THESIS TOPIC : 1 Assessment of Total Evacuation Systems for high rise Buildings

Introduction

According to the definition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 2012), high-rise
buildings are defined as “buildings greater than 75 feet (approximately 23 m) in height where the
building height is measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of
the highest occupiable story”. the main building uses that can be identified to categorise this type of
buildings are office buildings, residential buildings (e.g., hotels, apartment buildings) and health care
facilities. Each of these categories presents different characteristics from the point of view of both
the infrastructure and the population. The analysis of the building use is therefore crucial to predict
the possible behaviour of the occupants and provide an adequate fire safety design. In fact,
evacuation dynamics may be substantially affected by the infrastructure and the evacuating
population under consideration, e.g. physical abilities of the occupants, occupant familiarity with the
environment, etc.

Need

Building evacuation strategies are a critical element in high rise building fire safety. Research to date
has focused on elevators and exit stairs; however, there is a need to apply this research to relocation
and evacuation systems which may include combinations of these two exit strategies as well as new
egress components such as sky bridges for tall buildings. Accordingly, the Fire Protection Research
Foundation initiated this project with the objective to study possible improvements to life safety of
tall buildings through an investigation of occupant relocation and evacuation strategies involving the
use of exit stairs, elevators, sky bridges and combinations. The study will aim to review and compile
of information on various evacuation systems as well as the conduct of case study simulations of a
multi component exit strategy and to provide the architectural design, regulatory, and research
communities with a more thorough understanding of the current and emerging evacuation
procedures and possible future options.

Aim and objectives

To Assess the predictive capabilities of evacuation models to study the effectiveness of different
total evacuation strategies for high-rise buildings

1)identify the key behavioural factors affecting the performance of people during a fire in a high-rise
building, the singularities associated to this type of buildings and areas of future research.

2)review the procedures and strategies currently adopted in high-rise buildings

3) To review the capabilities, assumptions and limitations of two evacuation models to simulate
high-rise building evacuations which involve different egress components.

4) To compare a set of evacuation configurations and egress strategies by using evacuation

modelling tools
Thesis topic 2 : Selection of contract type in construction contracts

The contractual relationship between Employer and Contractor marks the whole development of the
project. Not only their financial results depend on the contract between them, but also the
development and achievement of the goals of the whole project can be influenced by the type of
contract used. For instance, the project value increases by avoiding moral hazard by the parties
(such as quality loss in a fixed-price contract) and by generating an optimal risk allocation allocating
risks to the party that is able to deal with them at the lowest cost). As the construction industry is
characterised by traditional adversarial relationships between Employer and Contractor, who focus
on their own success rather than on the project success, it is likely that the use of one or the other
type of contract is chosen by motives such as the desire to transfer risks to the other party or
achieve a better economic outcome or lower contract price for themselves. Besides, people tend to
find contracts types which they are familiar with more appropriate for any given project . However,
the most suitable contract type should be chosen based on rational considerations and on the
characteristics of the project and parties involved

The construction contract is a document which governs the business relationship of Contractor and
Employer for the duration of a construction project. However, the selection of the contract type for
the project tends to be performed too shallowly. Therefore it is necessary to investigate the factors
that affect the use of one or the other type of contract and the suitability of using them under
certain conditions. the risk characteristics of the project, the risk aversion of the parties and the
need to provide incentives to the Contractor will play a role in contract selection. Many other
factors, such as the uncertainty of the project scope, the desire to improve cooperation during the
project or the familiarity of the company or managers with a contract type may influence the
selection process.

Need

The contract type influences the project outcome . Thus, the question of the contract type selection
is essential for a project. In fact, the contract type can shape the relationship between the parties, as
well as the quality, budget and timely delivery of the outcome . Selecting a contract which is not
suitable for the project may have undesirable consequences, e.g. ending up in unnecessary legal
procedures or delivering an untimely or defective product. The risk distribution may be a
determinant factor: the risk aversion of the Employer may incline him to issue a tender with a
certain type of draft contract. The Employer can choose between taking all the risks himself or
paying the Contractor (possibly indirectly, through the built-in contingencies that the Contractor
includes in his bid price in a lump-sum contract or through the incentives in a target-cost contract to
transfer some or even all of the risks to him.

aim

to investigate different types of contract strategy in construction industry and factors that are
considered for the use of appropriate ones for the given project situations.

Objectives

1. To examine the concept of Contract strategy

2. To investigate the different contract strategies used in construction industries

3. To examine the implications of contractual variations in construction industries.

Topic 3: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SMART CITIES TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS

The urban population of the world has grown rapidly from 746 million in 1950 to 4.1 billion in 2017.
Today, 54% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase
to 66% by 2050. Therefore, the urban sustainable development remains to be one of the most
significant goals. And city decision makers and stakeholders consider this growth as an opportunity
to build smart cities. Smart Cities are urban areas that utilize Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) with other advanced innovations to achieve sustainable development. Those
technological implementations aim to provide urban residents with a higher quality of life, including
a safer society, less pollution, more convenient connections, and more efficient services. These
smart technologies and applications have taken up a significant amount of investment. Apparently,
these technologies are useful and can be energy saveable in a sustainable way, but how much
revenue do these technologies provide to the city? Is the income balanced with the investment?
Would these applications be efficient in the future and save the city's energy consumption and
expenditure for urbanization development? Besides, it is hard to monetize all the factors in the
various aspects of improvement.

Need

The advanced technologies in Smart Cities would make the operation of social resource more useful,
but it is hard to estimate whether it is more efficient, like investing a million dollar to get a 1%
progress on the efficiency. In general, we would benefit from the technologies and applications
adopted in Smart Cities, but is it worth to invest too much for just a little improvement? To find the
relationship between cost and benefit is always a challenge

Aim and objectives

To develop a cost-benefit analysis model for the smart cities technologies and applications.

The objectives are as follows:

1. List and specify all types of costs;

2. List all the variables in benefit and conclude methods to quantify each factor;

3. By using life-cycle assessment, design a model based on all the variables to evaluate Smart Cities
projects