Earthquakes present one of the most devastating hazards on the planet. They threaten the safety of civilians in seismically active regions, and are of extreme concern in applications that demand a high level of safety, i. e. the nuclear industry. However in nearly all cases, the fatalities that occur are as a result of the collapse of man-made structures. Hence the problems facing Civil Engineers who are concerned with seismic mitigation is evident. The dynamic behaviour of their structures must now be accounted for in the design. As our knowledge broadens, structures can, and are being designed to be earthquake resistant. However there are many buildings still standing in seismically active regions which have been designed for static load cases only, or are now of substandard design. Seismic engineering research and application has progressed rapidly over the last few decades, not least in part due to the evolution of computer technology, and our ability to produce computer models which aid us in the design and analysis processes. Hence the research presented focuses on the global behaviour of a typical statically designed tall reinforced concrete building. A literature review has been performed to investigate current mathematical and experimental work which has been carried out with regard to reinforced concrete structures under seismic/cyclic loading. The main point to note from this is that most of the current research has focussed on local behaviour rather than overall global response. The majority of models incorporating global 3D finite element modelling using time history analysis are being created in the Nuclear Industry. After verification work, the ANSYS general purpose finite element computer package has been used to analyse a statically designed 10-storey reinforced concrete building (designed to the rules of BS8110) for static, modal and time-history analyses under a typical (synthetic) earthquake. Certain features have been incorporated in the model with the foresight that these might cause problems under dynamic loading (i. e. softstoreys). The global response of the building has then been investigated, backed up with supporting 'hand' calculations. A 'margins' assessment was carried out mainly on the columns to the requirements of a static code. This enabled the identification of the problematic areas of the building, giving insight into the collapse behaviour and possible areas where design upgrade, attention to workmanship or retrofit may be required. In this process the potential for redistribution and overload capacity of the structure is also demonstrated. In conclusion, a number of suggestions for future work using global response models are made, and the benefits of using the global model approach adopted are discussed in detail. The global response, as opposed to local effects are captured providing insight into the potential for partial or total collapse.

By 2003 the first Irish Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects had reached the operational stage. Media reports were emerging of significant differences in the effectiveness of these projects. This research set out to find a means by which effectiveness of PPPs could be increased and to develop a model that would assist PPP practitioners with this task in the future. Through a literature review, the Irish PPP process was mapped, the changes encountered in the introduction of PPP were investigated and a conceptual model – based on a traditional process model - was proposed. The model was tested by examining the outcomes of two projects and assessing the effect of participant attitudes on these outcomes. The projects were analysed in terms of Risk, Value and Innovation, and three propositions were offered: • there were differences in project outcomes; • there were differences in the attitudes of the project participants; • the attitudes influenced the outcomes. Using a combination of research methods, the data were gathered and analysed. The first two propositions were proven for Risk and Value but not for Innovation. In addressing the third proposition, a pattern matching exercise was undertaken and a number of findings were reached. These findings were further tested to establish their validity, credibility and reliability. The results showed that specific elements of participant attitudes were found to affect some of the project outcomes and that these had a significant effect on the overall success of the project. The findings showed that PPP conducted as outlined by the conceptual model would not maximise effectiveness. The model was revised so that it commenced with analysis of the desired outcomes and proceeded by working back through the PPP process to define the inputs necessary for success. Using this information, the model was refined, making it ready for use by future PPP practitioners.

All life depends upon water. For man, however, water can supply the power necessary to relieve him from the drudgeries of life and give the time and means to enrich his existence beyond the bounds set by the mere need to survive. Large scale hydropower makes a significant contribution to the total generated power of the developed world. The means of harnessing water power for large flows and heads above three metres are efficient and well established. There remains however, the fact that many people, especially in developing countries live adjacent to water courses and tidal estuaries where heads of 2 metres or less exist but are not exploited. The reasons for this are often that practical machines do not exist or are insufficiently well developed to be used. Much effort has been made in recent years to develop equipment suitable for small, low-head sites in remote places. The writer has worked on three such devices in both the laboratory and on site - these are the Salford Transverse Oscillator, the AUR Water Engine and the Underwater Motor. This thesis describes these machines in detail together with other contemporary devices. The initial chapter contains an assessment of machines used in the past to exploit low head sites. There is little doubt that some of these older machines, suitably brought up to date in design and materials, would be more suited to the needs of developing peoples than many of the esoteric devices described in later chapters. The thesis is concerned mainly with the need to provide a means of generating power rather than the assessment or suitability of a site for power generation. The writer draws on experience gained in the laboratory, and as a Mechanical Engineering Consultant for small installations in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Recent applications in the use of light gauge steel members have been concerned with developing large scale systems built entirely from cold-formed steel members. An explicit analysis of such structures is complicated by the different phenomena that the structure may be prone to during loading. In particular, elastic buckling phenomena is an important consideration in the design of such structures since the load at which buckling occurs often provides a close upper bound to the carrying capacity of the structure. The first part of this two-part thesis (Part I, Chaptersl-8) has been devoted to general methods of analysis of the torsional-flexural buckling of thin-walled structures. A review of previous investigations and the available methods of solution is presented. A general finite element formulation of the torsional-flexural buckling of thin-walled structures has been derived. The resulting elastic geometric matrix can be used to analyse structures with monosymmetrical members. It also includes the effect of sectorial-monosymmetry for cross-sections without any axis of symmetry. A general transformation matrix has been developed to allow for the application of the finite element method to the three-dimensional elastic stability analysis of space and portal frames. The validity and accuracy of the new finite element formulation have been checked by analysing a number of different elastic lateral buckling problems for which exact or highly accurate solutions by other techniques are available. An experimental program was carried out on simply supported cold-formed steel z-beams. The first part of this program was undertaken to check the validity of the finite element calculations of the bimoments caused by nonuniform torsion. The second part was devoted to elastic lateral buckling of z-beams under combined bending and torsion. The second part of this thesis (Part II, Chapter 9) deals with the analysis of hipped roof structures with corrugated steel roof sheeting. A simple theoretical model has been suggested. The model has been used to perform an elastic linear analysis of the behaviour of two types of the hipped roof structures. The theoretical results are compared with previous experimental results for these two structures.

