bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Selection of the capacity of the onboard energy storage device for a high-mobility wheeled vehicle wear-resistant brake system with an electric machine
Authors: Kotiev G O , Gumerov I F , Stadukhin A A , Kositsyn B B
Published: May 2020

With the growth of the average speed of wheeled vehicles, the wear-resistant brake system which would increase their mobility by improving their braking performance and lower the heat loads on the service brake system is gaining interest of the manufacturers. At the same time, a good option for increasing power efficiency of the high-mobility wheeled vehicles is to use an electric machine in the wear-resistant brake system. The electric machine can operate in the generator cycle and provide energy recuperation during braking. Recuperation at braking requires accumulation of high values of electric energy in a storage device (usually a molecular storage device), which brings to the forefront the problem of its efficient capacity selection. The article deals with the selection of the required capacity of an onboard energy storage device providing better power efficiency of the vehicle due to the use of an electric machine in the wear-resistant brake system. The method for the selection of the required capacity of the onboard energy storage device is based on the calculation of the energy spent by the vehicle for maintaining the given speed. The following strategy of the electric machine control was used in the research: the energy accumulated in the storage device after braking will be spent at the next acceleration. Therefore, the power efficiency can be increased only due to such compensation of the high frequency oscillations of the spent/accumulated electric energy in the potential storage device that would prevent reaching its maximum charge level in a typical driving cycle. Based on the results of the research the capacity of the storage device is assessed by the peak-to-peak amplitude of the time history of the accumulated/stored energy when driving along a given route. A method that allows formulation of the specifications for the onboard energy storage device used as an element of the wear-resistant brake system, the method uses statistical data on the road conditions of vehicles operation. The method provides selection of the optimal parameters (required capacity) of the electric energy storage device which would guarantee effective operation of high-mobility wheeled vehicles in typical driving cycles.
Providing vehicle running life in case of loss of tyre air pressure
Authors: Kantorin S A , Bakhmutov S V
Published: May 2020

This paper comprises general information on the tyre air pressure loss problem and methods for ensuring vehicle mobility in case of such pressure loss, namely the information on current tyre-wheel system development trend, as well as the use of special internal supports (run-flat) of different design. Furthermore, the paper describes practical aspects of implementation of this system, reveals positive and negative characteristics and contains a conclusion on the system development prospects depending on their application.
Charging balance management system modeling and implementation in intelligent vehicle with combined power system
Authors: Debelov V V , Dzhodzhua O A , Sednev K M , Endachev D V
Published: May 2020

The article presents the results of mathematical modeling and implementation of algorithms for ensuring the charge balance of an automotive low-voltage battery as part of an intelligent vehicle control system with a hybrid power system. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed complex of mathematical models in calculating the control parameters of the DCDC converter to achieve a positive charge balance of the low-voltage battery. The work evaluates the boundary conditions of the system and adapts the mathematical models and algorithms implemented in the program code of the controller as part of the current model of an intelligent vehicle with a combined power system. The following parameters are evaluated as criteria for the optimality of the proposed models: SOC - state of charge (%), battery charge (A * h), charge and discharge current of the battery (A), voltage on the battery during its charge, in the absence of a charging current and at rest (V). A full-scale experiment was carried out, experimental data and graphs were obtained. Optimal control coefficients for the processes of charge and discharge of the battery, current characteristics, the dynamics of their changes during operation, experimental time-current dependences during the operation of each component of the low-voltage power supply network were studied. The results of the work make it possible to make adjustments to the charge balance management model and contribute to improving the energy balance of the power grid, increasing the efficiency and service life of batteries, forming requirements for power systems and their subsequent implementation.
Regulatory legal and technical confirmation with the risk analysis while mounting ITS (intelligent transport systems) auxiliary equipment or replacing power units
Authors: Girutskiy O I , Kirillov K A
Published: May 2020

This paper contains the analysis of materials and propositions for expert assessment of technical regulations in the automotive industry in case of design modifications by mounting the perspective technical equipment: computer vision, navigation systems, auxiliary equipment, on-board and stationary systems for modeling traffic conditions and traffic control. The international integration in the economy allows to establish the unified principles and mandatory safety requirements for standardization, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, monitoring (control), as well as for eliminating the technical barriers in commerce. The system of technical regulation in Russian automotive industry is built according to the international harmonized requirements for ensuring the road traffic safety. An illustrative registration procedure algorithm to introduce design modifications at the stage of operation in the Russian Federation is shown by infographics. An independent professional multi-stage check of the design safety is adapted to the modern realities and allows supporting the vehicle owners’ technical initiative. The application of risk-oriented approach, unified forms and the methodology is another step in the improvement of the regulatory and technical basis in the field of the automotive industry. The paper gives commentaries to the effective national legislation, the summary dwells on the prospects of further scientific research. The article also presents information about the preparation of the national regulatory legal acts which are to establish relations in motor vehicles operation controlling. The analysis of the risks related to the vehicles design safety and security of road traffic is provided in details.
Classroom illuminance: a case in Malaysian university
Authors: Seman Zuraidah Mat , Sheau-Ting Low , Mansor Razlin , Siaw-Chui Wee , Zulfarina Siti
Published: May 2020

