Structural Identification (St-Id) of Constructed Facilities

Structural Identification (St-Id) can be defined as the process of creating/updating a model of a structure (e.g., finite element model) based on experimental observations/data. The St-Id paradigm aims to bridge the gap between the model and the real system by developing reliable estimates of the performance and vulnerability of structural systems through improved simulations. St-Id of constructed systems has attracted the attention of numerous researchers worldwide over the last several decades. It is the goal of this report to benchmark and provide an overview of these developments, which constitute the current state-of-the-art. A primary contribution of any such effort is in structuring the field and providing categories, which will serve to delineate and locate different developments. To organize the diverse paradigm of St-Id, the ASCE St-Id of Constructed Systems Committee adopted the six steps, which are related to:
modeling (analytical, numerical); experimentation (observations, sensing, data acquisition); data processing (error screening, feature extraction, etc.); comparison of model and experiment (model selection, parameter identification.); and decision-support (parametric studies, scenario analyses, risk assessment, etc.). The report presents these steps in the first six chapters, and the last two chapters are dedicated to several case studies to exemplify the implementation of St-Id to various structures from around the world.

Seismic Guidelines for Water Pipelines

The Guidelines are intended to be:
• Easy to implement. The Guidelines provide typical and seismic pipeline techniques commonly available to water utilities.
• Easy to understand. The Guidelines include practical examples. The Guidelines and commentary provide insight as to the assumptions embedded in the simplified design-by-chart, as well as guidance for detailed pipeline-specific design.
• Easy to use throughout the 50 United States. The Guidelines include methodologies that cover the entire 50 US states, both from the hazard and pipeline installation point of view.
• Easy to use by Small and Large Utilities. Many small water utilities have staffs of 20 or fewer people with perhaps 1 or 2 engineers. The largest water utilities may have staffs of several thousand people, with over 100 engineers. The Guidelines provide methodologies that can be used in both situations.
• Geared to be Cost Effective. The Guidelines are based on "performance based design" concepts, allowing individual utilities to select the seismic design approach that is cost effective for their particular situation at hand.

EARTH MASONRY Design and construction guidelines

These guidelines are intended to facilitate the use of earth masonry in common contemporary construction situations. They provide the necessary basic technical information needed by architects and engineers who do not have specialist knowledge of earth construction. Equally, they can act as a handbook for the self-builder or contractor. In a field where there is a wide variety of materials and buildings, the guidance can only ever be general. Each material and design situation needs to be considered in its own right, and more specific expert guidance should be sought if the user is in doubt. There is a range of possible sources of further advice. Manufacturers and distributors of proprietary materials should be able to advise on appropriate use of their products. There is also a loosely knit community of earth building experts in the UK, including architects, builders, engineers and surveyors. A list of useful contacts is given towards the end of the book. In addition, the references and further reading provide a list of relevant publications dealing with earth construction, including books giving a more detailed examination of some of the more technical aspects. This book is written primarily from a UK perspective, though it is intended to be generally relevant in all countries. Comments on climate primarily relate to temperate climates, where rainfall and frost can be significant. It does not consider seismic design, which is outwith the experience of the author and which is described in other publications. The book specifically addresses issues relating to the use of earth masonry in common commercial construction situations by non-expert professionals using proprietary materials, although it is also relevant to other forms of procurement and types of materials. The book focuses on new-build applications, although earth masonry is sometimes used in conservation, especially of vernacular cob buildings. This is a specialist field, for which guidance is given in other publications. This book does not describe in detail vernacular construction using earth masonry materials, such as cob block and clay lump. The guidance will be generally relevant to these uses, but such projects tend to follow well-established traditional conventions of construction, which do not require the same design process as non-specialist commercial new-build projects. Guidance on these traditional techniques can be sought from local earth building organisations. This book does not include any detailed consideration of ‘stabilised’ earth materials. These have additives, such as cement or bitumen, which fundamentally alter the earth materials physical properties. Cement- stabilised earth bricks, for example, are better considered as weak concrete blocks. Such materials can have appropriate uses in earth masonry buildings, such as for a ‘floodproof’ base course. Although often ‘stronger’ than unstabilised earth masonry, such stabilised materials do not possess the other, subtler, benefits of earth masonry. They are also adequately described in other publications, some of which are listed in the references and further reading. The guidelines are structured to follow a typical project process where earth masonry will be used, identifying and assessing the issues relevant to each stage. By its nature, this book gives a limited and simplified picture of a diverse subject into which there is much current research. The author welcomes any suggestions of corrections, omissions, comments or more interesting examples in the fascinating field of earth masonry.

Indian Railways Bridge Manual

Scope
The scope of Indian Railways Bridge Manual is to bring out the practices and procedures for maintenance of bridges on Indian Railways. For design and construction purposes, the provisions of relevant IRS Codes will override those provided in this manual wherever the two contravene each other.

Full Depth Precast Concrete Highway Bridge Decks