Building Survey Research Articles

RANKING OF THE TERRITORY OF THE CITY OF MOSCOW FOR POTENTIAL RADON DANGER

Purpose. The identification and hygienic assessment of main sources of natural exposure of the population of the city of Moscow. Ranking areas of the territory of the city according to the potential radon hazard. The elaboration of criteria for the radon hazard of the territory. Material and Methods. There are provided data of the radiation control of the territory of the city (g-spectrometry, the determination of the activity of natural radioactive substances, including samples of the soil and in lithological layers, the density of radon flux (DRF) from the soil), surveys of residential and public buildings for different purposes according to the content of the equivalent equilibrium volumetric activity of radon (EEVAR). Results. There is presented the analysis of materials concerning the evaluation of results of radiation control (the of 226Ra activity in different types of soils, the levels of the DRF from the soil, the concentration of radon in newly constructed and operated buildings, various premises) in administrative districts of Moscow. There was executed the comparison of the spatial distribution of the fields of DRF and EEVAR values in basements and premises of buildings exceeding 200 Bq/m3. There was performed the analysis of criteria of radon-dangerous of areas. Conclusion. There were substantiated criteria and zones of the aggravated radon danger within the city according to following indices: 226Ra content in soils, DRF on soil surfaces, EEVAR in premises, annual dose of the radiation. Performed long-term studies allowed to rank the territory of Moscow into various zones of the radon danger and allocate most dangerous areas (South-Eastern Administrative District, South Administrative District, South-Western Administrative District). There was obtained a map of the interrelationship of the spatial distribution of anomalous DRFs from the soil surface and elevated EEVA values in premises. Ranging of areas for the radon danger permits to significantly optimize the system of radiation control and measures for radiation protection of the population.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MONASTERY NEXT TO THE PRAGUE CASTLE

The paper deals with a rehabilitation of the historic building of Carmel Monastery next to the Prague Castle. A structural survey of building was carried out and the historical drainage and ventilation system was identified. Based on structural survey in-situ the reasons of failures were analyzed and remedial works of historic monastery were proposed.

Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But the Rent? : Or, How do you make a loss of rent claim work? — Part 1

This two-part paper specifically considers a landlord’s ability to include in a claim for damages at the end of a lease a sum representing the loss of the rent the landlord would otherwise have been able to receive from a new tenant, had the outgoing tenant not delivered up the premises out of the covenanted for state and condition. The paper considers and contrasts the conceptual basis for such claims and discussing the conceptual issues arising from the special rules in respect of claims for damages for disrepair properly so-called, which flow from the case of Joyner v. Weeks and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, Section 18. The paper proposes a solution for the difficulties these special rules cause in respect of the general law of causation in damages claims. The paper examines both the legal and the valuation challenges in mounting such claims. It gives particular attention to the difficult issues arising with: the length of the period necessary to market the premises, even if they were in repair; the impact of a landlord being unwilling or unable to undertake repair works until the market has improved; and the position of a landlord who wishes to occupy the premises himself. The paper concludes with a practical, step-by-step procedure for the calculation of such claims (which is also conveniently summarised in a flowchart). This is intended to guide practitioners through the process of making such a claim as simply as possible. Part two of this paper will appear in Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation Volume 8 Number 1.

Method of determination and classification Kiev hotels of high comfort in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries

Hotels of high comfort in the nineteenth century. formed a separate class among the entrepreneurs of the hotel business in Kiev and served the most prosperous strata of the population and foreign tourists. The conducted research revealed a lot of contradictions and inaccurate information in available sources, therefore, it prompted the creation of a more advanced algorithm for determining the comfort level of Kyiv hotels, taking into account as many components as possible. The analysis included not only the information from the literature published before 1917, but also the natural survey of preserved buildings, the study of the existing stock of archival materials, and also take into account the specific architectural and planning features that are characteristic for institutions of the appropriate level of comfort. The structure of the definition of Kyiv hotels of high comfort was formed from the following components: the analysis of available sources of information, the analysis of administrative and regulatory requirements and architectural and planning indicators. Due to the classification analysis, the object of study - hotels of high comfort, as a separate class of enterprises of the hotel business of the city - was clearly defined. The presented classification differentiations helped to find additional signs that allowed to distinguish this class of hotels from other establishments more qualitatively and prove that Kyiv hotels of high comfort on many of its indicators inferior not only to similar Western European hotels, but even to some Kharkiv and Odessa hotels. Hotels were organized according to the four categories of comfort, which for the sake of ease of perception were identified by the modern international system, as well as hotels were determined that compensated their disadvantages in servicing and general comfort by other structural components.