Lighting is an important requirement for people to support their daily activities. Building users in Malaysia commonly rely on artificial lights in the building. However, improper use of artificial light in the room will lead to negative impacts on the occupants’ health, comfort and productivity. This study investigates the light levels of the classroom in university. A total of 61 samples were collected and compared to Malaysian Standard 1525:2007, the illuminance for the classroom. The observation was conducted in two sessions a day using lux meter. The results showed that 62% of the classrooms have good illuminance, which complies to the existing requirement of illuminance in Malaysia’s classroom, within the range of 300-500lx. The findings of this study provide an overview of the existing illuminance in the classroom in university and serve as a reference to the management for their efforts to improve the indoor environment quality and the student’s well-being.
Effect of mismanagement towards abandoned project in Malaysia
Authors: Salam S A , Ariffin N F , Mohamad Noor N F N , Ali M I , Ramli N I
Published: May 2020

Over the years, Malaysian government has placed significant emphasis on the need for citizens to have their own house. Unfortunately, the abandoned housing projects are indeed a major hiccup for purchasers who dreams to have their own home become reality. The abandonment of housing projects has resulted in many adverse consequences to the economy, society and environment. Therefore, this paper discuss on the effects of mismanagement in contribution to the abandoned housing project. Together, the suitable solutions to mitigate the abandonment issues will also be proposed. The studies focus on collecting the data form local authorities and also by doing a questionnaire. The data was analyse based on the Likert’s scale and using relative of important index. This study found that the mismanagement is cause by the inexperienced developer with lack of management skill will contribute to the abandoned housing project.
Awareness of adopting building information modelling in construction – case study of consultants perception in West Sumatra
Authors: Sriyolja Z. , Harwin N. , Yahya K. , Tahir M. M.
Published: May 2020

Building Information Modelling (BIM) can support and ease project design planning process, schedule management, budgeting, simulation, analysis and various other things. Therefore, it can help to plan projects more efficiently and accurately. The purpose of this study was to determine the awareness of consultants in West Sumatra in adopting BIM. This research was conducted on consultants in Ikatan Nasional Konsultan Indonesia (INKINDO) and Persatuan Konsultan Indonesia (PERKINDO) in West Sumatra. Data retrieval was done by random sampling with structured questionnaires distributed to 20 consulting companies. All questionnaires were collected and analysed. The results showed that the awareness of adopting BIM by the consultants was very low.
The importance of contractors’ performance appraisal system for biophilic city development in Malaysia
Authors: Mohd Arof Khairul Zahreen , Ismail Syuhaida , Saleh Abd Latif
Published: May 2020

Biophilic city is a new term of sustainable cities that connects human to nature by lessening the barrier between them. With a few additional elements from the sustainable city approach, the biophilic city brings human to nature instead of nature to cities or human as adopted by the former concept. Since biophilic city is a new approach not just in Malaysia but worldwide in general, no guideline has been published including the appraisal system on the contractors undertaking biophilic city projects. Many problems occur in the construction industry, and it persists across different projects. Problems related to performance, safety and environment amongst all need to be controlled by both the government agencies and private bodies such as developer and consultant. Even so, the contractor’s appraisal system should also be implemented to ensure the above problems can be reduced or eventually avoided. If regular development facing those problems, a new approach of cities development will face even worst. Hence, this paper, via literature review, aims to investigate the importance of contractors’ performance appraisal system for a biophilic cities development project in Malaysia. This found that: (1) since biophilic city is alient to many, appraisal system for contractor’s performance is important; (2) the current contractor’s appraisal system should be improvised by adding the biophilic elements and; (3) contractors need to mutually understand the appraisal system and the concepts of biophilic cities approach. Since there is a significant need to implement the contractor’s performance appraisal in biophilic city development in Malaysia, this paper suggests that a deeper study in terms of the critical success factors of current contractor’s performance appraisal system should be conducted as to ensure their best performance in reducing or avoiding future problems in biophilic city development in Malaysia.
Occupational safety and health construction industry management (OSHCIM): current practice in Malaysia
Authors: Mohd Norhazren Izatie , Tajul Ariffin Hamizah Liyana , Abdul Hamid Muhammad Hamka , Kidam Kamarizan , Ismail Mohammad , Binti Ali Kherun Nita , Mustaffa Nur Emma , Rohani Jafri Mohd , Sabrini Noor Nabilah , Abdullah Samsiah , Mat Ali Nazruddin Bin , Ahdat M Fetri Muhammad Syaiful
Published: May 2020

