Resilient Design and Construction of Geostructures Against Natural Hazards


Book Description

This volume contains state of the engineering practice and recent research in the field of built infrastructure and natural hazards. It is expected that the book will help engineers and researchers to design and built resilient infrastructures in challenging conditions (e.g., earthquakes and climate change) while optimising the design and minimising the future maintenance cost. In particular new design and construction techniques with reference to major infrastructure projects such as tunneling and transport infrastructure are discussed.




National Earthquake Resilience


Book Description

The United States will certainly be subject to damaging earthquakes in the future. Some of these earthquakes will occur in highly populated and vulnerable areas. Coping with moderate earthquakes is not a reliable indicator of preparedness for a major earthquake in a populated area. The recent, disastrous, magnitude-9 earthquake that struck northern Japan demonstrates the threat that earthquakes pose. Moreover, the cascading nature of impacts-the earthquake causing a tsunami, cutting electrical power supplies, and stopping the pumps needed to cool nuclear reactors-demonstrates the potential complexity of an earthquake disaster. Such compound disasters can strike any earthquake-prone populated area. National Earthquake Resilience presents a roadmap for increasing our national resilience to earthquakes. The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is the multi-agency program mandated by Congress to undertake activities to reduce the effects of future earthquakes in the United States. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-the lead NEHRP agency-commissioned the National Research Council (NRC) to develop a roadmap for earthquake hazard and risk reduction in the United States that would be based on the goals and objectives for achieving national earthquake resilience described in the 2008 NEHRP Strategic Plan. National Earthquake Resilience does this by assessing the activities and costs that would be required for the nation to achieve earthquake resilience in 20 years. National Earthquake Resilience interprets resilience broadly to incorporate engineering/science (physical), social/economic (behavioral), and institutional (governing) dimensions. Resilience encompasses both pre-disaster preparedness activities and post-disaster response. In combination, these will enhance the robustness of communities in all earthquake-vulnerable regions of our nation so that they can function adequately following damaging earthquakes. While National Earthquake Resilience is written primarily for the NEHRP, it also speaks to a broader audience of policy makers, earth scientists, and emergency managers.







Risk, Reliability and Sustainable Remediation in the Field of Civil and Environmental Engineering


Book Description

Risk, Reliability and Sustainable Remediation in the Field of Civil and Environmental Engineering illustrates the concepts of risk, reliability analysis, its estimation, and the decisions leading to sustainable development in the field of civil and environmental engineering. The book provides key ideas on risks in performance failure and structural failures of all processes involved in civil and environmental systems, evaluates reliability, and discusses the implications of measurable indicators of sustainability in important aspects of multitude of civil engineering projects. It will help practitioners become familiar with tolerances in design parameters, uncertainties in the environment, and applications in civil and environmental systems. Furthermore, the book emphasizes the importance of risks involved in design and planning stages and covers reliability techniques to discover and remove the potential failures to achieve a sustainable development. - Contains relevant theory and practice related to risk, reliability and sustainability in the field of civil and environment engineering - Gives firsthand experience of new tools to integrate existing artificial intelligence models with large information obtained from different sources - Provides engineering solutions that have a positive impact on sustainability




Key Themes in Energy Management


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive global coverage of energy management as it relates mostly to developing countries. In an era of unprecedented global population growth, the demand for energy has reached staggering levels. The United Nations reported an enormous 200% increase in population between 1950 and 2020, with projections indicating a further rise to 10.9 billion by 2100. As a direct consequence, global primary energy usage has surged from 3701 Mtoe in 1965 to 13511 Mtoe in 2017, putting immense strain on existing energy sources. If current growth rates persist, these sources could be depleted within a mere 130 years. To address this impending crisis, governments worldwide have implemented regulations and incentives to promote energy conservation. While numerous studies and publications have emerged within the field of energy management, there remains a significant research gap, particularly concerning the energy challenges faced by developing countries. Existing edited books on energy-related topics often narrowly focus on specific aspects, hindering readers from gaining a holistic understanding of energy management challenges and potential solutions. This book fills this void. Recognizing the pivotal role these nations play in achieving sustainable development goals, this book provides a wide-ranging perspective on the trends, challenges, and potential solutions to energy crises in these regions. It not only acknowledges the challenges faced by developing countries but also offers viable strategies to address them. The editor, leveraging his successful leadership experience in global academic endeavors, including publishing a book on Occupational Safety & Health practices during the COVID-19 era and coordination of multinational research projects, is well positioned to bring together exceptional chapters from various countries. His extensive network ensures the inclusion of diverse perspectives, enriching the book's content and offering invaluable insights to readers. Designed for a broad readership, including energy industry organizations, professionals, researchers, government bodies, policymakers, and students, this book delves into a wide array of energy management issues. By facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the subject, it equips readers with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complex landscape of energy management in the modern world.