Integrated methods for documentation and analysis of archaeological heritage: the residential building along the western side of the Canopus at Hadrian’s Villa. Initial results and research perspectives

The paper presents the initial observations on a lesser-known but extremely interesting monument at Hadrian’s Villa, the so-called Tabernae , partly restored and used at present as Antiquarium of refined marble statuary, and partly closed to the public and still under excavation. The building consists of two adjoining structures on high substructures resting on two different levels of the tuff layer. In recent years, on the occasion of some works for the museum, an excavation has brought to light some remains; from then onwards the team has taken an interest in the building built on the upper terraces, proving its rectangular plan with a central courtyard thanks to additional archaeological excavations. Research activities are still ongoing; however, a complete terrestrial laser scanner survey of the whole building has already been started, considering both levels, in order to analyse in depth the remains and the architectural structure of the complex.

Listing Buildings of Modern Heritage in Changsha, China

Buildings of Modern heritage are a very crucial category of heritage to preserve in Changsha, a historical city of which the majority of built heritage has been destroyed. Listing Historic Buildings has been adopted as the main way for their conservation. For that purpose, 4 lists in the scope of modern buildings have been announced by municipal offices so far to replenish the coverage of the national-wide system for protection. By analysing the background, the employed criteria, the responsible authorities and the protection measures, the advantages and the obstacles to overcome for the listing system in practice could become clearer. In a recent survey of historic buildings in Changsha to be listed, 266 buildings have been screened to enter the candidate database, according to certain criteria that allows expansion of the choices. A research has been conducted to understand the layout, the features and the current conditions of these buildings. One of the major discoveries is that a large number of collective housing built in the 1950s and 1960s possess good qualities in architectural design, crafts and construction, and better still, mostly stand adjacently in walled neighbourhoods. Such results shall be helpful to define the goals for the upcoming lists of Historic Buildings in Changsha, and in combination with the study to previous lists, they could be meaningful to understand the prospect of Modern heritage conservation in Changsha.

Numerical simulation of thermal bridges in enclosure structures as an express-method for the expert assessment of thermal comfort in domestic premises

The paper presents the solution to the problem of numerical simulation of thermal comfort in domestic premises. Three thermal bridges have been selected as the key parameters for enclosure structures. They have been calculated on the basis of thermographic studies of a group of typical brick blocks of flats which are located in the city of Tyumen. The considered thermal bridges are as follows: the insulation connections in the outer wall openings; insulation in the outer wall corners; insulation in the outer wall-floor structure connections. The functional connections of the thermal comfort level versus the values of the thermal bridge parameters have been determined. The study has resulted in an express-method of the expert assessment of thermal comfort in domestic premises based on the total assessment of thermal bridges in enclosure structures. The method can be used for a complete structural survey of residential buildings, and in examination of building operation and heat-protective properties of enclosure structures.

ALEPPO - BEFORE AND AFTER

Abstract. In October 2018 I was in Aleppo, Syria, for my second time after the visit in 2010 before the war. It was an unique opportunity to perform 3D surveys of some noticeable buildings and monuments affected by the war. The paper shows some 3D results and comparisons for same monuments. The objects of the survey are some parts of the Citadel walls, the entrance tower of the Citadel, the southern tower, one mosque, the minaret of the Citadel mosque. These results prove undoubtedly that photogrammetry is an essential instrument for the 3D documentation and digital preservation of cultural heritage. The used technique is spherical photogrammetry, based on panoramic images and ad-hoc processing processes. The technique is very much suitable for heritage documentation and if will be transferred to the students of the local faculty of architecture.

