Damage assessment of structures is an emerging field and has become increasingly important over the past decade or two. Diagnosis and prognosis of structural damage plays an important role not just in ensuring the structural integrity but also in optimizing the overall life cycle cost including the cost for operation and maintenance. Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). The Special collection consists of a compilation 159 papers on all research topics relevant to damage assessment of engineering structures and systems including numerical simulations, signal processing of sensor measurements, theoretical and experimental studies. Broad areas of damage assessment covered in the publication include applications to composite materials, civil infrastructure, mechanical devices and machineries, renewable energy, sensors, signal processing, structural health and condition monitoring.

A comprehensive resource that builds a bridge between engineering disciplines and the building sciences and trades, Forensic Engineering: Damage Assessments for Residential and Commercial Structures provides an extensive look into the world of forensic engineering. With a focus on investigations associated with insurance industry claims, the book describes methodologies for performing insurance-related investigations including the causation and origin of damage to residential and commercial structures and/or unhealthy interior environments and adverse effects on the occupants of these structures. Edited by an industry expert with more than 30 years of experience, and authors with more than 100 years of experience in the field, the book takes the technical aspects of engineering and scientific principles and applies them to real-world issues in a non-technical manner. It provides readers with the experiences, investigation methodologies, and investigation protocols used in, and derived from completing thousands of forensic engineering investigations. It begins with providing a baseline methodology for completing forensic investigations and closes with advice on testifying as an expert witness. Much of what must be known in this field is not learned in school, but is based upon experience since recognizing the cause of a building system failure requires a blending of skills from the white collar and blue collar worlds. Such knowledge can be vital since failures (e.g., water entry) often result from construction activities completed out of sequence.. This book details proven methodologies based on over 7,000 field investigations, methodologies which can be followed by both professionals and laymen alike.

1.1. SAFETY OF CIVIL STRUCTURES Society expects that the failure of civil structures is extremely rare and relies on the care and expertise of the professionals involved in the design, construction and maintenance of structures. This is in particular true for public technical systems such as transportation or energy supply systems and structures such as bridges. Structural safety may be defined as follows: “Adequate safety with respect to a hazard is ensured provided that the hazard is kept under control by appropriate measures or the risk is limited to an acceptable value. Absolute safety is not achievable.” It is thus not the structure as such that is designated safe but rather the people, goods and the environment in its surroundings. The continued use of existing structures is of great importance because the built environment is a huge economic and political asset, growing larger every year. Nowadays evaluation of the safety of existing structures is a major engineering task, and structural engineers are increasingly called upon to devise ways for extending the life of structures whilst observing tight cost constraints. Also, existing structures are expected to resist against accidental actions although they were not designed for. Engineers may apply specific methods for evaluation in order to preserve structures and to reduce a client’s expenditure. The ultimate goal is to limit construction intervention to a minimum, a goal that is clearly in agreement with the principles of sustainable development.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). This collection covers the many activities, relevant to the damage assessment of engineering structures and systems, including the signal processing of sensor measurements and analytical techniques, as well as experimental case studies.

This open access book originates from an international workshop organized by Turkish Natural Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) in November 2019 that gathered renown researchers from academia, representatives of leading international reinsurance and modeling companies as well as government agencies responsible of insurance pricing in Turkey. The book includes chapters related to post-earthquake damage assessment, the state-of-art and novel earthquake loss modeling, their implementation and implication in insurance pricing at national, regional and global levels, and the role of earthquake insurance in building resilient societies and fire following earthquakes. The rich context encompassed in the book makes it a valuable tool not only for professionals and researchers dealing with earthquake loss modeling but also for practitioners in the insurance and reinsurance industry.