Banking on Cooperation: The Role of the G-20 in Improving the International Financial Architecture

Piling is expensive but often necessary when building large structures, for example bridges. Some pile types, such as steel core piles, are very costly and it is therefore of great interest to keep the number piles in a pile group to a minimum. This thesis deals with optimization of pile groups with respect to placement, batter and angle of rotation in order to minimize the number of piles. A program has been developed, where two optimization algorithms named Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search, and four objective functions have been used. These have been tested and compared to find the most suitable for pile group optimization. Three real cases, two bridge supports and one culvert, have been studied, using the program.  It has been difficult to draw any clear conclusions since the results have been ambiguous. This is probably because only three cases have been tested and the results are very problemdependent.The outcome depends, for example, on the starting guess and settings for the optimization. However, the results show that the Genetic Algorithm is somewhat more robust in its ability to remove piles than Direct Search and is therefore to prefer in pile group optimization

Optimization of Pile Groups : A practical study using Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search with four different objective functions

Piling is expensive but often necessary when building large structures, for example bridges. Some pile types, such as steel core piles, are very costly and it is therefore of great interest to keep the number piles in a pile group to a minimum. This thesis deals with optimization of pile groups with respect to placement, batter and angle of rotation in order to minimize the number of piles. A program has been developed, where two optimization algorithms named Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search, and four objective functions have been used. These have been tested and compared to find the most suitable for pile group optimization. Three real cases, two bridge supports and one culvert, have been studied, using the program.  It has been difficult to draw any clear conclusions since the results have been ambiguous. This is probably because only three cases have been tested and the results are very problemdependent.The outcome depends, for example, on the starting guess and settings for the optimization. However, the results show that the Genetic Algorithm is somewhat more robust in its ability to remove piles than Direct Search and is therefore to prefer in pile group optimization

Nollenergihus i Borlänge : Är det möjligt med biomassa, solenergi och vindkraft?

This report is of technical character and treats how to plan a small building in Borlänge, Sweden. The technical components that have been treated in the report are the construction, foundation, installations and thermic abilities of the house. In addition to planning this house the report also contains a part that deepens in net zero energy buildings. The purpose of the report is to investigate if the house in Borlänge can be constructed to meet net zero energy building demands. Energy efficient houses such as passive- and net zero energy houses are showing more frequent on the market in Sweden. Ongoing climate changes and growing consciousness about the environment in society have contributed to that the environment is a well discussed topic. To consume small amounts of energy and at the same time produce local energy is therefore something that lies in the future and future houses. Production of local and environmental friendly energy is a great challenge and demands significant knowledge. In this report we have aimed the focus on environmental friendly sources of energy such as sun energy, wind power and biomass of pellets. Based on knowledge from our earlier studies within our programme we have investigated the possibility of planning a net zero house in Borlänge. It turns out to be difficult to plan a net zero energy house in Borlänge. The research shows that the planned house does not pass the demands for a passive house and therefore it does not pass the net zero energy demand either. The planned house has a high shape factor which indicates that a significant amount of internal heat passes through the climate shell. To meet the passive house demands we would have to give the house a different shape to obtain a lower shape factor which would increase the ability of the house to keep internal heat. Because of the fact that Borlänge is situated in climate zone II in Sweden it needs heating during main part of the year. In addition to this there are few hours of sun during the winter and the conditions to create energy from wind power are relatively poor. Due to this it is difficult to produce more energy than the house will consume