For a large part of the existing buildings and infrastructure the design life has been reached or will be reached in the near future. These structures might need to be reassessed in order to investigate whether the safety requirements are met. Current practice on the assessment of existing concrete structures however needs a thorough evaluation from a risk and reliability point of view, as they are mostly verified using simplified procedures based on the partial factor method commonly applied in design of new structures. Such assessments are often conservative and may lead to expensive upgrades. Although the last decades reliability-based assessment of existing concrete structures has gained wide attention in the research field, a consistent reliability-based assessment framework and a practically applicable codified approach which is compatible with the Eurocodes and accessible for common structural engineering problems in everyday practice is currently missing. Such an approach however allows for a more uniform, more objective and probably more widely applied assessment approach for existing concrete structures. Hence, in this bulletin two different partial factor formats are elaborated, i.e. the Design Value Method (DVM) and the Adjusted Partial Factor Method (APFM), enabling the incorporation of specific reliability related aspects for existing structures. The DVM proposes a fundamental basis for evaluating partial factors whereas the APFM provides adjustment factors to be applied on the partial factors for new structures in EN 1990. In this bulletin both methods are elaborated and evaluated and a basis is provided for decision making regarding the target safety level of existing structures.
Life-Cycle of Structures and Infrastructure Systems contains the lectures and papers presented at IALCCE 2023- The Eighth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering, held at Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, 2-6 July, 2023. This book contains the full papers of 514 contributions presented at IALCCE 2023, including the Fazlur R. Khan Plenary Lecture, nine Keynote Lectures, and 504 technical papers from 45 countries. The papers cover recent advances and cutting-edge research in the field of life-cycle civil engineering, including emerging concepts and innovative applications related to life-cycle design, assessment, inspection, monitoring, repair, maintenance, rehabilitation, and management of structures and infrastructure systems under uncertainty. Major topics covered include life-cycle safety, reliability, risk, resilience and sustainability, life-cycle damaging processes, life-cycle design and assessment, life-cycle inspection and monitoring, life-cycle maintenance and management, life-cycle performance of special structures, life-cycle cost of structures and infrastructure systems, and life-cycle-oriented computational tools, among others. This Open Access Book provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of life-cycle civil engineering and significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions to mitigate the life-cycle risk and improve the life-cycle reliability, resilience, and sustainability of structures and infrastructure systems exposed to multiple natural and human-made hazards in a changing climate. It will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with life-cycle of civil engineering systems, including students, researchers, practicioners, consultants, contractors, decision makers, and representatives of managing bodies and public authorities from all branches of civil engineering.
This book presents the proceedings of the fib Symposium “Building for the future: Durable, Sustainable, Resilient”, held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 5–7 June 2023. The book covers topics such as concrete and innovative materials, structural performance and design, construction methods and management, and outstanding structures. fib (The International Federation for Structural Concrete) is a not-for-profit association whose mission is to develop at an international level the study of scientific and practical matters capable of advancing the technical, economic, aesthetic, and environmental performance of concrete construction.
This volume contains the papers presented at IALCCE2018, the Sixth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE2018), held in Ghent, Belgium, October 28-31, 2018. It consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB device with full papers including the Fazlur R. Khan lecture, 8 keynote lectures, and 390 technical papers from all over the world. Contributions relate to design, inspection, assessment, maintenance or optimization in the framework of life-cycle analysis of civil engineering structures and infrastructure systems. Life-cycle aspects that are developed and discussed range from structural safety and durability to sustainability, serviceability, robustness and resilience. Applications relate to buildings, bridges and viaducts, highways and runways, tunnels and underground structures, off-shore and marine structures, dams and hydraulic structures, prefabricated design, infrastructure systems, etc. During the IALCCE2018 conference a particular focus is put on the cross-fertilization between different sub-areas of expertise and the development of an overall vision for life-cycle analysis in civil engineering. The aim of the editors is to provide a valuable source of cutting edge information for anyone interested in life-cycle analysis and assessment in civil engineering, including researchers, practising engineers, consultants, contractors, decision makers and representatives from local authorities.
