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Abdulrahman, A (2010) The development of a performance measurement framework for FE/HE co-location construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Abo Kanon, H (2017) The motivations, possibilities and constrains of flexible housing practices in the UK and Turkey, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Akoh, S R (2018) Risk management framework for highway construction projects in Nigeria, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructures and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Al Saudi, I S A (2011) The impediments to the adoption of the design and build project procurement strategy in the Saudi construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Al-Sharif, F F A (2007) Financial model for private finance initiative projects applied to school buildings, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Alasad, R (2015) Dynamic modelling of demand risk in PPP infrastructure projects: the case of toll roads, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Ali Amjad, A (2003) A causal path model to measure the effects of professional training upon time overruns in Saudi construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Alkhamali, K S H (2014) Leadership style, organisational culture and disputes in public construction, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Alotaibi, S S (2016) The international contractor's decision to invest: a strategic risk management decision model for public private partnership projects in Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Alshehri, A R (2016) Quality management system for building maintenance, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Alsulaiman, Y S (2015) Risk management in Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) projects in Saudi Arabia: a grounded theory study to improve effectiveness, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Alsuliman, J A (2014) Effective stakeholder engagement in variation order management at the design stage of public sector construction projects in Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Arab, M Z M (2011) A function-based cost model for early cost advice on new-build schools projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment , Heriot-Watt University.
Auchterlounie, A C (2004) A new quality theory for UK private housebuilding based on definable quality principles, impression management and the control of cognitive dissonance, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Awodele, O A (2012) Framework for managing risk in privately financed market projects in Nigeria, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Azharuddin, M (2019) Integrated carbon emission management for the United Arab Emirates construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Bageis, A S O (2008) Contractors' decision to bid: development of a bid/no bid strategic decision model, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment , Heriot-Watt University.
Bausman, D C (2002) An empirical investigation of the relationship between strategic planning and performance of large construction firms, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Bayrak, T (2008) Semi automatic construction progress measurement using a combination of CAD modelling, photogrammetry and construction knowledge, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Bell, K L (1994) The strategic management of projects to enhance value for money for BAA plc, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Boateng, P (2014) A dynamic systems approach to risk assessment in megaprojects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Carter, K (2005) ConSus: a decision support tool for the procurement of sustainable social housing, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Chan, P W (2005) An interpretivistic approach to understand the factors that affect construction labour productivity, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Connelly, J (2001) Developing guidelines for adopting an environmental orientation for construction and related organisations within the supply chain in the construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Coutts, A W (1997) Change management in the construction industry: a client's mechanism for control, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Didla, N R (2018) Evaluation of the impact of quality risk management on quality performance in the UAE construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Elsherif, E M (2007) A decision aid model for the selection of appropriate payment and pricing systems for construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Emhemed, A E (2005) Comprehensive approach to housing legislation: with reference to housing in Libya, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Architecture, Heriot-Watt University.
Essa, R A (2008) A framework for the pre-construction evaluation of sustainable housing projects in the UK, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Fahid, S (2007) An investigation of the effectiveness of total quality management in the UK construction industry: An empirical study, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Falqi, I I A (2011) Knowledge capture and retrieval in construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Fortea, S M E (1989) An investigation of appropriateness relative to indigenous and modern housing in Libya, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, Heriot-Watt University.
Fortune, C J (1999) Factors affecting the selection of building project price forecasting tools, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Godawatte, G A G R (2021) Understanding the cost overrun causation in construction megaprojects: a grounded systems thinking approach, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Griffith, A (1984) A critical investigation of factors influencing buildability and productivity, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Hamani, K (2019) Developing a corporate sustainability performance evaluation model of the UAE construction contractors, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Haniff, A P (2017) The alignment of strategic objectives within the context of temporary multi-organisations, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Schoolof Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Ibrahim, A A R (1995) An empirical analysis of the strategic group concept within the UK construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Ibrahim, Y M (2008) Developing a model for vision-based progress measurement and visualisation of as-built construction operations, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Imanghaliyeva, A (2021) Managing sociotechnical risks in infrastructure projects: Sociotechnical Systems (STS) perspectives on systems, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Kashwani, G A (2017) Enhancing the implementation of safety engineering systems in oil and gas construction projects in the UAE, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Kelly, J R (2005) Managing client value at the strategic briefing stage of construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Khalid, M S (2010) Abandoned housing development: the Malaysian experience, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Kian Manesh Rad, E (2016) Development of a project complexity assessment method for energy megaprojects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Kurniawan, F (2013) An integrated project evaluation tool for public-private partnership projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Lam, K Y (2017) The role of tacit knowledge in knowledge intensive project management, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Lihakanga, R (2022) Generic wireless sensor network for dynamic monitoring of a new generation of building material, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: accuracy; equipment; indoor air quality; standards; air quality; communication; monitoring; visualisation; experiment; thermal comfort; case study; simulation; validation; measurement; measurement method