Design and Construction of Smart Cities


Book Description

This book focuses on how to maintain environmental sustainability as one of its main principles, and it addresses how smart cities serve to diminish wastes and maintain natural resources by having clean green energy that is operated by new smart technology designs. Living in a smart city is not something of the future anymore, it is here, and it is being implemented all over the world. A smart city uses different types of electronic Internet of things (IoT) sensors to collect data and then use these data to manage assets and resources efficiently. The smart city concept integrates information and communication technology (ICT), and various physical devices connected to the IoT network to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and achieve sustainable solutions to allow us to grow with proper management of our resources. Smart sustainable structures and infrastructures face the need of urban areas due to the growth of populations while in the same time save our environment. To achieve this, we need to revisit the conventional methods in design and construction and the conventional materials which are used now to optimize the design and provide smart solutions. In the past few years, the consumption of resources has been massive, and the waste produced from that consumption has been inconceivable. This is causing environmental degradation, which produces many environmental challenges, such as global climate change, excessive fossil fuel dependency and the growing demand for energy. As well as, discussing the challenges facing the civil engineering design and construction of smart cities components and presenting concepts and insight from experts and researchers from different civil engineering disciplines., this book explains how to construct buildings and special structures and how to manage and monitor energy.




Advancements in Geotechnical Engineering


Book Description

This book intends directly the practical engineers, who will be of great interest in reading the interesting chapters. Earthwork projects are critical components in civil construction and often require detailed management techniques and unique solution methods to address failures. Being earthbound, earthwork is influenced by geomaterial properties at the onset of a project. Hence, an understanding of the in-situ soil properties and all geotechnical aspects is essential. Analytical methods for earth structures remain critical for researchers due to the mechanical complexity of the system. Striving for better earthwork project management, the geotechnical engineering community continues to find improved testing techniques for determining sensitive properties of soil and rock, including stress wave-based, non-destructive testing methods. To minimize failure during earthwork construction, past case studies and data may reveal useful lessons and information to improve project management and minimize economic losses.




Climate-Resilient Infrastructure


Book Description

Abstract: Prepared by the Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate of ASCE Civil infrastructure systems traditionally have been designed for appropriate functionality, durability, and safety for climate and weather extremes during their full-service lives; however, climate scientists inform us that the extremes of climate and weather have altered from historical values in ways difficult to predict or project. Climate-Resilient Infrastructure: Adaptive Design and Risk Management, MOP 140, provides guidance for and contributes to the developing or enhancing of methods for infrastructure analysis and design in a world in which risk profiles are changing and can be projected with varying degrees of uncertainty requiring a new design philosophy to meet this challenge. The underlying approaches in this manual of practice (MOP) are based on probabilistic methods for quantitative risk analysis, and the design framework provided focuses on identifying and analyzing low-regret, adaptive strategies to make a project more resilient. Beginning with an overview of the driving forces and hazards associated with a changing climate, subsequent chapters in MOP 140 provide observational methods, illustrative examples, and case studies; estimation of extreme events particularly related to precipitation with guidance on monitoring and measuring methods; flood design criteria and the development of project design flood elevations; computational methods of determining flood loads; adaptive design and adaptive risk management in the context of life-cycle engineering and economics; and climate resilience technologies. MOP 140 will be of interest to engineers, researchers, planners, and other stakeholders charged with adaptive design decisions to achieve infrastructure resilience targets while minimizing life-cycle costs in a changing climate




SYNER-G: Typology Definition and Fragility Functions for Physical Elements at Seismic Risk


Book Description

Fragility functions constitute an emerging tool for the probabilistic seismic risk assessment of buildings, infrastructures and lifeline systems. The work presented in this book is a partial product of a European Union funded research project SYNER-G (FP7 Theme 6: Environment) where existing knowledge has been reviewed in order to extract the most appropriate fragility functions for the vulnerability analysis and loss estimation of the majority of structures and civil works exposed to earthquake hazard. Results of other relevant European projects and international initiatives are also incorporated in the book. In several cases new fragility and vulnerability functions have been developed in order to better represent the specific characteristics of European elements at risk. Several European and non-European institutes and Universities collaborated efficiently to capitalize upon existing knowledge. State-of-the-art methods are described, existing fragility curves are reviewed and, where necessary, new ones are proposed for buildings, lifelines, transportation infrastructures as well as for utilities and critical facilities. Taxonomy and typology definitions are synthesized and the treatment of related uncertainties is discussed. A fragility function manager tool and fragility functions in electronic form are provided on extras.springer.com. Audience The book aims to be a standard reference on the fragility functions to be used for the seismic vulnerability and probabilistic risk assessment of the most important elements at risk. It is of particular interest to earthquake engineers, scientists and researchers working in the field of earthquake risk assessment, as well as the insurance industry, civil protection and emergency management agencies.




Geotechnical Engineering


Book Description