SS 01 – Climate Change Effects on Life-Cycle Safety, Reliability, and Risk of Structures and Infrastructure Systems

Fabio Biondini

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Zoubir Lounis

National Research Council Canada
Ottawa, ON, Canada

Michel Ghosn

The City College of New York
New York, NY, USA

There is strong evidence that climate change will have significant impact on the long-term performance of structures and infrastructure facilities. In fact, climate change will alter the environmental conditions to which structures are exposed over their life-cycles.
Factors such as increased temperatures, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentrations may progressively accelerate aging and structural deterioration processes, such as corrosion, while extreme weather events including floods, wind, ice and snow may increase the risk of structural failures. However, recently-implemented risk-informed performance-based design methods were founded on historic climatic hazard data and the effects of climate change are not considered in current structural design standards.
The objective of this Special Session is to overview current knowledge on the subject and present recent research advances on how to consider the effects of climate change on the life-cycle performance of civil structures and infrastructure systems. The overall goals of this Special Session are to: 1) promote a better understanding of the problem; 2) identify approaches to account for the effects of climate change during the design of new structures and safety assessment of existing structures, including impact at the infrastructure scale; and 3) propose approaches for incorporating the effects of climate change in design standards. This Session is part of a Special Project approved and supported by SEI/ASCE to study the effects of climate change on the life-cycle performance, safety, reliability and risk of structures and infrastructure systems. The project will review the current status and outline research needs to incorporate the effects of climate change in the design and the life-cycle assessment of performance, safety, reliability and risk of structure and infrastructure systems.

Special Session organized on behalf of the SEI/ASCE Technical Council on Life‐Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability and Risk of Structural Systems, Task Group 2 on Reliability-based Performance Indicators for Structural Systems.

SS 02 – SHM for Life-Cycle Informed Management of Degrading Structures

Maria Pina Limongelli

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Paolo Gardoni

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, IL, USA

Sebastian Thöns

Lund University
Lund, Sweden

Dagang Lu

Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin, China

Structural health monitoring (SHM) involves data collection, transmission, processing, and interpretation. The information extracted from data can describe the onset or the evolution of possible damages, defects, and deterioration processes and can be used to identify the actions the structure is required to withstand.
This information plays a key role in the life-cycle integrity-management of structures, offering the possibility to reduce the uncertainty of the structural condition and update predictive models of the future structural performance. Decisions about the optimal actions, needed to keep the structure at the desired level of functionality, can be greatly improved thanks to the reduction in the uncertainty that affects reliability assessment.
Despite the importance of SHM in decision-making, the connection between the information provided by monitoring and the data interpretation for the decision analysis needs to be better developed. The reason possible lies in the cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary nature of the topic that involves experts in the two connected, yet distinct, domains of SHM and decision analysis.
The aim of this Special Session is to highlight the importance of this connection, to bring together experts in SHM systems and life-cycle management to share knowledge and ideas, and foster future collaborations as well as developments on this topic.

SS 03 – Monitoring of Structures for Informed Decision Making

Alfred Strauss

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Vienna, Austria

Dan M. Frangopol

Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA, USA

Civil engineers are facing the challenge of managing aging infrastructure under tight budgetary as well as operational constraints. A qualified assessment of new and existing structures is essential to optimally allocate the limited resources available for asset management. A profound knowledge on the condition of a structure is the necessary basis for deciding on actions which can be taken to guarantee a safe use and operation of the structure within the planned technical lifetime or for prolonging the technical lifetime of the structure. There have been significant advances in the development of technologies for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), however such technologies are at present only limited integrated in the assessment of existing structures.

This Mini-Symposium (MS) addresses the problem of decision making in the management of deteriorating infrastructure. Such decision making should consider all relevant uncertainties, and exploiting the potential for profound knowledge on the structural condition as provided by SHM technologies. In particular this MS will focus on (1) developing a framework that allows assessing existing structures by means of a decision making tool that takes into account monitoring information and (2) determining and optimizing the value of monitoring over the lifetime of structures.

SS 04 – Artificial Intelligence-Based Life-Cycle Management of Infrastructure Systems

You Dong

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China

Dan M. Frangopol

Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA, USA

Xiaoming Lei

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China

Civil infrastructure systems play a critical role in continued economic prosperity and preserving our quality of life. Due to operational loads, environmental erosion, and extreme events, the deteriorating infrastructure systems will reduce the functionality and service life. Infrastructure owners encounter great challenges in efficiently allocating funds to preserve and maintain their ageing structures with the consideration of safety, social, economic, and environmental impacts. Life-Cycle Management (LCM) provides a holistic perspective to understanding the performance, risk, sustainability and cost of infrastructure assets. Recently, with the help of fast-increasing artificial intelligence and field measurements, civil infrastructures have created vast volumes of data that imply structural behaviour and multi-level physical mechanisms.

