Energy audits have multiple goals including reducing energy consumption, managing costs and environmental impact. Improving the energy performance of existing buildings through energy retrofit measures is a great opportunity for developing sustainability in our structures and developing a green building economy. Green Energy Audit of Buildings considers this opportunity with a new and modern interpretation of the classic methodologies. This comprehensive guide to green energy audits integrates energy audit and LEED (R) methodologies to focus on energy and environment as strategic elements. In addition to these methodologies, Green Energy Audit of Buildings includes 45 check-list for field surveys and 97 technical sheets of possible energy retrofit actions that can be applied to existing real-world cases. Covering both the technical and economical points of view, Green Energy Audit of Buildings provides a comprehensive understanding and method for analyzing buildings and facilities in order to promote sustainability. Engineers, architects, energy assessors and mangers in charge of building maintenance will all find this a key reference as well as lecturers, students and researchers looking to develop their understanding of sustainable buildings.

This volume, the first to result from the Diebold Institute Information-Based Infrastructure Project, explores the links between business and government in the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technology. The work focuses on road and vehicular infrastructures, comparing those of the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and the roles that ITS can play in solving major current and anticipated future transportational problems. Special attention is given to environmental and economic concerns.

The world's infrastructure requires refurbishing, but it especially requires rethinking. The computer has transformed business enterprises and now information technology can change our environment. This book explores the benefits and how to achieve them through the use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The implementation of ITS will potentially lead to individual drivers, fleet operators, and public transit users saving vast amounts of journey time and fuel, to a significant reduction in pollution and to improved road safety. The Japanese are ahead of the U.S. and Europe in the area of intelligent transportation systems, using position location devices, and electronic maps.

Most look at this development as one that helps speed passenger cars, but this book details the economics which point to the technology being equally good for speeding trucks and easing the movement of freight. Traffic avoidance is only part of the problem although route guidance is helpful. Financing of projects in ITS is an important area for innovation and ITS could be a source of revenue to municipalities rather than an expense.

Access to reliable and affordable energy, water, and services is an important determinant of the prosperity of cities along with effective mission sustainment at military installations. The idea for this book was conceived at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) in June 2012 in Hella, Iceland. The workshop was attended by 50 scientists, engineers, and policymakers representing 15 different nations and multiple fields of expertise, reflecting the global and interdisciplinary nature of climate change and sustainability research. The focus of the workshop was on ways in which military installations and small cities can integrate energy, water, and infrastructure sustainability strategies into city and installation management plans that account for climate change uncertainties. The organization of the book reflects major topic sessions and discussions during the workshop.

This book presents a collection of recent research works that highlight best practice solutions, case studies and practical advice on the implementation of sustainable construction techniques. It includes a set of new developments in the field of building performance simulation, building sustainability assessment, sustainable management, asset and maintenance management and service-life prediction. Accordingly, the book will appeal to a broad readership of professionals, scientists, students, practitioners, lecturers and other interested parties.

Plate and shell theories experienced a renaissance in recent years. The potentials of smart materials, the challenges of adaptive structures, the demands of thin-film technologies and more on the one hand and the availability of newly developed mathematical tools, the tremendous increase in computer facilities and the improvement of commercial software packages on the other caused a reanimation of the scientific interest. In the present book the contributions of the participants of the EUROMECH Colloquium 444 "Critical Review of the Theories of Plates and Shells and New Applications" have been collected. The aim was to discuss the common roots of different plate and shell approaches, to review the current state of the art, and to develop future lines of research. Contributions were written by scientists with civil and mechanical engineering as well as mathematical and physical background.

This book presents the necessary fundamental knowledge in the research, development, design, selection, and application of desiccant heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. It covers the established installations in different climatic conditions and building types. In addition, advanced performance evaluation techniques are presented, covering thermodynamic, economic, and environmental aspects. Hence, the book is an important resource for undergraduate and graduate students, design and installation engineers, researchers and scientists, building owners and occupants, and energy and environmental policy makers.

