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Recent disruptive technological advances, including wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) and the concept of digital twins, have the potential to fundamentally transform the way in which we design, build and manage structures. WAAM is a method of metal 3D printing that is well suited to the price-sensitive construction industry and has been used to manufacture the MX3D bridge – the world’s first metal additively manufactured bridge. The intricate geometry, undulating surface finish and particular material properties rendered the bridge outside the scope of any existing structural design standards; hence, physical testing and advanced numerical modelling were carried out for its safety assessment. The key features of the finite element model of the bridge, and its validation against in-situ structural tests, are described herein. Subsequent numerical studies undertaken to verify the structural performance of the bridge under various loading scenarios are presented, while the basis for the development of the smart digital twin of the bridge is also introduced. The presented research provides insight into the use of advanced computational simulations for the verification and ongoing assessment of structures produced using new methods of manufacture.

Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). An experimental and numerical study into the behaviour of concrete-filled double skin tubular (CFDST) stub columns is presented. A total of eight axial compression tests were carried out, four utilising conventional concrete and four with recycled aggregate concrete. The stub columns were circular in cross-section and each comprised an austenitic stainless steel outer tube and a carbon steel inner tube, of varying dimensions. Accordingly, hollow ratios of 0.67 and 0.55 were considered. The recycled coarse aggregate was made by crushing test specimens from a previous research project, and a replacement ratio of 50% was adopted. During the experiments, similar structural behaviour and failure modes were observed between the specimens with conventional and recycled aggregate concrete. To investigate the behaviour further, a finite element model was developed in ABAQUS; validation of the model against the experimental results from the current work as well as data available in the literature is described. The finite element model was employed to conduct a parametric study to examine the load-bearing contributions of the constituent components of CFDST sections and to assess the influence of the hollow ratio on the structural behaviour. The experimental and numerical ultimate loads are compared with the capacity predictions determined using available design procedures. Overall, the results show that CFDST stub columns with recycled aggregate concrete can achieve similar capacities to their conventional concrete counterparts, demonstrating the potential for the wider use of recycled aggregate concrete, towards more sustainable structural solutions. CNPq (305143/2015-8; 306042/2013-4; 305026/2017-8) and FAPERJ (E-26/202.789/2017; E-26/010.101216/2018; E-26/202.924/2019 and E-26/202.532/2018).

This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation into the stability of normal and high strength steel circular hollow section (CHS) columns. Two cold-formed S700 CHS profiles – 139.7×4 and 139.7×5 (in mm), were studied in the experimental programme, and twelve column tests (six on each profile), together with accompanying material tests, were performed. The load-deformation histories and key results from the tests are reported. Following the physical testing, a numerical simulation campaign was conducted. The developed finite element (FE) models for CHS columns were initially validated against the test results. Parametric studies were then carried out, where 2000 additional buckling resistance data were numerically generated for hot-finished and cold-formed CHS columns, covering steel grades from S355 to S900. The obtained test and FE results, together with existing experimental data from the literature, were used to assess the current Eurocode 3 stability design rules. It was shown that the normalised performance of CHS columns is influenced by the yield strength, which is not fully captured by the EC3 design approach. The somewhat conservative Class 3 slenderness limit for compression further worsen the accuracy for those with slender cross-sections. Improvements to the EC3 design rules were proposed to address these shortcomings, including (a) modified Ayrton-Perry formulae enabling a continuous transition of buckling curves across the yield strength spectrum and (b) a new Class 3 limit for CHS in compression. The modified EC3 approach was assessed and shown to improve the accuracy and consistency of resistance predictions over the current EC3 approach, while meeting the Eurocode structural reliability requirements.

