This book presents recent research works related to blast resistant buildings, green roofs and sustainability, retrofit interventions with C-FRP fibers, analysis of cracking in pile cap foundation by delayed ettringite formation and acoustic performance in buildings. It demonstrates that building pathology is a holistic approach to studying and understanding buildings, and in particular, building defects or problems and associated rehabilitation actions. Offering a systematic review of the current state of knowledge, the book serves as a valuable resource for scientists, students, practitioners, and lecturers in various scientific and engineering disciplines, including civil and materials engineering, as well as and other interested parties.

The book presents recent research and practical insights relating to building pathology. As such it contributes toward the systematization and dissemination of knowledge regarding structural and hygrothermal pathologies, durability and diagnostic techniques, while at the same time, demonstrating the latest advances in this domain. It includes new developments in the field of building pathology and rehabilitation, bridging the gap between current approaches to the surveying of buildings and the detailed study of defect diagnosis, prognosis and remediation. It also features a number of case studies and a detailed list of references and suggestions for further reading. Providing an overview of the current state of the art in the field, the book will appeal to scientists, students, practitioners and lecturers. Furthermore, the topics covered are relevant to a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines, including civil, materials and mechanical engineering.

This book discusses the effect of different school building rehabilitation strategies on the classrooms’ indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and presents a multi-objective methodology for school building enclosure optimization combining artificial neural networks and lifecycle costs. The special features of this book are that it (a) presents the state-of-the-art in school building rehabilitation, (b) covers the IEQ assessment of several school buildings, including non-rehabilitated and rehabilitated according to different strategies; and (c) proposes a multi-objective optimization procedure. The rehabilitation of a school building should be regarded as a procedure combining a number of (sometimes conflicting) variables and objectives, including energy, IEQ and costs (initial, operational and maintenance), in the search for an “optimum solution.” The main benefit of the book is that it discusses the main topics related to school building rehabilitation, presents results of the IEQ assessment on 9 school buildings and launches a discussion on how the “in-use” performance of schools is key to understanding how designed performance is actually experienced. It maps the most commonly used multi-objective algorithms and artificial neural network architectures and proposes a methodology for combining these numerical tools with dynamic building simulations and lifecycle cost analysis to optimize school building enclosures. This methodology will be of value to scientists and engineers alike, while also addressing a variety of related disciplines, such as civil and mechanical engineering, architecture and mathematics.

The present volume contains a total of 23 papers centred on the research area of Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings. This subject also forms the core of Project SfP977231, sponsored by the NATO Science for Peace Office and supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey [ TUBIT AK ]. Most of these papers were presented by the authors at a NATO Science for Peace Workshop held in Izmir on 13 - 14 May, 2003 and reflect a part of their latest work conducted within the general confines of the title of the NATO Project. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey serves as the hub of Project SfP977231 and coordinates research under the project with universities within Turkey, e. g. Istanbul Technical University and Kocaeli University, and with partner institutions in Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: A few articles have also been contributed by invited experts, who are all noted researchers in the field. Altogether, the contents of the volume deal with a vast array of problems in Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation and cover a wide range of possible solutions, techniques and proposals. It is intended to touch upon many of these aspects separately below. Earthquakes constitute possibly the most widely spread and also the most feared of natural hazards. Recent earthquakes within the first six months of 2003, such as the Bingol Earthquake in Turkey and the Algerian earthquake, have caused both loss of life and severe damage to property.

Seismic Rehabilitation Methods for Existing Buildings covers various structures, effective parameters in seismic improvement, and other factors in seismic loading in eight applied chapters with descriptive classification. The book offers guidance for a seismic rehabilitation project based on the interpretation of publications FEMA and Iranian seismic rehabilitation regulations no.360 . It includes real examples of completed and approved projects to stabilize the seismic improvement issues of existing buildings. Six perfectly executed examples, with complete refinement details, such as modeling, step-by-step improvement studies, and executive plans and seismic enhancement images are included. The book also explains the classification of non-structural element and how to carry out it's seismic reconstruction studies and in one of the chapters, construction and soil improvement methods are discussed along with a practical example.The concepts of seismic rehabilitation in this book are presented with an Info-graphic structure that better fixes the concepts in the minds of readers so that when they face a new project, they have a more practical use of the content - Provides a fully functional way to evaluate, model and present details of a seismic rehabilitation plan for a building - Presents real seismic refurbishment models and step-by-step methods for providing examples (including images, tables and charts)

Many areas of knowledge converge in the building industry and therefore research in this field necessarily involves an interdisciplinary approach. Effective research requires strong relation between a broad variety of scientific and technological domains and more conventional construction or craft processes, while also considering advanced management processes, where all the main actors permanently interact. This publication takes an interdisciplinary approach grouping various studies on the building industry chosen from among the works presented for the 2nd International Conference on Construction and Building Research. The papers examine aspects of materials and building systems; construction technology; energy and sustainability; construction management; heritage, refurbishment and conservation. The information contained within these pages may be of interest to researchers and practitioners in construction and building activities from the academic sphere, as well as public and private sectors.