Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163236

Authors: Chiara Monteferrante Vitor Silva Nicola Buratti

This study addresses the seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings affected by the 2012 Emilia earthquake sequence through a scenario-based damage assessment. The OpenQuake engine is employed to simulate damage scenarios by integrating detailed exposure data, ground-motion fields derived from INGV and UNIBO shakemaps, and a selection of fragility models developed using different methodological frameworks. Particular attention is given to the critical comparison of analytical, empirical, and hybrid models, with reference to their underlying assumptions, treatment of seismic input, and compatibility with available exposure and damage data. The results demonstrate that fragility-model selection, ground-motion representation, and regional construction typologies substantially influence scenario-based damage estimates. By fostering a more informed and critical use of fragility functions, this work provides a methodological framework for their application in damage scenario simulations and risk-informed decision-making, thereby supporting the refinement of vulnerability models and the development of more effective strategies for risk mitigation and emergency planning.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163235

Authors: Zixu Hu Haitao Li Wei He Yongweng Wu

Controlled bridge simulation and laboratory damage identification require models that can simulate structural responses and infer localized stiffness loss from limited measurements. Existing Fourier Neural Operator (FNO)-based vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI) models provide efficient surrogates for these mappings, but the global Fourier representation can smooth localized damage transitions and introduce boundary-related errors for finite-span bridge responses. This study adapts the Wavelet Neural Operator (WNO) to the VBI setting and develops the Vehicle–Bridge Interaction Wavelet Neural Operator (VIWNO), an application-oriented framework for wavelet-domain operator learning between structural response fields and damage fields. VIWNO is pre-trained on a numerical VBI finite-element dataset (VBI-FE) and fine-tuned using only healthy-state measurements from a scaled VBI experimental dataset (VBI-EXP), before being evaluated on unseen laboratory damage scenarios. Under the controlled VBI-FE setting, where bridge, vehicle, speed, and measured road-profile parameters are fixed and the main variation is the damage field, VIWNO reduces forward response errors by 20–30% and inverse damage-estimation errors by 26–32% relative to the FNO-based Vehicle–Bridge Interaction Neural Operator (VINO) baseline. Additional morphology and operating-condition stress tests show that the error increases under sharper damage fields and perturbed VBI conditions, but VIWNO remains more accurate than VINO and the added convolutional or frequency-domain baselines in the tested cases. On VBI-EXP, projection-only healthy-state fine-tuning reduces intact false-damage levels and yields sharper damage estimates than VINO under both displacement and acceleration inputs. Stability checks over five initializations and repeated vehicle passages show limited variation in the reported inverse metrics. These results support the feasibility of wavelet-domain neural operators for calibrated VBI simulation and scaled laboratory damage identification, while field-scale bridge health monitoring still requires validation under broader traffic, environmental, support, and damage-morphology variability.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163234

Authors: Majid Al-Gburi Asaad Almssad Ammar A. Alhayani

In this paper, an ANN-based model is suggested for the prediction of shear strength of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams without transverse reinforcements, and the model is developed directly using Excel software to ensure computational transparency and statistical interpretability, while remaining an empirical data-driven tool. In this study, a comprehensive database including 923 experimental data is collected, prepared and utilized to develop the neural network. Following the completion of the learning process, the ultimate weight and bias for the neural network are obtained. These parameters are employed in the Excel worksheet. With this process, the learned model is converted into a standalone and operational design tool. Sensitivity analysis, which has been performed through a step-by-step and perturbation method, revealed that the beam width (b) is the most influential parameter in the determination of shear strength (33.4%), followed by concrete compressive strength (fc, 17.1%) and effective depth (d, 15.3%). Then, a parametric study is conducted to study the effect of the shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d), longitudinal reinforcement ratio (ρ) and fiber aspect ratio (Lf/df) on the shear behavior of the members.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163233

Authors: Botan Shen Weibing Xu Jiewen Lu Xiongdong Lan Jin Wang Longji Zhu Tongfa Deng Yanjiang Chen

This study investigates the flexural performance of prefabricated reinforced concrete (RC) beams with a novel UHPC–cogging–grouted sleeve composite joint. Five beam specimens—one cast-in-place reference and four prefabricated examples—were tested under four-point bending. The key parameters included the presence of interface shear keys and the configuration of middle connecting reinforcement. The results demonstrate that the proposed joint is generally consistent with the “strong joint, weak member” design philosophy. The specimen with shear keys and dedicated connecting bars (W2) achieved the highest peak load of 224 kN, 7.7% higher than the CIP beam, with the joint crack width limited to 0.2 mm at failure. Replacing dedicated bars with two bent-up bottom bars (W4) maintained acceptable performance (219 kN, 5.3% above CIP), while bending up four bars (W5) reduced the capacity to 200 kN, below the CIP level, inducing a near-under-reinforced flexural failure. The UHPC joint and shear keys effectively delayed cracking and suppressed joint damage but shifted the failure mode from flexural to shear-compression. The stress development in the rebars was fully consistent with the failure modes: the midspan rebar dominated in flexure-dominated specimens (580–596 MPa), whereas the loading-point rebar dominated in shear-compression-dominated ones (585–590 MPa). Plane section assumption was validated before cracking. Finite element models developed in ABAQUS reproduced the experimental behavior with deviations within 10%, and the stiffness degradation distributions accurately captured the damage patterns. Preliminary design recommendations are provided, suggesting that the proportion of bent-up bars should be conservatively controlled, subject to further experimental verification.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163232

Authors: Zulkifl Ahmed Fahad Alshawmar

The evaluation of the ultimate bearing capacity (UBC) of foundation systems remains a fundamental challenge in geotechnical engineering because of the complex interactions among soil properties, foundation geometry, loading conditions, embedment depth, and soil–foundation behavior. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning (DL) techniques have emerged as powerful data-driven tools for modeling nonlinear geotechnical systems and improving bearing-capacity prediction. This study presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of AI- and DL-based approaches for foundation systems, including shallow foundations, deep foundations, pile foundations, and other geotechnical applications. Major models, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, Transformer models, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), hybrid AI frameworks, and physics-informed deep learning approaches, are critically reviewed and compared. Particular attention is given to the integration of AI models with numerical methods, including the finite element method (FEM) and finite element limit analysis (FELA). The reviewed studies frequently report lower prediction errors than conventional empirical, numerical, and machine-learning approaches within the evaluated datasets. However, many of the highest reported accuracies are based on laboratory-scale experiments, simulation-generated data, or random train–test partitions of a single database. Consequently, these results may demonstrate effective interpolation within controlled data distributions rather than reliable performance under independent field conditions. Model performance is strongly influenced by dataset origin and diversity, feature selection, validation strategy, overfitting control, and generalization capability. Hybrid datasets combining field, laboratory, and numerical data offer a promising route toward more reliable prediction, but genuine external validation using independent sites, projects, or institutions remains uncommon. Moreover, architectural suitability should reflect the physical structure of the problem: CNNs are appropriate for spatial heterogeneity, LSTMs for time-dependent behavior, Transformers for long-range interactions, and GNNs for mechanically connected systems. Limited field-scale datasets, weak external validation, limited model interpretability, inadequate uncertainty quantification, and persistent data scarcity continue to restrict widespread engineering implementation. Future research should prioritize explainable AI, physics-informed learning, transfer learning, hybrid data frameworks, open benchmark datasets, and multi-site field validation to improve the robustness, transparency, and practical applicability of intelligent bearing-capacity prediction for diverse foundation systems.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163231

Authors: Zenan Guo Xianxin Lin Zuhe Qin Péter Tamás Szemes

Aggregate building indicators can obscure substantial differences in electrical demand and thermal operation among monitored spaces. This case study examined 89 days of one-minute building management system (BMS) and smart-meter records from a multi-zone university building. Routine data-quality screening was combined with physical interpretation and task requirements to determine how the available channels could be used in the exploratory analyses. The resulting map specifies each channel’s permitted use and any associated monitoring priority. Meter TR1 was selected as the primary monitored-load proxy, whereas Meter G was retained for comparative diagnosis. Primary energy analysis used 59 fully observed TR1 days without imputation or scaling. Sensitivity analyses used all 61 days meeting the 90% and 95% completeness thresholds and reported their energy values as available-minute energy aggregates. Across the 59 fully observed days, weekday energy exceeded weekend energy, and complete 24 h TR1 energy was strongly inversely associated with daily mean outdoor temperature (Spearman ρs=−0.889). Of the 21 monitored spaces, five were warm-biased, four were cold-biased, and 12 were near setpoint. Within the observed winter-to-shoulder-season period, the data supported exploratory load and zone-temperature modeling. The combined assessment established record eligibility and channel use in this incomplete real-world export, and it identified priorities for later monitoring.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163230

Authors: Lei Bian Xinyang Li Fang Tan Huanwei Wei Cong Liu

To investigate the impact of localized failure in the support structure on the overall safety performance of the excavation pit and the mechanism of subsequent chain failure, model tests were conducted on the failure of internal bracing in an asymmetrically excavated pit. Unlike previous progressive-collapse model tests, which have addressed symmetric excavations only, the present test captures the cross-pit load-transfer mechanisms that arise when the two sides of a pit are excavated to different depths. The crown displacement of the retaining structure, the earth pressure, and the redistribution of internal forces caused by the failure of internal support members were measured. The results show that when an internal support fails, the lateral stiffness of the retaining plate decreases and the plate moves inward toward the pit, causing settlement of the surrounding soil. The horizontal displacement on the deep-excavation side is larger than that on the shallow side. Failure of one support increases the axial force in the adjacent support while reducing the force in supports farther away. The earth pressure increases in regions far from the failed support, owing to the soil arching effect, but decreases in the adjacent region because the large lateral movement of the plate unloads the soil. Within the failed-support region, the retaining piles are more prone to bending failure on the shallow-excavation side.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163229

Authors: Xiangxiang Chen Li Zhu Haoyu Deng Quhan Chen Siyu Zhang Chenxi Song

Women’s concerns about personal safety significantly affect their use of public spaces, particularly semi-enclosed micro-public environments such as public toilets. Existing studies have not fully clarified how different spatial elements influence women’s perceived safety or how perceived-safety-oriented design priorities should be determined. This study develops and preliminarily examines an evaluation framework for women’s perceived safety in public toilets, which are treated as a highly private type of micro-public space. Grounded in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design theory, the framework integrates visual scenario simulation, the Kano model, and the Best–Worst Method. A total of 257 female participants evaluated simulated spatial scenarios, and 10 experts assessed the relative importance of key indicators. The Kano results show that Facility condition is a must-be requirement; Lighting, Degree of enclosure, Material transparency, Signage clarity, Entrance buffer zone, Surveillance cameras, Hygiene conditions, and Graffiti and advertisements are one-dimensional requirements; and Women’s care area, Auditory conditions, Olfactory conditions, Loitering detection, and Emergency support are attractive requirements. The weighting results identify Degree of enclosure, Facility condition, and Hygiene conditions as the most important indicators. Based on these findings, the study proposes an integrated framework of “evaluation dimensions–demand attributes–relative weights–design priorities” and a design path of “basic guarantee–priority improvement–support enhancement.” The findings provide design guidance for public toilets and a methodological reference for other micro-public spaces, although the specific Kano classifications and weights require contextual recalibration.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163228

Authors: Mu-Xuan Tao Li-Yan Xu

Steel–concrete composite/hybrid structure generally refers to structures that are composed of two or more types of steel and concrete components [...]

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163227

Authors: Yassine Ilzen Erroumayssae Sabani Amine Ennawaoui Ihssane Bouiba Mohamed Amine Daoud El Mehdi Loualid Hicham Mastouri Chouaib Ennawaoui

This paper presents the design and development of a laboratory-scale 3D printing platform intended for research on sustainable construction materials. The growing interest in low-carbon and locally available materials, including clay, geopolymers, recycled aggregates, and bio-based composites, has increased the need for flexible experimental printing systems. However, most existing construction 3D printers are designed for industrial applications and remain costly, bulky, or limited to specific material categories. The proposed platform was developed using a Model-Based Systems Engineering approach in order to structure the design process and establish links between user needs, system requirements, functions, and physical components. The platform is based on modular Cartesian architecture and includes interchangeable extrusion systems. A syringe extruder is used for relatively fluid materials such as clay slurries, ceramic pastes, gypsum-based mixtures, and fluid geopolymers, while a screw extruder is designed for more viscous materials such as mortars, cement-based mixtures, and dense geopolymer pastes. The system also integrates motion-control components, material feeding devices, monitoring elements, and safety functions to ensure stable and repeatable printing conditions. The platform is intended to support the evaluation of printability, material flow, layer deposition, dimensional stability, and interlayer bonding. By combining a flexible hardware configuration with an MBSE-based design methodology, the proposed system provides a practical research tool for the development and validation of sustainable construction materials. It also creates opportunities for future work on multi-material printing, automated process control, and digital manufacturing applications.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163226

Authors: Zhiyong Chen Christian Dagenais

As timber construction continues to expand toward taller and larger buildings, ensuring structural resilience under fire conditions requires advanced fire–structural performance assessment approaches. Such assessments generally integrate fire models to define thermal exposure, heat transfer models to predict temperature evolution within structural members, and structural models to evaluate fire-induced structural response. While substantial progress has been achieved in fire and thermal modelling, the structural modelling component, particularly constitutive representation of timber behaviour at elevated temperatures, remains comparatively less developed. This paper presents WoodST, a temperature-dependent plastic–damage constitutive modelling approach developed to advance the structural assessment of timber structures under fire conditions. The key modelling components of WoodST are briefly introduced, and its capabilities are demonstrated through applications to representative timber structural systems, including bending members (LVL, glulam w/o openings, OSB-web I-joists), axially loaded compression members considering stability effects, complex bolted timber connections and assemblies (light wood frame and hybrid timber–concrete floors) involving multiple interacting components and contact behaviour. The presented applications demonstrate the capability of WoodST to capture fire-induced material degradation, nonlinear response, instability, and structural interaction across multiple scales. These advances support performance-based fire design and contribute to the development and implementation of design codes and standards (e.g., CSA O86 and ISO TC92), while facilitating innovation in timber products and structural systems.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163225

