This project aims to develop a rear side airbag and to investigate how the passenger in the rear seat is in need of protection in a side impact. It was found from the literature study that the head of children and thorax of adults are the most exposed body regions in side impacts. The side collision test done with a barrier by LINCAP (Lateral Impact, New Car Assessment Program) was found to produce the highest force on the rear-seated dummy, in comparison to the same test by IIHS (Insurance Institute Highway Safety), and that a high combined pelvic force results in a lower rating of the vehicle. The objective of the airbag concepts is to offer protection area to the most exposed body regions. The airbags are designed with the presumption that the occupant uses a seat belt and a pretensioner to limit the forward motion of the body, with the rationale that this enables design of airbags with reasonable manufacturing costs. The three new concepts of airbags were: thorax; thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended. From sled tests with the three new airbag concepts, it was found that an airbag, compared to no airbag, reduces the risk of injury at thorax by 70 percentage units and the force on pelvis is considerably reduced in a side impact. The thorax bag showed a reduction of the rib deflection compared to no airbag, but a high force on the pelvis motivates a protection area of pelvis. The tests with the two larger bags thorax/pelvis and thorax/pelvis extended resulted in a better protection of thorax, abdomen and pelvis than without airbag. Problems with positioning the pelvis area of the bags was noticed but not solved and may be a task in further investigations.

The purpose of the ODS (Occupant Detection System) project is to develop a car safety camera system that is able to discriminate human occupants in order to activate safety features depending on the human size. In order to discriminate the size of an occupant anthropometric measurements need to be performed. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of anthropometric measurements of human height and weight with a Kinect for Windows v2 sensor for discrimination of different occupants inside a vehicle. The goal was to find valid anthropometric methods for determination of human height and weight from landmarks on the upper body, then test if it is possible to perform these methods with the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor. The execution of this study was performed as a literature study with anthropometric tests on ATD-dummies (anthropomorphic test device) and on human test subjects. Measurements were performed first physically and then with the Kinect v2 sensor to obtain data in form of distance of 8 regions of the body. Three tests were performed, first on dummies, second was a pilot study and last the measurement study. The result revealed that it is hard to estimate human weight from body landmarks due to lack of information, therefor no tests were performed in this area. For height the result showed that the most valid methods were the measurements on arm span and ulna, both on physical measurements and with the camera. The conclusion is that it is possible estimating height from body landmarks but the positioning of the camera needs to be change in order for the measurements to be more accurate. This study has contributed to a greater understanding of measurement technology, automotive safety and anthropometric measurements.

Nowadays, facility managers and related staffs are facing with much maintenance requests every day. The more complicated building system generates the more diverse and complex maintenance issues. With the limited budget and staff, not all the maintenance requests can be solved immediately. To schedule the maintenance work, facility managers first consider the impact of requested problem on system failure and life safety. Besides these two factors, the author proposed the importance of considering the energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction based on the former research for sustainability. This paper firstly tries to quantify the occupant satisfaction for normal daily maintenance requests which will provide the facility managers with suggestions on work prioritization. For a long time, it is a difficult task to quantify the occupant satisfaction, even though there are enough researches concerning the people satisfaction. In this research, author first designed a structured questionnaire including normal maintenance issues and they are measured by different factors such as thermal impact, acoustic impact, and so on. Then based on the classical disconfirmation theory, a framework was built to prioritize numerous works based on occupant satisfaction. For energy efficiency, due to the limitation of collecting real measured data, this paper referred the work from Lawrance Lab. They conducted the research to simulate the daily HVAC faults to quantify the energy impact through EnergyPlus, which provided the data of energy increase for some daily HVAC faults. An agent based model is proposed to both consider these two factors. Simulation was used to verify the framework and the result showed that the total satisfaction level and energy efficiency can be increased by 30% and 97% respectively.

