Research Papers

By
Prof. A. B. Kawade, Mr. Abhijeet A. Sahane
Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner

Abstract
Major seismic events during the past decade such as those that have occurred in Northridge, Imperial Valley (May 18, 1940), California (1994), Kobe, Japan (1995), Turkey (1999), Taiwan (1999) and Bhuj, Central Western India (2001) have Continued to demonstrate the destructive power of earthquakes, with destruction of engineered buildings, bridges, industrial and port facilities as well as giving rise to great economic losses. Among the possible structural damages, seismic induced pounding has been commonly observed in several earthquakes. As a result, a parametric study on buildings pounding response as well as proper seismic hazard mitigation practice for adjacent buildings is carried out. Therefore, the needs to improve seismic performance of the built environment through the development of performance-oriented procedures have been developed. To estimate the seismic demands, nonlinearities in the structure are to be considered when the structure enters into inelastic range during devastating earthquakes. Despite the increase in the accuracy and efficiency of the computational tools related to dynamic inelastic analysis, engineers tend to adopt simplified non-linear static procedures instead of rigorous non-linear dynamic analysis when evaluating seismic demands. This is due to the problems related to its complexities and suitability for practical design applications. The push over analysis is a static, nonlinear procedure that can be used to estimate the dynamic needs imposed on a structure by earthquake ground motions. This project entitled “Seismic Pounding Effects in Buildings.” aims at studying seismic gap between adjacent buildings by dynamic and pushover analysis. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the minimum seismic pounding gap between two adjacent structures by response Spectrum analysis for medium soil and Elcentro Earthquake recorded excitation are used for input in the dynamic analysis on different models. Pounding produces acceleration and shear at various story levels that are greater than those obtained from the no pounding case, while the peak drift depends on the input excitation characteristics. Also, increasing gap width is likely to be effective when the separation is sufficiently wide practically to eliminate contact. The results of pushover analysis viz. pushover curves and capacity spectrum for three different lateral load patterns are observed to study the effect of different lateral load pattern on the structural displacement to find out minimum seismic gap between buildings.
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By
Prof. Amol B. Kawade, Miss. Chaitali R. Satpute
Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner

Abstract
Although automation has advanced in manufacturing, the growth of automation in construction has been slow. Conventional methods of manufacturing automation do not lend themselves to construction of large structures with internal features. This may explain the slow rate of growth in construction automation. Contour Crafting (CC) is a recent layered fabrication technology that has a great potential in automated construction of whole structures as well as sub-components. Using this process, a single house or a colony of houses, each with possibly a different design, may be automatically constructed in a single run, imbedded in each house all the conduits for electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning. Our research also addresses the application of CC in building habitats on other planets. CC will most probably be one of the very few feasible approaches for building structures on other planets, such as Moon and Mars, which are being targeted for human colonization before the end of the new century. Contour Crafting is an emerging technology that uses robotics to construct free form building structures by repeatedly laying down layers of material such as concrete. The Contour Crafting technology scales up automated additive fabrication from building small industrial parts to constructing buildings. Optimal machine operation planning for Contour Crafting benefits the technology by increasing the efficiency of construction, especially for complicated structures. The research reported here has aimed at providing a systematic solution for improving the overall Contour Crafting system efficiency in building custom-designed buildings. An approach is first presented to find the optimal machine operation plan for the single nozzle Contour Crafting system. Other approaches are then presented to determine collision-free operation plans for machines with multiple nozzles. The models developed incorporate physical constraints as well as some practical construction issues.

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By Prof. Madhuri K. Rathi, Mr. Patil Vivek Prabhakar
Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner

Abstract
To perform travel demand estimation for any city using conventional four step demand modeling, it would involve lot of time and resources. As of now, to understand the travel demand for a particular city using available parameters there are no ready reference models are available. Considering this, an attempt has been made in this paper to model the travel prediction using the readily available parameters. About six models were developed utilizing various parameters such as Population, Average Household Income, Road Network Length and area of the city. The models developed were validated by conducting the households’ surveys in two Cites Durgapur and Gwalior. Among the six models developed, the predicted values based on Population and City area are very close to the observed values of Durgapur and Gwalior cities.
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By
Prof. A. R. Ghode, Mr.Kukkar Paresh K.
Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner

Abstract
Tidal Energy or tidal power achieved by capturing the energy contained in moving water mass due to tides. Two types of tidal energy can be extracted: kinetic energy of current between ebbing and surging tides and potential energy of currents between high and low tides. The formal method – generating energy from tidal current – is considered much more feasible today than building ocean-based dams or barrages, and many coastal sites worldwide are being examined for their suitability to produce tidal energy. Tidal power is reliable predictable (unlike wind energy and solar power).

1.0 INTRODUCTION
As a brief introduction, I would like to explain my interests in studying Tidal Power as a means for generating reliable, carbon-free electricity.
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By
Prof. Madhuri K. Rathi, Mr. Patil Dhananjay Rajiv
Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner

Abstract
The concentration of the inlet wastewater of urban sewage treatment plants is much lower than the expected level in the design stage, mainly because of the problems of construction, management and maintenance of the drainage systems. Through investigation of the urban drainage pipelines, primary problems of drainage network damage, local unreasonable elevation design, pipe blockage and drainage system confusion, etc. were found. Combining the local actual situation, some corresponding engineering and management measures and some feasible suggestions for drainage pipe construction, management and maintenance are put forward.
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By
Prof. Madhuri K. Rathi, Mr.Darshan V Patel
Department of Civil Engineering, Pune University, India

Abstract
The growing population of India has created many problems one of the challenging ones being car parking which we confront almost every day. Besides the problem of space for cars moving on the road, greater is the problem of space for a parked vehicle considering that private vehicles remain parked for most of their time. While residential projects still escape with designated parking, the real problem lie with commercial spaces many a time which is overcome by taking extra open spaces to park.

