Daylighting design and simulation : ease of use analysis of digital tools for architects

Good daylighting design in buildings not only provides a comfortable luminous environment, but also delivers energy savings and comfortable and healthy environments for building occupants. Yet, there is still no consensus on how to assess what constitutes good daylighting design. Currently amongst building performance guidelines, Daylighting factors (DF) or minimum illuminance values are the standard; however, previous research has shown the shortcomings of these metrics. New computer software for daylighting analysis contains new more advanced metrics for daylighting (Climate Base Daylight Metrics-CBDM). Yet, these tools (new metrics or simulation tools) are not currently understood by architects and are not used within architectural firms in Australia. A survey of architectural firms in Brisbane showed the most relevant tools used by industry. The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare these computer simulation tools and new tools available architects and designers for daylighting. The tools are assessed in terms of their ease of use (e.g. previous knowledge required, complexity of geometry input, etc.), efficiency (e.g. speed, render capabilities, etc.) and outcomes (e.g. presentation of results, etc. The study shows tools that are most accessible for architects, are those that import a wide variety of files, or can be integrated into the current 3d modelling software or package. These software’s need to be able to calculate for point in times simulations, and annual analysis. There is a current need in these software solutions for an open source program able to read raw data (in the form of spreadsheets) and show that graphically within a 3D medium. Currently, development into plug-in based software’s are trying to solve this need through third party analysis, however some of these packages are heavily reliant and their host program. These programs however which allow dynamic daylighting simulation, which will make it easier to calculate accurate daylighting no matter which modelling platform the designer uses, while producing more tangible analysis today, without the need to process raw data.

The role of representative design in talent development : a comment on “Talent identification and promotion programmes of Olympic athletes”

A recent comment in the Journal of Sports Sciences (MacNamara & Collins, 2011) highlighted some major concerns with the current structure of talent identification and development (TID) programmes of Olympic athletes (e.g. Gulbin, 2008; Vaeyens, Gullich, Warr, & Philippaerts, 2009). In a cogent commentary, MacNamara and Collins (2011) provided a short review of the extant literature, which was both timely and insightful. Specifically, they criticised the ubiquitous one-dimensional ‘physically-biased’ attempts to produce world class performers, emphasising the need to consider a number of key environmental variables in a more multi-disciplinary perspective. They also lamented the wastage of talent, and alluded to the operational and opportunistic nature of current talent transfer programmes. A particularly compelling aspect of the comment was their allusion to high profile athletes who had ‘failed’ performance evaluation tests and then proceeded to succeed in that sport. This issue identifies a problem with current protocols for evaluating performance and is a line of research that is sorely needed in the area of talent development. To understand the nature of talent wastage that might be occurring in high performance programmes in sport, future empirical work should seek to follow the career paths of ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ products of TID programmes, in comparative analyses. Pertinent to the insights of MacNamara and Collins (2011), it remains clear that a number of questions have not received enough attention from sport scientists interested in talent development, including: (i) why is there so much wastage of talent in such programmes? And (ii), why are there so few reported examples of successful talent transfer programmes? These questions highlight critical areas for future investigation. The aim of this short correspondence is to discuss these and other issues researchers and practitioners might consider, and to propose how an ecological dynamics underpinning to such investigations may help the development of existing protocols...

The need for ‘representative task design’ in evaluating efficacy of skills tests in sport : a comment on Russell, Benton and Kingsley (2010)

Russell, Benton and Kingsley (2010) recently suggested a new association football test comprising three different tasks for the evaluation of players' passing, dribbling and shooting skills. Their stated intention was to enhance ‘ecological validity’ of current association football skills tests allowing generalisation of results from the new protocols to performance constraints that were ‘representative’ of experiences during competitive game situations. However, in this comment we raise some concerns with their use of the term ‘ecological validity’ to allude to aspects of ‘representative task design’. We propose that in their paper the authors confused understanding of environmental properties, performance achievement and generalisability of the test and its outcomes. Here, we argue that the tests designed by Russell and colleagues did not include critical sources of environmental information, such as the active role of opponents, which players typically use to organise their actions during performance. Static tasks which are not representative of the competitive performance environment may lead to different emerging patterns of movement organisation and performance outcomes, failing to effectively evaluate skills performance in sport.