Authors: Gulden Gumusburun Ayalp Merve Serter

Post-disaster temporary housing (PDTH) plays a central role in bridging emergency response and long-term recovery, yet its implementation is affected by a wide range of institutional, economic, site-related, technical, and environmental risks. Existing studies commonly examine only one or a limited number of these risk categories, making it difficult to compare their relative importance within a common analytical framework. This study addresses this limitation by developing and empirically evaluating an integrated risk framework for PDTH. A systematic literature review based on the PRISMA protocol was conducted to identify relevant risks, followed by a questionnaire survey of construction professionals. Principal component and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to identify the underlying risk dimensions and assess the fit and measurement properties of the resulting structure. Meanwhile, fuzzy synthetic evaluation was utilized to determine the relative importance of these dimensions. Following significance-index screening and cross-loading assessment, 29 risks were retained and grouped into four dimensions: institutional and governance risks; economic and lifecycle risks; site planning and infrastructure risks; and design and environmental performance risks. The normalized coefficients were closely clustered, ranging from 0.247 to 0.255. Institutional and governance risks had the largest numerical coefficient (0.255), followed by economic and lifecycle risks (0.250), site planning and infrastructure risks (0.248), and design and environmental performance risks (0.247). The narrow spread indicates that respondents assigned broadly comparable importance to all four dimensions, rather than identifying a single dominant risk area. The findings, therefore, point to the need for a balanced approach to PDTH risk management across governance, economic, site-related, and design-related concerns. The study contributes an empirically supported classification and prioritization framework that brings previously fragmented risk categories into a single assessment structure. The analysis does not establish causal relationships or dynamic interactions among the identified risks; rather, it provides a basis for their systematic comparison and for more detailed investigation of risk interdependencies in future research.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163224

Authors: Dan Zhou Yongchang Yang Jun Hu Yahui Zhan Hanyu Dang Zhixin Wang

Light pozzolanic soft clay has high compressibility and relatively poor structural stability, which limits its direct application in subgrade and foundation engineering. This study develops a sustainable combined stabilization–reinforcement system for lightweight volcanic ash soil using a steel slag–fly ash-based composite cementitious binder (GS) and recycled polyester fiber (RPF). Unconfined compressive strength tests, unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests, and microstructural characterization were conducted to evaluate the mechanical behavior and microstructural features of the treated soil. The results show that the GS binder markedly increased the soil strength, whereas RPF mainly improved specimen integrity and the post-peak response. Based on the single-additive and orthogonal test results, 24% GS, 0.6% RPF, and 9 mm fibers were identified as an appropriate mixture within the investigated factor levels for further mechanical evaluation. With the increase in confining pressure, the stress–strain response changes from strain softening to strain hardening. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations showed fine particulate material at local particle-contact and fiber–matrix regions, while energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis identified a representative Ca-rich microregion containing Si and Al. The combined use of GS binder and RPF effectively improved the strength and deformation resistance of lightweight volcanic ash soft clay.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163223

Authors: Yue Yao Yunhao Gong Tianyi Li Shaoyang Han

Distortion-induced fatigue is an important failure mechanism in steel plate girder bridges. Existing studies have advanced the understanding of local stress responses and damage identification of distortion-sensitive details; however, the mechanism by which traffic lane distribution affects distortion-induced fatigue characteristics and governs fatigue damage accumulation remains insufficiently understood. To address this issue, a global–local finite element model was established using ABAQUS 2016 to investigate deformation transfer behavior and fatigue stress responses in a steel plate girder bridge. Longitudinal and transverse load position analyses were conducted to quantify the spatial characteristics of fatigue responses. Furthermore, a lane-distribution-based fatigue damage assessment framework was developed and verified. The results demonstrated that distortion-induced fatigue response is governed by deformation incompatibility, with web gap welds identified as the critical fatigue details under different structural configurations. The transverse displacement at the stiffener end showed a strong correlation with fatigue stress (Spearman coefficients > 0.8). The transverse influence range extended across almost the entire region between the two main girders, indicating that adjacent-lane loads contribute to fatigue damage accumulation. Compared with the single-lane critical load method, the proposed framework better represents fatigue damage evolution under actual lane distributions and captures asymmetric damage between the two girders, with the maximum difference reaching 46.7%. This study provides new insights into distortion-induced fatigue evolution from the perspective of traffic lane characteristics and offers a refined approach for fatigue assessment of existing steel plate girder bridges.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163221

Authors: Lu Wang Zhaoqun Chang Yahui Zhang Jizhe Zhou Guorong Cao Tao Bai

To improve the seismic performance and post-earthquake recoverability of low- and mid-rise steel frames, this study investigates the seismic performance and layout strategy of a self-centering friction damper (SCFD) through experimental and numerical studies. The SCFD combines the superelastic restoring capability of shape memory alloy (SMA) bars with the energy dissipation provided by non-asbestos organic (NAO) friction materials. Monotonic and cyclic tests were conducted to characterize the mechanical behavior of Ni–50.8 at. % Ti SMA bars and the hysteretic performance of the SCFD, based on which a numerical model of the damper was established and validated. An uncontrolled frame and four controlled frames employing diagonal, chevron, improved lower toggle-brace, and improved upper toggle-brace layouts were comparatively investigated to evaluate the effects of brace configuration, installation position, and damper quantity on seismic performance. The proposed damper exhibited an equivalent damping ratio ranging from 24% to 32%. When the SMA strain exceeded 6%, the residual deformation of the damper increased significantly, indicating that excessive SMA deformation should be avoided in practical design. Among the investigated configurations, the improved upper toggle-brace layout, combined with additional dampers installed at the first story, showed the best overall performance. Compared with the uncontrolled multi-story structure, the residual inter-story drift ratio was reduced by 76.7–93.5%, while the maximum acceleration reduction reached 28.9%. However, local acceleration amplification was observed in some cases because of the increased structural stiffness. These findings provide practical guidance for the layout design and engineering application of self-centering friction dampers in low- and mid-rise steel frames.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163222

Authors: Eva Maleviti Becky Lutte Anastasia Fotopoulou

Airports are complex infrastructure systems with important environmental, operational, and social impacts that require integrated sustainability governance. Although numerous international regulations, environmental management standards, certification schemes, and policy initiatives have been developed to support airport sustainability, existing research has largely examined these mechanisms independently, resulting in fragmented approaches to sustainability planning and implementation. This study develops an Integrated Airport Sustainability Policy Framework through a qualitative conceptual methodology based on a systematic literature review, guided by PRISMA-ScR principles, and comparative policy analysis. Peer-reviewed literature was systematically analyzed alongside international regulatory and policy documents, including guidance and standards published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA), the European Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the United Nations (UN). The thematic synthesis identified four connected dimensions that consistently underpin sustainable airport governance: environmental management and emissions reduction, operational and energy efficiency, community and social sustainability, and governance, collaboration, and compliance. These dimensions were integrated into a scalable conceptual framework that consolidates existing sustainability mechanisms into an integrated governance structure adaptable to airports with various operational characteristics and regulatory contexts. The proposed framework addressed the fragmentation of existing policy approaches and proposes a structured basis for integrating environmental, operational, social, and governance aspects into airport decision-making. As a conceptual model developed through secondary evidence synthesis, the framework is intended to support future research and policy development and requires empirical validation through application across airports of different sizes and geographical contexts.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163220

Authors: Chao Yang Yuchen Jiang Chenyang Liu

Understanding chloride transport in fly ash cement pastes is essential for improving durability, yet the relationships between pore structure parameters and the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates these relationships and assesses the relative associations of selected pore structure parameters with the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient within the present experimental dataset. Cement pastes with 0–70% fly ash were prepared at a water-to-binder ratio of 0.53 and cured for 90 days. The hydration phase assemblage was assessed by X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis, with particular attention to portlandite (CH), ettringite (AFt), and layered calcium aluminate hydrate (AFm) phases. Pore structure was characterized by nitrogen adsorption and mercury intrusion porosimetry. The apparent chloride diffusion coefficient was evaluated by fitting water-soluble chloride profiles obtained from bulk diffusion tests conducted for 30, 60, and 90 days. Fly ash significantly altered the CH content, AFm phase assemblage and pore structure. At fly ash replacement levels of 50–70%, capillary porosity increased from 20.77% at 50% fly ash to 30.31% at 70% fly ash, while the critical pore diameter increased from 47 nm to 75 nm, indicating substantial pore coarsening. At 90 days, the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient initially decreased from 6.3 × 10−12 m2/s for pure cement to 5.7 × 10−12 m2/s at 30% fly ash replacement and then increased to 10.1 × 10−12 m2/s at 70% fly ash replacement. Among the investigated pore structure parameters, critical pore diameter showed the strongest association with the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient after 90 days of immersion (R2 = 0.791).

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163219

Authors: Fanbo Zeng Xiaoke Feng Donghang Zou Jianhua Lei

Extreme spatial intensification in affordable housing exposes the structural limitations of conventional room-based zoning, yet existing generative design methods often fail to deeply couple spatial automation with volatile occupant behavioral logic. This study proposes a generalizable Structure–Behavior–Function (SBF)-based generative framework to realize the transition from top-down rigid zoning to bottom-up behavioral adaptation. The framework deconstructs traditional rooms into three coupled layers: minimal ergonomic action domains (structural), 3D Design Structure Matrix-based activity correlation quantification (behavioral), and multi-objective optimization metrics encoding (functional). A discrete grid-based evolutionary approach with a hard–soft dual-constraint mechanism is introduced, combining geometric collision detection for physical feasibility and behavioral correlation rules for spatial zoning reward–punishment. Layout performance is validated via pedestrian circulation simulations. Using a representative megacity affordable housing standard as a case study, controlled computational experiments reveal an empirical power-law scaling boundary between minimum viable area and occupancy size. We establish an Adaptability Surcharge Index (ASI) to quantify the 3.0–7.2% spatial efficiency degradation from rigid structural constraints. The framework achieves 30.3–45.7% floor area reduction versus traditional benchmarks while maintaining comparable circulation efficiency. Validation using an existing residential case further confirms the practical applicability of the proposed framework. This work provides a scalable computational methodology for hyper-dense spatial optimization and a quantitative foundation for future residential space standard formulations.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163218

Authors: Huiting Shi Ruixuan Li

Community parks support everyday leisure, exercise, and social interaction, but how multidimensional microscale spatial and visual features are differently associated with these behavior types continues to warrant further investigation. In particular, semantic composition, spatial form, and low-level visual features have rarely been integrated with video-based behavior recognition and nonlinear modeling at the node level. To address this gap, this study examined behavior-specific nonlinear associations between microscale built-environment features and leisure, exercise, and social behavior in community parks. Using 35 observation nodes in five community parks in Dalian, China, 70 paired video and image samples were collected on weekdays and weekends. Environmental indicators were extracted from static images, while behavioral indicators were derived from video-based behavior recognition and aggregated into behavior proportions. Generalized additive mixed models were used to identify nonlinear associations and key response ranges. Leisure behavior was associated with built vertical interfaces, moderate background depth, and controlled visual stimulation. Recreational equipment proportion showed opposite associations with exercise and social behavior. Low-level visual features captured behavioral differences not fully explained by semantic indicators. These findings provide context-specific quantitative evidence for behavior-oriented assessment and node-level design support in community public spaces.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163217

Authors: James Olabode Bamidele Rotimi Upuli Rasanjani Kaluarachchi Kaluarachchillage

Inefficiencies and low productivity persist in the construction industry due to limited digital integration and weak data use in decision-making. This study examines how internal data analytics, such as the systematic use of organisational data-like cost reports, safety logs, and project schedules, can enhance decision-making and organisational capability in New Zealand’s small- and medium-sized construction enterprises (SMEs). A comprehensive systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines analysed 76 peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical studies (2015–2025). A thematic synthesis was conducted using NVivo 12 Plus and VOSviewer to identify patterns grounded in Evidence-Based Management, the Knowledge-Based View, and Bounded Rationality theories. The research highlights that analytics tools, including Building Information Modelling, Decision Support Systems, and Internet of Things platforms, enable real-time visibility, predictive forecasting, and coordination, thereby transforming operational data into strategic intelligence. However, adoption barriers persist, with technical interoperability issues, organisational resistance, low data literacy, and weak governance structures, significantly impacting resource-constrained SMEs. The study proposes a strategic framework that addresses four critical domains: robust data governance, leadership commitment and training, alignment with maturity models, and integration of emerging technologies. These domains demonstrate potential for standardisation and capacity building within SMEs, which also have implications for SMEs in New Zealand. Overall, the research provides a socio-technical framework which positions analytics as a transformative enabler of organisational learning, governance transparency, and sustainable performance and could support the development of an evidence-based construction sector.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163216

Authors: Yuanhai Zhang Chengcao Yu Dongjian Zheng Jingran He Ruofan Gao Zhongqing Xie

This study investigates cellulose nanofiber (CNF) suspension as a nano-reinforcement for underwater non-dispersible concrete, aiming to improve the balance among workability, washout resistance, and compressive-strength performance. An L9 orthogonal array was employed to evaluate the dosage-dependent responses of CNF suspension, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and a polycarboxylate ether-based water-reducing admixture (PCE). Within the investigated range, increasing the as-received CNF-suspension dosage from 0.15% to 0.60% was associated with an increase in the factor-level mean 28-day underwater-to-air compressive-strength ratio from 0.75 to 0.79 and a decrease in suspension pH from 11.92 to 11.73, suggesting higher underwater strength retention and lower alkaline dispersion. CNF suspension showed favorable dosage-dependent responses in the washout-related and compressive-strength indicators, while HPMC and PCE contributed to the overall regulation of measured workability and compressive-strength performance. Among the nine mixtures, Group 5 was identified as a balanced engineering-oriented candidate, combining a slump of 245 mm, a slump flow of 465 mm, and 7- and 28-day underwater-to-air strength ratios of 0.94 and 0.82, respectively. SEM observations revealed pores, interfacial gaps, and locally distributed acicular, plate-like, and filament-like features, providing qualitative microstructural context for the measured responses. Overall, the results support the potential of CNF suspension as a promising nano-reinforcement for underwater non-dispersible concrete with a favorable balance of workability, washout-related performance, and compressive-strength retention.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163215

