Instrumented physical model studies of the peat soil-engineering structure interaction

The engineering structures are mostly constructed directly in contact with the ground and the response between the soil and the structure is termed as soil-engineering structure interaction. To understand the interaction, physical modelling is considered as a prime method of study. This physical model study has been conducted on peat soils obtained from the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute�Integrated Peat Research Station (MARDI-IPRS) in Pontian, Johor. Peat is considered as unsuitable soil for supporting foundations in its natural state due to the high moisture content (>100%), high compressibility (0.9-1.5) and low shear strength (5-20 kPa) values. Peat also contains high organic matter (>75%), large deformation, high compressibility and high magnitude and rates of creep. The objectives of this study are to identify the engineering characteristic of the peat, analyse the deformation behaviour in peat soil based on physical modelling, analyse using physical model the stress distribution beneath the structure in peat soil and to compare the peat behaviour with sand. The reason of comparing these two different types of soil was to obtain the significant difference in terms of the settlement, stress and failure pattern. This study also helps to acquire basic understanding of the behaviour of settlement and stress of peat soil when load is applied to it. The rectangular model and the square model were used in pre-model study (PMS) to identify suitable indicators and observed the deformation of the peat/sand after the loading process. Meanwhile, a plane strain model cm was used in plain strain study (PSS) with instrumentations (Displacement Transducers and Soil Pressure Gauge) to investigate and observed the settlement and stress on the peat/sand. Various static loads were applied at the surface and the interaction between peat soil and sand with the structure was recorded based on all the deformations and stresses at various positions and levels. The water level was maintained at a constant level that is at the surface of the soil to prevent any induce stress due to the seepage of water and to omit settlement due to the lowering of the water table. The observations showed that the settlement in peat was higher compared to the settlement in sand because of the properties of peat that highly compressible compared to sand. The deformation of sand corresponds to general bearing capacity failure and deformation in peat shows punching shear failure. However, the stress in the sand was higher than the stress in peat because of the presence of water that affects the value of stress in peat

Flood Prediction Using Geographical Information System (GIS) Application at Sungai Sembrong

The occurrence of flood disaster in Malaysia has received much attention due to its negative impact towards society, environment and economy. In hydrological field, researchers are interested in flood prediction analysis and it is no longer a stranger in this area. The latest flood incident that hit Sg. Sembrong, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia in 2007 is considered as the worst flood occurrence in Johor. This study focused on the effectiveness of using Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict flood at Sg. Sembrong. The combination of hydrological model and water balance model that takes into consideration the minimum, maximum and average temperature data for January 2007 is used to illustrate the predicted flood area for future reference. The results from the analysis showed that flood does not occur at the minimum and average rainfall, 17.2mm and 2mm respectively. However, with the maximum rainfall of 203mm, it is expected that 9983ha of land will be affected with 2m water level rise. In can be concluded that GIS is a suitable tool for the provision of preliminary information of flood, and it can be a powerful tool in aiding flood analysis, problem solving and provides rational, accurate and efficient decision making

Volumetric change calculation for a rock quarry using UAV photogrammetry

Nowadays, the volume calculation of rock quarry is incorrect and a slow process because it is manually conducted. To improve this performance, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Photogrammetry shall be applied to obtain exact area mapping, volume data of rock quarry for active, non-active area and 6 total stockpiles and to verify soil profile of quarry area. The area which conducts rock excavation is known as active area whereas a non-active will be explore in the following 2 years. Meanwhile, the total 6 stockpile is the 6 different quarry rocks. The UAV is a type of photogrammetry that allow for the effective monitoring or mapping of large areas of land and existing infrastructure within a very short time compared to conventional techniques. The best of UAV is it can take the whole image of quarry area. Given that the main idea of the research presented here is to develop new applications to calculate the volume of rock quarry area. In this study, there are three main stages that need to be accomplished to get the data. The first stage is flying the UAV and capturing image at the quarry, followed by image processing and transform it into a 3D map and final stage is to calculate the volume and the determining the soil profile and contour of the quarry. To classify the materials, a DJI Phantom 4 Pro was used to fly over a quarry area in Min Fong Quarry Sdn. Bhd. This image can be transfer to pix4DMapper and Global Mapper software to produce a mapping area of quarry. Then, the calculation of the volume of rock quarry was conducted and obtain the soil profile of that study area. This observation took 2 months periodically to oversee the volumetric change in the rock quarry. The result of analysis showed that, there were differences and decreasing in the volume of rock quarry for each month