This Mini-Symposium will provide a forum for international experts and researchers to discuss current breakthroughs in the artificial intelligence-based assessment and management of civil infrastructure systems in a life-cycle context. Authors working on research related to risk, resilience and sustainability-informed management of infrastructure systems under the effects of deterioration, hazards, and climate change using monitoring and inspection data and artificial intelligence-based infrastructure maintenance are encouraged to submit abstracts.

SS 05 – Concrete Damage Assessment using CODA Waves

Christoph Gehlen

Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany

Ernst Niederleithinger

Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing
Berlin, Germany

Jithender Timothy

Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany

Thomas Kränkel

Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany

Concrete structures are an essential part of our lives, as they support mobility, storage of goods and shelter humans. The industrial performance and the functionality of modern society directly depend on the reliability and availability of these structures. Condition assessment and surveillance are essential for the efficient maintenance of reinforced concrete structures. High costs for repair of concrete structures can be prevented if damage at an early stage of degradation is detected and precautionary measures are applied. Ultrasonic Coda waves are the multiple-scattered late arriving ultrasonic waves that contain rich information that can be used to detect weak changes in complex heterogeneous materials such as concrete. Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) is a technique to correlate these small changes in the coda to reveal changes to the concrete structure due to environmental and/or mechanical loads. However, condition assessment of concrete structures using coda waves is still under research and development due to challenges encountered in an accurate evaluation and identification of various levels of damage and their causes. This special session aims to bring together all researchers both from the fields of experimental characterization and computational modeling working on CWI and Coda wave based methods for monitoring, assessing and/or predicting the progress of the condition of concrete structures.
Among others, the following topics within the framework of coda wave based condition assessment will be covered in the special session. Experimental characterization and computational modeling of short-term (load induced compression and tension failure) and long-term damage phenomena (carbonation, freeze-thaw, ASR, corrosion, creep) in concrete structures; influence of material composition; moisture transport; thermo-mechanical loadings; hydration monitoring; multiscale modeling; computational modeling of wave propagation; machine learning; feature-engineering; Big-Data; nonlinear features; data management; novel computational methods for evaluating coda signals; inversion techniques; optimization of sensor placement etc.

SS 06 – Life-Cycle Redundancy, Robustness, and Resilience Indicators for Aging Structures and Infrastructure Systems under Multiple Hazards

Fabio Biondini

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Dan M. Frangopol

Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA, USA

Structural systems, due to their inherent vulnerability, are at risk from aging, fatigue and deterioration processes due to aggressive chemical attacks and other physical damage mechanisms. The detrimental effects of these phenomena can lead over time to unsatisfactory structural performance under service loadings or accidental actions and extreme events, such as natural hazards and man-made disasters. The exposure to combined effects of discrete and continuous damaging events pose a major challenge to the field of structural engineering. The classical time-invariant structural design criteria and methodologies need to be revised to account for a proper modeling of the structural system over its entire life-cycle by taking into account the effects of deterioration processes, time-variant loadings, and maintenance and repair interventions under uncertainty. Despite these needs and recent research advances, life-cycle concepts are not yet explicitly addressed in structural design codes. Moreover, the level of structural performance is generally specified with reference to structural safety and reliability. However, when aging and deterioration are considered, the evaluation of the system performance should account for additional probabilistic indicators aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the life-cycle structural resources, such us redundancy, robustness and resilience. Based on these considerations and following the successful mini-symposia organized at IALCCE2016, IALCCE2018, and IALCCE 2020, the purpose of this IALCCE2023 mini-symposium is to present principles, concepts, methods, and strategies for assessing the life-cycle risk, reliability, redundancy, robustness and resilience of deteriorating structures and infrastructure systems under multiple hazards, with emphasis on the interaction between seismic and environmental hazards.

Mini‐Symposium organized on behalf of the SEI/ASCE Technical Council on Life‐Cycle Performance, Safety, Reliability and Risk of Structural Systems, Task Group 2 on Reliability-based Performance Indicators for Structural Systems.

