Over 150 research articles relating three multi-disciplinary topics (air pollution, climate change and civil engineering structures) are reviewed to examine the footprints of air pollution and changing environment on the sustainability of building and transport structures (referred as built infrastructure). The aim of this review is to synthesize the existing knowledge on this topic, highlight ...

A rapid method for directly determining the exhalation rate of thoron from material surfaces was studied. Thoron accumulated with the accumulation chamber is detected with the scintillation cell. The alpha counting efficiency of the scintillation cell was estimated by the Monte Carlo calculation. Measurements were carried out in a sandy loam and different building materials. The results show th...

For more than 100 years, the primary theme underlying the NBS/NIST staff contribution to the crystallography of building materials has been the development of an improved understanding of concrete materials performance. Over that time period, portland cement concrete has become one of the most important of our construction materials for roads, buildings, and other large municipal structures. At...

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Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is an environmentally friendly building material. This paper investigates the mechanical behavior of recycled aggregate concrete filled steel tube (RACFST) columns exposed to fire. Two groups of 12 columns were designed and tested, under axial compression, before and after fire, to evaluate the degradation of bearing capacity due to fire exposure. Six specimens...

Self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLC) is a promising construction material for building applications, but most SCLCs today are made with river sand (RS). There is an increasing demand for environmental protection, as well as materials with a high strength/density ratio. The manufactured sand (MS) and lightweight sand (LS) as fine aggregates in cement-based composite materials have been re...

Physical properties of building materials can be defined by material coefficients. The material coefficients examined were: coefficient of mean density, coefficient of specific heat capacity, coefficient of thermal conductivity, and coefficient of thermal diffusivity. Physical properties of a newly-developed material (polyurethane plaster), were subjected to nondestructive analysis. The same me...

Development in sensitive watersheds continues to pose environmental problems for receiving waters. One contributor to the long-term pollution of sensitive waterways is building and construction materials. However, the long-term effect of many building materials on the environment has not been quantified. Prior testing of these materials in the laboratory has indicated that the potential for rel...

Use of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants as a raw material for making clay bricks has been analyzed to be an option to dumping sludges into landfills. This alternative has been shown feasible and interesting due to the high rate of use of ceramic materials in the building sector. However, it meets with some environmental issues and some prejudices on the part of users. This work sh...

Normally building materials are transported to the building site as a part of the purchase, and the price quoted is 'as delivered in whole truckloads'. This tempts the purchase organization to save a few cents, which are easily lost by an unsuitably form of delivery. Studies of logistics show that a substantial increase in productivity can be obtained by delivering building materials on conditi...