https://www.mdu.se/

As a structural engineer there is some knowledge concerning concrete that is essential to know. When designing buildings, it’s always of most importance to know how to dimension the necessary reinforcement for certain types of wall beams. It’s quite normal for a building to have wall beams. To calculate each wall beam in every project by hand is unnecessary process. The main purpose with this report is to help structural engineers increase their knowledge about wall beams. Theoretically explained and shown how the calculations work. This report also contains a calculation template and shows how to use the calculation template that has been designed to abridge the calculations of a structural engineer. The focus of this report lies in showing how the specific hand calculations are made and how those calculations have implemented in the excel file which dimensions the amount of required reinforcement for wall beams. Throughout the report it’s explained what conditions are necessary to know by the user of the template. Initially the theory behind wall beams analogy has been explained. It’s in the essence of this report to develop the understanding of each calculation being made. The theory has been completed with explanation of each calculated part and what necessary check-ups are obligatory. As a result, one actual example has been calculated. Firstly, by hand for it to then be compared to the calculations made by the template. This is to verify that the calculations being made by the template are indeed accurate.

Abstract 

Purpose: The purpose of the degree project is to examine how the development within the planning process has been over the past thirty years and also to highlight challenges and the shortcomings that arose in the last 30 years. Through streamlining, minimizing costs and specifying the design leads to further development and simplicity in the planning process. Method: The method in the degree project began with a literature study where a theoretical frame of reference regarding the planning process is presented to expand the knowledge of the subject. Subsequently, a qualitative study was conducted in the form of interviews with experienced individuals in the construction industry. With the literature studies and interviews as a basis, practical application was also carried out in the form of a model study where the functionality of different software was considered. Results: The results of the study present a summation of the interviews conducted. Digital development has facilitated with calculation programs or drawings that are simpler than before, and easier to edit with the help of digitization, but it has also resulted in poor communication, poorer connection and less collaboration because of this digital development. Furthermore, these problems have led to several errors in the projects. Another important problem that is noticed in the work is to cut off the projects in smaller moments that always create confusion and shortcomings. The stage shifts in the projects damage two major factors which are time and cost. After a summer of the interviews conducted, the data collected from the literature study were analyzed and linked. The analysis led to a proposal for improvement which is presented in the results of the work. Conclusions: Regarding the results of the study conducted in this degree project, plenty of conclusions are drawn on how the planning process have developed over the past 30 years, such as where in the planning process there are shortcomings, what development opportunities there are and what their potential consequences are.

The examination has been performed at Bjerking AB, which is an architectural and engineering company. Bjerking AB has the ambition to be a member of Green Building.

The Green Building program developed in year 2005 by The European Commission, the program is an environmental system with the aim to improving energy efficiency within the sectors of non-residential buildings. The minimum requirements to participate the program are following: in new-built buildings the calculated energy consumption must be 25 % lower than the requirements in the BBR (Building regulations) and in refurbishment the reduction must be 25 % lower than before the optimization.

The aim of this study has been to examine and review the company Bjerking AB's energy efficiency work in the project of building the school/kindergarten S:ta Maria Alsike, where the goal is to get this building Green Building classed. A description of requirements to become a member of the Green Building has also accomplished in the thesis.

The methods performed in this study are literature review, searches on the Internet, studies on the project database for facts/values, calculation of energy consumption and interviews of members of the Green Building. 

The following issues have been dealt with in the report;

-          Did the building in the project manage the requirement to achieve an   energy consumption that is 25% lower than the requirements in BBR?

-          What technical measures/system was selected in the building?

-          What kind of cooperation was the project based on?

-          What is required for consultancy companies and real estate owners to become members of the Green Building?

The study of the project and calculation of estimated energy consumption in the building, give the result 47 kWh/m², year. This is 60 % lower than the requirements of BBR. The Green Building requirement is that the building's energy consumption should be at least 25% less than the requirements in BBR. The building fulfills this requirement by a significant margin. It can therefore be concluded that the technical solutions carried out in the building are energy efficient. The project consisted of the cooperation shape “partnering ", which can be assumed to be a good form of cooperation in order to achieve an energy efficient building. The consultancy company Bjerking AB and the landlord Knivsta Pastorat has the potential to become members of Green Building, as Green Building Endorser respective Green Building Partner.

Keywords: energy efficiency, requirements of BBR, technical systems, cooperation, consultancy companies, real estate owners, estimated energy consumption, partnering, Green Building Partner, Green Building Endorser.

The report present a Master of Science in engineering work carried out at Mälardalen’s University, made this work within the research project METRO. The work is a part of the research project METRO. The focus of the METRO project is on the protection of underground rail mass transport systems e.g. tunnels and subways stations. The aim with this work was to determine if a concrete column placed close to the tracks at a subway station can withstand the effect and temperature of a fire in a burning train comparable to the effects and temperatures that showed at the full scale test carried out within the METRO project. A literature review was made previous to the following case study. The results from this show that the column is negligible affected by the fire.

This master thesis is performed on behalf of Volvo Group Trucks Operations Logistics Services in Eskilstuna, which is also the final part of the Master in Engineering program – Innovation, production and logistics at Mälardalen University.

Logistics Services central warehouse in Eskilstuna ensures that parts are available all over the world, material is transported to the production facilities, packaging is available and vehicles are distributed to the dealers. The current need is to reduce costs and improve the production process at the Inbound department. The aim of this project has been to analyze the current flow of materials and tied-up capital in the inbound flow and give improvement suggestions on reducing lead times and the tied-up capital, as well as give suggestions on common performance metrics for all the sub departments at Inbound.

The report is based on theoretical and empirical study, where the theory concerns the topics; logistics, lean philosophy and supply chain management. The empirical study was carried out by data collection through time measurements in the plant and by BEAT-report, observations and discussions with the operators, and interviews with production managers and process developers. The collected data was analyzed and the products in the flow were divided into groups, where the inbound material flow was mapped by the VSM tool. Product groups were analyzed by amount of received material reports, quantity, value and lead time, and the product groups that tied the highest value were defined as well as where in the flow the value was located. For each sub department calculations on production capacity and utilization were performed to analyze the current state and be able to compare the departments with each other. The interviews contributed with knowledge to create a reliable and valid SWOT analysis for each sub department at Inbound, where common factors could be defined concerning deviations, performance metrics and other hidden problems, but also opportunities.

Finally, in this report the current state in the Inbound department has been analyzed. Products have been categorized into groups and the materials flow mapped. It has been defined where in the flow and how much value that is tied up, and by which product groups. Hidden problems and deviations have been brought up to surface. Improvement suggestions have been given concerning decreasing of lead times and the tied up value, and also suggestions on common performance metrics for all the sub departments have been given.

Gearbox bearing maintenance is one of the major overhaul cost items for railway electric propulsion systems. They are continuously exposed to challenging working conditions, which compromise their performance and reliability. Various maintenance strategies have been introduced over time to improve the operational efficiency of such components, while lowering the cost of their maintenance. One of these is predictive maintenance, which makes use of previous historical data to estimate a component’s remaining useful life (RUL). This paper introduces a machine learning-based method for calculating the RUL of railway gearbox bearings. The method uses unlabeled mechanical vibration signals from gearbox bearings to detect patterns of increased bearing wear and predict the component’s residual life span. We combined a data smoothing method, a change point algorithm to set thresholds, and regression models for prediction. The proposed method has been validated using real-world gearbox data provided by our industrial partner, Alstom Transport AB in Sweden. The results are promising, particularly with respect to the predicted failure time. Our model predicted the failure to occur on day 330, while the gearbox bearing’s actual lifespan was 337 days. The deviation of just 7 days is a significant result, since an earlier RUL prediction value is usually preferable to avoid unexpected failure during operations. Additionally, we plan to further enhance the prediction model by including more data representing failing bearing patterns.

