3 Days Executive Development Program on “Smart and Sustainable Building Materials”
A 3 days Executive Development program on “Smart and Sustainable Building Materials” was organized by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering dated 31st May, 4th and 7th June 2019. The EDP observed the participation of a total of twelve participants from Rajdarbar Realty Limited from their different field offices located at Hisar, Agra and NCR region. The event began with the lamp lighting and a welcome address by Mr. Lokesh Choudhary, Coordinator, EDP and Faculty, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering followed by a brief introductory remark by Prof. Prem Vrat, Pro Chancellor & Professor of Eminence, NCU and Prof. H.B. Raghavendra, Professor, CEE and Vice Chancellor, NCU. The remarks focused on the prime importance of the smart and sustainable practices in the avenue of Civil Engineering and the need to conduct such EDPs and equip skilled engineers working at the site with latest technology and materials. The Pro Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor congratulated the department for taking up such an initiative and seeing it to success.
The inaugural ceremony was concluded by presenting Ms. Purnima Bajpai, Manager & Coordinator (EDP), Rajdarbar Realty Limited with a Feng Shui cure followed by a group photograph.
A detailed account on the expert sessions conducted by Faculty of the department and experts from industry over a period of 3 days is as follows:
Session 1: Introduction to various Conventional Construction & Building Materials –
Dr. Vaishali Sahu was the speaker for this session. She discussed various conventional building and construction materials like, bricks, cement, aggregates, concrete, glass, pozzolans etc. Further, categorization as per relevant Indian Specifications was briefed and merits and demerits of these materials were also explained. Application based on their characteristics and quality was discussed and ways to improve the quality was also briefed. She also highlighted the factors which influence strength of concrete and the various issues that can occur in fresh concrete. Further, solutions to handle and avoid such conditions at site were also discussed and it was suggested to take care of all these factors at site to ensure good quality concrete.
Session 2: Field problems – during and post construction and technical solutions –
Dr. Archanaa Dongre was the speaker of the session. She explained about field problems on site. Various types of defects in building and their categories and solution discussed. Understanding cracks in walls, how to detect their nature and type were explained using simple experiments. Cracks due to settlement of foundation, cracks during earthquakes were also discussed. Damage range corresponding to crack width was discussed. Seepage problems, shrinkage, chemical reactions, epoxy treatment. Causes of defects and preventive measures were discussed like condensation, rising damp and flooding, service leaks, construction process, moisture in air.
Session ended with brief information about The NorthCap University.
Session 3: Concrete Mix Design & Problem Solving -
The session was taken by Mr. Diptendu Roy, Asst. Professor, CEE. He stated that mix design of concrete is an art, since ages before the industrial revolution, mix design remained more of a nominal importance and varied from location to location. The session began with the introduction to various materials such as cement, aggregates, water, chemical admixtures, pozzolanic materials used in mixed design and their properties that affect proportioning of the mix. BIS method of mix design was extensively discussed and the involvement of the participants in sharing their field experiences made the session more interactive. The session was followed by hands on problem solving from the new IS 10262:2017 and guidelines for special mixes, high strength concrete, self-compacting concrete and mass concrete were also explored.
Session 4: An Insight on Innovative, Smart & Sustainable Building Materials & Practices in Civil Engineering -
Mr. Lokesh Choudhary was the speaker of this session. The session started with raising the environmental, social and economic concerns that are being posed by the existing practices in Construction Industry. The session gradually advanced into identifying the need to go for Innovative, Smart and sustainable building materials and relook at the non-sustainable practices followed during execution at the site. The session gave participants an insight on sustainable and innovative materials like building units using recycled plastic, Waste based bricks, use of bagasse & RHA in wooden wall panels, Rubber modified asphalt for roads etc. The session ended with a mesmerizing thought in the participants knowing about the smart materials like Shape Memory Alloys, Magnetostrictive materials, Electrorheological fluids etc. which are steps towards sustainability.
