NCSU Engineering Camp 2011: Civil Engineering part 2

Day 2: Hydraulics

The first half of Day 2 was focused on Hydraulics, or the application of fluid mechanics to engineer canals, dams, hydroelectric power plants and other water based structures. For our workshop on Hydraulics, we had to engineer a floating device that could allow us to measure the volumetric rate of change in an artificial stream. Because

Q = V x A, where Q is volumetric flow rate and A is the cross sectional area and V is velocity,
and A is a constant (for our experiment) Because we weren't provided with any instrument to directly measure velocity, we could use the equation V = s/t to figure out the velocity of the stream. Also provided for us was the distance the stream. Theoretically, all we have to do is to build a device and record the time it takes it takes to get from point A to point B in the stream. However, the problem lies in that at the bottom of the stream, there is no velocity there and velocity decrease as depth is changed from the top of the stream and the bottom of the stream. Since the velocity isn't constant, there is too much differentiation if measuring the velocity alone on the top. This is where our hydraulics engineering comes into action; we are to design a floatation device that allows us to measure the average velocity in the stream.

(This one is not my groups)

Day 2: Flotation Devices:
Our concept for our flotation device is really simple: We attached a weight from a string to the main buoy. We hoped that the piece of weight that is attached to the buoy would allow us to measure the velocity of the weight and the buoy and then average them together so that we could get an average velocity. Because the velocity at the bottom of the stream is zero, we can assure that our model theoretically could give us a reasonable estimate of the average velocity. However, when we tested our device and also the weight fluctuates quite frequently when it is placed in the water which would decrease the effectiveness of our flotation device. While ours failed to perform, some others were more successful. One of our competitors included a straw wall behind their flotation device so that the current would stabilize throughout the stream, therefore allowing them to achieve a greater accuracy in finding the average velocity of the stream. Our flotation device did not take into considerations of possible oscillations due to Bernoulli's principle. For that reason, we have failed to record and calculate an accurate Volumetric flow rate.

Overview:
This activity demonstrated the difference between theoretical scenarios and actual cases. in the field of Architecture and Engineering there are many factors involved in designing the best possible solution. This was on part of us trying to oversimplify hydraulics. However, this was a great opportunity for me to learn more on hydraulics and fluid dynamics. It was a very interesting yet frustrating experience for me because I felt that we could have done much more. Sometimes we think that he solution is simple, but often solutions are often deceptive.

NCSU Engineering Camp 2011: Civil Engineering part 3

(Our group's straw bridge)

Day 3: Straw Bridge Design Competition
On the second day, we were instructed in the field of bridge engineering. Bridges that have a truss are more likely to be sustained than bridges that don't; load must be distributed evenly otherwise deflection (breaking point) would occur. Our group design of our straw bridge was a simple interlocking five triangles that form a trapezoid as the truss for our bridge along with simple interlocking squares as the floor and the top of the bridge. we believed that our interlocking truss and the floor would provide enough support because if there were any tension on any one point, it would be transferred to another member near it. Also important was the cost and time; our design couldn't be too ambitious and expensive. However, when we tested the load, it wasn't able to match up with our competitors because we made it too long, and the load primarily acted on the center of our bridge, and the weight of the floor of our bridge further increased the deflection in our straw bridge. Also, we did not include any cross bracing to keep the top from holding the bridge together. One of our competitors attached an arch to the bottom of their bridge, which allowed the bridge to sustain deflection near their end. One of the connections to architecture is obviously emphasizing the role of cross bracing in architectural design.