In 1997, the Swedish parliament adopted a decision on Vision Zero (nollvision) in the road 

and transport system. Vision Zero means that no one should be killed or seriously injured in 

traffic accidents in the road transport system (Prop. 2003/04: 160). For the Transport 

Administration in Sweden (Trafikverket), this means increased demands on security and 

signage at road work sites around the country. This in turn means increased demands on the 

contractors that carry out road work for the Transport Administration. The Transport 

Administration wants a better understanding how entrepreneurs in various operational areas in 

the Eastern Region perceive their role as responsible for safety and accessibility on roadwork 

sites and to better understand the problems that can occur when signage is inadequate. In this 

report, governing documents for the operating entrepreneurs have been studied, in addition, 

searches of literature in various transport databases have been made. Interviews have been 

made with the operating entrepreneurs who have had the opportunity to highlight their views 

on roadwork. The results of the study are a compilation of things the contractors put emphasis 

on. Among other things, several of them want to separate service equipment 

(trafikanordningar) from the procurement because it is possible to win offers with a lower bid 

amount, depending on how signage is made and safety is ensured. Many contractors also call 

for more clarification from the Transport Administration, and say that it is often unclear what 

the relevant directives are. Hopefully, this report will help increase the Transport 

Administration’s understanding of the roadwork performed by contractors and help them 

towards Vision Zero.  

Keywords 

vägarbete, trafikanordning, utmärkning, nollvision, trafikanordningsplan, konkurrenssättning, 

skyltning, framkomlighet 

The outdoor environment of multifamily dwellings should be carefully planned to accommodate the large number of different dwellers, that are to live there through the lifetime of the building. Different groups of residents have different needs and wishes, and all these must be considered. Failure to achieve a working courtyard where all these needs was met would result in low usage of shared outdoor spaces, and discontentment among the residents. This thesis has strived to catalogue the courtyards of three multifamily housing estates in the Swedish city of Västerås. It has also compared the shared features among the three case studies, according to where the single feature was best implemented and why it worked better there. That comparison gave an indication to what could be considered best practice for similar projects. The initial literature study gave good insight on what matters including: children’s play areas, public seating, different age group’s views and wants. Of universal importance was also the significance of feeling secure in the courtyard. One major difficulty was getting the residents to use the public seating in their area. Studies have suggested that the problem is that they feel observed by their neighbours. This could be solved by providing optional seating out of sight, the compromise with this solution became in making sure that these secluded seating areas was not thought of as possible places for hiding miscreants. Another solution was to make use of non-stationary furniture, which introduces the possibility of the furniture being stolen. Lockable storage for the resident’s private outdoor utensils was then a good suggestion.

The purpose of this project was to map the construction and of a house built in 1953 and calculate the energybalance for the house in its original design. The idea was to investigate the measures that has been taken to lower the energy use in the building and see how great the savings were after each measure in the specific order they were made. The reason for choosing the there is possibility in saving energy in the residential sector  The energybalance were calculated by hand for the building in its original design and the energy efficient measures that were examined was additional insulation of the attic, window replacement and installation of a heat pump. The result for the buildings energybalance is that the demand for active heating is about 20 000 kWh/year. That can be compared with the result for calculation of the original oilfired boiler that were 13 600 kWh/year. The energyefficient measures that were made showed that the additional insulation gave a 11 percent saving of the demand for active heat. windows that were replaced and sealed gave an additional saving of 0,3 percent. That is because the measures of the windows result in two positive effect regarding the transmission- and ventilation losses and one negative effect regarding the passive heat. the measures lower the demand for active heat from 20 000 kWh/year to 17 500 kWh/year. Installation of a heat pump covers 48 percent of all bought energy and covers approximately 10 000 kWh/year of the demand for active heat.  Keywords: energybalance, demand for active heat, heatlosses, passive heat, window, additional insulation, heat pump

Buildings are currently controlled in a sub optimal way, using a WC controller that is dependent only on the external temperature. A rich amount of real-time data from installed sensors is available within the buildings and the network and can be used to counteract this. To better control the indoor temperature and the heat supply this degree-project develops a model and optimizer for control of the indoor temperature, where industry standard data streams are used as inputs. The model and optimizer can be implemented in a MPC which takes the future external temperature into consideration and enhances the ability to control the heat supply. There are two main reasons why enhanced control is interesting to look at, the economic aspects and the comfort of the occupancies. This degree project is focused on developing a general building model for the purpose of utilizing the building as an energy storage for peak-shaving. 

The finalized model is a dynamic grey-box model developed using data from a multifamily building, Building A, located in Västerås Sweden. The training period is set to 408 hours, and the prediction horizon is set to 48 hours as a result of the verification. To demonstrate the utilization possibilities of using the building as a heat storage, an optimizer is constructed to evaluate a peak shaving control strategy. The control objective (Q_supply) is controlled by manipulating the indoor temperature (T_in) within a set interval. By setting a fixed interval for the indoor temperature within the comfort interval, the comfort is still maintained. For the peak shaving different flexibilities within the indoor temperature have been examined with a range from 22 +/- 0.25 degrees Celcius to 22 +/- 2.00 degrees Celcius. 

The model is verified in 4 steps: prediction ability on the historic data, parametric verification on the time constant, simulation of heat supply separately from the historic data and model generality by implementing the model on a second multifamily building, Building B. The model has a RRMSE of 8% for Building A and 9% for Building B which is considered excellent.  Due to the lack of access to the real building, the developed model is not validated.

Based on peak shaving and energy consumption, the preferred solution is 22+/- 1.25 degrees Celcius. But based on surveys about occupancies attitude toward flexibility in the indoor temperature and economical aspects, an indoor temperature of 22 +/- 0.50 degrees Celcius is considered the best choice with the maximum peak in the heat supplied decreased by 35% and the energy consumption is decreased by 10% compared to the historical case. We suggest allowing the customers to choose their preferred flexibility to ensure comfort. 

In the realm of Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is pivotal for advancing Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) through real-time monitoring of asset conditions. The efficacy of these IIoT systems heavily relies on the precision and reliability of Acoustic Emission (AE) sensor data. Recognizing the critical dependence of IIoT system functionality on AE sensor capability, this study proposes a novel, systematic framework tailored for PHM applications. Our approach expands the application of the Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility (Gage R&R) technique, focusing on enhancing the reliability of IIoT-AE systems. In experimental study, AE sensors are deployed to collect data across various operational contexts, including different fault types, measurement positions, operators, speeds, and trial counts. This comprehensive exploration reveals how different contextual factors impact AE sensor capability, thereby facilitating the strategic selection of contexts for precise data acquisition. Additionally, we introduce an innovative three-region graph comprising key metrics, namely Percentage of Repeatability & Reproducibility (PRR), Precision-to-Tolerance Ratio (PTR), and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), to provide a clear and intuitive visualization of AE sensor capability and acceptability based on well-defined criteria. Our findings lay the groundwork for ensuring the accuracy and reliability in IIoT systems for PHM, while also provides invaluable guidance for contextual design and practical enhancement of AE sensor, with broader implications for real-time sensor capability evaluations in IoT systems. This work marks a significant step forward in ensuring the reliability of IIoT deployments in PHM, ultimately contributing to the advancement of sensor technology in Industry 4.0 applications.

