SFPE Engineering Guide to Human Behavior in Fire

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A life cycle framework for governance of Intermodal terminals; planning, operations and strategic management.

This chapter establishes a framework for the governance of intermodal terminals throughout their life cycle, based on the product life cycle. The framework covers the initial planning by the public sector, the public/private split in funding and ownership, the selection of an operator, ensuring fair access to all users, and finally reconcessioning the terminal to a new operator, managing the handover and maintaining the terminal throughout its life cycle. This last point is especially important as industry conditions change and the terminal's role in the transport network comes under threat, either by a lack of demand or by increased demand requiring expansion, redesign and reinvestment. Each stage of the life cycle framework is operationalised based on empirical examples drawn from research by the authors on intermodal terminal planning and funding, the tender process and concession and operation contracts. In future the framework can be applied in additional international contexts to form a basis for transport cost analysis, logistics planning and government policy.

Acompanhamento da construção do edifício "Castilho 15"

Relatório de Estágio para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil

Dimensionamento de uma ponte metálica de suporte de uma tela transportadora de inertes a utilizar numa instalação industrial

Trabalho de Projeto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização em Estruturas

Reordenamento viário da Rua da República e acompanhamento da instalação da Biblioteca Ary dos Santos em Sacavém

Relatório de estágio para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização de Edificações

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ADVANCED ECONOMETRIC MODELS WITH APPLICATIONS TO VEHICLE HOLDING AND SPEED QUANTILES DISTRIBUTION

This dissertation proposes statistical methods to formulate, estimate and apply complex transportation models. Two main problems are part of the analyses conducted and presented in this dissertation. The first method solves an econometric problem and is concerned with the joint estimation of models that contain both discrete and continuous decision variables. The use of ordered models along with a regression is proposed and their effectiveness is evaluated with respect to unordered models. Procedure to calculate and optimize the log-likelihood functions of both discrete-continuous approaches are derived, and difficulties associated with the estimation of unordered models explained. Numerical approximation methods based on the Genz algortithm are implemented in order to solve the multidimensional integral associated with the unordered modeling structure. The problems deriving from the lack of smoothness of the probit model around the maximum of the log-likelihood function, which makes the optimization and the calculation of standard deviations very difficult, are carefully analyzed. A methodology to perform out-of-sample validation in the context of a joint model is proposed. Comprehensive numerical experiments have been conducted on both simulated and real data. In particular, the discrete-continuous models are estimated and applied to vehicle ownership and use models on data extracted from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey. The second part of this work offers a comprehensive statistical analysis of free-flow speed distribution; the method is applied to data collected on a sample of roads in Italy. A linear mixed model that includes speed quantiles in its predictors is estimated. Results show that there is no road effect in the analysis of free-flow speeds, which is particularly important for model transferability. A very general framework to predict random effects with few observations and incomplete access to model covariates is formulated and applied to predict the distribution of free-flow speed quantiles. The speed distribution of most road sections is successfully predicted; jack-knife estimates are calculated and used to explain why some sections are poorly predicted. Eventually, this work contributes to the literature in transportation modeling by proposing econometric model formulations for discrete-continuous variables, more efficient methods for the calculation of multivariate normal probabilities, and random effects models for free-flow speed estimation that takes into account the survey design. All methods are rigorously validated on both real and simulated data.