Over the course of the last few decades, most developing countries, including Libya, have experienced a rapid economic growth and associated increase in population. This growth has led to a substantial increase in the implementation of contemporary housing programmes and urbanisation in the form of new districts, mainly influenced by western models, although the use of some traditional forms continues in hybrid designs. Traditional housing gains its name due to its close relationship between the functional needs of the occupants, the culture, the climate, and other aspects of the living environment. In contrast contemporary designs of houses have appeared only recently in State development plans and projects, and have begun to show some shortcomings in functionality. Thus, this study aims to investigate and understand the reason for these shortcomings and to make recommendations for future housing policies in the state. The design of traditional and contemporary housing in Tripoli-Libya is analysed in terms of suitability for cultural, social and climate conditions. This is explored through contextual research based on a review of the literature, concentrating on the development of housing design in Libya since 1885, including all the factors that have influenced Libyan housing design. The satisfaction level of the occupants living within both types of housing has been explored in three representative case study areas in Tripoli. Residents' views on their satisfaction with their house were sought through questionnaires. Interviews were also conducted amongst government officials and design professional concerned with housing design and implementation programmes to understand professional opinion on the quality of traditional and contemporary housing. The main conclusions drawn from the research emphasises the importance of social and cultural factors, climate conditions, and local building materials, as they all play an important role in designing any house and are important to the level of satisfaction of users. Regardless of the advantages of the contemporary housing used in the case study areas in terms of space and access for motor transport, most respondents were dissatisfied with their new houses in terms of privacy, climate condition, and building materials used in the construction. The research also illustrates the danger of not properly considering all these factors may result in dissatisfaction of users, and may lead them to alter or modify their houses. This may lead to illegal and possibly unsafe modifications, or at least to unsatisfactory visual appearance. Finally, based on the study of both traditional and contemporary houses, the findings of the empirical study, and the opinions of experts, a set of guidelines for future house designs are presented. The guidelines inform and possibly assist designers, planners, academics and Libyan public policy makers to achieve the goals of providing new housing concepts and forms, which are appropriate to the requirements of residents, and which do not detract nor constrain their social and cultural activities.

The objective of this research was to analyse and investigate the behaviour of a composite space frame. The space frame is assembled from individual inverted square-based pyramids. Each pyramid consists of a steelangle section top-tray and diagonals. When the top trays are connected together, they form the top-chord members of a double-angle section connected back to back. The investigation is primarily concerned with the composite section within the space frame system which comprises the top chord members, profiled steel sheeting and a concrete slab. This composite section is also assumed to work as a system of intersecting composite Tbeams. Each composite T-beam comprises of a top chord member, a certain width of profiled steel sheet and a concrete slab. The composite action is ensured by a series of self-tapping screws. The experimental work is based on two-unit space frame specimens. Each specimen represents two adjacent units with their top chord member which carries the highest compressive axial load in the real structure. Each unit is tested in a situation which simulates its position and loading within the real structure. In addition to the composite T-beams being tested, steel struts composed of the top chord member double-angles were tested. In the theoretical section, the real structure is analysed as composite beam elements and thin steel plate elements which all represent the top composite T-beams. The diagonals and the ties were considered as truss elements. A successful method of analysis was developed using matrix and finite element methods resulting in the force distribution and deformations for a full composite space frame. Additionally, the experimental work yielded useful information on the behaviour of composite struts of this type. Recommendations for future work are made. The investigation of the behaviour of the composite T-beams with different locations and numbers of shear connectors together with the analysis of the structure comprise the main part of this work.

No description available.

