Building Pathologies and Diagnosis Techniques

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 7245

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: energy; efficient buildings; sustainability; porous media; heat transfer; mass transfer; fluid flow; drying and wetting; moisture transport; numerical simulation
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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineer, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: 3D printing for construction; building pathology and rehabilitation; energy and hygrothermal behaviour
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the distant past, construction solutions were validated empirically through several years of experience, whereas with the onset of the further industrialization of the construction process, it was recognized within the construction community that a performance-based selection of materials, components, and systems was required if innovation was to be fostered and progress in the construction domain achieved. However, it was equally apparent to those promoting such novel approaches that selection based on an understanding of the performance requirements could only be met if the results of research and development were made available and indeed exploitable by practitioners. Building pathology is the scientific study of the nature of building failure and its causes, processes, development, and consequences. To provide an economic and effective remedy for building defects, it is essential to properly identify the cause in order to address the problem. Rehabilitation is a strategic area that is concerned not only with historic buildings, but also with other buildings that have been in use for some time and need to be adapted to the demands of the present. In that case, reusing materials that have already been produced or autochthones materials can therefore be a key part of sustainable construction. This Buildings
(https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings) Special Issue on “Building Pathologies and Diagnosis Techniques” will publish research articles that contribute to the systematization and dissemination of knowledge related to construction pathology, hygrothermal behavior of buildings, durability and diagnostic techniques and, simultaneously, show the most recent advances in this domain. It includes a set of new developments in the field of building physics, risk assessment of urban fire, building anomalies in materials and components, new techniques for better energy efficiency analysis and diagnosis techniques, such as infrared thermography. We invite researchers to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate efforts to understand recent advances and innovations in this research field. We are particularly interested in articles describing recent trends, developments, and applications of building diagnostic techniques, durability and service life analysis, eco-construction materials, and building performance simulation and energy efficiency. Manuscripts combining experimental implementation with theoretical calculations and techno-economic assessment are welcome.

Dr. João M. P. Q. Delgado
Prof. Ana Sofia Guimarães
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • hygrothermal behavior
  • building pathologies
  • costs of pathology
  • durability and service life
  • rehabilitation technologies
  • building diagnosis techniques
  • analysis of case studies
  • materials and their suitability
  • building performance simulation and energy efficiency

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5427 KiB  
Article
Diagnosis and Assessment of Deep Pile Cap Foundation of a Tall Building Affected by Internal Expansion Reactions
by Fernando A. N. Silva, João M. P. Q. Delgado, António C. Azevedo, Tahlaiti Mahfoud, Abdelhafid Khelidj, Nicole Nascimento and António G. B. Lima
Buildings 2021, 11(3), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11030104 - 9 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3559
Abstract
Early deterioration of reinforced concrete foundations has been often reported in recent years. This process is usually characterized by an extensive mapping cracking process on concrete surfaces that results from several types of Internal Swelling Reaction (ISR). In this paper, a real case [...] Read more.
Early deterioration of reinforced concrete foundations has been often reported in recent years. This process is usually characterized by an extensive mapping cracking process on concrete surfaces that results from several types of Internal Swelling Reaction (ISR). In this paper, a real case study of a tall reinforced concrete building with a severe deterioration process installed in its deep foundations is discussed. Laboratory tests were performed in concrete drilled cores extracted from a deep pile cap block 19 years after the beginning of construction. Tests to assess the compressive strength, the static and the dynamic modulus of elasticity, the gas permeability, and electron microscopy scanning to find out the primary mechanism responsible for the deterioration observed during in situ inspections. Chemical alterations of materials were observed in concrete cores, mainly due to Delayed Ettringite Formation (DEF), which significantly affected the integrity and durability of the structure. Dynamic modulus of elasticity showed to be a better indicator of damage induced by ISR in concrete than compressive strength. Procedures to strengthen the deteriorated elements using prestressing proved to be an efficient strategy to recover the structural integrity of pile caps deteriorated due to expansions due to ISR. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Pathologies and Diagnosis Techniques)
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13 pages, 2020 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Analysis of the Use of Construction Waste to Replace Conventional Aggregates in Concrete
by Fernando A. N. Silva, João M. P. Q. Delgado, António C. Azevedo, António G. B. Lima and Castorina S. Vieira
Buildings 2021, 11(3), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11030081 - 25 Feb 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2942
Abstract
This work aims to study the influence of using construction and demolition waste in the replacement of coarse and fine aggregate to produce recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). A moderate compressive strength concrete made with usual fine and coarse aggregate was used as a [...] Read more.
This work aims to study the influence of using construction and demolition waste in the replacement of coarse and fine aggregate to produce recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). A moderate compressive strength concrete made with usual fine and coarse aggregate was used as a benchmark material. Compressive and split tensile tests were performed using 120 cylindrical concrete specimens with 150 mm diameter and 300 mm length. Four-point flexural tests in reinforced beams made with conventional concrete and RAC were performed. The results obtained showed that the use of recycled fine aggregates, in both percentages of substitution investigated—50% and 100%—did not generate any deleterious influence on the values of compressive strength and split tensile strength of the RACs produced. Tin fact, the mechanical strengths of RACs produced with recycled fine aggregate were equal or higher than those from the reference concrete. The same behavior was not observed, however, when the recycled coarse aggregate was used. For this case, decreases in concrete mechanical strengths were observed, especially in compressive strength, with values around 35% lower when compared to the reference concrete. Tensile mechanical tests results confirmed the excellent behavior of all RACs made with replacement of usual fine aggregates by recycled. Bending tests performed in reinforced RAC beams had as objective to evaluate the deformation profile of the beams. The obtained results showed that RAC beams with full replacement of usual fine aggregate by the recycled aggregates have presented little changes in the global behavior, an aspect that encourages its use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Pathologies and Diagnosis Techniques)
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15 pages, 2300 KiB  
Article
Use of Nondestructive Testing of Ultrasound and Artificial Neural Networks to Estimate Compressive Strength of Concrete
by Fernando A. N. Silva, João M. P. Q. Delgado, Rosely S. Cavalcanti, António C. Azevedo, Ana S. Guimarães and Antonio G. B. Lima
Buildings 2021, 11(2), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11020044 - 27 Jan 2021
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 2926
Abstract
The work presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out on concrete elements in order to investigate the potential of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to estimate the compressive strength based on relevant parameters, such as the water–cement ratio, aggregate–cement ratio, age [...] Read more.
The work presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out on concrete elements in order to investigate the potential of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to estimate the compressive strength based on relevant parameters, such as the water–cement ratio, aggregate–cement ratio, age of testing, and percentage cement/metakaolin ratios (5% and 10%). We prepared 162 cylindrical concrete specimens with dimensions of 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height and 27 prismatic specimens with cross sections measuring 25 and 50 cm in length, with 9 different concrete mixture proportions. A longitudinal transducer with a frequency of 54 kHz was used to measure the ultrasonic velocities. An ANN model was developed, different ANN configurations were tested and compared to identify the best ANN model. Using this model, it was possible to assess the contribution of each input variable to the compressive strength of the tested concretes. The results indicate an excellent performance of the ANN model developed to predict compressive strength from the input parameters studied, with an average error less than 5%. Together, the water–cement ratio and the percentage of metakaolin were shown to be the most influential factors for the compressive strength value predicted by the developed ANN model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Pathologies and Diagnosis Techniques)
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