Material para construção civil a partir de lodo de estação de tratamento de água, lama de polimento de mármore e resíduo de produção de cal

The rapid population growth is the great motivator for the development of the construction industry and the increased demand for drinking water, resulting in a gradual increase in the generation of solid waste. Thus, this work was carried out in order to recycle industrial and municipal wastes incorporating them into materials for civil construction. The composite produced from water treatment sludge and marble polishing mud, applying lime production waste as a binder, was evaluated for its mechanical performance and its morphological structure. The raw materials were characterized for their chemical composition, mineralogy, morphology, particle size and also the moisture content. With the featured materials nine compositions have been developed varying the content of the water treatment sludge between 25 to 50%, marble polishing mud between 35 to 50% and the lime production waste between 10 to 30%. The composites were subjected to mechanical strength tests, water absorption, chemical and mineralogical composition and morphology. The developed materials presented, on the 3rd day of hydration, maximum strength value of 4.65 MPa, the 7th day 6.36 MPa, on the 14th day 6.74 MPa, the 28th day 5.98 MPa, on the 60th day 8.52 MPa at 90th day 11.75 MPa and 180th day 12.06 MPa. The water absorption values after 28 days of hydration ranged from 16.27% to 26.32% and after 90 days, from 13.57% to 23.56%.

Assessment and Life-Cycle Analysis of Recycled Materials for Sustainable Highway

Recycled materials replacing part of virgin materials in highway applications has shown great benefits to the society and environment. Beneficial use of recycled materials can save landfill places, sparse natural resources, and energy consumed in milling and hauling virgin materials. Low price of recycled materials is favorable to cost-saving in pavement projects. Considering the availability of recycled materials in the State of Maryland (MD), four abundant recycled materials, recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), recycled asphalt pavement (RAP), foundry sand (FS), and dredged materials (DM), were studied. A survey was conducted to collect the information of current usage of the four recycled materials in States’ Department of Transportation (DOTs). Based on literature review, mechanical and environmental properties, recommendations, and suggested test standards were investigated separately for the four recycled materials in different applications. Constrains in using these materials were further studied in order to provide recommendations for the development of related MD specifications. To measure social and environmental benefits from using recycled materials, life-cycle assessment was carried out with life-cycle analysis (LCA) program, PaLATE, and green highway rating system, BEST-in-Highway. The survey results indicated the wide use of RAP and RCA in hot mix asphalt (HMA) and graded aggregate base (GAB) respectively, while FS and DM are less used in field. Environmental concerns are less, but the possibly low quality and some adverse mechanical characteristics may hinder the widely use of these recycled materials. Technical documents and current specifications provided by State DOTs are good references to the usage of these materials in MD. Literature review showed consistent results with the survey. Studies from experimental research or site tests showed satisfactory performance of these materials in highway applications, when the substitution rate, gradation, temperature, moisture, or usage of additives, etc. meet some requirements. The results from LCA revealed significant cost savings in using recycled materials. Energy and water consumption, gas emission, and hazardous waste generation generally showed reductions to some degree. Use of new recycled technologies will contribute to more sustainable highways.

Sistema de gestão em segurança e saúde do trabalho (SGSST) integrando a norma OHSAS 18001 e NR-18: proposta para o setor da construção civil

The job security issue is crucial for the development of construction due to the need to ensure the health of workers, which is done by means of laws and production management. Thus, among various other laws, was enacted NR-18, in order to ensure the worker's minimum conditions for the development work. Despite legislative developments on the subject, they have become ineffective against the excessive number of accidents in the construction industry, bringing the company to greater in ensuring the health and safety of its workers. In view of this need for improvement of working environment in a general appearance, both for purposes of ensuring the law obedience as comfort for workers and quality of the organization, the System Health Management and Safety (OHSMS) is a valid tool demonstrates the evolution of business management, as well as OHSAS 18001 which proposes to ensure the efficiency and integration of a system geared to safety and health at work by means of implements and adaptations of it, in order to bring significant improvements to conditions of work, especially in the form of a new culture to be adopted by the company. Addressing the problem, this paper aims to develop a management system by OHSAS 18001 which is consistent with the terms of NR-18 as it is this integration of OHSMS Management System of the company as a usual practice of that aims at an improvement of work safety in the business of Buildings.

