various construction trends in civil engineering

1. SEMINAR ON:
RECENT CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES
BY:
CHANDANA YADAV

2. CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SCOPE
• ROBOT SWARM CONSTRUCTION
• CARBON NANOTUBES
• SMART CONCRETE
• AEROGEL
• DRONES-ADVANCED MAPPING
• 3D-PRINTING
• PLASTIC ROADS
• HOLOGRAPHIC COMPUTERS
• CONTACTLESS SECURITY CARDS
• ROAD PRINTER & SOLAR PAINT
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTION
• The act of building is a basic component of human activity. For centuries, humans
have created structures, beginning with the simplest of huts to the most modern
of skyscrapers. All along the way, construction technologies and practices are
advanced
• Civil engineering has always readily adopted new technologies, using innovations
like suspension systems to build bridges and GPS to plot new roads. And as
technology continues to evolve, we can expect that the civil engineering field will
only keep incorporating this new technology in increasingly creative ways. New
technologies makes work easier, faster.

4. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
• These techniques are sustainable
• Wide range of applications, consumes very less time, durable
• All this techniques involves use of alternative energy source which is
renewable
• Eases the construction work and there is lot of scope for future
• These techniques also uses recycled materials to create new things
• These techniques can used in place where human cant access like
dangerous places without man supervision.

5. 1. ROBOT SWARM CONSTRUCTION
• Termites can build large structures despite having no
central supervision
• Getting inspiration from these,researchers at
HARVARD university developed a swarm of drones
which can build structures by following an initial
design.
• 4 wheeled robots can build brick like walls by lifting
each brick and laying them in required position and
they have sensors to sense other robots ,so that they
wont collide with each other.
• This technology can be used in building space
stations on mars and in construction of deep
underwater gas pipelines
• This technology is been experimented in building
undulating brick towers

6. 2.CARBON NANOTUBES
• A nanometre is 1 billionth of meter,using coding edge techniques like electron beam
spectrography,engineers are created tubes of carbon with walls 1nm thick.
• They have highest strength to weight ratio of any material on earth and can be
stretched to million times longer than their thickness.
• They are very light and strong,so can be embedded into other building materials like
metals,concrete,wood and glass increase tensile strength.
• Lot of research work is going on in monitoring stresses inside building materials and
identifying potential fractures and cracks before they occur.

7. 3.SELF HEALING CONCRETE
• Concrete is most widely used material on earth , i.e. second
most used after water, but it is subjected to
cracking,stresses,deterioration under extreme heat and cold
conditions.
• The only way to fix concrete was to patch it or reinforce it.But in
2010 a graduate student & professor at Rhode island created a
new type of smart concrete that heals it own cracks.
• The concrete mixes embedded with tiny capsules of sodium
silicate, when the crack forms the capsules rupture & release
the gel like healing agent that hardens to filling the voids
• Other researchers have used bacteria / emebbed glass
capillaries or polymer micro capsule to achieve similar results.
• This concrete not only makes structure safe, but also cutdown
green house gases and makes it sustainable.

8. 4.PERMEABLE ROADS
• Permeable pavement (also known as pervious or porous concrete) is a specific type
of pavement with a high porosity that allows rainwater to pass through it into the
ground below.
• Through this movement, pervious concrete mimics the natural process that occurs
on the ground’s surface, consequently reducing runoff and returning water to
underground aquifers. It also traps suspended solids and pollutants, keeping them
from polluting the water stream.
• Pervious concrete has many applications, most commonly:low-volume
pavements,residential roads and driveways,sidewalks,parking lots,low-water
bridges,well linings,swimming pool decks.
• The concept was proposed in the 1960s in hopes of reducing floods, raising water
tables, and replenishing aquifers, while a decade later the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) began testing it to determine its cost and efficiency.

9. • Water and aggregate are added in specific amounts to attain pervious concrete with a
high air content and just enough cementitious paste to coat particles and interconnect
voids. The low cement and high air content results in reduced strength, hindering
pervious concrete from being used on highways, certain streets, or heavy loading areas.
• Permeable paving can be one part of building green parking lots, which can also include
rain gardens, art, trees, solar covers, and other creative elements.

