Claudio Martani

Bio: Claudio Martani is an academic researcher from ETH Zurich. The author has contributed to research in topics: Risk management & User requirements document. The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 31 publications receiving 867 citations. Previous affiliations of Claudio Martani include École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne & University of Cambridge.

Determination of Risk-Reducing Intervention Programs for Railway Lines and the Significance of Simplifications

Abstract: Because failures on railway lines have nonzero probabilities of occurrence and can result in significant costs if they occur, railway infrastructure managers are interested in determining i...

Defining road service to facilitate road infrastructure asset management

Abstract: Road infrastructure asset management requires making decisions that affect how infrastructure provides service – for example, the intervention strategies to follow for specific assets, the interven...

The integration of physical and digital urban infrastructures: the role of “Big data”

Abstract: Le molte evoluzioni nell’ambito della gestione delle informazioni, l’affermarsi dei concetti di Big Data e IoT (internet of things), lo sviluppo e la diffusione della sensoristica stanno aprendo a innovativi scenari e delineando nuove questioni rispetto alle attivita conoscitive e decisionali, con declinazioni specifiche se considerate in relazione all’ambito applicativo delle infrastrutture e dei beni edilizi e urbani. A partire da queste premesse, obiettivo del paper e delineare l’attuale quadro dei fattori tecnologici di innovazione e proporre alcune ipotesi circa i potenziali scenari futuri dei servizi di supporto alla gestione e allo sviluppo del territorio e dei manufatti edilizi a partire da diverse possibili forme di integrazione tra infrastrutture urbane fisiche e digitali. Nell’ambito delle infrastrutture, l’analisi del ruolo dell’informazione rispetto all’interazione tra materiale e immateriale pone una serie di questioni interpretative che il paper tratteggia.

A new process for the evaluation of the net-benefit of flexible ground-floor ceiling in the face of use transition uncertainty

Abstract: In metropolitan areas, real estate investments, such as buildings, can be highly profitable. The profitability , however, can be uncertain, as adaptations might be required in the long-term to enable the modification of the building to adapt it to new uses. In building adaptation for use transitions, an important aspect is the modification of the ceiling height of the ground floor to meet the floor height requirements of different uses. Designs that include flexible ceilings instead of rigid ceilings have relatively low future adaptation costs, but are relatively expensive. Such designs are, therefore, only beneficial when the use transition costs over the life of the building are higher than the cost difference between the flexible and the rigid design. Because of the difficulties in predicting the number and types of adaptations that will occur over the life of a building, and the fact that flexible designs are more expensive, investors, to their own detriment, often build rigidly for current needs only. In the work presented in this article, a new process was developed and tested that uses Monte Carlo simulations to estimate costs and benefits of alternative ceiling designs, considering uncertainty on use transitions. The process is shown by using it to estimate the net-benefit over 70 years for an investor related to a fictive building in London with flexible ceilings and the same building with rigid ceilings. It was considered that multiple use transitions among five use categories (residential, retail, industrial, office, and other) were possible. It is shown that the process can be used to gain more insight into how buildings should be designed to maximize investor net-benefit, taking into consideration uncertain variables, such as use-change rate, construction costs and durations, discount factors and rents. A discussion of possible improvements to the process is given.

Considering automated vehicle deployment uncertainty in the design of optimal parking garages using real options

Abstract: Parking garages are often currently designed assuming that parking demand will be stable over their lifetime. The looming mobility shift towards automated vehicles (AVs), however, makes parking demand highly uncertain, with some scenarios leading to its complete disappearance at some time in the near future. The design of optimal parking garages needs to take this uncertainty into consideration and may lead to parking garages that can easily be transformed for other uses when beneficial. In situations of large future demand uncertainty, infrastructure owners are increasingly using the real options method to help evaluate the potential benefits of paying more for construction of flexibly designed infrastructure. The real options method, helps owners, to avoid under-, or overinvesting in infrastructure, through the minimisation of their risks. In this work, a methodology, which uses the real options method, is proposed to determine the optimal design of a parking garage located within a residential building. The methodology is used, together with estimates of the uncertainty in the future parking demand due to deployment of AVs, Monte Carlo simulations of the possible futures, stakeholder costs for operation and refurbishment costs for each of the different design alternatives and intervention strategies, to estimate the net benefits over the life-time of the parking garage. The methodology is used to evaluate designs and intervention strategies for the 14′000 m2 463-lot parking garage in a residential building in western Switzerland. The designs are a traditional design and a flexible design. The construction of a building according to the two design approaches would bear costs of 10 and 11 million CHF, respectively. The intervention strategies for the traditional building are a single stage intervention strategy and a no intervention strategy. The intervention strategies for the flexible building are a single-stage intervention strategy and a multi-stage intervention strategy. The traditionally designed building costs 2 million CHF to demolish and 29 million CHF to reconstruct as a residential building. The flexibly designed building costs 21 million to adapt for residential use. It is shown that the flexible design and a multi-stage intervention strategy (i.e. transforming the parking garage floor by floor on an as needed basis), provides the highest net benefits (2.2 million CHF). The flexible design and a single-stage intervention strategy provides the second highest net benefits (1.3 million CHF). A traditional design with a single-stage intervention strategy provides 0.5 million CHF in net benefit, and the traditional design with a no intervention strategy results in a net loss of 3.0 million CHF. A sensitivity analysis shows the robustness of the options. Since the use of the proposed methodology helps owners identify all the possible designs and intervention strategies as well as increases their ability to accurately estimate the net-benefit of their decisions, it is concluded that it is advantageous for owners to use the proposed methodology in determining the optimal design of parking garages. Its use will help ensure that they are optimally positioned to deal with the uncertain future.

An updated roadmap for the integration of metal–organic frameworks with electronic devices and chemical sensors

Abstract: Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are typically highlighted for their potential application in gas storage, separations and catalysis. In contrast, the unique prospects these porous and crystalline materials offer for application in electronic devices, although actively developed, are often underexposed. This review highlights the research aimed at the implementation of MOFs as an integral part of solid-state microelectronics. Manufacturing these devices will critically depend on the compatibility of MOFs with existing fabrication protocols and predominant standards. Therefore, it is important to focus in parallel on a fundamental understanding of the distinguishing properties of MOFs and eliminating fabrication-related obstacles for integration. The latter implies a shift from the microcrystalline powder synthesis in chemistry labs, towards film deposition and processing in a cleanroom environment. Both the fundamental and applied aspects of this two-pronged approach are discussed. Critical directions for future research are proposed in an updated high-level roadmap to stimulate the next steps towards MOF-based microelectronics within the community.

[ACM Press the 2nd ACM Workshop - Zurich, Switzerland (2010.11.02-2010.11.02)] Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Embedded Sensing Systems for Energy-Efficiency in Building - BuildSys \'10 - Occupancy-driven energy management for smart building automation

Abstract: Buildings are among the largest consumers of electricity in the US. A significant portion of this energy use in buildings can be attributed to HVAC systems used to maintain comfort for occupants. In most cases these building HVAC systems run on fixed schedules and do not employ any fine grained control based on detailed occupancy information. In this paper we present the design and implementation of a presence sensor platform that can be used for accurate occupancy detection at the level of individual offices. Our presence sensor is low-cost, wireless, and incrementally deployable within existing buildings. Using a pilot deployment of our system across ten offices over a two week period we identify significant opportunities for energy savings due to periods of vacancy. Our energy measurements show that our presence node has an estimated battery lifetime of over five years, while detecting occupancy accurately. Furthermore, using a building simulation framework and the occupancy information from our testbed, we show potential energy savings from 10% to 15% using our system.