SS 07 – Bridge Weigh-In-Motion Systems and Applications to Structural Health Monitoring

Samim Mustafa

Indian Institute of Technology
Varanasi, India

Daniel Cantero

Norwegian University
of Science and Technology
Trondheim, Norway

Bridge weight-in-motion (BWIM) is a method of converting a real bridge to a weighing scale by instrumenting it with sensors. Since it can provide useful information about the live loads that the bridge is subjected to, at normal operating condition, it has attracted attention as a promising tool for bridge design optimization, overweight enforcement, fatigue prediction and maintenance planning over the past few decades. As the number of bridges with a service life exceeding 50 years has increased, various types of damage, such as corrosion and fatigue, have been discovered. Fatigue damage, which is caused by the long-term effect of traffic loads, reduces the service life of steel bridges considerably, so appropriate maintenance should be properly performed.
For effective maintenance of aging infrastructures and residual life prediction under limited budgetary constraint, it is therefore important to develop an efficient BWIM system at a lower cost for obtaining accurate traffic information and long-term practical implementation. In this context, BWIM has still room for potential developments in terms of its technology, methodology and applications. This special session aims at discussing the new methodologies with improved results by considering all relevant uncertainties, the use of alternative sensing technologies, real applications in different types of bridges, novel approaches for BWIM technology and how to use the gathered information about live loads towards bridge maintenance and residual life prediction.

SS 08 – Performance, Safety, and Cost of Civil Infrastructure in a Life-Cycle Context

Yaohan Li

Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Hong Kong, China

Peng Yuan

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China

You Dong

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China

Dan M. Frangopol

Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA, USA

Civil infrastructure systems are vulnerable to deterioration and extreme events due to environmental exposure and multiple hazards over their lifetime. In recent decades, adverse environmental conditions and climate change have also resulted in a severe negative impact on engineering structures. Therefore, enhancing the safety, condition, and resilience of aging infrastructure has become a major concern globally. In particular, the life-cycle approach under uncertainty for civil engineering systems can be a key solution to address these challenges. This Mini-Symposium aims to provide a forum for researchers to present state-of-the-art research results and future trends in life-cycle performance and cost of civil infrastructure. The main topics to be presented are: (1) advances in risk-based and maintenance cost estimation, (2) uncertainty modeling, (3) reliability-based performance analysis, and (4) performance and cost assessment under deterioration, extreme events, and climate change.

SS 09 – Risk-Based Prioritization and Monitoring of Bridges for Road Infrastructure Management in Lombardy Region, Italy

Fabio Biondini

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Maria Pina Limongelli

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Carmelo Gentile

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Marco Belloli

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Structural deterioration of bridges and infrastructure facilities is a major problem in most developed countries, including Italy, because many bridges have passed or are about to reach 50 years of lifetime and are rapidly approaching the end of the service life. The scale of bridge repair or replacement needs is particularly large and represents a key obstacle to sustainable development of countries. Life-cycle management of aging bridges and infrastructure systems is hence a high priority and public authorities need specific criteria, methodologies, and tools to inform the decision-making process for rational allocation of available resources and efficient prioritization of bridge maintenance and repair interventions. To face these needs, a research agreement between Regione Lombardia and Politecnico di Milano has been established to define criteria and guidelines for maintenance and management of the regional roadway infrastructure. The project is aimed at developing a risk-based bridge maintenance prioritization methodology using available documentary sources of technical information and taking into account the impact of traffic delay and road network downtime. The proposed approach has been applied to hundreds bridges located along the main regional routes. Furthermore, to complement information from risk assessment, monitoring systems have been designed and implemented on nine pilot bridges and are currently collecting data. This Special Session will report on the main research advances and application outcomes of the project, with emphasis on the development of the regional bridge inventory, implementation of the risk assessment and bridge prioritization procedure at regional scale, and exploitation of bridge monitoring results for optimal infrastructure management.

SS 10 – Deterioration Modeling of Concrete, Rebar, Steel and Bond Performance

Xiangling Gao

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Xiaodan Ren

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Jie Li

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Concrete, reinforcing bar and steel, as major building materials, have been widely used in structural and infrastructure engineering. With the service life increase, carbonation and crack of concrete, corrosion of reinforcing bars and steel, debonding of rebar and concrete, and debonding of section steel and concrete induced the mechanical performance to deteriorate. To this end, models to describe the deterioration of concrete, rebar, section steel and bond performance during structural life-cycle play increasingly important roles in the engineering design. Those who have been working on related fields are cordially invited to exchange their ideas and research outcome in this mini-symposium.

