Edifice Research Articles

Development of self-centering and energy-dissipating dual-stage reinforced concrete rocking column-base system

Reinforced concrete (RC) frame is one of the most commonly adopted forms of building structure worldwide. However, server damages can develop in columns during earthquakes which often lead to the catastrophic collapse of the entire structure. In this paper, the novel dual-stage RC rocking column-base system with low-damage characteristics is proposed and tested. The system composes of the unbonded-buckling-restrained-brace (UBRBs) as the sacrificial energy-dissipation component and steel coat at column base to prevent concrete crushing. To prevent column overturning and base slippage while rocking, limiters and contact bars are used to establish the mechanism which limit the column uplift in an extreme earthquake and allow the column reinforcements to yield. Two column performance stages separated by the activation of limiter mechanism are established. In the first stage, the reinforcements of rocking column-base remain elastic while UBRBs yield to dissipate energy. In the second stage, the reinforcements of rocking column-base enter plasticity through the activation of limiter mechanism to dissipate additional energy and prevent column overturning. The hysteresis tests on UBRBs are performed which finds that the UBRBs with equilibrant triangle cross-section and no filling demonstrate stable hysteresis behavior and decent energy dissipation capacity. Experiments on the rocking column-base system demonstrated that the proposed system remains fully elastic at the drift of 0.18 %. Further, the system remains structurally intact at the drift of 2 % and its original performance can be rapidly restored through UBRB replacements. Immediately after 2 % drift, the limiter mechanism is activated and the entire system enters plastic state and dissipates significant energy. With the activation of the limiter mechanism, the bearing capacity of the rocking column-base increases sharply by almost 30 % as a result of column reinforcement yielding, demonstrating the characteristics of dual-stage performance. The system maintains higher levels of bearing capacity until 5 % drift then its peak capacity before the activation of limiter mechanism, indicating the significant ductility potential of the system. Additionally, the system shows reasonable capacity to self-center through axial load and gravity.

Evaluation of the therapeutic relevance of architectural aspects in child and adolescent psychiatric institutions from the perspective of architects and senior physicians

Abstract Objective The concept of “Healing Architecture” addresses the relevance of design and architectural issues on the outcome of medical and therapeutic treatment in hospitals. The questionnaire ARCHI was developed to record data on the opinion of different groups of users on the architectural design of their therapeutic environment in departments of child and adolescent psychiatry. Method A Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in two phases between 2020 and 2022 using ARCHI to gather the perspectives of senior physicians and architects on the significance of architectural design in German child and adolescent psychiatric facilities. Results In the survey of the senior physicians, 49 heads of child and adolescents psychiatric departments initiated the survey, and 73.5% (n = 36) of them completed the questionnaire in its entirety. During the survey for the architect-specific, 145 individuals commenced the survey, and 60.7% of them completed the questionnaire (n = 88). Significant differences between architects and senior physicians became visible for four of the 93 items, namely “environment of the hospital”, “structure of building”, “labelling of floors” and “visible cleanliness”. Conclusions Although senior physicians and architects were characterized by the same opinions on the relevance of architectural design on therapeutic issues for the major part of issues, differences could be obtained for several aspects which are important for the architectural planning of new departments and hospitals. It remains open why both professional groups had different point of views on these four aspects of hospital design which should be clarified to improve the process of hospital development in the future.

Design and application of inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding.

In order to reduce the cost of scaffolding usage in engineering projects as much as possible under the premise of safety and rationality, while avoiding the risk of leakage caused by holes left in the building structure by the scaffolding, a type of inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding is proposed based on the stress characteristics of traditional cantilevered scaffolding. Considering the actual construction characteristics, a comprehensive approach involving theoretical analysis, on-site field tests, and finite element methods is adopted to clarify the full-process design method of the inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding. Additionally, recommendations are provided for the practical engineering design and application of the inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding. Finally, the inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding is applied in actual engineering. The research results indicate that the proposed full-process design method is feasible, and the inclined tensioned steel cantilevered scaffolding is more cost-effective than traditional cantilevered scaffolding.

