The research proposes a strategy to develop cross-training plans to be implemented in engineering companies that carry out multidisciplinary projects. Through empirical data collected by the application of the case method, the study performs an analysis to determine the activities and tasks that can be performed by specialists from different but complementary areas. The study is based on different existing theories, such as job rotation, project management maturity models, intellectual capital and motivational and leadership theories. As a result, each specialist obtains a holistic vision on the management of interdisciplinary projects, contributing to their development and improving the coordination of different areas. The application of these cross-training plans to key personnel in multidisciplinary projects benefits the interpersonal relationships among the project team and, consequently, collaborates in obtaining projects with better performance.
The construction sector is responsible for high levels of energy consumption and for environmental impacts during the life cycle of a building all over the world. Therefore, sustainability has become an inherent topic in building design, in response to the stringency of natural resources and to performance. A way to design sustainable buildings is taking advantage of the available natural resources on site to reduce the needs for artificial conditioning. Requirements of performance have become more restrictive and existing buildings must conform to them. This is possible through a retrofit process which improves their performance to comply with actual requirements, besides improving the comfort of their occupants. Most of the developed procedures for retrofitting analysis take into account only energy consumption and emission of pollutants. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a procedure to help designers and decision makers on choosing the best retrofit strategy considering energy consumption, thermal comfort and the cost-benefit of these strategies. A computational model of a building located at the State University of Campinas was developed to simulate different passive strategies and the results obtained are presented in an easy-to-use chart as part of the procedure.
The quality of the air on the Old City of Havana have come to be over the last decades a growing concern regarding the durability and the aesthetics of the historical buildings. The aim of this work is to assess the impact of atmospheric pollutants on the conservation of the historic buildings of Havana, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city, located between 20-2600 m from the north coast is constantly exposed to an increasing levels of atmospheric pollutants mainly from anthropogenic sources. The future projections on climate for the Caribbean area reflect changes in temperature, humidity and rainfall levels, which will have implications for the preservation of the heritage buildings
The continued growth in demand for cement has raised concerns in the industry about environmental and sustainability issues. In addition, the worldwide generation of large quantities of solid waste threatens human health and on environmental quality. This paper proposes to assess the feasibility of using a residual powder derived from organic waste of vegetable or animal origin for replacing part of Portland cement during concrete production. Specifically, the powder is derived from a living being such as the remains of food (meat, vegetables, fruits and eggshells), paper, wood, bones and seeds. Its scientific contribution is a conscious change due to development of an alternative material to contribute with more sustainable processes in the construction industry. Three types of mixtures for cement content were studied: aggregate/cement (A/C) ratios of 15, 10 and 6. Concrete samples were then made by replacing the cement with organic waste powder in percentages of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. These mixtures were evaluated for their physical and mechanical properties. The results showed that the reference concrete had higher compressive strength than the concrete with low cement content (A/C ratio of 15:1). However, samples made with 5% of powder and an A/C ratio of 10:1 presented values at least 2.1% greater than compressive strength of the reference concrete. Mixtures rich in cement (A/C ratio of 6:1) and the powder replacements of up to 10% showed in the best mechanical behavior in 13% in relation to the reference concrete. Therefore, waste powder can be used as filling material to replace part of the cement, resulting in denser and more resistant concrete, as well as less specific absorption and voids.
The use of concrete made with recycled materials allows an alternative in the optimization and considerable reduction of resources during the manufacturing process of the components. The resistance to compression and bending in concrete of 210 Kg/cm2 modified with plastifying additive at ages 7, 14 and 28 days were evaluated using recycled rubber of 5, 10 and 15% in its composition. Three experimental groups were included, with plasticizing admixture and recycled rubber, and two control groups, with and without plastifying additive. The resistance to compression reached maximum values of 218.45 Kg/cm2 and 212.33 Kg/cm2 at 5% and 10% rubber, respectively. As for the flexural strength, a maximum value of 81.86 Kg/cm2 was achieved for 10% rubber. The recycled rubber proved to be an excellent addition to be used in concrete mixtures despite the losses of mechanical strength, but by adding plastifying additive, it significantly improves making it possible to be incorporated into concrete up to 10%. By means of variance analysis with significance of 5%, it is concluded that the percentage of recycled rubber has a significant effect on the resistance to compression and bending in the manufacture of modified concrete with plastifying additive.
