Engines Of Growth Of Construction Sector In India: A Study (From 1999- 2000 To 2009-10)
S. K. Yadav , D. Indrakumar and Anita Nihaliya
The Indian construction sector has been playing a vital role in the overall economic development of the country. It is growing at over 20% compound annual growth rate over the past 5 years and contributing about 8% to GDP. The Indian construction industry which is a conduit for a substantial part of its investment in development is poised for growth on account of industrialization, urbanization, economic development and people's rising expectations for an improved quality of living. The paper reviews growth of the construction sector in India during the first decade of the 21st century i.e. from 1999-2000 to 2009-10. The data indicates a significant growth during 1999-2000 to 2009-2010. During 1999-2000, the share of the construction sector in India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 6.5 percent which increased to 7.7 percent in 2004-05 and finally to 7.9 percent in 2009-10. The paper mainly discusses the engines of growth of construction in India during this period. The study supports the fact that due to these engines of growth, the construction sector significantly grew during the period aforesaid.
On Investigating Learning Methods, Assessment Methods And Generic Skills Achievement In Engineering Education
Vivian W. Y. Tam and Khoa N. Le
University engineering education is a vital element in developing professionalism of our future engineers. Learning approaches including learning styles and assessment methods used in the engineering education system is directly affecting the quality of the graduates and generic skills achievement. This paper investigates the effectiveness of different learning methods, assessment methods, and achievement in generic skills used in Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Questionnaire survey and interview discussions are conducted. It is found thatstudents did not put enough efforts in attending lectures and tutorials, and revising lectures' and tutorials' materials after lectures and tutorials. The survey results are also found that peers' encouragement has a big influence for students' studies. Detailed analyses are given and comparisons between the toward attitude and toward understanding learning approaches are made. For generic skills achievement, it is found that both undergraduate and postgraduate students ranked the ability to undertake problems, formulation and solution as the most important skill for their programs. This reflects that all students possess the competent and confident levels in applying in-depth technical knowledge to real-life problems. However, undergraduate and postgraduate students do not consider communication and lifelong leaning respectively as important skills for their future career. Recommendations for students, lecturers and leadership in the programs to improve the existing university education system are also provided.
Feasibility Study Of Improving Properties Of Black Cotton Soil Using Lime, Stone Dust With Recron Fibre
Omkar Anilrao Gadewar
The construction of roads in most of the places across the world faces major problems due to weak subgrade soil. One such weak subgrade often encountered is Black Cotton (BC) soil. Soil stabilization has become a major issue in construction engineering, and the research regarding the effectiveness of using natural wastes is rapidly increasing. In the present study, an attempt is made to find out the improvement of strength in black cotton soil mixed with varying percentage of lime and stone dust and Recron fiber, by conducting a series of tests. It has been found that there is a significant variation in the liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index of black cotton soil samples containing lime and stone dust. The liquid limit decreased from 64.20 % to 45.00 %, plastic limit decreased from 35.14 % to 31.72 %, plasticity index decreased from 29.06 % to 13.00 % by replacing the BC soil by lime (15 %). The liquid limit decreased from 64.20 % to 50.00 %, plastic limit decreased from 35.14 % to 33.78 %, plasticity index decreased from 29.06 % to 14.14 % by replacing the BC soil by stone dust (20 %). The Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of soil, using lime (15 %), stone dust (20 %) and varying percentage of Recron fibre (R) by the weight of soil, increases upto 1.00 % and thereafter it decreases at 3 and 14 days of curing.
Black cotton soil; Lime; Stone dust; Recron fiber; Atterberg's limit; Unconfined compressive strength
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Research Articles
Identifying, Analysing And Reduction Of Constraints By Micro Scheduling In Construction Industry
Venkatesh Poondru , Pavan Kumar Bennur Basvaraj , Bhanuteja N. and B. Ravinder
In today's modern and complex construction methodologies, understanding of project activities and coordination between people have become vital for the success of the any project. The main motto of this study is to break the Work Breakdown Structure of the project to a minute level where the understanding of the activities is high. This study is conducted on In-situ Slab casting works which is going on as of now in Ameerpet Interchange station, Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, Andhra Pradesh. We worked on breaking the activities involved in slab casting to a level where all the departments involved in it can understand their roles and responsibilities clearly and act accordingly. All the activities which were broken will be sequenced and a schedule is prepared from it. This schedule will be monitored and the actual data will be updated against the schedule prepared. Then, it is analysed and constraints for delay is charted out. Those delays will be recorded and precautionary measures will be taken for the next slab. This is a continuous process which extends throughout the project. However, in this study we have restricted to three slabs. The results were measured in the form of 'Cycle time of slabs' & 'Productivity of labour'. This could be further developed at the site level and applied for all the activities as each and every activity has different constraints. This may be helpful for the organization for risk mitigation.
While more than 20% of the Indian population is below the poverty line and struggling to meet the day to day food requirements, annual food wastage is to the tune of about 67 million tons. Food is wasted at all stages from production to final retail distribution. Every year the government is spending several crores in order to increase the production so that the entire nation can be fed. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) which are lauded for its innovative approach have led to a revolution in the infrastructure sector in India. While India is not new to private participation in this sector, the focus is more on food production enhancement rather than wastage reduction and innovative storage. This paper explores the current status of PPP implementation in the storage and distribution stage of the food and agriculture sector. The current extent of PPP penetration and the future sectors wherein PPP implementation may be beneficial and possible limitations for the same is explored in the Indian context. The paper concludes by identifying the key areas to be focused for a sustained growth in wastage reduction through PPP implementation.
