Failure Of Building Research Articles

Modeling thin-walled elements with regard to steel hardening

Today in Russia 13% of buildings are built on the basis of a metal frame. To increase the energy efficiency of the industry, the use of thin-walled steel structures is one of the most technologically advanced and efficient solutions. To ensure the bearing capacity and reduce the risks of failure of buildings and structures at the design stage, it is important to correctly assess the reliability of the system, taking into account all influencing factors. The technology for the production of thin-walled profiles determines the factors that affect their stress-strain state. Uneven distribution of mechanical properties over the cross-section of the profile: hardening in the bending corners and adjacent zones leads to an increase in the strength of the metal. The article presents the results of numerical modeling of samples from thin sheet steel with and without the effect of hardening. The object of research is a thin-walled sigma profile with a section height of 300 mm, an element length of 4500 mm, operating under compression with bending. Metal hardening values are based on experimental data obtained by the authors. The stresses and displacements obtained as a result of the simulation were analyzed in four sections along the profile length: at a distance of 0.5 m, 2.3 m, 3.0 m and 4.0 m from the support. It is concluded that the supercritical work of the element without hardening of the material occurs earlier than in the element with hardening. The maximum stresses in the element without hardening exceed the stresses in the element with hardening by more than 30%. The maximum displacements in hardening are more than three times.

Informal Institutional Elements as Both Preconditions and Consequences of Effective Formal Legal Rules: The Failure of Constitutional Institution Building in Hungary

Abstract Institutions are made up of the interplay of three components: (i) formal rules, (ii) actual practices, and (iii) narratives (the last two are referred to jointly as informal institutional elements). However, lawyers in post-socialist countries do not see law through institutionalist lenses, but often nurture a false and simplistic idea of the law: they consider it to be the sum of rules, often disregarding the actual practices of the rules’ addressees and the narratives attached to the law (encompassing everything from the raison d’être and goal of the institution, its symbolism, the public discourse surrounding it, to social attitudes toward the institution). This restricted view makes Hungarian lawyers blind and to a certain extent also defenceless against recent authoritarian tendencies. Institution building has been a moderately successful feat in Hungary. To put it more pessimistically, it has partially failed since the end of socialism, in particular when it comes to actual practices and narratives. In the Hungarian context, consideration of the problems of institution building suggests two general conclusions: on the one hand, the lack of unison among the individual elements (rules, practices, narratives) renders institutions less stable and consequently less capable of inducing compliance with the law; on the other, the institutions that have been established have failed to deliver prosperity to the political community. This Article describes the constitution making of 2010–2011 from the perspective of institution building. This institutionalist view of the law yields two main specific findings: First, historical experience shows that in addition to honest determination, a swift, radical institutional overhaul of a complete legal system can only be sustainable in the presence of an external pressure, the effect of which has unfortunately decreased with Hungary’s accession to the European Union. That is, institution building should go hand in hand with effective international and EU obligations undertaken in more sober political moments to guarantee that the political community will not later enter into a self-destructive mode. Second, if they took more consciously into account elements beyond mere rules, such as actual practices and narratives in the realm of legislation, the application of the law and legal training would ideally result in the gradual reinforcement of substantive cultural elements. This, however, requires political action, more precisely the adjustment of formal rules. Since this is not in the interest of the incumbent decision makers, overcoming the impasse seems unlikely for the time being.

Reflections of Halabjah Earthquake Effects on The Structural Building Damages in Halabjah And Darbandikhan

Earthquakes hit the earth on daily basis with different intensities. An earthquake of M 7.3 hit Halabjah on 12th of November 2017 and caused structural damages in both Halabjah and Darbandikhan. This paper investigates the reflections of seismic effects on the most structural damages found in the areaspresenting a thorough site investigation on the possible reasons behind the building failures and collapses and specifying the probable errors in their constructions and designs. Additionally, some of the most novel techniques of retrofitting are proposed to rehabilitate the damages in the buildings. After the investigation, it is deduced that, most of the structural failures can be attributed to lack of knowledge about lateral loads and not considering them in the design and construction of the buildings in those vicinities. Further, the construction level of the buildings can be considered as unsatisfactory in the affected areas for some serious problems mentioned in detail in the paper. Therefore, most of the buildings needed immediate rehabilitation and some of the most modern methods are proposed in doing so. As a result, it is proved that a proper balance has to be guaranteed between strength, stiffness and ductility in designing buildings to withstand lateral forces from an earthquake.

Electromagnetic Shielding Performance of Different Metallic Coatings Deposited by Arc Thermal Spray Process.