The accident occurred in the construction industry is reportedly the third-highest after manufacturing and agriculture industry. The percentage of accident cases and fatality ratios in the Malaysian construction industry are getting larger and gradually increasing each year. This data indicates that the safety and health performance in the Malaysian construction industry appears to be weak. Henceforth, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia (DOSH) through government initiative has introduced and published a guideline on Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) 2017. This guideline aims to decrease 50% of the fatality rates in the construction industry by 2020. Therefore, this paper sought to review the current OSHCIM practice in Malaysia construction industry towards the OSHCIM implementation. This study adopted a quantitative approach in conducting the data collection and the data analysis process. A set of a questionnaire developed, tested and distributed to the construction stakeholders, i.e. client, designer, safety and health officer, contractor, and enforcer. The results discovered that the OSHCIM concept already being “Practice” by the construction stakeholders in Malaysia in terms of the (1) management, and (2) standard operating procedure elements. Thus, this study shows that the construction stakeholders were currently practising the OSHCIM concept but with different procedure and approach. In conclusion, the implementation of OSHCIM in Malaysia construction industry is foreseen to be well accepted as most of the stakeholders are familiar with the concept of design for safety.
Factors affecting the delay in construction at Mentawai island, Indonesia
Authors: Elfi E. , Tahir Mahmood Md , Tukirin Siti Asiah
Published: May 2020

Currently, the construction sector became the backbone of the Indonesian economy, with infrastructure development being intensified in Indonesia. Construction of infrastructure projects and construction projects is generally overshadowed by project delays. The geographical position of the Mentawai Islands separated from the main island has the potential for project delays. This paper presents research on the factors causing project delays in the Mentawai Islands. The study was based on survey methods using questionnaires to stakeholders in construction projects in the Mentawai Islands. Of 77 respondents, was found that the main factors causing delays are weather problems, lack of manpower and incomplete planning documents.
Occupational safety and health in construction industry management (OSHCIM) implementation – Academician’s perspectives
Authors: Tajul Ariffin Hamizah Liyana , Mohd Norhazren Izatie , Lim Carmen Noor Nabilah Sabrini , Kidam Kamarizan , Ismail Mohammad , Binti Ali Kherun Nita , Mustaffa Nur Emma , Rohani Jafri Mohd , Abdullah Samsiah , Mat Ali Nazruddin Bin , Ahdat M Fetri Muhammad Syaiful
Published: May 2020

The high incidents number of injuries and fatality rates in the construction industry are generally due to hazards on site. Early intervention of hazards could lead to safer construction processes. The Safety by Design (SbD) is a process that identifies hazard and assesses risks early in the project design stage, in comparison to during the construction stage. A study in Spain shows that there is still lack of emphasis on the SbD concept in higher education although the concept had been implemented for quite some time. The lack of tertiary education regarding SbD could lead to insufficient knowledge for the effective implementation of SbD by future professionals. As for the Malaysian construction industry, SbD will be soon implemented as the Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) – OSHCIM. Therefore, this paper sought to review the perception of academician regarding OSHCIM implementation. The quantitative strategy is adopted, and a set of questionnaires are distributed among academicians involved in educating architecture, civil engineering, quantity surveying, mechanical and electrical engineering courses in Malaysia’s Institute of Higher Learning. The research indicates that most of the academicians appear to agree that sufficient knowledge and the right attitude is essential for the successful implementation of SbD education in university. It seems that all academicians from different background have higher attitude mean score compared to their knowledge mean score. Even though some of the academicians might not be familiar with the concept, most of the academician was not against it and had a positive attitude towards it.
The benefits of implementation of BIM technologies and tools in significantly construction wastes in the Malaysia construction industry
Authors: Vasudevan Gunalaan
Published: May 2020

Malaysia, as a rapid developing nation with a ballooning construction industry, has fallen victim to a predicament that has affected most similar developing nations, which is the mass outflow of construction wastes. The expeditious advancements made by this sector couple with an all-time high demand of a list of development projects ranging from infrastructure to residential and commercial centres, has led to the production of large amounts of construction wastes which is made exponentially worse by the emplacement of flawed, inconsistent and insufficient practices in dealing with the ever-expanding rates of construction wastes. As a potential solution in mitigating this problem, Malaysia has been looking at the introduction of BIM tools and technologies, as an industry norm, to all construction practices and stages. However, the proper and systematic assimilation of the BIM systems in Malaysia has not proven to be entirely possible yet, particularly in a scale that would be significant enough where it could sufficiently be utilised in the reduction of construction wastes. This limitation, can be attributed to many factors such as the perceptions and acceptance of industry players to learn and adapt to this relatively new software, reluctance in replacing the conventional methods, which the industry players are all too complacent with, of waste managements that have been in-place for decades, coupled with an incomprehension of the myriad of benefits such an implementation could bring about to the local construction industry, as exemplified by many other developing nations that have jumped on the bandwagon of incorporation of BIM into their practices for years now.
Prioritization of identified environmental loss factor subject to offshore structure failures based on public perception
Authors: Suhada A S N , Libriati Z , Norhazilan M N , Hafizah A K N
Published: May 2020