This research project aims to investigate the level of risk/safety inherent in intermediate floors of buildings designed to the Compliance Document for the New Zealand Building Code, Fire Safety Clauses C1, C2, C3, C4 (C/AS1), and develop guidance for Fire Engineers on designing fire safety for firecells containing intermediate floors. The project also aims to develop a new set of prescriptive fire safety requirements for intermediate floors and proposes an outline of a verification method for designing fire safety for intermediate floors. This study includes a literature review of the fire safety requirements for intermediate floors (mezzanines) of prescriptive requirements in New Zealand and other countries such as USA, Canada, UK and Australia. The results of this literature review found that the intermediate floor size is limited and varies with country. An intermediate floor that has an area exceeding the limit set out by the prescriptive requirements is considered as a storey in all the countries prescriptive requirements reviewed including the New Zealand prescriptive requirements prior to 1991. Since 1991, in New Zealand Acceptable Solutions, the intermediate floor that has an area exceeding the limit will not be treated as a storey, however, a smoke control system is required. The level of risk was quantified using a factor of safety (FoS) - the ratio of Available Safe Egress Time (ASET) to Required Safe Egress Time (RSET). Two fire models; BRANZFIRE and FDS were used to calculate ASET and SIMULEX, an evacuation program, was used to calculate movement times of the occupants of the studied buildings. Unlike the traditional method in which RSET and FoS are assessed using single value, in this project the distribution of RSET and FoS were assessed using the @RISK software package. The analysis showed that the level of risk to the occupants of the firecells containing intermediate floors is always higher than that of the equivalent firecells without intermediate floors with the same occupant load and the differences in FoS range from 10% to 60%. The analysis also highlighted that the level of risk to the occupants of firecells having intermediate floors increases as the intermediate floor size increases, however, there are no clear cut-off points at which a higher level of fire safety precaution should be provided. The cut-off points in C/AS1 of 20% for a closed intermediate floor and 40% for an open intermediate floor, are not justified by this analysis. Occupant load has significant impact on the level of safety of the occupants of the firecells containing intermediate floors. The higher the occupant load the lower the level of safety is. The definitions for open and closed intermediate floors are proposed to which open and closed intermediate floors are clearly distinguished. The term “limited area intermediate floor” in the current C/AS1 is proposed be removed and all related clauses are proposed to be amended or deleted accordingly. A proposed new set of prescriptive fire safety requirements for intermediate floors has been developed based on the occupant load of intermediate floors and not the intermediate floor size in the form of a table similar to the current Table 4.1 of C/AS1. The occupant load and fire safety precautions (FSPs) of the intermediate floors are determined based on the occupant load and their required FSPs of the equivalent firecells without intermediate floors that have the same factor of safety with the firecells containing intermediate floors. With the proposed FSPs, a firecell with lower occupant load would require lesser fire safety requirements than a firecell with higher occupant load regardless of intermediate floor size. Moreover, with the proposed FSPs for intermediate floors, the level of safety of the occupants of the firecells having intermediate floors would be very similar to the level of safety of the equivalent firecells without intermediate floors. In addition to the proposed tables of FSPs, some clauses regarding the changes in the fire safety requirement and definitions for intermediate floors are proposed. Guidance for designers in designing fire safety for firecells containing intermediate floors in which the methods of modelling using BRANZFIRE and Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) are presented in detail, has been developed. The analysis has pointed out that the location of the exits is critical in designing fire safety for firecells containing intermediate floors and majority of exits from the lower floor should not be located under intermediate floors. Although one of the main objectives of this research project was to propose an outline of a verification method for designing fire safety for intermediate floors, the analysis showed that it is very difficult to develop a rational verification method for designing fire safety for firecells containing intermediate floors. Using the proposed FSPs for intermediate floors which are based on the occupant load of the intermediate floors in designing fire safety for firecells containing intermediate floors is recommended by this study. These recommendations do not preclude the use of specific fire engineering design for designing fire safety for firecells having intermediate floors.