10. 5.AEROGEL
• Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the
liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas(90% OF AIR)
• Aero gel is a solid with the lowest known density. It stands up to 2000 time's
greater load than its own weight. It has extremely low thermal conductivity; the
material is very suitable to limit the heat losses of buildings. Its melting
temperature is 1200 °C, well dampens vibration and sound. Aero gel is the only
compound with significant thermal insulation capabilities.
• It is the least dense material on the earth . A foam like material which held its
shape despite being almost as light as air.
• Due to their translucent nature they are nicknamed "frozen smoke". The ceramic
foam structure is the world’s best thermal insulator as it almost cancels out the
three methods of heat transfer (convection, conduction and radiation).

11. • NASA used an aerogel to trap space dust particles aboard the Stardust spacecraft.
The particles vaporize on impact with solids and pass through gases, but can be
trapped in aerogels. NASA also used aerogel for thermal insulation of the Mars
Rover and space suits
• Aerogel concrete is also available which is made from aerogel granulate, gypsum,
cement and can be used for foundry applications, structural panel.

12. 7.DRONES: ADVANCED MAPPING AND SCANNING
CAPACITIES FOR MORE ACCURATE VISUALIZATIONS
• Civil engineering is ripe with applications for unmanned aerial
vehicles, which can aid in scanning and mapping work sites as well
as capturing photos and videos for promotional purposes. UAVs
often represent a cost-saving measure for businesses that need
aerial mapping, as a drone doesn't require a pilot, but rather, a
programmer. UAVs are also easy to program to fly multiple times
around the same worksite, which means in the future, firms will
be able to capture a variety of images and videos while the project
is being completed – and that will enable firms to better manage
project progress.
• UAVs will also revolutionize civil engineering through the use of
photo scanning, an image capture process that uses photos (rather
than lasers) to capture images. Photo scanning captures not just
the ground surface, but also buildings, plants, benches, and other
nearby structures – and represents them in three dimensions.
With these advanced capabilities, drones will allow for more
accurate and more interactive 3D representations of civil
engineering projects.

13. 8. 3D PRINTING
• 3D printing is gaining a lot of ground not just among hobbyists, but also in
business – and with 3D printers coming down in price each year, it's not
long before we'll see them used in civil engineering. 3D printing offers
benefits for both design and construction, essentially tying the two
processes together. With 3D printing, it's easy to design custom
construction supplies and then build them using nearly any kind of material
imaginable. In fact, 3D printers are already in use in construction projects
in Europe. Dutch construction company HEIJMANS – most well known for
its "smart highway" and its glowing bicycle paths, which use luminescent
paint to clearly mark road lanes at night – has created the world's first 3D-
printed bridge in collaboration with start up MX3D and designer Joris
Laarman. The bridge, which was first designed in October 2015, will span
across the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal & it is completed in 2017.

14. • MX3D's 3D printer, isn't like those that we've traditionally seen. Rather than a
desktop 3D printer, MX3D's technology consists of a set of large mechanical arms
that hold a torch-like tool for welding. These robot arms build 3D objects in an open
warehouse space rather than inside a box as most 3D printers do. The arms can also
print in all directions, unlike typical 3D printers, which allows for much more
creativity and variability in the design stage. Heijmans Innovation Manager says
that 3D printing joins design and construction into a single process, rather than two
separate processes as has traditionally been seen in construction. Vander Ven notes
that this change will require site managers and designers to start looking at the
design process in a new way.

15. 9.PLASTICROAD: IMPROVING THE DURABILITY AND
LIFESPAN OF OUR ROADS
• Plastic is one of the most commonly recycled products, with plastic materials
often being recycled into bottles, bags, toys, containers, and much more. But
now, a Dutch company is attempting to recycle plastic into something much
larger: Roads. VolkerWessels is a Dutch construction firm that is preparing to
build a Plastic Road in Rotterdam. While VolkwerWessels Plastic Road is still only
a concept, it's becoming quite popular in Holland, where 96 million tons of
carbon dioxide are released into the air through road building and maintenance
alone. VolkerWessels expects that its Plastic Road will reduce greenhouse gas
emissions while making roads stronger and increasing their lifespan.
• The Plastic Road also allows for easy infrastructure upgrades, as the road is
hollow, which enables city planners to run pipes and wires inside the road itself.
Civil engineers say the road's hollow cavities may also be useful in draining
floodwater in the event of rainstorms.