SS 11 – BRIDGE|50: Experimental Testing and Model Validation for Life-Cycle Design and Assessment of RC/PC Bridges

Fabio Biondini

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Francesco Tondolo

Politecnico di Torino
Turin, Italy

Sergio Manto

SCR Piemonte
Turin, Italy

Carlo Beltrami

Lombardi Engineering
Milan, Italy

BRIDGE|50 is a research project established jointly by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino with public authorities and private companies for a wide experimental campaign on a prestressed concrete viaduct dismantled after a 50-year lifetime. A group of 29 deck beams, including 25 I-beams and 4 box beams, and 2 pier caps have been moved and stored in a testing site. The on-site experimental activities include non-destructive diagnostic tests, full-scale load tests up to collapse, and samples collected for laboratory tests. The objective is gathering new data concerning the life cycle safety and reliability of aging bridges exposed to deterioration processes. This framework of data will provide knowledge advances for public authorities managing bridges and infrastructure networks and represent key information to validate methods for life-cycle design and assessment of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. The proposed Special Session is aimed at presenting the main advances and achievements of the project, including the experimental results of the full scale load tests, and fostering future research activities and implementation in practice of life-cycle design, assessment, maintenance, and management of structures and infrastructure systems (http://www.bridge50.org)

SS 12 – Exploiting Digitalization in the Intervention Planning for Transportation Infrastructure

Bryan T. Adey

ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland

Saviz Moghtadernejad

ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland

Steven Chuo

ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland

Hamed Mehranfar

ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland

Transportation infrastructures are prone to multiple deterioration processes throughout their life that can jeopardize their serviceability. Execution of interventions is necessary to eliminate the impacts of deterioration processes. However, it is rather difficult to plan interventions due to complex intervention planning process, which could increase service disruptions as well as total lifecycle costs. This mandates infrastructure managers to transition from using qualitative methods towards quantitative approaches for planning interventions. Consequently, the application of digital tools and decision-support processes could facilitate the consideration of the large and growing amount of detailed information on infrastructures and their behaviour over time.

SS 13 – Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Steel Bridges

Xu Jiang

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Xuhong Qiang

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Zhilin Lv

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Steel bridges are generally subjected to increasing traffic loads and changeable environmental conditions. Thus, fatigue and corrosion issues of steel bridges have occurred frequently around the world. Regarding to the above issues, there are a number of conventional and advanced techniques developed in recent years for strengthening and rehabilitation of steel bridges. The aim of this special session is to focus on the latest research progress and applications, which related but not limited to enlarging cross-sections of steel members using additional steel components, retrofitting solutions using novel approaches, e.g., FRP/SMA, external prestressing technique and so on.

SS 14 – Data Management and Analysis for Predictive Maintenance of Aging Infrastructure

Franziska Schmidt

Université Gustave Eiffel
Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France

Mezgeen Rasol

Université Gustave Eiffel
Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France

Leandro F.M. Sanchez

uOttawa
Ottawa, Canada

The general statement is well known by infrastructure owners and managers: infrastructure is aging and the loadings (traffic, climate, … so on) are more and more aggressive. This would lead to more maintenance cycles, repair or strengthening actions but the allocated budgets are usually limited. Therefore, a solution which is often proposed is the smart use of monitoring data. This session aims to gather communications around new and innovative strategies in data management and data analysis (predictive models and machine learning techniques).

SS 15 – Reinforced Concrete-to-Concrete Interfaces: Experiments and Modelling

Vasiliki Palieraki

National Technical University of Athens
Athens, Greece

Sara Cattaneo

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Interfaces are common in reinforced concrete structures: natural cracks, construction joints, cold joints, etc. The shear resistance of interfaces is crucial for the overall behavior of concrete structures. Even though many tests exist in literature, there are aspects not yet extensively investigated: the effect of interface roughness and roughening techniques, the effect of cyclic loading, the behavior of innovative materials (concrete, reinforcement), the specimens’ size and shape. Furthermore, the modelling of interfaces remains challenging, since interacting mechanisms are involved. The scope of the Mini-Symposium is to represent a meeting point for experts on interfaces, to exchange recent experimental and numerical data.

SS 16 – Risk-Informed Life-Cycle Management of Bridges

Ilaria Venanzi

University of Perugia
Perugia, Italy

Maria Pina Limongelli

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Umberto Alibrandi

Aarhus University
Aarhus, Denmark

The management of infrastructural assets is becoming a priority requirement in many countries. Bridges are subjected to ageing and deterioration processes, as well as to natural hazards, and most of them require maintenance or strengthening operations. In this context, risk-informed life-cycle cost analysis allows optimizing bridges’ O&M (Operation and Maintenance) strategies and supports decision-making process, with the final aim of improving safety and allocation of resources. The Special Session focuses on novel approaches for risk assessment and life-cycle cost analysis of bridges subjected to deterioration and damage induced by different hazards. Relevant topics include but are not limited to optimization of maintenance and retrofitting strategies, reliability analysis over lifetime accounting for uncertainties involved in risk prediction, monitoring and cost-informed decision making.