Level Crossings are among the most critical railway assets, concerning both the risk of accidents and their maintainability, due to intersections with promiscuous traffic and difficulties in remotely monitoring their health status. Failures can be originated from several factors, including malfunctions in the bar mechanisms and warning devices, such as light signals and bells. This paper focuses on the intelligent detection of anomalies in warning bells through non-intrusive acoustic monitoring by: (1) introducing a new concept for autonomous monitoring of level crossings; (2) generating and sharing a specific dataset collecting relevant audio signals from publicly available audio recordings; (3) implementing and evaluating a solution combining deep learning and transfer learning for warning bell detection. The results show a high accuracy in detecting anomalies and suggest viability of the approach in real-world applications, especially where network cameras with on-board microphones are installed for multi-purpose level crossing surveillance.

Purpose: This degree project has investigated the problems Södra Källtorp has with noise due to the nearby highway E18. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether Södra Källtorp meets the guideline values and also whether the implemented noise protection measures in the neighbourhood have caused a change regarding the noise level. Method: The method for carrying out this degree project consisted of a literature study and a case study. The case study was carried out through own measurements and calculations. Four measuring points were chosen. The first two are located in Södra Källtorp and are covered by the noise protection, while the last two are not covered by any noise protection and are located in Råby. Based on the measurement results, the daily equivalent sound level was calculated based on the annual average daily traffic for each measurement point. In addition, interviews were held in order to get a picture of the noise experience among the residents in the neighbourhood. Results: According to the measurement results, the daily equivalent sound level was 55 dBA and the daily maximum sound level 61 dBA for measuring point M1. For measuring point M2, the daily equivalent sound level was 46 dBA while the daily maximum sound level was 53 dBA. Measuring point U1 had a higher noise level than measuring point M1 and measuring point U2 had a higher noise level than measuring point M2. Conclusions: Conclusions that can be drawn are that the noise protection measures have made a change regarding the noise level in Södra Källtorp and that the noise levels in Södra Källtorp do not exceed the guideline values. However, most noise levels that occur in the neighbourhood are not approved according to WHO. More noise protection measures may need to be taken in the future in order to meet WHO’s recommendations.

This bachelor thesis covers fire protection methods of structural steel and the aim is to develop an information tool designed for inexperienced structural engineers. The information tool covers basic fire protection methods and the general way to produce a fire resistance for structural steel. The layout of this information tool is a simple folder that contains information about the most important steps when producing fire protection for a steel structure.

The thesis starts with a general overview of the fire protection needed in buildings to fulfill national legislative and regulatory requirements. To get an understanding of how steel components behave during the influence of fire, a brief overview is presented of the material properties of steel. This chapter also contains a review of previous research in the area. Furthermore, some of the most common fire protection materials are introduced and the general way of producing a safe fire protection for steel components is explained. For example, the chapter handles topics such as critical steel temperature, section factor and degree of utilization, which are key factors for designing fire protection for structural steel components.

To evaluate the information tool, experienced structural engineers have been interviewed with a given interview guide to assist the making of this tool. The results from the interviews provided an insight into the needs for information regarding fire protection for structural engineers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate what measures the Nordic building company JM AB are using or plan to use to get points in the criterion, of the nordic eco-labeling company Svanen, that they call “Gröna Grepp”. The criterion “Gröna Grepp” aims to implement measures that benefit ecosystems, social sustainability, and energy efficiency. Methods: Three methods were used to complete the study. A literature study was used for searching facts about the subject and support why these measures are important. An interview study was made with the project managers at JM to investigate which points in the criterion they had taken or was planning to take. A survey was also performed with the general public to investigate their views of the measures in the criterion. Results: The study resulted in that 41 % of the investigated projects at JM are using their basic license which consists of solutions such as that 10% of the parking spaces must be adapted to be able to charge an electric car and at least 50% of the bicycle spaces are placed under a roof. The survey indicated that people in society were most interested in being able to charge electric cars and in being able to measure their energy consumption. But other aspects were also discovered from the survey and presented in the results. Conclusions: The conclusion is that the criterion Gröna grepp contributes in a positive way to several aspects. And that one should therefore invest more in Gröna grepp in the future. Taken together, one should invest more in implementing ecosystems and greenery in cities through well-planned gardens or growing boxes.

Tests with liquid and solid fuels in model tunnels (1:20) were performed and analysed in order to study the effect of tunnel cross section (width and height) together with ventilation velocity on ceiling gas temperatures and heat fluxes. The model tunnel was 10 m long with varying width (0.3 m, 0.45 m and 0.6 m) and height (0.25 m and 0.4 m). Test results show that the maximum temperature under the ceiling is a weak function of heat release rate (HRR) and ventilation velocity for cases with HRR more than 100 MW at full scale. It clearly varies with the tunnel height and is a weak function of the tunnel width. With a lower tunnel height, the ceiling is closer to the base of continuous flame zone and the temperatures become higher. Overall, the gas temperature beneath the ceiling decreases with the increasing tunnel dimensions, and increases with the increasing longitudinal ventilation velocity. The HRR is also an important factor that influences the decay rate of excess gas temperature, and a dimensionless HRR integrating HRR and other two key parameters, tunnel cross-sectional area and distance between fuel centre and tunnel ceiling, was introduced to account for the effect. An equation for the decay rate of excess gas temperature, considering both the tunnel dimensions and HRR, was developed. Moreover, a larger tunnel cross-sectional area will lead to a smaller heat flux.

Abstract

In this degree project a comparison between two alternatives of heating and cooling systems has been made, regarding not yet constructed buildings on the property Maskinbolaget Swecon in Uppsala, consisting of an office and a machine room. The al­ter­­­natives of choice have been a district heating installation with a separate refri­ge­ra­ting machine, and two heat pumps with the bedrock as a heat source, the latter equip­ped with a circuit of directly transferred cold water from the bedrock as a cool­ing sys­tem. A number of simulations of the buildings' en­­er­gy consumption [kWh /(m²,år)] have also been performed, and this with a variety of comparisons con­tain­ing of certain chang­es of the construction of the buildings vis-à-vis the original plan­ning data.

    After that a calculation of present value with a perspective of 30 years has been executed, a calculation which shows the most economical alternative and simulation concerning the costs of operation and investment.

    The simulations of the energy consumption have been computed with the pro­gram­mes BV² and VIP+, and also with a matrix in Excel by the writer's own design. The calculation of present value has been performed in Excel.  

                                     ♠    ♠    ♠

The results indicate that the office and the machine hall fulfil the guidelines of U-value from BBR. The office also comply with BBR regarding the energy consump­tion [kWh/(m²,år)]; this, however, is not the case with the machine hall.

    The alternative with the heat pumps is the economically most sound, viewed in the perspective of 30 years. Furthermore, the comparisons of the different simula­tions yield that the largest profit occur when the machine hall is equipped with ent­rance gates that have a lower U-value than the originally planned, and also that the air flow to the mentioned hall is decreased with ten per cent. With these changes, even the machine hall fulfil the requirements of energy consumption from BBR.

    The results from the computations with the matrix in Excel, is in this degree pro­ject consider­ed to be as accurate as those derived from the programmes BV² and VIP+, on con­di­tion that certain adjustements are made in the equations of the mat­rix.   

Sammanfattning

Radon i flerbostadshus är ämnet för detta examensarbete. Bostadsrättsföreningen Tallmon äger två flerbostadshus i Skogsbo, Avesta. I dessa två flerbostadshus har radonmätningar gjorts under den senaste mätperioden. Dessa mätresultat tillsammans med tidigare kända mätresultat har sammanställts i en tabell. Där går att avläsa att i 18 av totalt 26 uppmätta lägenheter har radonhalten någon gång varit över det gällande riktvärdet för radonhalt i bostäder.