Authors: Qi Yang

Background/Objectives: Empirical research exploring the linkages between community leisure facility diversity, distinct facility categories, and mental health outcomes among older populations remains scarce, especially regarding gender-specific variations. Methods: Grounded in social capital theory, this study establishes an analytical framework to unpack the underlying mechanisms of these relationships. Based on a sample of 10,270 adults aged 60 and older drawn from the 2023 CLASS, structural equation modeling is applied to investigate the correlational patterns, indirect transmission pathways, and gender heterogeneity embedded in these associations. Results: The results indicate that community leisure facility diversity is positively correlated with better mental health status among older adults, with a total association coefficient of 0.052. Social networks partially mediate this correlational pattern, with an indirect association value of 0.010. Five facility categories exhibit significant positive total associations with mental health, namely senior activity rooms (0.038), fitness centers (0.053), chess and card rooms (0.031), libraries (0.028), and community canteens (0.043), while their indirect association pathways present divergent features. Notably, the linkages between community leisure facilities and mental health are more pronounced for older men. Five facility types show significant positive associations with male mental health, whereas for older women, only senior activity rooms and fitness centers yield significant correlational patterns. Conclusions: These findings suggest that community leisure facility planning can be optimized by shifting from simple quantity expansion to refined, targeted provision with gender-sensitive design. Adopting gender-informed strategies, particularly prioritizing socially supportive facilities and reducing usage barriers for older women, offers a valuable direction for building age-friendly communities and promoting healthy aging.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163214

Authors: Lazaros Mavromatidis

Architecture has often represented itself through permanence, stability, and formal autonomy while materially existing through irreversible exchanges, dissipation, aging, maintenance, and transformation. Situated within a cumulative research program on architectural conception, thermodynamics, constructal law, environmental transfer, digital design, and spatial morphogenesis, this article isolates a more specific question: how can irreversibility and constructal law become generative principles within architectural design rather than corrective considerations applied after form has been established? The study develops a situated theoretical-methodological framework in which the building is approached as a finite open configuration traversed by thermal, material, environmental, and occupational flows. Drawing on the second law of thermodynamics, exergy degradation, finite-time processes, boundary-layer reasoning, and constructal access, the framework organizes design through the definition of the finite domain, the identification of gradients, the localization of resistance and irreversible loss, the spatial and temporal staging of differences, the organization of access, and the evaluation of geometry through dynamic persistence. The framework is applied to an unbuilt amphibious dwelling as a research-by-design case study, examining its implications for site interpretation, flood accommodation, sectional organization, envelope depth, material differentiation, circulation, and maintenance. The application is not presented as a complete numerical performance validation, but as an architectural translation of the method that establishes the basis for subsequent computational, structural, material, and life-cycle testing. The article contributes a focused account of architecture as the organization of irreversible processes under finite constraints and proposes a design methodology through which gradients, resistances, transfers, and temporal transformations may participate directly in the generation of form.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163213

Authors: Mengru Zhou Hanbin Wei Yan Ding

Traditional space syntax research mainly focuses on the overall topology of street networks, with insufficient attention to street segments and spatial skeletons. To fill this gap, this study innovatively integrates segment and skeleton analysis into space syntax and proposes a multilevel segment–skeleton–network analytical framework. Taking Beijing’s Capital Core Area (CCA) as a case, we analyze its street network evolution, spanning more than 600 years from the Yuan Dadu to the present, based on multi-temporal historical maps and syntactic indicators. The results indicate that main streets and alleys present polarized development; traditional commercial centres gradually decline while maintaining high accessibility; and a distinctive ring-shaped public skeleton centred on the Forbidden City has taken shape. This integrated framework remedies the defects of a single network analysis. The outcomes offer practical implications for the protection and sustainable development of historic street systems.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163212

Authors: Cláudio Meireis Carlos Maia Jorge M. Branco

The renovation of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is essential to reduce the environmental impact of the existing building stock while improving its energy performance and resilience. However, existing renovation strategies are often addressed separately, making it difficult to compare their capabilities and limitations. This study presents a comprehensive review of renovation approaches for RC building envelopes, with particular emphasis on Southern European building stocks, where thermal and seismic deficiencies frequently coexist. The review examines three main renovation strategies: demolition and reconstruction, energy renovation, and combined seismic and energy renovation, and analyses representative systems identified through a structured literature review. A comparative analytical framework was developed based on four dimensions: functional integration, structural role, degree of prefabrication, and adaptability to existing building conditions. The analysis reveals a clear transition from conventional insulation-based interventions towards multifunctional and system-integrated envelope solutions. While prefabricated systems improve construction industrialization and production scalability, integrated seismic–energy solutions provide higher functional performance but require greater project-specific adaptation, reducing their large-scale applicability. The review also identifies the limited integration of spatial and architectural transformation within current renovation strategies. The proposed framework provides a structured basis for comparing existing solutions and identifies key challenges and future research directions for the development of more adaptive, industrialized, and integrated renovation systems.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163211

Authors: Chao Geng Yajie Wang Quanming Li Zhentao Li Xianfeng Shi Botao Fu Wei Li Cheng Chen Hong Zhang Yukai Wang Zhijie Duan

With the expansion of urban underground space, the structural safety of underground infrastructure has become increasingly critical. The urban underground utility tunnel is a typical deeply buried lifeline project. Its internal environment is humid and confined, and the structure is subjected to long-term heavy loads and earth pressure. Under such conditions, micro-cracks readily propagate into leakage channels and eventually cause structural damage. However, the slender morphology, low contrast, and complex background of cracks make it difficult for traditional inspection methods and general-purpose models to achieve reliable identification and accurate segmentation. This study proposes a two-stage framework that combines YOLOv8 with SAM2 and incorporates a coordinate attention module for high-quality crack segmentation. For image processing, a topology-aware post-processing strategy is introduced, together with a scoring function based on crack morphological features and a post-processing constraint mechanism, to ensure crack continuity and geometric consistency and to mitigate the over-segmentation that may occur during segmentation. YOLOv8-SAM2 achieves 85.2%, 90.5%, 77.2%, and 71.6% in mIoU, mDice, Recall, and Precision, respectively. Compared with YOLOv8-seg, mIoU and Precision are improved by 46.3 and 17.2 percentage points, respectively; compared with the baseline SAM2, mIoU and Precision are improved by 23.0 and 16.9 percentage points, respectively. In summary, on the self-built underground utility tunnel crack dataset, the proposed model significantly outperforms standalone YOLOv8 segmentation and the direct application of SAM2 in terms of intersection-over-union and precision, demonstrating its high-quality segmentation capability.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163210

Authors: Zeyneb Ayla Kirenci Eruzun

Architectural design problems vary significantly in their degree of definition, and this variation may influence the creative outcomes of student work. This study provides an empirically validated comparison of creativity scores across well-defined and ill-defined architectural design problems, employing a five-criterion framework (elaboration, imagination, flexibility, fluency, and originality) and a double-blind expert jury protocol. By moving beyond theoretical claims, the study offers quantitative evidence on how problem structure shapes creative performance in architectural education. Architecture students were asked to produce solution sketches for both well-defined and ill-defined problems. The creativity of the resulting products was evaluated by an independent jury of domain-expert academics using five criteria established in the literature: elaboration, imagination, flexibility, fluency, and originality. Evaluation scores were subsequently analyzed with statistical methods to determine which problem type elicited higher creativity. In a sample of 20 second-year architecture students, solutions produced for ill-defined problems received statistically significantly higher total creativity scores than those for well-defined problems (p = 0.022, r = 0.51), suggesting that the structural openness of ill-defined problems may be associated with enhanced divergent thinking and original idea generation, though causal mechanisms remain to be established through future process-level research. These results support integrating ill-defined problems and uncertainty-based design scenarios into architectural education studios more frequently to develop creative problem-solving skills.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163207

Authors: Fengming Yuan Nikita Igorevich Fomin Shuoting Xiao Minhao Li Lewei Wang Jiaxin Li

The Monolithic Precast Concrete Shear Wall System (MPCSWS) has become an important structural form for industrialized and sustainable construction, but its broader application is still constrained by the reliability, seismic behavior, and long-term performance of connection regions. Existing studies are abundant but remain insufficiently systematized, especially regarding the relationship among technological evolution, code-based design requirements, and engineering applicability. This review systematically examines MPCSWS connection technologies using literature retrieved from the Web of Science database and analyzed through bibliometric mapping, regulatory comparison, and engineering-oriented synthesis. Wet, dry, and hybrid connections are classified and compared in terms of load-transfer mechanisms, seismic performance, failure modes, durability concerns, and practical limitations. The review shows that wet connections remain the most mature route for achieving emulative cast-in-place behavior, whereas dry and hybrid systems provide advantages in constructability, inspectability, damage control, and potential repairability. However, unified performance evaluation criteria, durability-informed seismic assessment, and full-scale validation remain insufficient. This review provides a structured knowledge framework for MPCSWS connection technologies and discusses potential future developments in resilience-based design, intelligent monitoring, low-carbon materials, and system-level verification.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163208

Authors: Yingjie Hu Junpeng Wang Boshi Gao

In the context of China’s shift from incremental urban expansion to stock-based regeneration, the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage is no longer limited to physical transformation but increasingly involves spatial reintegration, cultural memory, and public value reconstruction. Taking Tianjin as a case study, this paper introduces Scene Theory into an urban-regeneration framework and combines kernel density analysis, field observation, case comparison, and online public-perception text mining. The study first examines the spatial distribution, accessibility conditions, and renewal typologies of industrial heritage sites in Tianjin. It then uses online comments from Xiaohongshu and Ctrip as supplementary perception data to analyze how different renewal models are experienced in relation to neighborhood environment, material facilities, activities, authenticity, theatricality, and legitimacy. The results show that creative industrial parks, museum-oriented renewal, and commercial renewal differ significantly in spatial location, activity organization, cultural expression, and public recognition. Common problems include uneven accessibility, superficial representation of industrial symbols, excessive consumption orientation, weak continuity of labor memory, limited community participation, and the potential exclusion of local users. Based on these findings, the paper proposes an integrated renewal strategy that emphasizes spatial network repair, authenticity-oriented design, everyday public use, community participation, and inclusive governance. The study provides an analytical framework and practical references for the regeneration of industrial heritage in Tianjin and other post-industrial cities.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163209

Authors: Faranak Zagia Stephen Kajewski Sara Omrani Omid Motamedisedeh Timothy Rose

Construction delays remain a persistent challenge in Australian construction projects, contributing to cost escalation, disrupted work sequences, contractual claims, and reduced confidence in project delivery. Although delay causes have been widely investigated, existing studies often provide broad factor lists and prioritise risks using single-dimension or inconsistent scoring approaches. This limits guidance on which delay risks should receive priority attention when project teams face constrained time, cost, and management resources. This study addresses this limitation by quantifying and prioritising 22 validated delay risk factors in Australian construction projects. Probability of occurrence and schedule impact were evaluated as separate judgement dimensions before being integrated into an overall measure of risk criticality. Data were collected from 48 experienced Australian construction professionals. A dual-dimension Fuzzy Best–Worst Method was applied to derive separate ratio-scale weights for probability of occurrence and schedule impact, with dimension-specific consistency screening used to improve judgement reliability. The resulting weights were integrated using a probability–impact formulation and mapped onto a 5 × 5 Probability–Impact Matrix through quantile-based discretisation. A 10,000-iteration Monte Carlo robustness analysis was subsequently conducted to assess the stability of the resulting rankings under alternative expert-selection and weighting scenarios. The results indicate that the delay risks perceived by the participating professionals as having the highest combined probability and schedule impact are predominantly governance-, approval-, and coordination-related, particularly owner late decisions, change-approval delays, owner requirement changes, cost-estimation deficiencies, design-approval delays, and inadequate planning. The Monte Carlo analysis further indicated that the principal risk rankings remained relatively stable under variations in expert aggregation. Overall, the integrated FBWM–PIM framework provides a structured and practically interpretable approach for eliciting and prioritising expert perceptions of construction delay risk and translating them into an actionable classification tool for allocating limited risk management resources.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163206

Authors: Qingyun Wu Jiufang Lv

The Ming-style study served as the spatial embodiment of the lives of Chinese literati. Research into the patterns of furniture arrangement within these spaces has long relied on physical artifacts and textual records, lacking systematic quantitative analysis. This study collected data from visual sources, such as Ming Dynasty paintings and book illustrations, as well as textual records from historical documents and classical texts, to catalog Ming-style study furniture and construct a database of furniture arrangements. To address differences in the quantity and completeness of information across various sample sources, the study introduced the information entropy method to calculate source weights and incorporated these weights into the Apriori association rule mining process, thereby identifying strong association rules within Ming-style study furniture arrangements. Finally, eye-tracking experiments were conducted to examine the allocation of visual attention among furniture objects within selected representative combinations. The study ultimately identified three sets of patterns for Ming-style study furniture arrangements, while the eye-tracking experiment provided supplementary evidence regarding the visual attention hierarchy and visual organization of furniture objects in selected contemporary Ming-style study scenes. From a scientific perspective, this research offers theoretical references and practical pathways for the quantitative study of Ming-style study furniture arrangements and contemporary Chinese-style study design, providing a practical method that combines cultural and scientific elements for the transformation and development of traditional cultural resources.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163205

Authors: Zhilong Zhang Yutao Wang Xuejun Liu Zheng Yue

Ice lenses in natural frozen soils commonly exhibit inclined and heterogeneous distributions, and their spatial morphology significantly influences the mechanical behavior of frozen soils. To investigate the coupled regulatory mechanism of ice lens inclination angle and thickness on the mechanical properties of frozen silty clay, specimens containing artificial single-layer ice lenses with varying inclination angles (0°, 10°, 20°, 30°) and thicknesses (5 mm, 15 mm) were prepared under constant temperature, water content, and loading rate conditions. Low-temperature uniaxial compression tests were conducted, and the results were systematically analyzed in conjunction with discrete element method (DEM) simulations and a modified Duncan–Chang model. The results indicate that increasing the ice lens inclination angle leads to a nonlinear reduction in the deviatoric stress at 15% axial strain, with the failure mode transitioning from compression-induced bulging to shear sliding dominance. When the ice lens thickness increased from 5 mm to 15 mm, the deviatoric stress at 15% axial strain further decreased across all inclination angles, accompanied by a reduction in the composite modulus. The response surface prediction formulas for parameters a and b, established based on experimental data, effectively describe the stress–strain relationships. DEM simulations reveal, at the mesoscale, the asymmetric displacement field and shear band evolution mechanisms governed by inclined ice layers, with bond breakage accelerating as the inclination angle increases. This study clarifies the coupled effects of ice lens spatial configuration and confining pressure on the mechanical response of frozen soils, providing a theoretical reference for bearing capacity assessment of frozen ground containing inclined ice lenses.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163204

