Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemDeveloping and testing a 3D cadastral data model: a case study in Australia(ISPRS Comm V Symposium, 2012-07-16)Population growth, urbanization and industrialization place more pressure on land use with the need for increased space. To extend the use and functionality of the land, complex infrastructures are being built, both vertically and horizontally, layered and stacked. These three-dimensional (3D) developments affect the interests (Rights, Restrictions, and Responsibilities (RRRs)) attached to the underlying land. A 3D cadastre will assist in managing the effects of 3D development on a particular extent of land. There are many elements that contribute to developing a 3D cadastre, such as existing of 3D property legislations, 3D DBMS, 3D visualization. However, data modelling is one of the most important elements of a successful 3D cadastre. As architectural models of houses and high rise buildings help their users visualize the final product, 3D cadastre data model supports 3D cadastre users to understand the structure or behavior of the system and has a template that guides them to construct and implement the 3D cadastre. Many jurisdictions, organizations and software developers have built their own cadastral data model. Land Administration Domain Model (DIS-ISO 19152, The Netherlands) and ePlan (Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping, Australia) are examples of existing data models. The variation between these data models is the result of different attitudes towards cadastres. However, there is a basic common thread among them all. Current cadastral data models use a 2D land-parcel concept and extend it to support 3D requirements. These data models cannot adequately manage and represent the spatial extent of 3D RRRs. Most of the current cadastral data models have been influenced by a very broad understanding of 3D cadastral concepts because better clarity in what needs to be represented and analysed in the cadastre needs to be established. This paper presents the first version of a 3D Cadastral Data Model (3DCDM_Version 1.0). 3DCDM models both the legal and physical extent of 3D properties and associated interests. The data model extends the traditional cadastral requirements to cover other applications such as urban planning and land valuation and taxation. A demonstration of a test system on the proposed data model is also presented. The test is based on a case study in Victoria, Australia to evaluate the effectiveness of the data model.
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ItemRoad Networks Management under Uncertainty: A stochastic based model(SpringerLink, 2012)Current pavement management systems (PMS) adopted by the Road Authorities are often very complex and data intensive. Other challenges also faced by Road Authorities in managing road networks include budget constraints and the uncertainty associated in predicting the future performance of pavements. In addition, the emphasis in pavement management has shifted from reconstructing completely new roads towards preservation of existing networks. In many cases, existing PMS do not meet these requirements. Thus, an efficient model that is able to accommodate all of those challenges needs to be developed. This paper outlines the development of a stochastic based PMS that includes a performance prediction model using Markov chains and an optimization model based on Markov Decision Processes (MDP). Combinations of pavement preservation strategies and maintenance budget levels are applied as action criteria in contrast to other stochastic models. Despite the apparent influence of uncertainty in road pavement performance during their service live, stochastic models provide promising results for enhancing current PMS. By analysing historical data, the future behaviour of road pavements under different expenditure levels and combination of routine and periodic maintenance measures can be predicted. From an optimization point of view, the utilization of constrained MDP will potentially result in cost savings. This is due to the optimality principal of the model which is capable of finding a optimal multi-year maintenance policy through the direct inclusion of additional constraints into the optimization problem. Hence, the model considers constraints and incorporates relationships between historical maintenance actions and costs. This paper also presents a methodology for developing rationale for long-term maintenance policies by integrating stochastic based performance prediction and optimization models with the experience of Road Authorities in managing roads networks.
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ItemThermal performance of concrete with PCMs(University of Moratuwa, 2012-01-01)Development of energy efficient and environmentally friendly materials to reduce energy consumption in buildings is a major concern in today’s building and construction industry. Sustainable development of energy efficient materials in buildings needs to consider not only the mechanical properties such as strength and stiffness of structural materials but also thermal properties which includes heat capacity and thermal insulation. Concrete as most widely used construction material has a great potential to improve its heat storing capacity or thermal mass for their effective usage in buildings. One of the promising solutions is thermal energy storage with Phase change materials (PCM). Concrete incorporating PCM improves the thermal mass of the building which reduces the space conditioning energy consumption and extreme temperature fluctuations within the building. The heat capacity and high density of concrete coupled with latent heat storage of PCM provides a novel energy saving concepts for sustainable built environment. Microencapsulation is a latest and advanced technology for incorporation of PCM in to concrete which creates finely dispersed PCMs with high surface area for greater amount of heat transfer. Moreover PCM absorbs the excess energy during cement hydration and reduces the possibility of formation of cracks within the concrete. This paper reviews available literature on Phase change materials in concrete, its application and discusses finite element modelling of thermal performance of composite concrete.
