Reclaimed wood is material salvaged from old, abandoned buildings that offers sustainable living to communities. There have been previous studies on reclaimed wood, but a limited amount linking reclaimed wood to consumerism. In August 2021, an online survey was conducted to gauge consumers’ knowledge of the industry and attitudes on reclaimed wood practices. Consumers are U.S. citizens 18 years of age or older. Study results indicate that respondents have little knowledge regarding reclaimed wood. Of the 1,516 respondents, 44% seem knowledgeable of reclaimed wood. Most respondents are not aware that reclaimed wood is a separate industry. Respondents believe there should be better marketing practices. Respondents also believe reclaimed wood to be environmentally friendly, durable, and aesthetically pleasing. The reasons respondents would purchase reclaimed wood are sustainability, aesthetics, and to exercise a need. Respondents acknowledge the importance of the origin of wood products. Respondents also acknowledge the importance of the industry.

I denna rapport kommer ämnet sentimentalitet och ensoulment att undersökas. Sentimentalitet är något väldigt personligt och svårdefinierat, och att koppla det till en designprocess är utmanande. Det engelska begreppet ensoulment, som även kommer diskuteras i arbetet, syftar på det värde som en design tar in och hur designen kan förmedla en viss känsla. Dessa två begrepp kopplat till design kan beskriva hur en användare värdesätter artefakter. Det finns ett antal artiklar som diskuterar sentimentalitet i design och hur viktigt det är att inkorporera det i en designprocess, men väldigt få har applicerat det och producerat prototyper eller produkter. Att jobba med ett begrepp kopplat till känslor och egna minnen gör att det är svårt att få ett generellt tillvägagångssätt i en designprocess. Den frågeställning som detta arbete har jobbat med ifrågasätter på vilket sätt det går att uppnå sentimentalitet i design genom att arbeta med fyra termer, engagemang, historia, förstärkning och upplevd hållbarhet. De metoder som valdes att tillämpas i detta arbete är forskning genom design, fokusgrupp, tematisk analys och en look & feel prototyp. Dessa metoder valdes för att de ansågs lämpliga för att kunna besvara frågeställningen. Två fokusgrupper utfördes med grund i detta där deltagarna uppmuntrades att diskutera deras egen syn på sentimentalitet och hur samt vad de värdesätter i objekt de håller kärt. Resultatet av studien visar att det inte aktivt går att skapa en produkt som förmedlar sentimentalitet, utan det går att trigga en sentimental känsla hos användare genom att använda sig av kopplingar till känslor och minnen. Resultatet visar att ensoulment dock är något som bättre kan inkorporeras i en designprocess för att skapa värde hos användaren. Slutsatsen som drogs är att det inte går att skapa ett sentimentalt värde i en ny produkt, men det går att trigga sentimentalitet med hjälp av olika sinnen. Att använda sig av de fyra termerna kommer att leda till att en design har större chans att bli ensouled från start. / In this paper, the topic of sentimentality and ensoulment will be explored. Sentimentality is something very personal and difficult to define and linking it to a design process is challenging. The English term ensoulment, which will also be discussed in the work, refers to the value that a design takes in and how the design can convey a certain feeling. These two concepts related to design can describe how a user values an artefact. There are several articles discussing sentimentality in design and how important it is to incorporate it into a design process, but very few have applied it and produced prototypes or products. Working with a concept linked to emotions and personal memories makes it difficult to get a general approach in a design process. The outline of this work questions in what way it is possible to achieve sentimentality in design by working with four terms: engagement, history, augmentation, and perceived durability. The methods chosen to be applied in this work are research by design, focus group, thematic analysis, and a look & feel prototype. These methods were chosen because they were considered suitable for answering the research question. Two focus groups were conducted based on this, where participants were encouraged to discuss their own views on sentimentality and how and what they value in objects they value. The results of the study show that it is not possible to actively create a product that conveys sentimentality, but it is possible to trigger a sentimental feeling in users by using links to emotions and memories. However, the results show that ensoulment is something that can be better incorporated into a design process to create value for the user. The conclusion drawn is that it is not possible to create a sentimental value in a new product, but it is possible to trigger sentimentality using different senses. Using the four terms will mean that a design has a greater chance of being ensouled from the start.

