Eduardo Rojí

Sustainability assessment methodology for industrial buildings: three case studies

ABSTRACT Few other sectors have such a great impact on sustainability as the construction industry, which has expressed growing concerns in this regard for a long time, mainly focusing on the environmental dimension. The sustainability assessment methodology tested in this study is the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment – MIVES, applied to industrial buildings. In addition to traditional requirements (environmental, economic, and social), this non-commercial methodology involves other aspects of sustainability that are also important (employee safety, functionality, and corporate image) to establish a means of evaluation. Its reliability is tested here through its application to three case studies. MIVES is an AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)-based Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methodology that can be applied in any field. In this study, its specific focus is on improvements to sustainability in construction.

Sustainability-Related Decision Making in Industrial Buildings: An AHP Analysis

Few other sectors have such a great impact on sustainability as the construction industry, in which concerns over the environmental dimension have been growing for some time. The sustainability assessment methodology presented in this paper is an AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) based on Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) and includes the main sustainability factors for consideration in the construction of an industrial building (environmental, economic, and social), as well as other factors that greatly influence the conceptual design of the building (employee safety, corporate image). Its simplicity is well adapted to its main objective, to serve as a sustainability-related decision making tool in industrial building projects, during the design stage. Accompanied by an economic valuation of the actions to be undertaken, this tool means that the most cost-effective solution may be selected from among the various options.

Rigid pavement performance models by means of Markov Chains with half-year step time

ABSTRACT Pavement management systems employ pavement performance models to plan the most effective allocation of public funds. The most used models are the deterministic and the probabilistic or stochastic ones. Among stochastic models, the Markov Chains are receiving considerable research attention. In this paper, transition probability matrices (TPMs) are presented for Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement road network in the Republic of Moldova with available International Roughness Index (IRI) data collected in spring and in autumn from 2013 to 2015. Although one-year cycle time is usually employed, half-year cycle time was defined to handle a bigger amount of transitions. The aim of this paper is to prove that TPMs for rigid pavements can be developed using IRI values from a short period, with a half-year step time, for a road network where the time since last major rehabilitation varies in each section and where maintenance and rehabilitation activities are carried out simultaneously. In order to consider all these aspects, some assumptions must be made. Roughness seasonal variations can arise in PCC pavements due to the effect of curl and warp. Hence, a threshold of 0.40 m/km was defined as the maximum improvement on a section after half-year step for not being considered as maintenance work or spurious data. When the IRI value improves more than 4 m/km after one step, a rehabilitation activity is considered. That rehabilitation is not used in the matrix calculation, but the subsequent deterioration contributes. Results demonstrate that rigid road sections can jump two condition states in one transition, instead of only remaining in the same condition state or shifting to the next one. Obtained matrices give an overview of deterioration tendencies of rigid pavements, and they fit better to real data if a large proportion of no rehabilitated or maintained sections are compared to predicted values.

Influence of the thickness of intumescent paint in the position of steels (fire safety)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze a new structural design applied in industrial frames using two type of steels (S275 and fire resistant (FR)) with different mechanical resistance against fire. To do it, the authors have taken into account variables such as intrinsic metallic design, span length, intumescent paint thickness, and fire time exposure, which offers information about new scenarios of design in industry. Design/methodology/approach The key methodology followed has taken into account a modeling program that uses the following variables: 25 and 35 m of span, 45 and 60 fire exposure times, and seven different intumescent paint thickness. An optimum structural design has been evaluated by discretization of each scenario with the particular type of steel, S275 and FR. The obtained approach could be a good guideline for future designs. Findings The results and analysis have shown a very good and valid idea of a new structural typology using optimum intumescent paint thickness into the final design of the industrial frame considering that it has two different types of steel. It is in realty a handicap since usually mechanical engineers employ structural steel without paying attention to this new feature. Practical implications Cheaper structural designs could be obtained using the two different types of steel considering the proper positioning into the full building. Originality/value The validity of design of two types of steel plus intumescent paint in building construction has been shown, and this study will encourage designers to use it, in particular in buildings with high fire risk.