Seasonal changes in the measured CO2 levels at four schools are herein presented through a set of indoor air quality metrics that were gathered during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Data from non-intrusive environmental monitoring units were remotely collected throughout 2021 from 36 naturally ventilated classrooms at two primary schools and two secondary schools in England. Measurements were analysed to assess the indoor CO2 concentration and temperature. Relative to UK school air quality guidance, the CO2 levels within classrooms remained relatively low during periods of warmer weather, with elevated CO2 levels being evident during the colder seasons, indicating lower levels of per person ventilation during these colder periods. However, CO2 data from the cold period during the latter part of 2021, imply that the per person classroom ventilation levels were significantly lower than those achieved during a similarly cold weather period during the early part of the year. Given that the classroom architecture and usage remained unchanged, this finding suggests that changes in the ventilation behaviours within the classrooms may have altered, and raises questions as to what may have given rise to such change, in a year when, messaging and public concerns regarding COVID-19 varied within the UK. Significant variations were observed when contrasting data, both between schools, and between classrooms within the same school building; suggesting that work is required to understand and catalogue the existing ventilation provisions and architecture within UK classrooms, and that more work is required to ascertain the effects of classroom ventilation behaviours.

This paper examines the behaviour of circular steel tubes infilled with concrete incorporating recycled rubber particles. The rubberised concrete-filled steel tubes are tested under lateral cyclic deformations with and without co-existing axial loading. A detailed account of the cyclic tests on twelve specimens is provided together with complementary material and section tests. The rubber replacement ratio is varied up to a relatively high value of 60%, under axial loads reaching up to 30% of the nominal capacity. Hollow steel members are also tested for comparison purposes. The experimental results are discussed in detail with respect to the member stiffness, capacity, ductility, energy dissipation and failure mechanisms. Although high rubber ratios lead to a considerable loss in concrete strength, the test results show that the corresponding reduction in member capacity is much less significant due to the contribution of the steel tube and the comparatively high confinement effects mobilised within the rubberised concrete. In comparison with the members incorporating normal concrete, the rubberised concrete members are found to exhibit up to about 10% and 17% increase in ductility and energy dissipation, respectively, depending on the rubber content. Analytical treatments are then used to suggest simplified relationships for predicting the stiffness, moment-axial strength interaction, plastic hinge length and local ductility criteria. Overall, the test results demonstrate the favourable inelastic cyclic performance of circular steel tubes infilled with rubberised concrete and provide valuable experimental data. The proposed expressions for key response parameters also offer the basis for developing practical assessment and design methods.

This study deals with the development and assessment of rubberised one-part alkali-activated concrete. An experimental programme, focusing on optimising the material proportions for high flowability and compressive strength, is firstly described. This includes varying the proportions of aluminosilicate precursors, binder-to-aggregate ratio, activator dosage, and admixture quantity to find an optimum mix design with stable strength development up to 90 days. Crumb rubber particles are then added to replace up to 60 % by volume of the natural mineral aggregates. The effect of rubber addition on the mechanical properties is quantified and analytical expressions for the compressive strength, elastic modulus, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength are presented. A database consisting of 241 conventional rubberised concrete as well as 57 rubberised alkali-activated mixes, available in the literature, is then assembled and used for direct comparison of the characteristics of different rubberised concrete materials. It is shown that the degradation in compressive strength for one-part rubberised alkali-activated concrete with high rubber replacement ratios falls within similar ranges as conventional and two-part alkali-activated rubberised concrete. However, the results show that the elastic modulus of one-part rubberised alkali-activated concrete is significantly lower than that of rubberised concrete mixes with the same compressive strength. Moreover, while the lateral crushing strain of one-part rubberised alkali-activated concrete increases with higher rubber replacement ratios, the axial crushing strain reduces slightly. It is also shown that the post-peak stress–strain response exhibits greater softening with higher rubber ratios. Based on the findings of the study, constitutive models for representing the compressive stress–strain response and flexural stress-crack width response are proposed. The presented expressions provide insights into the fundamental mechanical properties of rubberised one-part alkali-activated concrete, hence paving the way for their potential use in structural members, particularly those requiring higher ductility, while also offering a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete materials.

