Institutional-Repository, University of Moratuwa
Welcome to the University of Moratuwa Digital Repository, which houses postgraduate theses and dissertations, research articles presented at conferences by faculties and departments, university-published journal articles and research publications authored by academic staff. This online repository stores, preserves and distributes the University's scholarly work. This service allows University members to share their research with a larger audience.
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Recent Submissions
item: Conference-Full-text
Potential use of plastic waste as a sustainable construction material in Sri Lanka
(Department of Building Economics, 2025) Geerthanan S; Sivanraj S; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Jayasena, HS; Wimalaratne, PLI; Tennakoon, GA
Global demand for sustainable development places a tremendous force on the construction industry to promote sustainable construction. In Sri Lanka, while there is a gradual shift towards sustainable construction, the number of projects implementing such practices remains limited, highlighting a significant gap in the industry’s contribution to sustainability goals. Currently, around 90% of construction materials are obtained from natural resources, raising concerns about long-term environmental impact and resource depletion. Simultaneously, the country faces the growing issue of plastic pollution, driven by the extensive use and non-biodegradable nature of plastics. Addressing both challenges, the integration of recycled plastic waste into construction materials presents a promising and sustainable alternative. Recycled plastics can be utilised in various applications such as concrete mixtures, paving blocks, roofing sheets, interior partitions, and prefabricated components. This research explores the barriers and benefits of using plastic waste as a sustainable construction material through a quantitative approach using questionnaires, aiming to support environmental preservation and resource efficiency in Sri Lanka’s construction sector.
item: Conference-Full-text
Predicting cost elements of construction projects using supervised machine learning techniques
(Department of Building Economics, 2025) Rasila KAM; Mahakalanda L; Edirisooriya MW; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Jayasena, HS; Wimalaratne, PLI; Tennakoon, GA
Accurately predicting construction project costs remains challenging due to their dynamic and complex nature. While traditional methods address most cost components based on resources it consumes or how such activities perform, certain elements like fuel often rely on expert judgment for validation or adjustment, as traditional methods frequently fail to capture all influencing project parameters. This research explores the feasibility of utilizing supervised Machine Learning (ML) techniques to predict these volatile cost elements, focusing specifically on fuel, a key project cost. The study addresses key gaps identified in the literature, particularly the need for models that can manage the uncertainty of specific cost elements and incorporate a broader range of influencing factors, including macroeconomic parameters. By leveraging historical data extracted from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, alongside additional project attributes such as average fuel price and construction cost indices, this study demonstrates a novel, data driven approach to cost estimation. The methodology involved data preprocessing to ensure quality and consistency, followed by feature selection to identify the most relevant attributes influencing fuel cost. Several supervised ML models were compared, to identify model with superior performance. The chosen model was further optimized through iterative refinement techniques, to enhance its predictive accuracy and stability. The findings highlight the potential of supervised ML to revolutionize construction cost estimation practices, offering a more data driven, accurate, and efficient method for managing project budgets realistically.
item: Thesis-Abstract
An Investigation on the inconsistencies in the width of single jersey fabric produced at ABC Knitting Mill
(2024) Indunil, DLM; Gayani , KN
ABC Knitters (Pvt) Ltd; a leading weft knitted textile manufacturer in Sri Lanka, has been encountering a problem regarding the width of their finished single jersey fabric. They claim that certain fabric batches are found to be inconsistent in roll width after dyeing. Such fabric rolls indicate a tendency to narrow side in width. There is no reliable method in place at the knitting mill for predicting the fabric width in grey state or dyed state. It was further noted that different industrial knitters use their own methods to predict the fabric width merely based on their own experience. Thus, at the finishing stage main focus is to meet the specified width in finished fabric by using various finishing techniques such as Stenter process or a heat setting.
This research has focused on many experiments to study the factors which affect the width of knitted fabric. The effect of yarn count, machine gauge and the shrinkage of yarns during coloration process have been studied in this work. The impact of heat setting and its limitations have also been studied. The in-depth experimental analysis carried out to study the effects of knitting variables on grey fabric width and the dyed fabric width is one of the most important parts of this research.