Oil spill disturbs an entire ecosystem for a quite long period of time, environment impacted by this event but less attention was drawn due to lack on documentations. This paper presents a study of the past accident related to the offshore oil and gas accident that contribute to environmental loss. It intend to assess the environmental loss quantitatively. Referring to nine cases of the worst offshore accident related to structure failure in the previous years (1969-2011), the cause of failure that contribute to oil spill and environmental loss in the previous cases was identified and categorized based on the environmental loss characteristics. Finally, data collected from the past accident is used to design the questionnaire survey in order to obtain the public perception and analysis is done by using average index of non-parametric test and analytic hierarchy process for prioritization the factor of environmental loss factor. The result shows that water pollution, air pollution, marine animal and fisherman denoted as A1, A2, B1 and C1, respectively, are very important are the most affected factor. Identifying the loss of environmental loss factor is a crucial contribution to the enhancement of the calculation of COF as well as risk assessment.
Issues and challenges in the implementation of public housing redevelopment projects due to earthquake
Authors: Farni I , Zin R M , Alzahri
Published: May 2020

The post-earthquake housing redevelopment projects success will be much affected when facing with labor, technical staff and experts who are not competent in their field. Moreover, materials scarce supply can cause poor quality of work. At the same time poor community involvement and other important factors that may hinder the project success. Assessment needs also to be carried out in determining the level of damage, location and community conditions so that successful reconstruction can be achieved. This paper provides an overview of the issues and challenges in the implementation of public housing redevelopment projects due to earthquake. The methodologies adopted were mainly focusing on analyzing the information gathered through review of literature and observations made based on personal experience involving in housing redevelopment projects. It was discovered that the most common problem in post-disaster housing redevelopmentis funding. In many instances the government is expected to provide funds earlier. Housing redevelopment project can be an opportunity for corruption which causes loss of project funding, injustice and community rights. Redevelopment projects require top managerial coordination to avoid the ineffectiveness and repetition. Effective policies and strategies are very important to ensure that people’s lives are returned to a better condition and are able to withstand future disasters. Identification of ownership and loss of land documents needed to be identified to prevent the redevelopment process from being hampered and delayed. In order to ensure successful implementation of reconstruction projects issues and challenges that influence its success need to be addressed early.
Corrosion study of pipeline material for seabed sediment in tropical climate
Authors: Budiea A M A , Yahaya N , Noor N M , Abdullah A H , Ibrahim M H W , Suratkon A , Muthusamy K
Published: May 2020

Corrosive environments such as marine sediments can cause corrosion to steel pipelines at any time when certain conditions are met. Seabed sediment could cause severe corrosion damage due to its corrosiveness to the pipelines buried under it. Many consequences could take place in case if there is incident in oil/gas pipelines. Successfully identifying elements of corrosion in marine sediment would enhance the future of steel structure protection and monitoring systems. This article focuses on the behaviour of corrosion rate of steel located near shore environment and the aim is to determine the effect of sediment on corrosion of steel. To investigate that, simulated near shore sediment conditions have been used where the steel coupons buried in sediments which have different characteristics. Weight loss technique has been implemented to determine the weight loss rate of the steel specimens. Based on the results of this study, metal weight loss increases as the duration of exposure to seabed sediment environment become longer. The sea sediment simulated condition has given significant levels of corrosion. Conclusively, the corrosion rate of steel in seabed sediment located in tropical region is complicated and further studies are suggested.
Removal of ammonia by palm oil clinker (POC) as submerged fixed media in sequence batch reactor (SBR) mode
Authors: Chew Y Z , Yap Z K , Kutty S R M , Ghaleb A A S , Almahbashi N M Y
Published: May 2020