Water consumption in public schools: a case study

Abstract The objective of this study is to define a consumption indicator (CI) for water that can be used as a reference for developing water conservation plans at public schools. The methodology followed consists of a historical water consumption data survey of all schools in Recife, Brazil, a registration survey of school buildings, the calculation of consumption indicators for the period 2012–2015, and finally, the calculation of reference indicators. The results obtained indicated a reference range for the CI of 13.0 ± 2.0 L/student/day for water considering the set of all school typologies, with a 95% confidence level. The analysis of the schools in groups, classified into four typologies, led to the following reference ranges: 11.5 ± 2.0 L/student/day for regular schools, 13.5 ± 3.5 L/student/day for extended period schools, 22.0 ± 6.0 L/student/day for full period schools, and 18.5 ± 6.5 L/student/day for technical schools. Through the use of a consumption indicator, schools with a limited supply of potable or above average water can be identified and specific actions can be developed to achieve a sustainable use of water in the school environment. This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.

НАТУРНАЯ ПРОВЕРКА ПРОТИВОПОЖАРНОЙ ПОДГОТОВКИ СОТРУДНИКОВ ОБЪЕКТА

Introduction. Employees’ safety in buildings demands systematic monitoring of both the robustness and stability of buildings, which provide its mechanical safety and fire safety. The most important event in the personnel’s firesafety monitoring system in building and facilities of all functional fire hazard classes are the systematic (not less than once per six months) practical training of the people, which perform their work on hazard location. As a rule, the following is applied: printed information, lections, audio recordings, slides, posters, code grams, video films, TV shows, group discussions, situation modeling, game management. However not a single of those training types gives the possibility for assessing the actual level of knowledge of skills achieved by personnel, all the more so in combination with the prevention measures of automated fire safety systems functioning. Analytical part. In this article we review the case of “involuntary experiment” — small-scale fire in a medical facility, which provided the possibility to assess the achieved level of fire-safety management and offered the range of the measures for its prospective improvement. The number of the problems was solved to achieve the goals, namely: personnel survey of laboratory building, in which the fire outbreak happened; the brief analysis of fire safety system of the medical facility was conducted; the conclusions were made about the safety culture level in the medical facility; the recommendations were given for enhancing the facility’s fire safety system. Conclusion. The analysis of the facility’s operation unit condition showed the personnel’s readiness for action during emergency. However, the late detection of fire and low efficiency of the fire detection systems made the specialists think that it is necessary to use innovative technology in fire alarm systems to reduce the evacuation start time.

Automatic Detection of Concrete Spalling Using Piecewise Linear Stochastic Gradient Descent Logistic Regression and Image Texture Analysis

Recognition of spalling on surface of concrete wall is crucial in building condition survey. Early detection of this form of defect can help to develop cost‐effective rehabilitation methods for maintenance agencies. This study develops a method for automatic detection of spalled areas. The proposed approach includes image texture computation for image feature extraction and a piecewise linear stochastic gradient descent logistic regression (PL‐SGDLR) used for pattern recognition. Image texture obtained from statistical properties of color channels, gray‐level cooccurrence matrix, and gray‐level run lengths is used as features to characterize surface condition of concrete wall. Based on these extracted features, PL‐SGDLR is employed to categorize image samples into two classes of “nonspall” (negative class) and “spall” (positive class). Notably, PL‐SGDLR is an extension of the standard logistic regression within which a linear decision surface is replaced by a piecewise linear one. This improvement can enhance the capability of logistic regression in dealing with spall detection as a complex pattern classification problem. Experiments with 1240 collected image samples show that PL‐SGDLR can help to deliver a good detection accuracy (classification accuracy rate = 90.24%). To ease the model implementation, the PL‐SGDLR program has been developed and compiled in MATLAB and Visual C# .NET. Thus, the proposed PL‐SGDLR can be an effective tool for maintenance agencies during periodic survey of buildings.

Role of Surveying During Reconditioning of Monuments

Abstract Ernő Foerk’s most well-known work in architectural circles is certainly the volume published in the reprint edition, which collects the material of the building surveys conducted by the students of the Hungarian Royal Public Higher Architectural Industrial School between 1912-1942. The introduction to each volume shows that he considered to document the buildings as the main task of the surveys - besides their role in education - and thus to serve the Hungarian culture. Architectural surveying is still one of the most important starting points for monument reconditioning. Ideally, the process of monument reconditioning consists of the following steps: Scientific Research - Pre-planning Technical Studies – Compilation of a Planning Program and Planning - Professional Authority Control (getting of building permission) – Building Construction Work and (Fine Art) Restoration - Maintenance. This paper presents the essential role of surveying in this process.

