Matching Items (24)
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- All Subjects: Civil Engineering
- Creators: Hjelmstad, Keith
- Creators: Parrish, Kristen
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
The computation of the fundamental mode in structural moment frames provides valuable insight into the physical response of the frame to dynamic or time-varying loads. In standard practice, it is not necessary to solve for all n mode shapes in a structural system; it is therefore practical to limit the system to some determined number of r significant mode shapes. Current building codes, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), require certain class of structures to obtain 90% effective mass participation as a way to estimate the accuracy of a solution for base shear motion. A parametric study was performed from the collected data obtained by the analysis of a large number of framed structures. The purpose of this study was the development of rules for the required number of r significant modes to meet the ASCE code requirements. The study was based on the implementation of an algorithm and a computer program developed in the past. The algorithm is based on Householders Transformations, QR Factorization, and Inverse Iteration and it extracts a requested s (s<< n) number of predominate mode shapes and periods. Only the first r (r < s) of these modes are accurate. To verify the accuracy of the algorithm a variety of building frames have been analyzed using the commercially available structural software (RISA 3D) as a benchmark. The salient features of the algorithm are presented briefly in this study.
ContributorsGrantham, Jonathan (Author) / Fafitis, Apostolos (Thesis advisor) / Attard, Thomas (Committee member) / Houston, Sandra (Committee member) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In this thesis, the author described a new genetic algorithm based on the idea: the better design could be found at the neighbor of the current best design. The details of the new genetic algorithm are described, including the rebuilding process from Micro-genetic algorithm and the different crossover and mutation formation.
Some popular examples, including two variable function optimization and simple truss models are used to test this algorithm. In these study, the new genetic algorithm is proved able to find the optimized results like other algorithms.
Besides, the author also tried to build one more complex truss model. After tests, the new genetic algorithm can produce a good and reasonable optimized result. Form the results, the rebuilding, crossover and mutation can the jobs as designed.
At last, the author also discussed two possible points to improve this new genetic algorithm: the population size and the algorithm flexibility. The simple result of 2D finite element optimization showed that the effectiveness could be better, with the improvement of these two points.
Some popular examples, including two variable function optimization and simple truss models are used to test this algorithm. In these study, the new genetic algorithm is proved able to find the optimized results like other algorithms.
Besides, the author also tried to build one more complex truss model. After tests, the new genetic algorithm can produce a good and reasonable optimized result. Form the results, the rebuilding, crossover and mutation can the jobs as designed.
At last, the author also discussed two possible points to improve this new genetic algorithm: the population size and the algorithm flexibility. The simple result of 2D finite element optimization showed that the effectiveness could be better, with the improvement of these two points.
ContributorsDing, Xiaosu (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis advisor) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Committee member) / Rajan, Subramaniam D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Engineering education can provide students with the tools to address complex, multidisciplinary grand challenge problems in sustainable and global contexts. However, engineering education faces several challenges, including low diversity percentages, high attrition rates, and the need to better engage and prepare students for the role of a modern engineer. These challenges can be addressed by integrating sustainability grand challenges into engineering curriculum.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
ContributorsAntaya, Claire Louise (Author) / Landis, Amy E. (Thesis advisor) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Bilec, Melissa M (Committee member) / Besterfield-Sacre, Mary E (Committee member) / Allenby, Braden R. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Given the importance of buildings as major consumers of resources worldwide, several organizations are working avidly to ensure the negative impacts of buildings are minimized. The U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is one such effort to recognize buildings that are designed to achieve a superior performance in several areas including energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The primary objectives of this study are to investigate the performance of LEED certified facilities in terms of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction with IEQ, and introduce a framework to assess the performance of LEED certified buildings.
This thesis attempts to achieve the research objectives by examining the LEED certified buildings on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, AZ, from two complementary perspectives: the Macro-level and the Micro-level. Heating, cooling, and electricity data were collected from the LEED-certified buildings on campus, and their energy use intensity was calculated in order to investigate the buildings' actual energy performance. Additionally, IEQ occupant satisfaction surveys were used to investigate users' satisfaction with the space layout, space furniture, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting level, acoustic quality, water efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities they occupy.
From a Macro-level perspective, the results suggest ASU LEED buildings consume less energy than regional counterparts, and exhibit higher occupant satisfaction than national counterparts. The occupant satisfaction results are in line with the literature on LEED buildings, whereas the energy results contribute to the inconclusive body of knowledge on energy performance improvements linked to LEED certification. From a Micro-level perspective, data analysis suggest an inconsistency between the LEED points earned for the Energy & Atmosphere and IEQ categories, on one hand, and the respective levels of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction on the other hand. Accordingly, this study showcases the variation in the performance results when approached from different perspectives. This contribution highlights the need to consider the Macro-level and Micro-level assessments in tandem, and assess LEED building performance from these two distinct but complementary perspectives in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the actual building performance.
