Obtaining a building permit is an important step for any construction project. Whether it is for a new construction or a remodel job, the process involves a plan review performed by building officials. The purpose of this research was to explore ways in which Building Information Modeling (BIM) could be used to aid code officials during the plan review process. The objectives of the study were to determine if the level of detail in BIM was complete enough to allow a plan review to be perform accurately, to identify the extent to which architects are comfortable with using their models for the plan review, and to identify barriers to implementation. A case study was conducted where BIM was used to supplement the traditional 2D plans plan review process. Additionally, a survey was given to local architects to obtain their thoughts on using BIM in the plan review process. The research found that BIM has the potential of helping code officials visualize the project, extract information from objects, and allow them to have a better understanding of unique building features relationship to other building elements. Challenges of using BIM in the plan review process identified by architects included: the accuracy of the model, the level of detail modeled, legal implications, and ability of reviewers to use BIM.

Project managers have a major role in the construction and completion of projects. Much of their work consists of reviewing, clarifying, and coordinating information required by the field management and subcontractors performing the work on the job site. The assistance they give with the transfer of information helps with successfully completing projects. For many people, the largest indicator that a project was successful is that construction activities were completed on schedule. While finishing on schedule may be the primary focus of those involved with construction activities, projects still struggle to finish on time. The purpose of this study is to find out what construction industry professionals consider important skills, tools, and knowledge for helping project managers finish the projects they manage on schedule. Research results found the general topics of management and scheduling are the most important for project managers to understand. Within the topic of scheduling, the importance of material procurement ranked highest of the specified subcategories. Construction professionals also ranked working with subcontractors, understanding project documents, weekly project meetings, working with owners, and having interpersonal and communication skills as important topics that will help project managers keep their projects on schedule.

Many people in Mithi, Tharparkar do not have proper housing, face an unhygienic water supply, and have no sanitation facilities. These factors contribute to disease, suffering and the inability to rise above their destitute existence. The idea for building portable houses for the people of Mithi is presented to provide them with better living conditions and where they can feel a sense of security, ownership and sanitation. Research on existing building systems and materials showed that the most feasible structure for the desert environment is modular panels attached to a core unit that contains all the basic plumbing and electrical fixtures. The unit can be expanded based on family needs. Discussion with government officials showed that these could be used for the immediate needs of the people who have been suffering more acutely the last several years due to a drought. They could also be a permanent solution to the housing crisis if the "Chelson Shelter" communities worked well for ten years. The infrastructure in the Tharparker Desert is inadequate to support typical housing. These shelters have low environmental impact, use little water and electricity and would be a good solution to make a community of people that can support each other and provide security.

No description available.

<p>This thesis work is a 30hp D-level assignment in design as a co-operation between MälardalenUniversity and Scania CV AB in Södertälje. The purpose was to develope a close fitted catwalk.The market has seen an increasing value for these types of applications and have the ambition to keep up with the rest of the competitors. The catwalks of todays standards shall be estetical attractive, have a non slippery surface and be costefficient.While working with this project I have spent a lot of time with the concept proposals and with the evaluation of the concepts, resulting in a final CAD model and a approximation of the cost estimate. The new catwalk fulfils all the new recommendations and rules as sharp edges, ADR, the height of the stepup and a non slippery surface with built in drainage.</p> / <p>Examensarbetet är på D-nivå 30hp inom konstruktion och är framarbetat i ett samarbete mellan Mälardalens Högskola samt Scania CV AB i Södertälje. Syftet med projektet var att ta fram ettheltäckande gångbord till helbilskonceptet European Tractor. Marknadens behov av heltäckande gångbord har ökat. Scania ser ett mervärde med detta och vill vara med i denna marknadsutveckling. Dagens gångbord ska vara estetiskt tilltalande, säkra ur halksynpunkt och samtidigt vara kostnadseffektiva. Under arbetets gång har det genererats fram olika konceptförslag som utvärderats, och sedan valts en slutgiltig lösning som resulterat i slutgiltig CAD modell och en grovt uppskattadkostnadskalkyl. Det nya heltäckande gångbordet uppfyller alla de nya lagkraven och rekommendationerna för vassa kanter, ADR (transport av farligt gods), uppstegshöjd samt ett tillfredsställande halkskydd med inbyggd dränering.</p> / Finns även en till version som bara är tillgänglig hos Scania CV AB.

