ICSDEC 2012: Developing the Frontier of Sustainable Design, Engineering, and Construction

An accurate prediction of the energy consumption of buildings in the design phase is vital for organizations, as it helps to formulate early phases of development to reduce the environmental impact of such buildings. Accurate model is needed to gauge the energy consumption prediction of government-owned buildings in the design phase. The aim of this study is to predict energy consumption of government-owned buildings by considering 26 variables, which are defined in the design phase using artificial neural network (ANN) method. The proposed ANN method analyzed and validated 175 sets of data derived from the 2003 CBECS database. Additionally, the result obtained using the proposed ANN model was compared with multiple linear regression (MLR) method. Experimental results revealed that the proposed ANN model is able to predict the energy consumption of government-owned buildings in the design phase.

This paper explores the potential sources of variation observed between predicted and actual energy consumption in LEED-certified dormitory buildings. Past studies have revealed that while building energy modeling studies conducted for LEED certification are relatively accurate from a programmatic perspective, results may vary considerably on an individual basis. Identifying the variation sources between predicted and actual energy consumption values can improve future building energy analyses. This paper evaluates the whole building energy analysis conducted for two, similarly constructed LEED-certified dormitory buildings by comparing it to the same buildings now in operation. It begins with a comparative analysis between the building's predicted and actual electricity and natural gas consumption based on owner-provided utility consumption data. A discussion follows of the potential areas where the proposed building's energy model may not accurately reflect the as-built dormitory as well as future work cited for this research study.

Forty percent of the global energy consumption is related directly to commercial and residential buildings. Homeowners of energy inefficient housing have an opportunity to reduce energy consumption and to assist in mitigating climate change. This paper reports a study on retrofitting flat roofs of energy inefficient housing in St. Louis, MO. A life cycle analysis was conducted on a 120-year-old house to evaluate two design options: a green roof vs. a white roof (solar reflective paint). Both options were studied at a 10-year-of-roof-maintenance cycle. The study found that the green roof would require more retrofit embodied energy than that of the white roof because the green roof requires soil transportation, soil pan fabrication, roof joist retrofit kit, and the ceiling replacement, while the white roof requires only the manufactured paint. However, the green roof would still outperform the white roof over a 10-year period on total energy consumption. Furthermore, both options would provide energy savings over the no-retrofit option.

A simulation approach is undertaken in order to analyze a planned building design based on peak load heating and peak load cooling analysis of an analytical model of the building. The geometry of the building enables a wide spectrum of modifications to be applied to the existing design. These simplistic modifications are utilized in order to estimate the influence of modifications in the design process on a number of performance parameters. In particular, sustainability has been assessed based on modified geometries and different geographical locations of the generic building structure. The employed methodology establishes a foundation for comparison between the original building design and a modified one, with particular significance placed on sustainable building design and the overall building performance. In light of the obtained results in this study, a relation between different geographical locations originating from a database of global weather information and building design can be presented for a generic building with emphasis on sustainability.

Managing the energy performance of a building should start from the pre-conceptual design phase. Architects at this phase need to analyze the nature of the site environment, the nature of the building, and the comfort requirements of the occupants. An accurate analysis of these elements helps them formulate a design strategy for optimizing energy performance. However, this requires good understanding of the energy behavior of buildings. Such understanding optimally starts at the undergraduate architecture education. This paper presents a systematic approach to construct such understanding through a required course in an architectural curriculum. The paper explains the subjects covered in the course for a student to grasp the fundamentals of analyzing a project from an energy performance point of view. It also explains how to help students manipulate environmental forces and create a building's form that supports optimizing its energy performance. Finally, it discusses the common difficulties to propagate this systematic approach through the rest of the curriculum.

Since most building energy simulation softwares are inconvenient and time-consuming for HVAC system design, this paper proposes a simplified method for building cooling load calculation, which mainly focuses on the cooling load from building envelope. The cooling load from interior building envelope is equivalent to the exterior building envelope load. First, the concept of correction coefficient for cooling load calculation is proposed. And then, based on the cooling load factor method and orthogonal experimental method, the recommended values of the urban correction coefficient are obtained for the main cities in China. A typical office building is introduced for cooling load calculation with the simplified calculation method, DeST and Hongye software, respectively. After comparative analysis of the results, the accuracy and feasibility is verified. Finally, the impact of window-wall ratio on building envelope cooling load is analyzed with the simplified method.

As the ever looming recession stays hovering over us, consumers are becoming smarter and more conscious of their electricity consumption. Thus, a prediction model for the electricity prices at a local level is of great interest to today's consumers. The objective of this paper is to present mathematical prediction models to evaluate the impact of new green building standards on electricity consumptions. Based on a random sample of 110 homes in Conaga Park, CA, two simple linear regression models are developed. The average kilowatt hour consumption by the consumer has a direct effect on the average bill amount. The findings also revealed that the regression model reflected the total opposite for dollar amounts over time. The combination of kilowatt hour and time in one model is more significant than them apart. The developed models are utilized to evaluate the impact of new green building codes, Article 9, by performing a comparative analysis of a 2,700 SF residential structure.

The majority of the energy consumed by buildings in the US is used for cooling and heating. Therefore, energy-oriented retrofitting is essential for reducing overall energy usage. Infrared thermal imaging cameras can be utilized to indicate buildings' surface temperatures. In a building with good insulation, a thermal camera scan should show a how surface on a hot day; cooler areas would indicate possible points for retrofitting. Therefore, infrared thermal imaging cameras facilitate locating possible points of heat loss in buildings. However, identifying and analyzing deficiencies in the buildings using this method is labor intensive, and time consuming because it requires numerous exterior and interior scans. In addition, finding potential deficiency points is not an automated task. This paper, presents a framework-integrating image processing algorithm to ensure rapid identification of major external isolation deficiencies of the buildings by analyzing the exterior scans. The proposed method identifies major deficiencies using thermal scanning and maps them to the actual scale of the building.

This paper presents the role of an international design assistance team in the design of a low-energy building in Singapore. Staff from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Austrian Institute of Technology, and Nanyang Technological University formed a team, known as the Scientific Planning Support (SPS) team, to provide design assistance and process support during the design phase of a low-energy building project. Specifically, the SPS team worked on the Clean Tech Two project, a tenanted laboratory and office building that seeks Green Mark Platinum Plus, the highest possible certification level for green buildings in Singapore. The SPS team hosted design charrettes, helped to develop design alternatives, and provided suggestions on the design process in support of this aggressive energy target. This paper describes these efforts and discusses how teams like the SPS team can be leveraged to achieve high performance, low-energy buildings at an international scale.

This study is aimed at developing an artificial neural network (ANN)-based temperature control method for buildings with a double skin envelope. For this objective, logic for controlling the opening conditions of inlets and outlets of the double facade as well as the cooling system's operation was developed employing the ANN model for predictive and adaptive controls. For the optimal ANN model's structure and learning methods, a parametrical optimization process was conducted in terms of the number of hidden layers, the number of neurons in the hidden layers, learning rate, and moment followed by the performance tests of this optimized model. Analysis of the performance tests proved predictability and adaptability of the developed ANN model for diverse background conditions in terms of a stable Root Mean Square and Mean Square Error values. Results of the study indicated that the developed ANN model could potentially be applied to control temperature of double skin envelope buildings.

Kathmandu Valley (approximately 570 km²) is the largest city and the capital of Nepal. In 1991, it had a population of 1.1 million. The population rose to nearly 2.5 million in 2011, with a population density of 4,386/km². This is about 1.6 times the population density of an average Canadian urbanized area, which is 2,656/km². The transportation sector is the largest source of air pollution in the valley. In 1990, there were 40,133 vehicles in the valley. This number reached 330,336 in 2011, an increase of 8-fold within 20 years. Recent data showed that there are 15,008 diesel and 315,328 gasoline vehicles. This paper determines the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by these vehicles. Vehicle data were collected from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Kathmandu, Nepal. The emission rate of each type of vehicle was collected from the vehicle manufacturers. The study showed that Kathmandu Valley had highest level of pollution in Nepal. The CO₂ emission from each type of vehicle also was calculated. Recommendations regarding improving the air quality of the valley are presented.

In recent years a significant amount of research has been conducted with the objective of improving efficiency of aircraft operations through optimized aircraft trajectories, thereby reducing harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as CO2. However, as we look at the aviation system more holistically, we discover that there is a serious lack of comprehensive research that addresses reduction of GHG emissions at airports. Although the need for reduction in airport GHG emissions clearly exists, only a few US state or federal policies require airport operators to reduce such emissions. As a response to such a need, this paper develops the methodology for establishing more sustainable airports, analyzes mitigation strategies regarding specific airport operations, and develops a database for emission-tracking that would greatly assist airport officials in making their airport more sustainable. Establishing a precedent for analyzing emissions from airports would prove an integral part in evaluating other sustainability initiatives. This area of research has significant potential for reducing airport emissions, which in the wake of anthropogenic climate change is vital to future sustainability of air transportation.

Materials management is a method of controlling resources for a construction project. This includes the materials selection, purchasing, delivery, and waste management processes, which together constitute the project's materials management plan. While many research projects suggest efforts to reduce cost through efficient materials management, few focus on materials management from a sustainability perspective. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a report titled Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead, which details the importance of sustainable materials management practices. This project directly addresses the need to identify materials management practices for sustainable projects, as identified in the report. The design of a net-zero energy building at Clemson University provided for a unique opportunity to study materials management for sustainable projects. Specifically, the research applied life-cycle assessment to calculate the estimated changes in the project's carbon footprint associated with materials management. Findings from the case study were used to identify transferrable insights for a range of projects.

Green building certification is a good start for the construction industry to benchmark the environmental impact of buildings. However, the green building certifications around the world disregard the carbon footprint calculation for certified buildings. The positive contribution of green building designs may not be reflected on the points and rating in the certification. It is hard to understand the environmental impact only through points. The New Building Institute (NBI) challenged the rating system because high credential buildings were not necessarily more "green" than low buildings. The incident raised questions about the real energy savings of green buildings. To address these concerns, a common benchmark should replace the current green building certification rating systems around the world. Since carbon emissions are widely used to measure the environmental impact of raw materials or fuels, such as gasoline, methanol, aggregates, and cement, they can also be applied in green building construction and operation. The paper: (1) determines the environmental impact in green building certification criteria; (2) finds relationship between green building ratings and carbon emissions; (3) establishes a carbon emission calculation system for green buildings certification. The results show that the green features, such as the use of greenery, and water saving fittings, used in green buildings lower water and energy consumption, and they lower the environmental impacts to the environment.

To probe into the sources and levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from hotels and analyze their carbon footprints, an empirical study covering scopes 1, 2 and 3 of the GHG Protocol was carried out on two representative hotels in Hong Kong. The result of comparison between their carbon emission levels normalized by number of guestrooms differed from that based on their emission levels normalized by total floor area. Use of purchased electricity was the dominant contributor to carbon emission; the emission from use of portable liquefied petroleum gas was the least. A regression analysis revealed that the carbon emissions bore a strongly positive correlation with the outdoor air temperatures rather than the occupancy rates of the hotels. The carbon footprints of more existing hotels should be investigated to enable benchmarking and hence identification of mitigation measures for attaining sustainable management of hotels.