Advancement in electronic and communication technologies bring us up to date, but it causes electromagnetic interference (EMI) resulting in failure of building and infrastructure, hospital, military base, nuclear plant, and sensitive electronics. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to prevent the failure of structures and electronic components from EMI using conducting coating. In the present study, Cu, Cu-Zn, and Cu-Ni coating was deposited in different thicknesses and their morphology, composition, conductivity, and EMI shielding effectiveness are assessed. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that 100 µm coating possesses severe defects and porosity but once the thickness is increased to 500 µm, the porosity and electrical conductivity is gradually decreased and increased, respectively. Cu-Zn coating exhibited lowest in porosity, dense, and compact morphology. As the thickness of coating is increased, the EMI shielding effectiveness is increased. Moreover, 100 µm Cu-Zn coating shows 80 dB EMI shielding effectiveness at 1 GHz but Cu and Cu-Ni are found to be 68 and 12 dB, respectively. EMI shielding effectiveness results reveal that 100 µm Cu-Zn coating satisfy the minimum requirement for EMI shielding while Cu and Cu-Ni required higher thickness.

Crowd Simulation with Arrival Time Constraints

Finding collision-free paths for crowd simulation has been a core technique in video games and the film industry; it has drawn a great deal of attention from computer animation researchers for several decades. Additionally, theoretical modeling of pedestrian has been a hot topic in physics as well because it allows us to predict any architectural failure of buildings and many city planning problems. However, the existing studies for path planning cannot guarantee the arrival order, which is critical in many cases, such as arrival symmetry of the characters within video games or films. To resolve this issue, a path planning algorithm has been developed with a novel method for satisfying the arrival-order constraints. The time constraint we suggest is the temporal duration for each character, specifying the order in which they arrive at their target positions. In addition to the algorithm that guarantees the arrival order of objects, a new user interface is suggested for setting up the arrival order. Through several experiments, the proposed algorithm was verified, and can successfully find collision-free paths, while satisfying the time constraint set by the new user interface. Given the available literature, the suggested algorithm and the interface are the first that support arrival order, and their usability is proven by user studies.

Failure Analysis of a Partially Collapsed Building using Analytical Hierarchical Process

Building failure usually results in collapse if not discovered and properly addressed. Building collapse/failure most times causes loss of properties and lives. A case study of a partially collapsed one-story building is presented for emphasis with technical assessment of the partial-collapse cause so as to proffer remedy of the structure. This is achieved through detailed engineering analysis of the building’s structural elements and identification of remedial options. Field inspection is carried out through soil excavation to assess the foundation condition, taking soil samples from the collapsed building for laboratory study and nondestructive test. From inspection, it was observed that the building construction was inadequately supervised and as a result was under-reinforced, which led to excessive cracks and deflection. The soil is classified by AASHTO A-2-4: maximum dry density 2.15 mg/m3 and optimum moisture content 9%. The compressive strength of the structural elements was measured using the rebound hammer, and a mean compressive strength of 13 N/mm2 was obtained which indicates a low-compressive-strength concrete. Analytical hierarchical process is utilized as the multi-criteria decision-making method to derive the actual partial-collapse cause; from the priority vector 6, 56, 26 and 12% were obtained for soil/foundation, under-reinforcement, low-compressive-strength and overloading alternatives, respectively. The consistency ratio computed was 0.065 which shows the decision maker’s subjective assessment was consistent. The summary of the failure investigation underscored the importance of ensuring proper supervision and quality control for framed-structures construction.

Seismic Policy, Operations, and Research Uses for a Building Inventory in an Earthquake-Prone City

After the 2016 New Zealand Kaikoura Earthquake, the absence of information about the state of buildings in Wellington proved to be a source of significant policy uncertainty. Authorities did not know what damages to expect and therefore how to react, and policies needed to be formulated without a clear quantification of the risks. Moreover, without detailed knowledge of the existing buildings, it was difficult to assess what the available legal and regulatory tools can achieve and choose among them. We describe the creation of a building inventory database for Wellington initiated by the authors. This database aims to assist the generation of research on the risks, impacts, and viable solutions for reducing future seismic risk in Wellington’s central business district (CBD). The database includes structural, economic, and market information on virtually every significant building in the CBD. Its primary purposes are: to collate and provide the best available information about the expected seismic performance of the existing building stock; to assess the impact of possible multiple building failures due to a seismic event; to describe a viable cost-effective path for seismic retrofitting; and to inform the design of a regulatory structure that can facilitate this resilience-building agenda.

