Masiri Kaamin

Cooling System of Zinc Roofed House by Using Circulated Water

Most traditional village houses uses corrugated zinc roofing due to economic reason. Thermal discomfort will result as zinc is a highly heat absorbing material. The space under the zinc covering will experience significant temperature increase proportional to the amount of supplied heat from sunlight, and this will further be aggravated if the ventilation is poor. The purpose of this study is to determine an alternative method to lower the temperature inside a zinc covered house. The proposed method is by splashing water throughout the area of the zinc roofing, where heat exchange process will occur upon contact. The process will dissipate heat from the zinc but will increase the water temperature. Heated water will then free fall by gravity into a tank through perforated tube with very fine aperture, as water droplet. By the same heat transfer process, ambient air will lower the water temperature, which will be recirculation back to the roof. To facilitate higher rate of water cooling, fan will be provided. The tests show the system was able to lower the temperature of the zinc covered house, and can reduce cost of cooling, thus suitable for low income rural population in Malaysia.

Sound absorption study on acoustic panel from kapok fiber and egg tray

Noise also known as a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disruption. The level of noise can be reduced by using sound absorption panel. Currently, the market produces sound absorption panel, which use synthetic fibers that can cause harmful effects to the health of consumers. An awareness of using natural fibers from natural materials gets attention of some parties to use it as a sound absorbing material. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the potential of sound absorption panel using egg trays and kapok fibers. The test involved in this study was impedance tube test which aims to get sound absorption coefficient (SAC). The results showed that there was good sound absorption at low frequency from 0 Hz up to 900 Hz where the maximum absorption coefficient was 0.950 while the maximum absorption at high frequencies was 0.799. Through the noise reduction coefficient (NRC), the material produced NRC of 0.57 indicates that the materials are very absorbing. In addition, the reverberation room test was carried out to get the value of reverberation time (RT) in unit seconds. Overall this panel showed good results at low frequencies between 0 Hz up to 1500 Hz. In that range of frequency, the maximum reverberation time for the panel was 3.784 seconds compared to the maximum reverberation time for an empty room was 5.798 seconds. This study indicated that kapok fiber and egg tray as the material of absorption panel has a potential as environmental and cheap products in absorbing sound at low frequency.Noise also known as a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disruption. The level of noise can be reduced by using sound absorption panel. Currently, the market produces sound absorption panel, which use synthetic fibers that can cause harmful effects to the health of consumers. An awareness of using natural fibers from natural materials gets attention of some parties to use it as a sound absorbing material. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the potential of sound absorption panel using egg trays and kapok fibers. The test involved in this study was impedance tube test which aims to get sound absorption coefficient (SAC). The results showed that there was good sound absorption at low frequency from 0 Hz up to 900 Hz where the maximum absorption coefficient was 0.950 while the maximum absorption at high frequencies was 0.799. Through the noise reduction coefficient (NRC), the material produced NRC of 0.57 indicates that the materials are very absorbing. In additio...

Potential Of Light Pipes System In Malaysian Climate

Light-pipes system are simple structures that allow the transmission of daylight from the outside to the inside of a room. It is a practical application in many buildings where daylight cannot reach due to building design and limited facade to placing windows. Since roof is the element directly exposed to the sunlight, light pipes system could be introduced. This paper examines the illumination levels obtained using light pipes system under Malaysia climate conditions. A light-pipe system that was installed in a test room located in Batu Pahat. Indoor illuminance distributions and concurrent outdoor illuminance were monitored at a 30 minutes interval for 5 days. The results indicated that the amount of daylight penetrated into the building are varied with less than 150lux in the early morning and late evening, and maximum at over 350lux in the noon and early afternoon. The average internal illuminance levels offer by light pipe system met the MS 1525:2007 recommendation for application in Malaysian buildings. These findings indicated that the light pipe system has a potential as a tool for introducing daylight indoors in Malaysia.

Comparison of Zinc Roofed House Temperature Distribution between Open Water Exhausted with Radiator Cooling System