<p>In this investigation strength and structural behaviour of prestressed concrete is studied with one full scale test of one flat slab, 16000 mm x 19000 mm, and three slabs on ground each 4000 mm x 4000 mm with thickness 150 mm. The flat slab was constructed and tested in Aalesund. This slab has nine circular columns as support, each with diameter 450 mm. Thickness of this test slab was 230 mm and there were two spans in each direction, 2 x 9000 mm in x-direction and 2 x 7500 mm in y-direction from centre to centre column. The slab was reinforced with twenty tendons in the middle column strip in y-direction and eight tendons in both outer column strips. In x-direction tendons were distributed with 340 mm distance. There were also ordinary reinforcement bars in the slab. Strain gauges were welded to this reinforcement, which together with the deflection measurements gives a good indication of deformation and strains in the structure.</p><p>At a live load of 6.5 kN/m² shear failure around the central column occurred: The shear capacity calculated after NS 3473 and EuroCode2 was passed with 58 and 69 %, respectively. Time dependent and non-linear FE analyses were performed with the program system DIANA. Although calculated and measured results partly agree well, the test show that this type of structure is complicated to analyse by non-linear FEM.</p><p>Prestressed slabs on ground have no tradition in Norway. In this test one reinforced and two prestressed slabs on ground were tested and compared to give a basis for a better solution for slabs on ground. This test was done in the laboratory at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. The first slab is reinforced with 8 mm bars in both directions distributed at a distance of 150 mm in top and bottom. Slab two and three are prestressed with 100 mm² tendons located in the middle of slab thickness, and distributed at a distance of 630 mm in slab two and 930 mm in slab three. Strain gauges were glued to the reinforcement in slab one and at top and bottom surface of all three slabs. In slab two and three there were four load cells on the tendons.</p><p>Each slab were loaded with three different load cases, in the centre of slab, at the edge and finally in the corner. This test shows that stiffness of sub-base is one of the most important parameters when calculating slabs on ground. Deflection and crack load level depends of this parameter. Since the finish of slabs on ground is important, it can be more interesting to find the load level when cracks start, than deflection for the slab. It is shown in this test that crack load level was higher in prestressed slabs than in reinforced slab. There was no crack in the top surface with load in the centre, but strain gauges in the bottom surface indicate that crack starts at a load of 28 kN in the reinforced slab, and 45 kN in the prestressed slabs. Load at the edge give a crack load of 30 kN in reinforced slab, 45 kN and 60 kN in prestressed slabs. The last load case gives crack load of 30 kN in reinforced slab, 107 kN and 75 kN in prestressed slabs. As for the flat slab, FE analyses were performed for all of the three slabs on ground, and analyses shows that a good understanding of parameters like stiffness of sub-base and tension softening model, is needed for correct result of the analyses.</p>

<p>The thesis deals with experimental and numerical modelling to characterize early age tensile and compressive creep and its associated stress relaxation - which are very important properties in stress simulation of early age concrete. For this purpose a comprehensive work was carried out involving construction of a new tensile creep test equipment and development of test procedures to generate basic experimental data.</p><p>The experimental program is subdivided into four series. Each of the series involves one varying parameter, which is relevant to the time-dependent behaviour of early age HPC. Most of the tests are repeated to check the reproducibility of the test results. The reproducibility of the test results for the BASE concretes confirmed that the experimental setup is reliable, and that it can be used to determine tensile creep of concrete at early ages.</p><p>An extensive test program has been performed on HPC, with w/b = 0.40. The primary parameters studied were concrete ages at loading (1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 days), stress/strength levels (20-80%), and temperature levels (20, 34, 40, 57 and 60 oC) in addition to the effect of silica fume (0-15%) on tensile creep. The testing apparatus was new and significant efforts were devoted to develop reliable procedures in terms of accuracy and reproducibility. In parallel, compressive creep tests were conducted on a separate testing apparatus, and the results are compared to tensile creep behaviour.</p><p>It was found that the instantaneous deformation under tension is smaller than under compression, and that the corresponding creep curves also are different. Creep in tension is found to be lower initially, but an almost linear rate is soon established which is much higher than in compression. The consequence is greater creep magnitude and thus greater creep coefficient in tension than in compression. The tests on non-linearity showed that the proportionality limit between stress and sealed tensile creep strain is about 60% of the strength. Creep tests under isothermal temperatures showed that, as for compressive creep, the sealed tensile creep accelerates for temperatures higher than 20 oC. In addition, the maturity principle describes this effect reasonably well, for the tested loading ages of about 3 days.</p><p>The relatively large amount of experimental data, available in this study, has been used to investigate mathematical models. Comprehensive test results from the TSTM apparatus are analyzed with respect to creep and relaxation, where the effect of temperature on creep and relaxation is emphasized. Simulations of self-induced stresses are performed using the creep model denoted the Double Power Law (DPL). As solution method, the theory of linear viscoelasticity with aging is used. The model (M-DPL) is modified to take into account the effect of irrecoverable creep.</p><p>For increasing temperatures during the hardening phase, the transient creep, which takes place during heating is taken into account by an additional creep term. Its contribution to stress relaxation was found to be up to 10%. This transient creep term is considered to be irrecoverable during the subsequent temperature decrease. The modified model captures the various characteristics of sealed creep and describes the tensile behaviour at early ages more accurately than the original Double Power Law.</p><p>The effect of relaxation is found to be relatively large and significant in development of selfinduced stresses. Under isothermal temperature of 20 oC, the relaxation increases to about 40% of the fictive elastic stresses after 3 days and remains about constant after that. On the other hand, presentation of relaxation under realistic temperature histories is much more complicated, because the stresses change from compression to tension. This might also lead to increased tensile stresses because compressive creep reduces compressive stresses, but increases the subsequent tensile stresses. Underestimation of creep in this early period will lead to underestimation of the cracking risk.</p><p>Creep development at very early ages has an important effect in determination of the creep model parameters. After an evaluation of the test results using six loading ages (1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 days) it was concluded that an optimal test program should include at least 3 loading ages, in which the loading ages 1 and 2 must be included.</p><p>Furthermore, the test results indicate that partial replacement of cement with silica fume (5-15%) increases the sealed tensile creep. However, the reference concrete without silica fume dose not fit to this systematic pattern.</p>