Impact on buildings while the parameters of geotechnical materials change

The cyclic rise and fall of the water level in a reservoir will destroy the rock and soil mass of the slope, cause deterioration of its material parameters, cause the uneven settlement of the building foundation and then cause structural damage of the upper building. In order to explore the rule and mechanism of structural failure of bank-slope buildings under the action of water-level cyclic fluctuation. On the basis of obtaining the parameters of the soil material after saturated water loss test and based on the finite-element interaction analysis method, the slope–building model is established by using the Ansys software program. The results indicate that with the ascending of the number of reservoir water lifting and lowering cycles, the differential settlement of the bank-slope foundation begins to aggravate. Although the growth rate slows down after five cycles, it does not stop. This shows that the mechanical damage caused by reservoir water fluctuation to the soil materials of the slope is a cumulative process and continues to increase the uneven settlement of the superstructures. The maximum horizontal displacement of prefabricated buildings increases by 2.3 times under the action of reservoir water lifting.

A Case Study on Structural Failure of Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joint After the First Significant Earthquake Impact in Malaysia

This paper presents a case study regarding failures of structural buildings which occurred in Malaysia after the first significant earthquake event dated on June 5, 2015. Ranau is a locality situated in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. The seismic activity was triggered when an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 afflicted Ranau, including seven other districts that also felt the tremors. Even though the impact of magnitude was undisputedly not high, the severity level of damages was found to be absolute (irreparable) in the structural RC beam-column joints and soft-storey buildings. Most of the buildings in Malaysia were built without the consideration of seismic design, and thus a major factor in structural failure. The earthquake has directed the seismic demand, while the total displacement was concentrated at the weakest floor that caused more damage to the building. This paper shows the causes of beam-column joint damages and explains the proposed (to-date) strengthening methods. Future studies related to seismic activities are in need to analyse the performance of the existing design of structural RC members and propose a seismic design in Malaysia.

Legal framework in mitigaitng building failures in Kenya

There have been increasing cases of buildings failures in Kenya, with many reported cases of buildings collapsing and causing loss of lives. Like other industries in the country, the building and construction industry is governed by legal frameworks. However, while such laws exist, not much has been written on legal frameworks and how they mitigate building failures in the country. The current study therefore sought to investigate this relationship, basing its arguments on institutional theory. Quantitative data was collected from 275 respondents from 11 counties that have been the worst hit by building failures in the country. Findings from the study indicate that even though legal frameworks have a significance effect in mitigating building failures, there exist obsolete laws, as well as multiple regulatory frameworks in the country which compound the challenges that exist within this industry. Implications from the study are given.

Abandonment of Housing Projects in Nigeria: Appraisal of the Environmental and Socio-Economic Implications

The rate of housing project abandonment in Nigeria is alarming and increasing by the day. Housing projects are supposed to be beneficial to both the individuals and society at large as it depicts the level of a country’s development. But the incessant abandonment of these housing projects undoubtedly has some negative impact on the people, real property values, the construction industry and the built environment. This study aimed at reviewing the effects of housing project abandonment with the objective of identifying the causes in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States respectively. The study employed a combination of literature review site visitations, discussions with focal group (occupants and host of abandoned housing projects) and quantitative research approach using Linkert Scale structured questionnaires. The questionnaire were distributed to respondents mainly professionals in the building industry as well as users of abandoned housing project using purposive sampling method. The data collected was analyzed using Relative Importance Index (R.I.I). Findings reveal that 38 causes of project abandonment and 22 negative effects of abandonment of housing projects include defacing the aesthetics of the urban environment, visual defects on the environment/project site; distortions of the landscape/urban planning, structural failure of building, environmental pollution, increased health problems, threat to lives/insecurity, and decreased economic activities among others. The study recommended availability of funds for project execution, proper costing and appropriate schedule of project duration, transparency in selection of competent and trusted contractors, involvement of stakeholders in project selection and approval, policy of continuity of project by successive administration.

Collapsed-RC Building Failure Mechanisms with a Forensic Engineering Approach

AbstractA reinforced concrete building in Konya, Turkey, collapsed suddenly on February 2, 2004, and 92 residents died. This case study was performed to determine the alternate load paths and failu...