Det har även gjorts ett mindre antal kontinuerliga korttidsmätningar med hänsyn på radon. Detta dels för att få en bild av hur radonhalten ser ut på sommarhalvåret och dels se hur radonhalten varierar under ett dygn. För att finna den stora källan till radon i luften gjordes även mätningar av ventilationsflödet och gammamätning. Gammamätning visar om det finns blåbetong i något byggmaterial. Resultatet av samtliga korttidsmätningar var att radonhalten varierade under samtliga mätperioder. Vissa lägenheter hade väldigt höga halter av radon när istället andra lägenheter hade lägre radonhalter. Det alla hade gemensamt var att de hade haft fönster öppna under mätperioderna, vilket sänker radonhalten i luften. Lågt luftflöde var en annan gemensam faktor som alla lägenheter hade. Liksom att inomhustemperaturen låg högt. Blåbetong finns i båda fastigheterna och då i ytterväggarna.

Mätresultaten inom detta examensarbete bekräftar tidigare resultat som innebär att man i många lägenheter har radonhalter över gällande riktvärde 200 Bq/m³. Radonhalterna tenderar inte alls att avta med höjden över mark, vilket antyder att blåbetongen kan vara den huvudsakliga källan i detta fall.

It is important that the society is functional in the case of a crisis or war. In these cases, some social functions are more important than others and should be prioritized according to MSB (2014). Management and coordination of social actors are extra important in these situations, and this is where the function of operations rooms becomes important. The purpose of this master thesis is to describe how the function in the operations rooms should be maintained despite fire outside the room in the facility. The thesis includes operations rooms for military, municipalities, county councils, county administrative boards and authorities, as well as emergency rescue services. To ensure that the command function can be maintained, the outer structure is dimensioned for a fire according to ISO 834 for 12 hours. The technical and personal supply is dimensioned to maintain the function for 10 days. As a result of this, the outer wall is dimensioned to 400 millimetres which leads to a zero heating of the room and 260 millimetre wall that maintain 80 percent of the carrying capacity. To maintain the technical support, a diesel engine is designed to meet the energy needs. As a conclusion, this work chart the conditions for a room that offers a shelter from a fire and maintain a management function. These facilities are complex and each underground facility must be dimensioned separately. 

Purpose: This study aims to analyse how the construction industry can work towards a digitalized workflow by implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in the pre-construction phase. The construction industry is far behind other industries in progress and must keep up to stay relevant and competitive. Furthermore, the study intends to investigate the challenges and added value that arise from the use of AI in the pre-construction phase of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning- systems (HVAC-systems). Additionally, the study seeks to analyse how AI can address time constraints and identify solutions that promote a more efficient workflow. The main purpose of this study is to utilize an AI tool to showcase its potential capabilities. Method: This work is based on two different methodologies, a literature study, and a case study. The literature study has been conducted to investigate the current state and future expectations within AI, as well as how the implementation can streamline the pre-construction phase. The case study is based on a study object as well as an AI tool to analyse the object. Interviews are also included in the case study to add a deeper discussion. Results: The results present a variety of different aspects along with associated challenges regarding the possible use of an AI application in an early pre-construction phase. Two main dimensions have been distinguished, efficiency and time. Regarding efficiency, theoretical value is demonstrated through a literary study. However, according to the case study, these benefits are not currently present due to an early stage of development. Based on the interviews, an indication of potential with further progress is shown. Furthermore, the aspect of time is a significant advantage that substantiates the use. A challenge arises from the fact that a reorganization also entails a significant investment of time, which complicates the decision. Based on the interviews, this investment is decisive regarding the decision. Conclusions: In accordance with identified challenges and values, can a summarized conclusion be reached. In the application´s current state, an implementation will not be beneficial because of complicated usability and inaccuracy regarding the results. However, it has great potential and should be used as inspiration for future projects.

The highly competitive global market, high labor costs, and the rapid development of modern technologies are all major reasons that motivate manufacturing companies to increase the Level of Automation (LoA) in their assembly lines using modern technologies. It was found that the Dynamo++ method is an effective tool to determine and measure the current physical and cognitive LoA in assembly stations, analyze the results and suggest some future improvementsaccording to the company’s requirements. In this paper, the main motivations that encourage companies to increase their LoA were discussed, and the literature was searched for some methods that help to increase the LoA in automotive assembly systems. After that, the Dynamo++ methodology was chosen as the best method because it integrates the physical and cognitive LoA and because it has been applied in many cases and companies and satisfactory results have been achieved. In addition, this paper discussed some of the limitations and improvements within the Dynamo++ method and discussed the results obtained after applying itin the main line and range line. Moreover, this paper also discussed the common challenges that manufacturing companies face when implementing automation solutions and how to overcome these obstacles in a way that ensures optimal use of promising automation opportunities. At the conclusion of this paper, the benefits that companies will gain if they adopt automation plans were discussed, and focus was placed on the most important technologies that will help raise the LoA in manufacturing lines. 

I storstadsområden i Sverige blir det allt vanligare att bygga överdäckningar. Överdäckningar är ett storstadsfenomen och är betydligt vanligare internationellt. I Västerås stad kan det vara aktuellt med en överdäckning i samband med stadsbyggnadsprojektet ”3B”, Bygga Bort Barriärer. Stadsbyggnadsprojektets mål är att utveckla stationsområdet och bygga bort järnvägen, för att kunna länka ihop Västerås centrum med den nya stadsdelen och Mälaren. För att uppfylla detta mål och förbättra stationsområdet kan en överdäckning vara en bra lösning. Detta examensarbete ska utreda om en överdäckning kan genomföras i Västerås och studera de faktorer som påverkar en eventuell överdäckning.

Examensarbetet begränsades till det utmarkerade spårområdet i ÖP64, stationsområdet i Västerås stad, där överdäckning kan prövas. Fokus lades på risk- och säkerhetsaspekter, miljöaspekter och stads- och landskapsbild. Empiriska studien genomfördes med hjälp av kvalitativa arkiv- och intervjuanalyser baserade på tre fallstudier. Resultatet utmynnade i en fördjupning inom problematiken samt framställandet av en modell.

Det finns inget tydligt fastställt regelverk som gäller för överdäckning vilket medför att planarbetet blir komplicerat. Tolkning av lagar som gäller för tunnlar och broar görs i nuläget, vilket öppnar för subjektiva bedömningar. I planarbetet är det tydligt att riskhanteringen är den viktigaste faktorn att beakta samt den mest problematiska. Denna styrs av farligt gods och avgör hur komplicerad riskhanteringen blir. Vid farligt gods är det explosiva och brandfarliga ämnen som medför stora skador på överdäckningen som kan leda till kollaps.

Resultatet av fördjupningen visar att en överdäckning är möjlig och uppfyller de uppsatta mål för stationsområdet, men den samhällsekonomiska nyttan måste bedömas vara värd den ökade investeringen.

Nyckelord: Överdäckning, bygga bort barriärer, intunnling, riskhantering, buller, farligt gods 

The report compiles the results from the TMU-project. The focus is on fire-fighting performance, capability and organization in underground constructions. The emphasis was on large-scale testing with authentic fire conditions and fire-fighting equipment, development of tools for prediction of hazardous conditions and capabilities of  fire-fighting during different conditions, organizational management and tactics, education and development  of recommendations.  The project was divided into different work packages and these are presented in this final summary report. The test fires performed in the project created severe conditions for fire-fighters who moved in smoke for over 180 m before fighting fully developed fires in a range of 18 to 33 MW. The fires consisted of wood pallets placed in a semi-open steel container, simulating a train wagon fire. The walking speed and connection time for hoses and connections were registered and documented by infra-red cameras. The most important results from these tests is that the time taken to approach the fire depends on parameters as type of equipment, preparation, possibilities for use of infra-red (IR) cameras and the capacity of the extinguishing media. The heat radiation from the fire was found to be important to overcome in order to get close enough to fight the fire. Recommendations and tactics for fighting fires in underground constructions are given. 