Strength Changes in Peat-Polymer Stabilization Process; An Introduction of New Material for Peat Condition

Peat represent as an extreme form of soft soil that subjected to instability. In order to reduce the scarcity of land for construction purpose, it is necessary to stabilize a soft and weak foundation. The engineers commonly faced with the constraint of accessibility and stability problem when dealing with peat. This paper describes a study on peat stabilization to enhance its strength by using an organic polymer soil stabilizer. To identify the strength change for the stabilization of peat by using Vinyl Acetate - Acrylic Copolymer (VAAC), laboratory tests on unconfined compression test was performed for 1, 7, 14 and 28 days of curing periods. The additive that works as a binder material such as sand, lime and cement were used in this study. The effect of this additive on the strength gained based on percentage materials used is highlighted. The unconfined compression test results show that the peat soil gained higher strength due to the addition of 70% of VAAC at 14 days of curing periods. The addition of 30%, 50% and 70% binder into stabilized peat with 20% and 70% of VAAC were reduced the strength of VAAC-P

A study of piezoelectric as electric transducer on asphalt pavement

Electricity is a major source of necessity in human life nowadays. Renewable and clean energy resources have become a demanded research area due to the problems facing energy shortage. Piezoelectricity is a type of technology used for electrical energy harvesting from mechanical pressure such as mechanical efforts of the vehicles. The objectives in this study is to determine the best type of piezoelectric, the instalment method of piezoelectric under the asphalt pavement and to observe the value of voltage produced. This study has been undertaken as systematic literature review (SLR) to collect the data and results from previous study. This study starts with identification process to find out the related journals to the topic and continued with screening process. The last is eligibility process which is important to achieve the objectives of this study. The results show that PZT5H is the best type of piezoelectric transducers because it can generate more energy and suitable for harvesting energy. The most depth used for the installation of this piezoelectric transducer is 40mm depth under the asphalt. This asphalt pavement has an ability to absorb higher energy from mechanical movement and 40mm depth is the best location to embed the piezoelectric transducer with vertical spacing 2.5m and horizontal spacing 1.875m in order to ensure the wheel fully acting on the piezoelectric transducer. The voltage value in this study is not same with each previous study because different load produced different voltage even use the same PZT and same depth

A case study of S-Curve analysis: Causes, effects, tracing and monitoring project extension of time

S-Curve analysis in the construction interpreted as managing project with knowledge and traceable in the context of sustainable construction while displays the cumulative costs, labour hours or other quantities plotted against time. In the contract administration, delays in completing a construction project led to the breach of contract but, in contracts itself allow the construction period to be extended where there are delays that are not the contractor's fault. Under those circumstances, a presentation of a case-study regarding the analysis of S-Curve of a life project drew comparative interpretation of project performance towards project delivery schedule has been conducted in private initiative project. This study aims to investigate and examine the factors that cause delays in construction projects from the perspective of S-curve representations. The paper aims to provide in depth light about the existing causes of project delay and describe the key sources of financing problem and identify the consequences of contraventions of contract. Two distinct parts divided which are refers to the methods used to assess the perceptions of clients, consultants, and contractors on the relative importance of causes of delay in a project and referred to the procurement and documentation to analyse the delay. As a result, an Extension of Time (EOT) granted and identically changed the progress towards extension time where better planning demanded for improvement and restoration progress kept on track. This paper presented a practical and comparative S-Curve within extension of time to ensure delivery of project on schedule. In the long run, the identified causes are combined into 16 factors. Finally, the result of this match was brought in order to critically understand and provide a guideline to contractor in preparing EOT application and choose reliable factor based on the specific circumstances of project delay factors thorough review conducted to reveal the nature of EOT application techniques