New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward (L9W) was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has been slow to recover. The L9W has less than one-quarter of its pre-Katrina population, compared to more than three-quarters for the rest of the city. The L9W has committed to recovering from Hurricane Katrina in a sustainable manner. In 2007, the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association established the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED), with the objective of encouraging sustainable economic development and stimulating civic engagement. Specifically, CSED has expressed a goal of creating a prosperous, sustainable community that is carbon-neutral by 2020 and climate-neutral by 2030. Faculty and students from Lafayette College have been working with CSED since 2009 to study the carbon impacts of L9W repopulation and economic development alternatives and identify the most cost-effective means of mitigating such impacts. The study estimated the current carbon footprint of the L9W and forecasted future footprints under alternative repopulation and development scenarios. Mitigation necessary to meet targets defined by CSED and the Obama administration was investigated, and mitigation costs were estimated. Potential mitigation measures included behavioral changes as well as development of new homes and neighborhoods according to sustainability guidelines; installation of solar photovoltaic panels; installation of solar hot water heaters; installation of insulation and new doors and windows; installation of high-efficiency mechanical and electrical systems; and development of open spaces, among others.

Motivated by the need to address challenges of global climate change, this study develops and implements a project-based life cycle framework that can be used to estimate the carbon footprint for typical construction work-items found in reconstruction, rehabilitation and Capital Preventive Maintenance (CPM) projects. The framework applies existing life cycle assessment methods and inventories. The proposed framework considers the life cycle emissions of products and processes involved in the raw material acquisition and manufacturing phase, and the pavement construction phase. It also accounts for emissions due to vehicular use and maintenance operations during the service life of the pavements. An implementation of the framework is a web-based tool, the Project Emission Estimator (PE-2) that can be used to benchmark the CO2 footprint of highway construction projects. The research suggests ways of implementing PE-2 tool by contractors and state transportation agencies to benchmark and help reduce the CO2 footprint of highway construction projects.

Although there are multiple deconstruction guidelines available from different institutes and governmental agencies, it is not clear how much of these documents address critical challenges in real world applications. This study aims to identify underlying deconstruction tasks in both theory and practice to gain a better understanding of sustainable approaches to building end-of-life operations. We use narrative analysis on ten deconstruction guidelines to elicit fundamental deconstruction tasks and concepts in theory. We also conduct a case study on deconstruction and demolition of a university building to identify critical aspects of deconstruction in practice. The comparison results indicate that deconstruction tasks corresponding to safety and engineering survey are the most emphasized tasks addressed in the deconstruction guidelines. On the other hand, more practical issues such as contracts and specifications and organizational plan-related tasks are less reflected in the guidelines. Furthermore, our case study analysis also revealed that even though it is possible to fully disassemble a building to recycle and reuse its components as a sustainable approach, it is not the most cost effective building end-of-life alternative for owners.

This paper presents a case study of urban neighborhood redevelopment facilitated by an interdisciplinary, collaborative effort between university faculty/students, community partners, and local organizations/agencies. The target area is Linden Village, a Columbus neighborhood experiencing the same sprawl-driven population loss and economic decline facing many inner city communities in the United States. In this case, local redevelopment is hampered by the deteriorating environment. Moreover, old houses without proper maintenance, repairs, and upgrades are subjected to elevated energy use, high utility costs, and poor environmental quality. The project seeks to increase community awareness of and involvement in sustainable housing and neighborhood development through community-defined development priorities, neighborhood health assessment, GIS-based mapping for neighborhood development and economic growth, and on-the-job training for local residents in green home rehabilitation. Findings will provide baseline results for more wide-ranging studies and facilitate informed decision-making for the creation of healthy and sustainable urban environments.

Beginning in 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy's biannual Solar Decathlon competition has challenged universities worldwide to design, construct, transport, and exhibit state-of-the-art high-performance solar-powered dwellings. With events being held in the U.S.A., the E.U., and Asia, the Solar Decathlon Competition has brought more than 140 residential prototypes into the public domain and has established itself as the premier event for showcasing renewable energy based dwellings. Working with Solar Decathlon Competition design criteria a multidisciplinary team of students and faculty from Norwich University have developed two precedent setting alternatives to the existing energy-hungry northern New England single-family housing situation. Both models evidence how modularized factory-based design constraints, Passive House U.S. energy standards, and proven architectural maneuvers can be used to create highly affordable, near net-zero energy dwellings in one of the nations most challenging climates. Long-term temperature and humidity data-gathering in the building envelope of the first prototype house substantiates performance and cost analysis done prior to construction.

The term sustainability is the basis of the "Green Movement," and understanding the various aspects of the term is the starting point for creating and maintaining sustainable communities. The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation intends to do that with the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Project. A key element of the planning process is to engage local citizens and groups who are generally left out of community discussion on sustainability issues. These groups include low-income communities, immigrant communities, minority groups and people from more rural areas groups. Challenges often faced during this process include countering present isolation of these groups from current regional discussions and clearing confusion and misunderstood explanations of what sustainability means. The purpose of this paper is to review the methods used to establish discussions with these groups to help them better understand sustainability within the context of their communities, individual lives and eventually the larger regional community.

An institution such as a primary school cannot help but consider one of the most significant features for an educational and emotional growth for the children: playing.

The aging population has a tremendous impact on our community and resources. Planning age-friendly cities is a sustainable solution towards healthy aging and health resources allocation. Our research team developed a framework to systematically evaluate the age-friendliness of cities. The framework encompassed multiple criteria and included assessment using web-based Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. We applied our analytical framework to Palo Alto, Stanford as an illustrative case study. The study site was chosen due to its unique characteristics (% seniors is 30% higher than US average, 80% of whom expressed the desire to continue living in this community) and its proximity to us allowing easy site visits and data access. In this paper, we discuss the results of our analyses, as well as our development of an Age-Friendly Cities Scorecard to translate guidelines into tangible and measureable action items.

Local architecture and material are one of the most important areas upon acceptance of the notion of sustainability becomes necessity nowadays. At this point, the windmills are prominent local buildings of architectural products. The aim of this study is to specify the importance of re-usage of existing structures - as windmills - in the intersection of sustainability and local architecture. In this study the old windmills which located in Mediterranean countries such as Turkey - mostly emphasized - Greece and Spain have been included. Also the historical development, the architectural design process and the interior design setup of old windmills are researched. Observation and screening - document and information - methods have been used as research methods. The different uses of windmills were mentioned on re-use well constructed windmills within the scope of a basic act of sustainability. The importance of old windmills was mentioned and new usage suggestions for the old windmills were given in the conclusion part.

Sustainable Development (SD) has become a major priority in the public and private sectors in recent years in order to maintain social quality of life and support economic development while preserving the environment. In order to support SD in urban areas, local governments adopt various strategies such as land use planning that require the quantification of SD performance to ensure the success of such these strategies. Although several proposed a number of indicators for evaluating SD in urban areas, there is still a need for a set of metrics and a model for decision makers to make a robust quantification of SD. The main objectives of this study are to develop: (1) a set of metrics and a quantitative model for evaluating SD in urban neighborhoods efficiently; and (2) a prototype decision support tool to facilitate the application of the developed model by decision-makers. An application example is analyzed to illustrate the capabilities of the developed model and decision support tool in quantifying SD performances in urban neighborhoods.

Sustainable modes of transportation, particularly cycling, address climate change caused by Green-House Gas (GHG) emissions. The majority of studies that have been done on cycling patterns examined demographic factors, such as age and gender. Although the motivation to cycle is affected by demographics, weather conditions can also have a major impact on cycling patterns. In this study, data related to the trip patterns and concerns of cyclists was collected through an intercept survey, conducted under freezing temperature conditions. By understanding the factors that impact cycling patterns in cold weather, cities in cold regions, can improve their cycling infrastructures and promote this sustainable mode of transportation.

This paper investigates the role that flagship developments are having in the regeneration agenda of cities suffering of urban shrinkage. It focuses on Manchester, which is facing the situation with growing ambitious objectives. Compiling and critically assessing its multiple flagship developments, the paper studies Manchester's decay process by opposing it to the development initiatives that are coping with it. They are aiming to reverse the population drainage affecting Manchester and its metropolitan area, by bringing back its previous regional role as an economic and cultural centre. The paper argues that even though Manchester has performed well in the political game, and cosmetically improved certain areas, its flagship developments have not been able to fix the economic or social problems derived from its decay.

Advanced spatial technologies such as photogrammetry and lidar have improved the quality of spatial information and enable data processing for more accurate estimation of urban environment parameters. This study aims to develop a quantification method for urban sustainability indexes by using spatial metrics such as compactness, complexity and density. Although building height information is an important element of urban morphology, it has been neglected in previous studies. Hence, height information obtained by lidar is incorporated into the spatial metrics in this study. The spatial metrics are applied to four study cases. We have examined the metrics and concluded that the developed metrics can quantify the sustainable urban form concept more effectively. The main finding of this study confirms that the 3-dimensional spatial metrics differentiate the complexity of urban areas significantly. Another significance of this study is the high capability of spatial metrics for the quantification of sustainable urban forms in terms of complexity, compactness and density. The developed indexes can be used for the determination of the spatio-temporal changes of sustainable urban forms or the comparison of the cities in terms of a sustainable urban form using remotely sensed data.

Accurate extraction of building footprints is important for the calculation of sustainable urban form indexes. In this study automatic extraction methods have been investigated for the building reconstruction. It is found that buildings with closed polygon footprints are difficult to obtain the desired accuracy. In this paper, a semi-automatic approach is proposed for the extraction of closed polygon footprints from lidar data. Two types of closed polygons have been investigated, where one type is a simple closed polygon and the other is a complex combination of multiple polygons. From the reference data that is surveyed with a total station, the building footprints have been extracted. The extracted footprints from lidar data have been compared with the surveyed footprints using a confusion matrix and Kappa Index. It is concluded that our approach is reliable because the closed polygon footprints can be extracted with a high Kappa Index. This indicates that the proposed procedure is suitable to be utilized for cadastral mapping of remote built up areas.

Streets are a major element of the built urban environment. They define the circulation pattern and the geometrical configuration of the city. They are often the beginning of neighbourhood interaction connecting individual dwelling units and serving as a `stage' where people interact with bits of the total built environment. This paper analytically examines the state of the urban streetscapes of Abeokuta, Ogun State with the aim of identifying the poverty-environment nexus (as well as other dynamic factors) that precipitates their present condition and suggest solutions to their improvement.

Utilizing available climatic factors for making necessary heat or coldness was one of the main factors of traditional architecture in Iran which is located in a hot and dry region. Typical of this climate is in Kerman, the largest state of Iran including 7 cities and 3 different types of climate. This diversity in climate of Kerman made special necessities that could be satisfied with solutions of Iranian traditional architecture. One of such solutions was Ice-pit that was a place for keeping ice and was used in some cities of Kerman with hot and dry climate. By using traditional ice-pits, the ice was produced in winter and saved for using in summer. Technically speaking, its system depends on the transfer of temperature in the form of radiation from the water surface to the clean and chilly sky at cold winter nights. From this point of view, there is a need to examine early architecture in Iran and especially in Kerman because this kind of architecture in the state of Kerman, in its approach to "harmony with diverse nature", has developed a unique architectural culture. As a consequence, Iranian traditional architecture has diverse capacities to control the architectural environment in harmony with nature and these capacities can be used.

