All Questions
Tagged with building-physics building-design
25
questions
5
votes
2
answers
941
views
How to build apartment floors/ceilings to not transfer sound?
How do new apartment buildings build their floors/ceilings to prevent the transfer of sound between people living above/below each other?
Note: I'm not asking about how to soundproof an existing ...
- 225
0
votes
0
answers
16
views
How to go about designing a window that can selectively allow light, air, and sound in depending on the occupant's preferences?
The usual combination of window + blind today allows occupants to pick between allowing in external light, blocking external light, allowing external air exchange, blocking air exchange.
I'm curious ...
- 229
0
votes
0
answers
21
views
Techniques to make residential buildings more blast resistant
There are generally two approaches:
First: use stronger materials (e.g. thicker RCC with fibres, go underground, etc).
Second: for any given material, use a superior design.
The First approach is ...
- 123
1
vote
0
answers
37
views
How did gothic church architects/builders properly scale up their models to full size churches?
In this video the author explains how ancient church builders used models to determine the proper shape and order of installation of architectural elements in gothic churches.
From the little I know, ...
- 23
0
votes
3
answers
80
views
How to design safely collapsing buildings?
Background—Currently, buildings seem to be designed to be strong enough to not fall upon dangerous events, such as earthquakes. This makes them expensive, and out of the reach of poor places.
Poor ...
- 123
0
votes
0
answers
31
views
Washing machine in apartment
I live on a second floor of 4 story apartments building and I'm planning to change my old washer+dryer tower for a new one, however it is bigger and heavier. I'm worried that the weight could cause a ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
24
views
How to compute the resistance of this metallic part (steel angle iron), for a joist fitted in an I-profile beam?
Let's say we have an oak joist (15 cm x 15 cm x 370 cm), which is "fitted" in the profile of an I-profile beam (height 140 mm, width 66 mm), and the surface where the joist is laid is too ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
199
views
What design could fit this egg drop challenge?
My class is doing the egg drop challenge as a school project, but the rules are a little different than normal. First of all, the construction needs to contain a microbit connected to a battery pack ...
- 51
-2
votes
1
answer
74
views
Would pyramid shape buildings prevent people from falling to their deaths? [closed]
If a building the shape of pyramids slops downwards, wouldn't it minimize the risk of fall from heights, whether intentionally or by accident (like fire/bomb scare), from a balcony or window opening? ...
- 125
1
vote
5
answers
821
views
Reinforced concrete by steel, poor durability, why?
I've been reading up about reinforced concrete, as it is one if not the cheapest way how to build (with some solid foundation). I found out that it actually has quite poor durability (50-100 years or ...
- 113
0
votes
2
answers
40
views
Who takes care of structural health monitoring of civil structures?
There are numerous studies about the possibility of structural health monitoring (SHM) of tall structures, like bridges, skyscrapers, water towers, wind turbines, where, for example, inclination or ...
- 101
0
votes
4
answers
62
views
Would a larger building more safely or smoothly ride the seismic waves of an earthquake?
If larger ships are less affected by ocean waves, and tend to ride smoothly through them, would that same principle influence the survivability of a larger building when weathering the seismic waves ...
- 113
2
votes
0
answers
93
views
What would happen if the air conditioning failed in a skyscraper for an extended period?
I'm writing some fiction which involves the AC in a modern glass curtain skyscraper (50-80 floors?) in an American city failing for a period of weeks, maybe even for up to two months.
Could anybody ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
18
views
Sun light illumination on a lower floor vs high building closely
there is an investor that wants to build very close to our building. In case we agree, the buildings will stand like on the pictures below, 3 meters apart from each other. I tried to draw them in ...
- 121
-1
votes
3
answers
422
views
can ceramic be used as a building material?
From what I read, concrete has much lower compressive strength than ceramics. So why aren't we using ceramics to build? Is it because ceramic failure is difficult to predict? Because it's hard to ...
- 1