Civil Projects Research Articles

Presenting a model for estimating the cube compressive strength of self-compacting concrete in cast in-situ piles using GEP

The cast in-situ pile is a widely used type of deep foundations which its execution in civil projects is increasing daily. The use of ordinary concrete in this type of piles causes technical and executive problems, a decrease in the compressive strength (CS) of concrete, and an increase in the permeability under the ground level. But use of the self-compacting concrete in the cast in-situ piles while increasing the CS of concrete ensures proper compaction, increase in the execution speed, and easy placing of concrete. In this article, utilizing the data obtained from the laboratory results and also the application of soft computing techniques, predicting the degree of CS of self-compacting concrete (SCC) in concrete piles was investigated. To estimate the CS of SCC, a total number of 7 inputs were implemented. Then, using gene expression programming (GEP) a model was presented for estimating the CS of SCC in the cast in-situ piles. The results of the neural network showed a precision of 99.98% which exhibits the high accuracy of the model. The use of this model could greatly help persons, companies, and research centers in the preparation and construction of self-compacting concrete with the desired CS.

Material Cost Fluctuations: Analyzing the Effects of Market Volatility on Civil Project Budgets

Material Cost Fluctuations: Analyzing the Effects of Market Volatility on Civil Project Budgets

Development of an optical measurement system for strain determination in concrete structures

Health monitoring activities in concrete structures are crucial tools in Civil Engineering for both maintenance processes and durability assessment. These activities carry significant economic implications within the field of civil projects. At the regional level, locally produced products and services for such monitoring are lacking. This deficiency is likely due to the high costs associated with importing and deploying such systems, thus limiting the implementation of structural health monitoring practices. However, strain measurement is a key parameter in structural monitoring techniques, and optical sensors have emerged as attractive alternatives due to their inherent advantages over conventional technologies. Recognizing the potential benefits and economic impact of such systems in civil project management, and noting the void in the regional market, this article presents the results of a technological development undertaken as part of a start-up technological project. Specifically, an optical system was designed, implemented, and tested for strain measurement in concrete structures using locally manufactured fiber optic sensors based on Bragg gratings.

Implementation of Value Engineering For Optimization of Road Reconstruction Project Financing Case Study: Cibadak – Padasuka Road Section Project, Lebak Regency, Banten Province

Road reconstruction is one of the important infrastructure projects in supporting economic growth and community mobility. However, such projects are often faced with budget constraints, which require the application of effective methods for cost management. One method that can be used is Value Engineering (VE), which aims to optimize costs without reducing the quality or function of the project. This study focuses on the implementation of VE in the Cibadak - Padasuka road reconstruction project in Lebak Regency, Banten. The study was conducted through an analysis of several project components that have the potential to be optimized, using methods such as Pareto analysis, and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis. The results of the study indicate that 1. The work item that is the subject of Value Engineering study in this study is Road Paving work; 2. The Value Engineering study obtained 3 alternatives, namely the Rigid Pavement Method PPCP, SPRigWP & Flexible Pavement; 3. The construction cost value of Value Engineering is: • Alternative 1 PPCP Method against alternative 0 (Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced an increase in construction costs of Rp. 324,545,518.51 or 3.30%, • Alternative 2 SPRigWP Method against alternative 0 (Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced an increase in construction costs of Rp. 2,693,845,581.45,- or 30.75%, • Alternative 3 Flexible Pavement compared to alternative 0 (Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced a decrease in construction cost of Rp. 1,368,807,868.21, or 15.63%; 4. The Life Cycle Cost (LCC) value from Value Engineering is: • Alternative 1 PPCP Method compared to alternative 0 (Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced a decrease in Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of Rp. 1,020,655,389.33,- or 9.55%, • Alternative 2 SPRigWP Method against alternative 0 (Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced an increase in Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of Rp. 1,375,850,167.98 or 12.87%, • Alternative 3 Flexible Pavement against alternative 0 ( Conventional Concrete/Cast In Situ) experienced an increase in Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of Rp. 10,697,757,430.34 or 100.07%. So that in the study conducted on the Cibadak - Padasuka Road Reconstruction Project, Warunggunung District, Lebak Regency, Banten Province Alternative 1 Precast Prestressed Concrete Pavement (PPCP) Rigid Pavement Method is the recommendation with the lowest LCC value.This research is expected to provide practical recommendations that can be applied to similar projects in the future, as well as contributing to the development of science in the field of civil engineering and project management.

