Globalization has increased the complexity of the business world, as it adds new dimensions to companies’ operations, such as global suppliers and customers, and competition from global actors. To handle the complexity, companies are pressured to become more data-driven to be able to measure and align their operations, and create possibilities for efficiency and competitiveness [Skjott-Larsen etal., 2007; Long, 2018]. In order to enable the change towards becoming more data-driven, companies need to rethink the structure of their organization. Matrix structures have gained popularity, since it allows companies to focus on more than one dimension by creating functional teams focused on specific tasks [Sy et al., 2005]. However, it is not uncommon that the functional groups becomes functional silos, with an inward focus on the own groups’ performance, leading to decreased understanding of other groups and poor communication between groups. A lack of understanding of other groups can lead to a reactive, rather than proactive, way of handling problems [Motiwalla and Pearson, 2009]. The purpose of this project is to create a process that can be used to facilitate proactive work in adata-driven matrix organization struggling with a reactive way of handling problems. The process can be used as a way to decide between possible solutions in decision-making processes, while making sure that any affected department is involved at an early stage in the decision-making process. At Alfa Laval’s distribution center (DC) in Tumba, they are facing the challenges of functional silos and reactive work. The organization is data-driven, why a lot of decisions are based on data. However, the best decision according to the data is not always feasible, which has lead to decisions being made that affects other departments negatively. Based on data from and observations made at the DC, a processwas created. The process was iterated and improved through application to real-life problems and point of improvements identified at DC Tumba. While it is based on the operations at Alfa Laval, it canbe applied to any organization facing similar challenges. The final version of the process proved to deliver good solutions to problems by involving stakeholders early on in the process, making it possible for them to influence how the solutions should be adjusted in order to avoid the changes affecting their daily work negatively. The most important conclusion is that important stakeholder departments should be involved earlyin decision-making processes. That way, their valuable competence and knowledge can be utilized when identifying possible solution, and any negative effects of a solution on another departments can be discovered before implementation. In addition, by taking the time to thoroughly analyze the root cause and effects to a problem, the understanding of the chain can increase. / Globalisering har ökat komplexiteten av affärsvärlden, då ytterligare dimensioner måste tas hänsyn till i företags verksamheter, så som globala leverantörer och kunder, och ökad konkurrens från globala aktörer. För att hantera komplexiteten blir företag mer datadrivna, för att kunna mäta och samordna sin verksamhet och skapa möjligheter för effektivitet och konkurrenskraftighet [Skjott-Larsen et al.,2007; Long, 2018]. För att möljiggöra ett skifte mot att bli mer datadriven, måste företag se över sin organisationsstruktur. Matrisstrukturer har ökat i popularitet då de möjliggör att företag kan fokusera på fler än en dimensioner samtidigt genom att skapa funktionella grupper fokuserade på specifikauppgifter [Sy et al., 2005]. Dock är det inte ovanligt att funktionella grupper förvandlas till funktionella silos, med ett inåtriktat fokus på den egna gruppens prestationer, vilket leder till minskad förtåelse och bristfällig kommunikation grupper emellan. Bristande förståelse för andra grupper kan leda till ett klimat där problem hanteras reaktivt snarare än proaktivt [Motiwalla and Pearson, 2009]. Syftet med detta projekt är att skapa en process som kan användas för att underlätta proaktivt arbetet i en datadriven organisation där problem hanteras reaktivt. Processen kan användas som ett hjälpmedel för att välja den bästa av flera möjliga lösningar, samtidigt som påverkade avdelningar involveras i ett tidigt stadium av beslutsprocessen. På Alfa Lavals distributionscenter (DC) i Tumba, finns utmaningar med funktionella silos och reaktivt arbete. Organisationen är datadriven, och beslut fattas baserat på data. Dock är inte alltid beslut som baserats på data rimliga, vilket har lett till att beslut tas som påverkar andra avdelningar negativt. Baserat på data från och observationer på DCt, skapades en preliminär process. Processen itererades och förbättrades sedan genom att appliceras på verkliga problem och förbättringsområden som identifierades på DC Tumba. Även om processen togs fram och baserades på Alfa Lavals verksamhet, kan den appliceras på andra organisationer som står inför samma utmaningar. Den slutgiltiga versionen av processen visade sig generera bra lösningar till problemen genom att involvera intressenter tidigt i processen, vilket gav dem möjligheten att påverka hur den rekommenderade lösningen skulle justeras för att undvika att dereas dagliga arbete skulle påverkas negativt. Den viktigaste slutsatsen är att det är viktigt att involvera intressentavdelningar i ett tidigt skede i beslutsfattandeprocesser. På så sätt kan deras värdefulla kompetens och kunskaper nyttjas när potentiella lösningar till ett problem genereras, och negativa effekter från lösningen på andra avdelningar kan upptäckas innan implementering. Att dessutom noggrant analysera roten till problemet och dess effekter kan leda till att förståelsen för hela kedjan ökar.