SS 17 – BIM-Based Sustainability Considerations in Infrastructure Construction

Markus König

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Bochum,Germany

The infrastructure sector has a significant impact on the achievement of the climate goals, the Agenda 2030 adopted by the United Nations. Under this overarching objective, this mini-symposium will consider general considerations that are conducive to achieving the goals and, where possible, incorporate the potentials of the Building Information Modeling (BIM) method in the specific development of actions:

  • Adaptation and strategies of the sustainability goals for infrastructure construction
  • Challenges and current need for research
  • Potentials through digital methods (primarily BIM) to improve sustainability over the entire infrastructure life cycle
  • National considerations of the status quo/country comparisons in sustainability development.
  • Concrete use cases for automating sustainability analysis.

SS 18 – Optimization of Inspection, Monitoring and Maintenance Strategies for Existing Concrete Structures

Robby Caspeele

Ghent University
Ghent, Belgium

Wouter Botte

Ghent University
Ghent, Belgium

Geert Lombaert

KU Leuven
Leuven, Belgium

Alfred Strauss

University of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences
Vienna, Austria

Inspection, monitoring and maintenance should be effectively planned throughout the life-cycle of concrete structures, e.g. as part of an infrastructure network, to ensure optimum budget allocation and maximum possible service life without adverse effects on the system safety. The optimal intervention times and types can be based on optimization techniques, which is up to date still a challenging task for infrastructure owners or operators. Therefore, this mini-symposium focusses, among others, on the following topics:

  • optimization techniques for inspection and monitoring strategies;
  • optimization and decision making techniques for repair and strengthening;
  • simplified approaches for inspection, monitoring and maintenance scheduling;
  • case studies in which the above mentioned techniques are applied and/or validated.

SS 19 – Sustainability of Steel Production Chain

Helena Gervasio

University of Coimbra
Coimbra, Portugal

Marta Maria Sesana

University of Brescia
Brescia, Italy

The building sector is responsible for about 33% of global CO2 emissions and up to 50% of the total raw material extraction. Steel is the most circular material with a long lifespan; however, CO2 emissions arising from the production stage is often pointed out as a critical point. Sustainable construction is the strategy to achieve carbon neutrality, taking into account the entire life-cycle.
The main objectives of this Special Session are: (i) to debate and discuss how steel industry can contribute to carbon neutrality by reducing its footprint; (ii) to present the steel chain transformation toward carbon neutrality and recent developments; and (iii) to investigate the complex world of low carbon material alternatives. Moreover, tools and technical background to approach sustainable construction in civil structures and infrastructures will be presented.

SS 20 – Advances in Performance and Life-Cycle Design Of Green Structural Materials for a More Sustainable Environment

Beatrice Belletti

University of Parma
Parma, Italy

Patrizia Bernardi

University of Parma
Parma, Italy

Alice Sirico

University of Parma
Parma, Italy

The building sector is considered one of the human activities with the highest environmental impacts, mostly related to the manufacturing of construction materials. The production of cement or concrete, just to mention the most widespread ones, implies as known high energetic costs, dioxide emissions and not-renewable resources consumption. In recent years, several attempts have been made to develop “eco-friendly” materials, i.e. able to guarantee a compromise between mechanical performances and ecological aspects. One possible strategy is to insert into material mix design, as addition or raw material replacement, several kinds of industrial by-products or waste.
This Special Session is addressed to show the latest advances in the research development of innovative eco-friendly construction materials, particularly focusing on their: 1) physical-chemical-mechanical performances, in comparison with traditional materials; 2) environmental and long-term performances, also through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.

SS 21 – Durability of Reinforced Concrete Structures and Infrastructures under Changing Climate Conditions

Sylvia Kessler

Helmut‐Schmidt-University
University of the Federal Armed Forces
Hamburg, Germany

Francesca Marsili

Helmut‐Schmidt-University
University of the Federal Armed Forces
Hamburg, Germany

Pietro Croce

University of Pisa
Pisa, Italy

Filippo Landi

University of Pisa
Pisa, Italy

The life cycle of civil engineering structures is likely to be increasingly affected in the coming decades by climate change impacts, not only in terms of magnitude and the frequency of extreme events, but also considering the effects on the rate of material degradation processes. Despite the effort in recent years to assess the impact of climate change on structures, still there is a need to develop procedures and methods to assess the durability of r.c. structures under time-dependent exposure climate. The objective of this Special Session is to overview current knowledge on the subject and present recent research advances on how to consider the effects of climate change on the reliability and durability of r.c. structures. The overall goals of this Special Session are to: 1) promote a better understanding of the topic reviewing existing carbonation and corrosion models also referring to available in-situ measurements, 2) identify approaches to consider climate projections in the evaluation of probability of corrosion initiation and damage, 3) propose cost-effective adaptation strategies to tackle the climate change-induced corrosion of both existing and new structures in a global perspective. The Session is also aiming to discuss background studies currently ongoing in the framework of the Mandate M515 of the European Commission for the 2nd generation of Eurocodes.