There is little empirical evidence in the literature to support industry claims about how green schools tend to have better indoor environmental quality (IEQ) than conventional ones and how teachers in green schools tend to feel better about their schools’ IEQ than those in conventional ones. There is also little empirical evidence in the literature about the impact of improved IEQ in literature about the impact of improved IEQ in schools on teachers’ well-being and their levels of satisfaction with their indoor environments. This research is based on a collaborative partnership with the Government of Manitoba Public Schools Finance Board, and three different public school divisions in Manitoba. It aims to develop and validate a comprehensive methodology to evaluate schools’ IEQ, teachers’ well-being and satisfaction with it, and the relationship between these two aspects. The research evaluated these specific aspects within a sample of three rural schools in Southern Manitoba, Canada: one middle-aged, conventional school; one new, non-green school; and one new, green school certified using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System. The methodology developed in this thesis employs three main data collection techniques: 1) field measurements using an existing mobile instrument cart to capture environmental indicators of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting quality and acoustics quality in classrooms, 2) a field observation form to record the physical conditions of the evaluated classrooms, and 3) an occupant survey to evaluate teachers’ satisfaction with their classrooms’ IEQ.

A building is not independent from the people who inhabit it. Humans play an important role in determining the resource consumption of buildings. This thesis argues that it is essential for rating systems like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), that promote green building to include occupant engagement as an important part of the sustainable building equation. Occupant engagement, which includes connecting residents to the sustainable capacity of their buildings, has the potential to lead to reductions in resource consumption and to create a culture of sustainability and awareness. Through a case study of Pomona College strategies for occupant engagement, such as signage and feedback, are investigated more closely. This thesis makes recommendations on how to improve occupant engagement at Pomona College, and how these best practices can be applied on a larger scale.

Master of Science / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Mohammad H. Hosni / Byron W. Jones / Limiting the spread of infectious airborne diseases and airborne pathogens is an important consideration in aircraft environmental control system design. However, when a passenger suspected of having a highly contagious disease or very dangerous disease is identified in flight, it is desirable to further isolate the individual from other passengers. A research project was conducted to explore an isolation system that can be stored in a small space and deployed in flight if needed. This device is referred to as an “Expedient Passenger Isolation System” abbreviated as ISOPASS. The ISOPASS is a portable, negative-pressure isolation system that can be installed over a section of seats quickly by a flight attendant during flight. A prototype proof of concept ISOPASS was evaluated in this study. Measurements were conducted in a full-scale, 11-row mock-up of a wide-body aircraft cabin, as well as a 5-row section of a narrow-body aircraft cabin. Heated mannequins to simulate the thermal load of passengers inside the cabin were seated in the mockup. Carbon dioxide was used as a tracer gas and was mixed with helium to maintain neutral buoyancy in air. The tracer gas was used to simulate airborne pathogen spread and was injected at the breathing level at a seat within the ISOPASS. Tests were conducted with and without the ISOPASS in place. Matched pairs were used to mitigate potential statistical problems. Matched pair tests were completed with gaspers turned on and off. Measurements were repeated three times for each gasper setting and for each ISOPASS condition. Concentration measurements were taken at the breathing level inside the ISOPASS at the seat next to the injection source; at the seat across the aisle adjacent to the ISOPASS; and at a seat far away from the ISOPASS near the front of the cabin. The with- and without-ISOPASS matched pair tests clearly show the ISOPASS prototype is highly effective at providing isolation in each aircraft cabin used in the study. Additionally, it was determined that the use of gaspers makes no measurable difference in the containment effectiveness of the ISOPASS.

