A green roof can reduce the peak thermal cooling loads and reduce the building energy consumption during the summer. It is also necessary to understand the thermal performance of these green roof assemblies during the winter when affected by an accumulation of snow on the rooftops. This study presents an experimental investigation and discusses the snow influence on the heat transfer processes ...

near-fault ground motions have caused very much damage in the vicinity of seismic sources during recent earthquakes. it is well known that under specific circumstances, intensive ground shakings near fault ruptures may be characterized by short-duration impulsive motions. this pulse-type motion is generally particular to the forward direction, where the fault rupture propagates towards the site...

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are unique smart materials that have many advantages, such as ability to resist large strains without leaving residual strains and ability to recover original form. However, the high costs of SMAs have limited their usage. This paper evaluates the behavior of concrete structures equipped with SMAs in an optimal manner as they are being used along the plastic hinge of ...

This paper presents a model-based approach for 3-D building reconstruction unstructured distinct points. The data structure of a building is an unstructured roof point cloud digitized by operators. Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) model is applied in our approach for a complex roof which can be decomposed into three types of primitive models. The primitive model is represented as a tree. The l...

The fibronectin fibril matrix on the blastocoel roof of the Xenopus gastrula contains guidance cues that determine the direction of mesoderm cell migration. The underlying guidance-related polarity of the blastocoel roof is established in the late blastula under the influence of an instructive signal from the vegetal half of the embryo, in particular from the mesoderm. Formation of an oriented ...

This paper presents an overview of observed distresses on low slope roofing systems collected for the Building Envelope Life Cycle Asset Management (BELCAM) project. The data include over 14,000 visible distresses from 600 roofs from seven different climatic regions across Canada. The distresses encountered for built up roofs, modified bituminous roofs and a limited number of single-ply roofing...

Collapse of roof could cause severe economic loss and poses safety risk to residents in the building. This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic analysis of steel framed roof structures with force limiting devices under combined static and transient wind loading. Two types of force limiting devices – one with selfcentering behavior and the other exhibiting bilinear-like hysteresis are examined for...

Wood-frame residential roof failures are among the most common and expensive types of wind damage. Hip roofs are commonly understood to be more resilient during extreme wind in relation to gable roofs. However, inspection of damage survey data from recent tornadoes has revealed a previously unstudied failure mode in which hip roofs suffer partial failure of the framing structure. In the current...

The flow field over a three dimensional pole barn characterized by a cylindrical roof has been numerically investigated. Wind pressure and viscous loads acting on the agricultural building have been analyzed for several incoming wind directions, so as to evaluate the most critical load condition on the structure. A constant wind velocity profile, based on the maximum reference wind speed in the...

BACKGROUND Neurulation is driven by apical constriction of actomyosin cytoskeleton resulting in conversion of the primitive lumen into the central canal in a mechanism driven by F-actin constriction, cell overcrowding and buildup of axonal tracts. The roof plate of the neural tube acts as the dorsal morphogenetic center and boundary preventing midline crossing by neural cells and axons. METHO...