Application of BIM technology for surveying heritage buildings

The preservation of heritage buildings is beyond doubt an important problem of today. The examination of a heritage building involves a number of problems, viz. missing design documentation, the need to find extant reports about technical condition of the building structures and building reconstruction projects prepared by different organizations, and nonconformance of data contained in drawings and documents of different organizations. In this paper the abovementioned problems are reviewed exemplified by the case of the federal heritage-listed building "Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre", Yekaterinburg. The paper proposes the use of solutions based on information modeling methods for the examination of structures of the abovementioned building and reviews the possibility of employing these methods for upkeeping the building. The article demonstrates the practical value of the proposed application of a BIM model method comprising the building reconstruction stages for the structure survey on a specific example. The method proposed in the paper has a great practical value and can be employed for the improvement of normative and technical documentation, heritage building survey works, and for creating design documentation for restoration of buildings.

농촌 독거노인공동거주 실태조사 연구 : 예천군의 사례를 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to grasp the actual living conditions of the rural communal living system for elders who live alone through building surveys, participatory observation, and in-depth interviews, and evaluate the living conditions in terms of the concept of aging in place and the appropriateness as an environment for the elderly. The subjects of this study were 22 residents of four ‘communal living houses for elders who live alone’ in Yecheon-gun. According to the results of the study, the physical environments of the buildings were very poor when evaluated in terms of environments for the elderly, particularly safety supportiveness and accessibility were significantly poor among living performance evaluation criteria, but were excellent in terms of human relations due to aging in place. In order for the communal living system for elders who live alone to become an effective measure for solving the problem of residence of elders who live alone in rural areas, the advantage of utilizing the human infrastructure of the existing community at low social costs should be strengthened but efforts to improve the physical environments by applying the concept of environment design for the elderly are strongly required.

Image Processing-Based Recognition of Wall Defects Using Machine Learning Approaches and Steerable Filters.

Detection of defects including cracks and spalls on wall surface in high-rise buildings is a crucial task of buildings' maintenance. If left undetected and untreated, these defects can significantly affect the structural integrity and the aesthetic aspect of buildings. Timely and cost-effective methods of building condition survey are of practicing need for the building owners and maintenance agencies to replace the time- and labor-consuming approach of manual survey. This study constructs an image processing approach for periodically evaluating the condition of wall structures. Image processing algorithms of steerable filters and projection integrals are employed to extract useful features from digital images. The newly developed model relies on the Support vector machine and least squares support vector machine to generalize the classification boundaries that categorize conditions of wall into five labels: longitudinal crack, transverse crack, diagonal crack, spall damage, and intact wall. A data set consisting of 500 image samples has been collected to train and test the machine learning based classifiers. Experimental results point out that the proposed model that combines the image processing and machine learning algorithms can achieve a good classification performance with a classification accuracy rate = 85.33%. Therefore, the newly developed method can be a promising alternative to assist maintenance agencies in periodic building surveys.

Characteristics of Sustainable Bioeconomy in the CEE Macro-region

In the coming decades to achieve further progress in sustainable growth of agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and food industry in the CEE countries there is a need to face specific challenges through the lens of bioeconomy, thus by shifting the emphasis to research, innovation and transnational cooperation for knowledge-based development. A shared strategic research and innovation framework that has already been offered by the Central-Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-based Agriculture, Aquaculture and Forestry in the Bioeconomy, i.e. by the BIOEAST Initiative might enable these countries to work towards the development of a sustainable bioeconomy while effectively joining the European Research Area. The study is aimed at conceptualizing bioeconomy, analysing key socio-economic indicators of the ‘BIOEAST countries’ bioeconomy and describing the implications for policymakers based on the results of the ‘BIOEAST Bioeconomy Capacity Building Survey’. Based on the results of the survey the major findings of the research verify and strengthen the objectives of the BIOEAST Initiative. The individual results of the survey in terms of major bottlenecks in the supply chain, missing elements hindering competitiveness, the opportunities to raise competitiveness and functions of the intervention system led to the conclusion that the creation of sustainable bioeconomy explicitly requires triple-helix stakeholders to find efficient collaboration mechanisms and build synergies.