Multi-level Parking systems for sometime have provided relief since they come with a number of advantages – optimal utilisation of space, lower maintenance and operational cost, lower construction cost, secure and environment-friendly nature, comfortable for the drivers, cost saving for builders by saving height or depth. Multiple Level Car Parking Systems are much in vogue a method of automatically parking and retrieving cars that typically use a system of pallets and lifts and signalling devices for retrieval. They serve advantages like safety, saving of space, time and fuel space but also need to have an extra and a very detailed assessment of the parking required, space availability and traffic flow.
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Sreenivasa Hassan Jayaram
Manager-Projects, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560001

Abstract-Composite materials are combination of two or more simple materials to yield another material with better properties like higher strength, stiffness, fatigue life, less weight, Resistance to higher temperatures. The common types of Composites under use are Particle reinforced type, Fiber reinforced type, Sandwich or Laminated type.In composites normally particle of one or more material are suspended in a matrix of another material to make the material stronger. The Fiber Reinforced Composites are the long fiber of one material is embedded in the matrix of other material which turns out to be extremely strong. The fiber reinforced composites can be used in concrete by reinforcing elements like carbon fiber, aramid fiber, grid type reinforcement elements, etc. Add reinforcing steel rods, wires and bars (rebar) to uncured concrete to enhance mechanical strength. The environmental effects on this composite material may pose threat to structure and must be considered during the design process, otherwise failure will cause waste of time, energy and money. Usually the degree of sensitivity of composites to individual environmental factors is quite different. The effects of environmental factors such as biological attack, fatigue, temperature and moisture can limit the usefulness of polymer composites by deteriorating the mechanical properties during service and are the most important environmental degradation factors to be taken into consideration. The temperature effects on the fracture properties of composites. The study by Marom, 1989[7] showed that inter laminar fracture energy decreased by 25-30% as temperature increased from –50°C to 100°C. All these factors are particularly significant in tropical and subtropical conditions, cracking of elements may cause rapid of degradation by corrosion. The paper highlights the effect of environmental parameters on performance of various types of composites with necessary precautions.
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By
Kaushal Kishore
Materials Engineer, Roorkee

INTRODUCTION:
For the last 20 years, the use of by products of various origins in the production of concrete has become an increasingly widespread practice in the world. The main advantages are all the elimination of scraps and a reduction in the over exploitation of quarries.

Blast furnace slag is used in blended cement. Although many studies have been conducted on the evaluation of the electric arc furnace slag to be use in concrete as aggregates replacing natural aggregates, no studies have been performed regarding the use of induction furnace slag in concrete as aggregates replacing natural aggregates.

In making mild steel ingot scrap to sponge iron is fed into the induction furnace which produces large quantity of slag. For example Kotdwar a small town of Uttarakhand Steel Mills induction furnances alone generates 15,000 tonnes of slag per year and about 1,50,000 tonnes of slag is lying as dump around this city posing an environmental problem. If about 20 steel factories of Kotdwar generate such quantity of slag it can be calculated how much slag is being generated by about 600 induction furnace units of India.
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By
M. S. Sureshkumar (Department of Chemical Engineering, Industrial Chemistry and Material Science (DICCISM) and Giovanni Polacco (University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi 2, Italy)

Abstract
In order to enhance its performances, asphalt is often modified with polymers. Recently, the addition of nanoclay as a third component was studied and found to further improve the asphalt properties. This results with ternary polymer/asphalt/nanoclay blends, which were termed as polymer modified asphalt nanocomposite (PMAN). In this study, PMAN were prepared by using ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), ethylene metha-crylate (EMA) and an organo-modified montmorillonite. Moreover, two different preparation methods were used: i) physical mixing, where polymer and nanoclay are added separately to hot asphalt and ii) nanocomposite blending, where polymer and nanoclay are previously blended in a high shear mixer. The thermal and morphological properties, as well as the fuel resistance of the obtained PMAN were studied.

Keywords: Polymer modified asphalts, Nanocomposites, Kerosene.

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By
Nilesh M. Kashid, Pune, Maharashtra, India.

ABSTRACT
During the last few decades, earthquake engineering has undergone significant development. Initially, structures were designed without considering seismic loading. Later, it was observed that the structures designed for some lateral loads like wind etc. performed significantly well than those designed for gravity loading only. Hence, the importance of considering earthquake forces in the design process is realized and seismic resistant design became a practice. Further with the advent of time history analysis and better understanding of seismic response. The importance of ductility of structure is realized in resisting even higher seismic loads than the designed loads. The design base shear force is reduced by introducing a response reduction factor to consider an inelastic displacement capacity of ductile structure in dissipating the energy. Further, with more understanding of structural behaviour at micro-level or element level, the concept of “capacity design” was introduced and this forced to decide the required performance of the structure right at the design stage itself. Today, the seismic design codes of various countries are being revised to decide performance criteria of the buildings that will suit the existing design and construction practices in the respective countries. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a possible method of seismic analysis that can be incorporated in the existing Indian Seismic Code I.S.: 1893-2002. For the purpose, some of the key features the existing methodology followed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of United States of America is made use of.

KEYWORDS: FEMA, performance point, displacement ductility ratio, inelastic displacement demand ratio, capacity curve.

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