(measuring deflection)

(The winning entry with the arch)

Day 3: West point Straw bridge competition
The second half of our bridges workshop involved using a program called West Point Bridge Designer. We were asked to design the cheapest bridge that could sustain a regular truck. Using the program, we could choose from two types of bridges; standard truss bridge or an arch bridge. Using hollow tubes or solid members we had to design the cheapest load sustainable bridge . We chose to design an standard bridge but with a curve at the ends to shorten the length, hence reduce the cost. We made most of the structure with hollow tubes while leaving the sides of the structure with solid bars of high quality quenched steel. We were able to achieve the lowest score amongst the entire workshop in large part to our ingenuity and shrewd micro-management of members that could be reduced in size for a lower cost. Overall, bridge design is about micromanagement, as we figured out; Architecture could be applied in the same manner; it is possible to optimize every component of the building to minimize the cost tremendously; I believe that this could be the new face of architecture.

Overview:
Bridge design provided to be one of the most unpredictable aspect of civil engineering as we were endowed with the minimal knowledge of physics and engineering theory. What we believe constitute a strong bridge could be an overestimation as we failed to consider the impact that over supporting the bottom of the bridges could increase the existing load, hence deflection on the bridge. Howevcer, this part of Civil Engineering camp was a quite enjoyable experience because we learned about what Civil Engineers have to do sometimes. Also, the West Point Bridge Designing Competition allowed me to envision a future for architecture where every component of the building could be optimized so that costs would be sharply reduced. This way we can move towards a more sustainable future.

NCSU Engineering Camp 2011: Civil Engineering part 1

Recently I participated in a very exciting educational opportunity; I was able to take yet another trip to NC State University for a summer Civil Engineering Camp. I attended this camp for the purpose of enriching my understanding of architecture beyond the design standards. For example an architect has to understand and allocate the right kind of concrete for a building; architects have to understand what civil engineers do in order to design buildings for the civil engineers to engineer, just as civil engineer have to understand a construction worker's work in order to know how to best plan the construction of a building. For me, experiencing Civil Engineering means going back to the roots of what architecture used to be: engineering the best possible structure. Design can only go so far before engineering and physics makes it impossible. The Civil Engineering Camp was a stay in camp in which I attended four full days of intensive study into the works of Civil engineers. During these four days, I was taught the fundamentals of making concrete, hydraulics, surveying, water filtration and bridge building.

Day 1: Fundamentals of Concrete making
Our first day was dominated by a tutorial on how to engineer concrete. Basically, concrete is a mixture of several components; water, sand and gravel along with cement. Despite people's perceptions, cement is not concrete. Cement is the binding agent that allows other components such as water, sand and gravel to be able to bind to each other. In such a reaction, water is the catalyst for such a reaction. the right amount of sand, gravel must be added for maximum strength. Because gravel is very large, it has many air holes which would decrease the strength of the concrete and exacerbate the problems of expansion and contraction during the transition from warm to cold and vice versa. To solve this fundamental problem, sand is implemented in order to allow for the closing up of these air holes. However, the right amount of mixture of sand and gravel must be achieved; gravel provides most of the strength in the concrete, but not enough sand may decrease the maximum effectiveness of the concrete. Also, if there is too much sand, the concrete would become too weak. As in chemistry, more of any singular component doesn't necessary yield a bigger or stronger reaction; in this case more of any singular component in a concrete mixture doesn't necessary yield a stronger concrete. Not only strength is a consideration, but also the cost. Concrete is a relatively simple composite; however to use it en mass an engineer must be able to minimize the cost to its barest minimum while keeping it's tensile strength intact. This concept is also very important for architects, as their designs must optimize to reduce costs, and knowledge of civil engineering allows for even more reduced costs as micro management could lead to big savings cumulatively.

Day 1: Making the concrete
My engineering group decided on something like a 16% water mixture into our concrete mix. Our proportion of sand is greater than gravel. However, as we learned while mixing the concrete, we added too much water, making the concrete mixture extremely unstable. In order to compensate for having too much water, we added extra sand and gravel in order to balance our mixture. Afterwards, we conducted something called the slump test, where we measure the slump or vertical differential of the concrete mixture after pouring it into a metal trapezoidal cylinder. We measured how much the concrete mixture fell from the tip of the trapezoidal cylinder. A good concrete mixture always has slump because it indicates that the concrete mixture could grow in size and strength. If a concrete mixture has too little slump, it indicates that the concrete mixture doesn't have much growth left.