Location analysis has matured from an area of theoretical inquiry that was designed to explain observed phenomena to a vibrant field which can be and has been used to locate items as diverse as landfills, fast food outlets, gas stations, as well as politicians and products in issue and feature spaces. Modern location science is dealt with by a diverse group of researchers and practitioners in geography, economics, operations research, industrial engineering, and computer science. Given the tremendous advances location science has seen from its humble beginnings, it is time to look back. The contributions in this volume were written by eminent experts in the field, each surveying the original contributions that created the field, and then providing an up-to-date review of the latest contributions. Specific areas that are covered in this volume include: * The three main fields of inquiry: minisum and minimax problems and covering models * Nonstandard location models, including those with competitive components, models that locate undesirable facilities, models with probabilistic features, and problems that allow interactions between facilities * Descriptions and detailed examinations of exact techniques including the famed Weiszfeld method, and heuristic methods ranging from Lagrangean techniques to Greedy algorithms * A look at the spheres of influence that the facilities generate and that attract customers to them, a topic crucial in planning retail facilities * The theory of central places, which, other than in mathematical games, where location science was born

This book focuses on the optimization of a geometrically-nonlinear structure under stability constraint. It presents a deep insight into optimization-based and computer-assisted stability design of discrete structures. Coverage combines design sensitivity analysis developed in structural optimization and imperfection-sensitivity analysis developed in stability analysis.

Whatever your hydraulic applications, Practical Hydraulic Systems: Operation & Troubleshooting For Engineers & Technicians will help you to increase your knowledge of the fundamentals, improve your maintenance programs and become an excellent troubleshooter of problems in this area.
Cutaways of all major components are included in the book to visually demonstrate the components' construction and operation. Developing an understanding of how it works leads to an understanding of how and why it fails. Multimedia views of the equipment are shown, to give as realistic a view of hydraulic systems as possible. The book is highly practical, comprehensive and interactive. It discusses Hydraulic Systems construction, design applications, operations, maintenance, and management issues and provides you with the most up-to-date information and Best Practice in dealing with the subject.
* A focus on maintenance and troubleshooting makes this book essential reading for practising engineers.
* Written to cover the requirements of mechanical / industrial and civil engineering.
* Cutaway diagrams demonstrate the construction and operation of key equipment.

Offering readers essential insights into the relationship between ancient buildings, their original and current indoor microclimates, this book details how the (generally) virtuous relationship between buildings and their typical microclimate changed due to the introduction of new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in historic buildings. The new approach to the study of their Historic Indoor Microclimate (HIM) put forward in this book is an essential component to monitoring and evaluating building and artefact conservation. Highlighting the advantages of adopting an indoor microclimatic approach to the preservation of existing historic materials by studying the original conditions of the buildings, the book proposes a new methodology linking the preservation/restoration of the historic indoor microclimate with diachronic analysis for the optimal preservation of historic buildings. Further, it discusses a number of frequently overlooked topics, such as the simple and well-coordinated opening and closing of windows (an example extracted from a real case study). In turn, the authors elaborate the concept of an Historic Indoor Microclimate (HIM) based on "Original Indoor Microclimate" (OIM), which proves useful in identifying the optimal conditions for preserving the materials that make up historic buildings. The book's main goal is to draw attention to the advantages of an indoor microclimatic approach to the preservation of existing historic materials/manufacture, by studying the original conditions of the buildings. The introduction of new systems in historic buildings not only has a direct traumatic effect on the actual building and its components, but also radically changes one of its vital immaterial elements: the Indoor Microclimate. Architects, restorers and engineers will find that the book addresses the monitoring of the indoor microclimate in selected historic buildings that have managed to retain their original state due to the absence of new HVAC systems, and reflects on the advantages of a renewed attention to these aspects.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the International Conference on Sustainable Production and Use of Cement and Concrete (ICSPCC 2019), held in Villa Clara, Cuba on June 23-30, 2019. It covers highly diverse topics, including sustainable production of low-carbon cements, novelties in the development of supplementary cementitious materials, new techniques for the microstructural characterization of construction materials, Portland-based and alkaline-activated cementitious systems, development of additives and additions in the sustainable production of concrete, sustainable production of high-performance concrete, durable concrete produced with recycled aggregates, development of mortars for historical patrimony restoration, environmental and economic assessment of the production and use of cement. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous, international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will inspire novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration between different specialists.