It is very important to protect buildings against fire. Especially older wooden buildings and areas with a historically important heritage, i.e. areas that cannot be restored to their original condition upon loss. In Eskilstuna one such area is located - Rademachersmedjorna. On behalf of Eskilstuna Kommunfastigheter AB a documentation of Rademachersmedjorna’s constructional fire protection has been conducted in this report in order to have the area's fire protection level documented. The purpose of this study has been, via systematic field studies, to provide an overview of Rademachersmedjorna and document the area’s current fire protection level. Based on this information, a visualization of the area's constructional fire protection and risk zones has been developed to give a simple overview for users, managers and owners. The inventory can be used by Eskilstuna Kommunfastigheter AB for a quick and easy visualization of Rademachersmedjorna’s fire protection level and risk zones. Furthermore, this information could be used as a basis for planning future safety prevention efforts. The documentation over the area is based on the assessment method

Bedömning av brandskydd i kulturbebyggelse (hereafter referred to as BSV-k) and the parts this method includes. There are a total of 16 buildings at the Rademacher area and only one building achieved an acceptable fire protection level according to BSV-k. There are several zones in the area that pose a higher risk for the occurrence of fire and fire spread. These higher vulnerable fire hazard zones are spread out over Rademachersmedjorna which means that the whole area quickly can get involved in case of fire. In this context it is important to avoid fire what so ever may arise. Removing combustible material in escape routes, in attics and combustible materials nearby the buildings are some fire prevention measures which can be applied. It is also important to note objects such as bins and wooden planks that exist between the buildings being potential fire carriers. In cases where the buildings distance to a nearby located building is very short, the potential fire carriers pose little threat as the fire can spread directly from building to building. To achieve an acceptable level of fire protection for Rademachersmedjorna - according to this study's assessment method - is sufficient in many cases to apply fire prevention.

Glulam is a product that was engineered to make use of timber in a more efficient way. Bychoosing timber of similar quality and discarding natural defects during production, thedevelopment of a stronger cross-section is achieved.Carbon fiber is a relatively new material with a high tension capacity. This feature is used toexamine how the bending capacity of the beams improve by adhering carbon fiber laminateson the lower edge of the beamsThe strength of the material is tested with three experiments: carbon fiber on the bottom of thebeam (a), carbon fiber attached to the lower sides of the beam (b) and carbon fiber in thebeam, covered with a layer of wood (c)

The results show that the first case, where the carbon fiber is attached to the bottom of thebeam, gave the best result with an increase in capacity of 59 % compared to the nonreinforcedcontrol. The other two cases also show an improvement in capacity, beam-type 3had a capacity increase of 47% and beam-type 4 increased with 25 %Tests were also made with glulam beams reinforced with fiberglass, but these tests were notanalyzed in depth because the purpose was to compare the capacity to carbon fiber. Thisbeam improved its capacity by 40.3%.The tests show that carbon fiber as a reinforcement material for glulam is a good choice whenthere is a requirement for stronger cross-sections in both new production and renovation ofold buildings. However there are some disadvantages to carbon fiber, for example costs andincreased demands on work environment, which makes steel a cheaper option.

Lightning discharge currents and their derivatives have been measured at instrumented tall towers for a few decades already. Results of those measurements are used for lightning research purposes, modelling of lightning discharges and making improvements in lightning protection. Some of the measured lightning currents are represented in this paper by the multi-peaked analytically extended function (MP-AEF). The same function may be used for lightning current derivatives, thus providing their analytical integration. 

This paper elaborates on the categorization – dichotomization – between “hard” and “soft” in project management research. This categorization is becoming more increasingly used in project management research for example by stating that some projects are “hard”, while other projects are “soft”, that some project skills are “hard”, while other project skills are “soft” etc. The aim is to discuss this dichotomization as an example of hierarchization – a power struggle between opposites – within project management research and literature and acknowledge the effects for project management research and practice of unreflective upholding of this dichotomy. We provide a critical review and discussion of stage-gate models as an example of “hard” project management approaches, and agile methods as an example of “soft” approaches to project management and acknowledge that in project management practice, it seems as if “hard” and “soft” approaches are most often combined. Hence, this dichotomy seems to be upheld by the research community while practitioners show a more holistic perspective to project management.

The last decades a great deal of research has been performed regarding different fields of fire safety and fire development in existing tunnels. During constructions of tunnels the physical conditions of the establishment as well as the fire load, the possibilities to evacuate and perform a fire and rescue operation are essentially separated from the conditions in the opened tunnel. During the construction phase, the safety installations prior to the finished state, often is not yet installed or in function. Before the break through, the tunnel can have a “dead end”, which can make both evacuation and fire and rescue operations very difficult. Many different organizations can be involved in the construction work with the tunnel and it is not uncommon that the workers have different nationalities. Both these conditions can, in case of an incident, influence the alarm chain and the quality of the information that reaches the emergency services. The incident commander (IC) in a large fire- and rescue operation has to survey a complex situation, where conventional methods and normal tactical approaches can be difficult to use. This paper discusses the fire- and rescue services possibilities to perform a fire and rescue operation during the different phases of the construction. Limitations, based on information from real fires and full-scale tests are analyzed and discussed. Both technical and organizational solutions for self-rescue or as support for the fire- and rescue services are valued and discussed.

Model scale fire tests were performed in tunnels with varying tunnel widths and heights in order to study the effect of tunnel cross-section and ventilation velocity on the heat release rate (HRR) for both liquid pool fires and solid fuel fires. The results showed that for well ventilated heptane pool fires, the tunnel width nearly has no influence on the HRR whilst a lower tunnel height clearly increases the HRR. For well ventilated solid fuel fires, the HRR increases by approximately 25% relative to a free burn test but the HRR is not sensitive to either tunnel width, tunnel height or ventilation velocity. For solid fuel fires that were not well ventilated, the HRRs could be less than those in free burn laboratory tests. In the case of ventilation controlled fires the HRRs approximately lie at the same level as for cases with natural ventilation.

The aging of assets is inevitable, even if proper aging management techniques are utilized. Over the past few decades, many assets around the world have exceeded their designed lifetime. This chapter provides a state-of-the-art review of the management of aging assets and discusses the challenges and opportunities. First, it introduces the basic concept of aging, its definition, and causes. Second, it provides industry examples in practice. Third, it discusses knowledge development in the context of reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) and prognostics and health management (PHM). Fourth, it states the current research problems and makes some suggestions. Finally, it proposes a new general framework for the management of aging assets.

Maintenance performance measurement is critical to the growth of businesses, particularly those in the process industries and those that rely on heavy machinery and/or assets for production. Such businesses cannot ignore or undermine the importance of MPM within their maintenance function. However, throughout the years, maintenance has been viewed as an additional cost of operating rather than an enabler for improved RAMS, product quality, decreased incidence of litigation, upholding one's reputation with stakeholders, and increased profit. Without measuring the performance of the maintenance function, it can be difficult to determine whether the maintenance goals have been achieved and neither can the maintenance activities be enhanced nor optimized. As a result, it may become the last place to invest, causing the company to forego the benefits that proper maintenance delivers. The main purpose of this study was to develop an integrated KPI framework for measuring maintenance performance in the mining industry. The 134 KPIs in the proposed KPI framework were classified as either technical KPIs (asset operations management KPIs with 23 KPIs) connected to the assets and/or machines or soft KPIs (maintenance process management and maintenance resources management with 85 and 26 KPIs respectively) related to workflow. The implementation of these KPIs has been discussed, and dates, definitions, and general formulas have been proposed. Results from this study will serve as a guideline for the implementation of the KPIs.

