Papers by Mohd Sanusi Ahamad
Civil, Offshore and Environmental Engineering, 2016
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Civil, Offshore and Environmental Engineering (ICCOEE 2016, Malaysia, 15-17 Aug 2016), 2016
Digital elevation model (DEM) is the most common surface topography data used to derive river net... more Digital elevation model (DEM) is the most common surface topography data used to derive river network. DEM comes with different resolutions and can generate various topographic and hydrological features. This study investigates the effects DEM’s threshold values from different sources in deriving stream networks using Geospatial Hydrologic Modelling Extension (HEC-GeoHMS). DEMs of 30m resolution were acquired from SRTM, ASTER, and NEXTMap data. In addition, topographic DEM were derived from con-tour data of 20 m interval to generate the stream network on the sub-basin of Jawi river, Penang, Malaysia. Subsequently, spatial comparison was made with the existing drainage networks derived from the Malaysian Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID). The analysis reveals that the drainage network from SRTM with threshold values of 40 was closest to the referenced drainage. The result has signifies the most appropri-ate values for an effective stream threshold network to be considered suitable for future river sub-basin analy-sis.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2016
This paper briefly introduced the theory and framework of geospatial site selection (GSS) and dis... more This paper briefly introduced the theory and framework of geospatial site selection (GSS) and discussed the application and framework of artificial neural networks (ANNs). The related literature on the use of ANNs as decision rules in GSS is scarce from 2000 till 2015. As this study found, ANNs are not only adaptable to dynamic changes but also capable of improving the objectivity of acquisition in GSS, reducing time consumption, and providing high validation. ANNs make for a powerful tool for solving geospatial decision-making problems by enabling geospatial decision makers to implement their constraints and imprecise concepts. This tool offers a way to represent and handle uncertainty. Specifically, ANNs are decision rules implemented to enhance conventional GSS frameworks. The main assumption in implementing ANNs in GSS is that the current characteristics of existing sites are indicative of the degree of suitability of new locations with similar characteristics. GSS requires several input criteria that embody specific requirements and the desired site characteristics, which could contribute to geospatial sites. In this study, the proposed framework consists of four stages for implementing ANNs in GSS. A multilayer feed-forward network with a backpropagation algorithm was used to train the networks from prior sites to assess, generalize, and evaluate the outputs on the basis of the inputs for the new sites. Two metrics, namely, confusion matrix and receiver operating characteristic tests, were utilized to achieve high accuracy and validation. Results proved that ANNs provide reasonable and efficient results as an accurate and inexpensive quantitative technique for GSS.
International Journal of Scientific Research in Environmental Sciences, 2014
Industrialised Building System (IBS) has been imposed in the construction industry to transform t... more Industrialised Building System (IBS) has been imposed in the construction industry to transform the productivity of project based to product based. IBS is known as prefabrication technology and had been helped the Housing Ministries in various countries to fulfil the high demand for housing especially in United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The most popular IBS component used in Malaysia is precast components. A proper study on site selection criteria for new IBS precast manufacturing sites has now becomes essential, which able to improve the local economic development activity. Questionnaires pertaining to IBS acceptance and preference criteria were sent to correspondents comprising of IBS precast manufacturers to determine their view towards the 15 selection criteria with 49 attributes. The t-test shows that 46 attributes have the same preferences of the all precast manufacturers but there three attributes with disagreement between Selangor and other states which consist of Cheap rental land (CS6), Good federal road access to the construction sites (TD3) and Convenience place of handling construction waste (ER2).
Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2015
Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2015
The trend construction industry have move from project based to product based in term of long ter... more The trend construction industry have move from project based to product based in term of long term investment. Industrialized building system (IBS) in Malaysia is defined as a construction system where components are manufactured at factories on or off site, transported and then assembled into a structure with minimum work. IBS also is known as off-site construction or prefabrication. Thus, IBS have the similarity drive and challenge with the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Australia; and among the factors are skilled craft worker, fast track completion, cost and transportation. United States, United Kingdom and Australia have achieved modular building standard while Malaysia still in the hybridization stage. The Malaysian government and researcher have promoted the modern method construction industry to break the 'traditional technology'. Anecdotally, the total number of IBS manufacturing plant has increased from 21 in 2002 to 143 factories in 2010. From the evolution of the IBS manufacturing component, the most favorable system used in the IBS component is the precast concrete system and followed by the steel framing system.
Most of the landfill sites existing in developing countries are practicing open dumping on ground... more Most of the landfill sites existing in developing countries are practicing open dumping on ground which has unpleasant consequences. This practice may be attributed to lack of legislations, public awareness, engineering knowledge and funds. This paper presents application of geographic information system (GIS) for new landfill siting. The multi criteria evaluation (MCE) technique integrated with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) that combined Boolean logic for constrains and FUZZY logic for factors is used to overlay the results in one final digital map. The proposed scheme is applied on a typical landfill site in south Seberang Perai (SSP), Penang State, Malaysia. Six criteria namely, land-use, utility, surface water resources, soil, road networks and topographic are examined to establish spatial decision support system. The IDRISI 32 software, one family of GIS, is used to perform spatial analysis, AHP weights processing and visualization. As results, it is found that GIS utilizing for sanitary landfill selection minimizes the problems associated with the conventional landfilling technologies and time saving.
Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences
The construction industry have made the appropriate initiative to make a paradigm shift in the ma... more The construction industry have made the appropriate initiative to make a paradigm shift in the manufacturing construction industry in order to achieve a higher standard and to adapt to the global business trend. The government and researchers have played vital roles to educate the main players of the construction industry in the form of policies, financial incentives, strategy guidelines, workshops and seminars to increase the awareness among the end users and clients. This paper present the challenges faced by the construction industry to integrate the modern method with the existing traditional method, and to make a comparative study in the approaches used in off-site construction industry. The four countries involved in the studies are US, UK, Australia and Malaysia. The off-site manufacturing in the U.S. was started by Henry Ford. It was a big evolution that became a phenomena and spread to the rest of the world. UK and Australia have the similarity in terms of the approach towards research and categorization of off-site system. Malaysia adapted the advanced approach practiced by other countries. The research finds that the pattern of off-site construction industry will benefit both the government and the private sector in fulfilling the demand for off-site system in the long term with the expansion of the construction industry and its ability to compete globally.
Industrialized building system (IBS) is defined as a construction system where components are man... more Industrialized building system (IBS) is defined as a construction system where components are manufactured at factories on or off site, transported and then assembled into a structure with minimum work. In other words, it involves prefabrication and installation of components at the construction site. Among the benefits of IBS is that it reduces construction time, gives better site management, and reduced wastage. Over the years, the total number of IBS factory sites has increased from 21 in 2002 to 75 factories in the year 2008. The IBS factory has high demand in Selangor (36) followed by Kuala Lumpur (23) and Johor (4). Other states however still have a low number of IBS factory sites. Geographical information system (GIS) can be seen as an important tool in finding a new location for IBS factory where the increase in demand for one. This research intends to utilize a spatial land suitability model in generating the potential sites for the IBS One Stop Center. The conceptual approach is to apply six criterion factors viz. road characteristic, proximity from the new potential development area, population census, proximity from the existing infrastructure, topography and land-use suitability. The research findings will benefit the government or private sector in fulfilling the demand of IBS component where the number of IBS manufacture in Northern Peninsular, West Peninsular and Borneo region are still few.
In Malaysia, the prefabrication technology is known as industrialised building system (IBS) which... more In Malaysia, the prefabrication technology is known as industrialised building system (IBS) which is defined as a complete process system of construction works where almost all the component structures is manufactured onsite or offsite, and the product is transported to the site and to be installed in the high precision coordinate joint as well as achieve high quality works, and accelerate the time of completion of the projects. The benefits of prefabrication helped the Housing Ministries in various countries to fulfil the high demand for housing especially in United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Providing affordable homes are becoming a vital issue to meet the increasing demand for houses with the increase in the population growth. The most popular IBS component used in Malaysia is precast components. Over the years, the total number of IBS precast manufacturing has increased from 15 in 2009 to 36 factories in the year 2011. Geographical information system (GIS) can be seen as an important tool in finding a new location for IBS precast manufacturing by employed the Boolean method. In this research, five data layers consisting of road, infrastructure, environment, population and land-use suitability will be input to the spatial model and all the data layers are buffered according to the literature specification. The research findings will benefit the government or private sector in fulfilling the demand of IBS component in Malaysia where the number of IBS manufacture in Northern Peninsular, West Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak region are still few.
Industrialised Building System (IBS) is the term used to represent the prefabrication and constru... more Industrialised Building System (IBS) is the term used to represent the prefabrication and construction industrialisation concept in Malaysia. The Government and the research done on IBS have helped to change the perception of the construction industry players to elevate the standard of IBS to the international level. The benefits of prefabrication helped the Housing Ministries in various countries to fulfil the high demand for housing especially in United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Providing affordable homes are becoming a vital issue to meet the increasing demand for houses with the increase in the population growth. Singapore and Hong Kong has limited land space. Thus the right choice for such cities would be to build high rise prefabricated building. The unique case in Malaysia is that the Government motivates the construction industry to use Industrialised Building System for most types of buildings. The most popular IBS component used in Malaysia is precast components. The total number of IBS precast manufacturing plant has increased from 15 manufacturers in 2009 to 36 manufacturers in 2011. From the evolution of the IBS construction industry, the IBS manufacturers played an important role in changing the contractors' perception in the usage of IBS. Based on the qualitative survey; 15 interviews and four case studies, there are two types of IBS manufacturers; i.e. permanent IBS manufacturer and mobile IBS manufacturer. The difficulty in setting up the IBS manufacturing plant will be the barriers of the development of the IBS industry. The research results have managed to identify the strength and constraint of setting up a permanent and mobile IBS manufacturing plant.