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A laboratory test program was undertaken to evaluate a series of engineering properties over a range of soil types; amendment types and addition rates; and moisture contents to enhance understanding of the engineering significance of polymer amendment. Four soils were manufactured and tested with varying ranges of fines and plasticity. A proprietary elastic copolymer was tested at addition rates of 0.5% to 2.5% (dry weight basis). Cement was tested at addition rates of 1% to 4%. Lime was tested at an 8% addition rate. Water addition rates ranged from 4% dry of optimum to 4% wet of optimum. Engineering properties determined throughout the test program included dry unit weight / moisture content relationships through compaction tests; shear strength through unconfined compression strength tests and direct shear tests; durability through freeze-thaw and wet-dry durability tests; and stiffness through resilient modulus tests and through interpretation of the unconfined compression and direct shear test results. The addition of polymer altered the optimum moisture content of the soils. Change in optimum moisture content ranged from 0.51 to 1.27 times the control water demand. The dry unit weight of polymer amended specimens ranged from 0.97 to 1.01 times their respective control dry unit weight. The peak strength of polymer amended specimens ranged from 1.02 to 18.4 times the control strength. The peak wet-dry and freeze-thaw durability of polymer amended specimens ranged from 6.8 to 10.8 times the control durability. The addition of polymer increased the peak initial stiffness of specimens to approximately 3 times the control stiffness. However, the stiffness was reduced to 0.68 times the control stiffness with dynamic repeated loading through the resilient modulus test. The polymer addition rate required to achieve peak engineering performance ranged from 0.5% to 2.5%, based on soil type. Polymer modified the engineering properties of soil through physical bonding. The amount of polymer required to modify the engineering properties was directly related to specific surface and soil particle coating thickness. It was determined that polymer amendment had an optimal addition rate that resulted in the greatest increase in engineering parameters. The addition rate was optimum when polymer was applied at rates high enough to sufficiently coat all soil particle surfaces, but at rates low enough that it did not cause additional particle separation. Overall, polymer amendment of soil improved or maintained all tested engineering parameters, except the resilient modulus, of all soils. Polymer amended soils displayed a reduced performance compared to cement amended soils, and an improved performance compared to lime amended soils.

Biomass represents an important sustainable energy resource, with biomass-coal cofiring representing among the most effective and cost efficient CO2 reduction strategies. Fly ash generated during coal combustion represents a technically advantageous, inexpensive, and environmentally beneficial admixture in concrete production, partially replacing cement. However, strict interpretation of American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) and American Concrete Institute (ACI) standards prohibits use of fly ashes from any source other than coal in concrete production; therefore, fly ash from biomass coal cofiring is excluded from use in concrete. This dissertation discusses biomass impacts on concrete properties through experiments conducted on several combinations of blended and pure biomass fly ash in concrete mixtures to determine the effects on freshly mixed concrete, strength and durability of hardened concrete, and implication for long-term material properties. The results show that the performance of biomass and blended biomass-coal fly ash is comparable to that of traditional (neat) coal fly ash. Pozzolanic reactions occur simultaneously but not necessarily proportionally to strength development. Mixtures of biomass and coal fly ash in all proportions mitigate alkali-silica-reaction-based (ASR-based) expansion in concrete. Biomass-specific results indicate that biomass-containing fly ash samples can generate 3-6 times the strength of some neat coal fly ash samples in terms of pozzolanic reactions and that biomass-containing fly ash samples have better or comparable ASR mitigation performance relative to neat coal fly ash. Biomass fly ash applications in concrete production involve pozzolanic, cementitious, and ASR reactions in combination with mixture compositions and preparation techniques to dictate ultimate properties. In these practical applications, biomass fly ash demonstrates no consistent improvement or deprecation of concrete properties relative to coal fly ash. Quantitative pozzolanic reaction mechanism and kinetic analyses indicate biomass and coal fly ashes exhibit comparable reaction rates and react by similar mechanisms. The general conclusion from the experiments is that biomass-containing fly ash, when used in concrete, performs comparable to or better than similar neat coal fly ash preparations in most respects; Substantial efforts were made to ensure samples represent typical commercial samples. Therefore, there exists no reason to exclude biomass from cofiring applications on the basis of fly ash performance in concrete and the related standards should be revised.