Authors: Dasharath K C Azadeh Parvin Mohammad Mahdi Sabouri Ghannad

This study investigates the structural behavior of steel I-beams containing corrosion-induced section loss and web openings, along with the effectiveness of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthening as a retrofit strategy. Although previous studies have investigated the effects of corrosion, web openings, and FRP strengthening in steel beams, limited attention has been given to comparing the structural response of slender and deep steel beams under these deterioration scenarios and assessing strengthening strategies according to their distinct failure mechanisms. The analysis considers two structural response regimes: slender beams governed predominantly by flexural behavior and deep beams where shear deformation plays a significant role. Three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear solid finite element (FE) models are developed to evaluate the influence of corrosion location, web opening position, and FRP-strengthening schemes on load-carrying capacity and failure behavior. The results indicate that corrosion-induced flange thinning significantly reduces flexural capacity in slender beams, while web degradation has a comparatively smaller effect. FRP strengthening of the tension flange is found to be the most effective strategy for restoring flexural performance in slender beam configurations. In contrast, deep beams exhibit higher sensitivity to shear-related damage, where web openings located in shear transfer regions lead to substantial reductions in load capacity. Strengthening of the web region using FRP significantly improves shear resistance and overall structural performance. Overall, the study highlights distinct differences in damage sensitivity and strengthening effectiveness between slender and deep beam responses under corrosion and web opening effects, providing practical guidance for condition assessment and retrofit design of deteriorated steel I-beams.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163203

Authors: Gamze Demirtas Muhammet Zeki Ozyurt Omer Fatih Sancak Sarah S. M. A. Sayed

The seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beam–column joints depends on both shear strength and failure mechanisms, the assessment of which remains challenging because of complex interactions among geometric, material, loading, and reinforcement parameters. This study presents a data-driven framework for assessing the shear strength and failure mechanisms of exterior RC beam–column joints. A database comprising 210 experimental specimens was systematically compiled from published studies. Seventeen input variables were selected based on structural mechanics, seismic design provisions, and previous experimental investigations. Machine learning models were developed for shear strength prediction and failure mode classification. SHAP was employed to interpret the trained models, while symbolic regression derived an interpretable design-oriented equation. On the independent test set, XGBoost achieved the highest shear strength prediction (R2 = 0.973, RMSE = 40.09 kN), whereas the Support Vector Machine achieved 80.5% classification accuracy. The results indicate that the governing parameters for failure mechanisms differ from those controlling shear strength. Joint shear capacity was primarily influenced by geometric dimensions and longitudinal reinforcement ratios, whereas axial load ratio and joint transverse reinforcement had a greater influence on failure mechanisms. These findings highlight the importance of simultaneously assessing shear strength and failure mode in RC beam–column joints.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163202

Authors: Yuan Jia Mingli Wang Meihan Wang Mo Han

External spaces of buildings represent a type of potential space that can supplement the urban public space system under the background of urban renewal. However, as spaces with ambiguous publicness, their design and layout often need to convey stronger welcoming attitudes to attract citizens’ use. This study aims to explore the expression elements of publicness in external spaces of museum buildings. A mixed method approach, including field observation and measurement, questionnaire surveys (with a total sample size of 277), and statistical analysis, was adopted to explore and reveal the design logic of publicness expression in the layout and form of external spaces of museum buildings. Taking nine museum building external spaces located in Beijing’s core area as empirical cases, this study analyzes the influence of spatial layout on publicness expression from six dimensions: leisure atmosphere and activity diversity, spatial quality and perceived safety, landscape creation and spatial comfort, pedestrian friendliness, spatial identity, and boundary treatment and management measures. The study aims to understand the subtle threshold characteristics between the design of external spaces of museum buildings and the expression of publicness, and to explore the benefits of external spaces of buildings in supplementing the urban public space system. This research is expected to respond to public demands for high quality public spaces and improve the refinement of urban space management and optimization.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163201

Authors: Huining Tian Jun Cai Yishuang Wu Mengzhen Ding

Under globalization, architectural forms, spatial logic, and consumption experiences have become increasingly homogeneous, making placelessness particularly evident in large-scale commercial complexes. Establishing meaningful connections between globalized commercial spaces and local culture, urban memory, and everyday life has consequently become an important issue in research on architectural cultural sustainability. Guided by critical regionalism, this study takes placelessness as its point of departure and cultural sustainability as its evaluative perspective. It develops a two-level analytical framework comprising architectural analysis and user perception evaluation and applies this framework to the Chengdu New Century Global Center. Architectural analysis examines the building’s objective characteristics in terms of spatial image, functional organization, environmental setting, and cultural expression. User perception data were collected through a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews, followed by descriptive statistics and comparative analysis across four corresponding dimensions: spatial, functional, environmental, and cultural perception. The results indicate that the building’s megascale form, contemporary architectural appearance, and multifunctional organization contribute to higher levels of spatial and functional perception. Environmental perception is also relatively positive, although deficiencies remain in resting facilities, route organization, and detailed spatial experience. By contrast, cultural perception is substantially lower than the other dimensions. The marine theme, exoticized settings, and entertainment-oriented imagery are more closely associated with a globalized consumer landscape than with the spatial translation of Chengdu’s local culture, urban memory, and everyday life. Consequently, the building’s thematic identity has not been effectively translated into users’ recognition of place-specific characteristics, suggesting that the production of commercial complex space continues to prioritize consumption efficiency over cultural expression. By operationalizing the critical regionalist concept of sense of place as an empirically assessable analytical tool, this study extends its applicability to large-scale commercial complexes and provides a diagnostic framework and practical strategies for enhancing their cultural sustainability.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163200

Authors: Dalibor Kramarić Ivanka Netinger Grubeša Neno Torić Milica Vidak Vasić

In this study, brick plant waste was used to produce alkali-activated mortars. Four mixtures with identical compositions but different mixing sequences and curing methods were prepared. Two were conventionally produced using a pre-cooled 10 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), with one cured at ambient conditions and the other at an elevated temperature. The remaining two used modified mixing sequences to utilize internally generated heat for curing (direct KOH powder addition and addition of KOH dissolved in water immediately before mixing). The influence of mixing sequence and curing method on mechanical properties and high-temperature performance was evaluated after exposure to 600 °C through residual flexural and compressive strengths, mass loss, and visual examination of specimen cross-sections. The two best-performing mortars were further characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM-EDS), while the mixture combining favorable high-temperature performance with simple preparation was additionally analyzed for thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. The conventionally prepared, elevated-temperature-cured mixture exhibited the lowest room-temperature flexural and compressive strengths (2.7 and 12.9 MPa, respectively) but the best high-temperature performance, with flexural and compressive strength increases of 14.8% and 10.9%, respectively, after exposure to high temperature. Visual assessment may suggest some degree of structural densification in this mixture and in the mixture prepared by direct addition of KOH powder to the dry components, whereas the other two mixtures may exhibit signs of partial weakening in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ). Among the internally cured mixtures, direct KOH powder addition produced slightly better room- and high-temperature performance than adding KOH dissolved in water immediately before mixing. FT-IR and FE-SEM-EDS confirmed the formation of potassium and sodium aluminosilicate hydrate, (K,N)-A-S-H, gel in the conventionally prepared, elevated-temperature-cured mixture and the mixture with direct KOH powder addition. The nearly unchanged compressive strength of the KOH-powder-based mixture was associated with a high retention of thermal conductivity (93%) and specific heat capacity (80%) after high-temperature exposure.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163197

Authors: Juliana Gaio Somer Gersson F. B. Sandoval Edna Possan

The cement industry accounts for approximately 7% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, making clinker reduction, alternative binders, and carbon use and capture technologies essential mitigation strategies. However, decarbonization based on the replacement of clinkers with supplementary cementitious materials or alternative binders generally adjusts the materials’ physicochemical properties and reactivity. As these actions may have implications for durability and performance throughout the life cycle, this paper presents a systematic review, based on the Methodi Ordinatio approach, of studies published in the last decade in indexed databases that examine the relationship between low-emission cements, durability, and service life. Of 48 selected articles, most focused on quantifying CO2 avoidance through clinker reduction, without comprehensively addressing the use phase. When present in the literature, durability is found in studies of chloride penetration and carbonation resistance. However, no integrative chain studies or long-term studies focused on the durability of less emissive cement-based materials were identified. Across the reviewed studies, durability was mainly associated with changes in pore structure, hydration products, transport properties, and matrix alkalinity. Fine and reactive additions may promote pore refinement and restrict the ingress of aggressive agents, whereas extensive clinker replacement and portlandite consumption may reduce the alkaline reserve and increase carbonation susceptibility. However, these relationships are strongly dependent on binder composition, replacement level, and curing conditions, and were rarely evaluated together over sufficiently long periods.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163199

Authors: Min Zhang Xuefeng Zhang Liangjun Li Chiyu Jiao

Accurate prediction of the residual drift ratio of reinforced concrete bridge piers is challenging because conventional methods are computationally expensive, time-consuming, and unable to effectively capture complex nonlinear interactions among multiple influencing factors. To address these limitations, this study proposes an interpretable machine learning framework for predicting the residual drift ratio of reinforced concrete bridge piers. A comprehensive database containing 261 quasi-static experimental datasets was established, incorporating key structural and material parameters, including axial com-pression ratio, shear span ratio, stirrup ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, material strengths, and geometric dimensions. Based on this database, six representative machine learning models were developed and systematically compared. Their predictive performance, robustness, and generalization capability were evaluated using multiple statistical metrics and Monte Carlo simulations. The results show that the CatBoost model consistently outperformed the other models, achieving an R2 value of 0.9629 on the test set while maintaining excellent stability under random data partitions. Furthermore, SHAP analysis was employed to interpret the trained model and quantify the contributions of individual input variables. Eight key factors influencing the residual drift ratio were identified, with the loading displacement ratio (θ) exhibiting the greatest influence. These findings demonstrate that the proposed framework provides an accurate, reliable, and interpretable tool for predicting the post-earthquake residual drift ratio of reinforced concrete bridge piers, offering valuable support for performance-based seismic design, post-earthquake damage assessment, and resilience-based bridge engineering.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163198

Authors: Xingyu Zhu Wen Xu

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) mix design requires simultaneous consideration of mechanical performance, environmental impacts, and economic costs, yet these objectives are often evaluated separately. This study developed an integrated framework combining machine-learning-based strength prediction, life-cycle assessment, life-cycle cost analysis, constrained three-objective optimization, and preference-sensitive decision analysis. Using 407 RAC mixtures, Optuna-tuned Random Forest, XGBoost, and LightGBM models were compared, and SHAP was applied for interpretation. LightGBM achieved the best test performance, with an R2 of 0.8822, an RMSE of 4.0276 MPa, and an MAE of 2.8865 MPa. The water-to-cement ratio, sand ratio, and superplasticizer dosage were the three leading predictors, together accounting for 68.5% of the normalized SHAP importance. A 100-generation NSGA-II optimization produced 150 feasible Pareto solutions spanning 33.87–75.25 MPa in compressive strength, 456.80–616.38 CNY/m3 in life-cycle cost, and 248.84–395.00 kg CO2e/m3 in net carbon emissions. Higher-strength solutions generally required more cement and lower water-to-cement and recycled aggregate replacement ratios. Equal-weight TOPSIS selected P006, whereas the SMAA–TOPSIS simulation identified P007 as the alternative with the highest first-rank acceptability of 35.92%. By treating compressive strength as an explicit objective rather than a predefined constraint, the framework maps the continuous strength–cost–carbon trade-off within a volumetrically feasible mix-design space and identifies preference-dependent RAC design strategies.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163196

Authors: Ali Asgari Mohammad Sadegh Ravari Mohammad Reza Sedighi Pouya Davide Forcellini

Liquefaction is one of the most destructive geotechnical hazards affecting foundations and earth structures during earthquakes. Although geosynthetic-encased stone columns (GESCs) have demonstrated promising performance in mitigating liquefaction, their behavior has primarily been investigated at the single-column level, while the seismic response of finite GESC groups remains insufficiently understood. This study evaluates the seismic performance of stone column (SC) and GESC groups arranged in square patterns using a three-dimensional coupled hydro-mechanical finite-element model developed in OpenSeesSP. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of column-group configuration (1 × 1, 3 × 3, 5 × 5, and 7 × 7), geosynthetic encasement thickness, stone column permeability, geosynthetic permeability, and column spacing under the 1940 El Centro earthquake excitation. The results show that GESC groups substantially improve liquefaction mitigation by accelerating pore-water pressure dissipation and reducing earthquake-induced ground deformation. Compared with untreated ground, GESC groups arranged in 3 × 3, 5 × 5, and 7 × 7 configurations reduce lateral ground displacement by up to 70%. Furthermore, increasing the group size from a single encased column (1 × 1) to a 7 × 7 GESC group decreases lateral deformation at the model by approximately 40%, highlighting the importance of column-group configuration in controlling seismic ground response. Overall, the proposed numerical framework provides practical guidance for optimizing GESC design and improving the seismic performance of liquefaction-prone ground.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163194

Authors: Yi Zhou Junlei Song Chenggang Zhou Jun Ying Shikun Yin Bei Zhou Kaifeng Dong Fang Jin Wenqin Mo

Accurate detection of internal defects in concrete structures is critical to structural safety. This study proposes a three-stage method for segmentation and geometric quantification of defects from 3D ultrasonic point clouds to support non-destructive testing (NDT). Sparse point clouds are densified by grid-based, acoustically constrained trilinear interpolation in the linear amplitude domain to preserve defect-boundary fidelity. An Amplitude-aware PointNet (AAPNet) integrates spatial coordinates with normalized and thresholded echo amplitude for defect segmentation. Connected-component analysis on voxelized defect regions enables estimation of length, width, height, and volume. Laboratory specimens containing voids, cracks, and delaminations were scanned with an Elop Insight 3D ultrasonic system. Segmentation was evaluated by nine-fold leave-one-specimen-out cross-validation (LOSO-CV) on 250 scans from nine independent single-defect specimens, yielding a mean IoU of 82.75 ± 2.66% (precision 92.03 ± 1.58%, recall 89.11 ± 1.73%, F1 90.54 ± 1.59%). Dimensional quantification on embedded defects gave relative volume errors of 2.6–14.9% and axis-aligned deviations within 2.0 cm.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163195