This thesis attempts to achieve the research objectives by examining the LEED certified buildings on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, AZ, from two complementary perspectives: the Macro-level and the Micro-level. Heating, cooling, and electricity data were collected from the LEED-certified buildings on campus, and their energy use intensity was calculated in order to investigate the buildings' actual energy performance. Additionally, IEQ occupant satisfaction surveys were used to investigate users' satisfaction with the space layout, space furniture, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting level, acoustic quality, water efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities they occupy.
From a Macro-level perspective, the results suggest ASU LEED buildings consume less energy than regional counterparts, and exhibit higher occupant satisfaction than national counterparts. The occupant satisfaction results are in line with the literature on LEED buildings, whereas the energy results contribute to the inconclusive body of knowledge on energy performance improvements linked to LEED certification. From a Micro-level perspective, data analysis suggest an inconsistency between the LEED points earned for the Energy & Atmosphere and IEQ categories, on one hand, and the respective levels of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction on the other hand. Accordingly, this study showcases the variation in the performance results when approached from different perspectives. This contribution highlights the need to consider the Macro-level and Micro-level assessments in tandem, and assess LEED building performance from these two distinct but complementary perspectives in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the actual building performance.
ContributorsChokor, Abbas (Author) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
High performing and sustainable building certification bodies continue to update their requirements, leading to scope modification of certifications, and an increasing number of viable sources of environmental information for building materials. In conjunction, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is seeing increasing demand for such environmental product information. The industry and certifications are moving from using single attribute environmental information about building materials to lifecycle based information to inform their design decisions.
This dissertation seeks to understand the current practices, and then focus on strategies to effectively utilize newer sources of environmental product information in high performance building design. The first phase of research used a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand how the numerous sources of environmental information are currently used in the building design process. The second phase asked two focus groups of experienced AEC professionals to develop a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) that documents the conceptual design process for a recently designed building. Then, the focus group participants integrated a new sustainability requirement for building materials, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), into their project, and documented the adjustments to their specific design process in a second, modified MSC highlighting potential drivers for inclusion of EPDs. Finally, the author examines the broader applicability of these drivers through case studies. Specifically, 19 certified high-performance building (HPB) case studies, for reviewing the impact of three different potential drivers on the design team’s approach to considering environmental product information during conceptual design of a HPB, as well as the projects certification level.
LEED certification has changed the design of buildings, and the new information sources for building materials will inform the way the industry selects building materials. Meanwhile, these information sources will need to expand to include a growing number of products, and potentially more data as the industry’s understanding of the impacts of building materials develops. This research expands upon previous research on LEED certification to illustrates that owner engagement and commitment to the HPB process is a critical success factor for the use of environmental product information about building materials.
This dissertation seeks to understand the current practices, and then focus on strategies to effectively utilize newer sources of environmental product information in high performance building design. The first phase of research used a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand how the numerous sources of environmental information are currently used in the building design process. The second phase asked two focus groups of experienced AEC professionals to develop a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) that documents the conceptual design process for a recently designed building. Then, the focus group participants integrated a new sustainability requirement for building materials, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), into their project, and documented the adjustments to their specific design process in a second, modified MSC highlighting potential drivers for inclusion of EPDs. Finally, the author examines the broader applicability of these drivers through case studies. Specifically, 19 certified high-performance building (HPB) case studies, for reviewing the impact of three different potential drivers on the design team’s approach to considering environmental product information during conceptual design of a HPB, as well as the projects certification level.
LEED certification has changed the design of buildings, and the new information sources for building materials will inform the way the industry selects building materials. Meanwhile, these information sources will need to expand to include a growing number of products, and potentially more data as the industry’s understanding of the impacts of building materials develops. This research expands upon previous research on LEED certification to illustrates that owner engagement and commitment to the HPB process is a critical success factor for the use of environmental product information about building materials.
ContributorsBurke, Rebekah (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Gibson, G. Edward (Committee member) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
As a student and then an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UGTA), I have had the opportunity to personally witness the learning process of both myself and approximately 75 additional incoming Civil Engineering students taking the Mechanics courses after me. While watching the student learning process as an UGTA, I realized that there were consistent points of confusion amongst the students that the teaching staff could not efficiently communicate with the electronic or physical classroom materials available. As a physical learner, I am able to learn more comprehensively if I have a physical model to manipulate, and often found myself in the position of wanting to be able to physically represent and manipulate the systems being studied in class.