Buildings can be supposed as semi-living existences, because they encompass human and other livings which must be supported by conditions of life and comfort. Also building envelope has the most important role in conditioning inside and affecting from the outside environment, as it is called other skin for human. considering the built environment a system which imposed itself to natural environment systems, the building envelope may have systematic environmental function which can adjust, control, supply ,connect, exchange, interact between inside and outside and act as mediator. So it would be a subsystem of the buildings which can have an intrinsic goal of providing human comfort and architectural needs while supporting an extrinsic goal of participating in natural environment stability and coordination with natural context. They can be the mediator of connecting two systems. So they would be the entrance and exit of one system to another which can exchange matter, energy and information with the environment and work as open systems. To integrate better the natural and built environment the envelopes must have some properties that can be categorize as multi-functional, interacting, conditioning, supplying and supporting. Also there can be specialized parts in its structure and function to help achieving its defined goals.

Author examines the much debated link between mean travel time (MTT) to work and Job-housing balance. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) is used to investigate the variables effecting commute time to work using the US Census data 2010. ANOVA results indicate that Job-housing balance is a significant predictor of variance in travel time but at the same time challenges the researches arguing that there exists a linear relation between the two. According to the results of Curve Estimation Analysis in SPSS, there is a quadratic relationship between J/H balance and commute time to work. The best MLR model explains around 61% variance in commute time to work and confirmed JH balance as a significant predictor of the dependent variable at P <0.05 level. Therefore land use and transportation policies promoting Job-housing balance should be encouraged to achieve the goal of sustainability in urban growth.

This paper discusses the feasibility of our decision framework to support hospital site selection for the aging population through a case study based in Dallas, Texas. Currently, many cities face an aging population with escalating healthcare needs, causing challenges to existing resources and planning. Cities must better plan their health care facilities (e.g., hospitals) in a sustainable manner to provide adequate services. Current experience-based decision-making process has too much variation and does not systematically take all factors into account. Our research team developed an evaluative framework and applied the framework as a case study in Dallas, using web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. Our case study demonstrates that the framework and web-based GIS tools provide a foundation for informed decisions in a structured and comprehensive way. Additional population and population health data are required for enhanced application of our framework.

Owing to the surge in urban population, cities in developing countries need sustainable transport system such as underground metro rail with a longer service life. This paper discusses the various sustainable means involved during planning, design and construction of these underground metro rail structures for achieving a longer service life. The transport planning would include choosing the alignment, future ridership etc. Sustainable design approach includes stringent limitations on crack width and deflection, adopting minimum cement content, suitable concrete grade, appropriate fire rating, minimum cover and other specifications in line with the environment the structure is exposed to. During construction, sustainability shall be ensured through systematic construction methods and material testing, monitoring through proper geotechnical instrumentation and non-destructive tests such as sonic logging, inclinometers and crack meter tests. Post construction, the built structure shall be checked for any defects such as grout loss, honeycombing, dry and wet cracks and suitably rectified.

Three-dimensional finite element models are used to investigate the behavior of a bridge with link slabs. A typical three-span bridge is considered for modeling. The truck load is applied on the first-span of the bridge to produce maximum tensile stress/negative moment in the link slab. The models are one with open joints and another with the joints closed over the supports. The results are used to discuss the effects of link slabs on bridge girder and link slab stresses. The maximum flexural stresses in the bridge with link slab are lower than those in the bridge with open joint. All the stresses in the bridge decks were reduced due to the link slabs. The stresses were higher in link slab-1 than link slab-2 because the truck was placed on the span1 of the bridge. It is recommended that the link slab technique to be used for sustainable bridge decks.

A Transportation Sustainability Index has been developed to assess the extent of transportation sustainability in an urban development. The index is based on sustainability indicators in six categories, namely: 1) Pedestrian infrastructure; 2) Bicycle infrastructure; 3) Transit infrastructure; 4) Mixed-use and transit-oriented developments; 5) Traffic calming measures; and 6) Sustainable operations. The procedure has been applied to three city developments in north Texas. The index can be used as a sustainability audit tool to assist communities in assessing where they stand in terms of sustainability of their transportation systems and what additional steps they can take to become more transportation sustainable.

Infrastructure Sustainability faces many challenges in maintaining suitable standards for modern developing communities. Reacting to the challenge of sustainable development will require dedicated collective approach to ensure that current and future needs are sustainable or more transformable to ever expanding cities. Making cities more sustainable is a fundamental module of that response and recognition of the emerging complex trends will assist in shaping such cities. Infrastructure Sustainability Assessment is a systematic approach to Sustainable Infrastructure asset management in a multi-disciplinary and integrated set of strategies that allows the maintenance of public infrastructure assets and services. Meeting the growing demands on cities requires significant investment in public infrastructure and services. This process involves periodic maintenance, replacements and rehabilitation of assets. The fundamental intention is to preserve and extend the life of expensive and vital infrastructure to the community within economically sound budget that delivers quality and ensures better facilities and enjoyment for the society.

The purpose of this work consists in the evaluation of noise generated by vehicles moving over single irregularities present on the road surface by means of acoustic measurements made with a sound level meter. Ten macroscopic irregularities, considered as representative of the most common types (manhole covers, holes, tramway tracks etc.), were chosen for this study. The most representative dimensions of the chosen irregularities were plotted by using an original device for profile measurement. Acoustic measurements were taken using the same vehicle following the indication reported in UNI 11819/1: "Statistical pass by method". The test vehicle passed over each irregularity twice at three different speeds (40, 50, 60Km/h). Two further transits were made at the same speeds, over the same type of surface, this time intact, close to the irregularities in this study. The purpose of this was to evaluate the increase in noise caused by the passage of the test vehicle over these irregularities. The characteristic acoustic parameters were examined for each measurement in time domain (time history of sound pressure level, and its maximum value). The results of this work showed interesting correlations between vehicle speed, geometric characteristics of irregularities, and road noise.

As sustainability becomes an important issue in all aspects of human life, it is vital to look into our cities with massive challenges that question the way we have planned, governed and used our resources so far. Almost 80% of our CO₂ emissions are generated from urban activities, which make cities the biggest contributors to global warming. Currently our cities are facing the challenge in this changing environment and experience difficulties in meeting the required services in balance with available funds. At the present time, there is a lack of reliable solution for such problem. The goal of this study is to examine and model for alternative ways of water and energy supply systems. The emphasis is on localization and efficient use of resources as well as to reduce ecological footprint using a smart grid.

This paper addresses the alarming consequences of high emission rates of greenhouse gases and the significant transportation contribution. It outlines pavement construction impacts on the urban setting and environment. Urban planning options to reduce congestion are explored, including more reliance on public transportation to make it more affordable and attractive for commuters. Furthermore, encouraging environmentally friendly modes of transport, such as walking and bicycling, is essential. Finally, including carbon tax to encourage the transportation sector to promote green technology and lowcarbon footprint products is another viable consideration.

Using risk assessment in planning for infrastructure project has significant impact on project life cycle performance, especially construction phase, which contributes to the 80% of project's total cost. Procurement of large infrastructure projects involves large amount of time and money spent to validate the appropriate risk assessment tools and techniques for successful project schedule and cost performance. This paper discuses and analyzes how qualitative and quantitative data, in highway construction projects, has been used in construction risk assessment and required action steps that should be considered for sustainable construction engineering and management practices. Further it also identifies the impact of transportation professional perception on the probability of project's cost growth and/or schedule growth in highway projects. Cost growth statistical dependency correlations have been tested against program and project related quantitative and qualitative data.

The Integrated Pipeline (IPL) project is a 240-km (150-mile) 2100-mm to 2700-mm (84- to 108-inch) diameter pipeline that will furnish raw water to the cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas. To reduce costs and be environmentally friendly, the project is seeking construction methods that re-use as much of the native soil as possible. Re-use can result in a leaner budget for the project. Transportation costs are now significant. Re-use of the native soils reduces the cost and the traffic for importing soils. Ways to reduce handling of materials, to limit laborious compaction of soils, and to speed the installation are key for cost savings. Re-use will reduce the impact on the environment. Reduced transportation, handling, compaction, and spoil removal will reduce emissions and fuel needs. Re-use requires innovation and flexibility in the design and construction of the pipeline. While conventional methods are being considered, the IPL management team strongly encourages new approaches that can safely and economically provide a more sustainable project. One of the possibilities is making flowable fill for the pipe embedment using native soils. Much of the alignment has soils that could be used to make flowable fill. Laboratory trial mixes and field trial installations have both successfully demonstrated the viability of using native soils to make flowable fill. Both Portland cement and Type C flyash for the flowable fill have been investigated. However, a significant portion of the pipeline goes through areas of the Eagle Ford Formation, which consists of weathered shale and Fat Clay (CH). A highly expansive and plastic soil, the Eagle Ford presents challenges for re-use. The field trials have experimented with various processing, mixing, and placing methods for flowable fill using the Eagle Ford Formation. Special procedures may have to be identified for using these materials.

Newsstands are found in different parts of subway stations in many cities of the Far East. There are potential fire hazards associated with them. Fire hazard assessment on the newsstands was carried out in this paper. Fire zone models were used to study the thermal hazard. Evacuation software was used to study emergency evacuation under crowded conditions.

Large eddy simulation with the Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model is widely used for studying smoke movement and evaluating performance of smoke management systems in big construction sustainable projects in East Asia. However, there are not much validation studies on simulating smoke movement by those Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) fire models. Predicated results on smoke movement with and without operating the smoke management system depend on the Smagorinsky constant. Effect of varying the Smagorinsky constant on the predicted results is not clear and will be studied in this paper. Field tests on smoke exhaust in such a hall of length 40 m, width 11 m and height 28 m under a 2 MW methanol pool fire were taken as reference. Values of Smagorinsky constant were varied from 0.1 to 0.22 in simulating smoke exhaust in that big hall. Predicted smoke layer interface height by the CFD software Fire Dynamics Simulator with those values was justified. Results illustrated that varying the Smagorinsky constant in this range would not affect significantly the predicted smoke layer interface height. Using a value of 0.20 is reasonable in simulating smoke movement and control in big halls with irregular shapes commonly found in projects with sustainable green architectural features.

In 2003, the Oregon Department of Transportation was tasked with implementing the $1.3 billion OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program. Fundamentally, this involved replacing or repairing hundreds of aging bridges on major highway corridors throughout Oregon to improve mobility throughout the state and stimulate economic development by enhancing the climate for business investment.

This paper proposes a methodology that incorporates structural optimization into the seismic design to inform the decision maker regarding the extent to which the code requirements are satisfied. A multi-objective optimization problem is formulated where the objectives are selected as the initial cost and damage. The code checks are set as the problem constraints to ensure that the code requirements are satisfied. The proposed methodology is applied to a three-bay four-story reinforced concrete building and it is observed that the results can be used to guide a more transparent selection of design parameters to improve the earthquake resiliency of buildings which at the same time achieves optimal use of materials.

Quantifying an accurate sustainability performance for infrastructure projects is a mightily complicated process. Thus, most of current sustainability assessment models tend to be simple in their structures. However, ultra-simplicity of those models has led to ignoring one of the most essential principles of sustainability, which is the interaction among its components. In response, it requires an innovative approach that has the capability to consider the interaction among sustainability indicators during the decision-making process in infrastructure planning. This paper presents an innovative model to quantify the sustainability performance of an infrastructure project considering the interaction among sustainability indicators. The proposed model is based on a combination of fuzzy set theory, and fuzzy cognitive maps. The approach illustrates its capability through a real case study application. The results of the case study were compared to those obtained through conventional sustainability assessment models, to demonstrate the contribution of the proposed model. The results also reveal that the proposed model has potential for handling sustainability models limitations.