This edited volume presents selected contributions from the International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis of Civil Engineering Structures held in San Diego, California in 2017 (EVACES2017). The event brought together engineers, scientists, researchers, and practitioners, providing a forum for discussing and disseminating the latest developments and achievements in all major aspects of dynamic testing for civil engineering structures, including instrumentation, sources of excitation, data analysis, system identification, monitoring and condition assessment, in-situ and laboratory experiments, codes and standards, and vibration mitigation.

This book presents the proceedings of the International Conference on Durability of Critical Infrastructure. Monitoring and Testing held in Satov, Czech Republic from 6 to 9 December 2016. It discusses the developments in the theoretical and practical aspects in the fields of Safety, Sustainability and Durability of the Critical Infrastructure. The contributions are dealing with monitoring and testing of structural and composite materials with a new methods for their using for protection and prevention of the selected objects.

This book presents a collection of recent research works intended to assist in the effective management of service loss. It develops and evaluates methodologies for the assessment of defects and failures, and proposes methodologies for preventing and mitigating building defects. As such, the book will appeal to a broad readership of scientists, practitioners, students and lecturers.

This book provides basic information on the design of structures with tropical woods. It is intended primarily for teaching university- and college-level courses in structural design. It is also suitable as a reference material for practitioners. Although parts of the background material relate specifically to West and East Africa, the design principles apply to the whole of tropical Africa, Latin America and South Asia. The book is laced with ample illustrations including photographs of real life wood structures and structural elements across Africa that make for interesting reading. It has numerous manual and Excel spread sheet worked examples and review questions that can properly guide a first-time designer of wooden structural elements. A number of design problems are also solved using the FORTRAN programming language. Topics covered in the thirteen chapters of the book include a brief introduction to the book, the anatomy and physical properties of tropical woods; a bri ef review of the mechanical properties of wood, timber seasoning and preservation, uses of wood and wood products in construction; basic theory of structures, and structural load computations; design of wooden beams, solid and built-up wooden columns, wood connections and wooden trusses; as well as a brief introduction to the design of wooden bridges.

This book offers a brief review of and investigations into the power quality problem in the new technology of co-phase high-speed traction power supplies, which benefits for higher locomotive speed. In addition, it presents detailed design procedures and discusses the chief concerns in connection with a newly proposed solution: compensation in co-phase traction power using a co-phase railway hybrid power quality conditioner (Railway HPQC). Further, it provides essential information on the modeling of power quality in co-phase, high-speed traction power supplies, and on power quality compensation algorithm derivations. Lastly, it delineates the design of railway HPQC and analyzes the effect of different parameters on its performance to accommodate different priorities. All design is supported by simulations and the results of experimental verification.

This volumedescribes fire behavior and fire protection of timbers in outdoors and indoors application mainly in construction industry. The Authors novel approach considers the relationship between various species and age of timbers and its fire behavior at different thermal and fire loads. Quantitative data of ignition speed and flame propagation as well as generation of heat, smoke and toxic products are discussed. Analysis of fire resistance of various types of building materials based on timber of different species as well asthe novel data on theeffect of natural and accelerated aging of timbers on its fire behavior are discussed. The main practical methods of fire protection of new and ancient timber buildings and structures to increase its fire resistance are considered. The book should be useful for a wide range of readers: chemists, physicists, material scientists, architects, engineers, constructors and restorers."

This book - comprised of three separate volumes - presents the recent developments and research discoveries in structural and solid mechanics; it is dedicated to Professor Isaac Elishakoff. This second volume is devoted to the vibrations of solid and structural members. Modern Trends in Structural and Solid Mechanics 2 has broad scope, covering topics such as: exact and approximate vibration solutions of rods, beams, membranes, plates and three-dimensional elasticity problems, Bolotin s dynamic edge effect, the principles of plate theories in dynamics, nano- and microbeams, nonlinear dynamics of shear extensible beams, the vibration and aeroelastic stability behavior of cellular beams, the dynamic response of elastoplastic softening oscillators, the complex dynamics of hysteretic oscillators, bridging waves, and the three-dimensional propagation of waves. This book is intended for graduate students and researchers in the field of theoretical and applied mechanics.