This book gathers the peer-reviewed papers presented at the Italian Concrete Conference 2020, held on April 14-17, 2021. The conference topics encompass the aspects of design, execution, rehabilitation and control of concrete structures, with particular reference to theory and modeling, applications and realizations, materials and investigations, technology and construction techniques. The contributions amply demonstrate that today’s structural concrete applications concern not only new constructions, but more and more rehabilitation, conservation, strengthening and seismic upgrading of existing buildings, and that requirements cover new aspects within the frame of sustainability, including environmental friendliness, durability, adaptability and reuse of works and / or materials. As such, the book represents an invaluable, up-to-the-minute tool, providing an essential overview of structural concrete, as well as all of new materials with cementitious matrices.
Computational Modelling of Concrete and Concrete Structures contains the contributions to the EURO-C 2022 conference (Vienna, Austria, 23-26 May 2022). The papers review and discuss research advancements and assess the applicability and robustness of methods and models for the analysis and design of concrete, fibre-reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, as well as masonry structures. Recent developments include methods of machine learning, novel discretisation methods, probabilistic models, and consideration of a growing number of micro-structural aspects in multi-scale and multi-physics settings. In addition, trends towards the material scale with new fibres and 3D printable concretes, and life-cycle oriented models for ageing and durability of existing and new concrete infrastructure are clearly visible. Overall computational robustness of numerical predictions and mathematical rigour have further increased, accompanied by careful model validation based on respective experimental programmes. The book will serve as an important reference for both academics and professionals, stimulating new research directions in the field of computational modelling of concrete and its application to the analysis of concrete structures. EURO-C 2022 is the eighth edition of the EURO-C conference series after Innsbruck 1994, Bad Gastein 1998, St. Johann im Pongau 2003, Mayrhofen 2006, Schladming 2010, St. Anton am Arlberg 2014, and Bad Hofgastein 2018. The overarching focus of the conferences is on computational methods and numerical models for the analysis of concrete and concrete structures.
Increasing demand on improving the resiliency of modern structures and infrastructure requires ever more critical and complex designs. Therefore, the need for accurate and efficient approaches to assess uncertainties in loads, geometry, material properties, manufacturing processes, and operational environments has increased significantly. Reliability-based techniques help develop more accurate initial guidance for robust design and help to identify the sources of significant uncertainty in structural systems. Reliability-Based Analysis and Design of Structures and Infrastructure presents an overview of the methods of classical reliability analysis and design most associated with structural reliability. It also introduces more modern methods and advancements, and emphasizes the most useful methods and techniques used in reliability and risk studies, while elaborating their practical applications and limitations rather than detailed derivations. Features: Provides a practical and comprehensive overview of reliability and risk analysis and design techniques. Introduces resilient and smart structures/infrastructure that will lead to more reliable and sustainable societies. Considers loss elimination, risk management and life-cycle asset management as related to infrastructure projects. Introduces probability theory, statistical methods, and reliability analysis methods. Reliability-Based Analysis and Design of Structures and Infrastructure is suitable for researchers and practicing engineers, as well as upper-level students taking related courses in structural reliability analysis and design.