Fault diagnosis of monoblock centrifugal pumps using pre-trained deep learning models and scalogram images

The monoblock centrifugal pump (MCP) is widely utilized in a diverse range of applications encompassing residential and industrial usage. Sectors such as agriculture, civil projects, mine dewatering, and numerous other industrial applications have employed centrifugal pumps. Despite their extensive usage, these pumps are susceptible to faults and failures due to the presence of critical components that are prone to issues such as bearing faults, sealing problems, cavitation and impeller faults. Therefore, conducting timely fault diagnosis becomes crucial to ensure uninterrupted operation. To address this, the technique of transfer learning, a form of deep learning, is employed. This method entails utilizing prior knowledge from previous operations to improve fault diagnostic performance in monoblock centrifugal pumps. Specifically, scalogram images derived from vibration signals collected during experimental setups were used in fault diagnosis. The study classified faults in monoblock centrifugal pumps using fifteen pre-trained networks including DenseNet-201, GoogLeNet, VGG-19, InceptionResNetV2, Xception, ShuffleNet, VGG-16, InceptionV3, ResNet101, ResNet-50, EfficientNetb0, NasNetmobile, ResNet-18, AlexNet and MobileNet-v2. The highest classification accuracy was obtained by carefully adjusting the hyperparameters which were subsequently employed in the fault classification process. AlexNet, one of the pre-trained network models, showcased remarkable capabilities by achieving a perfect classification accuracy of 100% within a relatively fast computation time of 18 s. This approach employs a reliable and effective process for discovering defects from the start, lowering the risk of possible damage and ensuring the seamless operation of the system.

«Постсекулярное»: возобновление дискуссии

The article outlines the idea of “postsecularity,” which has already become traditional in certain areas of religious studies and sociology of religion. On the one hand, it is contested within other research areas, and on the other hand, has not led to the creation of a clear and consistent theory, although it has become very popular in public discussion. In defending his position, the author refers both to his own works on the topic and to a large corpus of texts that to one degree or another touch upon the “post-secular thesis”, including studies devoted to the concepts of “secular” and “religion” in the aspect of their rethinking in modern times. Secularism, understood as an ideology and quasi-religion, and its fate in the modern world are discussed. It is argued that classical European secularization has now ended due to the fact that secularism as a global civilizational project has failed not only in non-Western contexts, but also in zones of active secularization, which took place in European contexts, albeit in different forms – both the ghettoization of religion (in the European West), and the atheism of the entire society (as in countries where the socialist project was being implemented). The new post-secular situation is characterized as the return of religion/religiosity not only to the public sphere, but also to the Lebenswelt of individuals who actualize various forms of religiosity, including the so-called spirituality. Thus, contrary to the standard thesis about secularization, which assumes a decline in people’s religiosity, the modern world demonstrates its new forms, not necessarily associated with long, dominant religious traditions and organizations. The author believes that the concept of a “true believer” as the most conscious, informed and religiously active individual, which has become standard in the science of religion, should be discarded, given that religiosity manifests itself in a variety of forms, far from such rigoristic interpretations. The author’s final thought is that in the current situation, the modern European description (understanding) of religion can no longer be a prescription for religion, that is, a requirement addressed to it, which is one of the aspects of the “post-secular turn”.

Беседа врио первого зам. директора Института философии РАН, руководителя мегатемы «Российский проект цивилизационного развития», академика РАН А.В. Смирнова с главным редактором журнала «Проблемы цивилизационного развития», доктором философских наук В.Н. Шевченко

The current conversation of the head of the megatheme “Russian civilizational development project” academician Andrey V. Smirnov and the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Civilization Studies Review” Vladimir N. Shevchenko discovers the results of the five-year work of the research group of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy, and gives a general assessment of the significance of the results obtained for a wide range of academic researchers – philosophers, political and cultural scientists, historians, and for the entire Russian academic community. In particular, important issues of clarifying the initially formulated goals and objectives of the project are raised. The general standards of publications in the journal, created to highlight the scientific results of research on the megatheme, as well as further prospects are discussed. The discussion also covers such problems as compatibility of various methodological approaches used by the authors of published materials, scrutinizes the relations of cultural, political and legal aspects. Significant attention is paid to theoretical views upon the interaction of civilizations in modern conditions, as well as the unique logic of the development of Russian civilization, the connection between “high” and traditional culture in the search for the most adequate expression of the essence of the civilizational project and its practical implementation.