Open channel hydraulics has always been a very interesting domain of scienti c and engineering activity because of the great importance of water for human l- ing. The free surface ow, which takes place in the oceans, seas and rivers, can be still regarded as one of the most complex physical processes in the environment. The rst source of dif culties is the proper recognition of physical ow processes and their mathematical description. The second one is related to the solution of the derived equations. The equations arising in hydrodynamics are rather comp- cated and, except some much idealized cases, their solution requires application of the numerical methods. For this reason the great progress in open channel ow modeling that took place during last 40 years paralleled the progress in computer technique, informatics and numerical methods. It is well known that even ty- cal hydraulic engineering problems need applications of computer codes. Thus, we witness a rapid development of ready-made packages, which are widely d- seminated and offered for engineers. However, it seems necessary for their users to be familiar with some fundamentals of numerical methods and computational techniques applied for solving the problems of interest. This is helpful for many r- sons. The ready-made packages can be effectively and safely applied on condition that the users know their possibilities and limitations. For instance, such knowledge is indispensable to distinguish in the obtained solutions the effects coming from the considered physical processes and those caused by numerical artifacts.

Oak-framed Buildings is a practical and inspiring guide to their design and construction, written by expert craftsman Rupert Newman. Oak-framed buildings have been with us for centuries and they are here to stay. They are beautiful, durable and environmentally friendly, and by marrying traditional and modern materials they can be brought to a very high standard of energy-efficiency. This is a practical book on the technique of timber-frame construction for carpenters, builders and aspiring self-builders, but it will also be a source of inspiration to anyone who appreciates beautiful buildings. Full-colour photographs show projects by the author and others both complete and under construction, and structural details are clearly explained both in photographs and in three-dimensional drawings. Here is a traditional craft brought fully up to date for the 21st century. Topics covered include: past and present, making a start, understanding the structure, frame design, the construction process, raising the frame, walls and roofs, second fix, finishing off, and future of timber building.

This practical guide to the assessment and repair of historic buildings is invaluable for structural engineers, architects, surveyors and builders working in all aspects of building conservation. Taking a practical step-by-step approach, the authors discuss the appraisal of buildings and the differences in structural behaviour between new and existing structures. Each stage in the appraisal is explained, using examples from the authors' own work.
Each major construction material is assessed in detail, with separate sections on masonry, concrete, timber and the particularly complex issues of iron and steel framed buildings. Techniques for testing the ability of a building to continue its existing use or to be converted to a new use are explained.
.Detailed guide to appraisal and repair of historic buildings
.Analyses the key differences between new and existing structures
.Written by practitioners and illustrated with examples from their direct experience

This book gives an introduction to the working principles of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and points out challenges and problems associated with the development and operation of HID lamps. It is the most comprehensive book on gas discharge lamps, on the physical basics and realization. The state-of-the-art in electrode and plasma diagnostics as well as numerical methods used for the understanding of HID lamps are described.

Computational Intelligence for Medical Internet of Things (MIoT) Applications: Machine Intelligence Applications for IoT in Healthcare explores machine intelligence techniques necessary for effective MIoT research and practice, taking a practical approach for practitioners and students entering the field. This book investigates advanced concepts and applications in the MIoT field, guiding readers through emerging developments and future trends. A wide range of international authors guide readers through advanced concepts, including deep learning, neural network, and big data analytic approaches for the classification, indexing, retrieval, analysis, and inferencing of healthcare data.

This book presents the latest, most interesting research efforts regarding Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technologies, from theory to practice. The book's main theme is "Mobility for everyone by ITS"; accordingly, it gathers a range of contributions on human-centered factors in the use or development of ITS technologies, infrastructures, and applications. Each of these contributions proposes a novel method for ITS and discusses the method on the basis of case studies conducted in the Asia-Pacific region. The book are roughly divided into four general categories: 1) Safe and Secure Society, 2) ITS-Based Smart Mobility, 3) Next-Generation Mobility, and 4) Infrastructure Technologies for Practical ITS. In these categories, several key topics are touched on with each other such as driver assistance and behavior analysis, traffic accident and congestion management, vehicle flow management at large events, automated or self-driving vehicles, V2X technologies, next-generation public transportation systems, and intelligent transportation systems made possible by big data analysis. In addition, important current and future ITS-related problems are discussed, taking into account many case studies that have been conducted in this regard.