Structures, Spring 2011

Hyeong Yoon, Thomas Shouler, Joe Beaudette

Abstract:

Our main objective we wished to accomplish this semester was to create a means of automating the design of the columns and walls for the design tool. We began this work by analyzing the structural capabilities of the columns and walls for the Alauca plant.

There are three different load cases that guide the design of the columns and walls of the tank. The first case assumed that the tank walls were supported by the surrounding backfill. The second case assumed no support from this backfill. The third case analyzed the structural importance of the rubble which lies at the base of the sedimentation tank.

For our analysis of the walls, we modeled them as closely spaced columns. As seen in Figure 1, the vertical rebar that runs through these walls will add flexural support. By modeling the walls as columns we accounted for this vertical rebar. Modeling the walls as a combination of individual columns also allowed us to use the same tools and procedures that we used for the analysis of the columns. We set the moment at initial cracking as our first failure moment. We determined this moment by using the the Transformed Moment of Inertia method. We also wanted to know the moment that would render the walls and columns could experience before ultimate failure. We believed that this value would be of importance for future analyses which would incorporate earthquake conditions. For this ultimate failure analysis, we used the Column Interaction Diagram. This method plots the area of all axial load and moment cases that a column would be able to support safely. All methods are explained in detail in the report.

Structural Design of AguaClara Plants, Summer 2011

Lily Siu

Abstract:

Our main objective we wish to accomplish this summer is to analyze the reinforcement configuration and structural strength of the sedimentation and flocculation tank walls. In the previous semester, the structural design team analyzed the structural capabilities of the columns and walls for the Alauca plant using various assumptions and load cases. The previous team analyzed the walls as closely spaced concrete columns. By modeling the walls as columns the flexural support provided by the horizontal reinforcement is unaccounted for, but it allowed for the use of the same tools and procedures that is used for beam analysis. We seek to attempt to validate the previous team’s calculations as well as suggesting methods to analyze the horizontal reinforcement in order to reduce over-designing. This report is meant to augment the Spring 2011 report.

Village Supply System - Household – Fall 2014

Pooja Desai, Paula Gomez­Nunez, Mary John

Abstract:

The Fall 2014 Household Infrastructure Team designed a storage tank, sink and a flow regulation system at the household level in a rural Indian village. The ultimate goal of the semester’s designs was to provide equitable flow to each house, to be stored and used in a sanitary environment. The designs determined that a 600L HDPE storage tank at each household is necessary to store a days worth of water to the family, attached to double level sink that provides an upper basin for washing of dishes 1m above the ground and a ground level platform for washing clothes. Tanks are elevated on top of a brick stand that is approximately 1m tall. Inside the tanks, ball cock float valves with an inner diameter of 1⁄2” regulate water flow.

To provide equitable water flow to each household in the village, no matter where the house is located, flow regulation to within 10% of the target household flow, 0.021L/s was forced in our design by adding headloss elements into the distribution system before the storage tanks. Extensive research into pressure regulators as a means of flow regulation was done, but it was determined that they are impractical for villages that have only a few meters of elevation difference. The design expanded further upon previous semesters work with small diameter coiled flexible tubing that greatly restricts flow. Depending on the available tubing diameters, it was found that 1m­6.7m of tubing is required at the household level to force equitable flow throughout the village.

Village Supply System - Distribution Subteam – Fall 2014

Maria Veronica Cordova, Tianchen Yu

Abstract:

The Team Village Supply has three sub teams working on the photovoltaic pump, distribution and household design. The Village Supply­Distribution System Subteam has worked based on last semesters code 2canzzzz’ and improved it so that it has more accurate final results and it can be set continuous, meaning that this code can be updated with any characteristics of other villages. The overall design of the subteam consist in the network of pipes that distribute water coming from the tank to every house in the village. The new code has taken into account the flow variation into each tier of pipes, and thus the result in the sizing of the pipes has changed significantly. As a result we obtain the critical path and the correspondent head loss through the pipes, considering major and minor losses and differences in height elevations. The cost of the total network design including pipes and tees has been calculated with updated costs for the optimal solution.

Village Supply System - PV/Pump – Fall 2014

Qingjing Gong, Anqi Wang, Erika Axe

Abstract:

The PV/Pump Subteam section has worked on how to modify and improve upon the ideas and models already in place for design of pumps in villages for the Fall 2014 Semester; this group is a subset of the entire Village Supply Team in the AguaClara Student Project Team at Cornell University. In general, this subset has worked toward having single electric pumps that send water to the town and lifts water from the well at ground level to an AguaClara facility/distribution system, deliberating types of pumps and pressure requirements for equal distribution, balancing cost and efficiency of pumps, and evaluating the different options for the design of the photovoltaic and pump system. Among the different designs for the photovoltaic and pump system, this section will be looking at two main options. The first option will be to divide the power between the two pumps, create a simple control system for easily maintenance, and to design the photovoltaic system to be able to handle cloudy, winter days. The second option to be looked into will be to divert all the power to the first pump on cloudy days and to allow the control system to automatically divert all of the power to the well pump when the chlorine contact tank isn't full—thereby allowing the second option to be more easily implemented.

Modular Designs - Fall 2015

Stephanie Sun

Abstract:

The Fall 2015 Modular Designs task is a continuation of previous efforts to provide AguaClara clients the ability to request individual component designs on the AguaClara website.In Fall 2012, design team member Heidi Rausch began working on creating upper levelMathCAD files that the design tool will use to create individual component designs in addition to the already available full scale plant design. The goal of the Fall 2015 Modular Designs team is to continue working on the modular designs by updating already existing component files as well as creating new upper level files for other parts of the plant.