Interference effects on wind loads on low-rise hip roof buildings

The Natural wind in the wind tunnel was simulated at the University of Roorkee (India) on the basis of full/model-scale comparison. For this, the Texas Tech University (TTU) building model was fabricated on a geometric scale of 1:50 and tested in the simulated wind for comparison of the pressures with full-scale values. A hip roof building model (geometric scale 1:50) of plan dimensions 280 mm×140 mm×58 mm (eave height) with 30° roof slope was selected as the test building (T.B.) so as to examine interference with a similar building as well as three similar buildings placed on the upstream side at fifteen different locations (Fig. 2). A quadrant portion of the model roof was divided into ten different zones to see the effect of interference at critical roof positions. Significant effects have been observed.     

Flame radiation from polymer fires

Enclosure fires can be divided into two ventilation regimes: well-ventilated and under-ventilated combustion. The influence of fire ventilation on flame radiation is very important in enclosure fires especially for under-ventilated conditions. An approximate model for predicting flame radiation for both well- and under-ventilated fires is proposed on the basis of the Γ-correlation, in which the role of flame sootiness and heat release is considered. This paper is an extension of work performed earlier and reported in Tewarson et al. (Combustion and Flame, 95 (1993) 151-169)[1]. The results are calculated for several typical polymers, and the relationship between the flame radiant fraction and the fuel’s smoke-point has been examined. Additionally, flame radiation is predicted by the slightly modified Global Flame Radiation (GFR) Model of de Ris and Orloff. The comparisons between experimental and predicted data are satisfactory. This study attempts to provide: (1) a deeper scientific understanding of the effect of ventilation conditions on flame radiation, and (2) available correlation, for the analysis of enclosure fires.     

Managing infrastructure for the next generation

Australia has a high ratio of infrastructure to population, much of it constructed in a peak period after the end of the Second World War.² This infrastructure is aging and becoming due for renewal. However the growth and easy finance conditions that gave rise to its initial development no longer exist and the costs of renewal need to be found in a more difficult economic climate. There is growing anecdotal evidence that some communities may face difficulty in funding renewal of their inherited infrastructure and there is the possibility that the high ratio of infrastructure to population may, in some cases, be unsustainable. Unfortunately, information to test this proposition does not generally exist. While Australian governments, at all levels, are now adopting accrual accounting practices and recording assets in their balance sheets, the attention to asset recording is of recent vintage. This has resulted in the need for large scale asset data capture exercises and large scale investment in information technology, but these are being carried out by individual agencies with little or no co-ordination regionally or across the whole of government. This paper reports a major exception to this pattern: an information management and data gathering project across the whole of Victoria, which has enabled all 78 councils involved to predict the cost and timing of their future infrastructure renewal liabilities (A$23.3 billion) in time to develop corrective planning strategies. By using independent consultants to gather data from every council in the state through a standard survey instrument and presenting the results of the data, after extensive data validation processes, on an aggregate, grouped and single council basis, councils now have the ability to compare themselves with others and with the general state picture. The future renewal challenge is now seen to be a general one, reflective of the times, rather than of individual past management practice, and as such is being tackled with greater vigor. Other States in Australia are now looking to adopt this renewal projection method. This paper also includes reference to the major strategies that are being adopted.