Materials & Skills for Historic Building Conservation

Fatigue Life of Riveted Steel Bridges

Sustainable Home Refurbishment: The Earthscan Expert Guide to Retrofitting Homes for Efficiency (Earthscan Expert Series)

A retro-fit offers many benefits: cutting electricity and heating bills, increasing the resale value of homes, slashing carbon emissions and creating a healthier place to live. This book is the guide to making it happen. It looks at: - draught-proofing, insulation and damp - ventilation, heating and cooling - electrical efficiency and renewable energy - water use and re-use - materials' life cycles and incorporating nature - protection from climate change impacts - modelling energy flows and embodied energy - how we can meet the need to cut carbon emissions from dwellings by 80% by 2050. Projects can apply to apartment blocks, recent builds and older, solid-walled properties. Enlivened with helpful diagrams and photographs, plus plenty of pointers for further information, it provides a comprehensive resource handbook for any building professional and contractor, students - or any homeowner serious about efficiency (cash and carbon) savings.

Managing Construction Logistics

BS EN 12859:2011 Gypsum blocks - Definitions, requirements and test methods

This European Standard specifies the characteristics and performance of gypsum blocks with smooth faces for which the main intended uses are construction of non-load bearing partitions or independent wall linings and the fire protection of columns, lift shafts, shafts for services, etc. Gypsum blocks are not used to build ceilings.
It covers the following performance characteristics related to the essential requirements:
- reaction to fire;
- resistance to fire;
- direct airborne sound insulation;
- release of dangerous substances;
to be measured according to the corresponding European test methods, as well as:
- thermal resistance
to be calculated from the thermal conductivity values given in 4.3.2.
It describes the reference tests for technical specifications.
This European Standard covers also additional technical characteristics that are of importance for the use and
acceptance of the product by the construction industry:
- convenience classes for density;
- convenience classes for pH.
It provides for the evaluation of conformity of the product to this European Standard. This European Standard does not cover gypsum blocks of thickness less than 50 mm or gypsum storey height units.

Design of Vertical Breakwaters

Breakwaters are constructed to provide a calm basin for ships and to protect harbor facilities. They are also sometimes used to protect the port area from the intrusion of littoral drift. In fact, for ports open to rough seas, breakwaters play a key role in port operations. Since sea waves have enormous power, the construction of structures to mitigate such power is not easily accomplished. The history of breakwaters, therefore, can be said to be one of much damage and many failures. On the other hand, maritime technology has progressed a great deal, especially since 1945, and this has gradually made it possible to construct breakwaters having high stability against waves. There are two main types of breakwaters: rubble mound and composite breakwaters. Rubble mound breakwaters have a rubble mound and an armor layer that usually consists of shape designed concrete blocks. Due to the development of these blocks, modern-day rubble mound breakwaters can strongly resist the destructive power of waves, even in deepwaters. Composite breakwaters consist of a rubble foundation and vertical wall, and are therefore classified as vertical breakwaters. By using caissons as the vertical wall, composite breakwaters provide an extremely stable structure even in rough, deep seas. Such strength has led to their use throughout the world. In this book, different types of breakwaters are introduced and their historical development is described in order to understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with each type of breakwater. The failures of breakwaters are then discussed to demonstrate crucial points in their stability design. Finally, the design methods used for vertical are explained including a new design concept of performance design for vertical breakwaters. Since the design methodology for rubble mound breakwaters has been addressed in many textbooks, the design of vertical breakwaters will be concentrated on here.

Numerical Simulations of Physical and Engineering Processes

Interacting with Geospatial Technologies