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01_STUDIO REPORT Process of Constructing For this week’s activity, we were expected to create a tower as high as it could be, which could also accommodate a client. After getting into groups, rectangular shapes were selected because it is a kind of common shape. In order to build a taller tower, a
In this task, the circumstance is not complex, as no other forces besides the dead load produced by the self-weight of blocks, the friction force and the compression force。
Next, plan B was brought forward as a method to create more load paths (Figure 3). Because the compression force is transported through different path to a lot of destinations, the blocks could bear less loads and this structure would be more stable compared with the former one but not very efficient.
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Plan A was to build the wall as shown in Figure 2. Soon later, the tutor reminded that this could be a very weak structure because the compression forces are only exerted on one single column instead of the whole structure. It is
Figure 3: Plan B, from the graph, load path of this structure could be observed, and some middle parts could be removed if want to increase the efficiency The principle about load path was also applied during the construction process of door. In order to build the beam on the door, the load applied at the top of
Figure 2: Plan A
Figure 1: Rectangular shape chosen at first very small base area was set (Figure 1).
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Figure 4: The loading path diagram of the door beam
obvious that single column can bear less load comparing with the who structure, as a result, if a large compression force is applied to it, the column will start shaking and eventually breaks down.
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the beam needed to be transferred successfully downwards to the ground, therefore, a path was created as shown in the graph (Figure 4 and Figure 5).
Figure 6: Holes found during the process the structure, however we spent a lot of materials and time on fixing these detail, which was not a wise choice.
Efficiency of Material
Figure 5: Picture of the door While during the constructing process, little holes could be always found (Figure 6), which caused difficulties to build a strong and smooth wall. The reason to it might be imprecise placements of wood block on each level. These holes actually doesn't influence the stability of
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One of the most important goals of this task is to create an architecture as high as possible. Therefore, the material efficiency could refer to whether the smallest amount of blocks are used to achieve the ideal height. Overall, our group did not use the material very efficiently because blocks were placed very close to each other and therefore, during the deconstruction process, a large number of blocks could be removed without collapsing.
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However, another problem that decreased the efficiency was that
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Figure 7: When forces are exerted on the part that does not have supports, the other side of this block will turn up as a reaction to the applied force.
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Figure 8: Method came up with to solve the problem in Figure 7
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because of the fixed shape and size of the wood block, sometimes situation like Figure 7 would happened. And the only solution came up with in this case was to add another layer of the exterior wall (Figure 8), which largely decrease the material efficiency. This might also be a disadvantage of the building shape as a rectangle.
Process of Deconstruction During the deconstruction of our groups’ project, the first step was to remove the blocks as much as possible until the whole structure broke down. It can be found that the structure will keep as long as the loads could find a path to travel downwards. After the removal of an essential block that cut down the path, the whole structure would disintegrate immediately (Figure 9).
Comparison with Other Groups Both of the other groups chose the
cylinder shape to build their tower, and cylinder shape could be a very stable structure because it could balance the force exerted on it. The works done by our three groups were all not very efficient.
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During the deconstruction, work in Figure 10 was collapsed along a not wellconstructed line.
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Figure 11
Figure 10
Figure 9: The deconstruction process of our tower. This picture shows the structure that is exactly at the balanced states, if the block that is in the red circle is removed, the tower will collapse due to the lack of load path
While for the other one (Figure 11), the structure was very stable, and when big forces exerted on it, the block began to have a circular motion because the applied force travelled along the load path and created a horizontal force that was greater than the friction force.
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Notice that: Figure 9 Figure 10 and Figure 11 are pictures get from my classmates
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W01 02_LEARNING LOOP Pre-Learning CHING: 02 THE BUILDING (2.08 – 2.11) • Loads: Static Loads (be applied gradually and constantly on the structure with a slow reaction) + Dynamic Loads (be applied suddenly and have a lot of variation on magnitudes and application point, inertial force is produced by the structure) (Ching, 2014). • Static Loads: Live Loads (Unfixed; Occupancy Loads, Snow Loads, Rain Loads, Impact Loads), Dead Loads (Weight), Settlement Loads (Soil sub, Ground Pressure, Water Pressure, Thermal Stress (Ching, 2014). • Dynamic Loads: Wind Loads (Total wind load = wind load/ square foot * vertical projection of the building area, may cause sliding, overturning or uplifting of the house), Earthquake Loads ( Base shear = total dead load * coefficients, restoring force > 150% overturning force) (Ching, 2014). • Force: Vector, expressed as and arrow, Collinear forces (sum = algebraic sum), Concurrent forces (polygon method), Nonconcurrent forces. (Ching, 2014). • Moment (related with Rotation) = Force * Arm • If F1=F2, F1//F2, the directions of F1 and F2 are opposite and generate rotation, Moments are same (Ching, 2014). CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW • How does design get translated into the built form (envs10003, 2014). INTRODUCTION TO MATERIAL • Strength: Is the material easy to break (envs10003, 2014)? • Stiffness: Is it flexible (envs10003, 2014)? • Shape: Whether it is mono-dimensional, bidimensional or tridimensional (envs10003, 2014)?