Due to the detrimental effects of ride vibrations on occupants and increasing safety concerns, improvement in vehicle dynamic characteristics has become a key focus of researchers. Typically, ride and handling problems have been dealt with independently. There is a dearth of vehicle models capable of capturing occupant biodynamics and its implication on vehicle ride and handling. Also in general, the objective of conventional control systems has been to attenuate vertical dynamic response of the sprung mass of a vehicle. Feedback control based algorithms are predominantly used in active/semi-active suspensions that ignore the biodynamics of occupants. In the current work, a new 50 degree-of-freedom (DOF) combined nonlinear multi-occupant vehicle model is developed using the lumped parameter modelling (LPM) approach. The current model provides a platform for performing a combined study of ride, handling and occupant biodynamics. The model is capable of simulating the combined effect of sitting occupancies, road inputs and driving maneuvers on biodynamic responses. It is analyzed using MATLAB/SIMULINK functionalities and validated by independently correlating the computed responses with existing experimental results. A study is performed on ride behavior of a vehicle-occupant system under two different transient road inputs. In addition, the effect of road roughness on vehicle ride is also studied. Random road profiles are generated from road roughness spectrum given in the ISO 8608:1995 manual. Insights are developed into the ride dynamics of a vehicle traversing over roads of classes A, B, C and D at given test velocities. The effect of sitting occupancies and vehicle velocities on lateral dynamics is also studied. Results underscore the need for considering sitting occupancies while analyzing vehicle dynamics and also highlight the potential of the current model. Furthermore, a Moore-Penrose Pseudoinverse based feed-forward controller is developed and implemented in an independently acting semi-active seat suspension system. Feasibility of feed-forward control in primary suspensions is also investigated. Finally, issues of stability, performance and limitation of the controller are discussed.

Society is at an energy crossroads today. How will our global economy become sustainable for future generations? For today's global organizations can the right thing and the profitable thing be the same thing? Can (or should) successful organizations improve the human condition? Worldwide, buildings account for 17 per cent of fresh water withdrawals, 25 per cent of wood harvest, 33 per cent of CO2 emissions and 40 per cent of material and energy use. Integrated 'green' and sustainable building design is being heralded as the fastest route to ecological modern buildings in Europe, North America and Asia (United States Green Building Council, 2008). On average North Americans spend 90 per cent (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2009) of their time indoors, a large portion of this time in commercial buildings. Furthermore, salaries and wages account for approximately 90 per cent (Romm and Browning, 1994) of an organization's building-related expenses. However, in our rush to create 'green' and sustainable North American commercial buildings and a laser-like focus on reducing carbon footprints and reducing energy costs have we lost sight of the purpose of the commercial building which is the generation of wealth through the productivity of the commercial building occupant and by extension the occupant's organization. For if any slight increase or if any slight decrease in occupant and organizational productivity can be proven this would easily justify or (un)justify respectively most if not all North American commercial building sustainability initiatives as 'productivity is the fundamental economic measure of a technology's contribution' (Brynjolfsson, 1994). In other words have we increased or at a minimum maintained occupant and organizational productivity as we move our North American commercial building occupants and organizations into these newly created enhanced 'green' and sustainable structures with their new or enhanced 'green' and sustainable systems, processes and designs. The originality of the research will be in the linking of these two distinct areas namely; organizational productivity to North American commercial building 'green' and sustainability initiatives. Furthermore, through the mixed-methods research methodology approach we will attempt to develop new knowledge and findings as we implement measureable 'green' and sustainable strategies into comparative North American commercial building research settings.

The objective of this research is to simulate crashworthiness for Out-of-Position (OOP) occupants incorporating a 50th percentile Hybrid III dummy and a side curtain airbag in a 1996 Dodge Neon under side impact scenarios. Two different methods of airbag techniques namely, the uniform pressure (UP) and the smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) were compared. This study revealed that there is minimal difference between UP and SPH methods when the dummy’s head impacts the airbag after it has fully inflated. However, when the dummy’s head impacts the airbag during the inflation process, the modeling of the airbag gas dynamics becomes critical in predicting the dummy response. The SPH method, which models the gas dynamics in the airbag, causes the airbag to unroll more uniformly. Depending on the timing of the dummy’s head impact with the airbag these differences in inflation can produce significant differences in dummy head accelerations.