This thesis mainly focuses on two important aspects of the photovoltaic modules. The first aspect addressed the high voltage bias testing and data and degradation analysis of high voltage biased thin film photovoltaic modules. The second aspect addressed the issues of reliability and durability of crystalline silicon module. Grid-connected photovoltaic systems must withstand high voltage bias in addition to harsh environmental conditions such as intermittent solar irradiance, high humidity, heat and wind. a-Si:H thin-film photovoltaic modules with earlier generation SnO2:F transparent conducting oxide (TCO) on the front glass installed on the FSEC High Voltage Test Bed were monitored since December 2001. The data was collected on a daily basis and analyzed. The leakage currents for some chosen time period were calculated and compared with the measured values. Current-voltage characteristic measurements were carried out to check any reduction in the power. Samples were cored and extracted for analysis from one of the -600 V biased modules. Leakage currents in high-voltage-biased laminates specially prepared with improved SnO2:F TCO are being monitored in the hot and humid climate in Florida. Negatively-biased modules showed clear signs of delamination. The leakage currents in high-voltage biased photovoltaic modules are functions of both temperature and relative humidity. Photovoltaic module leakage conductance was found to be thermally stimulated with a characteristic activation energy that depends on relative humidity. The adhesional strength was lost completely in the damaged area. Leakage current values from support to ground in new, unframed laminates fabricated with improved SnO2:F TCO layer were ~100 times lower under the high voltage bias in hot and humid environment. Information on the failure of field deployed modules must be complemented with why and how the modules fail while considering the issues of reliability and durability of crystalline silicon module. At present, all the failure modes have not been identified and failure mechanisms have not been understood. Experience has shown that as the materials and processes are changed, reliability issues that apparently had been resolved resurface. A multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic module that was manufactured by a non-US company and that had shown >50% performance loss in field-deployment of <2 years in hot and dry climate were studied for degradation analysis in comparison with a mc-Si module that was manufactured by the same company and that performed well after 10 years of field-deployment in hot and humid climate.. I-V measurements were carried out to analyze the reduction in photovoltaic parameters. Solder bond strength in mc-Si photovoltaic modules were measured to understand early degradation of performance. Samples were cored and extracted for further analysis. Adhesional strength between the busline metallization and the silicon cell in a newer generation mc-Si photovoltaic module was found to be considerably lower than that in the earlier vintage module. These results can be useful for early detection and diagnosis of field reliability issues and could assist in establishing correlation between long-term field data and observations and accelerated environmental stress testing. It is suggested that more detailed study should be undertaken using unencapsulated strings of crystalline silicon modules so as to avoid complication due to encapsulant creeping beneath the ribbons.