Currently, utilization of waste by-products or waste materials have received attention globally as it brings significant economic and environmental impacts. In this study, palm oil clinker (POC) which is one of the waste by-products generated in the processing of palm oil was utilized as submerged fixed media in Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR). By using POC as filter media for wastewater treatment, it is able to extend the useful life of POC and reduce the demand manufacturing new media. SBR is a fill-and-draw type reactor system which allow all activated sludge process to occur over a series of time in a single complete-mix reactor. During the operational steps of SBR, the combined attached growth/activated sludge system will promote the growth microorganism that attached on the media in the activated sludge process to remove pollutants such as organic matters and nutrients passes through the media. Laboratory-scale of two Sequence Batch Reactors (SBR) was fabricated with one of the reactors filled up with POC submerged fixed media. Influent of domestic wastewater from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) ‘s Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) was adopted for wastewater treatment. Based on the result obtained, SBR reactor with POC submerged fixed media has higher ammonia removal efficiency, which approximately 90% than the SBR reactor without POC submerged fixed media, which approximately 85%.
Utilization of coal fly ash in the adsorptive removal of fluoride from contaminated groundwater
Authors: Pitawala L M S D , Wijeyawardana H M P , Nanayakkara K G N
Published: May 2020

75% of the global production of fly ash (FA) totalling 562 million metric tonnes becomes solid waste causing major environmental and economic havoc. In this research, a comparative study was conducted on the utilization of raw and chemically modified FA adsorbents in the removal of fluoride (F−) from contaminated water. The modification was done by using hydrochloric acid (HCl) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2). Characterization of the adsorbents was done by using SEM-EDX analysis, specific surface area (SS) and pH of zero point charge (pHzpc). The characterisation confirmed that the modification process removed the impurities in FA and improved the SS. However, the shift of pHzpc from 10.71 to 4.94 was unfavourable for the F− removal due to the reduction in the pH range in which the adsorbents surface charge is positive. Adsorption studies indicated that raw adsorbent is more effective than the modified adsorbent. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained at the optimum conditions (pH = 2; contact time = 120 minutes; dosage =2.0 g/L) was 3.64 mg/g and at neutral pH it was 1.0 mg/g. In conclusion, raw FA adsorbent can be used as a low-cost adsorbent material to remove F− from contaminated water.
Stabilisation of Sohar’s Sabkha soil using waste gypsum plasterboard
Authors: Al-Alawi Hilal S. , Ganiyu Abideen A. , Badr Atef
Published: May 2020

Sabkha soil are salt-encrusted desert flats typically found in arid regions. Construction developments on naturally occurring Sabkha soils are usually problematic. This study examines the properties of Sabkha soil obtained from Sohar city of Oman. The Sabkha soil samples were further treated with Gypsum obtained from waste plasterboards at varying percentages of 3, 6, 9 and 12 with a view to stabilising the soil. From the results, Sohar Sabkha soil is a poorly graded sand (SP) with AASHTO classification of A-2-7(0), therefore, it is unsuitable for supporting infrastructures in its natural form. The pH test confirms the reaction between Sabkha and Gypsum, while both the compaction and unconfined compression strength (UCS) tests revealed the optimum percentage of gypsum required to enhance the properties of Sabkha soil to be 6%. The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test yielded a 33.3% increase in CBR value for Sabkha treated with 6% of Gypsum over untreated Sabkha. Overall, a better understanding of sabkha soil and the confirmation of the potential use of Gypsum for its stabilisation was achieved in this study.
Review on the application of distributed optical fibre sensing in slope monitoring
Authors: Ahmad Izwan Shah , Kassim Azman , Mohamad Hisham
Published: May 2020

The catastrophic event of slope failure which leads to the destruction of surrounding facilities and the loss of public lives has been acknowledge to be one of the most discussed topics in geotechnical engineering. Many conventional and modern techniques have been developed by researchers throughout the years to come out with a technique that is effective in monitoring slope deformation and thus, control the damage that may be caused by slope failure. Recently, the application of optical fibre sensing (OFS) has gained wide attention among researchers in slope monitoring application. It is known that OFS carries many advantages in terms of high resistivity towards electromagnetic interference, wide sensing range, and easy installation. This paper presents the overview of the recent development and application of OFS application in slope monitoring. Two main types of OFS namely Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) and Distributed Optical Fibre Sensing (DOFS) which consists of Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) and Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analaysis (BOTDA) are discussed in detail.
Green construction capability for environmental sustainability performance: an empirical study on construction sector in Indonesia
Authors: Ariff R , Sharif S , Yahya K
Published: May 2020

