Dane Miller

Incorporating Sustainable Development Principles into Building Design

The main aim of this research is to utilise the focus of sustainable design to compare the material and subsequent environmental impacts of multi‐storey structures situated in Australia. The structure types under investigation were characterised by post‐tensioned and conventionally reinforced floor and roof flat plate slab systems. The foundation designs are undertaken for isolated spread footings on 32 structural model types with constant external dimensions which were composed of floor and roof slabs of varying concrete strength, span length and construction method, with all footing designs providing equivalent structural performance. The results from this study have reinforced the evidence that post‐tensioned construction can have significant effects in reducing material requirements and provide increased structural and environmental efficiency. Through reducing the frame mass, the footing systems were able to be designed using significantly less embodied energy when compared to the reinforced concrete structures. It is also noted that further investigation in the foundational requirements of these models is warranted, with the need to investigate the use of mat foundations for cases where isolated spread footings have required more than 50% of the structural plan area and for the footings that have required excessively thick sections to resist large shearing actions for larger spanned cases at 10 and 13.33 m.

Value-based modelling: an Australian case of off-site manufactured buildings

ABSTRACT Benefits to the construction industry through the use of off-site manufactured (OSM) buildings are well documented. However, and like most innovations, the uptake of OSM has been rather slow. While relevant potential improvements and barriers are widely discussed in the literature, there is a gap in understanding how key project stakeholders (i.e. clients and manufacturers) perceive the value created by adopting OSM into their projects. This paper attempts to fill that gap by developing a value-based model, with its constituents firmly rooted in the seminal literature. The model depicts factors critical to value-creation from both product and process perspectives, allowing for causal relationships among all the inputs and outputs. A systems approach was adopted where causal relationships involving key identified stakeholders are modelled. Industry consultations have led to the identification of the levels of influence and dependency that each factor has on the value creation process.

Steel Bracket Connection on Modular Buildings

Modular construction methods have been adapted globally for the past few decades and are becoming more common due to their ease of use and flexibility. Structural connections between modules are required for integrity and robustness but details vary depending on the form of the module and the particular application. The behaviour of connections in analysis and design of modular buildings should particularly be taken into account in detail because of their effects on the distribution of internal forces and on structural deformations. The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the behaviours of an innovative steel bracket connection. Experiments, including shear loading and simply supported tests, were carried out to establish directly the ultimate resistance as well as failure modes of the connections. The finite element software, Strand7, was subsequently utilised to produce models for comparison with test results. A parametric study has been carried out to investigate the effects of varying bolthole dimension and bolthole spacing on the structural behaviours of the steel bracket connection using linear analysis. The model presented in this paper was formed as a baseline for future in-depth investigations to ensure design optimisation of the steel bracket connection.