SS 22 – Life-Cycle and Sustainability of Precast Concrete Structures

Bruno Dal Lago

University of Insubria
Varese, Italy

Hugo Rodrigues

Universidade do Aveiro
Aveiro, Portugal

Paolo Negro

European Commission,
Joint Research Centre
Ispra, Italy

Environmental sustainability is assuming a growing role in the strategic plans of several countries worldwide. The socioeconomic importance of the construction sector contrasts with its high environmental impact due to the intensive consumption of natural and energy resources throughout the useful life of the buildings. However, to switch to more sustainable solutions in the construction field, several efforts are being made focusing on alternative materials and reduction of material consumption by structural optimisation. The reinforced concrete precast sector can be one of the constructions sectors to promote a low-carbon construction, given its potential to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by the construction and rehabilitation with more sustainable materials and techniques. This special session intends to provide an overview of the latest development in the field of precast constructions, mainly related to the following topics: (a) sustainability and environmental impact; (b) life-cycle analysis in the context of circular economy; (c) effect of material deterioration through time; (d) resilience for extreme events; (e) reliability of new or retrofitted structures employing seismic devices.

SS 23 – Shaping Development Planning Processes for Infrastructure Systems under Future Uncertainty

Bryan Adey

ETH Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland

Arnór Elvarsson

ETH Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland

Orlando Román

ETH Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland

Infrastructure planners strive to ensure that infrastructure systems meet the needs of stakeholders over its planned life-cycle. Infrastructure systems comprise of physical infrastructure, the environment in which it is embedded and the organizations that are responsible for the infrastructure. Stakeholder needs are defined by the difference between the level of service expected by the stakeholders affected by the system and the level of service which is provided.
Infrastructure planning is a challenging task because (1) there is considerable uncertainty associated with future stakeholder needs, and (2) the infrastructure built to meet these needs often lasts decades, if not centuries. The planning performed today shapes infrastructure for a very long time to come, while the demands for infrastructure may be very different. Several tools and methods have been developed to improve infrastructure planning under uncertainty but their applicability to actual planning processes remains an open question.
The Special Session focuses on addressing the challenges in infrastructure planning in complex systems using novel methods and concepts to better meet stakeholder needs throughout the infrastructure life-cycle. The Special Session emphasizes the applicability of such methods and tools in decision-support for planners.
Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, systems and networks analysis, flexibility and adaptivity in planning, decision-support tools and contributions to the evaluation of infrastructure planning processes and governance structures.

SS 24 – Functional End-of-Life Framework Applied to Hydraulic Structures

Evert Jan Hamerslag

Rijkswaterstaat
Utrecht, The Netherlands

Esther van Baaren

Deltares
Delft, The Netherlands

Alexander Bakker

Delft University of Technology
Delft, The Netherlands

In the life-cycle of infrastructure assets, distinction can be made between technical, economical and functional end-of-lifetime. For hydraulic structures, functional aspects like meeting the requirements on flood protection, navigation, discharge or ecology, often cause the first tipping points. A framework has been developed for the assessment of climate and socio-economic changes and (future) policy decisions on the functional performance of hydraulic structures. Quantification for storm surge barriers, weirs and locks resulted in new insights on the end-of-life and in options for renewal and renovation. During this Special Session the framework will be presented and applied, including examples from the participants (interactively).

SS 25 – The Process of Decarbonization: From Ideation to Specification

David Shook

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
San Francisco, CA, USA

Mark Sarkisian

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
San Francisco, CA, USA

Meaningful decarbonization begins with imaginative ideation and ends with cost-effective deployment. The rapid development of new materials, creation of synergetic systems, and procurement of accurate specifications are fundamental to climate change mitigation. Bringing these vital steps into fruition is a challenge for designers and has resulted in limited adoption of new technologies. This session will explore how a series of ideas, through rigorous development, are resulting in significant decarbonization. Successful execution of conceptual ideation, practical experimentation, and successful specification will be discussed through a series of project experiences.