Traditional asset management of lighting systems typically focuseson functionality, cost, and lifespan. In contrast, a human-centricapproach prioritizes social sustainability and user well-being byensuring lighting assets “provide the right light at the right time”for diverse activities. Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, known forenergy efficiency and longevity, have become a preferred choice,yet public libraries often struggle to manage these assets sustain-ably, remaining in a reactive “fix/replace when it breaks” stage.Current predictive methods, such as artificial intelligence andmachine learning, rely on laboratory data that often overlook real-world contexts, leading to performance gaps. This paper presents acontext-driven, human-centric methodology for LED prognosis andmaintenance strategies in public libraries, employing limited degra-dation data from LED testing. Advanced analytical techniques,including Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and DevianceInformation Criterion (DIC), support a shift from function-based toperformance-based reliability assessment. By incorporating MeanTime of Exposure (MTOE) and Critical Integrated Levels (CILs), theapproach defines optimal maintenance inspection intervals. Thisresearch enhances sustainable LED lighting management in publiclibraries, offering a framework adaptable to broader applicationsand aligned with human-centric goals.

Increased energy performance of the building stock of European Union is seen as an important measure towards mitigating climate change, increasing resource utilisation efficiency and energy supply security. Whether to improve the supply-side, the demand-side or both is an open issue. This conflict is even more apparent in countries such as Sweden with a high penetration of district heating (DH). Many Swedish DH systems have high share of secondary energy resources such as forest industry residuals, waste material incineration and waste heat; and resource efficient cogeneration of electricity in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. When implementing an energy conservation measure (ECM) in a DH connected building stock, it will affect the operation of the whole DH system. If there are CHP plants and the cogeneration of electricity decreases due to an ECM, and this electricity is valued higher than the fuel savings, the consequences of the ECM would be negative. 

These complex relationships are investigated by conducting a case study on the Eskilstuna DH system, a renewable energy supply system with relatively high share of cogenerated electricity. Heat demand profiles of ECMs are determined by building energy simulation, using recently deep energy retrofitted multifamily buildings of the “Million Programme”-era in Eskilstuna as model basis. How implementing ECMs impact on the DH system’s heat and electricity production under different electricity revenue scenarios has been computed and evaluated in terms of resource efficiency and CO₂ emissions. 

The results show that different ECMs in the buildings impact differently on the DH system. Measures such as improved insulation level of the building’s envelope, that decrease the heat demand’s dependence to outdoor temperature, increase the amount of cogenerated electricity. While measures such as thermal solar panels, which save heat during summer, affects the absolute amount of cogenerated electricity negatively. Revenues from cogenerated electricity influence the amount of cost-effectively produced electricity much more than the impact from ECMs. Environmental benefits of the ECMs, measured in CO₂ emissions and primary energy consumption, are quite small in DH systems that have high share of forest residual fuels and electricity cogeneration. The consequences can even be negative if ECMs lead to increased need of imported electricity that is produced resource inefficiently or/and by fossil fuels. However, all studied ECMs increase the relative amount of cogenerated electricity, the ratio between amount of cogenerated electricity and the heat load. This implied that all ECMs increase the overall efficiency of the Eskilstuna DH system.

Dynamic building simulation is increasingly necessary for accurately quantifying potential energy savings measures in retrofit projects, to compliant with new stricter directives from EU implanted into member states legislations and building codes. For good result the simulation model need to be accurately calibrated. This requires actual weather data, representative for the climate surrounding the given building, in order to calibrate against actual energy bills of the same period of time.

The main objective of this degree project is to combine observed weather (temperature, humidity, wind etc.) data with modeled solar radiation data, utilizing the SMHI STRÅNG model system; and transform these data into AMY (Actual Meteorological Year) files to be used with building simulation software. This procedure gives actual weather datasets that will cover most of the urban and semi urban area in Northern Europe while still keeping the accuracy of observed weather data. A tool called Real-Time Weather Converter was developed to handle data retrieval & merging, filling of missing data points and to create the final AMY-file.

Modeled solar radiation data from STRÅNG had only been validated against a Swedish solar radiation network; validation was now made by the author with wider geographic coverage. Validation results show that STRÅNG model system performs well for Sweden but less so outside of Sweden. There exist some areas outside of Sweden (mainly Central Europe) with reasonable good result for some periods but the result is not as consistent in the long run as for Sweden.

The missing data fill scheme developed for the Real-Time Weather Converter does perform better than interpolation for data gaps (outdoor temperature) of about 9 to 48 hours. For gaps between 2 and 5 days the fill scheme will still give slightly better result than linear interpolation. Akima Spline interpolation performs better than linear interpolation for data gaps (outdoor temperature) in the interval 2 to about 8 hours.

Temperature uncertainty was studied using data from the period 1981-2010 for selected sites. The result expressed as SD (Standard Deviation) for the uncertainty in yearly mean temperature is about 1˚C for the Nordic countries. On a monthly basis the variation in mean temperature is much stronger (for Nordic countries it ranges from 3.5 to 4.7 ˚C for winter months), while summer months have less variation (with SD in the range of 1.3 to 1.9 ˚C). The same pattern is visible in sites at more southern latitudes but with much lower variation, and still lower for sites near coast areas. E.g. the cost-near Camborne, UK, has a SD of 0.7 to 1.7 ˚C on monthly basis and yearly SD of 0.5 ˚C.

Mean direct irradiance SD for studied sites ranges from 5 to 19 W/m² on yearly basis, while on monthly basis the SD ranges from 40 to 60 W/m² for summer months. However, the sample base was small and of inconsistent time periods and the numbers can only be seen as indicative.

The commonly used IWEC (International Weather for Energy Calculations) files direct radiation parameter was found to have a very strong negative bias of about 20 to 40 % for Northern Europe.  These files should be used with care, especially if solar radiation has a significant impact of on the building being modeled. Note that there exist also a newer set of files called IWEC2 that can be purchased from ASHRAE, these files seems not to be systematically biased for North Europe but haven’t been studied in this paper.

The STRÅNG model system does catch the trend, also outside of Sweden, and is thus a very useful source of solar radiation data for model calibration.

The report contains recommendations for firefighting in underground facilities. This implies results from a research project and the recommendations are based on case studies, interviews, experiments and discussion with different fire departments. The recommendations are structured in accordance to the time period of the actual incident occurrence or the time period during which some specific measures are taken. These periods are project period, construction phase and finally when the facility is in operation. The recommendations are based on the work in the TMU project (Tactics and methodologies for firefighting in underground facilities), results from other research projects and experience from real fire and rescue operations.  

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the construction industry can work towards a circular economy by reusing materials and products. The construction industry contributes to a large climate impact, mainly due to the distinctive resource intensity. The main purpose of this study is to develop a work model that simplifies circularity and the reuse of materials during reconstructions. The work model is based on the current obstacles and solutions encountered when working with reuse of construction material and products. Method: The execution of the work is based on two different methodologies, a literature study and a case study. The literature study investigates challenges, solutions and important concepts related to a circular construction industry. The case study involves an investigation of a study object to form a perception of reality. The investigation is covered by site visits, document analysis and dialogues with industry experts. The case study concerns a reconstruction of Vasen 3 in Stockholm. Results: The results present four different aspects with associated challenges that are overall for circular construction. The aspects covered in the degree project are storage & logistics, quality assurance & guarantees, incentive and lastly knowledge, experience & demand. Based on the case study, challenges directly linked to the study object have also been developed regarding logistics and storage. Furthermore, based on the challenges, identified solutions are presented regarding the four aspects. In accordance with identified challenges and solutions, a working model is presented which is covered by six different descriptive steps that can be followed when working with circular construction and reuse. Lastly, it is explained how the work model can be implemented and adapted for the study object. Conclusions: The conclusions compile the results of the degree project which demonstrate that increased knowledge, logistics solutions, incentives, planning at an early stage and a routine work model can steer the construction industry towards a circular economy and material flow. 