Thermal condition of a house is one of the comfort factors. Traditionally, village houses in Malaysia uses corrugated zinc roofing due to economic reason. Considering the thermal conductivities of the material, space under the roof coverage will intent to occur thermal discomfort due to Malaysian ambient temperature. The roof plays an important role to ensure the house is in a state insulated from the hot sun and rain where the zinc roofing will radiated by the sun in noon and yet become the heat source for in-house area. Thermal discomfort will result due to zinc highly heat absorbing material property. The space under the covering will experience significant temperature increase proportional to the amount of supplied heat from sunlight radiated to the zinc roof, and will further be aggravated if ventilation is poor. The purpose of this study is to compare the temperature distribution by two alternatives methods to reduce the temperature inside a zinc-covered house. The main concept of this cooling system is by splashing water throughout the area of the zinc roofing, where heat exchange process will occur upon contact. The process will dissipate heat from the zinc and will increase the water temperature. This research is focusing on the medium (water) re-cooling process by either open water exhausted or radiator system to state that which one will give better heat exchange. Open water exhausted system heated water will then free fall by gravity into a tank through perforated tube as water droplets. To facilitate higher rate of water-cooling, fan will be provided. Another re-cooling system is the radiator system, which use radiator device to cool down the heated water. Radiator use coolant as the medium to exchange the heat from the roof heated water. By the same heat transfer process, the circulated water temperature will be lower where, which will be recirculation back to the roof. Both systems had been compared about the differences of temperature drop distribution which result the better water re-cooling system.

PET concrete as paver block

This research is carried out to investigate the performance of concrete containing Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle waste as fine aggregate. PET bottle waste was chosen because it is being thrown after single use and cause environmental problem. This PET concrete then will be applied as a paver block for pedestrian walk. To reduce waste PET, the PET bottles was recycled and used in concrete mixture as a fine aggregate. PET bottles was cleaned and grinded into small irregular shape. Then, it was incorporate with the concrete and the test was conducted to find out the suitable strength for PET concrete that will be applied as paver block. The study was conducted by using cube mould to investigate the strength of the concrete. A total of four batches of concrete were produced namely, standard concrete and concrete containing PET of 5%, 10% and 15%. In this research, the compressive strength of the concrete were measured following British Standard method. The results revealed that the presence of PET in concrete will decrease the concrete performance. Nevertheless, the content of PET was specified in a specific limit to avoid the effect of concrete strength.This research is carried out to investigate the performance of concrete containing Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle waste as fine aggregate. PET bottle waste was chosen because it is being thrown after single use and cause environmental problem. This PET concrete then will be applied as a paver block for pedestrian walk. To reduce waste PET, the PET bottles was recycled and used in concrete mixture as a fine aggregate. PET bottles was cleaned and grinded into small irregular shape. Then, it was incorporate with the concrete and the test was conducted to find out the suitable strength for PET concrete that will be applied as paver block. The study was conducted by using cube mould to investigate the strength of the concrete. A total of four batches of concrete were produced namely, standard concrete and concrete containing PET of 5%, 10% and 15%. In this research, the compressive strength of the concrete were measured following British Standard method. The results revealed that the presence of PET i...

Effectiveness of corn cob as a thermal isolation material

Each year global warming creates a phenomenon of increased heat in building structures, especially indoor. At present, building constructions apply various new materials which focus only on load-bearing material strength in order to be stronger and more durable. However, in order to achieve these criteria, the materials have to be good thermal conductors. Therefore, in this study, in order to overcome this, an alternative material, namely corncob was studied to determine its effectiveness as a thermal isolation material. Dried corncob was ground, glued and compacted in a mold with dimensions of 0.3m x 0.3m x 0.02m to produce a corncob plate. After being dried at 130°C and at room temperature for a day, it was installed on the mini house ceiling. The findings showed that on the third day of experiment, the indoor temperature of the mini house demonstrated a significant difference, where the temperature reading outside and inside the model house showed p-value (of the T-test) of more than 0.05. This proves that the corncob is effective in reducing indoor temperature and it can be an alternative material for thermal isolation.Each year global warming creates a phenomenon of increased heat in building structures, especially indoor. At present, building constructions apply various new materials which focus only on load-bearing material strength in order to be stronger and more durable. However, in order to achieve these criteria, the materials have to be good thermal conductors. Therefore, in this study, in order to overcome this, an alternative material, namely corncob was studied to determine its effectiveness as a thermal isolation material. Dried corncob was ground, glued and compacted in a mold with dimensions of 0.3m x 0.3m x 0.02m to produce a corncob plate. After being dried at 130°C and at room temperature for a day, it was installed on the mini house ceiling. The findings showed that on the third day of experiment, the indoor temperature of the mini house demonstrated a significant difference, where the temperature reading outside and inside the model house showed p-value (of the T-test) of more than 0.05. This proves ...

