Past and recent earthquake clearly demonstrate that the poor seismic performance of Non-Structural Components (NSCs) can cause the building to lose its functionality, risks the life safety of occupants, and give a rise to huge economic damages even if the structural components have performed well. During past four decades, several analytical methods and empirical equations […]

Modelling the movement of water through a hydropower station is an important tool for understanding this very complex behaviour, where water is pushed and pulled through long tunnels and spinning turbines, resulting in a vast range of pressures and speeds. There are generally two types of models: 1-dimensional (1D) models, which are simple and cost-effective, […]

Wave uprush and the potential for flooding are natural hazards that must be determined by the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) prior to the approval of a near-shore development. The purpose of calculating wave uprush is to recommend building sites that are outside of the wave uprush area (and floodplain in general) to land owners […]

Conceptual structural design for the safety of buildings in Canada is inherently prescriptive and an unsuitable quantifier for accurate estimation of life safety. Design for fire in Canada is currently done using a standardized method that assumes that a fire will be contained within the room it started. Recent studies have developed a new methodology, […]

A large number of civil engineering structures in North America have long survived their expected service life. As they continue to age, there is a significant demand to minimize damage under severe environmental impacts such as earthquake. The main objective of this project is to develop and validate vibration-based monitoring and control strategies using modern […]

Rio Tinto operates aluminium plants in Saguenay that are powered by their hydroelectric system. An efficient management of water available in the system is primordial to ensure energy supply to the aluminium smelters. This quantity is uncertain since the exact inflows in the reservoirs are unknown when decisions are taken. Stochastic optimization is used to […]

Nutrients (P, N) in stormwater runoff are a major cause for eutrophication and algae blooms. Kerr Wood Leidal (KWL) is a leader in proving progressive solutions for stormwater management in BC, is seeking to improve the rain garden system to effectively capture the nutrients in the runoff. The proposed project will investigate various chemical activation […]

This project seeks to explore the practical viability of curing concrete via carbonation at ambient pressure conditions, thereby omitting the technique’s current dependency on elevated pressures. A vacuum pre-setting step and regimented CO2 injections highlight the proposed technique. Experiments will initially be carried out at the laboratory scale at the university, and then scaled up […]

The structural use of timber in North America is largely limited to low-value commodity products used in low-rise residential light-frame construction. There exists, however, much greater potential for timber to be used as a structural material. One solution involves the notion of “mass-timber” such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. The prospect of building larger timber […]

Emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in the Eastern US, has long been identified to acidify Nova Scotia lakes. However, due to a reduction in the use of high-sulphur fossil fuels, lakes are beginning to recover which is resulting in chemical and biological changes. In Nova Scotia, lakes are often relied on to provide […]

Reservoir operators typically determine flow releases by assessing the available storage and demand and then applying a rule?of?thumb. Thus, in spite of numerous previous and current computer modelling studies, the use of computer models in real?time reservoir operation on a district level is virtually nonexistent. The resulting “water savings” offer the opportunity to increase river […]