Stovepipes, or also called silos, appear in many different organizations and sectors and contribute to problems when employees or managers tend to look more to their own, or the individual departments, objectives rather than to the organizations. The purpose of this study was to identify different communicative factors that promote stovepipes in order to further identify the most critical factor to disarm. A case study has been done at a selected company, with a stovepipe structure, in order to achieve the purpose of the study. The case study has included interviews and observations to identify different problem areas which then have been compared with three communicative factors identified in previous studies. The factor that had the most connections to the problem areas have been considered the most critical factor. The result of the study indicates that “A lack of understanding each other's work” is the most critical factor in stovepipe structures and that it can be prevented by following five recommendations: bring up positive collaboration continually, raise problems with each other instead of with others, identify different communication paths in and between the departments, implement a long-term model for preventing stovepipes and set up workshops between the involved departments. The conclusion of the study is that stovepipes create several undesirable effects in the organization but that the efforts to counter these problems do not have to be complicated. Following five small steps into a better collaboration and communication can be enough to be on your way to a better organizational structure. / Stuprörsstrukturen visar sig i många olika organisationer och branscher, där den orsakar problem då medarbetare och chefer tenderar att se mer till sina egna, eller den enskilda avdelningens, målsättningar än organisationens övergripande. Studien syftar till att identifiera vilka kommunikativa faktorer som bidrar till stuprörsstrukturen, för att vidare urskilja den mest kritiska faktorn. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie genomförts på ett utvalt företag med stuprörsstruktur. Vidare har intervjuer och observationer skett för att kunna urskilja olika problemområden, där de problemområden som identifierats sedan har ställts mot tre kommunikativa faktorer som framkommit som bidragande till stuprörsstrukturer i flertalet tidigare studier. Den faktor som har flest samband med de olika problemområdena har ansetts som den mest kritiska faktorn i studien. Resultatet av studien anger ”Bristande förståelse för varandras arbete” som den mest kritiska faktorn i en stuprörsstruktur och att denna kan motverkas genom att följa fem rekommendationer: lyft positiva samarbeten kontinuerligt, ta upp problematik med varandra direkt när den uppstår, kartlägg hur kommunikationen går i verksamheten, implementera en långsiktig modell samt ha löpande workshops med inblandade avdelningar. Slutsatsen är att stuprörsstrukturen kan skapa flera oönskade effekter i en verksamhet men att insatserna för att motverka dessa inte måste vara invecklade eller vidare resurskrävande. Att följa fem enkla steg mot bättre samverkan och kommunikation kan vara en bra bit påväg mot en bättre struktur.

Cylindrical shells are widely used in civil engineering. Examples include cooling towers, pipelines, nuclear containment vessels, steel silos and tanks for storage of bulk solids and liquids, and pressure vessels. The loading condition for these shells is quite varied depending on the function of the shell. Axial compression, global bending, external or internal pressure and wind loading are some of the most common loading forms for realistic structures. The failure of these cylindrical shell structures is often controlled by elastic or elastic-plastic buckling failure. Yield failure may occur in thick cylinders in some situations. A cylindrical shell under different loading conditions may display quite different buckling behaviour. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the characteristics of different buckling behaviours of cylindrical shell structures under axial compression, global bending, uniform external pressure and wind pressure. Some challenging practical problems in the design of these shell structures are explored. This thesis is expected to have some far-reaching impacts in defining how to design cylindrical shell structures to give them adequate strength to resist extreme events. Many aspects will be based on the latest Eurocode (EN 1993-1-6, 2007) and Recommendations (ECCS EDR5, 2008). The results show both some strength and some weaknesses in the Eurocode in design of shell structures. New methods are proposed for some practical problems. Some new conclusions and suggestions are derived and are expected to provide some useful knowledge for the improvement of the Eurocode in cylindrical shell design in general.

Granular materials are in abundance both in nature and in industry. They are of considerable interest to both the engineering and physics communities, due to their practical importance and many unsolved scientific challenges. This thesis is concerned with the “pressure dip” phenomenon underneath a granular pile (commonly known as the “sandpile problem”) which has attracted great attention in the past few decades. Underneath a sandpile that is formed by funnel feeding, a significant minimum (dip) in the vertical base pressure is often found below the apex where a maximum pressure is intuitively expected. Despite a large amount of work undertaken, a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon remains elusive. This thesis presents an extensive study investigating the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon and also its implications on pressures in silos. The study started with a laboratory test programme of conical mini iron pellet piles. The results confirmed that the pressure dip is a robust phenomenon. It was shown that, under certain deposition radius with uniform deposition across the deposition area, a dip emerges firstly in a ring shape when the radius of the formed pile is small and comparable to the deposition radius. With the increase of the pile radius upon further deposition, the dip ring gradually evolves to a central dip as the pressure at outer radius eventually overtakes that in the centre. The magnitude of the dip was found to be significantly affected by the deposition rate but almost unaffected by the deposition height.

