Typology Of Constructions Research Articles

Influence of masonry infills on seismic performance of BRB‐retrofitted low‐ductile RC frames

AbstractReinforced concrete (RC) frames with masonry infills represent a prevalent construction typology across the globe, including moderate to high seismic regions. Such structures are often characterized by high seismic vulnerability, and consequently, there is an urgent need for retrofit solutions to effectively improve their seismic performance. Buckling‐restrained braces (BRBs) represent one such solution. They are a type of dissipative device that can be included within the frames of an existing structure to increase its strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity. Although a substantial amount of research has already been performed to understand the effectiveness of BRBs as a retrofit strategy, these studies have often neglected the contribution of masonry infills and the interactions between the infills and the BRBs. While masonry infills are usually overlooked in the analysis and design stage (owing to their brittle nature), past studies indicated that their strength and stiffness may significantly alter the structure's seismic performance, leading to undesirable and unexpected results. This study presents a detailed investigation of the impact of masonry infills on the seismic response and fragility of BRB‐retrofitted RC frames. A three‐story, three‐bay, low‐ductile RC frame has been selected for case study purposes. High‐fidelity finite element models are developed in OpenSees for combinations of infilled and non‐infilled structures—with and without BRBs. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are performed to evaluate the seismic response of the different configurations at local and global levels. Successively, cloud analyses are conducted by considering a set of 150 ground motion records to account for the record‐to‐record variability and develop seismic fragility curves. The present study sheds some light on the mutual interaction between the infill panels and BRBs retrofit intervention and highlights the critical aspects that must be considered in the design.

Prepositional case constructions with the preposition <i>ot</i> (English <i>from</i>) in the poetry of F. I. Tyutchev

Function words, for instance, simple prepositions, have significant potential for meaning making and are an important element of the grammatical structure of the text, which, along with the lexical one, is involved in creating the imagery of an artwork. The insufficient knowledge of the semantic charge of simple prepositions in F. I. Tyutchev’s poetic texts determined the relevance of this study. The research aims to develop a typology of the prepositional-case constructions with the preposition ot (English from) and determine their place in the authors’ dictionary of the poet’s vocabulary. To analyse the 118 uses of phrases with the preposition ot obtained from the "Concordance of the Complete Poems of F. I. Tyutchev. A–Z", we employed the descriptive method in conjunction with observation techniques; generalisation of the material; componential analysis (identification of semantic components of the meaning of the preposition ot); distributional analysis that enabled us to identify the combinability of the preposition ot with other linguistic units. When describing the meanings of prepositional-case constructions with the preposition ot, we considered the morphological and semantic features of the head and dependent words included in the phrases with case government. The study identified and analysed the object, adverbial (locative, temporal, causal, of manner), and attributive relations realised in prepositional-case constructions. Additionally, we specified additional meanings acquired by prepositional combinations in poetic texts. The research shows that constructions with the preposition ot form a fragment of the authors’ dictionary of F. I. Tyutchev’s language.

Towards a typology of specificational constructions

Towards a typology of specificational constructions

Middle, Reflexive, and Reciprocal Constructions in Nalögo: A Typological and Diachronic Account

Abstract: In many Oceanic languages, middle and reciprocal meanings are expressed by reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *paRi-, a polysemous and polyfunctional prefix with collective, associative, iterative, and reciprocal functions. Traditionally, reflexive constructions in Oceanic languages were marked differently from middles and reciprocals. Where reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *paRi- show a lower productivity or disappeared, Oceanic languages co-opted available morphemes and constructions to express the functions once performed by the prefix. In terms of polysemes, along with the middle/reciprocal one, which is rooted in the history of these constructions, two paths of extension developed over time: (i) from middle/reciprocal to reflexive (with reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *paRi-), and (ii) from reflexive to reciprocal, but different from middle (with innovated markers). The aim of this paper is twofold: (i) to provide a description of middles, reflexives, and reciprocals in Nalögo, a Reefs–Santa Cruz Oceanic language, and (ii) to contribute to the discussion on the typology and diachrony of such constructions within the Oceanic family. In particular, I show that Nalögo has two innovated markers, the reflexive =lëbu (maybe from Proto-Oceanic *[ta]bulo(s) 'turn round, turn back') and the reciprocal - welo . Furthermore, Nalögo displays a so-far unknown path of semantic extension within the Oceanic family: from reflexive to middle. While the reflexive–middle polysemy is widely attested in the languages of the world, it constitutes a typological rarity in Oceanic languages.

