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Topic Review
Assessment of BIM-Based Stakeholder Management Process
A continuous evaluation of the stakeholder management process can be achieved using definitive key performance indicators (KPIs). An exhaustive literature survey in this direction provided a set of 26 indicators assessed through a questionnaire survey for their possible implications on the stakeholder management process. The survey was conducted among 55 respondents with experience in using building information modeling (BIM) in mega-construction projects.
  • 1.4K
  • 09 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Nondestructive Monitoring in RC Elements
The structural and damage assessment of a reinforced concrete (RC) beam subjected to a four-point bending laboratory test is presented. Different nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques have been used with distributed fiber optic sensors (FOS) and acoustic emission (AE) sensors. The recorded AE activity results in good agreement with FOS strain measurements. At different loading steps, digital image correlation (DIC) analysis was also conducted.
  • 1.4K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Extended Reality for Civil Engineering Structures
Utilization of emerging immersive visualization technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has demonstrated that these visualization tools can be paradigm-shifting. Extended Reality (XR), an umbrella term for VR, AR, and MR technologies, has found many diverse use cases in the AEC industry. 
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
The Smart Grid
The smart grid is enabling the collection of massive amounts of high-dimensional and multi-type data about the electric power grid operations, by integrating advanced metering infrastructure, control technologies, and communication technologies.
  • 1.4K
  • 10 May 2021
Topic Review
Polyurea for Blast and Impact Protection
Polyurea has attracted extensive attention from researchers and engineers in the field of blast and impact protection due to its excellent quasi-static mechanical properties and dynamic mechanical properties. Its mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity have been tuned by means of formulation optimization, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and the addition of reinforcing materials. Owing to the special molecular structure of polyurea, the mechanism of polyurea protection against blasts and impacts is the simultaneous effect of multiple properties. For different substrates and structures, polyurea needs to provide different performance characteristics, including adhesion, hardness, breaking elongation, etc., depending on the characteristics of the load to which it is subjected. 
  • 1.4K
  • 11 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation for Hydrological Applications
Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) refers to a natural biochemical phenomenon wherein micro-organisms stimulate the formation of calcium carbonate precipitation. 
  • 1.4K
  • 30 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Water Treatment Residues and Methanogenic Activity in Wastewater-Sludge
The effect of adding alum water treatment residues (WTR) on the methanogenic activity in the digestion of primary domestic wastewater sludge was evaluated through laboratory experiments in sedimentation columns, using total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations from 0.37 to 1.23 g/L. The addition of WTR to primary clarifiers can benefit its effluent water quality in terms of colour, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and TSS. However, the presence of WTR can negatively influence the production of methane gas during organic sludge digestion in primary clarifiers, for concentrations of TSS between 14.43 and 25.23 g/L and of VSS between 10.2 and 11.85 g/L. The activity of the Methanothrix sp., curved bacilli, methanococci, and Methanosarcina sp. decreases considerably after 16 days of anaerobic digestion, and methane production seems to only be associated with fluorescent methanogenic bacilli.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Finite Element Modelling and Updating of Cable-Stayed Bridges
Finite element (FE) model updating is a well-recognised approach for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) purposes, as an accurate model serves as a baseline reference for damage detection and long-term monitoring efforts. One of the many challenges is the development of the initial FE model that can accurately reflect the dynamic characteristics and the overall behaviour of a bridge. Given the size, slenderness, use of long cables, and high levels of structural redundancy, precise initial models of long-span cable-stayed bridges are desirable to better facilitate the model updating process and to improve the accuracy of the final updated model. To date, very few studies offer in-depth discussions on the modelling approaches for cable-stayed bridges and the methods used for model updating. As such, this article presents the latest advances in finite element modelling and model updating methods that have been widely adopted for cable-stayed bridges, through a critical literature review of existing research work.
  • 1.4K
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
MOC and Wood as a Composite Building Material
Magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) is one of the alternatives, also known as Sorel cement, this type of cement is formed by the reaction of light burned MgO with MgCl2 water solution.
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Road Traffic Noise Wall Design
Despite the long-term experience in the application of noise walls, the uncertainty in wall panel service life efficiency is almost equal between panels built from established and new materials, which are—because of the desire to increase the sustainability of noise walls—developing at an ever-faster pace. The presented meta-analysis of data collected during a systematic review of concrete, metal, and wood panels’ acoustic and non-acoustic characteristics, long term performance, and cradle-to-gate sustainability aims to reduce this uncertainty and support the process of noise wall design and management by shifting the emphasis in decision making from construction costs to the long-term sustainability of the road traffic noise mitigation project. The multi-criterial analysis showed that when choosing a panel, preference should be given to those using lightweight concrete materials. 
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Ventilation System
An additional window frame with a ventilation function is applied to the existing window. Thus, when the window is closed, a cavity, which is created between window frames, serves as an air path for ventilation. The additional frame has the same material and finishing as the existing frame, thereby ensuring design consistency. On the outside, the frame does not show any application of the mechanical system. Another advantage of the proposed system is that, as the width is 65 mm, it occupies as small an area as possible and minimally affects the view from the inside. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a generally used material for windows, is used for the ventilation system, and this system is formed in a "U"-shape consistent with the existing window frame. This system can be attached or detached on the existing window frame and does not generate either a gap or a distance in the process of installation for airtightness. The cavity is 45 mm in width, 20 mm in depth, and 1940 mm in height and serves as an air path connected to the outdoor air intake and the indoor air supply outlet.