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10399/4764
- Abstract:
Existing testing methods for building materials before deployment include a series of procedures as stipulated in British Standards, and most tests are performed in a controlled laboratory environment. Types of equipment used for measurements, data logging, and visualisation are commonly bulky, hard-wired, and consume a significant amount of power. Most of the off-the-shelf sensing nodes have been designed for a few specific applications and cannot be used for general purpose applications. This makes it difficult to modify or extend the sensing features when needed. This thesis takes the initiative of designing and implementing a low-powered, open-source, flexible, and small-sized Generic wireless sensor network (GWSN) that can continuously monitor the building materials and building environment, to address the limitations of the conventional measurement methods and the technological gap. The designed system is comprised of two custom-made sensor nodes and a gateway, as well as purpose designed firmware for data collection and processing. For the proof of concept and experimental studies, several measurement strategies were designed, to demonstrate, evaluate, and validate the effectiveness of the system. The data was collected from selected case study areas in the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS) laboratories by measuring and monitoring building structures and indoor environment quality parameters using the designed GWSN. The measured data includes heat flux through the material, surface and air temperatures on both sides of the material/structure, moisture variation, ambient temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and sound/acoustic levels. The initial results show the potential of the designed system to become the new benchmark for tracking the variation of building materials with the environment and investigating the impact of variation of building materials on indoor environment quality. Based on the estimates of the thermal performance data, the sample used in the experiment had a typical U-value between 4.8 and 5.8 W/m2K and a thermal resistance value of 0.025m2 K/W[1][2]. Thermal resistance values from the GWSN real-time measurement were between 0.025 and 0.03 m2K/W, with an average of 0.025 m2K/W, and thermal transmission values varied between 4.55 and 5.11 W/m2K. Based on the data obtained, the results are within the range of typical values[3]. For thermal comfort measurements, the results of humidity and temperature from GWSN were compared to values in the Kambic climatic chamber in the EGIS laboratory, and the accuracies were 99 % and 98 % respectively. For the IAQ measurements, the values of CO2 and TVOCs were compared to the commercial off-the-shelf measuring system, and the accuracies were 98 %, and 97 %. Finally, the GWSN was tested for acoustic measurements in the range of 55 dB to 106 dB. The results were compared to class one Bruel & Kjaer SLM. The accuracy of GWSN was 97 %. The GWSN can be used for in lab and in-situ applications, to measure and analyse the thermal physical properties of building materials/building structures (thermal transmittance, thermal conductivity, and thermal resistance). The system can also measure indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and airborne sound insulation of the building envelope. The key point here is to establish a direct link between how building materials vary with the environment and how this impacts indoor environment quality. Such a link is essential for long-term analysis of building materials, which cannot be achieved using current methods. Regarding increasing the power efficient of the implemented GWSN as well as its performance and functionality, a new sensing platforms using backscatter technology have been introduced. The theory of modulation and spread spectrum technique used in backscattering has been explored. The trade-off between hardware complexity/power consumption and link performance has been investigated. Theoretical analysis and simulation validation of the new sensing technique, using backscatter communication, has been performed. A novel multicarrier backscatter tag compatible with Wireless Fidelity has been implemented and an IEEE 802.11g OFDM preamble was synthesized by simulation. The tag consists of only two transistors with current consumption no larger than 0.2 ?A at voltage of less than 0.6 V. Novel harmonic suppression approaches for frequency-shifted backscatter communication has been proposed and demonstrated. The proposed approaches independently manipulate mirror harmonics and higher order harmonics whereby; specified higher order harmonics can be removed by carefully designing the real-valued (continuous and discrete) reflection coefficients-based backscatter tags. When successfully implemented, the backscatter system will reduce sensor node power consumption by shifting the power-consuming radio frequency carrier synthesis functions to carrier emitters.
Lim, B T C (1987) Causal modelling construction project performance, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Lockwood, M (1991) A study of national competitive advantage in construction: the European construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Lonsdale, J H (2011) Falls from height: risk perception of ladder users within the UK construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Mahmood, A (1992) Educational interests and needs of owner-managers of small building firms, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
Male, S P (1984) A critical investigation of professionalism in quantity surveying, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Marwan, A E (2019) Integrating building information modeling to project management consultants' role and practice in UAE, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Matshidze, L B (2021) Developing a Public Private Partnerships (PPP) framework for implementing road maintenance projects in South African rural communities, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Matthewson, C (1992) The relationship between tactical management and contract procurement in the North American competitive lump sum bidding process, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Mirzaie, S (2022) Influence of BREEAM, BIM, and Soft Landings on lifecycle performance of two non-domestic buildings, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Mohammed, R E (2007) An exploratory system dynamics model to investigate the relationships between errors that occur in construction documents in Saudi Arabia and their possible causes, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Molwus, J J (2014) Stakeholder management in construction projects: a life cycle based framework, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
Mughrabi, A O (2019) Change management capability maturity model for contractors in the Kuwaiti construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Murphy, R (2011) Strategic planning in Irish quantity surveying practices, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University.
Omar, N (2022) Enhancing agile application in construction projects using BIM, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Phung, Q A (2020) Project management for sustainable project success, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Heriot-Watt University.
Preece, C N (1993) A study of the management of promotion for competitive advantage in UK construction firms, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
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Sharqi, R I A (2017) Developing a system for health and safety enhancement and automation in construction sites, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University.
Skinnarland, S (2013) Use of progression planning tools in developing collaborative main contractor-subcontractor relationships in Norway, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University.
Sommerville, J (1993) Recruitment sources and employee turnover in sectors of the construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, Heriot-Watt University.
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