Historical Evolution of the Impact of Seismic Incident Angles on the Safety Assessment of Various Building Construction Typologies

In the existing building stock, typically characterised by a high degree of irregularity, the effects of earthquakes are strongly dependent on the epicentre–structure direction and the angle of incidence of the seismic motion. However, the scientific community has not yet reached a unanimous consensus on the evaluation of the effects of seismic incidence angles. Therefore, this paper conducts an extensive investigation of the international literature on current methods to consider seismic directionality, systematically reviewing more than 80 publications on this topic. Following a brief overview of the problem and an analysis of the initial developments of the multidirectionality concept of seismic input, a state-of-the-art review is presented based on the considered analysis methods, specifically response spectrum analysis, nonlinear static analysis, and nonlinear response history analysis. Moreover, the adoption of multidirectional seismic input in popular codes and standards is presented and discussed. This study provides the first comprehensive synthesis of research on the seismic incidence angles across diverse building typologies, offering crucial insights for future code revisions and highlighting significant gaps in current analytical methods and standards, thereby setting a new direction for subsequent empirical investigations. Specifically, the extensive state-of-the-art review revealed that, until now, the evaluation of the angle of incidence was primarily conducted on existing reinforced concrete buildings with a limited number of storeys, analysed with nonlinear response history analysis. This underscores the need for future research to extensively investigate the impact of the angle of incidence on other types of construction typologies.

“Gap” matters: reflections on the notion of “gap” of relative clauses

Abstract This study aims to re-examine the essential notion of “gap” in the studies of relative clauses. Following Creissels’ (Creissels, Denis. 2006. Syntaxe générale: une introduction typologique. Paris: Hermès; Creissels, Denis. 2019. Remarks on the typology of noun-modifying clause constructions. Paper presented at the Conference of Complex Sentences, Central China Normal University, 26–29 July) discussion, we argue that there are at least three types of gaps in terms of their respective compositions, namely the gap corresponding to a zero-marked constituent, the gap corresponding to a case-marked constituent, and the gap corresponding to an adposition-marked constituent. This classification, which is not based on the grammatical relation of the relativized constituent in the relative clause but focuses on the composition of the gap, can better explain the existence of the so-called “enlarged gap”, a special type of gap that has been almost completely ignored so far. Moreover, this marking-based approach can shed new light on Keenan and Comrie’s (Keenan, Edward & Bernard Comrie. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8(1). 63–99) Accessibility Hierarchy. In particular, we argue that some interplay of the syntactic position and the morphological marking of a syntactic object determines whether the constituent can be relativized.

Towards a new typology of comparative constructions in East Asian languages

Abstract This paper presents a typology that sheds light on the diversity and complexity of comparative constructions across languages. Specifically, this study focuses on topic-prominent comparatives, a newly discovered type of comparative construction commonly found in East Asian languages, providing a comprehensive analysis of their features and subtypes. Drawing from a wide range of East Asian languages, this study delineates three subtypes of topic-prominent comparatives: double-comparatum comparatives (‘Hair she is longer than me’), comparee-standard mismatched comparatives (‘Her hair is longer than me’), and standard-topic comparatives (‘My hair, her hair is longer’). Additionally, this study introduces a pair of new parameters: concrete measurement and abstract measurement of comparative degrees. Concrete measurement involves the use of precise numerical values or quantifiable units to make comparisons, such as three years in I am three years older than you. Conversely, abstract measurement involves the use of non-specific, relative terms to establish comparisons, such as much in I am much older than you. These parameters are positioned differently in some East Asian languages.

Bridge Data: a cloud-based platform for the assessment of the Class of Attention of existing bridges

The Italian Guidelines for the classification of existing bridges introduced a procedure based on a multi-Level approach. The first three Levels (from 0 to 2) allow identifying a Class of Attention for the infrastructure and require the acquisition and elaboration of a considerable amount of data based on surveys and visual inspections. To facilitate the data entry, a cloud-based software for the automatic management of inspections of existing bridges was implemented. The developed multi-platform management system, named Bridge Data, allows an easy real time access with any device (PC, tablet, phone) to the database via a user-friendly web app interface, allowing the concurrent consultation, data entry and generation of statistics, also considering different privileges for the users. Every bridge is surveyed considering basic data (e.g. coordinates, constructive typology), but also classifying the sub-elements of the super- and sub-structures (piers, abutments, longitudinal beams, slabs and so on), and organizing the documents in categories. A crucial aspect of the inspections lays on the identification of defects in each element of the bridge and requires an appropriate number of pictures (both general of the element and specific for each defect) and the need to fill out convenient forms, then further automatically elaborated to obtain comprehensive structural and seismic Levels of Defectiveness. Geometric, structural, geological, hydraulic, transportation data are also collected in the database, and finally processed to provide an automatic estimation of the Class of Attention consistent with the prescribed rules and logical flows. Bridge Data is not only the core for developing a complete Bridge Management System (BMS) but is also an organized database of pictures and documents. For every bridge it is also possible to generate a photographic survey and defectiveness forms as well as a detailed report describing the logical flow for the determination of the Class of Attention.

Directional constructions in Matukar Panau

Abstract The Oceanic language Matukar Panau has three equivalent morphosyntactic strategies for describing the direction of the event represented by a verb, with a system of ten directional morphemes that can appear in each construction. This variation is explored using a corpus from Matukar Panau and analysed quantitatively with Bayesian regression analyses to assess what factors influence the choice of directional construction. Variables pertaining to the lexical verb and the directional morphemes are found to be the most important factors affecting the variation in the directional system. Sociolinguistic factors are shown to play a less significant role. The findings have implications for the grammaticalization of directional elements, as well as the typology of directional constructions in Oceanic languages.

Effects of the In-Plane Flexural Behavior Modeling Choices for Hollow Clay Masonry Brickwork with Horizontal Holes

Buildings with load-bearing structures made of hollow clay blocks with horizontal holes and cement-based mortar are quite common in Italy, yet the current design standards do not consider specific modeling issues to be addressed by practicing engineers. In the absence of peculiar specifications, the prescriptions given for ordinary masonry walls are thus commonly adopted. However, experimental tests proved that walls built with hollow brick masonry performed quite differently from ordinary masonry walls. Considering the in-plane flexural behavior under horizontal loads, unlike ordinary masonry walls that exhibit some ductility, this construction typology performs quite poorly, showing very little deformation capacity and ductility. In recent experimental campaigns, a brittle collapse mechanism was observed due to the toe crush, which entailed the inability of the wall to further withstand the vertical loads. In this paper, the effects of incorrect modeling choices on the characterization of the in-plane behavior of this construction typology and the consequences related to overestimating ductility are discussed; the effects of the reduced ductility on the reliability of the assessment of an existing building as well as on the conceptual design of possible structural retrofit measures are investigated. From the critical discussion, the need emerged to accurately model the in-plane flexural behavior and to update the code provisions to explicitly consider masonry walls with hollow clay bricks with horizontal holes.

Curious care: tacit knowledge and self-trust in doctoral training

ABSTRACT Building on recent literature on supervision practice that has turned away from previous efforts to construct typologies, and towards ‘dialogic’ models that emphasise iterative feedback processes between students and supervisors in situ , this article examines how the curiosity of the supervisor expressed in supervision meetings can both model a relationship to scholarship and collegiality and support the development of confidence and self-trust in the doctoral candidate. Drawing on a qualitative study of video-recorded supervision meetings across multiple Australian universities, this article examines the entanglements of scholarly discourse, interpersonal conviviality, and curiosity within supervision relationships. To understand this, we adopt a ‘post-critical’ approach to doctoral training and borrow the concept of ‘tacit knowledge’ to consider the role of trust, conviviality, and informal ‘know-how’ in the development of formalised expertise. Analysis of exchanges within supervision meetings encourages the consideration of care as a relational structure linked to practices of curiosity and the sharing of tacit knowledge. We argue that although institutional pressures may continue to reshape doctoral candidatures in the neoliberal university, supervision meetings offer important sites for developing doctoral candidates’ intellectual self-trust, including through the expression of curiosity by their supervisors.