Many construction projects present uncertainty in their budgets and schedules. Also, the management of time and costs is inconsistent. There are methodologies and techniques that improve the management of construction projects: Techniques such as Earned Value Management (EVM), ideal for planning, monitoring and controlling the management of time and costs during the execution of projects, and methodologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) recognized for improving the planning and design of construction projects. This paper proposes the integration of BIM and EVM through an OpenBIM software called COST-BIM, designed in JAVA programming language and NetBeans 8.0.1 development environment. It manages construction projects time and costs under a single interface, consisting of four modules and fifteen processes. The software is validated through a real project of social interest housing (Vivienda de Interés Social VIS), comparing the budget, schedule, EVM original indicators and EVM projections of the project versus those generated by the tool.
COST-BIM manages construction projects from its planning, during its execution and until its monitoring and control turning it into a useful software for construction managers that strive to increase the performance of their projects
Recent researches have proven the importance of considering the seismic directionality effect. The performance of buildings subjected to earthquakes depends on its orientation respect to the seismic actions applied. This type of calculation is computed using the nonlinear dynamic analysis (NLDA) and rotating the acceleration horizontal components onto all non-redundant angles, which entails a high computational cost. This paper presents an alternative approach to consider the directionality effect. The method is based on the nonlinear static analysis (NLSA) and in the energy balance between the capacity curves and the response spectra of the rotated seismic actions. This approach was applied to a 4-story steel frame building 3D-model with ground motions records from Mexico City. A high variability in the building performance is observed due to the incidence angle of the seismic action; the proposed method would allow considering this variation in the structural analysis, in an easy way, demanding less calculation time and providing results compatible with those obtained through the NLDA.
In the context of making roads more sustainable, this study compares two asphalt mixes: one conventional, and one with end-of-life tyres (ELT), using a multi-criteria decision-making method focused on the advantages among the different alternatives called "Choosing by Advantages" (CBA). The aim is to answer whether it is appropriate to use ELT in asphalt mixtures in developing countries, and what environmental impacts its use generates in road construction. This research is based on a case study of a road construction project in Chile. The main results are as follows: 1) the use of rubber bitumen (RB) is more advantageous than the use of conventional bitumen, and 2) the cost required for the manufacture and execution of RB is 1.4 times higher than the cost of conventional mixing; however, the cost of maintenance of RB is lower. Finally, research shows that it is convenient to use ELT in asphalt mixes, as it generates social and environmental improvements, such as reducing IRI variability over time, minimizing noise and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The acoustic quality in enclosed spaces is defined by the constructive characteristics of the environment, which must be designed to increase the propagation of the sound. Therefore, the sound message to be transmitted, whether spoken, song or by music instruments, can be intelligibly captured by the listeners. Among the main characteristics that influence the sound behavior in rooms are its dimensions, its geometric shape and the finishing materials applied on their internal surfaces. Each room has different acoustic requirements, directly related to the purpose for which it is intended. Therefore, the professional responsible for the design and construction of these environments should analyze and recognize the needs of each case. In this way, the present case study presents the evaluation of the acoustic quality of a multiple use auditorium, at Unisinos Campus, in São Leopoldo, southern Brazil. Acoustic measurements were performed to calculate the Reverberation Time (T30) and the Early Decay Time (EDT) of the room. Afterwards, the modelling of the auditorium in the acoustic simulation software CATT-Acoustics was carried out, allowing the estimation of other objective acoustic parameters such as the Speech Transmission Index (STI), Definition (D50) and Clarity (C80). The results obtained through measurements and acoustic simulations show that the auditorium has satisfactory acoustic quality for speech, but it is not so suitable for receiving musical presentations. The model generated in the software also made it possible to simulate constructive solutions aiming to improve the acoustic quality of the room.
The structural behavior of heritage buildings is now a priority for restoration architects and structural engineers, because of the loss of human lives and the damages in the constructions caused by earthquakes. The conventional intervention, which applies the Colombian code for earthquake-resistant constructions (NSR 10), affects the conservation of their heritage values. This is a proposal for a structural analysis applying traditional methods, but including the integral knowledge of the building, as well as the structural principles that their behavior and the development of intervention proposals based on their own structural principles. A group of doctrinal churches in the high lands of Boyacá and Cundinamarca in Colombia (1579-1616) were selected as cases of study , using a basic architectonical church model, which maintains the constant geometry, but modifies its constructive technique, with the purpose of understanding the differences and result interpretations for this type of constructions. The evidence shows the importance of involving the comprehension of distinctive technical features, as a way to achieve seismic protection solutions for human life, in the same way as historical construction values.
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