Comparison of plane-to-sky contrast and detection range performance in the visible, short-wave infrared, mid-wave infrared, and long-wave infrared bands

Recent advances in uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) technology have the potential to benefit diverse civil, commercial, scientific, and defense projects. Many applications would benefit from beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. Such operations require automated safety systems that allow uncrewed aircraft to avoid collisions with both crewed and uncrewed aircraft. Electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors are commonly employed by aircraft collision avoidance systems. This study compares plane-to-sky contrast in the VIS (0.4 to 0.7 µm), SWIR (1 to 1.7 µm), MWIR (3 to 5 µm), and LWIR (8 to 14 µm) to determine which band is most sensitive to an aircraft signal against a clear sky background. Contrast in the two reflective bands (VIS and SWIR) is determined in terms of equivalent reflectivity, and contrast in the two emissive bands (MWIR and LWIR) is determined in terms of equivalent blackbody temperature. Sensitivity data are then used alongside resolution specifications to estimate the detection performance at-range using the night vision integrated performance model (NVIPM). The results are extrapolated to a maritime atmosphere using MODTRAN. An analysis of the range performance and recommendations on band selection are provided for reference in the design of EO/IR systems for aircraft collision avoidance. Future research may study the band performance at night and against other backgrounds (e.g. clouds, ocean, ground terrain).

Application of Skip-bin Casting Method in Mass Concrete

With the increasing scale of large-scale civil and industrial construction projects, the problem of controlling temperature cracks is of vital importance in order to ensure the integrity and durability of mass concrete foundation footings. This paper is based on an actual project of construction of a large volume concrete skip bin method, using Midas FEA NX to carry out finite element simulation of the construction process under the skip bin casting of the project, and study the temperature field derived from the simulation, and it is found that the temperature of this large volume concrete project is maximum at about 48h after the concrete casting, and the location is in the center of the concrete.

Waqf in Social and Cultural Dimensions

Waqf has succeeded in funding Islamic civilization projects from time to time and in social and economic development, so waqf plays a good role in achieving the welfare of a just and prosperous society. One of the Islamic economic institutions that plays a vital role in empowering the people’s economy is waqf. One of the goals of waqf is to create social justice for the people in line with the basic principles of the Indonesian state. The waqf process, starting from the wakif giving the waqf to be managed and providing benefits following the definition of waqf itself, is a kind of gift, the implementation of which is carried out by holding, so that it generates benefits but is not inherited in all its forms. Keywords: waqf, social, cultural

The Contractor's Role in Mitigating Disasters in Cianjur City, West Java, Indonesia's Ciawi Road Project

Construction projects for road infrastructure are typically undertaken outside and are very susceptible to unforeseen circumstances, such as natural catastrophes. An extensive workforce, high-quality building supplies, and schedule-driven construction implementation strategies were employed by the contractor to complete this project. The purpose of this research was to discover the steps that contractors need to follow in the event of a natural disaster while they are in the process of building, in order to prevent losses for them. The Ciawi Road Project in Cianjur, West Java, serves as the research case study. Ten variables can be used by contractors as preventive measures for disaster management for other contractors and other civil projects, according to data obtained from a questionnaire method and analysis using SPSS statistics.

Changing Nature of the European Union - Turkey Relations: From Civilizational Project to Transactional Cooperation

Turkey’s ambition to be anchored in the European integration process is one of the oldest and most challenging priorities of its foreign policy. As a symbolic coincidence, the centenary of the Republic of Turkey overlaps with the 60th anniversary of its association relationship with the then European Economic Community (EEC) during when both sides have experienced frequent fluctuations in their bilateral relations. In that sense, the idea of change has always embedded in Turkey-European Union (EU) relations corresponding to much broader changes in Turkey’s foreign policy. This study is aware of the fact that focusing on one side will provide only a partial explanation of variations in the EU-Turkey relations and aims to present the drivers of change in their mutual relations not only by focusing on the actions and inactions of the successive Turkish governments but also by paying attention to the changes in the EU’s and its member states’ policies towards Turkey. This study adopts literature review and tries to answer how Turkey’s EU policy has transformed in the last 60 years by analysing historical turning points in this period and their implications for the ongoing relations. Based on this historical analysis, this study argues that the relationship between the EU and Turkey, which has been becoming increasingly distant from each other, has lost the initial civilisational spirit and turned into a patronage symbolised by ad-hoc transactional agreement/s.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecological security pattern based on an optimized assessment framework and circuit theory: a case of Fuzhou City, China