  • 1.4K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Building Plumbing and Opportunistic Pathogens
The growth of Legionella pneumophila and other opportunistic pathogens (OPs) in drinking water premise plumbing poses an increasing public health concern. Premise plumbing is constructed of a variety of materials, creating complex environments that vary chemically, microbiologically, spatially, and temporally in a manner likely to influence survival and growth of OPs. Plastic pipes can leach organic carbon, but demonstrate a lower disinfectant demand and fewer water chemistry interactions. Iron pipes may provide OPs with nutrients directly or indirectly, exhibiting a high disinfectant demand and potential to form scales with high surface areas suitable for biofilm colonization. While copper pipes are known for their antimicrobial properties, evidence of their efficacy for OP control is inconsistent. Under some as yet not fully understood circumstances, copper’s interactions with premise plumbing water chemistry and resident microbes can encourage growth of OPs. Plumbing design, configuration, and operation can be manipulated to control such interactions and health outcomes. Influences of pipe materials on OP physiology should also be considered, including the possibility of influencing virulence and antibiotic resistance. In conclusion, all known pipe materials have a potential to either stimulate or inhibit OP growth, depending on the circumstances.
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Built Environment for People with Sensory Disabilities
People with sensory disabilities constitute a significant portion of society whose accessibility needs must be prioritized in the design of the built environment. Sensory disabilities cause a gap in the environmental information received, most commonly visual and/or auditory cues, that requires consideration to create equal opportunities and experiences for all. 
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Composite Materials for Structure Strengthening and Resilience Improvement
Advanced composite materials have excellent performance and broad engineering application prospects, and have received widespread attention. Advanced composite materials can mainly be divided into fiber-reinforced composite materials, laminated composite materials, matrix composite materials, and other composite materials. 
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Road Accident Hotspots on Jordan’s Highway
One of the primary objectives of transportation engineering is to increase the safety of road infrastructure. This research seeks to determine the relationship between geometric design parameters in relation to road accident criteria based on accident hotspots on Jordan’s Desert Highway.
  • 1.4K
  • 10 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Safety Issues Buckling Steel Structures Improving Historical Methods
Buckling of structural elements is a phenomenon that has great consequences on the bearing capacity of structures. Historically, there have been serious buckling-related structural accidents that have resulted in loss of human lives and high material costs. 
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Computer Vision-Based Structural Deformation Monitoring in Field Environments
Computer vision-based structural deformation monitoring techniques were studied in a large number of applications in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). Numerous laboratory tests and short-term field applications contributed to the formation of the basic framework of computer vision deformation monitoring systems towards developing long-term stable monitoring in field environments.
  • 1.4K
  • 08 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Energy Efficiency Improvement
The school buildings represent an energivorus sector of the real estate where different efficiency actions are necessary. Literature shows how the design of a multi-energy system offers numerous advantages, however, there are problems related to the integration of cogeneration units with renewable energy sources due to the low flexibility of the first one and the high degree of uncertainty of the latter. The authors provide an alternative solution through the analysis of a case study consisting of a Multiple Energy System on three Sicilian schools, focusing on the system's operational strategy, on design and sizing of components and trying to exploit the energy needs complementarity of buildings instead of integrating the conventional energy storage systems. Not considering school activities in summer, it was decided to install a cogeneration unit sized on winter thermal loads, whereas the electricity demand not covered was reduced with photovoltaic systems designed to maximizing production for seasonal use and with loads concentrated in the morning hours. The effectiveness of this idea, which can be replicated for similar users and areas, is proved by a payback-time less than 11 years and a reduction of 31.77%, of the CO2 emissions.
  • 1.4K
  • 10 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Vision-Based Structural Vibration Tracking Using a Digital Camera
Computer-vision-based target tracking can be applied to structural vibration monitoring, but current target tracking methods suffer from noise in digital image processing. A new target-tracking method based on the sparse optical flow technique is introduced to improve the accuracy in tracking the target, especially when the target has a large displacement. The proposed method utilizes the ORB technique to maintain a variety of keypoints and combines the multi-level strategy with a sparse optical flow algorithm to search the keypoints with a large motion vector for tracking. Then, an outlier removal method based on Hamming distance and interquartile range (IQR) score is introduced to minimize the error. The proposed target tracking method is verified through a lab experiment---a three-story shear building structure subjected to various harmonic excitations. It is compared with existing sparse optical flow-based target tracking methods and target tracking methods based on three other types of techniques, i.e., feature matching, dense optical flow, and template matching. The results show that the performance of target tracking is greatly improved through the use of a multi-level strategy and the proposed outlier removal method. The proposed sparse optical flow-based target tracking method achieves the best accuracy compared to other existing target tracking methods.
  • 1.4K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Senior housing universal design
The senior housing universal design (SHUD) is relatively new, and uprising approach to primarily construct flats that would meet the needs of the elderly and/or disabled ones. These have been termed “barrier-free flats”. The necessary adaptations are implemented at the architectural design stage and involve modifications of bathroom, kitchen, household equipment, furniture, doors, as well as passageways. The primary SHUD of living spaces suitable for senior citizens (barrier-free flats) is more beneficial from the socio-economic perspective as compared to the adaptation of existing houses. 
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Oct 2020
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