(A weak concrete mixture with too much gravel)

Day 1: Curing
Curing is the process in which a concrete mixture is left in some sort of box where it undergoes extensive chemical reactions where the cement reacts with the water, sand and gravel . This process essentially allows the concrete to increase in strength. Typically the curing process takes approximately 28 days to achieve maximum strength. However, due to the limited time that our camp as allocated, we have only about 4 days to allow the concrete to undergo curing. Despite the shortened time, concrete mixtures tend to grow in strength in a logistical growth curve manner; growing exponentially at first then slows its rate of growth after the initial period of curing is over.

Day 1: Surveying skills
The second half of the workshop was devoted to teaching us the basics of surveying. Surveying is an extremely important skill that Civil Engineers, Architects and Construction workers have to learn how to do. Construction, design and engineering on ground requires a through understanding of the topography on which such buildings are built upon. For example, the building must be given enough support if it is to be placed on a hill. Also, any differences in depth and height must be accounted because the foundation must be set according to depth and elevation. Understanding the field of construction is important not only for practical reasons, but also for aesthetic reasons. Buildings can be placed protruding from a hill for an architectural statement, or could surround an valley. Normally, surveying an area consisted of N, W and Z components (x, y, z), but for the purposes of our surveying workshop, we used only the N and W components. Surveying consists of a set area in which the surveying is to be done. Basically, surveying consists of finding an area. There are three ways to survey an area. Two of which are merely crude estimates. Using a person's pacing as a measuring tape, we follow along the path of the surveyed area and measured the area in the lot by splitting it into regular geometric shapes.
The second consists of measuring the sides with a measuring tape. The third method involves the use of a surveying machine that measures the distance by sending a laser beam to a mirror at the other end of the point which is then reflected back in order to calculate the distance between the machine and the mirror. However, the first two methods are not productive, as the surveyed area could have highly irregular shapes that would make using pacing and measuring tapes awkward. Instead, the use of the surveying machines are a must for standard surveying.


Overview:
The first day was an intensive course in the field of engineering, as the mystery behind concrete is unveiled; my idea and perception of concrete as a building material has changed. Learning about the complexity of concrete has been truly enlightening because I realize how it relates to architecture and the various applications it could have. What if we could reprocess concrete back into its components or engineer an extremely efficient concrete for construction; imagine it's effects on architecture? To me, it means a lot of design options to create a better building.

Drafting II: Architecture house project

After taking Drafting I as a freshman, I was intrigued by the world of drafting and its application, Architecture. Ever since I was a kid, I was taken by the world of art; I took weekly drawing classes to hone my skills. As I progressed in Drafting II Architecture as a sophomore in high school, I acquired the skills necessary to produce a set of basic architecture plans. I based my house upon modernist themes; I felt that my butterfly style roof allowed me to diverge from traditional house design; rather than having a monotonous pyramidal structure roof, the butterfly roof is an expression of the freedom that comes with Architecture.

Floor Plan for House:
(Click on image to enlarge)

My floor plan is largely divided into two halves; the east half largely hold utility functions; it consists of a public bathroom, kitchen with breakfast eating section, laundry room and a formal dining room/convertible computer room. On the west side of the building are the bedrooms; two minor bedrooms in the southwest side of the building and the master bedroom and bath dominates the northwest side of the building. This house is a three bedroom; 2 and a half bath house. One feature of my floor plan I like the best would be the transition hallway between the east and the west side of the building just above the living room because it doesn't disrupt the people who are in the living room, who could be, say watching a movie together.

Isometric Projections (Click to enlarge):

These are isometric projections of my house; I used brick veneer as my choice of siding; it is durable and doesn't have the bulkiness of a regular brick wall (I have to provide for a large foundation and wall). Also, it's lighter and easier to install than regular brick walls. Also, the use of regular Masonite siding has its disadvantages; it is prone to water; brick veneer offers great outdoor weathering properties.