Building Change Detection Network Based on Multilevel Geometric Representation Optimization Using Frame Fields

To address the challenges of accurately segmenting irregular building boundaries in complex urban environments faced by existing remote sensing change detection methods, this paper proposes a building change detection network based on multilevel geometric representation optimization using frame fields called BuildingCDNet. The proposed method employs a multi-scale feature aggregation encoder–decoder architecture, leveraging contextual information to capture the characteristics of buildings of varying sizes in the imagery. Cross-attention mechanisms are incorporated to enhance the feature correlations between the change pairs. Additionally, the frame field is introduced into the network to model the complex geometric structure of the building target. By learning the local orientation information of the building structure, the frame field can effectively capture the geometric features of complex building features. During the training process, a multi-task learning strategy is used to align the predicted frame field with the real building outline, while learning the overall segmentation, edge outline, and corner point features of the building. This improves the accuracy of the building polygon representation. Furthermore, a discriminative loss function is constructed through multi-task learning to optimize the polygonal structured information of the building targets. The proposed method achieves state-of-the-art results on two commonly used datasets.

A Case Study on Using the Concrete Cover Block in Steel Reinforcement Bar: Ghorahi Dang, Nepal

Cover block is one of the basic component on building structure like slab, column, beam, foundation. It is a multi- functionary engineering material. In maximum construction sites, bricks, stones, steel bars are used instead of cover block. This brings a lots of depraved consequences on building structures like lack of well spacing between surface and reinforcement bars, unbalance position of steel bars, reduce the lifespan of building and corrosion. Here, the main function of cover block is to reinforce the building structure by avoiding the corrosion on steel bar or avoiding the moisture with the steel bar, providing the resistive property, distributing an uniform load and managing space. In this way, the cover block is attached in a reinforcement bar in order to reinforce a building structure. When cover block was applied in a building structure, it made a building more durable as well as more attractive by maintaining the shape. This observation suggests that the use of cover block can contribute in strengthening a building structure and maintaining a position and space of a reinforcement bars as well as a structure. Key Words: Concrete cover block, Reinforcement bar, Potential failure of structure, Space maintaining, Corrosion activity.

Perencanaan Fondasi Pada Pembangunan Gedung 5 Lantai Rumah Sakit Puri Asih Salatiga

A foundation is a part of a system of substructures that holds its own weight and the entire force load of the superstructure, then passes it on to the soil and rock layers located underneath. Foundation Planning must be done carefully to obtain the appropriate carrying capacity to support the load of the structure on it. Good Foundation Planning will avoid the collapse of the structure on top of it. Before planning the foundation, it is good to carry out a soil investigation to determine the type of foundation used, in addition to the results of the soil investigation can determine the treatment of the soil so that the carrying capacity can support the construction to be built. In the research on foundation planning for this five-storey building structure, it is known that the carrying capacity value generated from sondir data with a qc value of 150 kg/cm2 calculated using the Mayerhoff method is 28198.26 kN/m2. With a combination of serving loads, the bore pile foundation is planned with a diameter of 0.5 meters and a depth of 4 meters. For reinforcement design, a combination of ultimate loads is used. From the results of the calculation of the main reinforcement used 12 D19 and the spiral reinforcement used Ø10.

Analisis Pengaruh Penempatan Shearwall Pada Gedung Hotel Shafira

Hotel Shafira is a flat-shaped building with 10 floors, 12 meters wide and 72 meters long. These structures are prone to significant horizontal irregularities, reducing the overall efficiency of the building. The irregularity is partly due to the uneven distribution of the mass, as seen from the difference in the span of the portal between the back and front of the building which produces large cavities. Analysis with the ETABS program revealed that the eccentricity between the center of self and the center of mass reached 5 meters in the direction of the strong axis. This study overcomes the uneven load distribution by repositioning the shearwall through a trial and error approach, reducing eccentricity from 4 meters to 1.3 meters. This change not only increases the building's capacity, but also reduces the need for reclamation by 13.9% and shows the results of the pushover analysis in the Immediate Occupancy category. The placement of shearwalls has a significant influence on the capacity and stability of the building structure.

Multi-objective optimal design of Tuned Mass Damper Inerter for base isolated structures

The BIS-TMDI is a hybrid control strategy that significantly reduces the seismic response of structures compared to conventional BIS through proper tuning, albeit with the trade-off of increased control forces exerted by the TMDI on the host building structure. However, these potentially significant forces are generally not considered in current TMDI tuning approaches. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization design method is herein developed to determine the compromise between the competing objectives of suppressing earthquake-induced vibrations in buildings and avoiding the generation of excessive control forces of TMDI. The study shows that under non-stationary excitations, the average control force of the TMDI system can be reduced by 16% compared to single optimization constraint, with a maximum reduction of up to 25%. Finally, the optimization design methods of this paper are applied to an 8-story frame as a validation case.