The fib has two major missions now. One is to work toward the publication of the Model Code 2020, and the other is to respond to the global movement toward carbon neutrality. While the former is steadily progressing toward completion, the latter will require significant efforts for generations to come. As we all know, cement, the primary material for concrete, is a sector that accounts for 8.5% of the world’s CO2 emissions. And the structural concrete that fib handles consume 60% of that. In other words, we need to know the reality that our structural concrete is emitting 5% of the world’s CO2. From now on, fib members, suppliers, designers, builders, owner’s engineers, and academic researchers will be asked how to solve this difficult problem. In general, most of the CO2 emissions in the life cycle of structural concrete come from the production stage of materials and the use stage after construction, i.e. A1 to A3 and B1 to B5 processes as defined in EN15978. Cement and steel sectors, which are the main materials for structural concrete, are expected to take various measures to achieve zero carbon in their respective sectors by 2050. Until then, we must deal with the transition with our low carbon technologies. Regarding the production stage, the fib has recently launched TG4.8 “Low carbon concrete”. And the latest low carbon technologies will be discussed there. On the other hand, in the use stage, there is very little data on the relationship between durability and intervention and maintenance so far. The data accumulation here is the work of the fib, a group of various experts on structural concrete. Through-life management using highly durable structures and precise monitoring will enable to realize minimum maintenance in the use stage and to minimize CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it is also possible to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the further stage after the first cycle by responding to the circular economy, that is, deconstruction (C), reuse, and recycle (D). However, the technology in this field is still in its infancy, and further research and development is expected in the future. As described above, structural concrete can be carbon neutral in all aspects of its conception, and it can make a significant contribution when it is realized. The fib will have to address these issues in the future. Of course, it will not be easy, and it will take time. However, if we do not continue our efforts as the only international academic society on structural concrete in the world to achieve carbon neutrality, the significance of our very existence may be questioned. Long before Portland cement was invented, Roman concrete, made of volcanic ash and other materials, was the ultimate low-carbon material, and is still in use 2’000 years later because of its non-reinforced structure and lack of deterioration factors. Reinforced concrete, which made it possible to apply concrete to structures other than arches and domes, is only 150 years old. Prestressed concrete is even younger, with only 80 years of history. Now that we think about it, we realize that Roman concrete, which is non-reinforced low carbon concrete, is one of the examples of problem solving that we are trying to achieve. We have new materials, such as coated reinforcement, FRP, and fiber reinforced concrete, which can be used in any structural form. To overcome this challenge with all our wisdom would be to live up to the feat the Romans accomplished 2’000 years ago. Realizing highly durable and elegant structures with low-carbon concrete is the key to meet the demands of the world in the future. I hope you will enjoy reading this AOS brochure showing the Outstanding Concrete Structures Awards at the fib 2022 Congress in Oslo. And I also hope you will find some clues for the challenges we are facing.
The idea of preparing a technical document for the repairs and interventions upon concrete structures goes back to the former fib COM 5: Structural Service Life Aspects, being the goal of the then TG 5.9. After a long period of reduced activity, and taking into account the reorganization of fib commissions that meanwhile took place, on June 2017 a different approach was proposed to push forward the task of TG 8.1 (formerly TG 5.9). The (new) goal of TG 8.1 was to deliver a ‘how-to-do’ guide, gathering together protection, repair, and strengthening techniques for concrete structures. Chapters are intended to provide both guidelines and case-studies, serving as support to the application of fib MC 2020 pre-normative specifications. Each chapter was written by an editorial team comprising desirably at least a researcher, a designer and a contractor. Templates have been prepared in order to harmonize the contents and the presentation of the different methods. Following the writing process, chapters were reviewed by experts and, after amendments by the authors, they underwent a second review process by COM 8 and TG 3.4 members, as well as by different practitioners. For each protection, repair and strengthening method addressed in this guide, readers have a description of when to adopt it, which materials and systems are required, which techniques are available, and what kind of equipment is needed. It then presents a summary of stakeholders’ roles and qualifications, design guidelines referring to most relevant codes and references, the intervention procedure, quality control measures and monitoring and maintenance activities. Due to the extent of the guide, it was decided to publish it as bulletin 102, addressing protection and repair methods, and bulletin 103, addressing strengthening methods. We would like to thank the authors, reviewers and members of COM 8 and TG 3.4 for their work in developing this fib Bulletin, which we hope will be useful for professionals working in the field of existing concrete structures, especially those concerned with life-cycle management and conservation activities. As noted above, this Bulletin is also intended to act as a background and supporting document to the next edition of the fib Model Code for Concrete Structures, which is currently under development under the auspices of TG10.1 with the working title of ‘fib Model Code 2020’.