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / The aim of this project is to promote localised pastoral farming and reduce the energy consumed in the process of producing silage and the distribution of cultivated harvests. The design proposes an architectural intervention that would embody the process of storing and distributing harvested grain. The proposal investigates the design of a didactic silage production facility using the migrating silo to establish a new kinetic typology in productive infrastructure, meeting the following objectives: Establishing the new typology as a productive architectural solution that responsibly serves the community and environment that it moves through, within the set parameters of this proposal. It will incorporate and develop the current process of grain collection, storage and distribution. The architecture will incorporate sustainable building alternatives to allow the design a natural integration within its environment, informed by an eco-systemic building approach. Aligning the design with these principles will successfully reduce the energy depletion within the new typology; in turn promoting energy equilibrium within the set parameters of this proposal. The successful integration of a homeostatic design will rely on the integration of kinetic energy alternatives to supply power to a facility. These energies will be integrated into the functioning systems that complete processes housed within the facility. It is proposed that kinetic energy will be drawn from the fluid landscape in the form of wind and water as the primary power supply. Simultaneously, the potential energy that grain holds in the form of gravity/ weight will also be transferred into a kinetic energy.

The main aim of this research is directed towards the study of thin-walled rectangular planform silos with a view to maximising their structural efficiency. In thin plates of the type making up the wall, membrane action may increase the load carrying capability and current design guides make no account of this. Designing rectangular silos with this in mind can lead to significant structural savings. The core of the research involves using the finite element method to study the patterns of pressure exerted by the weight of a granular bulk solid on the walls of the silo structure. The stored granular solid must use an elastic-plastic material law in order to account for large deformations that can occur in a thin-walled structure. The need for this type of constitutive law led to the investigation of bulk solid properties and shows that parameters that have previously been used to categorise bulk solids may not be sufficient to describe all aspects of their behaviour. The finite element model created uses material constitutive laws that can be found in a number of packages. The required granular material parameters can be determined from a number of simple tests. This approach aims to enable engineers to routinely use similar models when designing silos. The results obtained from the finite element model exhibited some anomalies that had been observed in previous work. These were mainly apparent in the form of localised pressure peaks near the base of the model. These effects were investigated and possible mechanisms that lead to them were proposed. The results from the finite element model were compared to previous experimental work and existing theories. The model was then used to conduct parametric surveys on square and rectangular planform silos and the distribution of pressure across the wall compared to previous predictive models. Finally, a scale thin-walled metal silo was constructed and pressure measurements on filling with pea gravel made. These are compared to predictions made by the finite element model.

Storage of granular solids in silos has been the practice for many years. Engineers have been faced with the problem of making the silos empty more efficiently and minimising the forces acting on the walls of the silo during material discharge. To this end the anti-dynamic tube was invented. The tube has a smaller diameter than the silo and consists of several portholes along its height and around its circumference. When the discharge gate of the silo is opened the granular material enters the tube through the portholes, flows down the inside of the tube and exits the silo through the discharge gate. Most tubes have been installed such that there was sufficient space between the base of the tube and silo bottom for the granular material to flow simultaneously through the discharge gate. The flowing material causes a down drag on the tube from the friction of the granular material on the walls of the tube. Previous research has underestimated the magnitude of these frictional forces resulting in catastrophic buckling failure of the tubes, blocking the discharge gate of the silo. A blockage of the discharge gate requires top emptying of the silo resulting in financial losses and down time of equipment. A steel model silo with an anti-dynamic tube was set up in the laboratory to measure the friction on the tube during material flow. From the results of these experiments, an equation has been derived to estimate the magnitude of the down-drag force. Furthermore, an empirical expression was developed for the effects of the speed of the flowing material on the magnitude of the down-drag force. To keep construction costs down, it is necessary to optimise the wall thickness of the tube. There is currently no theory for the buckling capacity of a thin walled cylindrical shell with multiple perforations around its height and circumference. Therefore additional experiments were undertaken on a cylindrical shell with multiple perforations subjected to a combination of an axial as well as an external lateral pressure. Following on from the experiments, finite element analyses were undertaken to compare with the experimental results. For each finite element analysis an out-of-roundness was introduced as an initial wall imperfection. From these analyses and the cylinder experiments, a method of producing interaction curves for tubes with varying ratios of open area has been developed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1922. / Vita. Facsimile edition, 1975. Bibliography: p. 150-154.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1922. / Vita. Facsimile edition, 1975. Bibliography: p. 150-154.