Geohazard characterization of subsurface materials using integrated geophysical methods for post foundation studies: a case study

Different geophysical approaches including seismic refraction, electromagnetic resistivity with very low frequency and magnetics prospecting method were used to gain a richer and more complete understanding of subsurface environment in delineating the origin of the cracks on the buildings of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Federal University Oye- Ekiti. Three (3) profiles of seismic refraction, Five (5) Very Low Frequency-Electromagnetic traverses, twenty-one (21) Vertical Electrical Soundings and three (3) magnetic profiles were occupied and investigated around the distress building. Three major layers were delineated in the study region comprising the topsoil, the weathered/fractured layer and the fresh basement. The VES curve types obtained were A, H, K and Q curves. The buildings were found to be situated within the area of a fairly high concentration of fractures that can aid subsidence in the area and relatively low resistivity zones typical of incompetent clay formation. The geovelocity layers’ characteristics substantiate the electrical resistivity imaging and vertical electrical sounding results as it revealed a 3-layer model namely: topsoil and basement bedrock as the weathered layer is blinded. The topsoil has average velocity 363 m/s which is diagnostic of weak/unconsolidated materials presumably clayey materials and average thickness of 1.7 m. The sub-weathering/ is blinded while the third layer is the bedrock with average velocity of 1183 m/s and characterized with a displaced parallel time segment indicating fault within the bedrock. From the result, the building failure observe as cracks and foundation subsidence may have been caused by the foundation soils that made up of incompetent materials (clay) which could compress on imposing loads by differential settlement. It is noteworthy that geological features such as fractures/faults delineated within the bedrock is also inimical to the building foundation.

Semi-quantitative classification of consequences of failure for seismic risk management of existing buildings

This paper presents a uniform and consistent semi-quantitative classification of consequences of failure of buildings as part of a multi-level seismic risk management framework for existing buildings to help building owners make risk-informed decisions for the seismic evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings to minimise the life safety risk. The management framework consists of three levels of risk assessment, namely: (i) Level 1: Preliminary seismic screening; (ii) Level 2: Semi-quantitative seismic risk screening; and (iii) Level 3: Quantitative seismic evaluation. The proposed classification consists in general of three classes, namely: (i) Consequence Class – Low (CC-L), (ii) Consequence Class – Medium (CC-M); and (iii) Consequence Class – High (CC-H). These consequence classes are based on semi-quantitative criteria, including building occupancy, number of people at risk, building area, number of storeys, and mobility and ability to escape. The proposed classification can be used to refine the building importance classification in many codes, standards and guides to yield more uniform classification of consequences of failure that can be integrated with the seismic risk management framework to determine more uniform risks of failure. An example illustrating the application of the proposed classification is provided for the case of office buildings.

Experimental determination of pressure coefficients for flood loading of walls of Dutch terraced houses

Failure of residential buildings during floods is an important cause of damage and loss of life. In the case of the Netherlands, the collapse of buildings is implicitly included in current damage and mortality curves since these are generated from historical data. However, the Netherlands has not experienced destructive flooding since 1953, so damage functions for modern buildings do not exist. Therefore, this paper assesses the effect of floods on modern Dutch residences with laboratory tests and structural models in order to formulate physically-based fragility curves. The results gathered are also applicable to similarly-built masonry and cavity-wall rowhouses elsewhere.Almost half of the Dutch population live in terraced houses (also known as townhouses or rowhouses), of which the critical failure mechanism during a flood is out-of-plane bending of the load-bearing walls. Failure of these structural elements should be analysed with the pressure coefficient, Cp, instead of the currently used drag coefficient, CD, because wall collapse is more likely than displacement of the entire structure. This paper describes the quantification of both coefficients by conducting flume experiments on rectangular boxes with different geometries and orientations. Higher drag coefficients are derived from the experiments than provided by FEMA, resulting in higher hydrodynamic loads on the residences.The physical approach to evaluate the collapse of residences is exemplified with a case study of the three most common type of residences in the Netherlands. Structural analyses of their load-bearing walls subjected to a hydrostatic and hydrodynamic load perpendicular to the wall show failure due to milder flood conditions than the current damage curves do for all case study residences. A sensitivity analysis shows an important influence of wall thickness, initial axial loading of the wall, and the flood water level inside the residence.

Effect of planar irregularity of linear static and dynamic analysis

A structure that has difference between centre of mass and centre of rigidity is called an Irregular building. Among the different types of irregularities in the building, this paper focuses on Planar Irregularity. Planar irregular buildings are quite commonly constructed Multi-storey structures with the present construction capabilities and space requirements. These multi storeyed buildings are subjected to most dangerous seismic waves during earthquakes. The main reason found that RCC building failure is caused due to Irregularity in its plan dimension and lateral force distribution. This paper tries to study the linear behavior of buildings under static and dynamic earthquake excitation. To investigate the analytical behavior of buildings with increasing irregularity under Linear Dynamic (Response Spectrum) Analysis for different Excitation angles. Efforts are made to bring out the scope of rationalization in IS code provisions for dynamic analysis on irregular structural. A regular building, ‘T’ shape, ‘L’ Shaped and Fan shaped of 13 storeys of 3 m height are considered for this paper. The buildings are modelled and analysed using MIDAS Gen 2019 (V2.1) and IS Code 1893:2002 (part 1) is considered.

