Traditional Wooden Buildings in China

Chinese ancient architecture, with its long history, unique systematic features and wide-spread employment as well as its abundant heritages, is a valuable legacy of the whole world. Due to the particularity of the material and structure of Chinese ancient architecture, relatively research results are mostly published in Chinese, which limits international communication. On account of the studies carried out in Nanjing Forestry University and many other universities and teams, this chapter emphatically introduces the development, structural evolution and preservation of traditional Chinese wooden structure; research status focuses on material properties, decay pattern, anti-seismic performance and corresponding conservation and reinforcement technologies of the main load-bearing members in traditional Chinese wooden structure

Earthquake Engineering

The book Earthquake Engineering - From Engineering Seismology to Optimal Seismic Design of Engineering Structures contains fifteen chapters written by researchers and experts in the fields of earthquake and structural engineering. This book provides the state-of-the-art on recent progress in the field of seimology, earthquake engineering and structural engineering. The book should be useful to graduate students, researchers and practicing structural engineers. It deals with seismicity, seismic hazard assessment and system oriented emergency response for abrupt earthquake disaster, the nature and the components of strong ground motions and several other interesting topics, such as dam-induced earthquakes, seismic stability of slopes and landslides. The book also tackles the dynamic response of underground pipes to blast loads, the optimal seismic design of RC multi-storey buildings, the finite-element analysis of cable-stayed bridges under strong ground motions and the acute psychiatric trauma intervention due to earthquakes

History of Construction Cultures Volume 2

Volume 2 of History of Construction Cultures contains papers presented at the 7ICCH – Seventh International Congress on Construction History, held at the Lisbon School of Architecture, Portugal, from 12 to 16 July, 2021. The conference has been organized by the Lisbon School of Architecture (FAUL), NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Portuguese Society for Construction History Studies and the University of the Azores. The contributions cover the wide interdisciplinary spectrum of Construction History and consist on the most recent advances in theory and practical case studies analysis, following themes such as: - epistemological issues; - building actors; - building materials; - building machines, tools and equipment; - construction processes; - building services and techniques ; -structural theory and analysis ; - political, social and economic aspects; - knowledge transfer and cultural translation of construction cultures. Furthermore, papers presented at thematic sessions aim at covering important problematics, historical periods and different regions of the globe, opening new directions for Construction History research. We are what we build and how we build; thus, the study of Construction History is now more than ever at the centre of current debates as to the shape of a sustainable future for humankind. Therefore, History of Construction Cultures is a critical and indispensable work to expand our understanding of the ways in which everyday building activities have been perceived and experienced in different cultures, from ancient times to our century and all over the world

Temporary Ruins: Miyamoto Ryūji's Architectural Photography in Postmodern Japan

This dissertation focuses on the acclaimed Japanese photographer Miyamoto Ryūji (b. 1947), whose work deals with a range of structures and spaces that I describe as ruinous: demolition sites that document the incessant development of Tokyo in the 1980s; man-made shelters of the urban homeless; the ungoverned Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong; Kobe after the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake; pinhole photographs of the late-modern Japanese urbanscape; and, most recently, the Tōhoku region after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. This project intersects an architectural and urban history of postwar Japan with the close visual analysis of Miyamoto’s photographs to show how images of ruins have served as a visual trope to challenge modernist narratives of progress and late-capitalist development. Second, I argue that these images connect multiple layers of trauma in the contemporary Japanese experience, illuminating the relationship between memory and image essential for an understanding of the role of photography in narrations of history. By examining this relationship, I clarify the ways in which postwar history has been narrated in Japan and how certain images (and the memories they spark) complicate the official narrative. Miyamoto Ryūji’s work is a compelling example of the ruin as a key theme in postwar and contemporary Japanese photography because of the diverse social and historical issues that converge in his work: urban planning, the commodification of architecture, historical preservation, natural and man-made disasters, homelessness, and, uniting all of these concerns, memory and its relationship to history. Outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, images of ruins are an underexplored way of understanding and documenting memory in Japan. Throughout the dissertation, I unearth the ruin as a central motif of postwar and contemporary Japanese photography in spite of widespread claims that Japan is a country without ruins. In doing so, I propose new ways of understanding the ruin that are specific to modern Japanese history and culture

History of Construction Cultures Volume 2

Volume 2 of History of Construction Cultures contains papers presented at the 7ICCH – Seventh International Congress on Construction History, held at the Lisbon School of Architecture, Portugal, from 12 to 16 July, 2021. The conference has been organized by the Lisbon School of Architecture (FAUL), NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Portuguese Society for Construction History Studies and the University of the Azores. The contributions cover the wide interdisciplinary spectrum of Construction History and consist on the most recent advances in theory and practical case studies analysis, following themes such as: - epistemological issues; - building actors; - building materials; - building machines, tools and equipment; - construction processes; - building services and techniques ; -structural theory and analysis ; - political, social and economic aspects; - knowledge transfer and cultural translation of construction cultures. Furthermore, papers presented at thematic sessions aim at covering important problematics, historical periods and different regions of the globe, opening new directions for Construction History research. We are what we build and how we build; thus, the study of Construction History is now more than ever at the centre of current debates as to the shape of a sustainable future for humankind. Therefore, History of Construction Cultures is a critical and indispensable work to expand our understanding of the ways in which everyday building activities have been perceived and experienced in different cultures, from ancient times to our century and all over the world

