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Questions tagged [building-physics]

The physics of buildings, specifically thermal conduction, convection, & radiation; heating and cooling; ventilation; transmission and management of water vapour & pollutants

6 votes
8 answers
1k views

How would you move a sail boat with no wind or paddles

If I stood on a sailing ship and had a very strong pair of lungs (possibly motorized) then if I blew the sail would I be able to move the ship forwards?
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 ...
0 votes
3 answers
64 views

"Increasing the water pressure" in the old pipes in the Palace of Knossos

In the Palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece there is an old piping system partially preserved, with the following commentary: Series of clay pipes with one end narrower than the other so that they could ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
0 votes
3 answers
122 views

How do I measure max oscillation of building using accelerometer?

For my school project, I am trying to measure the effect of a mass damper by changing the length of the string (that carries the mass), my setup is similar to the following video: https://youtu.be/...
3 votes
2 answers
315 views

Modeling rigid body dynamics: Trouble with equations, encountering nonsense answers

Hi, I am working on modeling a simple rigid body dynamic system through a certain range of motion. Here is the picture of the system. I am trying to solve the system for the variables $x_1'', y_1'', ...
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

How does a church built from stones survive 70 years under water?

Following the recent news about the Sau reservoir in Spain, the draught revealed an 11-century stone church which has been under water for 70 years since 1962 when the reservoir was built. How is it ...
0 votes
1 answer
30 views

Simulating falling and moving wooden house?

In Sweden, a newly constructed 150 m2 wooden residence built atop a mud foundation has exhibited significant structural instability. Over a period of 500 days, the house has settled by 90 millimeters ...
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, ...
0 votes
0 answers
69 views

How to make a galilean cannon with balls falling/rebounding straight

Here is what I mean by galilean cannon, simply letting balls fall, but hard to experiment though... First, I tried to drop 2 balls with my hands, but balls do not rebound straight and I get enormous ...
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 ...
0 votes
2 answers
36 views

Can a buckling steel column fracture on multiple points?

When a column buckles, then yields, and finally fractures fractures, along the most stressed point, this will initially reduce the axial and bending strains along other points. The apparent conclusion ...
0 votes
1 answer
59 views

Doubt about Reynolds number formula

In fluid dynamics, when I have to compute Reynolds number, I was taught to differentiate between two cases: $$ 1)\space \frac{\rho\cdot v\cdot d}{\mu}$$ or $$2)\space \frac{v\cdot d}{\mu}$$ but, why ...

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