About 77,600 bridges throughout the United States in the Federal Highway Association (FHWA) bridge database are listed as structurally deficient. This has created a need to either replace or strengthen bridges quickly and efficiently. Due to high costs for total replacement of deficient bridges, strengthening of existing bridges is a more economical alternative. A technique that has been developing over the past two decades is the strengthening of bridges using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets. The CFRP sheets are attached to the bottom of the bridge girders using structural adhesives so that the CFRP becomes an integral part of the bridge and carries a portion of the flexural loading. The CFRP sheets allow for an increase in the capacity of the bridge with minimal increase in the weight of the structure due to CFRP having a low density. Because the CFRP is expected to be an integral component and carry some of the long-term loading it is important to understand the long-term durability of the composite section. This thesis is part of a larger project, in which the long-term durability of the CFRP composite on concrete beams is investigated experimentally. The CFRP strengthened beams are exposed to fatigue testing and thermal-humidity cycling followed by failure testing. The testing scheme for this experiment allows for the investigation of the individual effects of fatigue and thermal-humidity loading as well as to explore the effects from combined fatigue and thermal-humidity loading. The investigation of the combined effects is a unique aspect of this experiment that has not been performed in prior studies. Results indicate that a polyurethane-based adhesive could provide a more durable bond for the CFRP-concrete interface than possible with epoxy-based adhesives.

Yes / Cementitious composites are generally brittle and develop considerable tension cracks, resulting in corrosion of steel reinforcement and compromising structural durability. With careful selection and treatment, some kinds of bacteria are able to precipitate calcium carbonate and ‘heal’ cracks in cementitious composites through their metabolism, namely bacterial activity. It is envisioned that the bacterial technology-enabled cementitious composites could have great potential for engineering applications such as surface treatment, crack repair and self-healing construction material. This paper presents the state-of-the-art development of bacterial technology-enabled cementitious composites from the following aspects: mechanisms of bacterial induced calcium carbonate precipitation; methods of applying bacteria into cementitious composites; mechanical properties, durability and their influencing factors; various applications; cost effective analysis and prospect. The paper concludes with an outline of some future opportunities and challenges in the application of bacterial technology-enabled cementitious composites in construction. / National Science Foundation of China (51578110) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (DUT18GJ203).

In the field of vehicle durability, many individuals are focusing on methods for better replicating the durability a user will experience throughout the typical design lifespan of a vehicle (e.g., 100,000 miles). To estimate user durability a means of understand the types of damaging events and driving styles of uses must be understood. The difficulty with accurately estimating customer usage is, firstly, there is a large pool of possible roads for a user to drive along, for example, there are over 4 million miles of public roads in the United States, alone [1]. In addition, while measurements of these surfaces could be collected it would be impractical for two reasons, the first is the financial and extreme time burden this would take. Second, when collecting measurements of a road surface only the current state of a road surface can be measured, thus as a road deteriorates or is repaved the measurements collected would no longer be an accurate representation of the road. It should be mentioned that even, if all of the road surfaces were measured performing simulation and analysis of all of these road surfaces would be computationally intensive. Instead, it would be beneficial if select events that account for a significant portion of the damage a vehicle experiences can be identified. These damaging events could then be used in more complex vehicle simulation models and as input and validation of proving ground and laboratory durability testing. The objective of this research is to provide a means for improved estimation of vehicle durability, specifically a means for identifying, characterizing, and grouping unique separable damaging events from a road profile measurement. In order to achieve this objective a measure that can be used to identify separate damaging events from a road profile is developed. This measure is defined as Localized Pseudo Damage (LPD), which identifies the amount of damage each individual road excitation makes to the total accumulated damage for a single load path in a vehicle system. LPD is defined as a damage density to minimize the effect of measurement spacing on the resulting metric. The developed LPD measure is causal in that the value of LPD at a location is not affected by any future locations. In addition, for a singular event (e.g., impulse or step) in the absences of other excitations, the LPD value at the singular event location is equivalent to the total pseudo damage divided by the step size at the location. Once a measure of pseudo damage density is known at multiple locations along a road profile for multiple load