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Highrise
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. It is used as a residential or office building, or has other functions, including hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes combined. Residential high-rise buildings are also known in some varieties of English, such as British English, as tower blocks and may be referred to as MDUs, standing for multi-dwelling units. A very tall high-rise building is referred to as a skyscraper. High-rise buildings became possible to construct with the invention of the elevator (lift) and with less expensive, more abundant building materials. The materials used for the structural system of high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete and steel. Most North American–style skyscrapers have a steel frame, while residential blocks are usually constructed of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings. Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel frame that supports curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscraper walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a small surfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steel Frame
Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The development of this technique made the construction of the skyscraper possible. Steel frame has displaced its predecessor, the iron frame, in the early 20th century. Concept The Rolling mill, rolled steel "profile" or cross section (geometry), cross section of steel columns takes the shape of the letter "". The two wide flanges of a column are thicker and wider than the flanges on a Beam (structure), beam, to better withstand compressive stress in the structure. Square and round tubular sections of steel can also be used, often filled with concrete. Steel beams are connected to the columns with bolts and threaded fasteners, and historically connected by rivets. The central "web" of the steel I-beam is often wider than a column web to resist the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Population Density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (other), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopulation Density Geography.about.com. March 2, 2011. Retrieved on December 10, 2011. Biological population densities Population density is population divided by total land area, sometimes including seas and oceans, as appropriate. Low densities may cause an extinction vortex and further reduce fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it. Examples of the causes of reduced fertility in low population densities are: * Increased problems with locating sexual mates * Increased inbreeding Human densities Population density is the number of people per unit of area, usually transcribed as "per square kilometre" or square mile, and which may include or exclude, for example, ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartment Building
An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are many names for these overall buildings (see below). The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium ( strata title or commonhold) or leasehold, to tenants renting from a private landlord. Terminology The term ''apartment'' is favoured in North America (although in some Canadian cities, ''flat'' is used for a unit which is part of a house containing two or three units, typically one to a floor). In the UK and Australia, the term ''apartment'' is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term ''flat'' is used commonly, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Setback (architecture)
A setback, in the specific sense of a step-back, is a step-like form of a wall or other building frontage, also termed a recession or recessed story. Step-backs lower the building's center of mass, making it more stable. A setback as a minimum one-bay indent across all stories is called a recessed bay or recess and is the more common exterior form of an alcove. Upper stories forming a step-back may form a belvedere – and in residential use are considered the penthouse. If part of the roof, then they are a loft or attic/ garret. History Setbacks were used by people to increase the height of masonry structures by distributing gravity loads produced by building materials such as clay, stone, or brick. This was achieved by regularly reducing the footprint of each level located successively farther from the ground. Setbacks also allowed the natural erosion to occur without compromising the structural integrity of the building. The most prominent example of a setback techn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Engineering
Wind engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, meteorology, and applied physics that analyzes the effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits which may result from wind. In the field of engineering it includes strong winds, which may cause discomfort, as well as extreme winds, such as in a tornado, hurricane or heavy storm, which may cause widespread destruction. In the fields of wind energy and air pollution it also includes low and moderate winds as these are relevant to electricity production and dispersion of contaminants. Wind engineering draws upon meteorology, fluid dynamics, mechanics, geographic information systems, and a number of specialist engineering disciplines, including aerodynamics and structural dynamics. The tools used include atmospheric models, atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnels, and computational fluid dynamics models. Wind engineering involves, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Sprinkler
A fire sprinkler or sprinkler head is the component of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been exceeded. Fire sprinklers are extensively used worldwide, with over 40 million sprinkler heads fitted each year. In buildings protected by properly designed and maintained fire sprinklers, over 99% of fires were controlled by fire sprinklers alone. History In 1812, British inventor Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, Sir William Congreve patented a manual sprinkler system using perforated pipes along the ceiling. When someone noticed a fire, a valve outside the building could be opened to send water through the pipes. It was not until a short time later that, as a result of a large furniture factory that repeatedly burned down, Hiram Stevens Maxim was consulted on how to prevent a recurrence and invented the first automatic fire sprinkler. It would douse the areas that were on fire an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HVAC system design is a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. "Refrigeration" is sometimes added to the field's abbreviation as HVAC&R or HVACR, or "ventilation" is dropped, as in HACR (as in the designation of HACR-rated circuit breakers). HVAC is an important part of residential structures such as single family homes, apartment buildings, hotels, and senior living facilities; medium to large industrial and office buildings such as skyscrapers and hospitals; vehicles such as cars, trains, airplanes, ships and submarines; and in marine environments, where safe and healthy building conditions are regulated with respect to temperature and humidity, using fres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standpipe (firefighting)
A standpipe or riser is a type of rigid water piping which is built into multi-story buildings in a vertical position, or into bridges in a horizontal position, to which fire hoses can be connected, allowing manual application of water to the fire. Within the context of a building or bridge, a standpipe serves the same purpose as a fire hydrant. ''NFPA 14 - Standard for the Installation of Standpipe and Hose Systems'' regulates the design of standpipe system in the United States. Some standpipe systems are combined with fire sprinkler systems, using common pipes to supply both the sprinklers and hose connections. Types of standpipe systems Fire standpipes have two broad types: "Wet" and "Dry". The terms describe their state during normal, non-firefighting situations. Dry standpipe Dry standpipe systems do not contain water in the piping during normal, non-firefighting situations. Water is only introduced when needed for firefighting purposes. Manual Dry Standpipe System - A st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Mud
Bay mud consists of thick deposits of soft, unconsolidated silty clay, which is saturated with water; these soil layers are situated at the bottom of certain estuary, estuaries, which are normally in temperate regions that have experienced cyclical glacial cycles. Example locations are Cape Cod Bay, Chongming Dongtan Reserve in Shanghai, China, Banc d'Arguinpreserve in Mauritania, The Bristol Channel in the United Kingdom, Mandø Island in the Wadden Sea in Denmark, Florida Bay, San Francisco Bay, Bay of Fundy, Casco Bay, Penobscot Bay, and Morro Bay. Bay mud manifests low shear strength (soil), shear strength, high compressibility and low Permeability (fluid), permeability, making it hazardous to build upon in seismically active regions like the San Francisco Bay Area. Typical bulk density of bay mud is approximately 1.3 grams per cubic centimetre. Bay muds often have a high organic matter, organic content, consisting of decayed organisms at lower depths, but may al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compressibility
In thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, the compressibility (also known as the coefficient of compressibility or, if the temperature is held constant, the isothermal compressibility) is a measure of the instantaneous relative volume change of a fluid or solid as a response to a pressure (or mean stress) change. In its simple form, the compressibility \kappa (denoted in some fields) may be expressed as :\beta =-\frac\frac, where is volume and is pressure. The choice to define compressibility as the negative of the fraction makes compressibility positive in the (usual) case that an increase in pressure induces a reduction in volume. The reciprocal of compressibility at fixed temperature is called the isothermal bulk modulus. Definition The specification above is incomplete, because for any object or system the magnitude of the compressibility depends strongly on whether the process is isentropic or isothermal. Accordingly, isothermal compressibility is defined: :\beta_T=-\ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