Estudio de factibilidad de un servicio de transporte público complementario al tranvía de Ayacucho por medio de servicios alimentadores

De acuerdo con el plan de desarrollo para la ciudad de Medellín, se creó el corredor verde de Ayacucho, el cual se implementó con un sistema masivo de transporte público con tecnología tranviaria, alimentada por dos cables y un sistema de buses alimentadores -- Dentro de dicho plan se contempla el proceso de racionalización de las empresas de buses tradicionales de la zona, dicho proceso generará una demanda que el mismo tranvía, con su capacidad y su modelo operacional no podrá satisfacer; por lo tanto, y para aliviarla, se propone un proyecto en el que intervengan vehículos alimentadores, creando un escenario en el que el tranvía con sus cables movilice a los pasajeros para los cuales fue concebido, mientras que el resto de la población se podrá movilizar en vehículos amigables con el medio ambiente, que permitirán que el transporte público actual de la zona evolucione a transporte masivo, con las condiciones de seguridad, infraestructura, tecnología y desarrollo que esto conlleva

Multi-level, Multi-stage and Stochastic Optimization Models for Energy Conservation in Buildings for Federal, State and Local Agencies

Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) project selection is made difficult given real-world constraints, limited resources to implement savings retrofits, various suppliers in the market and project financing alternatives. Many of these energy efficient retrofit projects should be viewed as a series of investments with annual returns for these traditionally risk-averse agencies. Given a list of ECMs available, federal, state and local agencies must determine how to implement projects at lowest costs. The most common methods of implementation planning are suboptimal relative to cost. Federal, state and local agencies can obtain greater returns on their energy conservation investment over traditional methods, regardless of the implementing organization. This dissertation outlines several approaches to improve the traditional energy conservations models. Any public buildings in regions with similar energy conservation goals in the United States or internationally can also benefit greatly from this research. Additionally, many private owners of buildings are under mandates to conserve energy e.g., Local Law 85 of the New York City Energy Conservation Code requires any building, public or private, to meet the most current energy code for any alteration or renovation. Thus, both public and private stakeholders can benefit from this research. The research in this dissertation advances and presents models that decision-makers can use to optimize the selection of ECM projects with respect to the total cost of implementation. A practical application of a two-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) improves the current best practice for agencies concerned with making the most cost-effective selection leveraging energy services companies or utilities. The two-level model maximizes savings to the agency and profit to the energy services companies (Chapter 2). An additional model presented leverages a single congressional appropriation to implement ECM projects (Chapter 3). Returns from implemented ECM projects are used to fund additional ECM projects. In these cases, fluctuations in energy costs and uncertainty in the estimated savings severely influence ECM project selection and the amount of the appropriation requested. A risk aversion method proposed imposes a minimum on the number of “of projects completed in each stage. A comparative method using Conditional Value at Risk is analyzed. Time consistency was addressed in this chapter. This work demonstrates how a risk-based, stochastic, multi-stage model with binary decision variables at each stage provides a much more accurate estimate for planning than the agency’s traditional approach and deterministic models. Finally, in Chapter 4, a rolling-horizon model allows for subadditivity and superadditivity of the energy savings to simulate interactive effects between ECM projects. The approach makes use of inequalities (McCormick, 1976) to re-express constraints that involve the product of binary variables with an exact linearization (related to the convex hull of those constraints). This model additionally shows the benefits of learning between stages while remaining consistent with the single congressional appropriations framework.

Network Development with Bicycle Lanes

Bicycling as an active mode of transport can offer great individual and societal benefits. Allocating space for bicycle facilities is the key to promoting cycling as bicyclists perceive better safety and convenience in separate bikeways. In this thesis, a method is proposed for optimizing the selection and scheduling of capacity enhancements in road networks while also optimizing the allocation of road space to bicycle lanes. The goal is to determine what fraction of the available space should be allocated to bicycles, as the network evolves, in order to minimize the present value of the total cost of the system cost. The allocation method is combined with a genetic algorithm to select and schedule road expansion projects under certain budget constraints.

