Many building projects are complex because they involve many elements based on different technical and product areas. There is a lot of information in those elements, which is complex, uncertain, and always difficult to grasp accurately. This paper discusses the aspect of Information on the process of construction projects, and tries to contribute to establish a fundamental method to understand the characteristics of design information with new technologies such as Building Information Modeling. Especially, the theoretical analysis of information creation on the process of construction projects shows the important points of issues for the foundation of technology development.

The purpose of this study is to propose a modified average flow model that can be used for mechanical seals with parallel sealing faces, and clarify their lubrication characteristics. The general average flow model established by Patir et al. could not consider the effects of surface roughness between parallel faces. In the present model, the flow factors with considering side leakage effects between parallel lubricating faces are implemented. In addition, the model allows one to consider the additional expected hydrodynamic pressure generated owing to the relative motion of rough surfaces. The flow factors are evaluated as the average for several different surfaces with the same statistical properties. In this first report, the effects of the root mean square roughness on the lubrication characteristics are investigated, assuming that the probability density function of the roughness follows the normal distribution. The results show that as the root mean square roughness increases, the flow rate increases. In addition, the optimal roughness for the friction coefficient is changed with the rotational speed.

In the present paper, a method to scan the front face of a measured object behind an obstacle around a scanner using a two-dimensional laser range scanner and mirrors is described. The distances and angles from the scanner to the measured object through the mirrors avoid the obstacle at a constant angle, which are measured radially by the laser. Thus, laser-reflecting points on the front face of the measured object behind the obstacle at a constant angle are obtained. The construction and function of the proposed scanning method using the scanner and mirrors are presented, based on which coordinate systems are set to design the proposed scanning method. The coordinates and angles of the obstacle and mirrors, trajectories of the laser, installation of the scanner and mirrors, and coordinates of the laser-reflecting points on the front face of the measured object are designed based on the coordinate systems. An experimental equipment is designed as described above, to evaluate the performance of the proposed scanning method. The equipment is built using an actual scanner and mirrors, and the methodologies using this equipment are set. Subsequently, the results are discussed.