This paper reports on the findings on the relationship between green construction capability (GCC) and environmental sustainability performance (ESP). Accordingly, many ESP issues have several impacts on green construction, these include waste reduction and ecology. In a business world, there is a positive trend among construction sector to start reporting over GCC keeping their role as ESP alive. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed respective stakeholders to gather data from employees of construction industry. In order to analyse the collected data, regression analysis and correlation coefficient were employed to check the hypotheses. Statistical package mainly used for social science studies has been used for the data analysis. Results revealed that there is a direct positive relationship between GCC and ESP. The three aspects of GCC, i.e., material, machine and labour also have significant association with ESP. ESP carries with itself sensational openings for the construction management role and with the opportunity that originates responsibility. This study emphasizes the revised planning of risk and causes root to create awareness among employees and strategies to improve ESP and environmental performance level of companies in the competitive world. This research carries a new horizon to explore the association of GCC with ESP in construction sector. The study presents first-ever empirical evidence about the relationship between ESP and GCC from developing countries.
Time-dependent rheological behavior of cement-sand injection grout containing high volume fly ash
Authors: Balakrishnan B , Khalid N H A , Ismail M
Published: May 2020

Grouting technology is playing an increasingly important role in construction engineering. Various types of grout are available but cement slurry grouts are often selected for injection works due to better workability. Meanwhile, in repair works, cement-sand grout often preferred as the fine aggregates gives better volume stability for large repair area. However, theoretical research on the use of waste material to improve the rheological properties of cement-sand grout is still lacking. For grouts, rheology is a factor of prime importance to the transport, injection and pumping of the material. Cement-sand grouts often have poorer fluidity due to friction created by the sand. Since grouts typically contain cement, therefore fly ash can be a good option to improve the workability of the grout. This paper studies time dependent behaviour of the grout by measuring the flow times and viscosity of cement-sand grout containing high volume fly (HVFA) up to 1 hour from the time of mixing. The result indicates that replacement of HVFA reduces the flow time of the grout and maintained good fluidity up to 1 hour. The viscosity test showed that the grouts, at fresh state, behaved like a Bingham fluid by exhibiting lower viscosities for the mixtures containing fly ash at 0, 60 and 120 minutes. In conclusion, the use of large quantities of fly ash in grouts significantly enhances fluidity of the cement-sand grouts. Methodology comparison also resulted in new knowledge for best method flow test for fly ash grout.
Eggshell as the partial replacement of Portland cement in the production of concrete
Authors: Ishak Mohd Yunus , Zamani Muhammad Nazrif
Published: May 2020

The population rate in Malaysia is increasing thus contributing to more undesirable wastes pollute the environment and the development in Malaysia flourishes rapidly. Consequently, the requirement of concrete is escalating thus maximizing the production of Portland cement. Such production liberates more carbon dioxide and causes air pollution. This study investigates the use of poultry waste in concrete production by replacing eggshell powder with Portland cement. Eggshell is identified rich in calcium similar to what cement has as it mainly contains 93.70% calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Chicken eggshells are collected, cleaned, dried, grinded and sieved until the desired 90 µm size. 4 different batches are prepared by substituting 10-30% of eggshell powder with Portland cement in order to determine the suitability of eggshell powder as the partial replacement by investigating both workability and mechanical properties of eggshell blended batches via slump test and 3 destructive tests respectively. Consequently, the workability experiences reduction in the range of 30-70% whereas the results of all 3 destructive tests decrease in the range of 13-48% as the amount of eggshell powder increases. To conclude, eggshell powder is unsuitable for projects that require high strength concrete but may be suitable for projects that require less strength concrete.
Eco-efficient concrete containing recycled ceramic wastes aggregate
Authors: Peter D M , Awang A Z , Sam A R M , Ma C K , Loo P
Published: May 2020

The construction industry is in search of cleaner and greener alternatives for materials in concrete. The main objective of this study was to determine the properties of concrete using recycled ceramic waste aggregates (CWA). In this study, natural fine and coarse aggregates were partially substituted as ceramic waste aggregate in the range of 25%, 50% and 75%. Fifty-four cubes and twenty-one cylinders were prepared and tested to obtain the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. The compressive strength of concrete specimens containing 50% recycled ceramic fine aggregates (CFA) and 75% recycled ceramic coarse aggregates (CCA) is greater than the conventional concrete. However, the modulus of elasticity decreased with increased recycled aggregate content. The aggregates replacement decreases the concrete density but satisfying the desired compressive strength of concrete. The results made it possible to adopt ceramic tile waste as recycled aggregate materials to promote sustainable development in the production of concrete.
Hardened properties of concrete with different proportion of crumb rubber and fly ash
Authors: Najmi A M , Mariyana A K , Shek P N , Nurizaty Z
Published: May 2020