This research has investigated the structural changes and pozzolanic activity produced in acid activated smectite clay. The activation treatment used HCl at different concentrations, using different times and at a range of temperatures. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to determine the acid dissolution mechanism and characterise the activated clay mineral structure. Acid activation causes dehydroxylation of smectite clay, followed by leaching of octahedral cations. This results in the formation of a silica-rich amorphous phase that exhibits substantial pozzolanic activity compared to the same clay sample that had undergone calcining treatment at 850. The optimum sample was activated for 8 h using 5 M HCl at 90 °C. This was 93 % amorphous. Mortar prisms prepared with 25 % replacement of Portland cement by acid activated smectite produced 93 % compressive strength of plain Portland cement mortar.

A stiffness-based method for the preliminary design of outrigger braced skyscrapers is proposed. The method is founded on the concept of uniform distribution of deformation. This approach originates from the minimum-compliance optimization, in which the stiffest layout for the structure is sought for a given amount of material. Design variables include: the flexural stiffness of the core structure, the outrigger-belt elevation, and the peripheral column dimensions. These parameters are specified by requiring the curvature to be kept constant, yet minimum, as long as the allowable stress and displacement constraints are imposed. The resulting procedure is presented through a simplified hand-calculation algorithmic framework, which may be used during the preliminary design stage to estimate the size of elements and to give an initial assessment of the structural behavior. In order to show the practical application of the proposed method, a structure equipped with one outrigger is designed using the proposed algorithm. The comparative analysis of the results reveals that the presented method provides a rather high degree of accuracy in practice.

There are a number of scenarios in which structural members experience torsion, including under the direct application of torsional loading, when transverse loading is applied at an eccentricity to the shear centre and as a second order effect arising from lateral torsional instability. To date, the torsional rigidity of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) sections has yet to be fully explored; hence a study into the uniform torsional rigidity of square CFST sections is presented herein. First, the strain energy of square CFST sections is formulated, in which the longitudinal warping displacement is assumed to have an undetermined constant. The undetermined constant is then deduced by means of the principle of minimum strain energy, and thus an analytical expression for the uniform torsional rigidity of square CFST sections is obtained. The accuracy of the derived formula is verified against existing theoretical solutions for simplified scenarios, test data and the results of numerical simulations. Finally, the influence of the key parameters in the derived formula for the torsional rigidity of square CFST sections are analysed, and a simplified design formula is presented.

The material and connection behaviour in sheathed cold-formed steel wall systems are investigated in the present paper through experimentation. A total of 103 material and component tests was performed, including six cold-formed steel tensile coupon tests, nine tests on screws in tension, nine tests on screws in shear, 36 material tests on plasterboard and orientated strand board (OSB), 25 pull-through connection tests and 18 push-out (shear) connection tests. The plasterboard and oriented strand board were tested in both compression and tension, as well as both longitudinally and transversely to the production direction of the board. The main objective of the study was to measure and characterise the nonlinear response of all the materials and sheathing-to-steel connection components that are used in typical cold-formed steel wall systems, to support the ongoing and future development of accurate numerical simulations and structural design provisions for such systems. The present paper focuses on the experimental investigation and the collection of existing test data from the literature; a description of all the tests performed and a discussion of the results obtained are provided. The companion paper focuses on the establishment and assessment of predictive models to describe the responses of the material and connection components.

The interaction between the cold-formed steel members and fasteners in a structural assembly often involves complex stress states, material plasticity, significant in-plane deformations and curling, rendering computational modelling of the resulting structural system challenging. In addition, the presence of initial geometric imperfections and the susceptibility of cold-formed steel members to local instabilities adds a further degree of complexity to the numerical modelling. The behaviour of bolted connections between cold-formed steel members has traditionally been assessed based on physical tests, though these can be time consuming and expensive. In this paper, a practical numerical approach to the simulation of bolted cold-formed steel connections, capturing all the key behavioural features including bolt preload, slippage and bearing, is introduced. Starting from a typical shell finite element (FE) model of a cold-formed steel plate, a small number of solid elements is introduced around the bolt holes, to allow accurate replication of the bolt-ply interaction, with contact pairs defined between the bolts and the surrounding material. An explicit dynamic solver is then employed to solve the geometrically and materially nonlinear problem, both with and without bolt slippage. Validation of the FE model is conducted using benchmark tests reported in the literature. It is shown that the proposed numerical method can accurately capture the structural behaviour of bolted cold-formed steel connections and cold-formed steel built-up sections, while being computationally efficient and numerically stable; the proposed approach is therefore recommended for the numerical modelling of cold-formed steel systems assembled using fasteners.