ContributorsCamillucci, Allyson Nicole (Co-author, Co-author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Chatziefstratiou, Efthalia (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The 8.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City in 1985 left 10,000 people dead, and over 400 buildings collapsed. The extent of the damage left behind by this powerful quake has been extensively studied to make improvements to engineering and architectural practices in earthquake-prone areas of the world. Thirty-two years later, on the exact anniversary of the devastating earthquake, Mexico City was once again jolted by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Although still significant, the 2017 earthquake collapsed only about a tenth of the buildings collapsed by the 1985 Earthquake, and in turn resulted in a lower death toll. Even though these earthquakes struck in the same seismic region, their effects were vastly different. This thesis completes a comparison between the two earthquakes focusing on the structural impacts including background on Mexico City's unique geology, basic concepts necessary to understand the response of structures to earthquake excitation, and structural failure modes observed in both earthquakes. The thesis will also discuss the earthquake's fundamental differences that led to the discrepancy in structural damage and ultimately in lower death tolls. Of those discussed, is the types of buildings that were targeted and collapsed. In 1985, buildings with 6 or more floors had the highest damage category. Resonance frequencies of these buildings were similar to the resonance frequencies of the subsoil, leading to amplified oscillations, and ultimately in failure. The 2017 earthquake did not have as much distance from the epicenter for the high frequency seismic waves to be absorbed. In contrast, the shorter, faster waves that reached the capital affected smaller buildings, and spared most tall buildings.
ContributorsGonzalez, Diana Laura (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Ward, Kristen (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In the Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 semesters, a survey was taken of students enrolled in the principal undergraduate civil engineering structures course, CEE 321: Structural Analysis and Design, to assess both the prevalence of technology in the lives of the students and the potential ways this information could be use to improve the educational experience. The results of this survey indicated that there was a considerable demand for additional online resources outside of the formal classroom. The students of CEE 321 requested online lecture videos in particular, and so a project was launched at the start of the Spring 2014 semester to deliver a large body of academic instructional videos. In total, a collection of 30 instructional videos which covered all key topics covered over a semester of CEE 321 was published. The driving interest behind this creative project is to increase the level of understanding, comfort, and performance in students enrolled in the class. Although the quantity of initial student feedback is relatively small, the reactions are distinctly positive and reflect an improvement in understanding amongst the responding students. Over the course of upcoming semesters, qualitative and quantitative assessments of the impact of the videos are expected to provide a better indication of their quality and effectiveness in supporting student comprehension and performance in CEE 321. Above all, the success of these videos is directly tied to their ability to function as living, adaptable resources which are continuously molded and improved by student feedback.
ContributorsReasor, Drew Donn (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SSEBE) used to have a shake table where FSE 100 professors would use students' model structures to demonstrate how failure occurs during an earthquake. The SSEBE has wanted to build a shake table ever since the original table was no longer available to them. My creative project is to design and build a shake table for FSE 100 use. This paper will go through the steps I took to design and construct my shake table as well as suggestions to anyone else who would want to build a shake table. The design of the shake table that was constructed was modeled after Quanser's Shake Table II. The pieces from the shake table were purchased from McMaster-Carr and was assembled at the TechShop in Chandler, Arizona. An educational component was added to this project to go along with the shake table. The project will be for the use of a FSE 100 classes. This project is very similar to the American Society of Civil Engineers, Pacific Southwest Conference's seismic competition. The main difference is that FSE 100 students will not be making a thirty story model but only a five story model. This shake table will make Arizona State University's engineering program competitive with other top universities that use and implement shake table analysis in their civil engineering courses.
ContributorsLockhart, Laura E. (Author) / Ward, Kristen (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Arizona's transportation infrastructure is in need of an update. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) State Infrastructure 2017 Report Card scores Arizona's roads at a D+ and Arizona's bridges at a B. These grades are indicative that the serviceability levels of the roads and bridges are less than adequate. These grades may seem tolerable in light of a national bridge C+ grade and a national road D grade, but the real problem lies in Arizona's existing funding gap that is in danger of exponentially increasing in the future. With an influx of vehicles on Arizona's roads and bridges, the cost of building, repairing, and maintaining them will grow and cause a problematic funding shortage. This report explores the current state of Arizona's roads and bridges as well as the policy and funding sources behind them, using statistics from the ASCE infrastructure report card and the Federal Highway Administration. Additionally, it discusses how regular, preventative maintenance for transportation infrastructure is the economically responsible choice for the state because it decreases delays and fuel expenses, prevents possible catastrophes, and increases human safety. To prioritize preventative transportation infrastructure maintenance, the common mentality that allows it to be sidelined for more newsworthy projects needs to be changed. Along with gaining preventative maintenance revenues through increasing vehicular taxes and fees, encouraging transportation policymakers and politicians to make economic decisions in favor of maintenance rather than waiting until failure is a reliable way to encourage regular, preventative maintenance.
ContributorsBurdett, Courtney (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Pendyala, Ram (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05