Authors: Zhengnan Zhong Huafei Huang Yanying Lin Guohui Luo Zhiyun Wang

Courtyard-cluster layouts are common in rural public buildings in hot-humid regions, but their open-space types remain poorly quantified. We assessed a completed elderly-care center in Shaoguan, South China, using steady-state RANS CFD (simpleFoam, standard k–ε, OpenFOAM 8), porous-media vegetation, Solar Cal-based mean radiant temperature (MRT), and pedestrian-level Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Published component-level validation was used to assess toolchain reliability. Simulations represented peak heat stress at noon on 24 July (air temperature 30.3 °C, relative humidity 69%, southwesterly wind 2.9 m/s). Relative to an unobstructed reference (MRT 60.1 °C; UTCI 40.0 °C), architectural open spaces reduced mean MRT by 21.2 °C (35%) and UTCI by 5.3 °C (13%). Covered, laterally open grey spaces were coolest (mean MRT 34.63 °C; UTCI 33.61 °C), whereas open courtyards were warmer (41.79 °C; 35.34 °C) but 18% better ventilated (0.87 versus 0.74 m/s) and served as ventilation nodes. With uniform air temperature and humidity, UTCI variation was strongly associated with MRT (R = 0.989) and weakly with wind speed (R = −0.182). These scenario-bounded results support a shade-first strategy in which courtyards supply ventilation to adjacent covered spaces.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163193

Authors: Abubakar S. Mahmoud Mohammad A. Hassanain Ali Istanbullu Victor Olabode Otitolaiye Faris Omer Muizz O. Sanni-Anibire Yakubu Aminu Dodo

Driven by Vision 2030, the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has expanded rapidly. This expansion has raised concerns about safety performance and created a need to identify the factors that most strongly influence safety outcomes. This study is an exploratory, perception-based investigation into the perceived importance of factors affecting construction safety performance and into the perceived value of emerging Industry 4.0 technologies in improving it. Data were collected from 68 construction engineering professionals using a structured questionnaire covering 50 safety-related factors across five domains: management, worker, equipment and environmental, organisational and policy, and technology integration. The Importance Index (I) method was used to analyse the responses, and the domain-level results are reported as descriptive prioritisations rather than as statistically validated constructs. The three highest-rated items were lack of management commitment to safety programmes (I = 91.2%), inadequate and infrequent safety training (I = 89.7%), and absence of safety awareness among top management (I = 88.5%), followed closely by weak enforcement of safety regulations (I = 87.4%). At the domain level, management-related factors recorded the highest mean (I = 81.7%), ahead of worker-related factors (I = 79.5%) and technology integration (I = 75.0%). Although respondents identified artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), building information modelling (BIM), and drones as valuable safety enablers, they rated organisational and human factors as more important than the technologies themselves. Extreme heat and adverse weather conditions (I = 81.7%) emerged as a leading environmental risk, underlining the need for climate-specific safety interventions in the KSA context. Heat stress could be considered a notable concern in this context, as construction work in KSA is often performed outdoors during extended periods of high summer temperatures, which can elevate the risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and fatigue-related incidents. This contrasts with the more temperate conditions of many international comparator studies and helps to explain why respondents treat heat as a leading environmental concern. To the authors’ knowledge, this is among the few exploratory studies to bring management, workforce, policy, environmental, and Industry 4.0 technology determinants together within a single KSA-specific framework. The findings contribute to both theory and practice in construction safety by identifying priority areas for intervention and by providing a basis for future large-scale confirmatory studies.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163191

Authors: Jianghao Liu Deliang Zhou Chenxi Li Qinjie Zhang Yarui Xie Jiashun Tang Xiangrong Guo

Large integrated station–bridge buildings combine track-bearing members, station floors, transfer structures, columns, and urban-rail facilities within a single coupled structural system. For such buildings, refined train–track–station dynamic simulations can reproduce train-induced vibration, but repeated time-history analysis remains costly when many operating conditions must be screened. This study develops a simulation-based response-database framework for multi-horizon forecasting of front-end carbody vertical acceleration (FCVA), defined here as the vertical acceleration at the front-end floor evaluation point of the leading carbody, in the integrated station–bridge building of Yichang North Railway Station. The project-specific database contains 700 operating cases constructed from 100 Latin-hypercube-sampled combinations of a dimensionless track-spectrum amplitude multiplier (TSA), structural damping ratio (DR), and track-spectrum initial moving position (TSIP), each evaluated at seven train speeds. With a sampling interval of 0.002 s, supervised samples were constructed using a 200-point historical window, and prediction horizons from 20 to 300 steps (0.04–0.60 s) were evaluated under a case-level split. Classical regression, tree ensembles, a multilayer perceptron, recurrent networks, a temporal convolutional network, and a Transformer were compared after automated hyperparameter selection. For the 20-step task, Extra Trees achieved the best performance, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.00336 m/s2 and R2 = 0.9958. In the independently refitted reference-fixed horizon experiment, Extra Trees retained R2 = 0.9526 at the 300-step horizon, while the temporal convolutional network (TCN) RMSE increased from 0.00394 to 0.01502 m/s2. The results show that the response database preserves exploitable short- to medium-range dynamic continuity, although phase drift and peak-timing uncertainty increase as the forecast horizon becomes longer. Parameter analysis indicates that train speed dominates both response energy and forecast error, whereas TSA mainly affects amplitude-related response metrics. On a common central processing unit (CPU) platform, the saved Extra Trees model processed 10,000 held-out windows in 0.1404±0.0008 s. The proposed method provides a computationally efficient response-screening and post-processing layer for design-stage assessment and operating-scenario comparison within the modeled parameter domain, complementing rather than replacing refined dynamic simulation and field validation.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163192

Authors: Xianhua Ou Xinkai Wang

To further explore the energy-saving performance of liquid desiccant dehumidification air conditioning systems, this paper constructs a performance optimization model based on the established air temperature and humidity prediction model and the actual physical constraints of the system’s operation. The total system energy consumption and cooling/dehumidification performance are adopted as indicators in the optimization model. Furthermore, to address the nonlinearity, multivariate and constraint in the optimization model, a multi-strategy improved parrot optimizer algorithm (MSPOA) is proposed, incorporating Cauchy inverse mapping initialization, adaptive t-distribution mutation, and random walk strategies into the standard parrot optimizer algorithm. To evaluate the performance of the proposed MSPOA, it is compared with other four algorithms using six CEC benchmark test functions. The results show that MSPOA has higher optimization accuracy and faster convergence speed. In addition, a MSPOA-based optimization control strategy is implemented on a two-stage cooling and dehumidification system experimental platform, and its energy consumption is compared with that of the traditional control strategy. The results show that, on the premise of meeting the requirements of cooling and dehumidification performance, the total system energy consumption under the optimized control strategy is reduced by 6.57 kWh compared with the traditional control strategy, and the energy-saving rate reaches 27.91%, verifying the effectiveness and engineering application value of the proposed method.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163190

Authors: Xin Tang Donghai Lin Zhengdi Wu Yingfeng Zhang Dongxu Cheng Xiangqiu Fu Lecheng Liu

Cold-bent glass curtain walls have been widely adopted in landmark buildings due to their remarkable economic and low-carbon advantages. To investigate the stress state of insulated laminated glass under the corner cold-bending condition, this paper, based on glass samples from actual engineering projects, proposed a cold-bending test method suitable for large-sized glass samples and analyzed the stress distribution characteristics by combining the finite element method (FEM). The results show that: (1) The maximum principal stress concentrates near the midpoint of the short side, with relatively high stresses also observed in the central area. (2) The FEM predictions agree well with experimental measurements, with errors remaining within 20% for most measurement points. (3) Under corner cold bending, the glass deformation exhibits a fan-shaped distribution, and the stress distribution between the inner and outer glass panes differs significantly. On the upper glass surface, stresses are primarily concentrated in the diagonal region and increase towards the edges. In contrast, the stress on the lower surface of the glass is significantly influenced by the clamping method and the supporting frame, leading to pronounced stress concentrations. These findings provide practical guidance for the engineering design and numerical simulation of cold-bent insulated glass curtain walls.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163189

Authors: Dian Zhou Pengwen Wang

Older adults with dementia in long-term care facilities often become lost, enter unintended rooms, and develop greater dependence on care staff as a result of visuospatial impairment. However, existing dementia-friendly design studies have rarely distinguished among residents with different cognitive impairment characteristics. This exploratory cross-sectional study investigated 76 older adults with dementia and visuospatial impairment in three long-term care facilities in Xi’an, China. Neuropsychological assessment, behavior mapping, BIM-based modeling, space syntax analysis, and statistical analysis were integrated to examine the associations between environmental factors and the spatial behaviors of older adults with different research-based visuospatial impairment profiles. The results showed that the sample could be classified into three profiles: visual construction impairment, spatial disorientation, and global spatial cognitive impairment. The three groups showed different sensitivities to visual cues, path structure, and environmental stability, and exhibited distinct patterns of getting lost and spatial use. Based on these exploratory findings, this study formulates three hypothesis-generating unit-based design concepts: feature-enhanced units, path-simplified units, and stable low-load units. These concepts provide a provisional framework for examining how dementia care environments might be adapted to cognitive abilities and require validation in larger, longitudinal, and intervention-based studies.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163188

Authors: Linxi Duan Huaping Yang Qiming Qi Qihong Wu Changjiang Shao Yunfan Yang

Double-column reinforced-concrete (RC) hollow bridge piers are often assessed using flexure-dominated models, although their thin walls can develop shear-related deterioration. This study reanalyzes seven previously reported cyclic tests on scaled square hollow-pier columns and extends the assessment to a full-scale double-column system in OpenSees. The tests varied the shear-span ratio and transverse and longitudinal reinforcement. A flexure-only fiber model and an axial–flexure–shear interaction membrane–beam–truss element model (AFSI-MBTEM) were evaluated using six response indicators before cyclic and nonlinear time-history analyses of the prototype system. Lower shear-span ratios increased resistance but intensified inclined cracking, stiffness loss, and post-peak deterioration; increasing L/D from 3.9 to 7.9 reduced peak strength from 320.5 to 145.9 kN. AFSI-MBTEM reduced the mean absolute errors in peak strength, yield displacement, and effective stiffness to 3.08%, 11.83%, and 12.86%, respectively, but did not improve residual-displacement or mean hysteretic-loop-energy predictions. At the system level, shear-span ratio most strongly affected cyclic stiffness and peak base shear; wall-thickness ratio, width-to-depth ratio, and longitudinal reinforcement were also influential. Under three near-fault records, AFSI-MBTEM predicted 5.31–10.32% lower peak base shear, while displacement changes remained record-dependent. Shear-sensitive modeling improves force and deformation assessment, but the system-level trends remain conditional on the adopted prototype, parameter ranges, and records.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163187

Authors: Miguel Ángel García-Illescas José Manuel Benitez-Quintero

Soil–structure interaction (SSI) can affect the apparent dynamic properties of instrumented buildings, and its long-term variability may complicate structural health monitoring when SSI effects are not explicitly tracked. This study presents a long-term monitoring analysis of SSI effects for a 17-story reinforced concrete building founded on soft soil in Acapulco, Mexico, using earthquake records collected between 2001 and 2022. The simplified Luco decomposition model is combined with a recursive subspace identification method to independently estimate the frequencies associated with the soil–structure system, the fixed-base structure, foundation rocking, foundation translation, and torsional response. The estimated frequencies are assessed through comparisons with classical spectral analysis and subsequently used to evaluate the long-term evolution of the equivalent SSI stiffness against analytical and numerical models. The results reveal a gradual reduction in both the system and fixed-base structural frequencies throughout the monitoring period, accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the equivalent stiffness. The proposed methodology provides consistent component-by-component SSI estimates from seismic recordings and supports the long-term identification and interpretation of SSI-related dynamic properties in instrumented buildings founded on soft soils.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163185

Authors: Faris S. Mustafa Mohanned Al Gharawi Amjad H. Albayati

The use of sugarcane molasses (SCM) as a sustainable stabilizing agent for geomaterials, particularly granular subbase soils, has recently attracted growing attention as an alternative to traditional stabilization methods employing cement, lime, or bitumen, which are often associated with high costs and environmental concerns. This study presents a mechanistic–experimental evaluation of SCM for stabilizing granular subbase materials at dosages of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% by weight of dry granular material. A comprehensive testing program was conducted, including compaction characteristics, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), resilient modulus (Mr), permanent deformation under repeated loading, optical microscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy. In addition, multilayer elastic analysis using KENLAYER was performed to assess pavement structural performance in terms of critical strains and service life. The results showed that SCM significantly improved subbase performance within an optimum dosage range. The mixture containing 5% sugarcane molasses (5SCM) exhibited the highest overall performance, increasing CBR from approximately 26% to 34% and reducing accumulated permanent strain by approximately 45% compared with the control mixture. Optical microscopy and FTIR analyses supported the proposed stabilization mechanism, indicating improved particle contact at moderate SCM contents, whereas excessive SCM contents adversely affected performance due to lubrication and excessive particle-coating effects. Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that 5SCM improved pavement durability, increasing allowable load repetitions from 9.54 × 105 to 1.14 × 106 and extending pavement service life by approximately 20%. A durability–cost assessment further identified 5SCM as the most efficient dosage from both engineering and economic perspectives. Water immersion assessment indicated that SCM stabilization is suitable for pavement structures with effective drainage, whereas its application in continuously saturated or flood-prone environments is not recommended. Overall, SCM demonstrates strong potential as an environmentally sustainable stabilizer for granular subbase materials, with an optimum dosage of approximately 5% for enhancing both material performance and pavement durability.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163186