16. 10.HOLOGRAPHIC COMPUTERS:
• The next revolution in wearable tech is here, and it's going
to forever change information management and
communication processes in the civil engineering industry.
• HoloLens is a mixed reality headset that layers 3D
holograms over physical world images in order to convey
helpful information to the wearer. Using the HoloLens, civil
engineers can see digital input drawn over physical objects,
share that input with collaborators via Skype, fine-tune
designs in 3D, and explore designs in real time.
• Currently, businesses in the architecture and construction
industries are piloting the HoloLens and developing
innovative new processes that leverage 3D holographic
models to improve the design phase.

17. 11.Contactless Security Cards: Improving on RFID
to Boost Security
• Site security is always a priority, and with technology evolving, site managers
need more and more security measures at their disposal. The next big thing in
site security is contactless security cards. These cards can be programmed with
individual profile information to uniquely identify each cardholder, and can give
users access to secure offices, secure parking, and even computer networks. The
great advantage that these smart cards offer is that security becomes much
easier to manage. Employees can check themselves into and out of the worksite
with just a swipe of a card, and managers have a turnkey security solution that
doesn't require their constant presence.
• Disadvantage is cards are most likely to be lost or stolen and there is possibility of
hacking

18. 12.ROAD PRINTER
• Paved roads are suitable for communities because, they are easy to
maintain and repair
• Road paving is a slow process, but this machine(road printer) speeds
it up by multiple times.

19. 13.SOLAR PAINT
• Solar panels are big and chunky, yet they are not
that powerful.
• Companies are developing SPRAY on solar cells
using nano particles of Zinc and Phosphorus.
• Solar paint, also known as paint-on solar or
paintable solar, works the same as any other
photovoltaic cell by collecting the energy from the
sunlight and converting it to electricity. The basic
idea is that billions of tiny pieces of light-sensitive
material are suspended in a flexible liquid, like an
ink or paint, which can be sprayed on to various
shapes and sizes.
• In 2014, researchers at the University of Toronto
experimented with a solar paint made of tiny dots
known as colloidal quantum dots.

20. ADVANTAGES:
• Most of these technologies are sustainable,very less carbon emission.
• All these technologies use alternative energy sources which are mostly
renewable.
• These technologies eases the construction works, very fast and long lasting
• Robot swarm technology can be used in places where access for manpower is
difficult
• Smart concrete(self healing & permeable) reduces water logging,runoff problems
and problem of repairs.
• Aerogel is energy efficient wonder material which can be future construction
building material.
• Drones had made surveying easier, wider,faster
• Plastic roads uses recycled plastic,which solves problem of dispaosing
it.

21. DISAVANTAGES
• As this technologies are new and not widely used,the cost is also high.
• These technogies requires skilled labour to implement them
• The primary disadvantage of drone use in civil engineering is the initial capital
expense required to purchase drones and train pilots, however, the cost is
expected to decline over time.
• 3D printers are limited in the kinds of materials they can prin 3D printers also pose
a threat to manufacturing jobs, and training staff to use 3D printers may require a
significant capital investment.
• The road's components are also somewhat volatile, and exposure to chlorine will
cause the road to give off hydrogen chloride – a colorless gas that, when exposed
to atmospheric humidity, turns into hydrochloric acid. When it becomes
sufficiently concentrated, hydrochloric acid forms an acidic mist that can cause
irreversible damage to human tissue
• HoloLens does come with certain disadvantages. The headset could serve as a
workplace distraction that hinders productivity

22. CONCLUSION
• All these technologies gives new dimension to civil engineering and
new possibilities, rather than following the same old traditional
methods.
• Now a days, everywhere the trend is sustainability, we can see that,
all these technologies incorporate sustainable development in one or
the other way.
• There is extinction of the non-renewable sources of energy used from
decades, there is need for alternative materials and source, these
technologies are great move towards that.
• These gives chance to develop civil engineering by using other inter
disciplinary branches like nanotechnology,information,microbiology
etc.

23. REFERENCES
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_robotics
• www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221491471300024X
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel
• Arkit Civil Engineering • Technology
• www.nanoscience.com/applications/education/overview/cnt-
technology-overview/
• https://www.giatecscientific.com/smartconcrete