As building design and operation changes to meet the goals of sustainability, it is critical to address indoor air quality issues such that indoor environmental conditions are maintained. Among the indoor air contaminants of concern in this context are ultrafine particles, which have been shown to have significant health effects. Transport and fate of ultrafine particles in a building is a function of building ventilation and system operation conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate the use of a multi-zone airflow/contaminant transport model (CONTAM 3.1) for prediction of particle transport to support sustainable building design. Simulations were performed to predict outdoor particle entry into a building with different window positions, which were then compared with experimental measurements. The results indicate that indoor particle concentration varies with ventilation rate, particle penetration, and deposition loss. The results also suggest that the CONTAM model can be used in building design for prediction of particle entry into a building to investigate the impacts of various building design decisions and operating strategies.

Context sensitive solutions (CSS) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders in providing a transportation facility that fits its setting. It is an approach that leads to preserving and enhancing scenic, aesthetic, historic, community, and environmental resources, while improving or maintaining safety, mobility, and infrastructure conditions. The concept of context sensitive solutions (CSS) has been evolving in the transportation industry since the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 required transportation agencies to consider the possible adverse effects of transportation projects on the environment. This paper presents a recently completed project which benefited from implementing CSS principles and applying them to transportation processes, outcomes, and decision-making; including fostering a shared stakeholder vision to provide a basis for decisions; demonstration of a comprehensive understanding of contexts; foster continuing communication and collaboration to achieve consensus; and exercise of flexibility and creativity to shape effective transportation solutions, while preserving and enhancing community and natural environments.

Three-dimensional structures made of steel bars, widely known as space trusses, are very frequently used at the construction of roofs. These structures consist of steel bars, connected by bolts at nodes. In Brazil, the connection usually employed in these 3D trusses is the so-called typical node, which is produced by stamping the ends of the bars, thus generating a low cost connection. Several accidents in space structures using this type of connection have also been reported in Brazil. This research proposed the use of constructive correction in the connection in order to increase its capacity. This work, based on computer simulations and experimental lab tests, small changes on the staking end-flattened connections such as reinforcement and eccentricity correction are evaluated. The results show an increase of 56% for collapse in the truss load carrying capacity when the suggested changes proposed in this article are used for the staking end-flattened.

Measuring the environmental sustainability of buildings in the global south is relatively new, especially within rapidly developing economies like Nigeria where most conventions for quantifying sustainability are hinged on declarations that come from self-assessed developers and material producers. The absence of any consensus method to ascertain what constitutes a "green" building or material in the Nigerian building industry creates a gap for whole building assemblies to lay claim to a range of unverifiable environmental performances. This study examines quantifying building sustainability in Nigeria based on the principle that whole life cycle impacts assessment of a building presents an opportunity to audit the sustainability of the materials used for its construction, energy expended on construction activities, ecosystems destabilized, emissions generated and non renewable resources used. Hence it explores the theoretical use of such a framework according to the internationally established approach for analyzing the environmental impacts of building products and processes set aside by ISO 14041 standards and interpreted within a Nigerian built environment context.

There is now broad agreement that present trends in world transportation system are not sustainable. Many have concluded that fundamental changes in technology, operation, design, and financing are needed. In all societies, including developed and developing, regardless of their development in various fields, New technologies will have different negative consequences in long term. Concerns about environmental quality, social equity, economic vitality, and treatment of climate change due to increasing CO₂ have converged to produce a growing interest in the alternative approach to sustainable development. Development of sustainable is very important in every pattern especially in this century, so in the discussion of sustainable development is very important. Sustainable development at the transportation sector can be divided into three major sections: society, economy, and environment. Transportation sustainable development requires balancing to achieve the minimum expectations in these three sectors. For increasing the role of transportation in sustainable development, we need to use some strategies for increasing sustainability. These strategies include promoting public transportation, demand management, improving road management, pricing policies, vehicle technology improvement, using clean fuels, cultural enhancement, and transportation planning. This paper evaluates the role of transportation and the effect of using these strategies in sustainable development.

Since engineering properties of organic soil are inferior to those of other soft soils, it is often viewed as problematic. Highly organic soil is generally associated with high magnitude and rates of creep and high compressibility. Considering the high surface electrical charge associated with peat, it makes it a good environment for chemical admixtures to flow under Direct Current (DC) electrical field. Two environmentally friendly admixtures namely; sodium silicate, and aluminum hydroxide, were used to stabilize the peat. Electrokinetic injection technique is also used in order to carry the stabilizers inside the peat. The microstructures of the treated peat were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer analysis (EDX). Results of the electrochemical and physicochemical properties of treated soil during and after the EK process are presented and discussed. The stronger flocculation achieved resulted to higher shear strength of peat among the EK cell.

An investigation into the effect of adding pulverized steel slag (an industrial waste product) on some geotechnical properties of a lateritic soil. The soil is A-7-6(5) according to AASHTO classification systems. 5%, 8% and 10% steel slag content (SSC) each by dry weight of soil, was used to stabilize the soil while evaluating the specific gravity, consistency limits, compaction, permeability, uncured and cured strength of the soil. The results obtained show that the increase in SSC decreased the OMC up to 8% SSC but increased the maximum dry unit weight. The increase in SSC reduced the soil plasticity and swell potential and it increased the permeability, cured and uncured strength of the soil. 8% SSC was observed to be the optimum content, based on results of uncured strength of the soil.

Mat foundations, in general, are reinforced concrete slabs to support and transfer structural load to the underlying soil, and are well suited to reduce differential settlement. Finite element (FE) method is widely used in the analysis, however the approach to solve and analyze the problem is of prime importance considering the engineering significance and cost involved in the structure. The main objective of this study was to analyze an idealized mat foundation soil system with different approach, which include the Mat foundation analyzed as an inverted flat slab by flat plate analysis and finite element analysis. The moment in longitudinal and transverse direction was determined from the analysis performed for models with two different KS of 4250kN/m²/m and 7250kN/m²/m. The results from flat plate analysis were similar to FE analysis, where direct design method overestimate the moment but certainly gives a more safe design when compared with the FE methods.

During the re-construction of existing roads, including highways and railways, a large amount of concrete and asphalt pavements and ballast are removed and disposed. For sustainable use of these materials, they have been increasingly recycled as aggregates for the construction of roadways. Due to the existence of asphalt, cement, and fines, the mechanical properties (mainly strength and stiffness) of recycled aggregates decrease. They may also have long-term durability problems, such as the breakage and abrasion of crushed concrete and creep of recycled asphalt pavement. Geosynthetics (including geotextile, geogrid, and geocell) have been used to improve the mechanical properties and long-term durability of recycled aggregates. This paper reviews recent research work on the use of geosynthetics to stabilize recycled aggregates in roadway construction and summarizes the main research findings including the permanent, resilient, and creep deformations, stress distribution, strength, and modulus of geosynthetic-reinforced recycled aggregates.

This paper presents the laboratory testing and analysis performed to determine dynamic modulus (E*) and phase angle of two plant produced asphalt mixes of New Mexico. Dynamic modulus testing is conducted on three samples of plant produced SP-II and SP-III samples collected from a construction site in New Mexico. To develop mastercurve, dynamic modulus testing is performed at -10, 4, 21, 37 and 54°C with loading frequencies of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5, 10 and 25Hz at each temperature. Data from each test is processed to determine the dynamic modulus and develop mastercurve. In addition, The Wiechert model is optimized to predict the storage modulus master curves for both mixes. Viscoelastic material inter conversion techniques are also applied to estimate creep compliance and relaxation modulus mastercurves.

This paper investigates the feasibility of application of scrap tire and swine manure to produce a sustainable alternative for bituminous asphalt used in pavement construction. Bio-binder is produced from swine manure using thermo-chemical conversion processes. Bio-binder is then blended with crumb rubber and asphalt binder to produce bio-modified rubber (BMR) asphalt. In addition to offering a solution for the management of swine manure and scrap tire, BMR can be a renewable alternative for petroleum-based binder used in pavement construction. To study merit of application of BMR in asphalt industry, this paper compares the rheological properties of BMR with a crumb rubber modified binder (CRM) commonly being used in the U.S. It was found that BMR has comparable properties with CRM. In addition, introduction of bio-binder to CRM asphalt binder found to be beneficial because bio-binder reduces asphalt viscosity allowing for lower mixing and compaction temperature and alleviate crumb rubber's stiffening effect.

With respect to the fact that highways are the most common and the most advanced means of transport compared to the other transportation systems in Turkey, alternative techniques and materials are constantly being investigated in order to develop innovative solutions for the construction of highway embankments and other types of earth structures. It is obvious that in highway projects, excavation, loading and transportation costs of the material are the most important factors for the total cost. Hence, improvement in subgrade soils would have significant economical side effects. In this research, laboratory experiments have been performed to investigate the use of polypropylene fibers in order to stabilize two different high and low plasticity clay soils. Various soil and polypropylene fiber mixtures were prepared in the laboratory and the engineering properties of these mixtures were observed. The compaction and CBR characteristics and the unconfined compressive strength of samples were investigated. This paper illustrates the findings from the laboratory researched with particular emphasis on the use of mentioned alternative materials that provide economic benefits as well as reduced environmental impacts.

Resilient modulus (M_r) of stabilized subgrade soil is a key input parameter in all three hierarchical levels of the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG). This study evaluated M_r test data of 139 samples from four types (i.e., Carnasaw, Port, Kingfisher, and Vernon series) of soils in Oklahoma modified with different amounts of lime, class C fly ash (CFA), and cement kiln dust (CKD). Regression analyses of five selected stress-based models were conducted by using a statistical software ("SPSS", Version 17), and material constants (k₁, k₂ and k₃) for these soils were determined. The goodness of fit and the significance of these models were ranked with respect to their R² and F values, respectively. A significant increase in M^r values was observed for the selected additives. However, the extent of increase in the M^r value depends on the type of soil, and type and amount of additive. Among the selected models, the octahedral model was found to outperform the others. Furthermore, correlations of material constants with routine soil parameters were established. The findings of this study are expected to help the implementation of the MEPDG in Oklahoma and can be extended to soils from any other locations.

A study has been performed to investigate the functionality and the performance of the embedded sensors by driving a medium truck over the location of the sensors and by the numerical analysis. A total of 38 sensors have been installed to measure the stress-strain, loading configuration and environmental variation in the pavement on I-40 in New Mexico. Finite Element Model (FEM) of this instrumented section has been developed in commercial finite element software, ABAQUS. Stiffness of each layer has been determined by Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) test and backcalculated by ELMOD software. Surface deflections and stress-strain responses at the sensors are compared. It has been observed that the field responses closely match with the developed FEM model and thus, verify the proper functionality of the sensors. In next phase, laboratory tests on the field material are going to be conducted to further investigate the analysis results.

This paper performs a study on backcalculation of stiffness of an existing pavement section in I-40 New Mexico and validation by numerical analysis. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) test has been conducted on a section in I-40, New Mexico. Layer stiffness of the pavement has been backcalculated by ELMOD using the FWD test data. Commercial finite element software ABAQUS has been used to develop the Finite Element Model (FEM) of this section. Pavement geometry and layer thickness are collected from field sampling. Resulting surface deflections at the predefined points from this analysis are compared with field FWD deflection values. It shows close agreement between these. Past FWD test data has also been analyzed and found the degradation pattern of the material for the loading and aging. So, the FWD test method is considered to be reliable for evaluating the existent stiffness of pavement material.

