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Digitalization in cost estimation of road infrastructure projects
No full textRoads have a significant contribution to social progress and economic growth. Decision-making on the investments in road infrastructure projects is based on cost estimation. Although the introduction of digitalization revolutionized the cost estimation process and brought increased accuracy, reliability, and efficiency, recent studies show that cost estimates are still a challenging problem. In this paper, a literature review was conducted in order to review the existing digitalized approaches for cost estimation of road infrastructure projects and to analyze their basic elements, properties, and techniques. It was concluded that ML methods are widely used in developing cost estimation models, where the most common method is ANN. The implementation of digital tools, such as BIM and GIS, in the cost estimation of road infrastructure projects enables automation and real-time collaboration between stakeholders which encourages better communication and coordination leading to reduced errors. Their implementation also provides decision-makers with cost comparisons between alternative routes. It was concluded that the significant challenges faced in digitalization in cost estimation of road infrastructure projects are the quality and availability of data and the lack of skilled and trained personnel
Surface drainage and aquaplaning risk in road inflection zones
No full textAccording to Federal Highway Administration, up to 70% of weather-related accidents occur
on wet pavement or in inclement weather. Consequently, surface drainage is one of the
most challenging road safety problems. Efficiency of pavement surface drainage depends
on numerous factors: pavement surface geometry, rainfall intensity and duration, pavement
hydraulic properties etc. In general, the most critical locations are those where the low pavement
cross grades are combined with shallow longitudinal grades of the road. This is typical
for inflection zones (central parts of reverse curves) in flat terrain, where gentle longitudinal
grades are applied. In these areas, insufficient total pavement grades induce thicker water
film, increasing the risk of aquaplaning. Most of the analytical tools for the assessment of
water film depth on the pavement surface originate from distant countries, countries with
the climatological conditions and even design practices differing greatly from the European
ones. According to some of the most relevant analytical procedures, even the range of surface
flow path lengths is inadequate in comparison to the long surface flow paths in the inflection
zones of the European motorways. Moreover, climatic changes taking place in recent
years must be addressed as well. This paper presents plan of investigating surface drainage
and aquaplaning risks in the road inflection zone, with the final goal of augmenting and
updating national standards
Fast data assimilation method for urban drainage model based on control theory
No full textHighlights
• Fast data assimilation method for sewer hydrodynamic models is proposed.
• PID controllers are used as data assimilation tool to update model states.
• New data assimilation method is applied and tested using EPA SWMM model
Exact Mathematical Solution for Maximum Transient Offtracking Calculation of a Single-Unit Vehicle Negotiating Circular Curves
Full text linkThe low-speed turning maneuverability of vehicles is closely related to a well-known
offtracking phenomenon which occurs when the rear wheels of a turning vehicle deviate towards
the inside of a horizontal curve. Although numerous mathematical models and computer programs
for vehicle swept path analysis have been developed in the past, only a few of them can calculate
the maximum transient offtracking of a turning vehicle, yet with limited accuracy. The authors
were motivated by this fact to find a new mathematical solution for maximum transient offtracking
calculation of a single-unit vehicle when negotiating circular curves. In the first stage, a transcendental equation defining vehicle maximum transient offtracking position is derived and numerically solved by Python 3.10.12. In the second stage, the polynomial regression model predicting accurate numerical solutions of the transcendental equation with the desired level of accuracy was developed and tested. The new calculation method is simple enough to simply take the vehicle datum length, circular curve radii, and turn angle, while instantly producing the maximum transient offtracking value, without the need to draw any of the vehicle movement trajectories
Framework for Rapid Earthquake Loss Assessment and Recovery: Aspects of the RELAR Project
No full textThe rapid and accurate assessment of earthquake-induced losses, followed by efficient recovery planning and execution, is a paramount concern for disaster-prone regions. This paper outlines the key aspects of the Framework for Rapid Earthquake Loss Assessment and Recovery (RELAR) project, financed by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, within the call PRISMA. It offers a comprehensive and innovative approach to address these challenges, aiming to expedite the response and enhance resilience in earthquake-affected regions. The conventional approaches are either inaccurate or slow considering the technological requirements and the necessity of experts' time. Additional limitations of the traditional methods include limited data availability, inflexibility, lack of adaptability, etc. Therefore, the contribution of the mentioned project is significant in terms of providing timely and precise information in case of seismic events. RELAR introduces Machine Learning (ML) and Image Recognition (IR) techniques, thereby ensuring innovation, easy implementation, accuracy, and reliability of loss estimation and total repair costs for affected building stock. The project provides a prediction of structural damages independently of ground motion data and enhances the speed and precision of estimating the overall costs of repairs. The outcome of the project is expected to provide practically applicable ML algorithms and procedures with possible implementation on related problems, availability of data important for the scientific community, verified and validated damage and loss assessment models, with accompanying guidelines. The aspects presented in this paper contribute valuable tools and insights in the project scope, aiding in the development of proactive earthquake risk mitigation and recovery strategies