SS 26 – Structural Resilience in Bridge Engineering: Method, Theory, and Practice

Airong Chen

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Xuhui He

Central South University
Changsha, China

Xin Ruan

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

In social development and economic activities, bridge structures play an important role. With the development of design strategies and construction techniques, higher and more detailed requirements are proposed for structural service performance, especially structural resilience. The resilience of infrastructures includes early warning before disasters, safe response during disasters, and quick recovery after disasters. Compared with safety requirements, structural resilience is a comprehensive concept based on a series of structural properties and novel technologies, and its assessment, guarantee, and improvement are also tightly related to advanced intelligent methods.The purpose of this mini-symposium is to attract state-of-the-art research focusing on the resilience of bridge structures, including methods, theory, and practice. The following topics will be discussed:

  • Advanced theoretical framework for the resilience of bridge systems
  • Resilience assessment and improvement strategies of bridge structures
  • Intelligent methods and techniques used in structural resilience assessment
  • Resilience models in bridge design, construction, and maintenance
  • Case report on bridge resilience analysis and engineering applications

SS 27 – Practical Applications and Value of Advanced Computational and Probabilistic Modelling in Life-Cycle Engineering

Paolo Bocchini

Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA, USA

Alfred Strauss

University of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences
Vienna, Austria

Helder Sousa

Brisa Group
São Domingos de Rana, Portugal

There are numerous examples in the literature and in the profession of the benefits of advanced mechanical and probabilistic modelling in Civil Engineering. Such additional knowledge is useful throughout the service life of the structure for maintenance, management, and monitoring. However, any modelling effort that goes beyond what is needed for basic design purposes requires qualified experts and substantial additional investments. This session aims to better understand the implications of modelling investments, including additional data acquired by means of suitable monitoring techniques, as well as their relevance, in the context of the life-cycle analysis of engineering structures.

SS 28 – Use of SHM and NDE for Decision Making

Nurdan M. Apaydin

Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa
Istanbul, Turkey

F. Necati Catbas

University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL, USA

Bruno Briseghella

Fuzhou University
Fuzhou, China

Decision making plays an essential role in bridge management systems. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) are evolving fields regarding the development and implementation of data acquisition and processing systems for the damage detection in civil, aerospace, or mechanical infrastructure. A primary motivation for the use of SHM and NDE systems is to acquire the ability to make informed decisions concerning the operation and management of structures so as to improve safety and/or reduce costs. This Special Session intends to provide a discussion platform for the exchange of knowledge concerning latest research developments and applications of SHM and NDE for decision making in bridge management. It is intended to cover the following key topics (but not limited to): new SHM and NDE methods, applications of SHM and NDE to real cases, dynamic monitoring, robotics in SHM and NDE, automatic inspection, visual processing, artificial intelligence and data analysis.

SS 29 – Durability and Structural Assessment of Fiber Reinforced Strengthening Materials and Strengthened Structures

Francesco Micelli

University of Salento
Lecce, Italy

Corina Papanicolaou

University of Patras
Aristotelous, Greece

Bahman Ghiassi

University of Birmingham
Birmingham, UK

Marianovella Leone

University of Salento
Lecce, Italy

The proposed special session wants to promote a scientific discussion on a topic that strongly attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners in the last decades. The use of fibrous reinforcements into organic and inorganic matrices allowed to exploit mechanical properties and technological advantages that led to a large use in civil engineering of non-traditional strengthening materials in forms of: FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymers); TRM/FRCM (Textile Reinforced Mortar/Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix); CRM (Composite Reinforced Mortar); H-UHPFRC (High and Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete).
The focus of the special session wants to highlight the engineering sustainability of such innovative solutions in terms of Durability, Structural Assessment and Monitoring, Environmental impact. Which are the long-term implications for the materials and the strengthened structures? How do we control and assess the structural safety in the short and long term? How to develop technical protocols and guidelines in order to assure the structural performances in harsh environments? How to estimate the expected performances in a life-cycle assessment perspective? Which is the impact in terms of environmental advantages when natural fibres or other sustainable solutions are used? A contribution in answering to these and other questions would bring a further important step ahead, according to the current research trends in the field.

Special Session organized on behalf of the RILEM Technical Committee 290-IMC (Inorganic Matrix Composites) – Chair: Prof. Maria Antonietta Aiello, co-Chair: Corina Papanicolaou

SS 30 – Durability of Sustainable Reinforced Concrete for Civil Engineering Structures

Maddalena Carsana

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Elena Redaelli

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Ensure sustainable and durable structures and infrastructures in the field of civil engineering is one of main circular economy goals in the near future. Despite concrete is a construction material that involves significant consequences on the environment, it also allows of implementing interesting approaches to reduce this impact and to increase the service life of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, even if exposed to aggressive conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this Special Session is to focus on the latest research progress concerning: (1) development of new cement-based materials and reuse of waste and alternative materials for producing sustainable concretes, (2) evaluation of durability performance of innovative concretes with traditional or corrosion-resistant reinforcements, (3) prevention and protection techniques against corrosion of steel reinforcing in RC structures.