Environmental issues and the housing shortage is an ongoing debate among politicians.

Wood is a building material that Sweden has plenty of and it is a material that, according to

research, does not contribute to as much carbon dioxide emissions during production,

compared to other construction materials such as concrete and steel. Therefore the demand

for timber, in both facade claddings and external wall constructions, is increasing. In light of

this, the purpose with this degree project is to study different fire protection methods for

wood and compare it to untreated wood. Collecting the facts and information for this degree

project at Mälardalens University, is done through literature studies, surveys, and two

experiments conducted on two selected fire retardants. The experiments were conducted to

test untreated, fire protection impregnated and wood with fire proof paint. One of the

experiments tested the load-carrying capacity of the beams after being charred with a gas

burner. The other experiment investigated the surface layer and measured the fire spread

rate and both experiments tested the fire resistance. The experiments that were conducted

concluded that out of the three different methods for facades and beams, fire protection

impregnation was the best choice in all five chosen categories: load-carrying capacity, fire

resistance, surfaces, environmental impact and health safety for workers.

Purpose: The purpose of this degree project is to perform a systematic review of the environmental design with regard to perceived safety and crime prevention in the new residential area Sätra in Västerås. From the same perspective, the purpose is further to suggest different designs, but also present objections to already planned design. Method: The method consists of a literature study, a case study and an analysis based on the handbook BoTryggt2030, which consists of checklists based on situational crime prevention. The case study includes site visits, interviews, and document analysis. Results: Within the work of the comprehensive plan and the in-depth comprehensive plan, a lot of focus has been on connecting Sätra with adjacent districts and to place various functions along the area's main roads, which both are important aspects of the perceived safety in an area. The mentioned examples are two of several considerations at the current stage. Regarding the detailed development plan, it tests a mix of housing and businesses, and as another example it points out that the design of the public space is one of the central issues for achieving social sustainability. During the detailed planning, an open line of sight has been in focus and an operational reliability has been the main priority when choosing materials. The results also present design suggestions, for example which target group should be in focus when designing a centrally located activity park and where it is important that accessibility for emergency vehicles is ensured. Objections are partly made to the chosen temperature of lighting in the area and a centrally located grove of trees that impedes open line of sight. Conclusions: In the Sätra project, the issues of perceived safety and crime prevention have been present throughout the planning process, but to varying degrees and without clear systematics. By using the handbook BoTryggt2030, 45 suggestions and 13 objections regarding the design were developed. Sätra is considered to have good conditions to become an area where the environmental design contributes well to the perceived safety. However, there are opportunities for improvement and by taking advantage of the results of this work, many of them can be met for this district, but also other districts.

The increasingly complex context of dynamic, high-tempo military air operations raise new needs for aircraft maintenance and logistic support systems to more rapidly respond to changes in operational needs and available resources, with retained support resource efficiency. The future maintenance and support system are thus envisioned with improved net-centric capabilities to facilitate matching of tactical needs with aircraft maintenance capabilities. The study addresses this challenge by creating abstract representations and definitions of relevant tactical structures and maintenance structures, processes, and resources using enterprise modelling. By addressing this in a holistic perspective, a better understanding of the matching problem is achieved, enabling efficient matching of operational needs with available resources. Based on these findings, graph models are created from a domain-centric view of two adjacent domain contexts, which includes command and control and aircraft maintenance contexts. The result has the ability to leverage interoperability and collaboration between air- and ground-based systems by facilitating interactions between tactical needs and aircraft maintenance resources.

This study examines the use of building modeling and energy simulations in the design process  of  a  building.  The  take-off  point  is  the  notion  of  energy  simulations  being needed early and throughout the building design process, and that the lack of energy simulations may be explained by the fact that they are time consuming and therefore often too expensive. A greater interoperability between software tools used by relevant disciplines,  such  as  the  architect  and  the  energy  specialist,  would  create  smoother workflows, which would reduce this cost and open up for more frequent and iterative energy  simulation  processes.  The  study  is  an  assessment  of  the  modeling  tool  Revit and  the  simulation  tool  Virtual  Environment  and  whether  they  can  create  smoother workflows, and make leeway for a more frequent use of energy simulations throughout the  design  process.  It  also  investigates  the  limitations  of  what  can  be  examined  by simulations in Virtual Environment. This will hopefully help clarify the future role of energy  simulations  in  design  processes.  The  method  is  a  trial  by  error  approach  of testing the two software tools by building and simulating a model. The results of these tests  show  that  the  workflow  is  not  optimal  (and  therefore  time  consuming)  for frequent  and  iterative simulations  throughout the  design  process,  but  it  also  reveals some  great  possibilities  of  what  can  be  performed  with  these  two  powerful  tools  at hand.  Further  development  with  regards  on  platform  independency  of  the  building information  model,  including  seamless  exporting  and  importing,  seems  necessary  to strengthen the future role of energy simulations.

As a result of high energy use in buildings, the rules for energy conservation has, since 2006, become stricter in Sweden. Today, it must be verified that buildings meet the requirements of specific energy consumption (energy consumption per square meter heated floor area), with a calculation of the energy performance in a simulation program and by measuring the energy performance when the building is done. This in addition to the requirement that the average coefficient of thermal transmittance and the installed electrical power, for electrically heated buildings, must be calculated at the design stage. It is, however, often noted that the result of the calculations and measurements differ from each other, and that the measured values ​​often are higher than those calculated. In collaboration with NCC and Mälardalens University, an investigation was made in which the calculated and measured values ​​of energy were examined for a number of apartment buildings, schools and sports halls, to identify causes of difference, and to identify priority areas of work within, above all , energy simulation and energy follow-ups. It turned out that the difference is largely influenced by the type of the building, as it differed between apartment buildings, schools and sports halls. In addition, the amount of window area turned out to have impact on the results, as it allows for more airing, which is a factor that is very difficult to anticipate for the simulations. The windows ability to let in sunlight is another factor that is hard to anticipate. Furthermore, it was discovered that the standard values for the assumed energy consumption for domestic hot water is often too high. In some cases the assumed heated floor area and the assumed outdoor climate data differed between calculations and measurements. It also happens that heat losses from culvert pipes to the ground is not taken into account when calculations are done. As for priority areas of work, judging by the results of this work, better behavior related input data and standard values ​​for, above all, energy consumption for hot water needs to be developed. There has to be more diligence when ensuring that there are same conditions for calculations and measurements, and this could mean that those who perform the calculation may need to be assigned more responsibility over the measuring work. In addition, the follow-up work must be envisaged in the long term, which means that the number of registers should be sufficient to distinguish the different parameters, that consumes energy, apart to make it possible to learn from the over-/underestimation, and base future input and standard values ​​on it. This may mean that the simulation-/measure-work should not be limited only to comply with applicable laws, but it should be ensured that follow-up work can be done in such a way that it helps to improve the future work of simulations and measurements of energy use in buildings.