Seismic protection and vibration control in laboratory buildings - Biosense in Novi Sad
No full textIn Novi Sad (Serbia), a new state-of-the-art research building is being constructed for the Biosense institute. It consists of multiple building parts with laboratories, workshops, offices and a lecture hall. Sensitive laboratory equipment is placed in a special four-storey RC-building section which has to meet strict requirements for earthquake resistance and vibration control. This section is decoupled from the rest of the building and rests on base-isolation which serves as seismic protection and is supplemented by isolation against structure-borne noise, which is needed to maintain a low level of vibration. Also, vibration dampers were installed to reduce the movement of the structure in the event of an earthquake. With the start of the project, SDA-engineering has been involved in the structural dynamic topics. This included the conceptual design of the structural measures and the investigation and measurement of possible sources of vibration. For a precise adjustment and evaluation of these measures, simulations were carried out, before, during and after construction. This includes FE calculations, which were validated with vibration measurements. In this way, the natural frequencies and modal shapes of the laboratory section could be precisely determined for different stages of construction and use. In addition, the vibration measurements were used to validate success and effectiveness of the decoupling and the other structural dynamic measures. Based on the simulations, predictions for the vibration level were made. A monitoring system with acceleration sensors was installed to permanently monitor compliance with the vibration limit. This allows for the detection of both damage to the structure in case of seismic events and of problems with the vibration control
Numerical investigation of tie-column – masonry panel interaction in confined masonry
No full textMasonry structures are widely used in construction of residential buildings throughout the Balkans, but especially in Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, confined masonry (CM) is typically used because of seismic risk. The reinforced concrete (RC) tie-columns in such construction are crucial for preventing brittle response and increasing the structure's ductility and stability. Although tie-columns' effect on seismic response is known, tie-columns remain a nonengineered element for which the stresses and internal forces are neither calculated nor checked. Recently, two confined masonry walls were tested in shear compression tests. The masonry was constructed from modern hollow clay blocks with large vertical perforations and polyurethane (PU) glue. The walls were 38 cm thick, and the tie-columns were 25 by 25 cm. Tests showed that the part of the masonry, which was protruding from tie-columns sheared off. This prompted a numerical investigation into the tie-column – masonry panel interaction through the use of numeric parametric analyses. The numerical model was first validated against the experiments and then used in a parametric study of tie-columns' effect on seismic response. Several parameters are considered, such as wall aspect ratio, the vertical load on the wall, the size of tie-column cross-section and the amount of longitudinal and transversal reinforcement. The results are evaluated in terms of lateral resistance, damage propagation, strains and stresses, and displacement capacity, and clearly show that tie-columns have a large effect on response of CM walls
Some insights into rank conditions of vector subspaces
No full textWe introduce the general notion of a rank on a vector space, which includes both tensor rank and conventional matrix rank, but incorporates other examples as well. Extending this concept, we investigate vector spaces consisting of vectors with a lower bound on their rank. Our main result shows that bases for such spaces of maximum dimension can be chosen to consist exclusively of vectors of minimal rank. This generalization extends the results of [15,36], with potential applications in different areas
Development of a tool for measuring the effect of surface roughness on steel structural response
Full text linkDriven by the industry's needs to address energy dissipation issues in mechanical connections,
the set goals of the global scientific community, and previous research efforts to interpret how
the condition of contact surfaces between two bodies in contact can be significant, a unique
experimental setup has been devised to study the impact of the state of contact interaction
between two bodies on the system's response. The purpose of the designed experimental setup
is to correlate the roughness of contact surfaces with the deformation of a specially designed
experimental sample. The roughness of contact surfaces represents the most dominant
influencing factor in the contact interaction of two bodies. In terms of scale, the study,
measurement, and analysis of surface roughness fall under the micro and nano scales. On the
other hand, the change in deformation of the experimental sample as a result of the change in
roughness falls under the macro scale. Based on all the aforementioned, the fundamental idea of
the designed experimental setup can be seen. Considering that it is not possible to enter into
contact interaction and explicitly analyse the influence of roughness on the response of a
mechanical connection, the idea in overall research is to consider the macro behaviour of a
specially prepared experimental sample depending on the level of roughness of the contact
interaction surfaces at the micro level. The aim of this paper is to present details and challenges
in the construction of an instrument necessary for such precise examinations, named “Precision
Press with Arcs”