Ground temperatures below a depth of about 6 meters (20 feet) remain stable compared to outside air temperatures. This relatively constant temperature and the thermal storage capacity of the ground can be exploited for heating and cooling of buildings. Traditionally, geothermal boreholes have utilized this concept for space heating and cooling. Recently, this ground coupling concept has been expanded from geothermal borehole systems to the use of building foundation elements as heat exchangers. In this hybrid system, geothermal loops are integrated into the deep foundation elements, such as piles, piers, or drilled shafts, that are already in place to provide structural support. The loop is connected to a geothermal heat pump as the heat energy is fed into the ground for cooling in the summer and withdrawn from the ground for heating in the winter. Because geothermal heat pumps use the ground as a constant temperature source which serves as a more favorable baseline compared to the ambient air temperature, these systems work much more efficiently for space heating and cooling compared to air-sourced heat pumps. Sustainable use of the ground as a renewable energy source depends on the seasonal energy load balance. This paper presents the findings on the long-term performance energy piles and their efficiency as heat exchange elements within areas where the demand is non-symmetrical.

The contemporary philosophy of Sustainability is based on three concerns of human ecology: economy, environment, and social equity. The trend today is to make this tri-dimensional concept into a more useable science. Industries generally have well-defined mechanisms for operating under the Economic aspect. While most of them, including construction, have different methods for comprehending the dynamics of the environmental aspect, progress on the social front has been mostly inadequate. This paper focuses on the social aspect of Sustainability in the context of the construction industry and will explore various issues in the life cycle that impacts the applicability of the Sustainability philosophy in general or its social agenda in particular. A case study of an advanced technology facility project catalogues how social sustainability can be part of the project life-cycle through a framework for understanding, formulating and benchmarking the social issues in construction. This research is limited by the case study approach in the Advanced Technology Facility sector, but does provide insight into how social sustainability can affect project outcomes.

Many federal, regional, and private organizations have identified solid waste management as an important operational strategy. The development of solid waste management plans, however, is difficult. A key component is increasing recycling behaviors among facility users. This research explores how Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in Estes, Colorado is using Community-based Social Marketing (CBSM) to foster better solid waste diversion rates among facility users. Researchers performed a comprehensive test site waste audit to establish a need. In accordance with CBSM methodology, researchers conducted observations and intercept surveys to identify effective recycling behavior(s). They analyzed data to identify the barriers and benefits to these recycling behaviors from the facility users' perspectives. They developed strategies to increase these recycling behaviors based on the barriers and benefits identified using CBSM behavior change tools. In the summer of 2012 the project will conclude with a second waste audit to evaluate implementation and outcome of the identified behavior change strategy.

Increasing the use of social sustainability in the decision-making process of construction projects requires that it be defined such that it can be evaluated objectively. One potential indicator of social sustainability in construction projects is public opinion, which can provide a means to evaluate the level of social sustainability on a construction project in normative ways. In this study, the causes for public opposition to a construction project are investigated using a framework that incorporates social principles of sustainability (as defined in current literature). The framework is demonstrated using two case studies: (1) California Delta (Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta), and (2) the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. Key observations are summarized using grounded theory. Preliminary analysis indicated that the public perception of unfulfilled social sustainability principles related to providing human basic needs, are common triggers of public opposition in construction infrastructure projects. This study provides the basis for research considering social sustainability principles and public opinion in construction projects. An improved understanding of the correlation of these factors could enable decision makers to better incorporate them during the planning phase of the project.

Today, with the urgent need for sustainable urban planning and construction, we are exploring new ways to connect our activities and take account of natural systems. In this context, the work of Patrick Geddes, the Scottish biologist, urban planner and sociologist and his recognition of the patterns of human settlements as complex interplays between environment and culture, is crucial. This paper builds on earlier work describing Patrick Geddes's experience of Indian cities and his resilient understanding of ecology as an inseparable part of daily human life without discriminations based on wealth. The paper demonstrates how this translated into Geddes's proposals for Indian cities and thus illustrates the recognition of the role of ecological sustainability in the built environment of the poor. The potential of success and importance of Geddes's proposal lies in its global methodology and local scale of implementation.

Evaluation of building performance is a comprehensive assessment which includes different aspects such as structural, environmental, architectural, energy utilization and other components. There are many features to an environmental assessment of a building. Consideration of the construction challenges faced in the Syrian Arab Republic, a typical developing country, requires modification and updating building performance evaluations. In our research, we concentrated on occupied buildings up to 20 years old to improve upon the current available construction technologies and discover environmental weaknesses. There is no Syrian construction code for environmental assessment. By applying different international standards, codes, and experts' views (questionnaire), we determined the most important environmental considerations for construction projects in Syria. This is done by selecting the common criteria through the codes, modifying some criteria, and identifying the different weights of criteria according to experts' views and decision making analysis. The objective is to develop an environmental assessment methodology for existing buildings in Syria that represent the Syrian construction professionals' opinion which can be generalized to similar construction markets in other developing countries. Our research concluded that the comparison between those standards coupled with those standards identified by our questionnaire reveals more interest to cover the main environmental aspects for its environment as identified by LEED with the highest weight given for energy while the lowest weight is given for water efficiency. "Innovation and Regional Priority" was largely excluded. This is why we want to develop a methodology that suits the current existing environmental aspects of buildings in Syria.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a post occupancy study to systematically evaluate the performance and effectiveness of implemented green features in the Reedy Fork Elementary School facility in Greensboro, NC. The school's efforts to achieve green building goals have been extensively documented in previous studies in terms of its design and construction strategies. In this study, the research team conducted interviews with the school principal and the facility manager to characterize the actual performance of the school. In addition, a post occupancy survey developed by the authors was distributed to teachers and staff. This follow-on analysis has allowed the research team to better understand the impact of the efficiency and effectiveness of the facility's green design and construction strategies and how the facility affects students' attitudes and behavior toward sustainability. The findings of this study will help the facility team at Reedy Fork Elementary School to better manage the operation and maintenance of the facility. Additionally, this study provides a basis for professionals in architectural, engineering, and construction firms seeking to understand the relative effectiveness and efficiency of green design and construction strategies in a typical North Carolina educational facility.

Recent requirements in component management of building systems have focused on the need for improving methods and metric tools to support component condition assessment and appropriate decisions for infrastructure owned facilities. A range of research articles (1975-2009) covering infrastructure system of component condition assessment systems (CCAS) is discussed to provide a practical and theoretical overview of CCAS infrastructure systems in industry and research. This paper reviews much of the literature on CCAS infrastructure systems. The literature is collected from major books, journals, technical reports and conference proceedings, the period covered is from 1975 to 2009. This paper finds that the focus of CCAS, surveyed in several aspects during the 35 years that have been investigated, from technology to measurement and from assessment function to component maintenance as an integrated part of the infrastructure component management. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of CCAS infrastructure system in industry and research. This paper offers help to researchers in understanding the selection of suitable method for component condition assessment in infrastructure systems.

Sustainability in the traditional delivery of the built environment is typically targeted towards the facility owners and designers. The contractor's input in such delivery models is limited to value engineering exercises during late design or early construction phases. Project delivery models that increase the contractor's stake in a project beyond the construction phase are increasingly becoming commonplace and present opportunities for contractors to play a bigger role in the sustainability of the built environment. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities for contractors in the traditional as well as ownership based delivery models. A review of the state of the practice in the Middle East region from the perspective of a multinational contracting firm is presented to highlight the sustainability impact of the contractor and the challenges contractors associate with sustainable construction.

Construction sustainability relates to three main factors: economic, environmental, and social. Under the economic impact, the project should be built within the stipulated cost. One of the reasons to investigate the bidding pattern of contractor is to make sure that the contractor will complete the project within the stipulated budget. If the contractor had balanced bid, there is higher possibility of completing the project within budget and on time. If the bid is not balanced, then the contractor might not finish the project on estimated budget. The majority of public road projects are bid based on unit price. Bidders use one of three methods to get maximum profit from their bid: front end loading, individual rate loading, and back end loading. Each method has unique advantages. There are various methods that owners use to detect whether the bids are unbalanced. Using historical data from 264 bids of 70 road projects undertaken by the Clark County Department of Public Works in southern Nevada from 1992 through 2008, this study determines whether unbalanced bidding was present. The total value of construction is equivalent to $364 million when converted into a June 2011 base cost. The study determines the most frequently used items of road construction, and analyzes the bid data of these items to determine whether the unbalanced bidding existed. The analysis shows that bidders of public road projects were bidding the projects based on front end loading thus the unbalanced bidding is challenging the Economic Sustainability.

The green market has become a remarkably fast growing sector in the construction industry. A survey reported the value of US green building business was up 50% from 2008 to 2010 and is anticipated to reach $135 billion by 2015. Construction companies who first enter the green market anticipate a higher economic return and may possess the green leadership for the next several decades. In addition, being green yields potential benefits to a company such as risk mitigation, brand publicity and establishment of corporate social responsibilities. However, when facing such an amount of advantages and benefits, most construction companies hesitate or even refuse to go green simply because they do not know the exact impact of going green on their corporate operating system and financial performance. Existing tools hardly provide any effective analysis to the construction companies. This paper employs the System Dynamics (SD) method to investigate the impact of going green on a corporate operational system and financial performance. AECOM, a public architecture and engineering company, has been deliberately selected and investigated as a case study and modeling simulation. The simulation result shows a 60.3% higher green premium price will lead to a double growth rate for corporate green revenue, 28% increase of wining new green projects and 28.7% higher greenness level in two years. The study suggests that going green in the construction company will be a healthier business transformation strategy with self-sustainable growth and financial security.

As the construction industry moves toward more sustainable activities, it is imperative to accurately quantify fuel consumption and air pollutant emissions for heavy-duty diesel equipment. Total emissions are dependent upon the total engine fuel consumption and the fuel consumption rates are dependent upon the productivity of the equipment. Using data from two reliable construction estimating sources - the Caterpillar Performance Handbook and RS Means Heavy Construction Cost Data - multiple linear regression (MLR) was used to develop two models (one for each source) for estimating equipment productivity of a bulldozer performing a bulk excavation activity. The key variables affecting the equipment productivity include engine size, blade capacity, material type, dozing distance, operational efficiency, and operator skill level. Results indicate that each model had high precision and accuracy and relatively low bias. A proposed methodology for validating the model results via field testing is presented. Recommendations for using these models as the foundation of a sustainability quantification tool for estimating the economic, energy, and environmental impacts of the equipment are provided.

Value Management is for increasing the performance of construction projects and addressing resources other than cost. For the satisfaction of needs under limited resources used in doing so, the application of sustainability is important for the projects because if not, that may result in a huge impact on the environment. Until now, several applications have been reported with the main aim of increasing the sustainable value of industry products. Although value management (VM) has been proposed as a potential mechanism for delivering sustainable construction projects in some countries, this idea has not yet been widely put into practice around the world. The aim of this article is to investigate this potential in Greece through interviewing experienced project stakeholders, academics, and government employees from Greece. The primary conclusion, derived from the viewpoints of these value managers, is that such an endeavor might not be viable at present, largely due to a lack of awareness with regard to sustainability issues in Greece during its life cycle. The application of tools such as Life Cycle Assessment used to estimate the Sustainable Development of projects within Value Analysis framework according to the existing Legislation is also under research. A Questionnaire survey was carried out in order to obtain experience of project stakeholders, academics, and government employees involved in implementing sustainability issues. The findings indicate that although sustainability criteria are recognized as essential, their use is limited.