PPP; Wastage; Storage; Food; Warehouse
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Research Articles
A Stylo-linguistic Analysis Of Construction Contracts: A Review
Amit Hiray , Anirudh Koneru , Saicharan3, Leela Krishna Yallamauchilli , Pramod Koppada and T. Durga Sai Teja
Construction contracts are a significant element of professional written and interpersonal communication in the construction sector. Although, there has been adequate research done on the various other genres of professional written communication, there is limited research evidence available on the stylo-linguistic features of the language used in construction contracts. As these documents have a legal standing and subsequent impact on the professional interpersonal relationship among the stakeholders, it is imperative to examine the role the stylo-linguistic factors play in fostering or hampering this relationship. The euphonic or cacophonic tone, diction, syntactical compositions and semantic interpretations may influence the interpersonal communication positively or unfavorably. The stylo-linguistic study amalgamates the stylistic and linguistic analyses to evaluate the stylistic and linguistic features of a text. This paper reviews the available literature to measure the extent of work done in this context and attempts to identify the gaps, and proposes a conceptual framework for the stylo-linguistic analysis of construction contracts.
Stylo-linguistic analysis; Construction contracts; review; Conceptual framework
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Research Articles
A Case Study On The Effectiveness Of Water Conservation Measures Implemented By Jalanidhi, Kerala
Anjali Ajay and Seema K. Nayar
For a long time, water supply services have been the responsibility of the government and external support agencies. Financial crisis, combined with the structural arrangement of these water supply programmes, led to the decentralized community managed schemes. In 2001, Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSA) implemented Jalanidhi projects based on the demanddriven approach. Jalanidhi facilitated the provision of rural water supply and sanitation at the local level. However, these schemes face some challenges like water quality problems, poor operation and maintenance, deteriorating source sustainability, lack of continuous professional support to Grama Panchayats (GP) or communities and emerging climate changes. Sustainability plans should be prepared especially for the over-exploited and critical sources. It is necessary to plan, prepare and implement source sustainability measures for all the existing sources of drinking water supply schemes. KRWSA implemented water conservation measures in some Jalanidhi schemes. In this study, performance evaluation of the selected water conservation structures (check dam and point recharge) implemented by Jalanidhi is done statistically based on twelve attributes using SPSS. The study of Water Conservation Structures (WCS) was conducted in six schemes in Mutholi GP of Kottayam district in Kerala. The performance evaluation of these measures adopted by Jalanidhi was done with SPSS and the check dam was found to perform better.
Water conservation; Jalanidhi; Checkdam; Point recharge
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Research Articles
Opportunities And Barriers For Productivity Improvement Through Reduced Labour Dependency
Murali Jagannathan
One of the major reasons for the construction sector to continue to be an unorganized sector is the sustained dependency on labour force in spite of recent advancement in building science and technology. There is a widespread belief that being a labour oriented industry makes construction less productive and hence costlier. Gone are the days when construction firms could hire workmen at competent rates which justified their reluctance to embrace technology. The need of the hour is to manage construction execution with a minimum skeletal labour force and with an increased dependency on productivity enhancing equipment/techniques that are both cost effective and user friendly. The paper first identifies the factors that need to be evaluated in order to determine the acceptability of the alternate method and/or technique. The most labour intensive activities in the construction sector are then listed down and an alternate technique/method is mapped against the labour intensive activity. This is done through an extensive survey of available literature and informal discussions with the stakeholders. The acceptability of this technique (and hence the opportunities and barriers in its use) is then evaluated as per the factors identified initially.
Technology; Alternate; Labour; Productivity; Time
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Research Articles
Design Of A Low-Cost Air Cooling System With Humidity Control By Refrigerated Water
Anupam Mondal , Balaram Debnath , Vishal Vidyarthi , Arijit Mula and Sanchayan Mukherjee
The systems available in the market to control the temperature and humidity of premises are quite expensive, and therefore out of reach of the majority of population of India. The need of the hour is to devise and implement low-cost equipment for this purpose. The cost of an air conditioning unit can be decreased by combining two less costly units, i.e., an air cooler and a domestic refrigerator, so that the total cost can be minimized, and it becomes affordable to more consumers. In this paper, a model combining the two is presented keeping the basic features of the individual units intact. The refrigerator can work separately without affecting its normal operation, and the amount of water vapour within the moist air along with the temperature can be controlled, which is not possible by a normal air cooler. So this unit can be used effectively in hot and humid areas. Apart from that it can be used in dry seasons also when the system runs in air cooler mode. The difference of mass of vapour in the outside environment and room air can be calculated from dry bulb temperature, and relative humidity of respective conditions. This amount of vapour is to be condensed by removing heat, and that can be achieved by direct contact of outside air with chilled water from the heat exchanger, placed inside the refrigerator. This chilled water, the outside air and the room air will exchange enthalpy among them and condense desired vapour content from outside air, resulting in cooling and dehumidification. This new model can save considerable amount in total costs. The variation in performance of the system with different parameters is also presented to show the sensibility of the system.
Air conditioning; Refrigerator; Air cooler; Heat exchanger; Cooling and Dehumidification
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Research Articles
Civil Engineering Works In An Air Insulated Electrical Sub-Station
K N Narasimha Prasad and Vinay Mohan Agrawal
India is investing huge amount of its resources on power generation through unconventional resources like solar and wind energy. It is anticipated that in the next decade or so India could become an energy surplus country. However, in order to ensure that this energy reaches the customer/end user premises, it is necessary to install electrical distribution sun-stations and high tension transmission lines. The civil engineering works in a sub-station are to be well understood with reference to its specific construction requirements, materials used and the safe guards to be employed. In this research, the typical civil engineering works in an air insulated electrical substation are reviewed, with the aim of providing an understanding of the unique requirements of the different works, material selection and the construction process.
Sub-station; Control room building; Cable duct; Baffle wall; Power transformer foundation; Outdoor switchgear foundation
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