Higher Education FERPA Bulletin
Pemahaman berkenaan penerbitan atas talian (online) mampu meningkatkan kesedaran para akademik da... more Pemahaman berkenaan penerbitan atas talian (online) mampu meningkatkan kesedaran para akademik dalam memastikan penarafan Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) dianjak ke taraf antarabangsa. Jurnal penerbitan atas talian mampu menjadi rujukan antarabangsa dan hasil kertas kerja tersebut akan dirujuk (cite). Maka wujudnya pengiktirafan penulis melalui h-indeks bagi menunjukkan hasil kertas kerja dirujuk. H-indeks adalah indeks yang mengukur kedua-dua produktiviti berdasarkan set jurnal dan bilangan petikan sitasi (citation) adalah seperti dalam Rajah 1 (Wikipedia, 2013). Secara amnya, semakin tinggi nilai h-indeks semakin tinggi hasil jurnalnya dihargai melalui pendekatan sitasi. Walau bagaimanapun, sekiranya seseorang sarjana tersebut menghasilkan banyak jurnal tetapi bilangan sitasi rendah maka sarjana tersebut akan memperoleh h-indeks yang rendah. Oleh itu, bilangan jurnal yang dihasilkan perlu mementingkan bilangan sitasi bagi memastikan jurnal tersebut dirujuk dan menunjukkan berlakun...
The use of wind as an energ-y source is becoming popular because it is non-polluting and renewabl... more The use of wind as an energ-y source is becoming popular because it is non-polluting and renewable. There is a pressing need in Malaysia to develop site-based technology on wind engineering, which can be used for optimal design of wind turbines and wind farming. The wind speed time series data of east coast of Peninsular Malaysia were analyzed to study the seasonal and diurnal wind characteristics. The Weibull parameters were computed using maximum likelihood method, the modified maximum likelihood method and the graphical method. The three methods were compared for their performance. RMSE values show that the modified maximum likelihood method performed better than the graphical method in frequency distribution format. The Weibull parameters for the individual months have also been computed and the Weibull frequency distributions for all the four monsoon seasons are discussed.
There is an urgent requirement for the building of affordable houses with the increase in demand ... more There is an urgent requirement for the building of affordable houses with the increase in demand for low-cost housing. The impact of the demand, made the government enforced the requirement to use IBS in the construction industry for government projects since 2008. This research paper studies the trend of the use of IBS components and identifies the factors required for the setting up IBS manufacturing factories in the Malaysian construction industry. Thus, appropriate technology is an important tool to push the development of the IBS components in the Malaysian construction industry. US, UK and Australia have achieved modular building standard while Malaysia is still in the hybridization phase. The IBS manufacturing have the unique approach of setting up in the construction industry. Thereby to understand the phenomenal factors of setting up IBS manufacturing factories; a pilot study was conducted with seven interviews; four from the IBS manufacturing players, two with academician and one from the government agency. Anecdotally, total number of IBS factory sites has increased from 21 in 2002 to 102 factories in the year 2009. From the evolution of the IBS manufacturing sector, the most favourable system used in the IBS component is the steel framing system and followed by the precast concrete system. Results from the qualitative survey showed that the main parameters affecting the setting up of the IBS manufacturing factories are appropriate technology, open manufacturing plant concept, capabilities of transportation and erection, best practice: design and build, and skilled workers.
Appropriate technology and global standardization has changed the past practices of the construct... more Appropriate technology and global standardization has changed the past practices of the construction industry. The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia has been actively promoting the use of industrialised building system (IBS) in the local construction industry since 1998 as a way to overcome one of the major problems in Malaysia i.e. construction waste. This has affected the land resources, social environment and local skills to cater for the demand for various types of homes. Thus the implementation of major infrastructure projects and commercial buildings in Malaysia has contributed to a negative impact on the environment. IBS is the term to represent the prefabrication and construction industrialisation concept in Malaysia. IBS is a construction technique in which components are manufactured in a controlled environment (on or off site), transported, positioned and installed into a structure with minimal additional site works. The CIDB has introduced the concept and educate the contractors to function as "assemblers of components" instead of "builders". The prefabrication technology (IBS technology) have several benefits viz. shortened construction time, lower overall construction cost, improved quality, enhanced durability, better architectural appearance, enhanced occupational health and safety, material conservation, less construction site waste, less environmental emissions, and reduction of energy and water consumption. Likewise, the conventional method for construction work cannot be environmental friendly because of the poor quality control at the construction site and the uncontrolled waste production. This has contributed to pollution problems to the environment in the form of air and water pollution, and construction waste. The IBS technology will be the best option in order to overcome the present problems.
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Papers by Mohd Sanusi Ahamad