Electrical Plan:

I don't really believe in having too much lightning because they sometimes can obstruct the natural surrounding around the houses, but I highly believe that lightning is an absolute essential for kitchens; so I put in fluorescent light for the kitchen.

Foundation Plan and Sections:

I enjoyed making my pier and wall sections because I could dictate how thick my wall is and how much of certain things like insulation I could use with my wall; even if my designs were a little skewed; an six inch brick veneer wall when a eight inch wall was typical. Despite these mistakes, this section of my project was enjoyable and I learned a good deal about the interior of building walls.
Wall Elevations:

Door and Window Schedule:

Drafting I: Freshman Year hand-drafting

As an student, I have two years of architecture at school already; my first year was full of hand-drafting as we were taught the basics of drafting; our teacher instructed us on proper tool usage and application of dimension lines along with drafting theory and layout. At the half semester, our teacher asked us to draft the desk on which we did our drafting. Our objective was to portray our desk using three methods; isometrically (xyz plane), orthographically (front, side and back) and using CAD software isometrically.

Orthographic projection (inverted color to show details):

Isometric projection:

NC State University 2010 Design Camp Pictures and Work

Hey guys, last year I was able to participate in a great enrichment opportunity to broaden my exposure to the world of design: I attended the NC State University annual Design Camp in a week for some design nirvana as I was immersed in various disciplines of design; in fields of Architecture, Landscape Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design and video editing. I learned a lot of design principles in these fields. Particularly with regards to Architecture, my instructor has remarked architecture as a kind of encompassing space that allows the inhabitant to feel safe; our need for safety has inspired our design for a shelter with four enclosing walls. To accomplish that goal, my inspiration for my architectural model was the protruding composition of medieval European fortress. To emphasize humanities constant need for protection, I have created a fort like structure that encompasses these ideals. Here is my architectural model:

this architectural model, as professed was my interpretation of a Medieval fortress; its protruding shape is meant to help keep the inhabitant feel safe, as the windows are strategically placed so that the inhabitant would be able to view any possible dangers; they are placed at an angle to the field of vision so that who ever approaches may be located before they get any closer. The size of this structure also insures that the person have an adequate field of vision, rather than being overwhelmed by the size of the field of vision. This in essence is my response to the adage that we build shelters not only to protect us from the natural environment, but also from each other.

Back of the cards

This was my design for a set of playing cards; it is based on a robot motif because I felt that robots are the key to replacing human labor in specialized mechanical forms of labor in the future; they are the architects of future developments in technology. Also, the robots also provide an aesthetic that works well with a modified version of the Cubism movement; my sun rays are inspired by Cubist ideology. Robots would better complement this form of style. Also, I would like to parallel the geometric approximation in Architecture; that everything, regardless of shape could be broken into basic geometric shapes. This, too is true to Cubist tradition.

This is my character design for a hypothetical video game about a mission to mars. I drew my inspiration from role-playing games; I wanted to create a intimidating boss character. To initiate this, I decided to have him assume a deceiving cheery mode which hides his deep evil beneath him. I have drawn inspiration from Roman armor with modern features.

This is my landscape architecture design. This is essentially a kind of theme park that is interconnected together by a aluminum foil walkway; actually representing a concrete walkway; I waned to express a sense of welcome, so I placed one of the interconnecting bridge over the two shorter rectangular buildings so that if a person walks into the theme park, he or she will we "welcomed" into the park by the bridge because it creates a sense of enclosure. Also, the tower is meant to heighten this effect by being placed just beyond that bridge. Overall, this park is symbolic for the synergistic effect that each and every component of architecture has on the overall impression on the landscape.
Here is me conversing with a professor at NC State on my landscape architecture project.

Hiatus Notice

It's been a long time since the last time that I posted an article on this blog. I have been busy with my school work since that time. Look foward to bringing you new articles!