Design approaches for promoting beneficial indoor environments in healthcare facilities : a review

As a result of growing evidence regarding the effects of environmental characteristics on the health and wellbeing of people in healthcare facilities (HCFs), more emphasis is being placed on, and more attention being paid to, the consequences of design choices in HCFs. Therefore, we have critically reviewed the implications of key indoor physical design parameters, in relation to their potential impact on human health and wellbeing. In addition, we discussed these findings within the context of the relevant guidelines and standards for the design of HCFs. A total of 810 abstracts, which met the inclusion criteria, were identified through a Pubmed search, and these covered journal articles, guidelines, books, reports and monographs in the studied area. Of these, 231 full publications were selected for this review. According to the literature, the most beneficial design elements were: single-bed patient rooms, safe and easily cleaned surface materials, sound-absorbing ceiling tiles, adequate and sufficient ventilation, thermal comfort, natural daylight, control over temperature and lighting, views, exposure and access to nature, and appropriate equipment, tools and furniture. The effects of some design elements, such as lighting (e.g. artificial lighting levels) and layout (e.g. decentralized versus centralized nurses’ stations), on staff and patients vary, and “the best design practice” for each HCF should always be formulated in co-operation with different user groups and a multi-professional design team. The relevant guidelines and standards should also be considered in future design, construction and renovations, in order to produce more favourable physical indoor environments in HCFs.

Characterising nutrients wash-off for effective urban stormwater treatment design

This paper characterises nitrogen and phosphorus wash-off processes on urban road surfaces to create fundamental knowledge to strengthen stormwater treatment design. The study outcomes confirmed that the composition of initially available nutrients in terms of their physical association with solids and chemical speciation determines the wash-off characteristics. Nitrogen and phosphorus wash-off processes are independent of land use, but there are notable differences. Nitrogen wash-off is a “source limiting” process while phosphorus wash-off is “transport limiting”. Additionally, a clear separation between nitrogen and phosphorus wash-off processes based on dissolved and particulate forms confirmed that the common approach of replicating nutrients wash-off based on solids wash-off could lead to misleading outcomes particularly in the case of nitrogen. Nitrogen is present primarily in dissolved and organic form and readily removed even by low intensity rainfall events, which is an important consideration for nitrogen removal targeted treatment design. In the case of phosphorus, phosphate constitutes the primary species in wash-off for the particle size fraction <75 µm, while other species are predominant in particle size range >75 µm. This means that phosphorus removal targeted treatment design should consider both phosphorus speciation as well as particle size.

Electronic functionality in graphene-based nanoarchitectures : discovery and design via first-principles modeling

Graphene has promised many novel applications in nanoscale electronics and sustainable energy due to its novel electronic properties. Computational exploration of electronic functionality and how it varies with architecture and doping presently runs ahead of experimental synthesis yet provides insights into types of structures that may prove profitable for targeted experimental synthesis and characterization. We present here a summary of our understanding on the important aspects of dimension, band gap, defect, and interfacial engineering of graphene based on state-of-the-art ab initio approaches. Some most recent experimental achievements relevant for future theoretical exploration are also covered.

Basic graphics : an introduction to rudimentary graphic design

These notes were compiled from several authorities to be used for teaching and learning purposes here at QUT, with the focus on first and second year landscape architecture design studio units.

Design basics : an introduction to rudimentary design ideas and sources

These notes were compiled from several authorities to be used for teaching and learning purposes here at QUT, with the focus on first and second year landscape architecture design studio units.

Design, simulation and analysis of a parallel hybrid electric propulsion system for unmanned aerial vehicles

Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has become a significant growing segment of the global aviation industry. These vehicles are developed with the intention of operating in regions where the presence of onboard human pilots is either too risky or unnecessary. Their popularity with both the military and civilian sectors have seen the use of UAVs in a diverse range of applications, from reconnaissance and surveillance tasks for the military, to civilian uses such as aid relief and monitoring tasks. Efficient energy utilisation on an UAV is essential to its functioning, often to achieve the operational goals of range, endurance and other specific mission requirements. Due to the limitations of the space available and the mass budget on the UAV, it is often a delicate balance between the onboard energy available (i.e. fuel) and achieving the operational goals. This paper presents the development of a parallel Hybrid Electric Propulsion System (HEPS) on a small fixed-wing UAV incorporating an Ideal Operating Line (IOL) control strategy. A simulation model of an UAV was developed in the MATLAB Simulink environment, utilising the AeroSim Blockset and the in-built Aerosonde UAV block and its parameters. An IOL analysis of an Aerosonde engine was performed, and the most efficient (i.e. provides greatest torque output at the least fuel consumption) points of operation for this engine were determined. Simulation models of the components in a HEPS were designed and constructed in the MATLAB Simulink environment. It was demonstrated through simulation that an UAV with the current HEPS configuration was capable of achieving a fuel saving of 6.5%, compared to the ICE-only configuration. These components form the basis for the development of a complete simulation model of a Hybrid-Electric UAV (HEUAV).