The competition and increasing customers‘ demands makes traditional manufacturing companies consider new ways of differentiate themselves. One way of doing this is to develop product service system (PSS) solutions. PSS solutions are a total offering, where the customer purchases the use of a solution instead of a physical product. This bachelor thesis within the School of Innovation Design and Engineering at Mälardalen University aims to determine the success factor of PSS development at ICT and AM, which are two traditional Swedish manufacturing companies. To do this, the main challenges of transforming ICT and AM into PSS providers will be identified. The thesis also aims to determine if there is a need for change of performance measurements and key performance indicators (KPIs) to enable this transformation. A theoretical review is presented to help the readers in the understanding of the thesis areas. Interviews at ICT and AM were made to get a view of the situations at the companies considering PSS development. The information gathered at the interviews stated the major challenges of transforming both companies into PSS developers. With the theoretical framework and the stated challenges, an analysis was made to determine the success factors of PSS development.The identified success factors of PSS development were Senior management clarification of strategic intent, Cultural change management, Teamwork culture, Internal communication mechanisms, External communication mechanism, Customer relationship, Motivating breakthrough ideas, Project core competency, Cross-functional collaboration, Cross-functional development, Allocation of resources, Training and education, Knowledge management, Customer satisfaction data, Risk management, Product positioning, Portfolio of product opportunities, Product functional content, Knowledge of market potential, Product service processes, Product environment, Development process, Responsibilities of team members, Concurrent development, Internal task coordination, Organizational readiness for sales, Internal marketing and External marketing.Based on the theoretical framework and interviews a statement was made; it is crucial to change the performance measurement and KPIs if implementing PSS, to support collaboration between departments and contribute to the overall success for the companies.

This thesis studies the soundscapes of five different urban courtyards in Västerås, Sweden and presents suggestions on how to improve them. Due to the increasing urbanization there is now an increased need for housing in cities, this leads to buildings that are close to both other buildings, roads and noise emitting activities. On the grounds of that there is now a higher amount of effort required to make urban courtyards a somewhat quiet and tranquil space. The need for such a courtyard is due to the negative health effects connected to a bad soundscape. Noise pollution can lead to both hearing loss and cardio-vascular diseases. The study was done by first conducting a research of the scientific literature about the subject and then making measurements and observations at the courtyards. The soundscapes of the studied courtyards ranged from annoying to pleasing and comfortable. The sound levels measured from 46 to 57 dBA, this difference of 11 dBA is perceived as about twice as loud by the human ear. To solve the issue with noise pollution we suggest a variety of solutions to the different courtyards. These mainly include noise barriers, green walls and roof, vegetation and sound masking techniques. The main conclusions are that even the best performing courtyard could be acoustically enhanced and that solutions that employ vegetation both reduce the sound level and introduce natural sounds that are pleasing to most humans. 

Background:

Hotels are considered a risky environment because guests are not expected to be awake and are expected to have poor local knowledge. Although hotels doesn’t have acceptable fire protection according to the only previously known study in this area. This is a problem because every four to five days there is a hotel fire. The hotels would be able to reach an acceptable fire safety by pursuing a systematic fire protection and take certain construction actions. Aim: Identifying details that need to be introduced in hotels daily work with fire protection based on the Swedish law and case studies. Method: A literature review and two case studies of hotel fires. Results: The hotel in Sweden followed the Swedish legislation in force in 2009 and had a good organizational fire protection. The hotel mainly needed to improve was the structural fire protection, adapted for disabled people, control of the acoustics in the evacuation alarm and had more smoke detectors. The hotel in England didn’t follow the law in force in England in 2007 and was nearly entirely lacking fire protection. They needed primarily improve the structural fire protection, adapted for disabled people, upgrade their alarm, had several smoke detectors and had a systematic fire protection. Conclusion: Swedish legislation still needs to be clear up because there is still room for interpretation of the laws as they are functional requirements. It is good that the Swedish legislation has adapted to fires that already has occurred in Sweden, but what could be done better today is motivate hotels to get involved in their fire protection. A committed management in hotels means better systematic fire protections and more money spend on the fire protection. One way to motivate hotel managements is to further inform about the consequences of a fire and to encourage hotels to certify themselves. But is not enough to only have a good systematic fire protection, the technical fire protection also needs to upgrade. It should be introduce higher demands that the hotels should be more handicap-friendly and update their fire alarms, because it saves lives and lower the material damage.

Background: Historical buildings in Sweden with the highest value of cultural heritage are administrated by the state and are protected by the directive SFS 2013:588. Also there are laws which demands that all public buildings which are administrated by the government should be accessible for everyone, with or without disabilities. This law also demands that in case of fire all visitors should be able to evacuate safely, including people with disabilities. This may be problematic to achieve without damaging the cultural value. Aim: The aim of this work is therefore to investigate a safe way for people with disabilities to evacuate in case of fire in buildings with high cultural value in Sweden, which are administrated by the state, with focus on the technical solutions. The aim is also to investigate improvement measures for the studied buildings and the laws in Sweden regarding the subject. Method: This work in bases on a literature study and a case study. The purpose of the literature study was to identify the previous studies and background information which was needed to find solutions to the problem. The case study were constructed to see how technical solutions are incorporated in actual buildings, but also to see how the evacuation can improve. Results: The work shows that all buildings in the case study has a sufficient evacuation plan for people with disabilities, but could be improved especially for people with visual disabilities without destroying the cultural heritage. Conclusion: One conclusion is that the focus often lies on technical solutions to make it possible for people with mobility impairments to evacuate, but the needs of people with visual disabilities are often overlooked. Therefore the laws regarding the subject should clarified that all people with disabilities also should have the same possibility to evacuate safety. Another conclusion is that it is possible to implement technical solutions in historical buildings without significantly destroying the cultural value. However, more research is required to develop new and improved solutions for these type of buildings. 

This work is analyzing aspects of how culturally significant buildings can be used for modern day purposes and how commercial property owners can achieve economical sustainability while working with these types of buildings. Focus is put on how current laws and regulations are handled at a macro level and how these, in turn, affect the work at an individual level. An extensive literature study has been carried out, as well as interviews with people whom in different ways work with these types of buildings. Culturally significant buildings hold a variety of values, for example historical and architectural, which in relation with current laws must be preserved. Knowledge must be passed to the property owner about how to best preserve values in a building even when changes are being made to it. When a building receives its values and its classification property owners can be part of the process to make sure the restrictions do not affect the future plan of the building. As such, these legislations are in one way helping commercial property owners preserve the valuable aspects of a building, but on the other hand putting restrictions on what type of structural procedures can be done and in turn making it not cost effective to use these types of buildings for modern day purposes. Economical sustainability in culturally significant buildings can be achieved mainly on two different levels, macro and individual. At a macro level work is carried out to achieve economical sustainability as a whole, for example in a city or a country, which UNESCO world heritage cities have proven through various projects worldwide.  At an individual level commercial property owners are able to make a profit of people’s willingness to pay high market value for culturally significant buildings, though at a profit of minimum 10%. Studies have shown that the market value of a building increases if it consists of culturally significant values, compared to buildings that are not classified as culturally significant. 

Purpose: This study aims to produce a design proposal of standard parkings for future environmentally friendly vehicles that can be used everywhere. It also submits a proposal for a part within Västerås city zone 1 where curbside car park can be replaced. Method: An external analysis containing a questionnaire study, interviews with experts in municipalities in 4 other selected cities, Örebro, Uppsala, Gent and Copenhagen combined with a literature study and a case study of the city of Västerås parkingzone 1 was performed. All material were collected to analyze how to design and were to place parkings for ecological environmentally friendly vehicles. Results: The results shows that a lot can be done in Västerås in terms of parking. The design and layout must include more types of vehicles as well as better amenities and security. This study gives suggestions and example of how to design and plan parkingspace for the future. Conclusions: The conclusion is that there are factors that slows the process down. The knowledge is great with the planners department but the information and knowledge in the population is lacking as well as the will and determination at the municipal politicians. There is also an architectural aspect on the shaping of parkings that don’t follow the user ́s needs. Another conclusion is that a wider variety of parking is needed in the future.