Innovative Methods and Materials in Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructures

In the past, when elements in sructures were composed of perishable materials, such as wood, the maintenance of houses, bridges, etc., was considered of vital importance for their safe use and to preserve their efficiency. With the advent of materials such as reinforced concrete and steel, given their relatively long useful life, periodic and constant maintenance has often been considered a secondary concern. When it was realized that even for structures fabricated with these materials that the useful life has an end and that it was being approached, planning maintenance became an important and non-negligible aspect. Thus, the concept of structural health monitoring (SHM) was introduced, designed, and implemented as a multidisciplinary method. Computational mechanics, static and dynamic analysis of structures, electronics, sensors, and, recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are required, but it is also important to consider new materials, especially those with intrinsic self-diagnosis characteristics, and to use measurement and survey methods typical of modern geomatics, such as satellite surveys and highly sophisticated laser tools

Applications of Calorimetry

Calorimetry is used to measure the transfer and exchange of heat. It is a technique that has applications in different research and industrial sectors. It can be applied in kinetic studies as well as to measure physical changes of first- and second-order transitions such as glass transition, melting, and crystallization. It can also be used to evaluate thermodynamic parameters. This book reports on calorimetry in three sections: “Applications in General”, “Calorimetry in Materials”, and “Calorimetry in Biotechnology”

Innovations and advances in structural engineering: Honoring the career of Yozo Fujino

This special issue of Smart Structures and Systems (SSS) is dedicated to Dr. Yozo Fujino to celebrate his outstanding and innovative contributions to structural engineering during his career. The papers in this issue present a wide range of recent results on bridge dynamics, wind and earthquake effects on structures, health monitoring, and passive/active control technology. This collection of papers also provides a glimpse into the broad nature of Dr. Fujino’s interests. Prof. Fujino is an internationally recognized leader who has been an inspiration to industrial and academic scientists and engineers for over 30 years. During his brilliant academic career, Prof. Fujino has made and continues to make fundamental contributions to dynamics, control and monitoring of bridges considering both wind actions and earthquakes loading. In addition, he has consulted on over 30 signature bridge projects including Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan, Millennium Bridge (vibration control) in UK and Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong, demonstrating his recognition not only for his research achievements, but also for his practical knowledge and experience in bridge engineering. In addition to his numerous contributions to science and engineering, Dr. Fujino is a dedicated and passionate teacher and professor, inspiring young scientists and engineers to advance their knowledge and experiences. Dr. Fujino is currently a Distinguished Professor of Advanced Sciences at Yokohama National University (YNU) in Japan. He is also jointly appointed as a Program Director (Policy Adviser) for the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Japanese Government. Prior to joining YNU, he served for more than 30 years as a Professor of Civil Engineering and the head of the Bridge and Structures Laboratory at The University of Tokyo. On behalf of all the contributors to this special issue, we would like to sincerely congratulate Dr. Yozo Fujino on a truly amazing career and wish him good health, happiness, and many more contributions to structural engineering in the years to come.Ope

Characterization and Modelling of Composites, Volume II

Composites have been increasingly used in various structural components in the aerospace, marine, automotive, and wind energy sectors. Composites’ material characterization is a vital part of the product development and production process. Physical, mechanical, and chemical characterization helps developers to further their understanding of products and materials, thus ensuring quality control. Achieving an in-depth understanding and consequent improvement of the general performance of these materials, however, still requires complex material modeling and simulation tools, which are often multiscale and encompass multiphysics. This Special Issue is aimed at soliciting promising, recent developments in composite modeling, simulation, and characterization, in both design and manufacturing areas, including experimental as well as industrial-scale case studies. All submitted manuscripts will undergo a rigorous review and will only be considered for publication if they meet journal standards

Index to 1985 NASA Tech Briefs, volume 10, numbers 1-4

Short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of NASA are presented. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This index for 1985 Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes: subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief Number. The following areas are covered: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences

5 European & African Conference on Wind Engineering

The 5th European-African Conference of Wind Engineering is hosted in Florence, Tuscany, the city and the region where, in the early 15th century, pioneers moved the first steps, laying down the foundation stones of Mechanics and Applied Sciences (including fluid mechanics). These origins are well reflected by the astonishing visionary and revolutionary studies of Leonardo Da Vinci, whose kaleidoscopic genius intended the human being to become able to fly even 500 years ago… This is why the Organising Committee has decided to pay tribute to such a Genius by choosing Leonardo's "flying sphere" as the brand of 5th EACWE

NASA/American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Summer Faculty Fellowship Program 1992

Since 1964, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has supported a program of summer faculty fellowships for engineering and science educators. In a series of collaborations between NASA research and development centers and nearby universities, engineering faculty members spend 10 weeks working with professional peers on research. The Summer Faculty Program Committee of the American Society for Engineering Education supervises the programs. Objectives of the program are (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2) to stimulate and exchange ideas between participants and NASA; (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants' institutions; and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA center

Maintenance Management of Wind Turbines

“Maintenance Management of Wind Turbines” considers the main concepts and the state-of-the-art, as well as advances and case studies on this topic. Maintenance is a critical variable in industry in order to reach competitiveness. It is the most important variable, together with operations, in the wind energy industry. Therefore, the correct management of corrective, predictive and preventive politics in any wind turbine is required. The content also considers original research works that focus on content that is complementary to other sub-disciplines, such as economics, finance, marketing, decision and risk analysis, engineering, etc., in the maintenance management of wind turbines. This book focuses on real case studies. These case studies concern topics such as failure detection and diagnosis, fault trees and subdisciplines (e.g., FMECA, FMEA, etc.) Most of them link these topics with financial, schedule, resources, downtimes, etc., in order to increase productivity, profitability, maintainability, reliability, safety, availability, and reduce costs and downtime, etc., in a wind turbine. Advances in mathematics, models, computational techniques, dynamic analysis, etc., are employed in analytics in maintenance management in this book. Finally, the book considers computational techniques, dynamic analysis, probabilistic methods, and mathematical optimization techniques that are expertly blended to support the analysis of multi-criteria decision-making problems with defined constraints and requirements

Proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress

Published proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress, hosted by York University, 27-30 May 2018