The utilisation of waste materials in concrete is one of the sustainable construction approaches introduced in the industry that can indirectly reduce the environmental issues arisen from the disposal problem of the wastes. The aim of this study is to investigate the hardened properties of rubberised pozzolanic concrete (RuPC) with different proportion of crumb rubber and fly ash as partial fine aggregate and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) replacement, respectively. The crumb rubber content replacing fine aggregate is in the range of 0% to 20% while fly ash replacing cement ranges from 0% to 30%. Testing of RuPC with different percentage of crumb rubber and fly ash were performed at the age of 28 days for density, compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strength, and were compared with properties of control specimens. Results showed that the density of RuPC decrease with increase in crumb rubber and fly ash content. The overall strength of RuPC decrease as crumb rubber content increase in which 5% crumb rubber show the least reduction in strength. Replacing 10% cement with fly ash shows improvement in the strength of RuPC when compared to specimens without fly ash, however still lower than strength of control specimen. The optimum crumb rubber replacement is 5% while fly ash is 10% to avoid significant reduction in strength.
Tensile and shear strength of four species of bamboo in Malaysia
Authors: Awalluddin D , Ariffin M A M , Zamri N F , Ahmad Y , Ibrahim I S , Osman M H , Lee H S
Published: May 2020

As one of the fastest growing plants on earth, bamboo has a lot of species that range in size from a few centimeters to many meters tall. Bamboo is a unique plant where it can reach their full height up to 30m in a period of 2 to 4 months. Even though bamboo has been used traditionally as a construction material for thousands of years, there are not many studies about the mechanical properties of the bamboo itself. Thus, this paper presents an investigation on tensile and shear strength of four species treated bamboos that are available in Malaysia, which include Bambusa Vulgaris, Dendrocalamus Asper, Gigantochloa Scortechinii and Shizostachyum Grande. All the test was conducted according to the International Standard Organization (ISO-22157-2004). From the test result, Bambusa Vulgaris and Dendrocalamus Asper possess high tensile strength, meanwhile, Gigantochloa Scortechinii shows the highest value of shear strength compared with other species. Moreover, the test result also shows that Shizostachyum Grande possesses the lowest tensile and shear strength. Thus, with the available data on bamboo properties, structural engineers should take the advantages of bamboo to be used as a construction material in modern design buildings.
Alkali-activated binder as stabilizer in compressed earth blocks
Authors: Ongpeng J , Gapuz E , Andres J J S , Prudencio D , Cuadlisan J , Tadina M , Zacarias A , Benauro D , Pabustan A
Published: May 2020

Compressed earth blocks (CEB) has number of advantages: cost and energy efficient, eco-friendly, non-toxic, and fireproof. It is composed of available compressed soil near project site with binders as stabilizers. From literature, adding ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as stabilizer is practiced. However, the use of OPC produces high carbon footprint in its production phase. This paper aims to use Alkali-activated (AA) binder as stabilizer for the CEB to promote sustainable construction. It uses a combination of fly ash (FA) mixed with Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) to produce the stabilizer. Compressive strength and water absorption using AA binder as stabilizer in CEB are investigated. Total of fifty-two CEBs with dimensions of 295mm x140mm x100mm are made as an alternative to conventional concrete hollow blocks with a minimum value of 2.50MPa compressive strength from the provision of Philippine National Standard (PNS). The AA binder ratio of 5% and 15% produced compressive strength of 0.42MPa and 2.92MPa, respectively. Additionally, AA binder ratio of 10% produced lowest percentages of water absorption at 12.83%. It shows that the use of CEB with AA binders is possible in achieving sustainable construction building materials.
Influence of marine kaolin mortar mixed with effective microorganism on external heat transfer
Authors: Yusop F A , Mohamed A , Nor H M , Sam A R M , Khalid N H A , Ibrahim W Y W , Ismail A
Published: May 2020

Marine kaolin can be found easily at the coastal regions in Malaysia. During infrastructure works, huge quantities were excavated and is treated as unsuitable soil material (USM). This study offers a value-added solution to convert marine kaolin into supplementary cementitious material (SCM) through thermal activation. 10% replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement is incorporated together with Effective Microorganism (EM) into the mortar mix. The usage of EM between 5% and 25% with interval of 5% were manipulated to enhance the properties of the mortar mix. The intention of incorporating both marine kaolin and EM as mortar mix was to observe the significant effects on heat transfer. As a result, the surface temperature of the mortar mix was reduced up to 8% and the thermal conductivity shows appropriate insulating materials.
Challenges of implementing green procurement in public construction projects in Malaysia
Authors: Alqadami Ahmed , Zawawi Noor Amila , Rahmawati Yani , Alaloul Wesam
Published: May 2020

