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ELECTRICITY FROM BRICKS !

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Introduction: Regardless of whether it is the rapidly spoiling food in our fridge or the pile of unwashed laundry in our washing machine, the importance of electricity cannot be overlooked. With the analysis of Benjamin Franklin in the mid-1700s and Michael Faraday in the 1870s, the perception of electricity as an energy source made social inhabitants attain a new climax concerning the amelioration of mankind. Electricity is one of the most prominent assets that science has conferred to the human race. Science has found out bricks as a source of electricity production using PEDOT.                                               Execution of the idea: It's been 5000 years since we figured out that baked clay hardens into bricks. These red bricks inside walls can produce enough current to light up a house for 5 hours. This idea involves the development of a scalable, cost-effec...

Smog eating concrete buildings

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INTRODUCTION:  Smog is a kind of air pollution which is mainly the mixture of smoke and fog, responsible for reduced visibility, irritation, allergies, and could have a serious impact on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems of our body. Being harmful to our body and being a potent pollutant, it needs to be treated effectively.  With growing air pollution and to treat smog effectively, few cities have come with buildings that would help reduce air pollution and have a check on it. These buildings are made up of special concrete called “smog-eating concrete” that would neutralize the atmospheric pollutants.  HISTORY:  Smog-eating concrete was developed in 2007, by the Italian cement company Italcementi, like a self-cleaning cement that, when mixed to create concrete, would make a self-cleaning concrete. It was only later that Italcementi noticed its pollution-killing quality. This is how they found out: They had topped off a road in Bergamo, Italy with TX Activ...

Floating Wind Farms

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Global Demand:-  The urgent concern for global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases has propelled scientists and engineers worldwide to search for alternate sources of renewable and clean energy. As locations for wind energy are filling up on-shore and near-shore, companies are deploying floating turbines that can be sited in deep waters. Floating wind farms consist of offshore wind turbines mounted on floating structures that allow the turbine to generate electricity in water depths.  History:- The concept of offshore wind turbines was first introduced by Professor William E. Heronemus at the University of Massachuttes Amherst in 1972. But it was not until the mid-1990s that the commercial offshore wind industry was established. The first floating wind turbines were set up by the Blue H Technologies of the Netherlands in December 2007. An 80 kW prototype 21.3 km off the coast of Apulia, Italy, was installed in water 113 m deep to get test data on wind and sea cond...

BRINGING ROADS TO LIFE

Introduction All living things heal themselves but ever imagined artificial things coming to life and healing themselves. As scary it might sound but when man-made constructions start healing themselves, they are more long-lasting than regular constructions. One such project is brought to reality by Nemkumar Banthia, a professor in the department of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and CEO of IC-IMPACTS.  The self-healing road project was brought to life in the town of Thondebhavi, outside Bangalore, connecting the small town to the rest of the country with a road design of 650m that resists heavy rains, intense heat, and poor drainage.  Construction  Self-healing roads are ultra-high-strength concrete reinforced with hydrophilic polyolefin fibers with advanced nano-coatings that are more resistant to cracking. They make use of locally sourced fly ash, a heterogeneous by-product material produced in the combustion process of coal used in power...

NECROPOLIS-An Architectural Marvel

Introduction  In the heart of the city of El Giza stands the Giza Pyramid Complex, Necropolis, comprising of 3 pyramids:  Khafre,  Menkaure, and Giza. Though each was made for a different pharaoh, their aggregate plan is cohesive and intentional, as the course of action of these structures is perhaps a portrayal of the Orion constellation.  The Complex’s crown jewel is the Great Pyramid which is an enigma of technological puzzles. It was constructed from 2.5 million stone squares from across 500 miles in just 20 years which is especially stunning as they didn't have the utilization of wheels at that point. Planning and surveying  The Giza plateau is on entirely steady ground, comprising of nummulitic limestone from the purported Mokattam arrangement. However,  delving shafts and chambers on this hard ground are quite a hindrance for excavations. The Great Pyramid's corners aligned almost exactly with the points of a compass with a deviation of just 2' 28''....

SURVEYING WITH DRONES

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What is a drone survey?                                                          Drones are continually proving to be a powerful tool in the fields of surveying and mapping by simultaneously providing efficiency and safety in a much more advanced way. A drone survey refers to the capture of aerial data by employing uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) such as DRONE. This provides topographic surveys of better quality compared to traditional methods with higher accuracy in measurements in a fraction of the time, reducing the surveying cost and human resources.   How is it Done?  The field to be surveyed is photographed several times from different angles, with the help Drone’s downward-facing sensors such as RGB and spectral cameras, and each image is tagged with coordinates. The height and cameras of the drone can be adjusted remotely along...

Ambient Intelligence in civil engineering

Introduction There is no doubt that ambient (or artificial) intelligence that aims to enhance the way we interact with the environment is shaping the world, and has impeccable effects in promoting safety and technology to enrich our lives. In civil engineering, Machine Learning (ML), has a very imperative role to play. The legendary architect, Le Corbusier wrote in 1923 that “a house is a machine for living,” and here he was referring metaphorically to the utilitarian purposes that home serves. Today, civil engineering structures are becoming more like machines, with the increasing incorporation of ML and AI in their construction.  Latest Developments •Nowadays the buildings can sense their occupants: their activities, needs, and routines. They also measure temperature, vibration, noise level, and much more. •Building information modeling(BIM) gives architecture, engineering, and construction professionals insights to efficiently plan, design, construct and manage buildings and inf...