The use of numerical models in the advanced analysis and design of steel structures, particularly under extreme loading conditions, is becoming increasingly widespread. A crucial component of such models is an accurate description of the material response. A systematic study into the dynamic constitutive modelling of structural steels is presented herein. The key features of the dynamic stress–strain characteristics of structural steels at various strain rates, i.e., test methods, material strength, strain-rate effect index and strainrate effect models, are examined and discussed. Supplementary SHPB tests on both normal- and high-strength structural steels (Q235, Q355, Q460, and S960) under a wide range of strain rates up to 5000 s -1 , filling gaps in existing datasets, are then carried out. A database of dynamic test results, containing 453 stress–strain curves, is systematically established and analyzed. Finally, a continuous dynamic constitutive model, capturing the dependency of both yield strength and strain rate, is proposed to predict the dynamic stress– strain response for structural steels, from normal- to high-strength material (235–960 MPa), and from static to high strain rate loading conditions (up to 5000 s -1 ).

This paper investigates the inelastic behaviour of composite steel concrete beams, with particular emphasis on cyclic deterioration effects. A detailed continuum model is firstly developed to represent the hysteretic response of composite steel beam and concrete slab assemblages, validated against available experimental cyclic results on both steel and composite members. The proposed model is then adopted to perform detailed parametric assessments which are used to gain insights into the key response characteristics related to the inelastic cyclic performance of composite steel/concrete members, including their stiffness, capacity, and ductility. A synthetically generated numerical database is subsequently used to develop relationships governing the plastic rotation and cyclic degradation of dissipative composite beams as a function of the main geometric and material properties, with focus on members designed to European codified procedures. The deterioration effects are shown to be dependent on a number of key factors including, most significantly, the composite beam depth and the steel cross-section slenderness. In addition to the asymmetry in behaviour under sagging and hogging moments, it is shown that composite members typically exhibit 20% more degradation under cyclic loading compared to their bare steel counterparts. Importantly, the proposed cyclic degradation expressions for composite beams also enable the calibration of widely used uniaxial deterioration models which are suitable for implementation in computationally efficient nonlinear inelastic frame analysis for structural systems. These expressions also provide fundamental information required for idealised pushover representations for practical seismic assessment and design purposes.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore communication of hazard-resistant construction techniques after disaster in the absence of outside influence. It further aims to unpack the barriers and drivers in the adoption of knowledge processes to identify strategic recommendations to enlarge adoption of safer construction practices by local construction actors.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on an analysis of stakeholders’ perspectives during post-disaster reconstruction in the Philippines in the province of Busuanga after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Data were collected from six communities that received no external housing assistance, analyzing surveys from 220 households, 13 carpenters, 20 key actors coordinating reconstruction or recovery efforts, as well as 12 focus group discussions.FindingsThis research argues for a stronger role of governmental agencies, vocational training schools and engineers. Current communication of typhoon-resistant construction knowledge is ineffective to stimulate awareness, understanding and adoption by local construction actors and self-recovering households.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis in this study focuses on a small sample of communities in the west of the Philippines that are not frequently affected by typhoons.Originality/valueThis is one of the few scholarly works in the Philippines focused on adoption of safer construction practices by community-based construction actors when technical housing assistance is absent.