EXISTENCE OF UNUSED MANAGED CAPACITY ON DEDICATED LANES AND AN ALTERNATIVE ON HOW TO SELL IT VIA AUCTIONS

This dissertation verifies whether the following two hypotheses are true: (1) High-occupancy/toll lanes (and therefore other dedicated lanes) have capacity that could still be used; (2) such unused capacity (or more precisely, “unused managed capacity”) can be sold successfully through a real-time auction. To show that the second statement is true, this dissertation proposes an auction-based metering (ABM) system, that is, a mechanism that regulates traffic that enters the dedicated lanes. Participation in the auction is voluntary and can be skipped by paying the toll or by not registering to the new system. This dissertation comprises the following four components: a measurement of unused managed capacity on an existing HOT facility, a game-theoretic model of an ABM system, an operational description of the ABM system, and a simulation-based evaluation of the system. Some other and more specific contributions of this dissertation include the following: (1) It provides a definition and a methodology for measuring unused managed capacity and another important variable referred as “potential volume increase”. (2) It proves that the game-theoretic model has a unique Bayesian Nash equilibrium. (3) And it provides a specific road design that can be applied or extended to other facilities. The results provide evidence that the hypotheses are true and suggest that the ABM system would benefit a public operator interested in reducing traffic congestion significantly, would benefit drivers when making low-reliability trips (such as work-to-home trips), and would potentially benefit a private operator interested in raising revenue.

Modeling Flood Stage-Duration-Frequency: A Risk Assessment of Critical Infrastructure in the Tidal Potomac

The service of a critical infrastructure, such as a municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP), is taken for granted until a flood or another low frequency, high consequence crisis brings its fragility to attention. The unique aspects of the MWWTP call for a method to quantify the flood stage-duration-frequency relationship. By developing a bivariate joint distribution model of flood stage and duration, this study adds a second dimension, time, into flood risk studies. A new parameter, inter-event time, is developed to further illustrate the effect of event separation on the frequency assessment. The method is tested on riverine, estuary and tidal sites in the Mid-Atlantic region. Equipment damage functions are characterized by linear and step damage models. The Expected Annual Damage (EAD) of the underground equipment is further estimated by the parametric joint distribution model, which is a function of both flood stage and duration, demonstrating the application of the bivariate model in risk assessment. Flood likelihood may alter due to climate change. A sensitivity analysis method is developed to assess future flood risk by estimating flood frequency under conditions of higher sea level and stream flow response to increased precipitation intensity. Scenarios based on steady and unsteady flow analysis are generated for current climate, future climate within this century, and future climate beyond this century, consistent with the WWTP planning horizons. The spatial extent of flood risk is visualized by inundation mapping and GIS-Assisted Risk Register (GARR). This research will help the stakeholders of the critical infrastructure be aware of the flood risk, vulnerability, and the inherent uncertainty.

RESILIENCE OF NETWORKED INFRASTRUCTURE WITH EVOLVING COMPONENT CONDITIONS: A PAVEMENT NETWORK APPLICATION

This thesis deals with quantifying the resilience of a network of pavements. Calculations were carried out by modeling network performance under a set of possible damage-meteorological scenarios with known probability of occurrence. Resilience evaluation was performed a priori while accounting for optimal preparedness decisions and additional response actions that can be taken under each of the scenarios. Unlike the common assumption that the pre-event condition of all system components is uniform, fixed, and pristine, component condition evolution was incorporated herein. For this purpose, the health of the individual system components immediately prior to hazard event impact, under all considered scenarios, was associated with a serviceability rating. This rating was projected to reflect both natural deterioration and any intermittent improvements due to maintenance. The scheme was demonstrated for a hypothetical case study involving Laguardia Airport. Results show that resilience can be impacted by the condition of the infrastructure elements, their natural deterioration processes, and prevailing maintenance plans. The findings imply that, in general, upper bound values are reported in ordinary resilience work, and that including evolving component conditions is of value.