Over the past decades, the construction industry around the world has tried to find out methods for gaining low unit costs and higher productivity in earthmoving operations. As one of these methods, Machine Guidance using the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been advanced at an accelerated pace and applied intensively to worldwide construction industry as a practical tool for high performance on the job site. However, the objective evaluation of its performance has not been introduced in Egypt yet. The objective of this research is to understand just how the adoption of advanced machine guidance technology, especially global positioning systems, leads to improvements in performance, time , unit cost and productivity of road construction operations. A global positioning system (GPS)-based road construction system was selected as the new construction technology to be compared with the conventional system, to evaluate the decision-making process at a jobsite. Based on simulation methodology using (EZStrobe) program and analytical data inputs using fractional factorial method accordingly, the productivity variation resulting from the simulation of different 27 scenarios in two methods can identify the benefits of advanced systems using GPS. The simulation analysis indicated that the GPS-based system had time saving of 18.57 %, a productivity improvement of 41.47 % and unit cost savings of 16.63 % compared to the conventional system in same project. The Simulation analysis also demonstrated that time, productivity and unit cost improvements results from a reduction in surveying support, grade checking, increase in operational efficiency, and a decrease in the number of passes.

History has shown that innovative new technologies are key contributors to improving productivity, quality and safety in construction. While the innovation process has been studied in the past, procedures that companies apply to make decisions have received little attention. This paper presents the initial results of an on-going study to understand the processes, sources of information and the critical success factors that companies depend on when buying new technologies. It presents a technology adoption model that is being validated using the results from an in-depth study of vendor strategies and visitor interviews from two equipment exhibitions in Australia. Vendors displayed an array of products ranging from spirit levels to large hydraulic excavators and applied various methods to attract customers to their booths. The presented analysis uses a wide range of measures used to categorize each vendor booth to include the nature of the product, the area occupied and type of information offered. As was expected, the analysis reveals heavy clusters of vendors applying similar strategies strongly influenced by the size of the vendor company and the technology. The data also supports the adoption model as the vendors make use of specific techniques to serve the needs of novices as well as better informed customers with the aim of establishing a relationship that extends beyond the exhibit.

In September of 2009, one of the most rigorous, comprehensive, and complex transportation projects ever to be undertaken in the United States was initiated. Dubbed the LBJ Express, this project is estimated to be over $3.2B in value, with over $2.1B in construction cost alone. Approximately 17 miles in total project length, depicted as Figure 1, the project includes reconstruction of over 10.7 miles of Interstate Highway 635 (known as the Lyndon B. Johnson or LBJ Freeway), as well as over 5.8 miles of elevated bridges and new frontage roads along Interstate Highway 35E. The project includes 13 total miles of new "managed" toll lanes, on which drivers may pay a dynamic, market-based toll through particular segments of the corridor, with the price changing based on real-time traffic load, but guaranteeing the driver a travel speed of 50 mph. This Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) was implemented through a Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA), through which the LBJ Infrastructure Group (LBJIG) will design, build, and maintain the roadway for a period of 52 years. The LBJIG partnership is comprised of Cintra US, Meridiam Infrastructure (investor in PPPs and developer of public facilities), the City of Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (investor in the project), and Trinity Infrastructure, LLC (Trinity) which is tasked with the design and construction of the project over a five year period). Other stakeholders include the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Transportation Commission, the Federal Highway Authority, the City of Dallas, the City of Farmers Branch, and last but certainly not least, the Public, the biggest stakeholder. The project is on schedule and projected to be substantially complete by the spring of 2016.

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of supply chain management to the performance of construction projects in the construction industry. Project delays, disruption of site work flows, and elevated carbon footprint are common consequences of poor supply chain management. Information technology solutions, such as enterprise resource planning systems, are widely used in the manufacturing industry for managing supply chains. However, in the construction industry, only a few large construction firms can afford to deploy such sophisticated IT tools. The majority of the firms in the construction industry are small to medium size companies, and they don't have resources and manpower to use and maintain proprietary supply chain management solutions. This research explored freely available Google cloud computing tools, including Google Fusion Table (GFT), Google Maps, and Google Earth, as a potential cloud-based supply chain management platform. The focus of this research is on the capability of the proposed platform on providing mechanisms for online information exchange, multi-party collaboration, real-time supply demand update, and supply chain data visualization. Experiments were conducted on a campus building project. The results suggest that the proposed platform provides the basic functionalities for developing a cost-effective tool for small and medium size construction firms to manage supply chain data.

IT-supported field data management benefits on-site construction management by improving accessibility to the information and promoting efficient communication between project team members. However, most of on-site safety inspections still heavily rely on subjective judgment and manual reporting processes and thus observers' experiences often determine the quality of risk identification and control. This study aims to develop a methodology to efficiently retrieve safety-related information so that the safety inspectors can easily access to the relevant site safety information for safer decision making. The proposed methodology consists of three stages: (1) development of a comprehensive safety database which contains information of risk factors, accident types, impact of accidents and safety regulations; (2) identification of relationships among different risk factors based on statistical analysis methods; and (3) user-specified information retrieval using data mining techniques for safety management. This paper presents an overall methodology and preliminary results of the first stage research conducted with 101 accident investigation reports.

The efficiency improvement of construction projects depends on the effective communication among the project participants. However, the problem of communication occurs due to high amount and variety of information during the construction process. Thus, this study aims at applying Microsoft Office Groove as a method for reducing construction lead time and facilitating document management at the construction site. Lead times of the new method were compared with those of the conventional method of documentation in construction. Reduction in delivery time and lead time of the documentation process and improvement in communication between constructions participants are observed as the results of implementing the proposed method.

Consensus exists among researchers that most reasons for project success can be attributed to the presence or absence of certain project characteristics, referred to as critical success factors, which require special attention from management owing to their impact on project performance. This study aims at differentiating the critical success factors based on organizational backgrounds of project participants. A survey was offered to construction professionals to rank a list of 53 potential factors. The professionals include civil/structural engineers, architects, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and quantity surveyors who have worked in the construction industry in the capacity of consultants, contractors, and managers, with experience both in developed countries like Canada, UK, and the USA, as well as in developing countries, namely Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

The quality of a rock revetment is completely dependent upon the integrity of the rock specimen as measured by several attributes. Rock that does not meet engineered specifications is much more likely to move out of position or degrade sooner than intended, thus compromising the protected area long before the engineered service life is reached. Since higher-quality rock is more difficult and expensive to obtain, and rejected rock can cause costly construction delays, many times both contractors and engineers exhibit a tendency to soften the specified standards to some degree in order to continue work. This paper presents a modular pay adjustment system for rock revetment specifications by predicting the amount of material that will be lost prematurely because of rock that does not meet certain design criteria. The results suggest that pay factors based on gradation or other quality indicators be implemented into specifications for rock revetment.

Fatal accidents during nighttime construction are major concerns in urban areas. Although nighttime construction is becoming more popular in many states, more data for nighttime work zone safety studies are needed to support the decision making process of construction and maintenance operations. Several studies have been conducted to investigate fatal accidents occurred during nighttime against daytime construction. In line with these needs, the main objective of this paper is to evaluate the fatal and injury collision data to investigate the differences between nighttime and daytime accidents. This paper focuses on the fatal and injury collisions in Orange and Riverside counties, which are major urban areas in Southern California from 2004 to 2008. The California Highway Patrol Data Base is used to conduct data analysis. No significant difference is found in fatality rates between daytime and nighttime for all fatal collisions over the five years. However, significant difference is found in injury rates between daytime and nighttime over the same period of time. The findings of this study can be used as an addition to the nighttime construction research domain that aims to increase safety of nighttime construction work zones.

One of the major proximal causes of injury and fatality in roofing sector is falls from height. Although the use of proper fall protection devices is effective in preventing incidents, many roofers get injured due to using incomplete or inadequate fall protection devices. In fact, compliance with fall protection regulations is low, particularly in residential building construction, which stems from lack of resources for small and medium sized companies. One of the innovative ways to overcome this challenge is to find out which fall prevention/protection practices are more effective for specific task. The current study aims to present a framework to measure the effectiveness of common fall prevention/protection practices in mitigating hazards in residential building construction. It is expected that the presented framework will aid small and medium roofing contractors to enhance their current safety programs by selecting the most effective subset of fall prevention/protection practices compatible with the tasks that they are performing.

The hourly production of heavy construction machinery is generally one of the key factors in the success of construction projects. It is clear that the nominal hourly production of the machinery provided by manufacturers differs from the actual hourly production at project sites. This paper presents a linear regression model to estimate the actual hourly production of wheel-type loader. The data of actual hourly production were gathered from literatures. The model establishes a practical link between engine power and actual hourly production of machine. The introduced regression model is certainly useful in planning machinery and can be a great help to the project management team.

Building materials have a significant impact in achieving more sustainable buildings. At the same time, the huge rates of raw materials consumption and production happened recently made it inevitable to proper select sustainable materials in order to incorporate sustainability principles and criteria in building projects. In this paper, a holistic set of these criteria is developed considering all environmental, economic and social sustainability principles by reviewing state of the art studies concerned with highlighting criteria affecting selecting sustainable building materials. Although there are many organizations considered with the study of sustainable buildings such as LEED, BREEAM and Green Globes, still there is no agreement on categories, number and definitions of criteria affecting selecting sustainable building materials. The significance of this study will help the building industry adopt a unified set of sustainable building material criteria. In addition, it will aid architects and engineers better select more sustainable building materials.

Pervious concrete pavement is an effective means to address important environmental issues and support green and sustainable growth. By capturing storm water and allowing it to seep into the ground, pervious concrete is instrumental in recharging groundwater, reducing storm water runoff, and meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency storm water regulations. In fact, the use of pervious concrete is among the Best Management Practices recommended by the EPA. In this research, water quality and pollutants leached from pervious concrete pavement was investigated. This project mainly aims to study the pervious concrete pavement by pollutants such as acid rain, sea water or waste lubricating oil. The results show that pollutant and water purification of pervious concrete pavement both significantly improved in the acid rain, sea water or waste motor oil test. A diluted sulfuric acid solution (pH value 2.0) after the pervious concrete pavement system could significantly enhance its pH value to 6.5 above. This study demonstrates that implementing pervious concrete pavement is valuable for road design and hydrologic consideration.

The use of solid waste and recycled materials is becoming increasingly important in the construction practice for energy, natural resources, and environment conservation considerations. In the United States, significant quantities of waste are generated every year. The majority is landfilled at tremendous economic and environmental expense. One of the main reasons for low level of waste and recycled material utilization is the lack of quantified criteria to guide extensive use for a given waste material in special uses. Laboratory testing, field evaluation, and quantification work with appropriate specifications and quality requirements are equally important for the comprehensive use of waste materials in construction. It is essential to investigate the compositional and physical properties of a specific solid waste and identify any potentially negative characteristics. Moreover, to achieve appropriate and optimum utilization of a specific waste, it is necessary to inclusively understand the conventional material that waste may replace or incorporate with, focusing on the production, properties, design methods, construction uses, and specifications. This paper enunciates the methodology that needs to be followed for the extensive utilization of waste and recycled materials in construction.

In order to understand temperature changes in pervious concrete, an infrared thermal camera, NEC TH7102, was employed to measure its surface temperature. Mumford and Shah proposed that an image be divided into a set of homogeneous sub-regions such that the energy contained in the image can be minimized. Based on this minimization of the energy, the multilayer level set method implicitly presents the regional boundaries as several nested level lines. By increasing the iterations and preselected level values, these lines evolve close to the level boundaries based on the energy minimization. The multilayer level set approach was employed to segment a collected thermal infrared image into a series of homogeneous sub-groups according to the surface temperatures measured by the thermal infrared camera. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using the multilayer level set method. The experimental results show that the surface temperature of pervious concrete, as measured by an infrared thermal camera, can quickly reach the environmental temperature at night.