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ItemInnovative modelling and visualisation platform for sustainable cities - MUtopia(University of Moratuwa, 2012)Now more than half the world’s population lives in towns and cities and this proportion will rise to nearly two thirds by 2030. Many cities worldwide are facing acute challenges, and therefore it is essential that all future developments are carried out on a sustainable footing. Through a web-based platform, MUtopia visualises and demonstrates in a quantifiable manner what impact a planned site development would have by representing best practice in all aspects of sustainable urban living on a relatively large scale. Sites may be new suburbs or rebuilt sections of the city large enough to require systematic planning. The project focuses on the development of an integrated modelling, analysis and visualization tool that helps the government and developers to make informed decisions to achieve such sustainable urban development and implementation. MUtopia integrates the streams of energy, waste, water and transport, based on land use, as well as social and environmental factors so that various planning scenar os or dependencies between factors can be tested. It is an integrated BIM and GIS tool. MUtopia would be an international first in an area of growing interest and need.
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ItemA holistic model for designing and optimising sustainable prefabricated modular buildings(University of Moratuwa, 2012)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSolar chilled drinking water sourced from thin air: Modelling and simulation of a solar powered atmospheric water generator(Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2013-12-01)It is expected that there will be water scarcity in the future under the changing climate. Therefore investigations of innovative and environmentally friendly ways to produce portable water are very much essential. Atmospheric water generators (AWGs) apply vapour compression refrigeration to extract water vapour from the surrounding air. They produce drinking quality water and they require moist air and electricity. The required electricity may be produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. By using solar energy the environmental impacts of an AWG associated with electricity consumption could be substantially reduced. The availability of solar energy and high humidity of air coincide with the drinking water demand. As of today the performance characteristics of stand-alone solar PV powered AWG is unknown. To address this knowledge gap a simulation model of such system has been developed. The model focuses on an individual phenomenon such as solar radiation availability, solar PV electricity output, battery storage, moisture content in the air and heat and mass transfer at the vapour compression refrigeration. The aim of this paper is to present the transient model developed and the simulation results. Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India is selected as the study area. Drinking water availability is a major issue in this district during the months from February to early June. Daily climate variables like temperature, maximum and minimum relative humidity, wind speed and global solar radiation on horizontal plane and wind speed were obtained from a meteorological station located in Kasaragod. A simulation model has been developed in TRNSYS with the following components: PV modules, Batteries, Regulator, Inverter and Atmospheric Water Generator. By using the model developed the capacity of the AWG, the number PV modules, the capacity of the battery bank required were determined for minimum daily water production of 15 L. The water extraction efficiency of the AWG investigated varies between 5.4% and 9.3% for Kasaragod. The cooling CCOPs of the AWG investigated are between 4 and 5, which is better than conventional air-to-air heat pump. Based on the analysis it was concluded that the monthly average daily efficiency is strongly correlated to the monthly average relative humidity of the ambient air. The monthly average daily efficiency is defined as average of all the daily average efficiency for a month. The validation of the simulation model with experiments to enable practical system design optimisations, and the development of control algorithms to obtain better performance by using the validated model are recommended for the future studies.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableINVESTIGATING POTENTIAL COMFORT BENEFITS OF BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED BUILDING SKINS(INT BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION ASSOC-IBPSA, 2013)
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ItemA Scenario Analysis Approach to Distributed Energy System Optimisation(MODELLING & SIMULATION SOC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND INC, 2013)
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ItemUrban structure and transport: Melbourne case study(Transport and Traffic Organisation, Tehran, 2012-02-21)Studies about relationship between urban form and travel are generally at household level. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Victorian Integrated Survey of Travel and Activity (VISTA) data at statistical local area (SLA) level for Melbourne, Australia were used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from personal transport. An integrated model which consists of three sub-models (car ownership, vehicle km travel, mode share) has been proposed in this paper. The model suggests that population density, distance from central business district (CBD) and dwelling types are influencing factors for urban structure measurement and can be used for estimating energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It was found that the model developed is not complex enough for considering the relationship between urban form and personal travel.
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ItemGround Motion Modelling and Response Spectra for Australian Earthquakes(Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, 2013)