Abstracts – Browse Results
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Akcamete, A (2011) A formal approach for managing facility change information and capturing change history as part of building information models (BIMs), Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Al-Dughaither, K A (1996) International construction financing strategies: Influential factors and decision-making, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Amekudzi, A (1999) Uncertainty analysis of national highway performance measures in the context of evolving analysis models and data, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Atasoy, G (2013) Visualizing and interacting with construction project performance information, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Bello, M A (2012) Minimizing impediments to design for construction safety (DFCS) implementation on capital projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Ben-Alon, L (2020) Natural buildings: Integrating earthen building materials and methods into mainstream construction, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: earthen materials; standards; climate change; environmental impact; life cycle; policy; pollution; owner; quantification
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2374443200
- Abstract:
Earthen materials are critically needed for modern building to dramatically reduce carbon-intensive and extractive construction practices, and to improve comfort, health, and community engagement. Light straw clay, rammed earth, and cob assemblies provide high thermal inertia and high hygrothermal performance, resulting in optimal indoor environment for occupant’s comfort and health. Despite their advantages, earthen materials are not widespread. For some, there is a perception that earthen materials are “poor-mans materials” and low-tech. For others, the technical data is inadequate to quantify their true performance for different climates. Lastly, earthen materials are not comprehensively represented in building codes and standards. To address both the benefits and gaps, this thesis completes performance and policy assessments to mainstream implementation of earthen materials in the construction industry. The dissertation undertakes: (1) Perception analysis that identifies how negative perception on earthen building can be revised; (2) Technical analysis through environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of earthen materials compared to conventional building materials in six climates; and (3) Policy repair analysis for earthen building codes and standards towards the development of comprehensive earthen building codes. The perception analysis reveals the importance of health and indoor quality data to influence homeowners, of environmental data for policymakers, and the importance of reducing building permitting barriers, especially for compressed earth block and rammed earth assemblies. The environmental LCA shows that earthen assemblies significantly reduce environmental impacts compared to the benchmark assemblies of wood and concrete assemblies. Using in-depth LCI and LCA analysis, the thesis quantifies that the embodied energy demand is reduced by 62-71% by shifting from wood or concrete to earthen assemblies. In addition, the embodied global climate change impacts are reduced by 85-91%, the embodied air acidification is reduced by 79-95%, and the embodied particulate pollution is virtually eliminated. The operational impacts are shown to be highly dependent on the hygrothermal properties and climate zone, but in all cases, earthen assemblies outperform conventional assemblies with light straw clay and insulated rammed earth the top performers for all 6 climates. Finally, the policy repair analysis provides strategic solutions to address the unfamiliarity and under-development of earthen building codes, by use of successful precedents from around the world. The concluding recommendations are to advance the permitting processes in the absence of local earthen building codes and to establish a national organization for Earthen Building to lead and contribute to the development of an international comprehensive earthen building code. This doctoral thesis contributes critically needed environmental quantification and policy recommendations to catalyze the advancement of healthier and more environmentally sound commitments to earthen construction worldwide.
Coffelt, D P, Jr. (2008) Roof management improvement: Improving infrastructure management decision making through a consideration of total life cycle cost and deterioration, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Dayanand, N (1996) Scheduling payments in projects: An optimization framework, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Ergen, E (2005) Formalization of life-cycle data management of engineered-to-order components using advanced tracking technologies, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Gordon, C (2006) A formalism and a framework for planning of sensor-based construction inspections, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
He, R (2023) Modeling of sustainable materials management systems: Hybrid science-based, data-driven approaches, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Herabat, P (1997) A functional specification for a decision support system to select bridge analysis tools, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Kiliccote, H (1997) A standards processing framework, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Kiziltas, S (2008) An automated approach for developing integrated model-based construction project histories to support estimation of activity production rates, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Lee, K J (2013) A formal and ontological approach to embed commissioning test protocol into building information model, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Lee, S H (2009) Computational fieldwork support for efficient operation and maintenance of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Ochoa Franco, L A (2004) Life cycle assessment of residential buildings, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Pradhan, A R (2009) An approach for fusing data from multiple sources to support construction productivity analyses, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Reich, Y (1991) Building and improving design systems: A machine learning approach, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Reinhardt, J (2003) Navigational models for effective and efficient interaction with integrated product and process models on construction sites, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Resendiz-Carrillo, D (1990) Risk-based framework for the selection of socially optimal dam safety goals, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Rivard, H (1997) A building design representation for conceptual design and case-based reasoning, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.
Sharrard, A L (2007) Greening construction processes using an input-output-based hybrid life cycle assessment method, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Carnegie Mellon University.