Effect of moisture saturation on thermal conductivity of various construction materials are experimentally determined. The variation of thermal properties with moisture saturation is illustrated. The thermal performance factors namely U-Value, admittance, amplitude decrements and corresponding time-lags are calculated for three commonly used constructions in tropical conditions, at varied degrees of moisture saturation. Influence of moisture saturation of envelope materials on heating and cooling loads in tropical climates are highlighted considering a simple example case.

Reinforced concrete columns of existing structures are often retrofitted as a means to resist the effects of explosives. One retrofit method commonly employed is to encircle the column with a material of high tensile strength, typically either steel or fiber reinforced polymer composite, to enhance concrete confinement and flexural strength or ductility. The choice of material is primarily a function of explosive size, stand-off distance, and desired column resilience. In practice though, cost is a key parameter and one that is not explicitly addressed by the available design tools. This paper presents a methodology to incorporate retrofit cost into one of the design tools, the Column Blast Analysis and Retrofit Design (CBARD) code. The CBARD code determines column resilience using single-degree-of-freedom, multiple-degree-of-freedom and predictive breach modules. The inclusion of cost output into the CBARD code will enable an engineer or designer familiar with blast-resistant design to better evaluate reinforced concrete column retrofit options quickly and economically.

Timber frame construction in Ireland is beginning to gain significant ground on traditional block built construction. This is in part due to developments in timber frame practices. The application of an air-tight barrier is now a common component in the construction of a typical dwelling. With much emphasis placed on energy efficiency and increased insulation value within the home, air tightness is a key factor in the continued development of these areas. In March 2008, Part L of the National Technical Guidance Documents was updated to include the requirement of a mandatory air infiltration test on all new dwellings in Ireland. In December 2011 the pass level was lowered to further reduce CO2 emissions. This paper presents a research study into the Irish timber frame construction industry which addresses the need to accommodate greater air tightness capabilities in a typical dwelling. This research focuses on the jointing technique between closed panel timber frame members and the ability to produce an air tight joint without compromising its structural strength. Ensuring that the main fabric of the building is correctly sealed not only prevents air escaping but also assists in the wind tightness of the dwelling along with significantly improving thermal comfort. The preliminary findings identify the upgrading of basic jointing techniques as essential in the continuous development of air tightness in timber frame construction. It is envisaged that the findings will have a positive impact on timber frame construction in Ireland and beyond.

Using lightweight panels in buildings has significant role on decreasing the dead loads as well as the earthquake induced loads. From economical point of view, using lower amounts of materials due to decreasing the dimensions of structural sections as well as less transportation expenses directly leads to reducing the construction costs. On the other hand, use of lightweight panels with thermal isolation property, decreases the performance cost, effectively. This study focuses on some samples of perlite lightweight concrete. In these samples, waste textile fibers confined with textile meshes embedded in central part of each sample have been used. The bending tests of the samples indicated that light perlite concrete panels including confined waste fibers in the central core lighter than water having high ductility could be fabricated. These panels have energy absorption as well as high ductility characteristic and could be used for partitioning with thermal and acoustic isolation.

Special structures such as bridges, nuclear and power plants, etc, have unique importance. These strategic structures age and degrade with time. Previously, visual inspection was the main tool for following such structures' degradation. Recently, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is used by the industry as a viable technique to obtain continuous realtime data about the safety and serviceability of vital structures. Moreover, measuring electrical resistivity is a low cost, simple, efficient method that has received recent attention in terms of SHM. The objective of this study is to use electrical resistivity measurements in SHM of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams. An experimental program is conducted to study the effect of crack initiation and propagation in RC beams on Inner Electrical Resistivity Measurements (IERM) when beams are loaded by the three-point bending test. The results show that the technique is effective in detecting cracks and can be extended to global SHM of RC structures.

This study lies in the field of mortars for masonry. The effect of flow of natural hydraulic lime NHL mortar and thickness of bed brick on extraction of water from bed to brick were investigated. The work was carried out through three steps; Step (1), Sorptivity test was conducted for two types of bricks on the number of 30 for each to select 9 bricks from each type. Step (2), Mortar used in the experiment was designed by using two types of lime with different density (NHLA and NHLB) and two types of sand with different porosity (Binnegar and Allerton Park) and relation between water: pined ratios w/p and flow were defined. Then four mixes by using Binnegar sand were chosen at flow 17, 20 cm to give mixes (NHLA 17cm, NHLA 20cm, NHLB 17cm, NHLB 20cm). Step (3), Twelve extraction water experiments have been conducted on bed mortar at thickness of 10, 20 mm as follows: (NHLA 17cm 10mm, NHLA 20cm 20mm, NHLB 17cm 10mm, NHLB 17cm 20mm, NHLB 20cm 10mm, NHLB 20cm, 20mm ) for both AR and LY bricks. The capillary extraction test for bed mortar brick was measured at root times 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 minutes of age, through a methodology described in this work. The effects of mortar flow, bed thickness and type of lime, sand in mortar and brick on sorptivity and capillary extraction were studied and results indicated that water extraction from bed mortar to brick be a simple and reliable measurement for masonry units.

In this study the effect of sodium hydroxide treatment of hemp fiber on the mechanical properties of hemp-high density polyethylene (HDPE) composite was investigated. Further, the effect of virgin HDPE versus recycled HDPE as a matrix in the composite was evaluated. The change in surface composition of hemp, brought about by chemical treatment was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and impact strength of the composites were assessed as per ASTM standards. Results indicate that alkali treatment increased the cellulose content of hemp there by aiding in better adhesion with the matrix. 40% fiber volume fraction gave highest tensile and flexural strength, and 30% fiber volume fraction gave highest impact strength, for both the matrix. rHDPE had better mechanical properties in comparison to vHDPE suggesting that rHDPE could be a potential matrix for natural fiber reinforced composites.

The objective of this study is to introduce and evaluate a new hybrid jacket for retrofitting plain concrete columns of railroad bridges subjected to the lateral and axial loadings. In a steel plate- FRP (STF) composite jacket, at first the steel strips are attached in the longitudinal direction to the concrete column using epoxy adhesive. Then, FRP jacket at the transverse direction is used to provide lateral confinement and to prevent buckling of attached steel plates. At the present paper, experimental study on the concrete cylinder specimens was performed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed jacketing method and also to compare with common retrofitting methods. A total of eleven concrete cylinders of 100 mm x 200 mm were fabricated with specified concrete strength of 27 MPa. An unreinforced specimen was benchmark, and the others were reinforced using different jacketing methods. All of the specimens are tested using universal testing machine (UTM). Some important parameters, such as axial strength, energy dissipation and elastic stiffness were obtained and compared for all specimens. Based on the obtained results, specimen jacketed using proposed method indicated the best performance among all the jacketed specimens and can be used for retrofitting of plain concrete railroad bridge piers.

Sustainable building projects deal with a multitude of technical, environmental, economic, social, organizational, and innovation-related issues, to name but a few. Achieving sustainability goals depends on how well these issues are handled. While some sustainable building projects are quite successful, some are not. It is therefore important to learn lessons from past projects. This research aims to reveal the key lessons concerning sustainability-related issues in building projects. To that end, challenges in the achievement of sustainability goals of building projects are discussed, and lessons learned systems are examined. After that, the events experienced by project managers in a large number of sustainable building projects are obtained from a major public agency's website and are analyzed. The findings show the key lessons that have an important impact on the success/failure of sustainable building projects. The expected contribution of the study is to foster advanced solutions for future sustainable projects.

Energy crisis and environmental awareness in the society has forced the construction industry to rethink the current design and construction practices, and adopt more sustainable approaches. To build sustainable environment and achieve optimum comfort, the construction industry utilizes various sustainability rating systems. Among the available rating systems, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has emerged as one of the most adopted in United States. Since the initial launch in 1998, LEED has evolved over the years. This study presents a comparative analysis of the requirements for the credits/ prerequisites and measurement approach of the most recent LEED v3.0 in respect to the preceding LEED v2.2. Results indicate that requirements for majority of the credits have remained unchanged in LEED v3.0. A shift toward system based approach in LEED v3.0 was noticed in comparison to the preceding version. Finally, some recommendations have been offered for future version of LEED.

The concept of "Green" building has attained heightened significance due to reported degradation in the world's climate. This "Green" concept is finding increased acceptability throughout the world and its importance is even being recognized in different sectors of the construction industry. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the US Green Building Council, is a criteria developed to rate different types of construction and has achieved success in optimizing the energy and environmental performance of various types of facilities. High Performance Facilities, such as semiconductors manufacturing facilities, data centers, and healthcare, are special construction projects with regard to this concept. LEED for Building Construction and Design (LEED BC+D) has been used for assessing the performance of resource use in facilities, but modifications and improvements to the current LEED rating system are needed to help define and construct high performance, resource intensive facilities. This paper outlines a foundation for defining the parameters to help develop resource efficient facilities, specifically semiconductor fabrication facilities. This includes understanding the resource requirements of the semiconductors manufacturing facilities and how they differ from other facilities in terms of water and energy requirements, and in design and construction techniques. It identifies areas to address when developing criteria to rate facilities that are resource intensive. This framework could be extended to data centers and healthcare facilities.

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) focuses on the requirements that occupants have in terms of "health, safety, security, functionality and efficiency, psychological comfort, aesthetic quality and satisfaction" (Federal Facilities Council, 2001). Post-occupancy evaluations provide an opportunity to integrate multiple priorities including building performance and occupant requirements, which contributes to buildings becoming more sustainable. This research looks at the application of POE among LEED® Certified K-12 schools, and whether or not they address the imperative to include children's perspectives about their everyday environments. Data for this study comes from a survey of LEED® Certified K-12 schools. Results show that two-thirds of the schools surveyed did not conduct a POE. Reasons identified include lack of awareness of the purpose and benefits of a POE, as well as a lack of funding. Of the 10 schools that did conduct a POE, only 2 (7% overall) included students in the process.

Researchers and practitioners in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry have been incorporating sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) aspects into decision-making, e.g., designers have selected materials with sustainability in mind. Many have used multi-criteria decision-making methods, appearing to assume that all methods are equal or that the selection of a method does not matter. In this study we argue that methods matter. We see two issues pertaining to method selection. First, what are necessary characteristics of `viable' methods and, correspondingly, what are characteristics that disqualify methods? Second, for those methods screened for viability, what differences between them make some more suitable than others for different applications? This paper focuses on the first issue, specifically on one characteristic that appears to us to govern viability: factors should not be weighted. We compare the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with Choosing by Advantages (CBA), using an example and argue that AHP does not meet viability requirements.

The concept of "zero energy buildings" has emerged as an ideal for attaining a sustainable energy future. Are zero energy buildings an achievable goal? How significant of a role can solar energy play compared to the energy demands of buildings? This paper examines the questions associated with zero energy homes. The feasibility of zero energy homes was tested based on computer simulations of a two-story single family residential building. The energy consumption of identical buildings in four US climatic zones represented by Detroit (cold climate), San Francisco (temperate climate), Phoenix (hot and dry climate) and Miami (hot and humid climate) were evaluated and compared with electricity that can be produced by building integrated PV panels. Through the comparison of these simulations and their onsite energy estimations, the climatic and economic feasibilities of zero energy homes were assessed.

