Full-scale shake table tests of a reinforced concrete structure equipped with a novel active mass damper

This paper presents the results of an experimental program involving shake table testing of two full-scale reinforced concrete frame buildings. These tests were conducted to investigate the effectiveness and reliability of a newly proposed servo-hydraulic Active Mass Damper (AMD) that can be designed to enhance the target seismic performance of a building at multiple earthquake intensity levels. The two nominally identical case-study buildings were intentionally designed to exhibit a “soft story” mechanism at the first level when subject to ground shaking of sufficient intensity, but one was equipped with the newly proposed AMD, installed on the roof. The two specimens were then subject to the same loading protocol consisting of a ground shaking sequence of varying intensity, with the seismic input consisting of a selected natural ground motion. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed AMD is extremely effective at enhancing building seismic performance. Specifically, the AMD provided peak displacement reductions in the order of 70% and was shown capable of absorbing more than 60% of the total input energy. As a consequence, the un-retrofitted structure suffered nontrivial structural and non-structural damage, while the AMD-retrofitted building remained virtually undamaged at all shaking intensities considered

Solar Wireless Sensor Nodes for Condition Monitoring of Freight Trains

The objective of this work is to present the design and testing of a Wireless Sensor Network, powered by solar energy, to be installed on freight trains with the purpose of performing on-board monitoring operations. A complete Wireless Sensor Network requires a certain number of Wireless Sensor Nodes, installed in significant points of a vehicle, provided with sensors and capable of elaborating raw data, transmitting them via wireless network as synthesis information to an on-board control unit. The on-board control unit periodically communicates the data gathered from different sensors to a ground central control unit through the Internet. Each Wireless Sensor Node needs to be powered independently. To achieve this purpose a small solar panel was used to provide the Wireless Sensor Node with the necessary amount of energy. Integrated circuits were designed for power management, acquisition, elaboration and wireless transmission of data and analyzed in terms of performances and energy consumption. The communication protocol between the Wireless Sensor Node and the control unit was first laboratory-tested and finally the whole system was installed on a real wagon, and on-field tests were conducted for a period of almost one year

Contextual differences in the interpretation of thermal perception scales – a large-scale international questionnaire study

Within the IEA EBC Annex 69 on Strategy and Practice of Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Low Energy Buildings (http://annex69.org/), we are conducting an international questionnaire study related to thermal comfort scales. Our objective is the analysis of influences on the perception of thermal comfort scales. In particular, we are looking at the effect of the current thermal state, peoples climatic background, and level of adaptation on the relationship between thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and thermal acceptance

Metadata record for: The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON format Versioning Note:Version 2 was generated when the metadata format was updated from JSON to JSON-LD. This was an automatic process that changed only the format, not the contents, of the metadata

Metadata record for: The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON format Versioning Note:Version 2 was generated when the metadata format was updated from JSON to JSON-LD. This was an automatic process that changed only the format, not the contents, of the metadata