Multidisciplinary design and flight testing of a remote gas/particle airborne sensor system

The main objective of this paper is to describe the development of a remote sensing airborne air sampling system for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and provide the capability for the detection of particle and gas concentrations in real time over remote locations. The design of the air sampling methodology started by defining system architecture, and then by selecting and integrating each subsystem. A multifunctional air sampling instrument, with capability for simultaneous measurement of particle and gas concentrations was modified and integrated with ARCAA’s Flamingo UAS platform and communications protocols. As result of the integration process, a system capable of both real time geo-location monitoring and indexed-link sampling was obtained. Wind tunnel tests were conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the air sampling instrument in controlled nonstationary conditions at the typical operational velocities of the UAS platform. Once the remote fully operative air sampling system was obtained, the problem of mission design was analyzed through the simulation of different scenarios. Furthermore, flight tests of the complete air sampling system were then conducted to check the dynamic characteristics of the UAS with the air sampling system and to prove its capability to perform an air sampling mission following a specific flight path.

Numerical studies of load bearing LSF walls under realistic design fire conditions

Fire safety of light gauge steel frame (LSF) stud walls is important in the design of buildings. Currently LSF walls are increasingly used in the building industry, and are usually made of cold-formed and thin-walled steel studs that are fire-protected by two layers of plasterboard on both sides. Many experimental and numerical studies have been undertaken to investigate the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls under standard fire conditions. However, the standard time-temperature curve does not represent the fire load present in typical residential and commercial buildings that include considerable amount of thermoplastic materials. Real building fires are unlikely to follow a standard time-temperature curve. However, only limited research has been undertaken to investigate the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls under realistic design fire conditions. Therefore in this research, finite element thermal models of the traditional LSF wall panels without cavity insulation and the new LSF composite wall panels were developed to simulate their fire performance under recently developed realistic design fire curves. Suitable thermal properties were proposed for plasterboards and insulations based on laboratory tests and literature review. The developed models were then validated by comparing their thermal performance results with available results from realistic design fire tests, and were later used in parametric studies. This paper presents the details of the developed finite element thermal models of load bearing LSF wall panels under realistic design fire time-temperature curves and the re-sults. It shows that finite element thermal models can be used to predict the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls with varying configurations of insulations and plasterboards under realistic design fires. Failure times of load bearing LSF walls were also predicted based on the results from finite element thermal analyses.

Shear design of cold-formed steel beams using direct strength method

This paper presents the direct strength method (DSM) equations for cold-formed steel beams subject to shear. Light gauge cold-formed steel sections have been developed as more economical building solutions to the alternative heavier hot-rolled sections in the commercial and residential markets. Cold-formed lipped channel beams (LCB), LiteSteel beams (LSB) and hollow flange beams (HFB) are commonly used as flexural members such as floor joists and bearers. However, their shear capacities are determined based on conservative design rules. For the shear design of cold-formed web panels, their elastic shear buckling strength must be determined accurately including the potential post-buckling strength. Currently the elastic shear buckling coefficients of web panels are determined by assuming conservatively that the web panels are simply supported at the junction between the flange and web elements and ignore the post-buckling strength. Hence experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the shear behaviour and strength of LSBs, LCBs and HFBs. New direct strength method (DSM) based design equations were proposed to determine the ultimate shear capacities of cold-formed steel beams. An improved equation for the higher elastic shear buckling coefficient of cold-formed steel beams was proposed based on finite element analysis results and included in the DSM design equations. A new post-buckling coefficient was also introduced in the DSM equation to include the available post-buckling strength of cold-formed steel beams.

Improving opportunity recognition and business performance in small and medium manufacturing enterprises through design innovation programs

Increasing awareness of the benefits of stimulating entrepreneurial behaviour in small and medium enterprises has fostered strong interest in innovation programs. Recently many western countries have invested in design innovation for better firm performance. This research presents some early findings from a study of companies that participated in a holistic approach to design innovation, where the outcomes include better business performance and better market positioning in global markets. Preliminary findings from in-depth semi-structured interviews indicate the importance of firm openness to new ways of working and to developing new processes of strategic entrepreneurship. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Catalysing design principles through the dreaming of sustainable subtropical cityscapes : the collaborative construction of new place identities

This paper addresses the question of how to open up pathways and build capacity to facilitate the movement towards sustainable sub-tropical cities. The focus is on outlining a collaborative planning and co-design process that can help catalyse the emergence of sustainable place-habitats and so re-weave and colour anew the tapestry of our sub-tropical cities. Cities are portrayed as self-organising complex adaptive system phenomena, being constantly re-shaped by local and global social-political, environmental, cultural and economic forces as well as planning regimes. While constructing a sustainable city is at essence a design process incorporating new sustainable practices and legislation to reinforce their use, these steps are necessary but not sufficient. Sustainable sub-tropical city-making could be re-thought as a dreaming-re-storying process. This paper explores a new co-design process, which can channel collaborative efforts around re-inventing sustainable place-habitats across the cityscape. A further outcome of this co-design process is the alignment of the emergent design principles and planning actions that can trigger the re-storying of a new sustainable sub-tropical city. Besides a new co-design process, we also advocate the building of sub-tropical city learning networks to facilitate the cross-fertilization for Dreaming sustainable sub-tropical cities.