<p>Funktionshindrade personer har möjlighet att få sin bostad anpassad så ett de kan leva ett självständigt liv i ett eget boende. Anpassningen betalas av kommunen genom ett bostadsanpassningsbidrag. De senaste åren har, inom Norrköpings kommun, kostnaderna för bostadsanpassningsbidrag ökat kraftigt och överstigit den budget som tilldelats. Syftet med den här rapporten är att undersöka hur andra kommuner arbetar med handläggning och upphandling av bostadsanpassningsärenden. En del frågor rör även åldersfördelningen. </p><p>För att få en uppfattning om hur arbetet med bostadsanpassningsbidrag bedrivs ute i kommunerna har jag valt att göra en enkätundersökning. Kommunerna i undersökningen är valda efter invånarantal, jämförbara med Norrköping. Jämförelsen med andra kommuner visar att i stort sett alla jobbar på samma sätt när det gäller upphandlingar och ersättningsformer. Det går inte att säga att en ersättningsform är mer kostnadseffektiv än en annan när det gäller bostadsanpassningar. Kostnaden per ärende varierar stort hos de olika kommunerna. Jag kan konstatera att Norrköping ligger bland de som har den högsta kostnaden. </p><p>Löpande räkning är den absolut vanligaste ersättningsformen. I ända upp till 90 % av alla ärenden i vissa kommuner används denna ersättningsform. Annars svarar de flesta att de också tillämpar löpande räkning med takpris och fast pris på anbud. Åldersfördelningen ser likadan ut i kommunerna i undersökningen. Genomsnittet av andelen personer över 75 år är 58 % och den överensstämmer med den siffra jag kom fram till i åldersfördelningen för bostadsanpassningsbidrag i Norrköpings kommun. Däremot ligger kostnaden för dessa ärenden något högre i Norrköping. Gemensamt för samtliga tillfrågade är att de anser att det byggs alltför lite anpassade bostäder för äldre. Detta återspeglar sig i ökade kostnader för bostadsanpassningsbidrag. I stora drag arbetar de tillfrågade kommunerna på samma sätt med handläggning av ärenden. </p><p>För att komma tillrätta med de höga kostnaderna för bostadsanpassningsbidrag i Norrköpings kommun krävs att en mer omfattande undersökning görs. Enskilda ärenden skulle behöva jämföras för att se hur andra kommuner har beslutat, handlagt och upphandlat liknande fall.</p>

<p>One of the aims of this report has been to make an inventory of the building trade market to see which document handling systems that are available. The secondary aim was to document the users´ demands on the systems and other demands such as quality assurance. After this, the document handling systems Byggnet and Lotus Notes, which are rather complex systems, have been analysed. Finally a recommendation has been made. </p><p>In the inventory of the marketthe internet has been used because it is there the latest information can be found. This because document handling systems are rather new and there are therefore no other literature written yet. To get the users´ demands on the systems several interviews have been made. </p><p>The result of the inventory is that there are six different document handling systems available today. And the recommendation is that Byggnet is an appropriate system to use.</p>

<p>The purpose of this report is to find a model of statistics for construction and demolition waste, which makes it useful for the local manager at the building site. The intention with the model is that it will be used as a support of the local manager, to direct his project towards reduced strain of the environment. The model will also be used to make it easier to control that the claims from authority and aims for the environment are achieved. </p><p>To familiarise with the subject waste handling within the building and construction sectorI have done a literature search. I have also been studying rules and regulations regarding the waste handling. The main investigation is based on interviews with local managers. I have also spoken to waste contractors to get their view in the subject. To get to know how the local manager want the statistics formed I have made an opinion poll. </p><p>The investigations have indicated that it is unusual that the statistics is used at the building site at all. Among the local managers there are an interest thought in having the statistics as a result of the separation of construction and demolition waste and an encouragement to go further with it. </p><p>Economical information was in great demand in the statistics, because economy control most of the manager’s work. The local manager experiences that the accessibility of checking up how much of the waste that goes to deposition is good. In fact this is a problem, as part of the unsorted waste goes to deposition in next stage. Most of the statistics of the waste contractors don’t specifying how much.</p>