Sustainable development is one of the most important global concerns of contemporary times. In response to this concern, the LEED Green Building Rating System^TM has emerged as a popular consensus-based standard for certifying sustainable construction. This paper identifies those LEED credits which are the contractor's responsibility from the database of LEED certified projects listed on the USGBC website. This knowledge will help promote sustainable construction by encouraging contractor engagement in LEED certification. Building owners and designers are exhibiting a predilection for contractors experienced in sustainable practices and therefore, increased participation in LEED-certified projects can give contractors an edge in the competitive construction industry. Through the different credits identified in this paper, it is clear that contractors play a very important role in sustainable development as evidenced by the number and breadth of credits identified.

An Environmental Management System certified to ISO 14001 simultaneously helps an organisation demonstrate commitment to improving environmental performance and contributes to better financial performance. This research compares the financial performance (return on sales) of organisations certified to ISO 14001 with organisations that were not certified over two time-periods: five years - one year immediately preceding certification, through the year of certification and three years following certification; and three years - one year immediately preceding certification to the year immediately following certification. Analysis of randomly selected paired organisations revealed a statistically significant relationship between financial performance and the certification event. The cumulative increase in Return on Sales for five years was approximately four percentage-points. A model of cumulative Return on Investment suggested an incremental profit of approximately four million pounds over five years for a company with a turnover of approximately one hundred and twenty million pounds.

The paper aims to study the novel concept of `Lean Construction' in the world. Another intention is to examine how current Lean construction tools and methods impact the construction and operation of sustainable facilities. The Lean and green Construction philosophy can tremendously improve the needs and result in high productivity of the construction industry. The paper also finds out how these Lean construction tools and methods have evolved to contribute to green construction. In order to achieve the project aim, there are four main objectives: 1. To investigate the concept of lean and its application to the construction industry. 2. To define sustainability and identify its application to the construction industry. 3. To establish a link between the lean and sustainability. The Lean principles emphasise on eliminating process and material wastes and which can further result to the green construction which emphasise on the energy efficiency and the cost efficiency.

Natural phenomena and environmental have important role about culture economic and social infrastructures. The Iranian's buildings in the desert are difference with the other regions, because the climate of desert is so different. Because of there was not a modern technology for a long times. The architects were forced to solve their problems with natural conditions. In the past, without new technology just some sagacious architecture ways can help in hard condition like summer. Badgir or wind catcher is an old technology that with it, the interior space became cooler. The function of wind catcher depends on the condition of wind catcher sun radiation in the area. In the past time and in historical buildings in hot and dry area, the wind tower functioned similar the modern air- conditioner. Material of wind catcher is so important because of high swing of temperature is difference between day and night in this area. They made wind catcher with mud brick and it save the heat of sun during the day and reflected it to environment during the night.

Daylighting regains its status in illuminating interiors in the wake of building sustainability. The trend of lighting research has turned back to improving indoor daylighting quality such that occupants would enjoy good task visibility and visual comfort. The daylight factor giving the daylight availability from a static overcast sky is the common method for daylighting assessment, but daylighting quality should be evaluated in a broader way and occupants' perception should be emphasized. This paper develops a daylighting quality benchmarking method based on the weights of importance of five decision factors previously identified by the authors and demonstrates the methodology used for determining a novel multi-criteria daylighting quality index (DQI) using real climatic data and computer simulations. An associated 5-star rating scale is also proposed for categorizing daylighting quality. The results show that cellular offices with small windows facing external obstructions would not have high star ratings and that increasing the window area and/or removing external obstructions would improve the DQI and star rating.

Natural light has a great effect on the health of humans. Providing natural light in living spaces is the best way to promote a healthy life. In Iranian traditional architecture, especially in residential building using natural light for lighting is very important. Based on research conducted on Iranian traditional house's, is determined that they have many aspects in daylighting design. The aim of this research is to investigate deferent lighting methods to compare traditional design methodologies of the Iranian traditional building. In this paper, is tried to investigate a survey of observation, geometric assessment of devices and the results of measurements of daylight levels of rooms that selected in a traditional home in Kerman. The selected samples include 3 rooms, one of them with skylight roof (kolah Farangy) the others are rooms with door-windows into the yard (Seh Dari and Panj Dari). Also, the monitored results of models were analyzed results of, under the sunny and clear sky. The illumination was measured in this experiment by using light meter in selected rooms. In addition, some simulations were carried out in the selected samples by the means of simulation software "ECOTECT v 5.6". Finally, the problems were determined and comparison of both results was discussed. Then the results have been analyzed.

This study examined the influence of color temperature and illuminance on visual perception. Computer-based and paper-based reading tasks were performed under various lighting conditions. Result implies that the 750 lx under 3000K color temperature condition was not recommended for office tasks due to severe glare and visual discomfort. Target illuminance for the 3000 K conditions should not exceed 500 lx to ensure visual comfort for office tasks. The 4000K color temperature functioned effectively to keep a comfortable visual environment. The 500 lx and 750 lx conditions with 4000K lamps, and the 500 lx condition with 6500K lamps effectively mitigated negative visual perception. The influential factors on visual comfort were glare, color of light, visual distraction and eye fatigue.

Construction programs in the United States play a vital role in sustainability education by producing professionals having knowledge of the same. The research goal was to analyze sustainability courses offered at construction management programs of ASC member institutions and evaluate them based on the expectations of prospective employers. The sustainability courses were assessed based on course description and learning objectives. The course syllabi were obtained and a questionnaire was sent to the faculty members of construction programs offering course(s) in sustainability. Construction firms were surveyed for their expectations on sustainability knowledge from the new hires. Findings indicated that there was a high degree of agreement between the objectives of the sustainability courses and industry's expectations. The findings provide important feedback for the construction programs to evaluate and revise their sustainability courses to match industry's expectations.

This study is to design and develop a sustainable virtual boat integrated with lesson plans for water resource and environmental education. The virtual boat, designed based on the Unity 3D platform, is built to simulate a physical boat used for water sampling along the Ohio River from Marietta to Gallipolis, Ohio. Two lesson plans, water quality index and pollution locator GPS (Global Position System), are developed that students can navigate the virtual boat along the Ohio River conducting water sampling activities and exploring water pollution problems similar to those in a physical boat. The effectiveness and usability of the developed model were assessed in the two local high school science classrooms. The result shows that the developed model is a promising tool for water resources and environmental education. Key Words: Virtual Boat, Environmental Education, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Water Quality Index, GPS.

The last two decades have witnessed water sector reforms in both industrialized and developing countries with introduction of various tools for promoting better management, protection, and conservation of water resources. This paper analyzes the implementation of water metering and volumetric pricing in Armenia as part of the water reform agenda. It explores the impact of water metering and volumetric charging on the performance of water utilities and residential water consumers. The study shows that in the short run, immediately after meter installation, residential water consumption declined nearly four times. However, without price increase acting as a signal, residential water consumption rebounded - in some cases from 70 to 120 liters per person per day. Despite a drastic increase of water payment collection rates, water utilities experienced a considerable fall in revenues. In the long run, the increase of water metering from 6% in 2002 to 75% in 2008 was accompanied by reduction of the average per capita water demand from 172 to 94 liters per day. The paper also finds that favorable legislative and institutional settings and provision of social protection schemes for mitigating the adverse social impacts are critical for policy implementability.

Enhancing the state of sewerage systems has been one of the main concerns of governments in both developed and developing countries to raise the living standards of their citizens. The main problem that faces this kind of infrastructure is its unforeseeable property. This study aims at creating an integrated tool for sustainable sewerage infrastructure systems including pipelines and the treatment plants. The proposed tool uses BIM technology in pipeline design process to make accurate estimate of both quantity and initial cost needed for that pipeline. Also, it utilizes simulation to simulate the flow inside the pipe to detect any errors. The tool aids in determining the best rehabilitation or replacement technique to deal with any accident. The electrical consumption of an anaerobic treatment plant is calculated and an alternative solar energy system is introduced. A case study is presented to demonstrate the practical features of the proposed tool.

In a thermo-electric power plant cooling system, loss of cooling water via evaporation and drift leads to increase in ion concentration in the make-up water, which can further cause scaling and corrosion of cooling system equipment. Therefore, determination of make-up water scaling and corrosion potential is essential. Scaling and corrosion potentials are reported to be linked to the characteristics of the source water. In this study, freshwater and treated water samples were collected and alkalinity, pH, [Mg²⁺] and [Ca²⁺] concentrations were analyzed. Langelier Scaling Index (LSI) and Aggressive Index (AI) were calculated using the measured characteristics of water samples, with the assumption that alkalinity, pH, log[Ca²⁺] and log([Ca²] + [Mg²⁺]) are all normally distributed. Monte Carlo simulation with defined normal distributions of above mentioned parameters yielded low scaling potentials for fresh, secondary treated and tertiary treated waters, while for corrosion potential, probability of tertiary treated water to be corrosive to the cooling system was estimated to be high. In summary, both fresh water and secondary treated wastewater can be considered as feasible options for cooling water make-up.

The aim of this study was to introduce an effective alternative to the traditional treatment methods of Raw Sewage Sludge (RSS). This included the utilization of RSS as a water replacement in cement-based mixes for the production of sustainable construction materials. Four mixes, incorporating Portland cement, fine aggregate (1:4.5 respectively) and RSS (97.5% liquid content as a water replacement), were prepared. One more mix incorporating drinking water was also investigated for comparison purposes. Prepared specimens were cured for 90 days and tested for their compressive strength, specific gravity (SG), ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and total water absorption. Results showed that RSS could potentially be used as a water replacement, as mixes incorporating RSS presented relatively good engineering properties in comparison with mix incorporating drinking water. Engineering properties were mainly affected by the amount of RSS added, as with the decreasing of RSS amount the better the engineering properties.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the most imperative technological tool currently concerns the AEC industry. The educators, on the other hand, are working diligently to provide an appropriate training methodology for students who will be facing the professional practice upon graduation. Although, more than 35 universities offer a specialized degrees in BIM Technologies (ACSA report), the construction schools which are independent from architecture program have been slow in adopting BIM as part of their curricula. Recently, the construction schools have begun to introduce BIM in their core curricula in many formats such as capstone, elective, or independent project. The problem is that only learning required software without projecting the specific area and collaboration with other professions would not be very effective. This paper focuses on how to bridge the gap between academia and practice of BIM and to implement an interactive program to meet all necessary software knowledge, IPD (integrated project delivery) systems, and sustainability principles that better prepares graduates to enter the professional world.

Construction is the most risky industry in term of the number of work-related fatalities. In 2008, 780 fatalities resulted from construction accidents, and cost the industry approximately $15.6 billion in U.S. annually. The design for safety (DfS) concept roots in the design and planning phase with focus on making vital choices about various design options, different ways of construction and materials used according to construction safety considerations. Design for safety tools raise the designer's skill and knowledge to identify hazards. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the most recent technology for Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools which can be used for safety planning and DfS concept. BIM and visualization tools create opportunities to assist design teams to identify hazardous situations. The main aim of this paper is to show that the integrated design and collaborative features of BIM can be used in enhancing safety on construction sites and developing utilization of BIM for safety planning. 53% of the respondents to a qualititative survey, with 62 completed instruments, believed that visualization tools have more positive effects on improving construction safety in comparison to the other current tools for DfS. BIM have a unique ability to integrate into the safety management and to support prevention through design concept. There is an essential need to document BIM's capabilities and advantages, in order to expand the application of these technologies in safety management.