Georisks in the Mediterranean and their mitigation

An international scientific conference organised by the Seismic Monitoring and Research Unit, Department of Geoscience, Faculty of Science, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering and Department of Construction and Property Management, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of Malta.Part of the SIMIT project: Integrated civil protection system for the Italo-Maltese cross-border area. Italia-Malta Programme – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013This conference is one of the activities organised within the SIMIT strategic project (Integrated Cross-Border Italo-Maltese System of Civil Protection), Italia-Malta Operational Programme 2007 – 2013. SIMIT aims to establish a system of collaboration in Civil Protection procedures and data management between Sicilian and Maltese partners, so as to guarantee the safety and protection of the citizens and infrastructure of the cross-border area. It is led by the Department of Civil Protection of the Sicilian region, and has as other partners the Department of Civil Protection of Malta and the Universities of Palermo, Catania and Malta. SIMIT was launched in March 2013, and will come to a close in October 2015. Ever since the initial formulation of the project, it has been recognised that a state of national preparedness and correct strategies in the face of natural hazards cannot be truly effective without a sound scientific knowledge of the hazards and related risks. The University of Malta, together with colleagues from other Universities in the project, has been contributing mostly to the gathering and application of scientific knowledge, both in earthquake hazard as well as in building vulnerability. The issue of seismic hazard in the cross-border region has been identified as deserving foremost importance. South-East Sicily in particular has suffered on more than one occasion the effects of large devastating earthquakes. Malta, although fortunately more removed from the sources of such large earthquakes, has not been completely spared of their damaging effects. The drastic increase in the building density over recent decades has raised the level of awareness and concern of citizens and authorities about our vulnerability. These considerations have spurred scientists from the cross-border region to work together towards a deeper understanding of the underlying causes and nature of seismic and associated hazards, such as landslide and tsunami. The SIMIT project has provided us with the means of improving earthquake surveillance and analysis in the Sicily Channel and further afield in the Mediterranean, as well as with facilities to study the behaviour of our rocks and buildings during earthquake shaking. The role of the civil engineering community in this endeavour cannot be overstated, and this is reflected in the incorporation, from the beginning, of the civil engineering component in the SIMIT project. Constructing safer buildings is now accepted to be the major option towards human loss mitigation during strong earthquakes, and this project has provided us with a welcome opportunity for interaction between the two disciplines. Finally the role of the Civil Protection authorities must occupy a central position, as we recognize the importance of their prevention, coordination and intervention efforts, aided by the input of the scientific community. This conference brings together a diversity of geoscientists and engineers whose collaboration is the only way forward to tackling issues and strategies for risk mitigation. Moreover we welcome the contribution of participants from farther afield than the Central Mediterranean, so that their varied experience may enhance our efforts. We are proud to host the conference in the historic city of Valletta, in the heart of the Mediterranean, which also serves as a constant reminder of the responsibility of all regions to protect and conserve our collective heritage.peer-reviewe

Young tectonic evolution of the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin, southern Germany, based on linking geomorphology and structural geology

The Northern Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) formed as a result of alpine continental collision in Oligocene time. Tectonic shortening has been slow since the Miocene, implying that the NAFB subsidence has come to rest. The scope of this thesis is to find evidence that yield information regarding the recent vertical tectonic activity and a potentially ongoing basin inversion. The identification of such an active inversion can be accomplished by studying the landscape evolution. This is possible, because the earth’s surface contains information about tectonic and erosional processes. In order to understand and quantify the underlying mechanisms forming the landscape, both surface and subsurface information can be linked. Especially when geophysical or similar data are insufficient, geomorphological analyses provide new insights. The NAFB is a low-strain sedimentary basin, where historic subsurface data confirm subsidence, while the present-day erosional relief indicates uplift. The basin has a long prospection history and geometries of basement faults are well known, but their link to topography is ambiguous and the landscape is regarded as climatically controlled. In this context, dense population and energy exploration call for a fundamental understanding, if the basin is uplifting and whether or not faults could potentially be reactivated. This thesis aims at characterizing geomorphotectonic indicators of uplift, potentially indicating NAFB inversion. Related to this process, vertical motion of a few hundred meters to a few kilometers is expected to have been taking place during the Plio- Pleistocene. My study addresses the Quaternary geomorphology and distribution of sediments across the NAFB. To assess a potential link between asymmetric valleys and underlying basement faults in the NE portion of the basin (Tertiary Hills region), I analyzed high-resolution space-borne imagery and carried out geologic fieldwork. Results in distinct geomorphological response of the NAFB are (a) regional scale erosion of sediments, (b) fluvial incision, (c) reactivation of documented faults and (d) regional scale tilting of paleo-geodetic markers. 1In the NE portion of the NAFB, the geometry of a detected high-angle geologic subsurface contact associated with a surface escarpment, potentially originated from young surface faulting, while landscape morphology is intensely overprinted by climatic processes and anthropogenic land use. The investigation of mid-Miocene coastal features of the Swabian Alb cliff line addresses the landscape evolution along the marginal area of the NAFB. The particular questions here are, if coastal outcrops are part of the same coast, and which mechanisms have caused their different present-day elevations. I investigated marine features in a geologic field survey and compiled stratigraphic data to infer the regional response to uplift. The results show that two sites represent temporally and spatially different coastal sections, and both have been intensely modified by multiple erosional processes. The data can be explained by invoking a combination of surface erosion and possible lithospheric scale uplift. My study of well data and geomorphic markers, to infer NAFB Quaternary sediment budgets, yields a remarkable erosion of sediments along the central E-W basin axis and fluvial networks in disequilibrium. I examined erosion rates across different timescales, using sediment yields from NAFB catchments and basin sediment flux. On the Pleistocene timescale, geomorphic indicators of fluvial systems are investigated while for the Holocene, archeological data provide constraints on local erosion. The results of this study reveal a distinct oval-shaped erosion pattern across the NAFB, which can explain the modern erosional relief of the region, and further implies active inversion of the basin. Similar results are derived from drainage pattern and river steepness estimates. The results of this thesis imply that the Quaternary landscape in the NAFB has been significantly influenced by tectonic activity. Further, the timing for the NAFB transition from subsidence to uplift is likely to originate at the Pliocene – Quaternary boundary, and continues. Therefore, the possibility of future fault reactivation, controlled by lithospheric scale uplift, cannot be ruled out