Determination of grout compactness in rebar grouted splice sleeves using frequency domain characteristics of the excitation process

Grouted splice sleeves are widely used in assembly building connections. However, void defects within the sleeve directly affect the load-bearing capacity of the building structure. This paper presents a new method for detecting void defects inside a grouted splice sleeve based on the frequency domain characteristics of mechanical vibration waves. This method analyses the grouted spliced casing containing void defects as a gas-liquid two-phase flow system. To confirm the validity of the method, this paper builds a test setup for testing. The results showed that the test method can effectively detect the void defects and the volume of the defects inside the grouted splice sleeves when the grout is not solidified.

Study on the resistance of basalt fiber concrete to erosion of building structure by wind gravel flow

Concrete structures in the windy regions of the Gobi face constant erosion from wind gravel flow, leading to severe surface damage and significantly reduced durability. This paper investigates the erosion resistance of basalt fiber (BF) concrete under various erosion conditions using the air-flow sand injection method. The results indicate that adding 0.15% BF to concrete reduces its erosion rate by 20.7% to 21.5% compared to concrete without BF. Therefore, a BF content of 0.15% provides optimal erosion resistance for the concrete. The correct amount of BF bonds tightly with the cement mortar, forming a mesh structure inside the concrete that absorbs the kinetic energy of gravel impacts. The concrete erosion process can be divided into an early accelerated phase and a later stabilized phase. Throughout these phases, the erosion rate of concrete increases with the erosion angle (EA), erosion wind speed (EWS), and gravel flow rate (GFR). In particular, the erosion rate of BF15 concrete increased by 35.6 to 46.4mg/cm² when the EA changed from 15° to 90°. Notably, surface damage from low-angle erosion mainly consists of cut scratches, while high-angle erosion primarily results in erosion pits. As the grain size of the eroded gravel increases, the erosion rate of the concrete decreases. However, when a single large gravel particle impacts the concrete, it creates a larger and deeper erosion pit. Furthermore, the erosion rate of BF concrete exhibits a strong negative linear correlation with its mechanical properties, with an R² value exceeding 0.88. Moreover, erosion reduces both compressive and splitting tensile strengths of concrete. For BF15 concrete, however, the decreases are minimal: compressive strength drops by just 1.2MPa, and splitting tensile strength decreases by only 0.2MPa. Building on Bitter and Neilson’s theoretical erosion model, an improved erosion model for BF concrete has been developed under wind gravel flow. This model incorporates the BF mixing factor and particle size function while considering other erosion parameters comprehensively. The enhanced model provides a theoretical foundation and scientific basis for safeguarding concrete structures in Gobi wind-prone regions.

Review on Fragility Analysis of Building Structure in Seismic Prone Area

In general, using a steel bracing system is the most effective choice for enhancing the resistance of reinforced concrete frames to lateral loads. Steel bracing offers notable advantages over other methods, including greater strength and stiffness, cost-effectiveness, a smaller footprint, and minimal additional weight on existing structures. Both empirical and analytical fragility curves have been taken into account. Strengthening seismically deficient reinforced concrete frames with steel bracing systems is a practical solution for improving earthquake resilience. Nearly all structural analysis software, such as ETABS and SAP2000, supports linear and nonlinear static analysis for high-rise structures. Key parameters include fragility curves, the P-Δ effect, base shear, lateral displacement, axial force, and story drift, among others. The findings showed that bracing systems significantly reduce lateral displacement in frames. Fragility curves were developed based on peak ground acceleration (PGA) for various limit states—slight, moderate, major, and collapse-assuming a lognormal distribution. This study aims to develop analytical fragility curves for high-rise building structures.

Cultural Sustainability Analysis of 12 Coastal Tourism Destinations in North Jakarta

Maintaining culture so that it remains sustainable is everyone's responsibility, because the identity of a nation can be seen from the culture. This descriptive research aims to analyze the cultural sustainability of 12 coastal tourism destinations in North Jakarta, by assessing the protection of cultural heritage and visits to cultural sites. With a quantitative approach and employing scoring analysis techniques, data were collected through observations and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with key informants from the 12 coastal tourism destinations in North Jakarta. The results of this study identified Ancol and Suaka Marga Satwa Area are very sustainable because both destinations have implemented protection of cultural assets and intangible heritage well, otherwise Bahtera Jaya Yacht Club is unsustainable because of poor management and changes in the structure of cultural heritage buildings. It is hoped that this research will be useful for further researchers and stakeholders in making policies related to cultural sustainability in Indonesia, especially North Jakarta.