SS 31 – Structural Health Monitoring and Asset Management of Infrastructures

Shaikha AlSanad

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
Safat, Kuwait

Jafarali Parol

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
Safat, Kuwait

Buildings and other infrastructures represent a significant investment by the government and private sectors and the public in any country. Safety, functionality, and sustainability of essential buildings and infrastructures is one of the key challenges even today. At a regional scale, engineers are usually faced with many competing priorities in making safety and occupancy decisions about large inventories of civil infrastructure building and bridge assets during an earthquake or any other natural hazard. Disruptions in infrastructure services during and after an extreme event, such as road closures, water services etc make us realize the importance of these assets in our day-to-day living. Therefore, we should manage infrastructure in the best possible way to ensure that they are resilient or can withstand extreme events, continue to provide service, and are affordable to users. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies are useful for rapid structural condition assessment especially a large number of infrastructures in a very short time with high precision after major hazardous events. Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM) is evolving and attracting the attention of many agencies that own infrastructure. SHM system provides important inputs for the asset management tool. Additionally, with many infrastructure assets nearing their end of life, mainly those nearing their end of design service life, the management process focuses on the later stages of the asset’s (infrastructure) life to prolong its usefulness through maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement. It is worth noting that, there is significant advancements in the SHM technologies (sensors and algorithms). However, most of the methods are either at the infant stage or demonstrated at the laboratory scale and not applied in the real practical cases. The main aim of this Special Session is to share the benefits, best practices and challenges in the asset management and SHM technologies applied in real buildings and infrastructures. The papers of this Special Session will include real case studies of SHM and asset management of infrastructures and will cover the following research areas:

  • Asset management of infrastructures
  • Asset management policies
  • Case studies on structural health monitoring of infrastructures
  • Structural life estimation Methodologies
  • Structural maintenance strategies

SS 32 – Corrosion-Induced Structural Damage and Prevention Measures for Reinforced Concrete Infrastructure

Shangtong Yang

University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, UK

Fujian Tang

Dalian University of Technology
Dalian, China

Weiping Zhang

Tongji University
Shanghai, China

Corrosion has been the most significant problem affecting the durability of reinforced concrete structures and infrastructures. The aim of this special session is to showcase recent progress and advances in understanding the deterioration mechanism, modelling the degradation in mechanical and structural properties, monitoring the corrosion affected performance of the structures and developing new corrosion prevention techniques. Interdisciplinary research involving new experimental techniques and novel modelling methods are particularly welcomed.
Topic areas of interest but not limited to:

  • corrosion deterioration characterization
  • modelling of corrosion induced degradation
  • non-destructive and multi-scale experimental tests
  • structural maintenance
  • coatings

SS 33 – Life-cycle and Sustainability Performance of Fastenings

Panagiotis Spyridis

Technical University of Dortmund,
Dortmund, Germany

Giovanni Muciaccia

Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy

Konrad Bergmeister

University of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences
Vienna, Austria

Thilo Pregartner

fischerwerke GmbH & Co. KG
Waldachtal, Germany

Roberto Piccinin

Hilti Corporation
Schaan, Liechtenstein

Thomas Sippel

Peikko Group Corporation
Lahti, Finland

Fastening technology is constantly developing and gaining in relevance in the last decades, as it allows the connection of various elements to load bearing structures. As such it may be understood as a multiple interface in construction, moreover connecting elements of different age and technical service lives (load-bearing structure, architectural finishes, electromechanical equipment). In addition, fastenings are tightly related to disproportional failure consequences, since local failure of a connection detail can lead to further or progressive collapse of the entire system. This can be due to hidden defects and degradation or extreme natural and load actions. Currently, research on various aspects of life cycle engineering on such connections in ongoing, whilst various scientific fields related to life cycle engineering contribute to the topic: robustness/redundancy assessments and system-level design, long-term performance of materials and construction products against e.g. earthquake, fatigue, fire and temperature, or creep action, non-destructive assessment and maintenance, and generally extension of the overall life-cycle of connections toward more sustainable and climate resilient solutions. These aspects form the core of this special session, which comes to facilitate scientific discourse in the scientific area of fastenings under consideration of their life-cycle performance. The papers may deliver new design concepts and approaches, the use of sustainable materials and construction technologies, case-studies in design, construction, management, and decommission with reference to life cycle of fastenings or relevant structural connections.