paths of interest, then separable damaging events can be identified. To identify separable damaging events the activity of the vehicle system must be considered because separate damaging events can only occur when a region of inactivity is present across all load paths. Subsequently, an optimization problem is formed to determine the optimal active regions to maintain. The cost function associated with the optimization problem is defined to minimize the cost (number of locations maintained in damaging events) and maximize the benefit (the amount of pseudo damage maintained). Lastly, a statistical test is developed to assess if separate damaging events can be considered to be from the same general class of events based on their damage characteristics. The developed assessment methods establish the similarity between two more separable damaging events based on application specific user defined inputs. In the development, two example similarity metrics are defined. The first similarity metric is in terms of distance and the second is in terms of likelihood (probability). The developed statistical analysis uses the current state-of-the-art in clustering algorithms to allow for multiple damaging events to be identified and grouped together. / Doctor of Philosophy / In the automotive field determining the level of damage a typical production vehicle experiences over its lifetime has always been a desirable criterion to identify. This criterion is commonly referred to as customer usage. By understanding the typical customer usage of a vehicle over the lifetime of a vehicle, automotive engineers are able to improve the design of vehicle components. The issue with defining customer usage is that there are millions of miles of roads that a customer can travel on and millions of customers that all have unique driving characteristics. While it is possible to collect measurements of these road surfaces to use in further vehicle simulations, it is not feasible both from a financial and time perspective. In addition, the simulation and analysis of all road surfaces would be computationally intensive. However, if select damaging events (regions of the road surface that excessively contribute to accumulated damage) are identified, then they can be used in more complex vehicle durability analyses with lower computational efforts. In conventional damage analysis a total amount of accumulated damage is established for a known road surface. The issue with defining damage this way is that unique events which likely contributed a large amount of the accumulated damage cannot be identified. The first objective of this research is to define damage as a function of the vehicle's location along a road surface. Then, unique and separable damaging events can be identified and separated from sections of the road that do not significantly contribute to the accumulated damage. After defining this measure, an optimization problem is developed to identify damaging events based on maximizing the benefit (amount of damage accounted for in damaging events) and minimizing the cost (amount of road surface retained). Unique and separable damaging events are identified by solving this optimization problem. While the optimization problem identifies unique, separable damaging events, it is likely that some damaging events contain similar characteristics to each other. When performing additional durability analysis, it would be beneficial to form connections between similar damaging events to allow for analysis to be performed based on groups of events. To identify damaging events with similar characteristics, a statistical analysis is developed as the last contribution of this work. By combining this analysis with current state-of-the-art clustering algorithms and user provided definitions based on applications, similar damaging events are able to be grouped together.

A laboratory scale study was carried out on a set of 6 borosilicate waste glasses made from simulated high-level nuclear waste. The test matrix was designed to explore the composition region suitable for the long-term geologic disposal of high-temperature-and high-waste-containing glasses. The glass compositions were selected to achieve maximum waste loading without a sacrifice in glass durability. The relationship between glass composition and chemical durability was examined. The qualitative effect of increasing B2O3 content on the overall waste glass leaching behavior has also been addressed. The glass composition matrix was designed by systematically varying the factors: %waste loading and (SiO2+Frit):B2O3 ratio, with (SiO2:Frit) ratio being held constant. In order to assess the chemical durability, the Product Consistency Test (ASTM C-1285) was performed. Under PCT protocol, crushed glass was allowed to react with ASTM type I water under static conditions. All leachate solutions were analyzed by the technique; Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). A statistical regression technique was utilized to model the normalized release of the major soluble elements, Na, Si, and B, as a function of the individual as well as interactive chemical effects (B2O3, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MnO, SiO2, SrO, Na2O, B2O3*SiO2, B2O3*Al2O3, Fe2O3*Na2O, Al2O3*Na2O, and MnO*SiO2). Geochemical modeling was performed using the computer code EQ3/6 to: (1) determine the saturation states of the possible silicate minerals, a-cristobalite and chalcedony; and (2) predict the most stable mineral phase based on the mineral thermodynamic data. Mineral/water interactions were analyzed by representing the resultant glass data on a Na-Al-Si-O-H stability diagram.