Authors: Chaeyeon Yu Hojeong Jeong Seungha Seo Yoonho Jang Sungjin Kim

Building maintenance is essential for extending service life and ensuring safety. However, conventional visual inspection and document-based record management can cause information omissions, inconsistent transfer, limited reproducibility, and delayed collaboration. Despite growing interest in digital maintenance, few studies have quantitatively examined how different implementation levels of a metaverse inspection system (MIS) affect long-term maintenance performance. This study evaluated four MIS levels using system dynamics (SD) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Based on a literature review and requirements analysis, 24 influencing factors were represented through causal loop and stock–flow diagrams. The scenarios comprised non-implementation (Level 0), visualization-based initial implementation (Level 1), BIM- and data-linked intermediate implementation (Level 2), and a conceptually integrated system combining data management, real-time monitoring, stakeholder collaboration, and maintenance decision support (Level 3). A 100-year simulation was conducted, with the 50-year point used for comparison. At the 50-year point, Level 3 maintained building condition at 76.72% and reduced cumulative cost by 31.8%, from US$386,477 for Level 0 to US$263,729. MCDA and inspection frequency, weight, and coefficient sensitivity analyses identified Level 3 as the most favorable scenario within the tested conditions.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163183

Authors: Sertaç Oruç Mehmet Salih Türker Ali Ulvi Galip Şenocak Bülent Yeşilata

Climate change is shifting building thermal demand from heating toward cooling, yet quantitative, design-relevant projections for semi-arid continental cities remain scarce. This study projects heating and cooling degree days (HDDs and CDDs) for Ankara, Türkiye, using ERA5-Land as the reference, and a quantile delta mapping (QDM) bias-corrected CMIP6 ensemble under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, across eight base temperatures (HDD 15–18 °C; CDD 23–26 °C) to 2100. By the far future, HDD18 decreases by 23–37% whereas CDD24 increases by +205 to +498 °C·day/year (with wide inter-model spread), and the heating degree days factor declines from 0.984 to 0.765, marking a shift toward cooling within the degree-day budget; the cooling season extends from 25 to as many as 106 days. In a deterministic −1 to +2 °C local-temperature-offset test, the direction of change persists, and the cooling design dry-bulb temperature rises by up to +7.3 °C, raising peak cooling loads. Independent 2020–2022 station observations support the HDD projections (CDD projections were not independently validated). Because a single grid cell and station cannot resolve urban canyon or local climate zone contrasts, the conclusions apply to the campus vicinity. Overall, the study translates the climate signal into HVAC-sizing and retrofit-relevant metrics for a warming semi-arid capital.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163184

Authors: Tianyu Xi Haibo Sun Ke Wang Jiawei Chen Fei Guo

Most studies have explored the impact of different types of local climate zones (LCZs) on energy consumption, but few have examined climate differences within intra-local climate zones (intra-LCZs) and the impact of cold waves (CW) on energy consumption. This study conducted a 150-day long-term observation of air temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (RH) in six LCZs in Shenyang, a severe cold region, to examine climate differences within intra-LCZs and the influence of CW and the urban heat island (UHI) on energy consumption. The results show that the temperatures and heating energy consumption in 5 LCZ4s exhibited a clear gradient from the urban core to the suburbs. During CW, the differences increased, and the nighttime differences were more pronounced. CW significantly increased residential heating energy consumption, whereas the urban heat island (UHI) reduced it in urban areas. Additionally, there was a clear positive correlation between UHI and the urban-suburban energy consumption difference. Under the combined effects of CW and UHI, the average daily cumulative heating energy consumption in urban areas (CW) was much higher than in suburban areas during non-cold-wave (NCW) periods, increasing by 69.2–85.9%. This study provides empirical evidence for energy conservation and strategies for responding to extreme weather events.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163182

Authors: Qin Li Qiuyu Li Zhenze Yang Yanwei Li Lixin Jia Yijun Liu Wenlong Li

Industrial heritage-based cultural and creative parks (IHCCPs) have become an important approach to adaptive reuse and sustainable urban regeneration in post-industrial cities. As the primary interface between the city and the park, entrance spaces play a critical role in shaping visitors’ first impressions, place identity, and cultural perception. Drawing on Cultural Perception Theory, this study investigates the entrance spaces of four representative IHCCPs in China using field surveys, questionnaire surveys, and a modified Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) framework, in which the conventional importance–performance dimensions are reconceptualized as perception and satisfaction. The results indicate that the case study parks perform well in barrier-free accessibility, entrance image, and material application. Based on the perception–satisfaction analysis, the entrance-space attributes were systematically classified according to their relative strengths and improvement priorities, providing the basis for identifying key optimization directions. Accordingly, a perceptual experience-oriented optimization framework is proposed, comprising four complementary strategies: functional coordination, environmental layering, landmark organization, and cultural translation. By integrating Cultural Perception Theory into an adapted IPA framework for entrance-space evaluation, this study extends existing research and provides a practical framework for the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage and the regeneration of public spaces in comparable post-industrial contexts. Its broader applicability to different geographical and cultural settings warrants further validation through future research.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163181

Authors: Dan C. Baciu Lillian Wolf

Urban access is an active topic of research. Here, we discuss urban modeling results obtained for 15 cities, utilizing CHOAMs, a dynamic-scale nonlinear artificial intelligence framework. The results demonstrate that different means of transportation complement each other in cities. This questions concepts of pedestrian-only, bike-only, public-transport-only, or car-only cities, while being best compatible with the constructal law—a theory developed in engineering over the last 30 years. The constructal law highlights the importance of easy access across a wide range of settings, which is what our empirical analysis of cities further corroborates.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163180

Authors: Yuji Iwahashi Masao Koizumi Keiichiro Taniguchi

Background: Many studies have been carried out using scientific approaches, but the targets are uncertain due to variable environmental and human factors. Therefore, these two factors need to be integrated into modes, which represent combinations of devices in specific statuses. These modes should be changed in response to environmental conditions. To maximize the effectiveness of elemental technologies for environmental consideration, buildings must be designed alongside an operational method based on this mode changing, and the way of describing these operations must also be developed. In this paper, a logic of mode changing is established. The proposed design and operational method can be applied broadly to building design while being adaptable to individual cases. Methods: The design of a house based on the mode-changing theory is presented along with a provisional operational flow as a case study. To support the theory, CFD simulations of each mode’s configuration were conducted for comparison under the representative conditions. These conditions, which represent each mode, can be continuously changed to the other mode by occupants based on their personal comfort. After the house was built, mode-changing operations by the occupants themselves were monitored for a year for the purpose of an operational record. Results: The record of the modes manually selected by occupants, measurements of outdoor/indoor temperatures, and indoor illuminance are superimposed into an integrated graph. According to these records, an actual operational flow was extracted as a method for environmental adjustment. There are notable deviations between the provisional operational flow and the actual record. Based on the actual operational flow, the deviated behaviors are described in the flow, and reasons for the deviation are examined as conscious factors. Conclusions: The deviations from the provisional operational flow demonstrate the flexibility of the mode-changing design, which ultimately enhances occupant satisfaction. Further research is expected to develop a wider variety of modes. The cost analysis of the environmental adjustment devices, human contribution to mode changing, and energy saving ratio are verified as a case study providing a valuable reference for future projects.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163179

Authors: Muhammad A. Abdultawab Ahmed Abdelhamid Maamoun Tahia Awad Mohamed Y. Abd El-Latif

Conventional cement-based grouts used to stabilize fractured rock slopes and fill large cavities are heavy, carbon-intensive, and can impose excessive dead load on weakened rock masses. This study addresses these limitations by integrating bio-based rigid polyurethane—particularly castor oil-based polyurethane—into a slag-based geopolymer mortar, producing a lightweight, low-permeability, rock-adherent alternative grouting system. Three formulations were evaluated: unmodified geopolymer grout (GG), geopolymer grout modified with petroleum-based polyurethane (G-PUG), and geopolymer grout modified with castor oil-based polyurethane (GCO-PUG). Materials were characterized using infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and tested for apparent density, permeability, unconfined compressive strength, and direct shear behavior—including at the grout–limestone interface using rock sourced from El-Mokattam plateau, Cairo. Polyurethane incorporation reduced apparent density by up to 24% (from 22.15 to 16.89 kN/m3) and permeability to as low as 2.3 × 10−8 m/s, at the cost of a substantial reduction in compressive strength (from 5564 to 139 kN/m2). The castor oil-based grout also showed improved rock adhesion, with interfacial cohesion increasing by 67% relative to its standalone state. Accordingly, unmodified GG is recommended for high-load structural applications, whereas GCO-PUG provides a lightweight, low-permeability, and strongly rock-adherent alternative for filling large cavities and stabilizing slopes under moisture-sensitive and weight-critical conditions, where reducing self-weight and limiting water ingress are more important than achieving maximum compressive strength.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163178

Authors: Shun-Yao Hou Tian-Yow Chern

Peri-urban rural public spaces are increasingly involved in territorial development, rural-regeneration management, and built-environment upgrading, yet existing research often treats rural regeneration as program implementation rather than as a spatial-development and public-space management problem. This study develops a built-environment governance framework from the 2025 Hsinchu City Community Rural Regeneration Facilitation Program in Taiwan. Using a reflective document-based case-study design, the analysis integrates administrative reports, training records, plan-review materials, spatial-planning documents, built-environment case evidence, agricultural net-zero policy materials, and Taiwanese rural-regeneration literature. Four descriptive readiness ratios are used to profile the governance process: SIE (urban–rural interface exposure), PPC (training participation), RAC (review conversion), and ATR (approval-track readiness). These indicators clarify administrative and governance readiness, but they are not treated as direct measurements of spatial quality, carbon reduction, or user wellbeing. The results identify a four-dimensional management framework for peri-urban rural public-space regeneration: wellbeing-oriented public spaces, low-carbon ecological infrastructure, cultural-landscape continuity, and community-based implementation capacity. The study further proposes standardized ordinal scoring rules, a policy-to-space translation model, and a future post-occupancy and spatial-quality validation scheme. The theoretical contribution lies in reframing rural regeneration as a built-environment governance interface for territorial development, while the practical contribution lies in providing a reviewable framework for managing public-space proposals, construction priorities, maintenance readiness, and future validation in peri-urban rural areas.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163177

Authors: Yu Cao Tao Wang Haiting Su Syahrul Nizam Kamaruzzaman Nur Mardhiyah Aziz Qian Ma Li Wang

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is increasingly used to support the delivery of green building projects and optimize their sustainability performance. However, limited research has examined how individual BIM capabilities are associated with different dimensions of green building performance during the construction phase. This study investigates the relationships between BIM capability implementation and green building performance in China’s construction industry through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 306 professionals with experience in BIM-enabled green building projects. The collected data were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and multiple linear regression analysis. The RII results indicate that all twelve identified BIM capabilities were generally perceived as important for improving the five dimensions of green building performance, namely, safety and durability, health and comfort, occupant convenience, resource conservation, and environmental livability. The regression analysis further suggests that different BIM capabilities are associated with different dimensions of green building performance. Visualization, environmental simulation, and safety management capabilities were more strongly associated with safety and comfort-related outcomes, while environmental assessment and impact simulation capabilities showed closer relationships with resource conservation. Data management and construction site layout planning were found to be particularly relevant to environmental livability. These findings indicate that BIM supports green building performance through multiple complementary capabilities rather than through a single function. Overall, the findings provide evidence of the relationships between BIM capability implementation and perceived green building performance during construction. This study provides practical guidance for prioritizing BIM capabilities based on different sustainable development goals and helps to foster a more detailed understanding of BIM-enabled green building construction in China.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163176

Authors: Jian Wu Changhao Wei Shi’en Zhang Chunjuan Zhou Chaoqun Hu Weigao Ding

To enhance the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings during retrofitting, the study introduces a new type of joint connected by a T-shaped steel plate. Compared with previous similar strengthening methods, this novel structure incorporating a post-installed beam not only effectively improves the mechanical properties of RC columns, but the connectors also further enhance the integrity of the post-installed beam. Low-cycle reversed loading tests on one cast-in-place specimen (RC) and three T-shaped steel plate connection specimens (TRC1–TRC3) were conducted to evaluate failure modes, hysteresis and skeleton curves, and energy dissipation. Results show that the novel joint failure concentrates at beam-end–column steel jacket weld seams and column-side steel plate cracking, while the core-zone concrete remains intact. Compared with RC, the novel joints TRC1–TRC3 exhibit bearing capacity variations of −1.03%~+15.80% and significantly enhanced energy dissipation. The thickness of the beam’s wrapped steel improves the carrying capacity and energy dissipation, whereas the T-shaped connector thickness has limited influence on bearing capacity. ABAQUS parametric analysis indicates that bolt quantity, concrete strength, and connector thickness have limited influence and serve as secondary design factors. These findings provide a theoretical basis for retrofitting existing buildings.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163175

Authors: Jiayan Zheng Qingxin Feng Haijing Liu Yongzhi Sang Chenghua Hu

To measure dynamic crack evolution under sustained service loads during infrastructure defect inspection and structural condition assessment, a machine-vision-based methodology for high-accuracy measurement of simple crack propagation is proposed in this paper. A dynamic crack propagation characterization framework is first established to number the cracks and trace the cracks across distinct image frames, and an accurate vision-based dynamic propagation measurement method for simple concrete cracks is further developed by integrating the proposed characterization approach. Subsequently, an indoor compression experiment of a concrete specimen was carried out to measure the cracking process with the proposed method, and the dynamic variations in the subpixel-level width and length were calculated for each crack. The cracking initiation, coalescence, acceleration and ultimate failure stage were also identified and recorded. Finally, the accuracy of crack width measurement was validated via the digital image correlation (DIC) method. The results showed that the proposed method could effectively record and measure the full crack propagation process, and the dynamic crack width variation for each pixel along the skeleton line and the crack length variation could be automatically calculated. Furthermore, the cracking initiation, propagation, coalescence, acceleration and ultimate failure can be effectively identified with the cracking growth speed variations and the crack number evolution tree. Verification experiment showed that the dynamic crack width curves measured with the proposed method were in good agreement with those obtained via the DIC method, with the root mean square error (RMSE) less than 0.1 mm and the coefficient of determination (R2) greater than 0.96. The proposed method in this paper provides a new way of cracking speed measurement that is crucial for structural crack safety valuation and technical condition assessment.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163174