The construction of the ecological security pattern (ESP) and ensuring its integrity are the focal points of ecological actions. However, existing evaluation frameworks lack comprehensiveness, and studies addressing temporal dimensions are limited. This study constructed a comprehensive framework to evaluate ESP and introduced a method to portray the relationship between ecological security status and landscape structure. Initially, multiple indicators were optimized to construct an ecological security index (ESI). The relationship between ESI and landscape structure was quantified. Then, fifteen spatiotemporal factors were combined using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to construct an ecological resistance layer. Finally, Circuit theory was applied to visualize trends in ESP. The findings indicated that ecological security was generally better but with a downward trend. The relationship between ESI and landscape fragmentation was mainly a tradeoff. The area of stable ecological sources was 1251.06 km2 (1996–2021). The number of minimal-cost corridors decreased continuously. Ecological sources with the highest conservation priority were the largest (1336.2 km2) in 2021. The number of pinch points was 25, 31, and 30, while ecological barriers covered 51.5, 148.74, and 139.51 km2 in 1996, 2008, and 2021, respectively. This study will serve as a valuable methodological reference and support ecological civilization projects in Fuzhou.

Rhythms, dressage and pacemaking in South Side Chicago: examining the construction site of the Obama Presidential Center

ABSTRACT This article examines the effects of a major civil project, the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, on the everyday rhythms of this part of the city. In particular, we examine the construction site of this center and its impact on the production of rhythms. We focus on the notion of “dressage” in Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, suggesting a critical reading of this notion through the theory of pacemaker. Theorizing the interrelation between rhythms, dressage and pacemaking, our article investigates the interface of the built environment and everyday rhythms. We employ the chronoanalysis concept of the “pacemaker” to analyze the OPC construction site’s disruption and introduction of new rhythms which transform the park. The discussion provides reflections on how Lefebvre’s concept of dressage can be theoretically advanced through pacemaking and thereby made fruitful for empirical inquiry. The examination of the OPC construction site draws attention to how major infrastructural projects change the rhythms of urban spaces and can provide concrete perspectives on how capitalist urban redevelopment becomes manifest in people’s lived everyday experiences and routines.

Mechanical and fracturing characteristics of defected rock-like materials under biaxial compression

Various types of discontinuities have great influences on rock stability in underground excavation, as engineering disasters can be triggered by crack growth from flaws. Motivated by this concern, quasi-static biaxial compression tests are conducted on rock-like cement mortar materials. These tests examine the effect of shape, orientation, and interaction of pre-existing defects, representing natural or preconditioning fractures. Mechanical and fracturing characteristics are analyzed using stress-strain response, acoustic emission (AE), digital image correlation (DIC), and synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (CT) techniques. It could be found that the confinement increases the sample peak stress and restricts the development of cracks in intact samples. In hole samples, cracks initiate from the boundary of the hole, and the application of the confining pressure restricts the tensile cracks originating at the roof and floor of the hole to some extent. The hole-flaw interaction changes stress distribution and cracking behaviours. Cracks initiating from intersected flaw tips with a high inclination angle coalesce with the hole, while parallel independent flaws block the propagation of the cracks initiating from the hole boundary. Besides, it is proved that the integrated analysis framework, coupled with acoustic emission information interpretation, is feasible to accurately investigate fracturing characteristics in samples with complex pre-existing defects. The findings would benefit underground civil and resource-related projects.

Issues of Interpretation and Understanding: Social Semiotic Framework to Inform Teaching of Civil Engineering and Project Communications

Issues of Interpretation and Understanding: Social Semiotic Framework to Inform Teaching of Civil Engineering and Project Communications

Probabilistic slope stability analysis: A novel distribution for soils exhibiting highly variable spatial properties

Slope stability calculation depends on the soil properties (cohesion and the friction angle) of the soil. Heterogeneous terrains are frequently observed in civil and mining projects where the properties are highly spatially variable. Based on a real data from case studies, this paper presents a probabilistic analysis of the slope stability of highly heterogeneous terrains with a very high coefficient of variation (COV) of the cohesion distribution. The existing deterministic and probabilistic approaches for calculating slope stability lack the capability to effectively consider the significant heterogeneity present in the terrain The objective of the paper is to develop a new bounded interval distribution having a COV that is as high (>150%) as the COV of the cohesion distribution The results obtained with this new distribution are compared to 4 other semi-infinite distributions. To consider the correlation between cohesion and the friction angle, a specific formulation was developed to generate friction angles varying between fixed minimum and maximum limits and having the desired correlation coefficient, mean, and standard deviation. The new cohesion and friction angle distributions were incorporated and tested in a probabilistic numerical model. The new distribution can presently be applied to geotechnical studies for terrains and heterogenous materials with properties exhibiting high spatial variability.

