system as the underlying graphical user-interface. An event-driven, window-based program was developed using the XWindow Toolkit. The entire program was written in the C programming language. The program consists of two parts: a preprocessor and a processor. The preprocessor employs pull-down menus and pop-up dialog boxes and provides a convenient way of creating and modifying structural models. The processor performs linear elastic analysis of plane frame structures based on the matrix displacement method. The processor computes joint displacements, support reactions and local member-end forces of the structure. It also handles internal hinges, joint loads, member loads, prescribed displacements, multiple load cases and load combinations. Other features include automatic mesh generation for orthogonal frames, automatic computation of self-weight and specification of output options. To verify the accuracy of the program, analysis results from the program were compared with results obtained from a commercial structural analysis program. A comparison of joint displacements, support reactions and member-end forces indicate that the difference in the values obtained from the two programs is less than two percent and that the program provides accurate analysis results. / Master of Science

The accuracy and reliability of three structural analysis and design programs were evaluated. The three programs considered were MicasPlus, STAAD III, and GTSTRUDL. Nine different test cases of three basic steel space frames were analyzed and designed using the programs. The nine cases were formed by modifying different modeling, analysis, and design parameters. Comparison of results obtained from the programs for each case was presented. It was found that the percentage differences in the analysis results obtained from the programs were typically less than five percent. For steel design, both MicasPlus and GTSTRUDL gave member sizes that were very close. It was also found that changing modeling parameters can have a significant effect on analysis results. This confirms the importance of accurate structural modeling. The functionality and usability of the three programs were also evaluated. After an extensive study of MicasPlus a list of suggested modifications and additions to the program was presented. / Master of Science

A large-scale experimental, state of the art storage facility was constructed on the Macdonald Campus of McGill University. This storage facility will serve as a tool to further investigate many of the laboratory experiments performed in agricultural and food science topics, by providing a representation of actual storage facilities in use in the industry today. The storage facility was fully instrumented to provide valuable data of the stored commodity and it's environment. A custom control software was developed with a user friendly graphical interface. This fully automated software allows data acquisition and control of temperature and relative humidity of the experimental storage facility. / Experiments were performed and the control software provided an adequate temperature and relative humidity control. The controller was based on a conventional PID or proportional, integral and derivative controller. To further improve the control of the storage facility, a novel multivariable PID controller was developed using enthalpy as the process variable, which encompasses both temperature and relative humidity. The novel controller was tested using a mathematical model developed. Simulations were performed comparing the performance of the novel multivariable controller to two other conventional controllers. The results demonstrate that the novel multivariable PID controller is capable of controlling temperature and relative humidity better than the other two conventional control techniques.

M.Sc. (Computer Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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Flow of traffic on freeways and limited access highways can be represented as a series of kinemetic waves. Solutions to these systems of equations become problematic under congested traffic flow conditions, and under complicated (real-world) networks. A simplified theory of kinematics waves was previously proposed. Simplifying elements includes translation of the problem to moving coordinate system, adoption of bi-linear speed-density relationships, and adoption of restrictive constraints at the on- and off-ramps. However, these simplifying assumptions preclude application of this technique to most practical situations. This research explores the limitations of the simplified theory of kinematic waves. First this research documents a relaxation of several key constraints. In the original theory, priority was given to on-ramp merging vehicles so that they can bypass any queue at the merge. This research proposes to relax this constraint using a capacity-based weighted fair queuing (CBWFQ) merge model. In the original theory, downstream queue affects upstream traffic as a whole and exiting traffic can always be able to leave as long as it gets to the diverge. This research proposes that this diverge constraint be replaced with a contribution-based weighted splitting (CBWS) diverge model. This research proposes a revised notation system, permitting the solution techniques to be extended to freeway networks with multiple freeways and their ramps. This research proposes a generalization to permit application of the revised theory to general transportation networks. A generalized CBWFQ merge model and a generalized CBWS diverge model are formulated to deal with merging and diverging traffic. Finally, this research presents computational procedure for solving the new system of equations. Comparisons of model predictions with field observations are conducted on GA 400 in Atlanta. Investigations into the performance of the proposed CBWFQ and CBWS models are conducted. Results are quite encouraging, quantitative measures suggest satisfactory accuracy with narrow confidence interval.

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