iImages courtesy of INVIEWlabs Unifi's subscription-based cloud service uses cloud technology and improved algorithms to make BIM files more searchable with multiple metrics. Related Links: UNIFI Free Trial A cloud-based building-information-modeling management service is leveraging advanced search and metadata tagging functionality to super-charge how teams manage project assets.The subscription service by start-up Unifi currently handles only Autodesk Revit files on its platform, with support for Trimble Sketchup files expected later this year. The company says the platform works like this: By dragging your entire library folder structure into Unifi, the application automatically tags each piece of content with metadata and

An energy company says its ducted wind turbine produces six times more energy than traditional, vertical turbines seen around the world.

Courtesy MOHR The readout from MOHR Test and Measurement LLC's instrumentation system for spent-fuel pools. Courtesy Westinghouse The layout of Westinghouse's instrumentation system for spent-fuel pools. After the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-plant accident, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an order for nuclear facilities to install reliable, extended-range instrumentation for spent-fuel-pool levels that meets new disaster standards. Last July, the first device was installed, says the device's designer.Two companies recently announced the successful release of a measurement system that meets the new NRC standards, but Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, Monroeville, Pa., installed the first device in a live

Related Links: BuildingReports A new service leverages quick-response (QR) code technology to give workers instant access to historical compliance data for a facility's building systems."We saw a need to eliminate the paperwork still associated with life-safety work in a facility," says Jason Kronz, president and chief technology officer for Building- Reports, Atlanta, the building safety-compliance firm that developed the QR service LiveArchive.When used with a mobile device such as an iPhone or Android, LiveArchive allows inspectors, managers, owners and emergency responders to scan a QR code to access an equipment report for up-to-date, historical data on fire, life-safety, security and

Image Courtesy of Softree Softree Optimal ingests laser scanning, soil composition and the cost of cutting and filling dirt in various topographies and soil types to compute the path of least resistance (shown in red) for infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and pipelines. Related Links: VIDEO: SoftreeOptimal in Five Minutes A new corridor-based, infrastructure-alignment software product aims to automate optimal vertical alignment work by using topography data to compute the path of least resistance.Developed in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Softree Optimal, created by Softree Technical Systems Inc., Vancouver, B.C., finds the lowest-cost vertical alignment for infrastructure

The latest in a series of reports about concerns over construction defects in the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge suspension span involves cracked welds in the girders that form the span’s roadway. Others that have emerged include suspect foundation concrete, rusted tendons in the skyway that connects the suspension span to Oakland, broken anchor rods, and corrosion on the main cable. Many of the issues were first reported by The Sacramento Bee.As a “fracture critical” structure, in which some vital structural elements lack redundancy or backup, the bridge would seem to be a perfect candidate for an installed system for structural

Related Links: Box Inc's Full Report A new report from a cloud service provider illustrates how the construction industry communicates.“We thought the software industry would be highest in terms of mobility, but we were floored when we saw the trends of construction,” says Stephanie Hagio, a strategic project lead at Box Inc., Los Altos, Calif., a cloud content-management service.Construction proved to be both the most mobile and the most externally collaborative of the five industries included in the study: software, media and entertainment, manufacturing, financial services and construction. Measuring communication data from 300 of its customers, Box monitored data-sharing devices,

PHOTO Courtesy of Michigan State University Nizar Lajnef installs a battery-less, vibration-powered sensor to record asphalt cracking, creating a data time line of its breakdown. Related Links: How Sensors on I-10 Twin Span Bridge Reduce Unknowns Bridge Owners Toolbox: Sensors, Gauges, Radars, Models Researchers are testing novel infrastructure-monitoring sensors on roads. The new sensors are powered by passing vehicles.The test could address a major flaw in sensors that are embedded to monitor degradation of infrastructure: They lose power, says Nizar Lajnef, assistant professor of civil and environment engineering at Michigan State University."Battery-powered sensors last only two to three years, max,"

Each year in the U.S., more people are killed by tornadoes than by earthquakes and hurricanes combined.

Graphic Courtesy of WindEEE Research Institute The above simulation of the velocity field in the core of a tornado was part of the conceptual design process for WindEEE. Photo Courtesy of the WindEEE Research Institute A scale model of a two-story house, under study for roof failure, has openings to simulate windows broken by a tornado. Related Links: Communities Ramp up Tornado Defenses A three-story, $30-million hexagonal wind tunnel in Canada can recreate tornadoes and capture data to serve as a basis for developing twister-resistant structural design. It is the first facility of its kind in the world, says its