Study on The Effectiveness of Egg Tray and Coir Fibre as A Sound Absorber

Sound or noise pollution has become one major issues to the community especially those who lived in the urban areas. It does affect the activity of human life. This excessive noise is mainly caused by machines, traffic, motor vehicles and also any unwanted sounds that coming from outside and even from the inside of the building. Such as a loud music. Therefore, the installation of sound absorption panel is one way to reduce the noise pollution inside a building. The selected material must be a porous and hollow in order to absorb high frequency sound. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of egg tray and coir fibre as a sound absorption panel. The coir fibre has a good coefficient value which make it suitable as a sound absorption material and can replace the traditional material; syntactic and wooden material. The combination of pyramid shape of egg tray can provide a large surface for uniform sound reflection. This study was conducted by using a panel with size 1 m x 1 m with a thickness of 6 mm. This panel consist of egg tray layer, coir fibre layer and a fabric as a wrapping for the aesthetic value. Room reverberation test has been carried to find the loss of reverberation time (RT). Result shows that, a reverberation time reading is on low frequency, which is 125 Hz to 1600 Hz. Within these frequencies, this panel can shorten the reverberation time of 5.63s to 3.60s. Hence, from this study, it can be concluded that the selected materials have the potential as a good sound absorption panel. The comparison is made with the previous research that used egg tray and kapok as a sound absorption panel

Study on The Effectiveness of Egg Tray and Coir Fibre as A Sound Absorber

Sound or noise pollution has become one major issues to the community especially those who lived in the urban areas. It does affect the activity of human life. This excessive noise is mainly caused by machines, traffic, motor vehicles and also any unwanted sounds that coming from outside and even from the inside of the building. Such as a loud music. Therefore, the installation of sound absorption panel is one way to reduce the noise pollution inside a building. The selected material must be a porous and hollow in order to absorb high frequency sound. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of egg tray and coir fibre as a sound absorption panel. The coir fibre has a good coefficient value which make it suitable as a sound absorption material and can replace the traditional material; syntactic and wooden material. The combination of pyramid shape of egg tray can provide a large surface for uniform sound reflection. This study was conducted by using a panel with size 1 m x 1 m with a thickness of 6 mm. This panel consist of egg tray layer, coir fibre layer and a fabric as a wrapping for the aesthetic value. Room reverberation test has been carried to find the loss of reverberation time (RT). Result shows that, a reverberation time reading is on low frequency, which is 125 Hz to 1600 Hz. Within these frequencies, this panel can shorten the reverberation time of 5.63s to 3.60s. Hence, from this study, it can be concluded that the selected materials have the potential as a good sound absorption panel. The comparison is made with the previous research that used egg tray and kapok as a sound absorption panel

Flood prediction using Geographical Information System (GIS) application at Sungai Sembrong

The occurrence of flood disaster in Malaysia has received much attention due to its negative impact towards society, environment and economy. In hydrological field, researchers are interested in flood prediction analysis and it is no longer a stranger in this area. The latest flood incident that hit Sg. Sembrong, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia in 2007 is considered as the worst flood occurrence in Johor. This study focused on the effectiveness of using Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict flood at Sg. Sembrong. The combination of hydrological model and water balance model that takes into consideration the minimum, maximum and average temperature data for January 2007 is used to illustrate the predicted flood area for future reference. The results from the analysis showed that flood does not occur at the minimum and average rainfall, 17.2mm and 2mm respectively. However, with the maximum rainfall of 203mm, it is expected that 9983ha of land will be affected with 2m water level rise. In can be concluded that GIS is a suitable tool for the provision of preliminary information of flood, and it can be a powerful tool in aiding flood analysis, problem solving and provides rational, accurate and efficient decision making