Sub-zonal computational fluid dynamics in an object-oriented modelling framework

Airflow modelling is of fundamental importance for evaluating ventilation performance and energy consumption in buildings, and various approaches to the problem—starting from purely empirical up to the CFD ones—have been proposed and evaluated in the past years. Moreover, since the ultimate goal is whole building modelling, airflow simulation needs coupling with Energy Simulation (ES), in order to assess the overall energy performance. Due to the substantial differences between the software employed for airflow and ES, co-simulation is very often felt as the only way to handle such a problem. For example, in recent years a lot of effort has been spent in to couple ES and CFD tools. This paper proposes an alternative, in the form of an approach for solving the Navier-Stokes equations in a general multi-domain modelling framework. Since co-simulation is not involved, the correctness of the numerical solution relies on a single solver, thus being really transparent to the analyst. This is a first step towards a whole building simulation tool embedded in a unique framework capable of performing energy analysis, computing airflows, and representing control systems.     

A novel geometric approach for 3-D geological modelling

This paper presents a graphics system called the prism network and its boundary (PNB) aimed at representing the stratified solids that are formed in the subsurface terrain. It allows full 3D modelling of these types of spaces formed by superimposed layers bounded by stratification surfaces. A set of boreholes in the ground is used to generate a network of prisms that models the solid space and serves as the basis for creating two secondary networks, one of triangles and another of quadrilaterals, which define the model boundaries. This graphics system has been implemented in C++, using the standard OpenGL graphics API. The paper first defines and implements a model in the PNB data structure, the process by means of which it is generated is then described, and, finally, a range of applications to specific cases is presented and graphically illustrated.     

Behaviour Factor of code-designed steel moment-resisting frames

Current seismic codes are based on force-controlled design or capacity design, using the base shear concept. The most important parameter in this approach is the response modification factor, also called behaviour factor, which is used to design the structure at the ultimate limit state by taking into account its capacity to dissipate energy by means of plastic deformations. In this paper overstrength, redundancy and ductility response modification factors of steel moment resisting frames are evaluated. In order to cover a wide range of structural characteristics, 12 steel moment-resisting frames (6 regular and 6 irregular in elevation) have been designed and analysed. Both static pushover analyses and nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses have been performed. The investigation focuses on the effects of some parameters influencing the responsemodification factor, including the regularity, the number of spans and the number of storeys. As a conclusion, a local ductility criterion has been proposed to improve the provisions given in the Italian seismic code.     

A non‐smooth lower bound on ν

A non‐smooth optimization technique to directly compute a lower bound on the skew structured singular value ν is developed. As corroborated by several real‐world challenging applications, the proposed technique can provide tighter lower bounds when compared with currently available techniques. Moreover, in many cases, the determined lower bound equals the true value of ν. Thanks to the efficiency of the non‐smooth technique, the algorithm can be applied to problems involving even a significant number of uncertain parameters. Another appealing feature of the proposed non‐smooth approach is that the dimension of repeated scalar uncertainties in the overall structured uncertainty matrix has little impact on the computational time. The technique can be used to compute a lower bound on the structured singular value μ as well. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bayesian analysis of employee suggestions in a food company

The search for competitive advantages for organizations has been made very complex by technological advancement and the ease of reproduction of resources, such as projects, products, and processes. Even new ideas are likely to be copies. However, the process of generation and conversion of improvements in productive activity is highly complex and little is known about it by firms. Understanding this process may add competitive benefits to any organization. In this paper, we present statistical modeling for data related to the counting of suggestions made by employees at a food company and its viability for improving productivity at the company. This counting, carried out in the years from 2008 through 2011, was performed and encouraged by the company’s managers in order to achieve a general improvement in productivity. Poisson and binomial regression models were considered in analyzing the data under the statistical Bayesian framework. It was shown that the generation of ideas has a significant relationship to the hierarchical position of the employee, his schooling, how long he has been at the company being studied, his age, and training, but these factors do not show significant effects related to the proportions of viable ideas (potential competitive advantages for the organization).