The application of micro UAV in construction project

In every outstanding construction project, there is definitely have an effective construction management. Construction management allows a construction project to be implemented according to plan. Every construction project must have a progress development works that is usually created by the site engineer. Documenting the progress of works is one of the requirements in construction management. In a progress report it is necessarily have a visual image as an evidence. The conventional method used for photographing on the construction site is by using common digital camera which is has few setback comparing to Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Besides, site engineer always have a current issues involving limitation of monitoring on high reach point and entire view of the construction site. The purpose of this paper is to provide a concise review of Micro UAV technology in monitoring the progress on construction site through visualization approach. The aims of this study are to replace the conventional method of photographing on construction site using Micro UAV which can portray the whole view of the building, especially on high reach point and allows to produce better images, videos and 3D model and also facilitating site engineer to monitor works in progress. The Micro UAV was flown around the building construction according to the Ground Control Points (GCPs) to capture images and record videos. The images taken from Micro UAV have been processed generate 3D model and were analysed to visualize the building construction as well as monitoring the construction progress work and provides immediate reliable data for project estimation. It has been proven that by using Micro UAV, a better images and videos can give a better overview of the construction site and monitor any defects on high reach point building structures. Not to be forgotten, with Micro UAV the construction site progress is more efficiently tracked and kept on the schedule.In every outstanding construction project, there is definitely have an effective construction management. Construction management allows a construction project to be implemented according to plan. Every construction project must have a progress development works that is usually created by the site engineer. Documenting the progress of works is one of the requirements in construction management. In a progress report it is necessarily have a visual image as an evidence. The conventional method used for photographing on the construction site is by using common digital camera which is has few setback comparing to Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Besides, site engineer always have a current issues involving limitation of monitoring on high reach point and entire view of the construction site. The purpose of this paper is to provide a concise review of Micro UAV technology in monitoring the progress on construction site through visualization approach. The aims of this study are to replace the conventional ...

The Behaviour of Palm Oil Fibre Block Masonry Prism under Eccentric Compressive Loading

Dry-stacked masonry offers great benefits in constructing masonry buildings. Several examples from previous research show that dry masonry is reasonable alternative to the traditional building system. By addition of fibre, the ductility and the propagation of cracking will be improved. This study investigates the dry stack oil palm fibre block prisms which were subjected to eccentricity compression loads. These concrete blocks were cast using a single mould with suitable fibre-cement composition namely 1:4 (cement: sand) and 0.40 water to the cement ratio based on cement weight. Prisms test using 400 (length) x 150 (width) x 510 (height) mm specimen was carried under eccentric load. There were forty eight (48) prisms built with different configurations based on their volume of fibre. In this study, one types of grout were used namely the fine grout of mix 1:3:2 (cement: sand: aggregate (5mm maximum). Based on the test performed, the failure mechanism and influencing parameters were discussed. From compressive strength test result, it shows that the strength of concrete block decreased with the increase of fibre used. Although the control sample has the higher strength compared to concrete with EFB, it can be seen from mode failure of masonry prism that fibre could extend the cracking time. These results show that the oil palm fibre blocks can improve the failure behaviour and suitable to be used as load bearing wall construction in Malaysia.

Performance of asphalt mixture incorporating recycled waste

Nowadays, the amount of premix waste was increased every year, especially at the batching plants. Normally, the waste materials will be discarded without doing any innovative and effective research about those materials. This situation has become one of the global concerns due to the increasing number of premix waste produced every year. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) using premix waste on improving asphalt mixture fatigue behaviour.The method used in this study was Superpave mix design method. The sample conducted in this study were 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 100% of premix waste respectively. For a binder test, the laboratory test conducted were penetration test, softening test and thin film oven test while for the performance test were resilient modulus test and indirect tensile fatigue test. From the laboratory test, the resilient modulus test was conducted with two different temperature which was 25oC and 40oC. The result from that test was 20% of premix waste had higher resilient modulus at that two different temperatures compared to another samples. From that test also shown that the sample at the lower temperature which was 25oC has higher resilient modulus compared to the temperature of 40oC. Indirect tensile fatigue test showed that the 30% of premix waste sample was suitable for the modified asphalt mixture with referring to the maximum deformation and strain for comparison control, 10%,20%, and 100% of premix waste samples. So, it can be concluded that premix waste inhibits great potential as road construction material and suitable for repeated traffic loading.

Shoreline Delineation and Land Reclamation Change Detection Using Landsat Image

This study is conducted on the usage of remote sensing images from several different years in order to analyze the changes of shoreline and land cover of the area. Remote sensing images used in this study are the data captured by the Landsat satellite. The images are projecting the land surface in 30 by 30 meter resolution and it is processed by the ENVI software. ENVI is able to change each digital number of the pixels on the images into specific value according to the applied model for classification in which could be used as an approach in calculating the area different classes based from the images itself. Therefore, using this method, the changes on the coastal area are possible to be determined. Analysis of the shoreline and land reclamation around the coastal area is integrated with the land use changes to determine its impact. The study shows that Batu Pahat area might have undergone land reclamation whereas in Pasir Gudang is experiencing substantial amount of erosion. Besides, the changes of land use in both areas were considered to be rapid and due to the results obtained from this study, the issues may be brought about for the local authority awareness action.