Young tectonic evolution of the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin, southern Germany, based on linking geomorphology and structural geology

The Northern Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) formed as a result of alpine continental collision in Oligocene time. Tectonic shortening has been slow since the Miocene, implying that the NAFB subsidence has come to rest. The scope of this thesis is to find evidence that yield information regarding the recent vertical tectonic activity and a potentially ongoing basin inversion. The identification of such an active inversion can be accomplished by studying the landscape evolution. This is possible, because the earth’s surface contains information about tectonic and erosional processes. In order to understand and quantify the underlying mechanisms forming the landscape, both surface and subsurface information can be linked. Especially when geophysical or similar data are insufficient, geomorphological analyses provide new insights. The NAFB is a low-strain sedimentary basin, where historic subsurface data confirm subsidence, while the present-day erosional relief indicates uplift. The basin has a long prospection history and geometries of basement faults are well known, but their link to topography is ambiguous and the landscape is regarded as climatically controlled. In this context, dense population and energy exploration call for a fundamental understanding, if the basin is uplifting and whether or not faults could potentially be reactivated. This thesis aims at characterizing geomorphotectonic indicators of uplift, potentially indicating NAFB inversion. Related to this process, vertical motion of a few hundred meters to a few kilometers is expected to have been taking place during the Plio- Pleistocene. My study addresses the Quaternary geomorphology and distribution of sediments across the NAFB. To assess a potential link between asymmetric valleys and underlying basement faults in the NE portion of the basin (Tertiary Hills region), I analyzed high-resolution space-borne imagery and carried out geologic fieldwork. Results in distinct geomorphological response of the NAFB are (a) regional scale erosion of sediments, (b) fluvial incision, (c) reactivation of documented faults and (d) regional scale tilting of paleo-geodetic markers. 1In the NE portion of the NAFB, the geometry of a detected high-angle geologic subsurface contact associated with a surface escarpment, potentially originated from young surface faulting, while landscape morphology is intensely overprinted by climatic processes and anthropogenic land use. The investigation of mid-Miocene coastal features of the Swabian Alb cliff line addresses the landscape evolution along the marginal area of the NAFB. The particular questions here are, if coastal outcrops are part of the same coast, and which mechanisms have caused their different present-day elevations. I investigated marine features in a geologic field survey and compiled stratigraphic data to infer the regional response to uplift. The results show that two sites represent temporally and spatially different coastal sections, and both have been intensely modified by multiple erosional processes. The data can be explained by invoking a combination of surface erosion and possible lithospheric scale uplift. My study of well data and geomorphic markers, to infer NAFB Quaternary sediment budgets, yields a remarkable erosion of sediments along the central E-W basin axis and fluvial networks in disequilibrium. I examined erosion rates across different timescales, using sediment yields from NAFB catchments and basin sediment flux. On the Pleistocene timescale, geomorphic indicators of fluvial systems are investigated while for the Holocene, archeological data provide constraints on local erosion. The results of this study reveal a distinct oval-shaped erosion pattern across the NAFB, which can explain the modern erosional relief of the region, and further implies active inversion of the basin. Similar results are derived from drainage pattern and river steepness estimates. The results of this thesis imply that the Quaternary landscape in the NAFB has been significantly influenced by tectonic activity. Further, the timing for the NAFB transition from subsidence to uplift is likely to originate at the Pliocene – Quaternary boundary, and continues. Therefore, the possibility of future fault reactivation, controlled by lithospheric scale uplift, cannot be ruled out