A Reinforcement Learning-Based Approach to Automate the Electrochromic Glass and to Enhance the Visual Comfort

Daylight is important for the well-being of humans. Therefore, many office buildings use large windows and glass facades to let more daylight into office spaces. However, this increases the chance of glare in office spaces, which results in visual discomfort. Shading systems in buildings can prevent glare but are not effectively adapted to changing sky conditions and sun position, thus losing valuable daylight. Moreover, many shading systems are also aesthetically unappealing. Electrochromic (EC) glass in this regard might be a better alternative, due to its light transmission properties that can be altered when a voltage is applied. EC glass facilitates zoning and also supports control of each zone separately. This allows the right amount of daylight at any time of the day. However, an effective control strategy is still required to efficiently control EC glass. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a promising control strategy that can learn from rewards and penalties and use this feedback to adapt to user inputs. We trained a Deep Q learning (DQN) agent on a set of weather data and visual comfort data, where the agent tries to adapt to the occupant’s feedback while observing the sun position and radiation at given intervals. The trained DQN agent can avoid bright daylight and glare scenarios in 97% of the cases and increases the amount of useful daylight up to 90%, thus significantly reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Construction of a Geophysical Observatory in Fürstenfeldbruck in Germany

The article deals with the construction of a geophysical observatory in the town of Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany. The observatory is being built for the Technical university in Munich. The main function of the observatory is to measure changes in the Earth ́s spin rate or, its axes deviations etc., which can occur with physical impulses in a form of, for example, an earthquake or nuclear explosion etc. Measuring such physical phenomena is important and the data is used to adjust navigation of satellites orbiting the Earth. As there were installed unique measuring tools in the building, the construction materials and building process itself has had to be carefully chosen and though through. The observatory is placed underground and has shape of a tetrahedron. The top of the construction is oriented in direction to the Earth ́s centre. To secure the pit the sprayed shotcrete was used and reinforced with AR Glass. To anchor the pit horizontally they also used the AR Glass. After finishing the pit, the central shaft was built and situated vertically from the top of the tetrahedron in direction to the Earth ́s surface and to the top of the tetrahedron base. Under a layer of concrete, there is a PE HD pipe DN 630 in every wall to connect the tetrahedron top with the base tops. There are several concrete shafts situated in each top tetrahedron base and also, at half of the span between the tetrahedron base tops. All these concrete shafts on the ground are interconnected by plinth beam with one another. The plinth beam contains three PE HD pipes DN 140. This type of construction was chosen as there is laser circling in the tetrahedron base, its top, and between tetrahedron top and base. In every shaft there is installed a measuring instrument, which is very sensible when in contact with steel parts. The sensibility to steel was a reason for employing only glass reinforcement GFK in every concrete part of this construction.

Perspectives of application of complex-reinforced concretes in engineering structures of transport infrastructure objects

The paper substantiates a necessity to improve operational properties of building products and structures that are used at construction of transport objects. It shows that the modern approach to design ated problem is in the course of fibre reinforcement of fused and cellular concretes. The work provides reference and experimental data on the level of positive influence of metal and synthetic fibre on operational properties of concretes of various structures. On the basis of experimental results the authors have presented a fundamental possibility of complex improvement of engineering structures properties by using bar fibre-glass reinforcement. As a result, they have formulated a number of perspective technologies suitable for creating building elements from fibre and complexreinforced concretes for transport objects.