Authors: Chaohui Qing Fengwei Zou Yuchao Zheng Heng Ji

TBM jamming in deep, weak, squeezing ground poses a persistent threat to construction safety and schedule performance. Most existing approaches evaluate shield jamming and cutterhead jamming independently, even though TBM operation is simultaneously limited by the available thrust and torque capacities. This study proposes a unified thrust–torque assessment framework that integrates the time-dependent response of weak surrounding rock, represented by the Cvisc model, with interface-based rock–TBM contact. The framework was applied to a representative Himalayan tunnel excavated by a double-shield TBM. The calculated total tunnelling resistance and cutterhead torque demand were then evaluated against the corresponding rated machine capacities. A parametric investigation covering advance rates of 0.5–2.5 m/h, over-excavation amounts of 3–9 cm, shield lengths of 12–16.5 m, and surrounding-rock elastic moduli of 2–8 GPa identified advance rate as the dominant controllable factor, contributing 61.6% of the variance in total tunnelling resistance and 96.2% of that in cutterhead torque. Increasing the over-excavation amount primarily alleviated shield–rock contact and reduced shield frictional resistance by up to 56.2%, while exerting only a limited influence on cutterhead torque. These findings were subsequently synthesised into a project-specific jamming-risk zoning matrix, which identified low advance rates combined with small over-excavation under long-shield conditions as the most unfavourable operating regime. Field validation was conducted using 10 representative operating cases satisfying η < 0.9. The calculated responses agreed well with the monitoring data, yielding R2 = 0.82 and a MAPE of 12.0% for total tunnelling resistance versus field-monitored thrust, and R2 = 0.72 and a MAPE of 16.3% for cutterhead torque. The proposed framework therefore provides a quantitative basis for TBM parameter selection and jamming-risk control in squeezing ground within the validated operating range.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163173

Authors: Yaolong Hou Han Chang Yuqing Xia Haorui Liu Yuqi Zhang Na Wang Boyun Lv

Rural houses in cold regions of China usually have high energy demands, particularly for space heating and domestic hot water. Passive design can reduce building energy demand, but additional renewable energy systems are still needed to improve on-site energy supply. This study evaluates the performance and limitations of photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heating (SWH) systems in a passive-designed rural house in Xi’an, China. Hourly simulations were conducted for PV-only and PV–battery configurations with different south-facing roof coverage ratios and battery capacities, together with an evacuated-tube SWH system. The results show that PV electricity supply was limited by the mismatch between household electricity demand and PV generation. Household demand mainly occurred in the morning and evening, whereas PV generation was concentrated around noon. The 13 m2 PV case achieved approximately 11% electricity supply capacity with a utilization ratio of 62%, while increasing the PV area to 50 m2 raised the supply capacity to only 15% and reduced the utilization ratio to 23%. With battery storage, the largest PV–battery configuration supplied 48% of annual household electricity demand, while the overall electricity utilization ratio was 73%, indicating a trade-off between household electricity self-supply and system utilization. The SWH system showed better applicability for domestic hot water supply, with an annual average hot water supply capacity of 60.2% and an average device efficiency of 43.5%, but its winter performance remained weak. These results indicate that PV and SWH are useful but insufficient solar energy strategies for passive-designed rural houses. PV is mainly constrained by daily time mismatch, while SWH is mainly constrained by seasonal climate variation.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163172

Authors: Khawla Boutmaghzoute Tee How Tan Ayu Haslija Abu Bakar Shafiq Ishak Kim Hung Mo

Water treatment sludge (WTS) is a by-product of water treatment plants, which is often landfilled and risks contaminant leakage into the environment. However, it is rich in aluminosilicate content, which suggests potential suitability as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM), offering a sustainable approach for waste recycling and carbon emission reduction in cement production. While prior reviews have broadly addressed WTS reuse across construction materials, the mechanisms governing its pozzolanic performance as a cement replacement remain insufficiently synthesized, including its emerging use in alternative binders. This systematic review addresses this gap by synthesizing literature from 2010 to 2026 on WTS as a partial cement replacement in cement-based materials (CBMs), in both binary and ternary blends. Findings show that WTS can exhibit high pozzolanic reactivity after grinding and calcination at 600–800 °C, though performance varies depending on source and composition and processing. Partial replacement of cement with 10% calcined WTS was most frequently identified as the optimal substitution level, improving mechanical properties by promoting C-S-H and C-A-S-H formation, although some studies report favourable long-term strength at higher substitution. However, most studies reported that further increasing WTS content in the mix (beyond 10%) leads to a decrease in performance due to the dilution effect, which limits the formation of C-S-H. This review further discusses the durability aspects and environmental impact of using WTS, which remain underexplored in the literature, and highlights areas for future investigations.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163171

Authors: Yizhi Zhang Marie-Claude Dubois György Ängelkott Bocz Annie Drottberger Thomas Prade

As urban areas grow and face climate-related challenges, rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) offer a promising approach for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) to enhance urban food production while providing potential energy-saving benefits. However, the energy performance of RTGs integrated with mid-rise residential buildings, which represent a substantial proportion of the existing urban housing stock in cold climates, remains poorly understood. This study investigated the influence of RTG integration on the energy demand and indoor thermal conditions of a four-story residential building across cold-climate regions. Dynamic simulations using IDA-ICE were performed to analyze the influence of different glazing and shading configurations, comparing rooftop and ground-based greenhouse scenarios and host building performance. RTG integration reduced the host building’s annual heating demand by 6.2–7.6%, with thermal buffering primarily benefiting the top floor, where heating demand decreased by up to 24.2%, while lower floors remained largely unaffected. No summertime overheating risks were observed. Compared to a ground-based greenhouse, the RTG had a lower heating energy use by 2.8–14.6% depending on glazing and shading configuration, by using free heat from the host building. This study highlights the potential of RTG integration as a passive energy-saving measure, while supporting sustainable urban food production, contributing to more sustainable and climate-resilient cities.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163170

Authors: Liang Gong Yan Feng Ming Xu

A novel assembled integral multi-ribbed composite floor system consisting of precast panels and a cast in situ topping has previously been validated through full-scale one-way and two-way slab experiments. Although the global load capacity of the system was initially verified, the experiments reveal that the concrete-to-concrete interfacial behavior between the precast panel and the cast in situ topping is a critical factor governing internal force redistribution and its post-cracking performance. To uncover the governing interfacial mechanism, this study develops a refined three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model using a coupled cohesive–frictional interface interaction, where a surface-based cohesive interaction captures the initial interfacial debonding and a penalty-based Coulomb friction model describes the subsequent shear-slip behavior. The model reproduces the cracking patterns, load-deflection relationship, and failure modes, with the relative error of load capacity, initial stiffness and crack load all less than 15%. Parametric analyses further indicate that the interfacial shear-transfer mechanism governs post-cracking stress redistribution across the multi-ribbed section, preventing premature delamination and ensuring efficient mobilization of the section’s flexural resistance. To effectively restrain this interfacial slip, an improved shear-key configuration is proposed to activate an enhanced mechanical interlocking mechanism. Numerical results confirm that the improved configuration effectively suppresses macro-sliding and redistributes local stress concentrations, thereby enhancing the structural integrity and flexural efficiency of precast composite floor systems.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163169

Authors: Xuezhen Wang Xingze Duan Ruijie Xia Wei Li Ju Liu Zhou Zhou Ao Yang Xin Yin Guohua Song Kuangyu Dai

To improve volume stability and durability of cementitious materials, a composite mineral admixture including ground granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash and silica fume was incorporated at a fixed 12% replacement ratio together with varying dosages of an expansive agent (EA). Results show that the composite admixture delays setting while increasing EA shortens setting time. Mechanical properties first increase and then decrease with EA content. The mixture with 6% EA (A4) achieves the best performance, with a 28-day compressive strength of 51.6 MPa. Expansion behavior continuously increases with EA content, but the expansion coefficient peaks near unity at an optimal EA level and then decreases, which indicates effective shrinkage compensation at moderate EA dosages. Durability properties including sulfate resistance and chloride migration resistance follow a similar non-monotonic trend, enhanced at moderate EA levels but degraded at excessive dosages. The A4 mixture exhibits the highest sulfate resistance coefficient and the lowest chloride diffusion coefficient. Microstructural analyses via XRD, EDS, SEM and MIP reveal differences in hydration products and pore structure characteristics among the mixtures. The composite mineral admixtures contribute to pore refinement through hydration and filler effects, while an appropriate EA dosage provides shrinkage compensation and improves microstructural stability. These combined effects reduce harmful pore content and pore connectivity, thereby improving resistance to sulfate and chloride transport. Excessive EA leads to over-expansion, inducing microstructural defects and disrupting pore structure integrity, which ultimately compromises durability. Therefore, durability enhancement of the composite system is governed by a balance between expansion compensation and pore structure refinement, rather than simply the increase in hydration products.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163168

Authors: Muhammad Shoaib Khan Shahzad Ahmed Jung In Kim

Building Information Modeling (BIM) stores rich object-level metadata, yet retrieving this information typically requires navigating complex software interfaces or formal queries, and existing BIM-VR environments rarely support conversational, semantic access to this data. Large Language Models (LLMs) offer flexible natural-language interpretation but risk generating fluent, factually incorrect responses when used without grounding, which is particularly problematic for engineering decision-making. This study develops and evaluates a metadata-grounded BIM–LLM–VR framework that enables conversational BIM information retrieval inside an immersive virtual reality environment. The framework integrates a BIM-to-Unity data exchange workflow linking VR objects to BIM metadata through stable element ID, an LLM-based interpretation module that converts natural-language queries into structured metadata filters, and a deterministic retrieval module that executes these filters against verified BIM metadata rather than allowing free-form LLM generation. A case study demonstrated five successful interaction scenarios and one negative-query validation using a multi-storey BIM model, and the framework was evaluated using a 30-query benchmark validated against ground-truth BIM metadata. The system achieved a mean precision of 99.94%, mean recall of 100.00%, and mean F1-score of 99.97%, with a mean execution time of 0.347 s. These results indicate that, under a controlled metadata schema and a predefined benchmark, the framework can translate a defined set of natural-language requests into correct element-level metadata filters inside an immersive VR environment, establishing the technical soundness of the metadata-grounding architecture.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163167

Authors: Saisai Wang Jingjing Shao Zuwei Wang Ming Zhang Yixiao Chen

Urban regeneration has become a primary strategy for addressing the spatial, social, environmental, and economic challenges associated with rapid urbanization. By using the PRISMA framework, this paper provides a systematic review of urban regeneration, focusing on its objectives, indicator systems, and estimation approaches. Journal articles published between 2008 and 2025 were retrieved from Web of Science, and 50 studies were retained after screening. The findings indicate that regeneration has increasingly highlighted long-term economic efficiency and environmental performance, along with growing attention to social equity, urban safety, and resilience. Life cycle costs are recognized as a core framework for capturing long-term financial and environmental performance. In terms of methodological evolution, a progression from conventional estimation techniques toward machine learning and hybrid approaches is observed. Several challenges remain, including the absence of standardized data frameworks and limited cross-regional transferability of existing models. To advance the field, future research could prioritize the establishment of common data standards, the adoption of explainable machine learning for improved model transparency, and the validation of models across diverse geographical and project settings.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163166

Authors: Lili Gao Ping Jiang Weihao Sun

Construction employees in extreme environments face demanding tasks, harsh natural conditions, spatial isolation, and safety-critical coordination. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources model and the challenge-hindrance framework, this study examines how work stressors are associated with employee resilience in extreme-environment construction projects. Survey data were obtained from 235 project employees at high-altitude sites in western China. Regression-based conditional process analysis estimated direct, indirect, and moderated associations, while fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) examined the configurational patterns linked to high resilience. Challenge stressors were positively associated with resilience, whereas hindrance stressors were negatively associated with resilience. Psychological safety statistically accounted for part of both associations. Perceived digital safety support strengthened the positive challenge-stressor association with psychological safety and the negative hindrance–stressor association with psychological safety. The fsQCA analysis identified three near-threshold patterns associated with high resilience, but the overall solution consistency was 0.7966 and should be interpreted cautiously. The results suggest that project organizations should preserve manageable challenges, reduce avoidable hindrances, support psychologically safe communication, and ensure that digital safety systems provide practical assistance. These findings primarily concern technical and managerial project employees and do not establish causal effects or intervention efficacy.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163165

Authors: Junxiang Chen Yonghan Li Huijun Wu Lixiu Yang

Building on a previously developed valve-controlled reversible loop heat pipe (RLHP) and the corresponding RLHP-embedded wall, component- and wall-scale experiments were conducted. The heat-transfer performance of the RLHP was evaluated at filling ratios of 10–70% and heating powers of 25–400 W, and its forward and reverse operation was evaluated at the component scale using a filling ratio of 50%. The on–off dynamic responses of the RLHP-embedded wall and a reference wall were subsequently compared under heating powers of 20–200 W. The results showed that filling ratios ranging from 40% to 70% provided a relatively effective operating range under the tested conditions. Among the tested filling ratios, 50% exhibited the lowest and most stable apparent equivalent thermal resistance, with an average value of approximately 0.039 m2·K/W. At 400 W, the quasi-steady average temperature differences during forward and reverse operation were 17.2 °C and 16.9 °C, respectively. At 200 W, the first-hour temperature rise on the unheated side was approximately 6 °C for the RLHP-embedded wall, compared with 1.2 °C for the reference wall. During the combined heating-off–valve-closed stage, the heat-retention duration increased with the preceding heating power.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163164