THE SUITABILITY OF TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING FOR STRATA BUILDING

Abstract. During the recent years, the used of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is becoming rapidly popular because of its ability in several applications, especially the ability to observe complex documentation of complex building and observe millions of point cloud in three-dimensional in a short period. Users of strata plan usually find it difficult to translate the traditional two-dimensional (2D) data on maps they see on a flat piece of paper to three-dimensional (3D). The TLS is able to record thousands of point clouds which contains very rich of geometry details and made the processing usually takes longer time. In addition, the demand of strata survey work has made the surveyors need to obtain the data with full of accuracy and time saves. Therefore, the aim of this study is to study the limitation uses of TLS and its suitability for strata building survey. In this study, the efficiency of TLS Leica C10 for strata building survey was determined in term of its accuracy and comparing with Zeb-Revo Handheld Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) and the distometer. The accuracy for scanned data from both, TLS and MLS were compared with the Distometer by using root mean square error (RMSE) formula. Then, the 3D model of the building for both data, TLS and MLS were produced to analyze the visualization for different type of scanners. The software used; Autodesk Recap, Autodesk Revit, Leica Cyclone Software, Autocad Software and Geo Slam Software. The RMSE for TLS technique is 0.001m meanwhile, RMSE for MLS technique is 0.007 m. The difference between these two techniques is 0.006 m. The 3D model of building for both models did not have too much different but the scanned data from TLS is much easier to process and generate the 3D model compared to scanned data from MLS. It is because the scanned data from TLS comes with an image, while none from MLS scanned data. There are limitations of TLS for strata building survey such as water and glass window but this study proved that acquiring data by TLS is better than using MLS.

Building survey – design and build

MauerwerkVolume 22, Issue 5 p. 337-338 TermineFree Access Building survey – design and build Bauaufnahme – Planung und Ausführung First published: 08 October 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/dama.201870506AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume22, Issue5October 2018Pages 337-338 RelatedInformation

Vibration-Based Damage Detection Techniques for Health Monitoring of Construction of a Multi-Storey Building

Conducting surveys of multi-storey buildings is a laborious task, because large volumes of visual and instrumental research should be carried out. Reduction of labor costs with an increase in the reliability of information about the state of damage and technical condition is an actual scientific and practical task. One of the ways to solve it is to use non-destructive vibration diagnostic methods. The purpose of carrying out diagnostics with the use of vibration based damage detection methods is to search for damages in structural elements that can cause the deviation of the dynamic parameters of a structure from calculated ones. Determination of the dynamic parameters of the structure, in particular natural frequencies and mode shapes of mechanical systems, is one of the most important tasks that allows obtaining integral information about the state of a structure. This article presents the results of calculations for the localization of slabs defects in a multi-storey building with a transverse crack, span L = 4.5 (m), height H = 0.2 (m), with prestressed reinforcement d = 0.05 (m). Vibration based Damage Index method was used to localize the defect. During the study, reliable localization values of the defect area of the slab were obtained, this indicates that the vibration method for determining the damage index with a sufficient degree of accuracy allowed predicting the site of damage to the structure.

Building survey forms for heterogeneous urban areas in seismically hazardous zones. Application to the historical center of Valparaíso, Chile

ABSTRACTBuilding survey is an essential data-collection procedure to feed large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment. The available strategies usually consider survey forms to gather information about the urban buildings. The application of the available survey forms poses important challenges for the case of the heterogeneous urban centers including different structural typologies. This work proposes four specific survey forms for traditional structural typologies constructed with masonry, reinforced concrete, mixed steel-reinforced concrete, and timber. The proposed forms request essential information on the parameters necessary for seismic vulnerability assessment, by evaluating the lateral-load resistant system, regularity, condition of conservation, and existing damages. The survey forms were applied to the study of 111 buildings of the historical center of Valparaíso, Chile. The proposed methodology was complemented with the use of Geographic Information Systems to obtain a complete database with the structural characterization of the most representative typologies for future works of large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment.