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One can address an issue which generates an argument of colleagues-civil engineers, architects and mechanical engineers working with machines. Bridge engineers can also enter the discussion stating that a world-renowned scholar Augustin Betancourt belongs to their “bridge” community. He had an experience of constructing bridges and floors with large spans. His structures and ideas in all these directions of engineering thought were broadly used and even now they are applied in the modern world practice. We can give a lot of examples, as A. Betancourt’s structures and ideas have been used by many engineers including the authors of this paper in their long-term practice of reconstruction of the unique buildings in Russia. There are dozens of buildings and structures only in St. Petersburg and its closest suburbs where A. Betancourt was an author, an advisor, an expert, whose indications were implemented in many projects of urban development. A. Betancourt was actively involved as a head of the Committee for Construction and Hydraulic Works in St. Petersburg. This committee also participated in expert evaluation of development of the largest Russian cities of that time.

This article investigates the features, qualitative characteristics, and structure of self-compacting concrete (SCC). In particular in this article we present the results of research into the influence of finely dispersed fillers with superplasticizer on physical and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete. By developing the optimum compositions of different types of concrete, we determined the compressive strength of self-compacting concrete. We proved that plasticizing additive MasterGlenium ACE (Admixture Controlled Energy) significantly liquefies concrete mixture, which allows obtaining self-compacting concrete. The influence of finely dispersed fillers and plasticizers on the density of the concrete mixture was also studied. During the research the effectiveness of the complex application of silica fume (SF) and plasticizer was identified. The results of the research confirm the effect of the amount of fine aggregate and the amount of ACE affecting the workability of the concrete mixture and its strength.

In this paper, a dynamic shear strength analysis was performed in a finite elements environment to evaluate the stability of embankments under seismic loadings. In addition, a dynamic factor of safety depending on the results of the numerical analysis was defined. To study these parameters' effects on the embankment's stability, a parametric study concerning the embankment inclination and the soil type was performed. Finally, the numerical analysis results were compared with the results of the pseudo-static analysis according to the EC8. The results of this study show the significance of the numerical seismic analyses in comparison with the analytical calculations.

The entire civilized world follows the state of unique monuments of the east, including Syria, where military operations are not yet over. Separate monuments of antiquity have been destroyed, which require immediate examination and, at a minimum, preventing structural elements from collapse. Naturally, publications of the time of the Second World War (Russia, Japan, Poland…) most fully represented the world restoration practice of destruction from mass bombardments and shelling. For these works, it is possible to systematize the degree of danger of the state of the objects at the time of their possible restoration and to estimate the damage caused by the enlarged parameters. Unfortunately, today, the revision of this practice, taking into account modern technologies of engineering restoration of damaged and reconstructing lost monuments, becomes urgent. Without this, it is impossible to defeat the vandals of the 21st century.

The analysis of special conditions of buildings construction and transport constructions in difficult geotechnical and severe climatic conditions has been given. It is necessary to have a special working facility for earth excavation implementation. The bucketless bottom rotor with destructive elements in the form of oblique wedges meets these requirements. It allows destroying frozen and strong grounds with the least power-intensive way. The calculation method of ground separation force by angular teeth on the basis of spatial representation of ground failure forces has been given. The calculations have been confirmed with natural experiments of an excavator on frozen grounds.