Advances in Sustainable Green Building Practices and Structural Engineering

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 1235

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri—Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: sustainable and low-carbon construction materials; recycled plastics and waste integration in asphalt and concrete; self-healing and smart concrete technologies; composite structures systems; nanomaterials and engineered cementitious composites (ECC); life cycle assessment (LCA) of construction materials and systems; pavement design, modification, and performance evaluation; structural health monitoring and IoT-based smart infrastructure; digital printing and advanced cement applications; finite element analysis and numerical modeling of structural systems

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri—Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: blast mitigation design and composite material systems; solid and structural mechanics; finite element modeling and simulation of infrastructure resilience
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
1. Missouri Water Center, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri—Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: green and sustainable cementitious materials or polymer binders development; health related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) monitoring and management inside buildings

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry is one of the most significant contributors to global carbon emissions and resource consumption. With growing environmental concerns and the urgent need to meet global sustainability goals, the development of innovative, sustainable practices for the management and structural engineering of green buildings has become essential.

This Special Issue, “Advances in Sustainable Green Building Practices and Structural Engineering,” intends to showcase emerging research and case studies that contribute to reducing the environmental footprint of the built environment. Particular emphasis is placed on novel materials, technologies, and strategies that promote circularity, resource efficiency, and long-term durability in construction systems.

Topics of interest include the use of recycled materials in concrete and asphalt to reduce dependency on virgin resources and foster a circular economy. Self-healing concrete technologies, which offer an extended service life and reduced maintenance needs, are also welcome. In addition, we encourage contributions that focus on advanced structural strengthening techniques that minimize material use while enhancing performance—such as external post-tensioning.

This Special Issue also welcomes studies focused on the incorporation of nanomaterials into building materials (e.g., nano-additives in cementitious composites) and the development of carbon-negative materials, which aim to significantly lower CO2 emissions in the construction process. Furthermore, it seeks to promote comprehensive approaches, such as life cycle assessments (LCAs) and green infrastructure evaluations, which assess the environmental performance of building projects holistically.

Finally, the role of smart monitoring systems, such as IoT-enabled structural health monitoring and intelligent building management platforms, will be considered for their potential to optimize building performance and support the sustainable operation of a structure throughout its lifetime.

This Special Issue aims to gather multidisciplinary work that demonstrates how these materials and technologies can work in synergy to enhance sustainability in construction, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Hassanin Mohamed
Prof. Dr. Hani Salim
Dr. Pan Ni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • green building management
  • structural engineering
  • recycled materials
  • self-healing concrete
  • composite materials
  • nanomaterials
  • carbon-negative materials
  • life cycle assessment
  • smart monitoring systems

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 3455 KB  
Article
Flexural Performance and Microstructural Characterization of Microbially Enhanced Cement-Reduced Mortars
by Ahmed Ibrahim Hassanin Mohamed, Osama Ahmed Ibrahim, Wael Ibrahim and Sherif Fakhry M. Abd-Elnaby
Buildings 2026, 16(5), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16051045 - 6 Mar 2026
Viewed by 385
Abstract
The cement industry, a major contributor to global CO2 emissions, urgently requires sustainable solutions that maintain or enhance material performance. This study investigates the efficacy of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) as a partial cement replacement strategy by incorporating two distinct microorganisms, [...] Read more.
The cement industry, a major contributor to global CO2 emissions, urgently requires sustainable solutions that maintain or enhance material performance. This study investigates the efficacy of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) as a partial cement replacement strategy by incorporating two distinct microorganisms, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis (B1) and the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus (B2), into cement mortar. The experimental design involved a significant 30% reduction in total cement content compared to the control mix, with each microorganism added at a dosage of 5% by cement weight. Flexural performance was assessed via three-point bending tests at 7, 28, and 56 days. Microstructural and chemical analyses were conducted using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The results demonstrate that the incorporation of both microorganisms effectively compensated for the reduced cement content, with the A. fumigatus mix (B2) showing a marked enhancement in flexural behavior, achieving a 4.3% increase over the full-cement control mix at 56 days. This superior flexural performance is attributed to its hyphal scaffolding and crack-bridging effect, which contributes to improved toughness. XRD and XRF analyses confirmed the formation of additional biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and provided qualitative insights into matrix densification. This study validates the use of A. fumigatus via the MICP technique as a structurally efficient and eco-friendly pathway to produce high-performance mortars with enhanced flexural properties and a substantially reduced carbon footprint, offering a critical alternative for sustainable cementitious materials. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 3363 KB  
Article
Simulation-Driven Metaheuristic Optimization for Recycling Facility Selection: Enhancing Urban Construction and Demolition Waste Management
by Peipei Qi and Kamyar Kabirifar
Buildings 2026, 16(4), 716; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16040716 - 10 Feb 2026
Viewed by 407
Abstract
Rapid urbanization is driving sharp growth in construction and demolition waste (CDW), making recycling facility selection and transport planning critical for cost-effective and sustainable urban waste management. This paper presents an end-to-end, simulation-driven decision-support framework that jointly optimizes facility selection and operational waste [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization is driving sharp growth in construction and demolition waste (CDW), making recycling facility selection and transport planning critical for cost-effective and sustainable urban waste management. This paper presents an end-to-end, simulation-driven decision-support framework that jointly optimizes facility selection and operational waste transportation policies under uncertainty, and systematically benchmarks competing solutions using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The proposed approach embeds a metaheuristic optimization engine within a Monte Carlo simulation environment to evaluate facility configurations and dispatch–allocation decisions under stochastic waste generation and operating conditions, using sample-average performance to ensure fair and consistent comparison across scenarios. Results from the Wuhan metropolitan case study show that coordinating dispatch intensity with contracted facility capacity significantly reduces total cost and unmoved waste while stabilizing performance across stochastic realizations; DEA then provides transparent efficiency-frontier ranking across economic, operational, and environmental indicators without requiring pre-specified weights. These findings demonstrate that dispatch–capacity alignment is a dominant lever for robust and sustainable CDW logistics, and that DEA-based benchmarking enhances decision transparency when multiple near-optimal solutions coexist. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop