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Construction Practices (construction + practice)
Selected AbstractsEnvironmental management in large-scale building projects,learning from Hammarby SjöstadCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002Rolf Johansson In an old industrial and harbour area of Stockholm, a new city for 30 000 people will be built in the next ten years. The Hammarby Sjöstad project is unique in its size and municipal organization as well as in its ambitious environmental objectives. In a case study based on interviews and document analysis, the environmental management process of this project is researched. The City of Stockholm will follow up the compliance with set goals; our study is a qualitative one focusing on the management process. We develop concepts and models as an aid for municipal management of future construction projects. Many factors outside the formal ones are considered important. Data is structured chronologically as events and from a stakeholder perspective, including the City, the developers and the contractors. The main focus is, however, on the City's Project Management Team. Collected data is furthermore analysed with the aid of key concepts, derived from organization theory, planning and construction practice and as suggested by the data. Preliminary results indicate that the continued study of informal means of control is just as important as that of the formal ones, and that identifying key situations and tools for environmental management should be in focus for the rest of the research study. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [source] Development and validation of a metallic haunch seismic retrofit solution for existing under-designed RC frame buildingsEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 14 2006Stefano Pampanin Abstract The feasibility and efficiency of a seismic retrofit solution for existing reinforced concrete frame systems, designed before the introduction of modern seismic-oriented design codes in the mid 1970s, is conceptually presented and experimentally investigated. A diagonal metallic haunch system is introduced at the beam,column connections to protect the joint panel zone from extensive damage and brittle shear mechanisms, while inverting the hierarchy of strength within the beam,column subassemblies and forming a plastic hinge in the beam. A complete step-by-step design procedure is suggested for the proposed retrofit strategy to achieve the desired reversal of strength hierarchy. Analytical formulations of the internal force flow at the beam,column-joint level are derived for the retrofitted joints. The study is particularly focused on exterior beam,column joints, since it is recognized that they are the most vulnerable, due to their lack of a reliable joint shear transfer mechanism. Results from an experimental program carried out to validate the concept and the design procedure are also presented. The program consisted of quasi-static cyclic tests on four exterior, , scaled, beam,column joint subassemblies, typical of pre-1970 construction practice using plain round bars with end-hooks, with limited joint transverse reinforcement and detailed without capacity design considerations. The first (control specimen) emulated the as-built connection while the three others incorporated the proposed retrofitted configurations. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed solution for upgrading non-seismically designed RC frames and also confirmed the applicability of the proposed design procedure and of the analytical derivations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Knowledge Formalization and Aggregation-Based Method for the Assessment of Dam PerformanceCOMPUTER-AIDED CIVIL AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING, Issue 3 2010Corinne Curt The model's inputs are the whole set of available information and data: visual observations, monitoring measurements, calculated data, and documents related to design and construction processes. First, a formal grid is proposed to structure the inputs. It is composed of six fields: name, definition, scale, references as anchorage points on the scale, and spatial and temporal characteristics. Structured inputs are called indicators. Second, an indicator aggregation method is proposed that allows obtaining not only the dam performance but also the assessment of its design and construction practices. The methodology is illustrated mainly with the internal erosion mechanism through the embankment, but results concerning other failure modes are also provided. An application of the method for monitoring dams through time is given. [source] Effects of seismic intensity and socioeconomic status on injury and displacement after the 2007 Peru earthquakeDISASTERS, Issue 4 2010Karen Milch Earthquakes are a major cause of displacement, particularly in developing countries. Models of injury and displacement can be applied to assist governments and aid organisations in effectively targeting preparedness and relief efforts. A stratified cluster survey was conducted in January 2008 to evaluate risk factors for injury and displacement following the 15 August 2007 earthquake in southern Peru. In statistical modelling, seismic intensity, distance to rupture, living conditions, and educational attainment collectively explained 54.9 per cent of the variability in displacement rates across clusters. Living conditions was a particularly significant predictor of injury and displacement, indicating a strong relationship between risk and socioeconomic status. Contrary to expectations, urban, periurban, and rural clusters did not exhibit significantly different injury and displacement rates. Proxies of socioeconomic status, particularly the living conditions index score, proved relevant in explaining displacement, likely due to unmeasured aspects of housing construction practices and building materials. [source] Uniform hazard versus uniform risk bases for performance-based earthquake engineering of light-frame wood constructionEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 11 2010Yue Li Abstract This paper investigates the implications of designing for uniform hazard versus uniform risk for light-frame wood residential construction subjected to earthquakes in the United States. Using simple structural models of one-story residences with typical lateral force-resisting systems (shear walls) found in buildings in western, eastern and central regions of the United States as illustrations, the seismic demands are determined using nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses, whereas the collapse capacities are determined using incremental dynamic analyses. The probabilities of collapse, conditioned on the occurrence of the maximum considered earthquakes and design earthquakes stipulated in ASCE Standard 7-05, and the collapse margins of these typical residential structures are compared for typical construction practices in different regions in the United States. The calculated collapse inter-story drifts are compared with the limits stipulated in FEMA 356/ASCE Standard 41-06 and observed in the recent experimental testing. The results of this study provide insights into residential building risk assessment and the relation between building seismic performance implied by the current earthquake-resistant design and construction practices and performance levels in performance-based engineering of light-frame wood construction being considered by the SEI/ASCE committee on reliability-based design of wood structures. Further code developments are necessary to achieve the goal of uniform risk in earthquake-resistant residential construction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||