Combinatorial analysis for probabilistic assessment of dependent failures in systems and portfolios

System reliability is usefully applied to assess the performance of individual structures and portfolios of structures. In many instances, one is interested in knowing the probability that m failures have occurred among n components in a system, or that at least m failures have occurred among n components. Examples include structural failure modes within a single infrastructure or building, buildings and structures within a portfolio, or components of infrastructure systems such as transportation, water, power and communications. In cases where failure events in different components are statistically independent and their probability is identical, the number of component failures follows the binomial distribution. However, in most situations, these conditions do not hold. In this paper, we present a combinatorial formulation for computing the probability of m failures out of n system components for the general case, based on an extension of the inclusion–exclusion​ principle for computing the probability of a union. The results have been verified by an existing mathematical approach previously available in a mathematical textbook on combinatorics. The current derivation presents a closed-form accounting scheme derived for the inclusion/exclusion problem of multiple building failures in a portfolio, but also applicable to multiple modes of failure in a structural system. An example application to a portfolio of buildings is presented.

A taxonomy of building collapse causes in Lagos State Nigeria

This Lagos-based study provides an unsupervised grouping of the causes of building collapse in Lagos State Nigeria using purposively obtained data from construction professionals (n=34) in the state. Hierarchical cluster analysis technique and mean scores were used for the analyses. Findings show that the causes of building collapse in Lagos State can be statistically grouped into design and construction-related, policy-related and quality-related causes. The most important causes of building collapse under each of these groups are respectively: poor maintenance culture, change of use of building and use of substandard materials in construction. Government needs to strengthen efforts at monitoring both the design and construction of buildings, starting with fine-tuning building related policies. A holistic approach should be adopted in addressing building material counterfeiting and circulation of substandard construction materials in the study area.
 Keywords: Building Approval, Building Collapse, Building Failure, Cluster Analysis, Lagos State.

Civil Liability of Construction Service Providers Against Building Failures in the Taxiway Construction Agreement of Kuala Namu International Airport

Medan, as a metropolitan city, has several advantages, such as the strategic location for various economic activities. As the capital of North Sumatra Province, Medan continues to develop by building many infrastructures to support business activities such as airport, seaport, apartments, toll roads, hotels, hospitals, housing properties, and others. Constructing infrastructure in Medan requires a building contract made by a notary public as a general official authorized to make authentic deeds. Construction is the activity of building facilities and infrastructure which includes building construction, civil infrastructure construction, mechanical and electrical installations. An example of the construction work is the establishment of taxiways through the operational cooperation between PT Adi Karya (Persero) Tbk and PT Duta Graha Indah Tbk. This study applies an analytical descriptive approach utilizing a normative legal method. The results show that the implementation of taxiway construction complies with the Joint Operation Agreement between PT Adi Karya (Persero) Tbk and PT Duta Graha Indah Tbk under Law Number 2 of 2017 concerning Construction Services applicable for all projects throughout Indonesia, which states that the construction service providers must repair construction failures during the maintenance period.

The Role of State and Professional Bodies in Developing Code for Structural Concrete – Learning from other Nations

In order to arrest the rampant structural failures of buildings, there have been call for the development and adoption of structural design codes that will capture all relevant environmental issues that are peculiar to Nigeria. This paper presents the results of analysis of data collected from the public domain (libraries and internet sources) on Nations with acceptable structural design codes in concrete and allied materials. Some of the findings are that: (i) Code or Standard does not necessarily need to be a legal document or backed by the state to enjoy wider acceptance or be recognized, (ii) it is possible for people in the same professions to form professional association and regulate the operation of the profession by setting standard of practice which can be recognized, not only by people, but also acceptable to the State and (iii) whether a standard developed as a legal document or recommendations of professional association, openness and consideration for the inputs for all are necessary. This is to ensure that the operation of the standard will not run contrary to the public good, or in violation of the common law, or infringe the rights of a subject/citizen. Keywords — Building failures, Codes, Concrete, Legal document, Professional bodies, Structures.