iosr-JMCE   Volume-19 ~ Issue-2 ~ Mar. – Apr. 2022

Abstract: This study aims to identify, analyze and rank factors affecting construction labor productivity in Ethiopian condominium house construction projects in Addis Ababa by using expert's opinions. To achieve this objective, 117 factors were selected and grouped into 9, namely: (a) Manpower; (b) Motivation; (c) Management; (d) Material; (e) Technical; (f) Tools and equipment; (g) Financial; (h) Environmental; and (i) other group. The result of the analysis of 51 structured questionnaires shows that four independent groups have a significant effect on the construction labor productivity and their ranking is: 1) Management group; 2) Material group; 3) Motivation group, and 4) Manpower group.........

Keywords: Construction, Ethiopia, labor productivity, productivity factors, reliability analysis

[1]. M. of U. D. C. and C. (MoUDC), 'Ministry of urban development and construction', no. July, 2012.
[2]. Amin Abdella and D. Getachew, Ethiopian Economics Association (EEA) and Ethiopian Strategy Support Program (ESSP) of IFPRI. Ethiopia: Ethiopian Economics Association (EEA), 2006.
[3]. M. French and K. Hegab, Condominium housing in Ethiopia: the integrated housing development programme. 2011.
[4]. Prachi R. Ghate, 'Importance of Measurement of Labour Productivity in Construction', International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology, vol. 05, no. 07, pp. 413–417, 2016, doi: 10.15623/ijret.2016.0507065.
[5]. K. M. El-Gohary and R. F. Aziz, 'Factors Influencing Construction Labor Productivity in Egypt', Journal of Management in Engineering, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 2014, doi: 10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000168

Abstract: The amount of waste plastics is increasing daily, and it takes a long time to decompose. Plastic waste recycling which is used in concrete is an important topic since it preserves nonrenewable natural resources and reduces pollution in the environment. The effects of replacing 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% of sand weight with PET processed particles have been studied. Cubic, cylindrical, and prismatic specimens with various water to cement ratios were made for this purpose, and the properties of fresh and hardened concrete were assessed. The results were recorded at.........

Keywords: Recycled PET, Compressive Strength, Tensile Strength, Rate of Water Absorption, Density

[1]. E. Rahmani, M. Dehestani, M.H.A. Beygi, H. Allahyari, and I.M. Nikbin," On the mechanical properties of concrete containing waste PET particles", Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 47, pp. 1302-1308, 2013.
[2]. O. Dawood, H. AL-Khazraji and R. S. Falih," Physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing PET wastes as a partial replacement for fine aggregates ", Case Studies in Construction Materials, Vol. 14, pp. 1-13, 2021.
[3]. R.I. Umasabor and S.C. Danie," The effect of using polyethylene terephthalate as an additive on the flexural and compressive strength of concrete ", Advances in Concrete Construction, Vol. 6, pp1-6, 2020.
[4]. G.O. Bamigboye, K. Tarverdi, A. Umoren, D.E. Bassey, U. Okorie and J. Adediran," Evaluation of eco-friendly concrete having waste PET as fine aggregates ", Cleaner Materials, Vol. 2, pp. 1-12, 2021.
[5]. S.O. Ajamu, J.A. Ige, and T.M. Oyinkanola," Effect of waste (PET) bottle fibers on the properties of concrete ", International Journal of Research in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 6, No. 9, pp. 1-8, 2018.

Abstract: Background: Construction auditing is an objective forensic accounting, financial, performance and technical exercise, conducted on a construction project aimed at ascertaining and evaluating the evidence of assertions on economic, professional actions and events on the project and its stakeholders. The aim of this study is to evaluate contract-auditing techniques of construction projects in Anambra state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The research method used for this study is the descriptive survey method; review of past relevant literature was undertaken. Population of study is eighty-nine (89), while seventy-three (73) questionnaires were distributed to respondents......

Keywords: Contract, Contract Auditing, Construction Projects, Nigeria

[1]. Arah, G.O: Project Cost Auditing as a Tool for Earned Value – Management. Being a Paper delivered at the 2011 Quantity Surveying Assembly and Colloquin Organized by the QSRBN Held at Shehu Myusa Yar Adua Center, Abuja, Nigeria. 28th – 29th September 2011.
[2]. Memmon, A. H., Rahman, I. A. and Aziz, A. A: The Cause Factors of Large Projects Cost Overrun: A survey in the Southern Part of Pennisular Malaysia. International Journal of Real Estate Studies. 2012, 7(2), 1-15.
[3]. Awolesi, J.A. and Musa, N.A: Contract Auditing and Value Management towards Achieving Client's Satisfaction and Public Accountability. Being a paper delivered at a three-day National Workshop Organised by NIQS at Kwara Hotels, Ilorin, Nigeria between 18th and 20th October, 2011.
[4]. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary .2012. 12th Edition.
[5]. Cai, H., Kandil, A. Hastak, M., & Dunston, P: Construction Research Congress 2012: American Society of Civil Engineers, 2012