PENGEMBANGAN MATERIAL RINGAN SERAT GELAS PADA INDUSTRI KERETA API

The use of composite materials has been developed in the railroad transportation industry sector in Indonesia. For example, PT INKA has used composite materials with fiber glass reinforcement. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of tensile strength and bending strength of the composite material so that it can be proposed to be further developed and utilized by the manufacturing industry, especially the railroad industry. In this study, 4 types of matrix variations were examined, namely epoxy, repoxy, polyester, and bhispenol using fiber glass reinforcement. Tensile strength and bending strength tests were performed in accordance with the ASTM D-638 and the ASTM D-790 standards, respectively. The results of this study indicate that the variation of the matrix is very influential on the tensile strength and bending strength of composite materials. Keywords: composite material, glass fiber, tensile strength, bending strength Abstrak Penggunaan material komposit mulai banyak dikembangkan di sektor industri trasportasi kereta api di Indone-sia. Sebagai contoh, PT INKA sudah menggunakan material komposit dengan penguat serat gelas. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik kekuatan tarik dan kekuatan bending material komposit agar dapat diusulkan untuk lebih dikembangkan dan dimanfaatkan oleh industri manufaktur, khususnya industri kereta api. Pada penelitian ini digunakan 4 jenis variasi matriks, yaitu epoxy, repoxy, polyester, dan bhispenol dengan menggunakan penguat serat gelas. Pengujian kekuatan tarik menggunakan standar ASTM D-638 dan pengujian bending menggunakan standar ASTM D-790. Hasil studi ini menunjukkan bahwa variasi matriks sangat berpengaruh pada kekuatan tarik maupun kekuatan bending material komposit. Kata-kata kunci: material komposit, serat gelas, kekuatan tarik, kekuatan bending

Comparative Analysis Of Bending Concrete Elements Reinforced With Steel And Fiber-Glass Reinforcement

The main advantages and disadvantages of using non-metallic composite reinforcement as a reinforcing element of bending concrete structures without pre-stressing are considered. The characteristics of composite and steel reinforcement are compared. Numerical comparative analysis of strength and deformation characteristics of bending concrete elements with plastic and steel reinforcement is performed. It is established that to ensure the strength of the normal sections of the bending elements, the consumption of non-metallic reinforcement is up to 40% higher than that of steel reinforcement. Results of calculations on deformations according to which rigidity of the bending designs reinforced with steel reinforcement is 15-20% higher, than for reinforced with non-metallic reinforcement are presented. The conclusion is substantiated that the use of non-metallic composite reinforcement in non-stressed bendable concrete structures is impractical. Recommendations on the possible use of plastic reinforcement in building structures are presented, as well as directions and prospects for further research are outlined.

TRACK GAUGE STABILITY UNDER EFFECT OF SLEEPER THERMAL EXPANSION

Railway sleepers are traditionally made of hardwood, pre-stressed concrete or steel. However, emerging advanced materials, including polymers or composites, are investigated for a possible employment in the sleeper production. The main function of sleepers is to distribute forces they carry onto the trackbed, to support rails and keep the spacing between them, called the track gauge. The operating tolerance of the track gauge is critical for safety and is set by regulations. Generally, it is advisable to keep the track gauge deviation, as well as the sleeper length deviation influencing it, as low as reasonably practicable. In this article, the recommended limit values of the thermal expansion coefficient characterizing possible sleeper length deviation were evaluated. The recommendation considered allowed track gauge tolerance and the experimentally determined temperatures of a sleeper measured in the trackbed for a year. In addition, thermal expansion of a selected polymer in laboratory conditions was determined, representing an alternative material for the sleeper production. Consequently, it was compared with the limit and conservatively used materials. Furthermore, the same tested polymer, but utilizing chopped glass fibres to reduce the thermal expansion of the polymer, was also tested. Results show a positive impact of the glass reinforcement on the thermal expansion coefficient. The applicability of the selected polymer in the railway sleeper production from the perspective of the thermal expansion was discussed in the paper.

A Study of Bending Property for Glass Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Sheets

In this research a study of the influence of percentage for chopped fiber glass reinforcement thermoplastic sheet on the flexural strength. Hot compression method used to fabricate thermoplastic (polypropylene and polyamide) reinforced by fiber glass at different percentage (10,20,30,40) wt.%, the flexural strength test done by using three-point bending test. The results shown that for bending test the sample glass fiber reinforcement polyamide (GFRPA) and sample glass fiber reinforcement polypropylene (GFRPP), which reinforced with 40% fiber glass achieved the high magnitude of flexural strength (106.1 and 70.8) MPa respectively. While the sample polyamide (PA) and polypropylene (PP) without reinforcement show the lowest magnitude of flexural strength (59.5 and 38.4) MPa respectively.