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• Material Behavior: Is the characteristic of material affected very differently by different forces (direction) applied on it (envs10003, 2014)? • Economy: Is it expensive (envs10003, 2014)? • Sustainability: What it might influence the surrounding environments (envs10003, 2014)? BASIC STRUCTURAL FORCES • Tension forces: Pull the structure, particles move apart (Newton, 2014). • Compression forces: Push the structure, particles move together(Newton, 2014). CHING: 01 SITE ANALYSIS • Soil: Whether the foundation area is stable, about soil’s density, size of the grains, etc (Ching, 2014). • Topography: To change the least on the original environment, about the slope, drainage, waterbody,etc (Ching, 2014). • Plant Material: It could be used to produce shading area, resist the wind, give places different definitions, act as a screen, avoid noise, provide better air and more stable soil (Ching, 2014). • Solar Radiation: Different area have different style of house to utilize the solar energy according to the humidity and temperature; and also have different passive solar design and shading devices (Ching, 2014). • Precipitation: This could affect the architecture structure and selection of material as well as the external building styles (Ching, 2014). • Drainage: Surface and subsurface drainage (Ching, 2014). • Wind: It could be used during hot periods and be avoided in cold days, and buildings should be constructed with the consideration of the effects of wind loads (Ching, 2014). • Sound & Views: Aspects need to be covered to reduce noise: distance & screen, position to put windows in order to get better views (Ching, 2014).
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WALKING THE CONSTRUCTED CITY/ MELBOURNE BLUESTONE • Walking = Experience of a city (envs10003, 2014). • Natural environment of an area affects its constructing environments, e.g. bluestone is widely used in Melbourne because the volcano eruption produce lots of basalts, and this kind of material is used as building foundations, roads or even in the underground water system (envs10003, 2014). LOAD PATH • The path of load should be most direct and downwards (envs10003, 2014). • The the applied loads and the associated reaction need to have same magnitude and opposite direction in order to keep balance and generate a stable structure (envs10003, 2014).
Studio • Force: length of the line = magnitude line of action = the body of the arrow sense = the arrowhead (H. Mitcheltree, personal communication, August 01, 2014). • Scales: represent both larger and smaller things in order to let the present in a better way (H. Mitcheltree, personal communication, August 01, 2014). • Plywood: this kind of material that has different layers that is dimensional stable and widely used in construction (H. Mitcheltree, personal communication, August 01, 2014).
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03_GLOSSARY APPENDIX
! • Load Path: Load path is the way that load is transported downwards in a structure (envs10003, 2014). ! • Masonry: Masonry is the architectural structure that is composed of individual pieces like brick (Ching, 2014). ! • Compression: Compression is the result of a structure member when external force push it(Newton, 2014). !
• Reaction Force: Reaction force is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction of the active force according to Newton’s Third law of Motion (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2014).
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• Point Load: Point load is a kind of load that the weight of the material above a structure is mostly focus on one point, while the opposite one is the uniformly distributed load, as the weight of material is applied along the structure on lots of points (R, Cameron, personal communication, August 05, 2014).
! • Beam: Beam is the horizontal component of a structure that is used to transfer load and support weight (Ching, 2014). ! • Flutter: The vibration of cords or thin sheets in a structure caused by wind (Ching, 2014). !
• Moment: Ching (2014) states that ‘ a moment is the tendency of a force to produce rotation of a body about a point or line’.
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04_REFERENCE LIST
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Ching, F. (2014). Building Construction Illustrated (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley&Sons. Envs10003. (2014a, March 5). W01 c1 Construction Overview [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lHqr-PyAphw&feature=youtu.be Envs10003. (2014b, March 5). W01 W01 m1 Introduction to Materials [Video file]. Retrieved from http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CJ8o_lJbg&feature=youtu.be Envs10003. (2014c, March 5). W01 s1 Load Path Diagrams [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=y__V15j3IX4&feature=youtu.be Envs10003. (2014, March 6). Melbourne's Bluestone [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=CGMA71_3H6o&feature=youtu.be National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2014). Newton’s Third Law Applied to Aerodynamics. Retrieved from http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/newton3.html Newton, C. (2014). ENVS10003, BASIC STRUCTURAL FORCES (I) [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from University of Melbourne, LMS web site: https://app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/courses/ENVS10003_2014_SM2/WEEK %2001/Basic%20Structural%20Forces%201.pdf.
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