Abstract: Due to rapid growth of construction activities, conventional aggregate sources are depleting at a very fast phase, leading to significant increase in cost of construction. For sustainable development, these materials should be used wisely, and alternative cost effective and eco-friendly materials needs to be incorporated as building materials. Unique physical and chemical properties of the coconut shells made it use as an effective alternate construction material. In the present work, strength properties of coconut shell based concrete building blocks are investigated. Experimental studies were carried out on the hollow and filled coconut blocks with various options of shells orientations to understand its capability to use it as a filler material. Mechanical properties of the coconut shell based concrete is obtained by carrying out the tests on concrete cubes and cylinders. The study concludes that, coconut shell is a suitable composite and filler material for enhancing the strength of conventional solid and hollow concrete blocks.

Keywords: Coconut Shells, Arch Action, Hollow and Filled Coconut Concrete Blocks

[1]. Abubakar and Muhammed Saleh, Exploratory Study of Coconut Shell as Coarse Aggregate in Concrete, Journal of Engineering & Applied sciences, Vol: 3, 2011.
[2]. D. Y Osei, Experimental assessment on coconut shells as aggregate in concrete, International Journal of Engineering Science Invention, Vol. 2, pp. 07-11, 2013.
[3]. V.P. Kulkarni, S.B kumar, Comparative Study on Coconut Shell Aggregate with Conventional Concrete, International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology, 2013.
[4]. Ahlawat, Dewanshu and Kalurkar, Performance of Coconut Shell as Coarse Aggregate in Concrete: A Review, International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2014.
[5]. A.S. Kattire, P A. Bhujugade and S. Chougule, Investigation of coconut shell as a Replacement of coarse aggregate in Concrete, Journal of information, knowledge and research in Civil engineering, 2014

Abstract: This work represents a theoretical investigation of a ground coupled heat pump system that is used for domestic cooling purposes of a typical residential house in Aqaba -Jordan. The system is designed to provide cooling load of 7.27 KW. The designed system consists of a ground buried heat exchanger (3m depth, 6.5m length, and 2.2cm diameter), indoor heat exchanger, and a 2 HP compressor. The system has been analyzed economically and it was found that the ground coupled heat pump system reduces energy consumption and has a payback period of 1.5 years.

Keywords: Heat Pump; Energy Saving; Tafila; Economic Analyses; Residential Building Heating and Cooling Loads.

[1] Fischer, S. K. (1988). The Oak Ridge heat pump design model: MARK III version program documentation. ORNL Oak ridge national laboratory (US).
[2] Spalding, D. B., & Patankar, S. V. (1967). Heat and mass transfer. Morgan-Grampian, London, England.
[3] Dobson, M. K., O'Neal, D. L., & Wolfe, M. L. (1993). A nondimensional analysis of vertical configuration, ground-coupled heat pump startup. Journal of solar energy engineering, 115(4), 220-225.
[4] Wood, C. (1988). Materials for thermoelectric energy conversion. Reports on progress in physics, 51(4), 459.
[5] Trombe, A., Pettit, M., & Bourret, B. (1991). Air cooling by earth tube heat exchanger: experimental approach. Renewable energy, 1(5-6), 699-707.

Abstract: Suspension is one of the important sub-systems of a vehicle. It plays a major role in stability, ride comfort and overall performance of an all-terrain vehicle. The suspension geometry commands the stability of the vehicle and its steering ability. In this study, an attempt has been made to model and analyse the front suspension of an all-terrain vehicle and to study the influence of vehicle parameters on suspension geometry and how they dictate the performance of the suspension system. The double wishbone suspension system is selected for front suspension due to its advantages and is designed and modelled for a vehicle weight of 225 kg , track width of 52 inches, wheel base of 58 inches and a ground clearance of 13 inches. The mounting points of suspension systems are arrived after critical analysis using Lotus Shark software. The components of suspension like A-arms, hub, Knuckle etc., are modelled using SOLIDWORKS 2021 and analysis is carried in the ANSYS 2021.

Key Words: suspension, double wishbone, A-arms, Knuckle, All terrain vehicle

[1]. William F. Milliken, Douglas L. Milliken. (1995), "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" Volume 146, Society of Automotive Engineers.
[2]. Thomas D. Gillespie (1992) " Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics" Society of Automotive Engineers.
[3]. Bhandari V.B. (2014), "Design of Machine Elements" McGraw Hill Education (India).
[4]. Baja SAEINDIA 2022 rulebook (2022), Society of Automotive Engineers
[5]. Shaikh Vasim (2013), "A Mist and Microstructure characterization in end milling AISI1018"..