On the ductile damage progression in surface-damaged metallic strands: Towards a damage tolerance analysis

This paper reports a novel and straightforward numerical approach to perform a damage tolerance analysis for metallic strands. This methodology relies on the ductile damage evolution laws experienced by metallic wires and strands under tensile monotonic load. Regarding the wires, this new approach integrates both micromechanics–based and continuum damage mechanics-based approaches. Tensile capacity tests of high strength steel and aluminium alloy wires are simulated using 3-D nonlinear finite element models along with the Gurson-Tvegaard-Needleman constitutive plasticity-damage model (micromechanics–based approach) whose parameters are calibrated iteratively using the disturbed state concept. Numerical simulations reproduce the different phases of the ductile damage process which are then related to an isotropic damage index (continuum damage mechanics-based approach). Results show that the wires develop nonlinear ductile damage evolution laws well captured by the Bonorás model with critical damages ranging from 0.12 to 0.25. The existing gap between wires and strand damage evolutions is then filled by using proper kinematic assumptions for both intact and damaged strands along with a homogenization procedure. The latter have a prescribed number of surface wires, symmetrically and asymmetrically distributed, fully cut to simulate service damage. For validation purposes, strands with 1 × 7 construction typology are analyzed whose diameters range between [9.5–14.3] mm. One approach to assess strands structural integrity and safety conditions is to analyze the stability of damage states as the degradation process occurs. Using this metric for the 1 × 7 strands, reveals that two surface wires cut is the maximum acceptable surface damage which meets the criterion established in different international standards for this strand construction typology. Otherwise, the damage state progresses to either an unstable or inflection state that accelerates the reduction of the capacity of a damaged strand to withstand more damage.

3D SURVEY AND MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX OF THE STADIUM OF ANTONINO PIO IN POZZUOLI

Abstract. The presented work is an expansion of practice exercise carried out for a diploma thesis of the School of Specialization of Architectural Heritage and Landscape of the University of Naples Federico II, in agreement with the Archaeological Park of Phlegraean Fields, and illustrates the results of the 3D survey and material characterization campaign of the archaeological complex of the stadium of Antonino Pio in Pozzuoli. It is located on the western border of the Roman city of Puteoli and was built by Emperor Antonino Pio to host Eusebia, the quinquennial ludi instituted in Hadrian’s memory. After the 6th century, the area was gradually abandoned until it was buried by volcanic ash in 1538. Since the start of the 21st century, archaeological excavations were performed, together with the first series of safety works on the structures and excavation fronts.This research work fits in the phase of analysis and material characterization, which is preliminary to the elaboration of a restoration project. It consisted of the 3D survey of the structure with laser scanning and photo modeling techniques through aerial drone shots and was aimed at the individuation of the construction typologies and ongoing decay phenomena.The continuous reference between the results of the survey and those from the comparative analysis of historical and archival documentation has allowed the reconstruction of its architectural history and the sequence of its recent restorations, hence defining an integrated and implementable picture, which is necessary for the realization of suitable strategies of conservation and fruition.

Redesigning for Disassembly and Carbon Footprint Reduction: Shifting from Reinforced Concrete to Hybrid Timber–Steel Multi-Story Building

To reduce carbon emissions, holistic approaches to design, plan, and build our environment are needed. Regarding multi-story residential buildings, it is well-known that (1) material choices and construction typologies play a fundamental role in the reduction of carbon footprint, (2) shifting from concrete to timber will reduce significantly the carbon footprint, and (3) a building designed to be disassembled will increase the potential of achieving zero-carbon emissions. However, little has been said about the consequences of such shifts and decisions in terms of building architecture and structural design, especially in seismic-prone regions. In this study, an existing 9-story reinforced concrete (RC) multi-story residential building is redesigned with cross-laminated timber floors and glue-laminated timber frames for embodied carbon reduction purposes. Firstly, the reasons behind design decisions are addressed in terms of both architecture and structure, including the incorporation of specially steel concentrically braced frames for seismic-resistance. Then, the outcomes of life cycle assessments and pushover analyses show that the RC residential building emits two times more carbon than the hybrid steel-timber residential building, and that while the hybrid building’s lateral load-capacity is less than in the RC building, its deformation capacity is higher. These results highlight the relevance of considering the carbon footprint in combination with the design decisions, which seems to be the key to introducing circular projects in seismic-prone areas.