Governments all around the world have tried to address the problem of providing adequate and affordable housing to the nation over the last three decades. With no exemption, the Malaysian Government is committed to provide all Malaysians, particularly those in the low-income categories, access to adequate and affordable housing. Even with the numerous housing programmes implemented over the various five-year Malaysia Plans, there is still a shortage of affordable homes for the low-income people. The shortage of low-cost dwelling units, along with the high cost of limited land has resulted in rapid expansion of squatter settlements in urban areas. Around the World there is a shift from public to private finance for the delivery of infrastructure projects or related services. However, it has not been implemented to the same extent in affordable housing. This investigation examines not just the measurable deviation from the Malaysia Plan targets, but more importantly, determines an explanation for the deviation and develops a new model of public private partnership for affordable housing. The aim of this research is "to develop a housing model for implementation in affordable housing schemes through the promotion of innovative partnerships between the Government and Private Developers in Malaysia". The research methodology was a combination of literature investigation andinductive reasoning in which a theoretical proposition was tested and developed during data collection and analysis. The data collection included literature review, questionnaires, and follow up interviews with private developers in Malaysia. This research study identifies three models for partnerships between the Government and private developers for affordable housing in Malaysia. An evaluation process was undertaken to assess the appropriateness of the proposed models. The three models will provide tangible benefits in the provision of and access to affordable housing.

Nuclear decommissioning involves the use of remotely deployed mobile vehicles and manipulators controlled via teleoperation systems. Manipulators are used for tooling and sorting tasks, and mobile vehicles are used to locate a manipulator near to the area that it is to be operated upon and also to carry a camera into a remote area for monitoring and assessment purposes. Teleoperations in hazardous environments are often hampered by a lack of visual information. Direct line of sight is often only available through small, thick windows, which often become discoloured and less transparent over time. Ideal camera locations are generally not possible, which can lead to areas of the cell not being visible, or at least difficult to see. Damage to the mobile, manipulator, tool or environment can be very expensive and dangerous. Despite the advances in the recent years of autonomous systems, the nuclear industry prefers generally to ensure that there is a human in the loop. This is due to the safety critical nature of the industry. Haptic interfaces provide a means of allowing an operator to control aspects of a task that would be difficult or impossible to control with impoverished visual feedback alone. Manipulator endeffector force control and mobile vehicle collision avoidance are examples of such tasks. Haptic communication has been integrated with both a Schilling Titan II manipulator teleoperation system and Cybermotion K2A mobile vehicle teleoperation system. The manipulator research was carried out using a real manipulator whereas the mobile research was carried out in simulation. Novel haptic communication generation algorithms have been developed. Experiments have been conducted using both the mobile and the manipulator to assess the performance gains offered by haptic communication. The results of the mobile vehicle experiments show that haptic feedback offered performance improvements in systems where the operator is solely responsible for control of the vehicle. However in systems where the operator is assisted by semi autonomous behaviour that can perform obstacle avoidance, the advantages of haptic feedback were more subtle. The results from the manipulator experiments served to support the results from the mobile vehicle experiments since they also show that haptic feedback does not always improve operator performance. Instead, performance gains rely heavily on the nature of the task, other system feedback channels and operator assistance features. The tasks performed with the manipulator were peg insertion, grinding and drilling.

Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging discipline that promises to capitalize on organizations intellectual capital. KM refers to the process of managing the life-cycle of knowledge relevant to areas that are mission critical to the organization. This includes efforts to capture, store, and deploy knowledge using a combination of information technology and business processes. In recent years, KM has become a critical subject of discussion in the business literature. Both business and academic communities believe that by leveraging knowledge, an organization can sustain its long-term competitive advantage. Approaches to KM varied form emphasizing the capabilities of information and communication technologies to the focus on social systems such as employee training and motivation. Engineering organizations led the way in KM initiatives realizing the potential of successful KM implementation in decreasing production time and cost, increasing quality, making better decisions as well as improve organizations' performance and provide a competitive advantage. Although some engineering organizations reported early KM success, other organizations have tried and failed to implement KM. These failures have been linked to the lack of a generally accepted framework and methodology to guide successful implementation of KM in organizations. This primary aim of this research is to produce a model for a successful implementation of KM in engineering organizations which integrates the various approaches and key factors to implementing KM. The study has produced a model which provides a framework that identifies the different types of knowledge available in engineering organizations, the KM life-cycle which is needed to manage this knowledge, and the key factors that facilitate this process. The model also provides management with guidance for implementing KM in their organizations. In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this research, a triangulation nonexperimental approach is adopted using qualitative in-depth case study with triangulation of data collection methods that uses observation, structured interviews, unstructured interviews, historical data collection, and document review. This is followed by a quantitative approach with the use of a questionnaire to further validate and generalize the proposed KM model. In building the KM model a thorough review of previous related literature from different disciplines was conducted. The literature reviewed included various issues relating to KM, such as KM approaches, perspectives, frameworks, and methodologies as well as strategic planning, human resources, instructional design theories, organizational learning, information technology, etc.