Comparative Analysis of Seismic Design Standards for Structures and Safety Standards for High-rise Concrete Building Structures

The core of this study is the comparative analysis of I S. 1893 (Part One): 2016 Edition (Code for Seismic Design of Structures) and I S. 16700:2017 (Code for Safety of High rise Concrete Building Structures). In addition, the study aims to uncover the key factors that contribute to poor performance of buildings in earthquakes, with the aim of improving the safety performance of structures in earthquakes in the future. As a research case, we selected a specific reinforced concrete moment shelving frame (SMRF) building at Jabalpur Airport. The building structure was modeled and analyzed using SAPpro V20i software. According to software calculations, we obtained the time history analysis results of the structure in two directions and ensured that they comply with the two Indian standards mentioned above. Subsequently, by comparing the structural responses under the two standards, we evaluated the significant differences in foundation shear force, displacement, and mass participation. The research results indicate that compared to I S. 1893 (Part One): 2016, following I S. The performance of the 16700:2017 structure in earthquakes is relatively poor.

Modal testing and analysis of high-rise laminated timber building

To enhance the design and research work on dynamic characteristics of high-rise laminated timber buildings, this paper carried out a modal analysis study on one of the largest laminated timber buildings in China. The finite element calculating modal analysis was carried out using SAP2000 software, and the experimental modal analysis of the building was carried out via environmental excitation. The calculating modal results and the experimental modal results showed good agreement. The calculating modal frequency values were generally lower than the experimental modal frequency values. The natural frequencies obtained by the two methods appeared in the Y-direction first-order bending mode and had values of 2.03 and 2.5 Hz, respectively. The corresponding frequencies of the first-order torsional mode were 2.82 and 3.25 Hz, respectively. The distribution of the CLT core tube along the length direction of the building has an impact on the vibration mode. The six-story part shows the second-order bending form, while the four-story section only shows the first-order bending form. The above work provides a case study and reference for the simulation and modal analysis of high-rise laminated timber buildings, demonstrating the critical role of the core tube structure in such wooden buildings. This insight contributes to a better understanding of structural performance and design considerations in similar projects.

Hospital design and planning in the line of foresight of health needs

Abstract The health needs of the population are increasingly difficult to plan and predict. Technological progress, artificial intelligence, new medicines, but also ecological disasters, humanitarian crises, energy crisis and other challenges (as a Covid 19 pandemic) represent the image of our time. New design of hospitals should be able to respond to the challenges of the future: comprehensive provision of health services taking into account the patient’s needs, working conditions taking into account the hospital staff, energy efficiency and construction in accordance with high standards and reduction of CO2 emissions (green hospitals), to ensure alternative sources of electricity and water supply bearing in mind potential emergencies. The big challenge of long-term construction in which advanced technologies and new procedures cannot simply fit into a rigid building structure that is several decades old (example Serbia), so it is necessary to apply precise planning and efficient and high-quality construction in the next generation hospitals, taking into account current modern equipment and that which will appear in the future. Designing hospitals involves anticipating future healthcare challenges, technological advancements, demographic shifts, and changes in patient expectations. Hospitals emphasis on patient-centered design principles, creating environments that prioritize comfort, privacy, and dignity for patients and their families, accessibility and inclusivity, infection control and prevention, sustainability and resilience. Modern hospitals should create collaborative spaces for interdisciplinary teamwork and communication among healthcare providers, research and innovation units, but also community engagement and health promotion activities. Future hospital design requires strong multidisciplinary and cross-sectional cooperation, in which priority is given to architects dedicated to this field and their cooperation with public health and health management experts.