Eventually this research has introduced two special phenomena occurring during the knitting process and dyeing process. First one is the increasing grey fabric width over minimum range of loop length. According to the existing knowledge, the smaller the loop length lesser the fabric width. It has been revealed by this research that the grey fabric reverses this known behavior at a certain value of loop length and begins to increase the width when the loop length is further reduced. Second one is the relatively high widthwise shrinkage occurring during wet process of the fabric knitted in minimum loop length range. This research has revealed the dependency of dyeing shrinkage upon the loop length. For any given weft knitting machine and a given yarn, the highest widthwise dyeing shrinkage is exhibited by the fabric sample knitted at the minimum loop length. In certain cases, at smaller loop length ranges such as 2.4mm to 2.5mm, the widthwise shrinkage may be as higher as 38% while the shrinkage at larger loop length ranges such as 2.8mm to 3.0mm may be around 30%. This unexpected higher shrinkage could be identified as the root cause of the problem encountered by the textile mill.
In addition to the fabric width, area density has also been included into the study as they are interrelated parameters from the manufacturer’s perspective. The outcome of this project suggests a graphical method and a set of basic rules to be followed by the knitter while adjusting the knitting machines to produce fabrics with different area densities. “Future works” provide suggestions on how to expand this study following same methodology. An expanded future research can involve the rest of knitting machines, yarn counts and yarn types that could not be studied during this research due to the lack of time
item: Thesis-Abstract
Geometric design consideration in rehabilitation of urban arterial roads (case study B084, Horana - Colombo Road)
(2024) Dhananjaya, KKD; Mampearachchi, WK
Geometric improvement plays a significant part in urban arterial road rehabilitation by addressing social, environmental, and economic issues. The study selected the Horana - Colombo (B084) road rehabilitation project as the case study.
During the investigation, several issues related to the project scope, duration, and society were identified. In this study, priority weightages were systematically assigned through expert interviews. These weightages were readjusted using the known costs incurred for implementing solutions for several issues. Moreover, these issues were ranked according to the summation of the readjusted weightages. Further, a checklist with priority order was proposed based on the identified issues and the ranking.
The results show that drainage design issues are the most critical design consideration. The second most critical design consideration is geometric design at fuel stations. Third most critical issue is the vertical alignment design at areas with underlying rock areas and utility lines. Traffic count should be conducted at the junctions before implementing the geometric design. Access issues are a significant design consideration in the geometric design. Furthermore, coordinating with the authorities for the utility maintenance is necessary to minimise road damage. Following design and construction sequences is necessary for minimizing line drain construction issues. Pavement design optimization saves cost and the time of construction. The existing horizontal and vertical alignment should be harmonised during the geometric design. Incorporating this checklist with priority order in the geometric design of rehabilitation of urban arterial roads will ensure that the road is constructed safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Feasibility study of the installation of roof top solar PV systems
(2023) Mudunna, MMNK; Manthilake, MMID
The consumption of natural resource-related operations is highly coasted in contemporary energy generation operations. Many operations are running with the power of water and minerals. Electricity generation is done with these scarce resources for the daily consumption of humans. As a result of these operations, the environmental system is polluted by the discharges of this mineral-related petroleum combustion. CO2 is released by the massive industries with their operations. Therefore, using these resources for electricity generation is not a positive growth of the present scenario. According to modern economical researchers and scientists, the reduction of harmful energy generation and reducing the polluted air leaving from their productions is necessary. As a solution for that the Go Green concept is raised. Generating the power with Photovoltaic is a highly effective product for the modern Go Green concept. According to these investigations, this report is directed to analyze solar PVs technology, the usage of this technology, and the benefits from that to the modern economy of the country.
To reduce greenhouse gasses emission from the energy sector solar energy can be used as a solution and it is in the top list of renewable energy that has much potential in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to the installations of rooftop solar PV systems in the country. For this study, Literature reviews are used as the primary tool. Adding 1000 MW to the national grid by 2025 is one of the main targets in the Sri Lankan government. To fulfill this target, barriers to the installations of rooftop solar PV systems in the country should be considered.