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Visual Modeling of Chinese Temple Construction for Student Education

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Visualization Within Engineering Design Graphics Education Session 2

Tagged Division

Engineering Design Graphics

Page Count

23

Page Numbers

26.1708.1 - 26.1708.23

DOI

10.18260/p.25044

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/25044

Download Count

2336

Paper Authors

biography

Adrian Hadipriono Tan The Ohio State University

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Adrian H. Tan is a graduate student at the Ohio State University. He has a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Ohio State University, and is currently working towards a Ph.D. in civil engineering and construction with a focus on computer graphics and virtual simulation for engineering education.

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Shilun Hao The Ohio State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-4808-9265

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Shilun Hao is a graduate student at the Ohio State University. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and is currently working towards an M.S. in Civil Engineering at the Ohio State University, with a focus on the digital reconstruction of ancient architecture.​

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Jiyuan Li The Ohio State University Civil Engineering Department

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Jiyuan Li is a graduate student at the Ohio State University. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering at the Chang'An University, PR China. He is now currently working towards a M.S. in Civil Engineering and Construction with a focus on computer graphics and virtual simulation for engineering education.​

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Lei Zhao

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Lei Zhao is a graduate student in Ohio State University. He obtained a B.S. in Civil Engineering in China University of Geoscience, and is now doing his M.S. in Civil Engineering and Construction and concentrating on research and modeling for foundations of ancient architecture.

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Fabian Hadipriono Tan P.E. The Ohio State University

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Fabian Hadipriono Tan has worked in the areas of construction of infrastructures and buildings, failure assessment of buildings and bridges, construction accident investigations, forensic engineering, ancient buildings, ancient bridges, and the ancient history of science and engineering for over 40 years. The tools he uses include fault tree analysis, fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.

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Abstract

A GRAPHICAL INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR EDUCATION ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHINA’S TEMPLESIn Chinese culture, temples hold a high degree of importance, and its construction is both unique andunderrated in Western opinion. The intent of this paper is to design a program that can be used toeducate students about the construction processes of these temples. This type of structure is primarilyconstructed piecewise, meaning that individual components are fashioned and assembled, and theassemblies are in turn combined to form a much larger assembly which serves as the building structure.In particular, emphasis will be placed upon the dougong, which is a principal component of roofingconstruction and engineering. Its name translates to a ‘cap and block’ bracket system, in which invertedcaps (dou) are securely matched with blocks and beams (gong) without the use of fasteners such asnails and glue. In essence, a dougong configuration is constructed to support an overhang on top of it.The earliest written documents of dougong systems were found in the Chinese building standard calledYingzao Fashi that was first introduced in AD 1103 during the Song Dynasty and in the Qing DynastyGongcheng Zuofa construction manual in AD 1734. The wealth of information presented by thesespecifications has yet to be presented and distributed to the Western public, however, and the amountof data in the original texts may seem overwhelming to a general reader. The idea of the simulation isto educate students about dougong-based structures in a comprehensive and understandable manner,enabling students to assemble such structures themselves.A knowledge-based intelligent system that includes graphical simulation of dougong construction willbe used to present the construction process. Students can select various criteria for both the foundationand the superstructure, and can view a clear, complete reconstruction. Once these selections arecompleted, the system will furnish clients with various conclusions, in both textual and graphicalformat, related to each stage of the construction process. The concerned criteria include groundelevation and/or consistency, site and material selection, and structural complexity based on buildingsize, level number, and contemporary technical expertise. The knowledge base of the intelligent systemconsists of the graphical data obtained from existing structures, particularly those based on the dougongstyle of construction, along with dimensional values and hierarchical positions of components used inthe graphical representation for both the substructure and the superstructure based on Song and QingDynasty specifications. The data from the knowledge base is used along with the inference engine tocalculate the dimensions, constraints, and component relationships within the component hierarchy. Inaddition, the intelligent system can also be used to create a physical scale model using 3-D printers,which could enhance the learning process by allowing students to assemble the components manually.With this in mind, the intelligent system (and a physical model if possible) will be tested against arange of audiences to verify the efficacy and clarity of the presented information. In this way, theprogram is expected to be used effectively as an educational tool for the construction of Chinesetemples.Figure 1: The user interface for the Intelligent Dougong System (Song-dynasty dougong). Figure 2: An assembly of a digital temple model using Qing-Dynasty dougong. Figure 3: A close-up of the Qing-Dynasty dougong assembly.

Tan, A. H., & Hao, S., & Li, J., & Zhao, L., & Tan, F. H. (2015, June), Visual Modeling of Chinese Temple Construction for Student Education Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.25044

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