The paper investigates the influence of support elongation on punching resistance at internal slab column connections without shear reinforcement. Nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) with 3-D solid elements is used to study the influence of column elongation on stress and strain in the slab around the column. Punching failure is shown to be triggered by localised peaks in shear stress around the corners of the support. Significantly, one-way shear is shown to increase the shear resistance of slabs supported on columns with cross sectional dimensions greater than around six times the slab effective depth ( d ). The common laboratory practice of supporting slabs in punching tests on elongated plates rather than columns is investigated numerically and is found to be reasonable despite uplift occurring in the central region of elongated plates. NLFEA with solid elements gives useful insights into punching failure but nonlinear shell elements are better suited to the practical assessment of slabs in building structures. The disadvantage of conventional nonlinear shell elements is that shear failure can only be detected through post processing of results. To circumvent this, the authors have previously developed a novel modelling approach in which 3-D joint elements are used to connect shell elements located to either side of a punching control perimeter positioned at 0.5 d from the column face. The joint shear resistance is calculated using the Critical Shear Crack Theory (CSCT) in which punching resistance is related to slab rotation. Based on insights gained using the solid element modelling, this paper extends the use of the joint model to the modelling of punching failure at elongated supports by including one-way joints to model linear shear.

An experimental investigation into the behaviour of connections between cold-formed steel and timber components, formed with inclined screws, is presented. A series of material tests was firstly carried out to assess the behaviour and limitations of each component of the system under investigation. These were supplemented by three types of interaction test: timber embedment, screw head pull-through and screw thread withdrawal, all aimed at developing a better understanding of the behaviour of the different components of the connection. The slip modulus and peak load-carrying capacity of twelve connection configurations were determined through a series of push-out tests. The results obtained were compared to the typical benchmark arrangement in which the screws were driven in perpendicular to the steel-timber interface. Component variations included the type of timber – particle board and plywood, the thickness of the steel – 1.5 mm and 2.4 mm thick, the inclination of the screws – 0° and 45°, and the presence or not of wings on the screws. The results showed that non-winged screws inclined at 45° gave up to about a 30% increase in peak load-carrying capacity and about a 140% increase in slip modulus when compared to the reference specimen.

Concrete is the most extensively used material in construction and is generally relatively resistant, but under certain environmental conditions it is susceptible to microbially influenced degradation (MID) by bacteria, algae and fungi. Filamentous fungi, including Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus niger and Cladosporium sphaerospermum, are widely detected on corroded concrete surfaces. However, in contrast to bacteria, the extent of, and factors influencing, fungal influenced degradation (FID) of concrete are poorly understood. The extensive presence and survival ability of fungi in concrete may be explained by their remarkable environmental adaptability and capacity to modify potentially extreme environments, including alkaline pH conditions found in concrete, facilitating its exploitation by, and growth of, the organism. Furthermore, fungi produce dormant, resistant spores that remain viable and survive for long periods of time, cellular autolysis conserves resources to maintain viability and growth in low nutrient conditions, and the mycelial network facilitates the transport of nutrients, substrates, water and oxygen (O2) within fungal colonies. The concrete environment is rich in calcium (Ca), which is essential for hyphal growth, and the requirement for this important nutrient may explain why fungi grow in and exploit concrete as a resource. The identified mechanisms responsible for the FID of concrete, include: (1) the formation and leaching of soluble Ca salts from the reaction of organic acids secreted by fungal cells with Ca in concrete; (2) expansion due to formation of insoluble Ca salts, such as Ca citrate, from the reaction with fungal organic acids; (3) crack development by ettringite formation from the secretion of the enzyme, keratinase, and amino acids; and (4) potential mechanical attack by fungal hyphal growth and extension into solubilisation zones and cracks. The mechanisms of FID operate simultaneously and potentially have important, yet currently underestimated, consequences for the aesthetic, functional and structural properties of concrete structures. However, direct evidence of internal decay induced by fungal hyphae is lacking, and physical and chemical research is required to demonstrate the potential extent and significance of internal FID of concrete.

A new method for determining the cement paste, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate content of hardened concrete using micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) is presented. The method involves mathematical and morphological operations to extract aggregate particles from large-area (100 × 50 mm2) composite element maps acquired with μXRF. The method was tested on five concretes containing different types of aggregates including gravel, limestone, siliceous sand and sintered lightweight aggregates. The results were compared against point-count analysis and data from the actual mix design. The average errors in relation to the mix design for the measured fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, total aggregate, cement paste contents and fine/coarse aggregate ratio were 12, 12, 3.4, 10 and 27%, respectively. All measured values fell within ±4% of those point-counted. An image size of >2000 mm2 (at least five times maximum aggregate size) was found to be required to obtain representative results. The advantages and limitations of the proposed method are discussed.