Although the concept of green procurement is increasingly debated as environmental policy instrument that considers the impact of procurement as well as the purchasing process for the sustainability of project development. However, the concept in Malaysia is still in its infancy and facing various barriers and challenges to make a paradigm shift towards greener approach. Therefore, this paper tends to determine the challenges that hinder the green procurement implementation. In addition, this study aims to develop a roadmap for implementing green procurement in building and infrastructure projects. This could pave the road to establish a transformation plan that could gradually overcome the current challenges in order to reach to the holistic level. The study is based on a survey conducted in Malaysian organizations at which 100 organizations were surveyed to determine their perspective on 40 pre-determined challenges. A number of 89 questionnaires were returned and 76 were valid responses. Results revealed that an excellent consistency on the significance of the current challenges. These are mainly due to the higher upfront cost associated with eco-products and services, gap existence between policy formulation and actual project delivery, lack of legislation to introduce mandatory influence for green adoption.
Application of circular economy in the Indonesia construction industry
Authors: Wahyu Adi Tri Joko , Wibowo Panji
Published: May 2020

The Circular Economy (CE) is a concept that aims to keep the value of products, materials, and resources economically as long as possible while minimizing the waste produced. The CE concept is adapted from the 3R principle (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). The construction industry is one of the largest waste-producing industries. In fact, 30% of the waste in landfills is construction waste. This study aims to identify and analyze the application of circular economy in the construction industry in Indonesia. There are two main stages in this study. The first stage was to identify construction practitioners’ awareness of the circular economy. The second stage is to document the implementation of 3R on various types of construction projects such as building, road, and bridge projects. The questionnaire was used to collect data. Around 120 project managers of medium to large scale construction companies in Indonesia were used as respondents. Important Performance Analysis (IPA) is used to represent construction practitioner awareness of CE. The results show that most construction practitioners in Indonesia have understood the importance of construction waste treatment in the context of a circular economy. However, only a few construction companies that seriously take care of construction waste treatment. Most construction waste is only released to the landfill area through the third parties. Only about 36% of contractor reused and recycled waste is in the construction site.
The perception and challenges of construction stakeholder towards emissions reduction in Malaysia
Authors: Mustaffa N K , Mat Isa C M
Published: May 2020

The increase of global carbon emissions has become an important global issue worldwide including, Malaysia. The construction industry is a large contributor to global emissions despite its efforts of becoming more aligned with sustainability practices. Malaysia has announced a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by delineating the number of measures and targets. However, this commitment has not been greeted with much optimism by all the key players which are believed to be related to the lack of incentives and regulatory procedures to guide into sustainable building construction. In response to this need, this study aims to examine the perception and awareness of construction stakeholder towards emission reduction in construction. Specifically, the research aims to achieve the following objectives; 1) to examine the perception and awareness of construction stakeholder towards emissions reduction in construction, and 2) to identify the challenges that have been faced by construction stakeholder in implementing emissions reduction strategies. In order to achieve the objectives, the questionnaires and interviews have been conducted to 37 construction companies in Selangor. A statistical analysis by using descriptive analysis of relative index and SPSS program is carried out to analyze the data. The findings demonstrate that the majority of the company appear not to monitor emissions in construction site and most of them have a little information about the emissions reduction policy program. The implication of this research lies in providing insight on the strategies and challenges that have been faced by construction stakeholder towards emissions reduction which will help the policy maker in developing an efficient policy, guidelines and regulatory framework of construction emissions reduction schemes.
Effect of high-volume coal waste on strength properties of concrete
Authors: Shukor Lim Nor Hasanah Abdul , Qin Tan Shea , Ariffin Nur Farhayu , Noh Hamidun Mohd , Hussin Mohd Warid
Published: May 2020

The rapid growth in the construction industry has increase in the consumption of raw materials whereby it depletes the natural resources. Therefore, the need of abundant and cheap materials is increased. Also, coal waste is abundantly available from coal generating power plan. The aim of this research is to investigate the performance of concrete incorporating high volume coal waste as cement and aggregates replacement. The specimens are prepared by using 30% coal fly ash as cement replacement and fully replacement of aggregates with coal bottom ash. The specimens are cast using 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm cubes. There are several test conducted in this study for example, the test for characteristic of the materials, fresh and hardened properties of concrete. It was found that the workability of concrete decreases with the inclusion of coal waste. Overall, it is found out that the coal waste can be used as aggregates replacement in concrete since it has a comparable strength with a conventional concrete.
Green buildings: a hype?
Authors: Adi Maimun Nurul Hana , Sapri Maimunah , Ab. Azis Shazmin Shareena , Mohd Yusoff Nurul Syakima
Published: May 2020

There is a consensus that green buildings have better building performance compared to conventional buildings. Whilst previous research has established the benefits of green buildings, it has been argued that this benefit might have been over exaggerated due to the evidence of dissatisfaction in green buildings performance. Thus, this calls for a research on occupants’ satisfaction on green building’s performance. An observation performed on ZEO building occupants indicated that the building occupants were moderately unsatisfied with the building’s performance. This research adds to the growing body of literature and contributes to the understanding of academia and practitioners on green buildings. in constructing both.