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Author

Mark West

Other affiliations: University of Manitoba
Bio: Mark West is an academic researcher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Formwork & Architectural technology. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 7 publications receiving 212 citations. Previous affiliations of Mark West include University of Manitoba.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of casting concrete in fabrics, fabric formwork technology, has resurfaced at various times and in different forms throughout the past century as discussed by the authors, including different types of flexible formwork, controlled permeability formwork and pneumatic formwork.
Abstract: The concept of casting concrete in fabrics, fabric formwork technology, has resurfaced at various times and in different forms throughout the past century. The following paper traces developments that have used fabrics for concrete formwork, including different types of flexible formwork, controlled permeability formwork and pneumatic formwork. This paper presents a comprehensive historical overview of fabric formwork, listing key innovators, technological developments and their advantages, and offering examples of structures built with these methods. The information gathered is used to present a taxonomy of these related formwork technologies as well as a formal definition of the term “fabric formwork” that encompasses them. The paper is intended to introduce readers to these technologies and offer readers already familiar with these methods additional historical background.

119 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore flexible formwork construction technologies which embrace the fluidity of concrete to facilitate the practical construction of concrete structures with complex and efficient geometries, highlighting practical uses, research challenges and new opportunities.
Abstract: Concrete is our most widely used construction material. Worldwide consumption of cement, the strength-giving component of concrete, is estimated at 4.10 Gt per year, rising from 2.22 Gt just ten years ago [1]. This rate of consumption means that cement manufacture alone is estimated to account for 5.2 % of global carbon dioxide emissions [2]. Concrete offers the opportunity to economically create structures of almost any geometry. Yet its unique fluidity is seldom capitalised upon, with concrete instead being cast into rigid, flat moulds to create unoptimised geometries that result in high material use structures with large carbon footprints. This paper will explore flexible formwork construction technologies which embrace the fluidity of concrete to facilitate the practical construction of concrete structures with complex and efficient geometries. This paper presents the current state of the art in flexible formwork technology, highlighting practical uses, research challenges and new opportunities.

77 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a new design of holonomic omnidirectional vehicle and a laser guidance technique for the vehicles are presented, which allows the vehicle to maneuver in an arbitrary direction from an arbitrary configuration on a plane.
Abstract: A new design of holonomic omnidirectional vehicle and a laser guidance technique for the vehicles are presented. The holonomic mechanism allows the vehicle to maneuver in an arbitrary direction from an arbitrary configuration on a plane. This significantly simplifies control problems and improves positioning accuracy. A fundamental method of obtaining omnidirectional motion with holonomic constraints on the floor, using a mechanism with spherical tires, is described. Each vehicle can be viewed as an XYθ positioning table with an infinite workspace. For accurate guidance and positioning, a laser guidance technique is developed. A prototype system is designed, built and tested. Upon experiments, omnidirectional motion of the vehicle and the effectiveness of the guidance method were confirmed.

17 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an automated computational framework that includes fabric form-finding and finite element analysis is presented to find structurally efficient and manufacturable beams and demonstrate potential for optimization in general that explicitly includes fabrication considerations.
Abstract: Fabric formwork entails the use of fabrics as the main contact material for a concrete mould. The fabric is either hung or prestressed in a supporting falsework frame. Beams or trusses cast in fabric formwork are inherently non-prismatic and have been shown to offer potential for structurally efficient shapes. The casting of beams or trusses in fabric formwork is a highly non-linear problem due to the interaction of the fluid concrete with the woven, prestressed fabric material. Numerical models need to be developed for the engineering of these elements. To this end, it is demonstrated that it is feasible to integrate manufacturing constraints in an automatic optimization process. This is achieved by creating an automated computational framework that includes fabric form-finding and finite element analysis, which operate within an optimization process that uses principles from biological evolution. The results show structurally efficient and manufacturable beams and demonstrate potential for optimization in general that explicitly includes fabrication considerations.

16 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: This article analyzed the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991 to 2011 matching the topics 'global climate change' or 'global warming'.
Abstract: We analyze the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991–2011 matching the topics 'global climate change' or 'global warming'. We find that 66.4% of abstracts expressed no position on AGW, 32.6% endorsed AGW, 0.7% rejected AGW and 0.3% were uncertain about the cause of global warming. Among abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming. In a second phase of this study, we invited authors to rate their own papers. Compared to abstract ratings, a smaller percentage of self-rated papers expressed no position on AGW (35.5%). Among self-rated papers expressing a position on AGW, 97.2% endorsed the consensus. For both abstract ratings and authors' self-ratings, the percentage of endorsements among papers expressing a position on AGW marginally increased over time. Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research. 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024024

577 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper proposes a feedback control scheme for an omnidirectional holonomic autonomous platform, which is equipped with three lateral orthogonal-wheel assemblies, and shows that full omniddirectionality can be achieved with decoupled rotational and translational motions.
Abstract: This paper proposes a feedback control scheme for an omnidirectional holonomic autonomous platform, which is equipped with three lateral orthogonal-wheel assemblies. Firstly, the dynamic properties of the platform are studied, and a dynamic model suitable for the application of control is derived. The control scheme constructed is of the resolved-acceleration type, with PI and PD feedback. The control scheme was experimentally applied to an actual mobile robotic platform. The results obtained show that full omnidirectionality can be achieved with decoupled rotational and translational motions. Omnidirectionality is one of the principal requirements for mobile robots designed for health-care and other general-hospital services.

183 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work takes a step forward by presenting classification and process description guidance for DFC by engaging a broad cross-section of the international community through the activities of the RILEM Technical Committee 276 between 2016 and 2020.

123 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of advancements in construction automation research finds that achieving fully autonomous construction in unstructured environments will require considerably more development in all three groups of construction tasks, as well as a particular emphasis on coordinating myriad construction tasks between different task-specific robots.

96 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
Keigo Watanabe1
21 Apr 1998
TL;DR: Control approaches are described for a holonomic and omnidirectional mobile robot with three lateral orthogonal-wheel assemblies with the uses of resolved acceleration control method, PID method, fuzzy model method, and stochastic fuzzy servo method.
Abstract: Holonomic or nonholonomic omnidirectional mobile robots are known to be constructed by applying a specialized wheel or mobile mechanism In particular, some representative control approaches are described for a holonomic and omnidirectional mobile robot with three lateral orthogonal-wheel assemblies The uses of resolved acceleration control method, PID method, fuzzy model method, and stochastic fuzzy servo method are highlighted

89 citations