Dataset of Specific Total Embodied Energy and Specific Total Weight of 40 Buildings from the Last Four Decades in the Andean Region of Ecuador

This article presents the Specific Total Embodied Energy (STEE) and Specific Total Weight (STW) of 40 Andean residential buildings in Ecuador, from 1980 to 2020. Firstly, the BoM of ten buildings of every decade was obtained through field work carried out in three urban sectors of this city. Secondly, the specific embodied energy and specific weight of every material found in the 40 samples were obtained by bibliography. Finally, the calculation of each building was divided into three components: Structure, Envelope and Finishes. The analyzed data show a detailed collection of different materials and construction typologies used in these four decades, and the impact on their embodied energy and their weight. Moreover, this article gives a Specific Embodied Energy and Specific Weight database of 25 materials that are extensively used in Andean regions. The results show several changes in reference to the insertion of new material, but also regarding the adoption of new architectonic models. The most important changes, in the analyzed period, have been the use of concrete and metal in the structure instead of wood, the increase in the glass surface in the envelope, and the replacement of wood by particleboard on the finishes. In conclusion, the STEE of the entire building has experienced an increase of 2.19 times in the last four decades. The STW value has also increased, but to a lesser extent (1.36 times).

Failures and damages of historical masonry structures induced by 2012 northern and 2016–17 central Italy seismic sequences: Critical issues and new perspectives towards seismic prevention

The work analyses some observed structural criticalities in historical masonry structures emphasized by the seismic events of May 2012, in Emilia, and of August-October 2016, in Central Italy. The causes that brought to different damage scenarios in the historic centres and to the different degree of damage evolution of the buildings, have been investigated, comparing their construction and dynamic features, such as the natural vibration periods of the different construction typologies with the spectral accelerations and the amplification periods distinctive of the seismic events. In particular, starting from the evidence of the damage observed on the built heritage of some of the centres most affected by the two seismic sequences, and from the characteristics of the seismic signals recorded at the considered sites, it is proposed a study which analyses some criticalities, in relation to preventive purposes of the technical standards, specifically with reference to historical constructions. Among the main criticalities highlighted in the present work, it should be noted the remarkable difference between the design spectra and the spectra of the recorded seismic events (real earthquakes), and the circumstance that in reality the constructions generally are interested by more seismic shocks (multi-events) characterized by higher intensities with respect to the ones expected by the building code. Such feature gives rise to a criticality for the operators acting in the emergency phases of rescue and temporary securing, who find themselves operating in high hazardous conditions, due to the high vulnerability of already damaged built heritage induced by the main-shock, and by the high probability (near certainty) that, in the short period, events having intensities and characteristics similar to the main-shock may occur. Moreover, the evolution of the damages, with progressive crumbling associated to global or partial collapses, due to the sequence of shocks (multi-events), which had interested thousands of buildings in the historical centres (and not only) subjected to the seismic sequence, bare witness of criticalities in the preventive approach proposed at national level. The analysis of the criticalities highlighted in the present work allows to envisage an approach which considers for the structures, historical or not, adequate performance requirements with respect to the emergency, temporary and permanent securing phases, accounting for the multi-event seismic context typical of the Italian territory.

Visualizing the conceptual space of pluractionality

Abstract This paper seeks to improve the understanding of the conceptual structure of pluractionality, a bundle of functions denoting the plurality of events. By conducting a multidimensional scaling analysis on 366 marking strategies from the 183-language sample in Mattiola, Simone (2019. Typology of pluractional constructions in the languages of the world. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins), a spatial model is presented showing the semantic distance of pluractional functions as Euclidean distance. This quantitatively induced conceptual space differs in some way from the space proposed by Mattiola (2019) comprising data from only a small fraction of the sample. The analysis reveals that the conceptual space could be interpreted as defined by two prominent dimensions: a vertical dimension that represents the boundedness of events and a horizontal dimension that represents participant-oriented versus event-oriented plurality.