The stability and design of stainless steel equal-leg angle section members subjected to uniaxial bending are studied herein. An experimental investigation, comprising material testing, initial geometric imperfection measurements and physical tests on hot-rolled austenitic stainless steel equal-leg angle section beams is first presented. The test results are then used to validate shell finite element models developed within ABAQUS, which are in turn used to undertake numerical parametric studies that consider both hot-rolled and cold-formed equal-leg angle section beams in austenitic, duplex and ferritic stainless steel with a wide range of slenderness values. Recent studies have shown that for angles under major-axis bending, both lateral-torsional and local buckling can arise, while under minor-axis bending, lateral-torsional buckling and Brazier-type flattening can occur. When designing for major-axis bending according to Eurocode 3, both local and lateral-torsional buckling are considered; it is shown herein that equal-leg angle sections under major-axis bending can be designed using a normalised slenderness based on the minimum of the local and lateral-torsional elastic buckling moments, while also considering their ratio. Under minor-axis bending, however, in comparison with the current provisions in Eurocode 3 that only require cross-section checks, it is shown that both safer and more accurate resistance predictions can be achieved when account is taken for lateral-torsional buckling and Brazier-type flattening. New design proposals for stainless steel equal-leg angle section beams, covering both major- and minor-axis bending, are therefore developed. The proposed design rules offer substantially more accurate and consistent resistance predictions compared to existing codified design rules. The reliability of the new design provisions, with a recommended partial safety factor γM1 = 1.1 , is verified following the procedure provided in EN 1990.

Purpose The aim of this literature review is to investigate the role of the beneficiation stage in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of metals and minerals with a focus on the flotation process. Methods The systematic literature search included LCA studies comprising the beneficiation stage in their system boundaries and resulted in 29 studies that met the criteria requirements and were analysed. First, the system boundaries are investigated, along with the level of detail in the description of the sub-processes (e.g. flotation) and data granularity. Then, the life cycle inventories are scrutinised: data transparency and the relation between system granularity and data availability is commented. Of particular relevance, the way in which the functional unit is dealt with is examined. Finally, studies impact assessments are compared and discussed, and key parameters are highlighted. Results and discussion For system boundaries, beneficiation is generally embedded into the mining stage. Even when described on its own, important sub-processes (e.g. flotation) are not considered, except for eight cases analysed. Functional unit definition is hindered by the output of the system being an intermediate product. Indeed, most studies use a declared functional unit but fail to provide its relevant characteristics, which is essential for a correct interpretation of results and for comparisons. Most studies rely on secondary data, not always presented transparently, to describe beneficiation. Results on the role of beneficiation in the metal value chain environmental impacts are conflicting, partly because of its site dependency. Site-dependent parameters found to be determining are ore grade, energy mix, mining technique, concentrate grade and ore mineralogy. Conclusions The flotation process, and more generally the beneficiation stage, is typically overlooked in LCA studies despite its growing relevance. Beneficiation not being assessed as a standalone stage, detailed in its subprocess, the use of outdated and secondary data, along with a lack of transparency in the inventory and in the key parameters are all factors that affect the environmental assessment of the entire metal and mineral sector, and thus the LCA of many products. Recommendation Greater efforts should be allocated to considering the sub-processes in the beneficiation stage, particularly flotation. Information on the identified key parameters should be available to the practitioners and sensitivity analyses to investigate their influence are recommended. Hotspots specific to flotation have been identified and should be used to orient data gathering when focusing on this process. Five options of functional unit and their application are recommended.

Material nonlinearity affects the stiffness and consequently the distribution of internal forces and moments in indeterminate structures. This has a direct impact on their behaviour and design, particularly in the case of stainless steel, where material nonlinearity initiates at relatively low stress levels. A method for accounting for the influence of material nonlinearity in stainless steel frames, including making due allowance for the resulting amplified second order effects, is presented herein. Proposals have been developed for austenitic, duplex and ferritic stainless steels. The method was derived based on benchmark results calculated through second order inelastic analysis with strain limits, defined by the Continuous Strength Method, using beam finite element models. A comprehensive set of frames was modelled and the proposed assessment of second order effects in the plastic regime was also verified against the results of four full-scale stainless steel frame tests. The proposed method is due to be included in the upcoming revision to Eurocode 3 Part 1.4 Funding for this investigation was received from the Imperial College PhD Scholarship scheme and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The financial support provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte through the José Castillejo-2018 scholarship is also acknowledged.

It is well-known that supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and low water-to-binder (w/b) ratio increase autogenous shrinkage, but the impact on microcracking and long-term transport properties is less understood. This paper examines the effect of microcracking induced by autogenous shrinkage on transport properties of concretes cured up to ~3.6 years. Variables include SCM type (9% SF, 70% GGBS), w/b ratio (0.20–0.45), maximum-aggregate-size (MSA: 5–20 mm) and shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA). Oxygen diffusivity, permeability and water sorptivity were correlated with microcracks characterised using laser scanning confocal microscopy and 3D X-ray microtomography. Results show greater microcracking in mixes containing SCMs, low w/b ratio and large MSA. At the same w/b ratio and binder type, strong positive correlations are observed between transport and microcracking with increasing MSA, confirming the negative impact of autogenous shrinkage. SRA was effective in reducing these effects. The significance is compared with drying shrinkage and implications for durability are discussed.

Planning and managing an energy system in a district require a comprehensive understanding and accurate modelling of people's occupancy and circulation among multiple buildings. Due to the lack of occupancy modelling tools for district scale analysis, energy models still use simplified occupancy patterns provided in building codes and standards. However, the simplified information restricts the reflection of complex occupancy patterns driven by urban heterogeneity. This paper fills this research gap and presents a hazard-based model combined with nested copula dependence to describe the complex occupants' interactions between buildings in a district, enabling the characterisation of irregular occupancy patterns in special cases. The proposed model is calibrated using Wi-Fi authentication data from the Imperial College London (UK) South Kensington campus and is validated using the following days of the same data by evaluating the performance of predicted occupancy patterns both on average and day by day. The validation results demonstrate that the model can accurately capture the effects of the urban environment on occupancy duration and choice of transition within a district. Mean Absolute Percentage Errors (MAPEs) of average-pattern predictions are between 7% and 16% for most buildings, though a bit lower in accuracy for the Library and Food Hall predictions with MAPEs of 32%–36%. We also discuss the contributions of the proposed occupancy model to potential future applications, including efficient building space use, local energy planning and management.

This article assesses the state-of-the-art for research on one-part alkali-activated materials, with particular emphasis on recent work dealing with the constituent materials, preparation methods, fresh properties, mechanical properties, and durability characteristics. The review, which covers over 170 studies, first discusses the different precursors, solid activators, admixtures, and aggregates used within such materials. Preparation techniques of one-part alkali-activated materials are then addressed, including pre-mixing treatment, mixing and curing, and 3D-printing. Reaction mechanisms and resulting binding phases are also outlined, followed by a detailed discussion on the fresh, mechanical and durability characteristics. The sensitivity of the compressive strength to different precursors and solid activators with varying chemical compositions, is examined, and predictive strength equations are proposed for common mixes. A brief comparison between the fresh, mechanical and durability characteristics of one-part and two-part AAMs is outlined, followed by a discussion on design standards as well as health and environmental aspects. The review concludes with suggestions for future research for key applications, with due consideration to the projected availability of precursors and the sustainability of solid activators. It is shown that despite the significant recent developments on one-part alkali-activated materials, further progress necessitates future research with a focus on optimising mixes made from precursors other than fly ash and blast furnace slag, as well as detailed investigations on structural members and components.