Kasim A. Korkmaz

Defining Behavioral Pattern for Historical Buildings in Izmir, Turkey

Izmir is one of the major western Anatolian cities in Turkey. Due to its prime location and its port, Izmir has become one of the busiest trade centers since the Ottoman Era. Additionally, its unique urban features have led the way for the city to host some of the most important civilizations throughout history. There are many important historical buildings sustained damages due to experienced earthquakes over the years. Currently, the historical buildings are under threat due to the high seismicity of the region. The frequency of earthquakes and the poor seismic performance of historic buildings in the past necessitate the seismic risk assessment of this historical buildings. Such assessment is also a necessity for the proper restoration and renovation of historic buildings in the city. This research provides an investigation of the historical building profile located in the historical Kemeralti district of Izmir, Turkey. Historical mosques have been investigated in site investigations via Rapid Visual Inspection Method. Base Scores and Critical-Benchmark Scores were determined based on-site investigations. Final score has been found out by using these two achieved scores. The scores were given in tables within a correlation of each other in the study. Based on site investigation, a behavioral pattern is defined for historical buildings in Izmir, Turkey.

Augmented Reality Technology for Highway Construction Project Delivery

Highway systems in the US are integrated with various dynamic components and parameters as part of current transportation and infrastructure systems. The transportation system involves a huge investment in all over the country which is currently a hot topic. In highway projects, there are various phases as design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, and demolition. Integration of these activities is important for successful project delivery. In between these phases, there is a need to support all these activities through the integration of new technology such as Augmented Reality. Complex processes such as quality assurance issues, communications among project participants and management of highway infrastructure assets will be easier to complete and manipulate with implementation of Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality has a potential to reduce the construction cost, improve the delivery time, and assist with overall management of a construction project. In the present paper, implementation of Augmented Reality is given for bridge construction as a part of transportation systems. The research utilizes the Virtual and Augmented Reality laboratory at Eastern Michigan University. A representative bridge was modelled with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality model was created for the representative model. The bridge model shows an effective implementation of Augmented Reality in highway construction project delivery.

A framework based on engineering performance and sustainability to assess the use of new and recycled materials in pavements

Growing need for increased use of recycled and new materials in road construction has emerged due to the continuous depletion of natural resources and increased impact of the current state of practice on the environment. Sustainable construction practices have been favoured by Federal and State Departments of Transportation as well as the industry. However, the impacts of using new and recycled materials in pavements, particularly on long-term pavement durability and performance, are often unknown. A comprehensive procedure for evaluating these “proposed materials” in terms of engineering performance and sustainability is very significant for making appropriate decisions on whether to use them for road construction. The research is performed based on whether the material is proposed to be used in asphalt, concrete, or in unbound layers. An analysis framework and, a software (called NewPave) was developed to help the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) identify the impacts of new and recycled materials on pavement performance and the environment. The analysis framework included two basic components; (i) engineering performance, and (ii) sustainability. Engineering performance evaluation included several options for each material type to be used in different pavement layers. The sustainability analysis included three basic components; environmental, economic and social analyses. Finally, the scores obtained from the engineering evaluation are combined with those based on sustainability to obtain an overall score. The overall score can be used to accept/reject the trial use of the new and recycled materials in MDOT administered roads. While the framework presented herein was developed for MDOT, it can easily be adapted by other DOTs.

Seismic Behavior Investigation of Prefabricated Steel Industrial Buildings

Prefabricated steel industrial buildings are designed with design standards against to earthquake loads. Several lateral systems are used to increase the strength of steel industrial buildings against earthquake loads. Most commonly used systems are braced frame systems. In the braced frame systems, the most important problem is the buckling of these members under compression loads. Currently, the cost for buckling restrained braced frame systems are too high. For steel industrial buildings, the buildings` cost are calculated by considering unit weight of steel. The main cost of the building is based on manufacturing of steel and erection of the building. On the other hand, masonry infilled wall systems are preferred to protect the inside. Masonry infill walls are the structural members resisting to compression loads. Masonry infill walls are commonly rigid systems on contrary to braced frame systems since the masonry infill walls are constructed during the both axes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the seismic behavior of prefabricated steel industrial buildings. These industrial buildings were considered in various combinations as bare, with tension strand systems as braced frame members and masonry infill walls which are used to resist lateral forces. Behavior of tension strand systems used as lateral resistance in prefabricated steel buildings comparing to bare and infill walled ones have been investigated. In the models with tension strand systems, various diameters and pretension loads were used for investigation of various cases of structural system.

Ground Motion Data Profile of Western Turkey with Intelligent Hybrid Processing

The recent earthquakes caused severe damages on the existing buildings. By this motivation, an important amount of research work has been conducted to determine the seismic risk of seismically active regions. For an accurate seismic risk assessment, processing of ground motions would provide an advantage. Using the current technology, it is not possible to precisely predict the future earthquakes. Therefore, most of the current seismic risk assessment methodologies are based on statistical evaluation by using recurrence and magnitude of the earthquakes hit the specified region. Because of the limited number of records on earthquakes, the quality of definitions is questionable. Fuzzy logic algorithm can be used to improve the quality of the definition. In the present study, ground motion data profile of western Turkey is defined using an intelligent hybrid processing. The approach is given in a practical way for an easier and faster calculation. Earthquake data between 1970 and 1999 from western part of Turkey have been used for training. The results are tested and validated with the earthquake data between 2000 and 2015 of the same region. Enough approximation was validated between calculated values and the earthquake data by using the intelligent hybrid processing.

Analytical Approach for Detroit Urban Redevelopment and Rehabilitation

Detroit had been the leader city in manufacturing in the 20th century in the US. The automobile industry created and continued the thriving economy in Detroit, MI in the early to mid-1900s. When outsourcing impacted the industry, people began to leave the city. That turned into a demographic catastrophe in Detroit. Economy had continuously felt and many of the properties were foreclosed. After the housing market crash in 2008, a big economic crisis effected all country. After such a strong economic crisis, Detroit has been desperately need of economic revival which has begun to turn around very slowly in last ten years. In this paper, while defining the nature of the problem, workable solutions for Detroit area are discussed with certain and framed techniques. The main purpose is to understand the current case for Detroit after a decade of the economic crisis and bring solutions for urban redevelopment and rehabilitation for Detroit area with real examples. A detailed evaluation is carried through comparison with other cities. Paper also details the problems in Detroit area, reasons behind the complications, components/parameters, constraints/limitations, solutions, people involved and expected results.