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.

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.

Based on the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Earthquake Resistant Engineering Structures (ERES), this book presents basic and applied research in the main fields of engineering relevant to earthquake resistant analysis and design of structural systems.

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.

Sandwich structures represent a special form of a laminated composite material or structural elements, where a relatively thick, lightweight and compliant core material separates thin stiff and strong face sheets. The faces are usually made of laminated polymeric based composite materials, and typically, the core can be a honeycomb type material, a polymeric foam or balsa wood. The faces and the core are joined by adhesive bonding, which ensures the load transfer between the sandwich constituent parts. The result is a special laminate with very high bending stiffness and strength to weight ratios. Sandwich structures are being used successfully for a variety of applications such as spacecraft, aircraft, train and car structures, wind turbine blades, boat/ship superstructures, boat/ship hulls and many others. The overall objective of the 7th International Conference on Sandwich Structures (ICSS-7) is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest research and technology on all aspects of sandwich structures and materials, spanning the entire spectrum of research to applications in all the fields listed above.