Classifying buildings according to seismic vulnerability using Cluster-ANN techniques: application to the city of Murcia, Spain

The seismic vulnerability of a city is a degree of its intrinsic susceptibility or predisposition to sustain damage or losses stemming from seismic events. In terms of physical vulnerability, one of the most important factors for assessing seismic risk, especially, for estimating losses, is the exposure of structures, particularly those structures intended for residential use. The present article outlines a methodology for classifying residential buildings based on the structural and non-structural components that ultimately determine the building typology and control the seismic performance. The proposed methodology is divided into three steps: first, spatial data are analysed using an official database that is supplemented by remote field work to verify, validate, and identify construction typologies and urban modifiers after incorporating the new observable data. During the second step, machine learning techniques based on Two-Step cluster analysis and neural networks are used to identify building typologies, using a multilayer perceptron to assess the representativeness of the building typologies identified. Finally, each building typology is defined, a vulnerability assessment is carried out, and vulnerability classes are ranked based on the macroseismic scale. The above-mentioned steps were applied to 7631 residential buildings in the city of Murcia, Spain. The methodology is scalable and may be automated, so it may be replicated in other urban areas with similar characteristics or adapted to different urban settings. This may help save time and reduce the cost of carrying out seismic risk studies, providing valuable information for both civil protection and regional and local governments.

A functional typology of Dutch insubordinate infinitives

This paper aims to offer a typology of Dutch insubordinate infinitives, which, following Evans’s (2007) definition of insubordination, are defined as ‘the main clause use’ of infinitival constructions. The main objectives of this paper are to provide a pragmatic analysis of these constructions in Dutch and, through cross-linguistic comparison, investigate whether their attested pragmatic functions correspond to the pragmatic functions of (a) insubordinate constructions in general and (b) insubordinate infinitives in particular. This is done on the basis of a corpus study, examining a sample of independent infinitival constructions attested in the Corpus of Spoken Dutch (CGN). Ultimately, three primary functions are distinguished for Dutch insubordinate infinitives that align with different types of insubordinate constructions attested cross-linguistically: they can be employed for (i) discursive strategies, (ii) interpersonal control, and (iii) evaluation and exclamation. In addition, through processes of insubordination and idiomatization a new type of output is created in which the insubordinate infinitival constructions behave as discourse markers. In adopting a language-specific, corpus-based approach, this study provides a first systematic and comprehensive functional typology of insubordinate infinitival constructions in Dutch. At the same time, it contributes to the ongoing theoretical debate on the functional load of insubordinate constructions.

Empirical predictive model for seismic damage and economic losses of Italian school building heritage

Schools should be safe places where children and young people are hosted during their training years to develop their abilities and skills and to receive an education that makes them prepared to become the future of the nations where they live. Even though these aspects are of paramount importance and widespread recognized, the same importance does not seem to be equally ensured to school facilities. Educational institutes, indeed, are often old and realized without recent safety Standards, becoming consequently non-resilient, nor robust structures towards multiple natural hazards. This aspect concerns lots of countries worldwide, without making distinction among their richness level.In this paper empirical models for the prediction of damage and retrofit costs expected after earthquakes are presented. These probabilistic models relate seismic intensity to expected damage and economic losses, through the definition of continuous indexes, and are based on data collected after a recent earthquake occurred in Central Italy. Empirical data, required to define the probabilistic models, have been obtained by combining information coming from shaking maps, provided by the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), information on the building properties (e.g. locations, dimensions, construction typology), provided by the Ministry of Education, and data about the damage suffered by constructions and funding for retrofit actions including damage repairing and seismic upgrading, provided by the Reconstruction Office. Proposed models provide the opportunity to directly derive fragility curves, to make it possible the use of the research outcomes in risk frameworks based on a discrete description of the damages and losses.Model parameters have been calibrated for the considered set of available data, but the methodology is general and can be also applied to different contexts, given data are available. Finally, the proposed models have been used to simulate the post-earthquake damage and losses scenario following a seismic event. A proposal for the analyses of probabilistic outputs have been developed to provide information useful to decision making purpose.