Typology Model Based Building and Land Infrastructure Structure Organization and Duties Bali Area Police

Polsek was a police station in the district that provides police services to the community. There are four types of Polsek, namely A, B, C, and D. Polsek in the Bali Area are 58 with types B and C. Polsek is expected to have adequate supporting infrastructure such as Integrated Police Service Center rooms, facilities for the disabled, children's playgrounds, breastfeeding rooms, detention cells, and parking, open spaces. However, the land area is only sometimes adequate. The analysis used interview methods, observation, literature studies, and SWOT analysis. The results show that Polsek's need for land Type B is 631.54 m2, and Type C is 377.14 m2. The SWOT analysis was in the strength and threat quadrant, so a policy is needed to evenly distribute the development of each Polsek type B and C, starting from land acquisition by the main tasks and functions of the police in serving the community.

Nonstructure–structure interaction with respect to mass ratio: Numerical analysis and free vibration tests

The dynamic interactions between nonstructural components (NCs) and the main building structure cannot be neglected because the dynamic properties of the main structure are modified, particularly for heavy NCs. The mass ratio (MR) is a parameter that incorporates the nonstructure–structure interaction (NSI) between the NCs and main structure. In this study, to investigate the seismic interaction in terms of the MR, a four-story steel moment frame was constructed and free vibration tests were carried out. The equivalent mass of the NCs was connected to various floor levels, neglecting their stiffness and damping. The vibration mode and period of the steel frame were obtained numerically. At MR = 25 %, the period generally increased with increasing MR. The modal contribution factors in terms of the roof displacement and base shear were analyzed. The findings show that it would be safe to consider the 1st mode only when using the roof displacement, whereas more modes should be considered when the base shear is used. The experimental damping ratios correlated with the magnitude of the MR without a representative trend. The damping ratio generally increases with an increase in the number of floors hosting additional masses. The experimental period increased almost linearly with the MR irrespective of the number of floor-hosting masses. An equivalent single-degree-of-freedom model is developed to predict the frame period. The predicted periods generally matched the experimental results. The normalized height of the equivalent model and period ratio vary with the MR and are correlated with the number of floors hosting the mass. The results of this study will be beneficial for the seismic design of building structures with heavy NCs.

Self-supporting thin Shells in Italy. Space and Structure of the Industrial Buildings (1930-1970)

In the Twentieth Century, the industrial buildings featured a broad experimentation on the load-bearing structures suited to the production spaces. Among the structural elements explicitly designed for factories were reinforced concrete thin shells. In Italy, where reinforced concrete was the predominant construction technique for the entire century, the evolution of the thin shells for industrial buildings traced a significant story: starting from the introduction of foreign systems and patents in the 1920s, the design and construction of the thin shells gradually stacked to national productive and technological specificities. This paper presents a historical investigation of the application of thin shells in Italy between 1930 and 1970, remarking, thus, the local contribution of Italian contractors and designers in the evolution of both the design solutions and production process. Furthermore, the study presents a systematic historical and technical framework related to thin shells to support the actions of knowledge and safeguard the industrial building heritage.

Semi-active vibration control via a magnetorheological damper and active disturbance rejection control

This work provides an alternative for the semi-active vibration control problem via state feedback plus an active disturbance rejection control (K-ADRC) for a multistory building structure equipped with one magnetorheological damper (MRD) located between the ground and the first story. This control law introduces a disturbance observer (DOB) to estimate the total disturbance in real time, produced by the earthquake perturbation, unmodeled dynamics, and parametric uncertainties, and then cancel their effect using a part of the control signal. Moreover, using a diffeomorphism, the K-ADRC provides a proportional derivative (PD) controller designed to improve internal stability. A prominent feature of the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) algorithm is that the value of the DOB gain is selected according to the system bandwidth. The stability of the system is verified via Lyapunov analysis. Moreover, the building structure model and the MRD are accomplished by incorporating a nonlinearity state that represents the hysteresis effect to perform real behavior in addition to assuming that acceleration is the only available measurement of building structures. Thus, integral filters are provided based on the appropriate cut-off frequency to estimate displacement and velocity, avoiding bias, offset, and phase shifts. Experimental results from a reduced-scale two-story building prototype demonstrate that the proposed K-ADRC is promising for real applications, and it has better performance than the state feedback (K) and the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control techniques.

Epimorphic regeneration of mammalian digit tip

The article presents lecture materials on regeneration mechanisms from the textbook “Lectures on Regenerative Medicine”. An example of epimorphic regeneration in mammals is considered — the cellular mechanisms of tissue restoration of the fingertip after amputation. This model is a relevant object of research, since it allows us to study the mechanisms of both the formation of a specialized temporary structure of the blastema and subsequent morphogenesis, which ends with the full restoration of all amputated tissues.