‘A paradise among leprosariums’: Hansen’s disease and affective containment in the Panama Canal Zone

ABSTRACT The Panama Canal Zone’s American administration established Palo Seco Leper Colony in 1907 in order to contain individuals with Hansen’s disease. Yet containment was never a simple strategy. This article argues that American observers used rhetoric to transmute their fear of Hansen’s disease into pity, imagining isolation as a form of care and buttressing the United States’ claim that the curative violence of incarceration was part of a beneficent global project of humanitarianism, civilization, and modernity. At the same time, residents at Palo Seco often reworked or simply rejected these affective claims, and close attention to the archival record finds examples of their anger, love, and hope, as well as pain, stigma, and loneliness. Residents were labelled and consigned, ostensibly made static and ordered through diagnosis, but the site hosted a dynamism and disorder—in both senses of the word—that American imperialism professed to control, but never could. Palo Seco was a kind of emotional contact zone where managers, commentators, and residents negotiated the affective scripts and sentiments of their imperial encounter. Attention to these subjectivities testifies to the humanness, the ragged edges, and the profound affect of the imperial enterprise and its ableist institutions.

ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКІ ЦІННОСТІ ЯК ЧИННИК КОНСОЛІДАЦІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА В УМОВАХ РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ

The article analyzes the value dimension of the consolidation of Ukrainian society under the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The author’s attention is focused on the attitude of Ukrainians toward the value foundations of a united Europe. The paper is based on sociological research from 2014–2024 years. The author traces the dynamics of the attitude of Ukrainians toward the European Union, the possibility of joining Ukraine the EU, basic and political European values (freedom, equality, security, democracy, political system, political regime). The article emphasizes the transformation that has taken place in Ukrainian society: from misunderstanding, reticence or denial to mass support for the European perspective of Ukraine and awareness of the civilizational choice. Consolidation is seen as the unity of society based on common values and a common goal. The Russian-Ukrainian war became one of the means of consolidating Ukrainian society around European values to protect Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent democratic state. Any country striving to be a subject of history must rely on a certain level of internal and external consolidation. The article argues that only by relying on the community of its consolidated citizens, the country can realize its own civilizational project, remaining a historical and geopolitical subject. At the same time, to ensure a dignified life and the self-realization of these citizens, the country must economically and politically consolidate with other countries. It has been proven that the consolidation of Ukrainians on the axiological basis of a united Europe in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war is the basis of its stability, the driving force of social development, and the unifying factor in the formation of a political nation and civil society in Ukraine. Summarizing, the author notes that during the post-war reconstruction of the country on the basis of European democratic values, the development of a scientifically based strategy of social consolidation and the involvement of professionals in its implementation acquires practical significance.

Effects of Cultural Factors on Cost Performance of Multinational Construction Organizations

Purpose: This study examines the effects of cultural factors on cost performance of multinational construction project organisations with a view towards identifying the most effective cost performance variables affected by the influence of cultural practices. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in deterring the number of construction professionals identified in construction companies with international market experience involved in the delivery of building, civil, and heavy engineering construction projects within the south-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Outline: A well-structured questionnaire was used to sample respondent’s opinion. Data analysis was through frequencies, percentile, and Mean Item Score (MIS). Findings: Research findings proved that irrespective of the positive effects of educational culture which improves cost performance by ensuring that projects are executed at estimated cost and within client’s budget (Mean = 4.34) and the result of effective communication culture which ensures value for money and return of customer as project is designed to suite client’s budget while maintaining standard quality delivery (Mean = 4.16), political culture tends to have mixed effect on cost performance as project design cost, labour, material and equipment cost, profit and overhead cost, etc. (Mean = 4.30) is found to be responsible for cost overruns of construction projects. Research Implication: The study recommends among others that multinational construction organisations pay great attention to the political style practiced in the host community / country in which they operate.