Session 5: Overview of Surveying, Methods and Terminologies -
Dr. Vaishali Sahu was the Speaker of the session. Dr. Sahu gave brief introduction of Levelling including concepts of calculating Reduced Level by various methods. Components of various surveying equipment such as Theodolite, Total Station and Dumpy Level and their working were introduced to the participants.
Session 6: Field Exercise –
Levelling with Dumpy Level, Theodolite and Total Station - Mr. Shubham Bansal, Assistant Professor, C&EE took this session. Participants were taken in the field and were divided in the groups of four each to give hands on experience on surveying equipment and actual field problem. All the participants were instructed to work on all the three equipment and take the readings accordingly. After working on equipment, they were asked to draw profile diagram according to the readings taken by them. The session concluded with demonstration of one of the practical applications of Levelling to participants and they were instructed to work on the problem of Cut and Fill of Earthwork. Worksheets were provided to participants.
Session 7: Honing Design Thinking & Creativity: Activity Based Learning -
Mr. Lokesh Choudhary was the speaker of this session. His talk insisted upon defining creativity and design thinking which is nothing but perceiving the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. The session observed interesting team building activities which requires one to think out of the box. The feelings of the participants, before and after concluding a seemingly difficult activity were recorded and was brought to a realization that no task is difficult even in work life and just requires dedication and hard cum smart work for accomplishment. The participants applauded and appreciated the final product they could make despite a feeling of fear for the task deep inside. The session concluded with a feeling of achievement among the participants.
Session 8: Hands on Training on test of essential building materials: Cement, Bricks, Aggregates, Interlocking Paver Blocks-
Mr. Lokesh Choudhary was the speaker of this session. The session was dedicated to material testing and precautions one should take while reporting the results of the test. It began with a brief overview by the speaker regarding the importance, procedures as per Indian Standard code of practice to test materials like Cement, Bricks, Interlocking Paver Blocks, Aggregates etc. The session concluded with a hands-on experiment of these essential building materials by the participants.
Session 9: Construction Practices with Prefabricated structures-
Mr. Diptendu Roy was the speaker of the session. Prefabricated and modular structures are new age technology which enables faster erection of buildings and is a sustainable method of construction. As the Raj Darbar Realty is already using prefabricated modules for construction, the session was hugely beneficial to them. The session encompassed around major problems in constructing using modules such as transportation of modules, scaled lifting, maximum size of sections, post-tensioning, foam concreting and finishing. The session continued with fabrication of GFRG panels, GFRG panels are a step forward towards sustainability as it incorporates wastes from chemical and steel industries. Their erection and clauses laid down in BMTPC manual were also thrown light upon.
Session 10: Labour handling and managing issues at site:
The session was taken up by an expert from industry Mr. Sahil Sachdeva, Partner (Levell Upp Consultancy & Construction). His talk began featuring the issues one face at the site. He discussed issues related to Water leakage, techniques to solve such problems, labor management, risk management and looking after basic amenities for the labor at the site. The session ended with a healthy panel discussion.
Session 11: Tests on Fresh and Hardened Concrete including Non-Destructive testing-
It was a practical session, where the participants had hands on experience on conducting tests on fresh concrete as per IS codal provisions. The session was conducted by Mr. Diptendu Roy. Tests conducted in session 11 clarified tests performed on fresh concrete. The participants were made to make M30 grade mix for which the mix proportion was already made available to them. They made a mix for 3 cubes, conducted tests on workability such as slump cone, flow table test, compaction factor and their relevance to mix design were made clear. It was followed by testing of already prepared cube samples for compressive strength under CTM and rebound hammer test.
Session 12: Creating and Managing Work Life Balance through Meditation-
The session was taken by Dr. Archanaa Dongre. It was a refreshing session at the end of the day. It began with a short ten minutes meditation session where she made the participants introspect and emphasized upon the benefits of meditation, sitting postures, asanas and positive thinking in one’s professional life.
The Valediction & Certificate Distribution Ceremony followed the sessions and the event ended with vote of thanks presented by Dr. Vaishali Sahu, Organizing Secretary, EDP & Faculty, CEE.