Authors: Binghai Li Xiaoguang Jin Penggang Zeng Zhenyu Zhu Wei Luo

Classic elastic–plastic models for concrete do not fully account for either the material properties of shotcrete or the influence of environmental factors, resulting in significant limitations in the research and application of shotcrete in tunnels. This paper comprehensively considers the early-age strength of tunnel shotcrete and the physical and chemical attack effects of a sulfate environment, to investigate the mechanical degradation mechanisms of tunnel shotcrete under sulfate conditions and establish a corresponding nonlinear elastoplastic model. This study carried out sulfate attack tests on tunnel shotcrete and systematically revealed the stress–strain evolution characteristics of shotcrete under sulfate attack. Based on experimental data on both chemical and physical attack, this paper improves the classical elastoplastic constitutive model and constructs an elastoplastic constitutive model applicable to both the early and hardening stages of shotcrete. Overall, the improved model can describe the stress–strain response of shotcrete reasonably well; however, due to the high inherent discreteness of the shotcrete material itself, some fitting deviations still exist near points of sudden change in strain or stress. Under sulfate chemical attack conditions, the cracking stress of shotcrete exhibits a nonlinear trend of first increasing and then decreasing as corrosion time progresses. Under physical attack conditions, the cracking stress shows a clear linear decrease. Furthermore, in high-concentration sulfate environments, the influence of sulfate concentration on cracking stress is moderately reduced. The results of this study provide theoretical support for the durability assessment and constitutive modeling of tunnel shotcrete in sulfate-corrosive environments.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163163

Authors: Shubham Jaiswal Subhagata Mukhopadhyay Dulis Dulis Rewati Raman Sanskriti Gupta

This study quantifies five decades (1975–2025) of residential architectural transformation in Delhi (Tier-I) and Patna (Tier-II), India, among middle-income-group households, and evaluates its implications for passive design loss and mechanical cooling dependence. A stratified survey of 1080 middle-income-group (MIG-I and MIG-II) households across six construction decades documents the systematic elimination of passive features: courtyard presence collapsed from 54.44% (Cohort A, 1975–1985) to 1.39% (Cohort C, 2015–2025); load-bearing masonry declined from 47.78% to 7.78%; and houses lacking passive cooling features quadrupled from 10.83% to 40.83%. Correspondingly, households with three or more air conditioning (AC) units rose from 12.78% (Cohort A) to 33.06% (Cohort C). However, 30–35% of households across all cohorts stated that the ‘indoor temperature remains comfortable without AC’, challenging deterministic AC-dependence assumptions. Regional divergence in drivers is evident: globalization dominates in Delhi (59.24%), while lack of traditional awareness dominates in Patna (39.29%), suggesting hierarchical diffusion and indicating a need for differentiated policy responses. Architectural homogenization shows a consistent association with higher AC ownership and electricity consumption, raising concerns about energy insecurity and climate vulnerability. Hybrid design, integrating traditional passive strategies with contemporary spatial needs, offers a pathway toward climate-resilient urban futures.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163162

Authors: Hongwei Sun Xiaodong Wen Shaohua Jiang Guangbin Wang

This article presents a systematic review of Internet of Things technology applications across the entire lifecycle of prefabricated buildings. By combining bibliometric analysis with qualitative research methods, seven key research topics in this field are identified and analyzed: integrated information management platforms, position tracking, quality checking and management, project management and cost control, carbon emissions monitoring, indoor environment monitoring, and data security and information encryption. The current research status and challenges pertaining to each of these topics are critically assessed with emphasis on the main challenges in terms of automation level and accuracy, system integration and data interoperability, and deployment economy and robustness. The findings reveal that current IoT applications in prefabricated buildings are mainly focused on data collection, data visualization, and status monitoring, and future research should further strengthen the integration of IoT with AI, big data, and other technologies to promote predictive analysis, intelligent optimization, and autonomous decision-making. Three key topics are subsequently discussed from a management perspective: collaborative carbon information flow management, human-centered health and safety management, and finally, smart operation, maintenance, and disassembly driven by a circular economy, and directions are proposed for their future integration and innovation with emerging technologies. This study provides directional recommendations and references for researchers and practitioners in related fields. The review further suggests that the future development of IoT-enabled prefabricated buildings requires not only technological breakthroughs but also the collaborative evolution of digital technologies, construction practices, and industrial systems, supported by effective management mechanisms, industry collaboration, and practical implementation strategies.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163161

Authors: Rui Zhu Wen Zhong Jianxun Zhang Lei Wang

Urban disaster resilience has become central to risk governance as climate change, compound hazards, and interdependent urban systems intensify pressures on cities. Publication-based reviews describe visible research outputs but reveal less about how research priorities are formulated and funded. This study examines 26 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects initiated during 2014–2024 and retrieved using three deliberately focused keywords: “urban disaster,” “urban resilience,” and “disaster resilience.” Descriptive statistics, text-assisted coding, temporal analysis, knowledge mapping, and a paradigm matrix were applied across six dimensions: hazard types, urban systems, resilience capacities, research methods, spatial scales, and paradigm orientations. Within this selected corpus, funding activity became concentrated after 2019, while research attention broadened from disaster prevention, risk identification, and vulnerability assessment toward resilience assessment, adaptive governance, community capacity, infrastructure networks, and coupled urban systems. Nevertheless, indicator frameworks, spatial evaluation, and model-based measurement remained dominant. Recovery trajectories, compound hazard interactions, social equity, and cross-system governance received comparatively limited attention. These findings indicate an agenda-level reorientation within the selected NSFC-funded corpus, rather than a universal transformation of Chinese urban disaster research. A more mature resilience agenda requires stronger integration of compound risks, recovery processes, equity, and coupled system governance.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163160

Authors: Qian Zhang Jing Wang Yafeng Chang Ergang Xiong

To investigate the Axial–Shear–Flexure Interaction (ASFI) of precast segmental assembled bridge piers, this study proposes a connection system using tapered-sleeve locking steel bar joints and fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC). Four 1:2.5-scaled pier specimens—including single- and double-column configurations, with both cast-in-place and precast segmental designs—were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. The experimental results show that the precast components exhibited comparable or superior seismic performance, with peak loads in single/double columns being 4% and 5% higher than those in cast-in-place components, respectively; the equivalent viscous damping ratio was 2–4% higher, and residual displacement was reduced by approximately 20%. In addition, an ASFI-based calculation program is developed in Python 3.9 to predict the load–displacement response under combined axial, shear, and flexural actions. The program predicts the peak load of all specimens with errors within 10% but systematically underestimates the peak displacement. Deformation decomposition reveals that shear deformation accounts for 2–7% of the total deformation in single-column piers but increases to 10–17% in double-column piers, confirming the necessity of ASFI modeling for shear-critical configurations. This connection system meets the performance requirement of being “equivalent to cast-in-place,” but the program is only applicable to bearing capacity estimation, and its universality requires further parameter verification.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163159

Authors: Feng Gao Yue Li Guosheng Zhang Mintao Ding Shijun Ding Tiantian Chen Jia Sun Hui Lin

Prefabricated post-pouring UHPC (ultra-high performance concrete) beam–column joints have the advantages of strong integrity, excellent seismic performance and good durability, but there are also problems of easy cracking of old and new concrete interfaces and concrete near the interface. Therefore, a new type of post-cast UHPC joint is designed in this paper. The joint is connected by post-cast UHPC at the beam and column sections far from the core area, and the keyway is set in the connection section to solve the defect that the old and new interfaces easily crack. The refined finite element model of the joint was established by using the finite element software ABAQUS (2023). Through the simulation of 10 working conditions, the typical failure modes and seismic performance of the joint were discussed in depth, and the influence of key parameters such as the lap length of steel bars, the strength of steel bars and the strength of post-pouring UHPC was analyzed. The results show that the joint cracks first appear at the junction of the beam–column core area and develop along the cut-off interface between ordinary concrete and UHPC. No macroscopic cracks were observed in the post-pouring UHPC connection section, and the structure was finally destroyed due to the crushing of ordinary concrete. Increasing the lap length of the steel bar can improve the peak bearing capacity and stiffness of the joint, but it will accelerate the stiffness degradation. Increasing the strength grade of steel bars can significantly improve the bearing capacity and stiffness of the joints, but the energy dissipation capacity is slightly reduced. In addition, the improvement effect of UHPC strength is closely related to the strength of steel bars: when an HRB500 steel bar is used, high-strength UHPC can show better bearing capacity, stiffness and energy dissipation performance, while the improvement effect is not significant when an HRB400 steel bar is used. The research results can effectively inhibit the development of interface cracks and provide a theoretical reference for the subsequent full-scale test and the seismic design of precast joints with post-cast UHPC connections.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163158

Authors: Hongbo Zhang Shiyi Zhang

This study investigates the damage evolution mechanism affecting the fracture-bearing performance of fly ash cement paste under low-temperature curing conditions. Pre-cut cement paste specimens with fly ash contents of 0%, 15%, and 25% were prepared and subjected to both standard curing and low-temperature curing at 5 °C for 28 days. Three-point bending tests combined with acoustic emission (AE) monitoring were conducted to analyze peak flexural load, AE ring count, cumulative energy, RA-AF crack classification, and b-value evolution. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to characterize micromorphology and relative changes in hydration product content. The results indicate that both fly ash incorporation and low-temperature curing significantly reduce the flexural bearing capacity of pre-notched specimens. Under low-temperature curing, the peak loads of LF15 and LF25 decrease by 34.83% and 47.19%, respectively, compared to LF0. At the same fly ash replacement level, all low-temperature-cured specimens exhibited lower peak loads than those cured under standard conditions. Overall AE activity was reduced in low-temperature-cured specimens, with crack propagation instability occurring at lower load levels. The addition of fly ash shifted the fracture mode toward a tensile-dominated type, whereas low-temperature curing increased the proportion of shear-type AE events. Fly ash incorporation increased the relative content of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel and decreased that of calcium hydroxide (CH); however, this did not result in improved peak flexural load. This outcome is attributed to the insufficient reactivity of fly ash at low temperatures, leading to residual unreacted spherical particles, dilution of clinker, and inadequate interfacial bonding, which collectively weaken the continuous load-bearing skeleton of the matrix. This paper establishes a multi-scale interpretation of the damage mechanisms affecting the low-temperature fracture-bearing performance of fly ash cement paste by correlating macroscopic bearing response, AE damage evolution, crack types, and hydration product composition.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163157

Authors: Yuan Tao Junji Chen Yuqi Chen Hong Lei Xia Deng Xingyong Xue Leping Liu Xuemin Cui Yan He

The severe early-age shrinkage of alkali-activated slag is a primary bottleneck restricting its engineering application. In this work, a novel shrinkage control strategy is proposed, dominated by the physical control of vacuum dehydration and assisted by the chemical compensation of MgO. The synergistic mechanism of this strategy in the AAS system was revealed by multi-scale characterization methods (XRD, FTIR, TG, NMR, BSE, and pore solution analysis). Firstly, vacuum dehydration greatly advances the development window of capillary pressure to the early stage (<6 h) of the material in the significant viscoelastic stage by forcibly removing free water between the interlayer and capillary pores. Most of the shrinkage strain energy can be dissipated through the early creep behavior of the slurry, and the strong negative pressure induces the conversion of mesopores to macropores, thereby effectively reducing the equilibrium capillary cracking driving force. Secondly, the late hydration of an appropriate amount of MgO generates magnesium silicate and hydrotalcite phases, which provide a continuous chemical micro-expansion for the matrix to compensate for residual shrinkage and moderately optimize the local pore defects induced by dehydration. The results show that in the sodium silicate solution and sodium hydroxide activating system, the synergistic effect reduces the total shrinkage rate of 28 days by 37.86% and 29.26%, respectively. Additionally, the compressive strength of hardened samples increases by about 20%. This study provides a new theoretical basis for the design of low-shrinkage and high-performance alkali-activated materials based on the physical–chemical coupling mechanism.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163156

Authors: Xianfeng Duan Jianxi Wang

Missing monitoring data reduce the reliability of rockburst early warning in deep-buried tunnel engineering. This study proposes a multimodal fusion interpolation framework that combines LSTM-based temporal estimation, Pearson’s/Spearman’s/MIC correlation analysis, and Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA)-based weight allocation for missing monitoring indicators. A case dataset containing 251 consecutive samples from one tunnel in southwestern China was used to examine the engineering feasibility of the method. The interpolated data were further used in GRU, CNN-LSTM, N-BEATS, and deep fully connected prediction models. The results indicate that the interpolated dataset improves downstream rockburst prediction in this case study. Because the dataset is limited to one tunnel project, the conclusions are now restricted to similar deep-buried tunnel conditions and should not be interpreted as universal proof of superiority.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163155

Authors: Hasan Basri Kartal Asiye Nisa Kartal

Industrial heritage sites have predominantly been examined through visual, material, and conservation-oriented frameworks, while the haptic and embodied ways in which contemporary users experience reused industrial heritage environments remain comparatively underexplored. Focusing on Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Centre, a historically significant Ottoman industrial heritage site repurposed as a contemporary cultural and artistic centre, this study examines how material contact, bodily movement, and tactile encounters contribute to the sensory heritage experience. Rather than proposing haptic sensewalking as a new method, the study uses an existing sensewalking approach in a haptic-centred way within the specific context of an Ottoman industrial heritage site undergoing adaptive reuse. Sensory data were generated through in situ walking observations, embodied sensory narratives, tactile descriptions, researcher field notes, and post-walk reflective accounts. The findings suggest that, within this haptic-focused protocol, participants did not describe the site merely as a visual-historical object. Instead, they articulated Tophane-i Amire as an embodied haptic environment in which rough stone textures, participant-perceived coldness and material heaviness, spatial thresholds, uneven walking surfaces, and movement-based encounters made architectural space bodily noticeable. The study does not claim that ordinary visitors naturally prioritise haptic experience; rather, it examines what participants articulated when their sensory attention was deliberately oriented toward tactile, thermal, kinaesthetic, and embodied aspects of the reused industrial heritage environment. The article makes two main contributions. Empirically, it shows how participants described haptic experience at Tophane-i Amire through encounters with rough stone surfaces, participant-perceived thermal qualities, thresholds, floors, and bodily movement. Conceptually, it interprets industrial heritage not only as a visual or material object but also as an embodied haptic environment in which historical meaning is sensed through touch, temperature, movement, and spatial negotiation.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163154

Authors: Caroline Engel Purcell Rosanne Walker Anna Hofheinz Oliver Kinnane

This paper examines the results of in-situ U-value measurements across 36 traditional uninsulated solid walls and early mass concrete construction in Ireland. As the retrofit of poorly performing buildings becomes increasingly important, establishing an accurate thermal performance baseline for common solid wall types is essential. Existing assumptions in Ireland are based on default U-values used for Energy Performance Certificates or on calculated values derived using BR443 or ISO 6946 with reference thermal conductivities, while no large-scale dataset of in-situ U-values for Irish solid wall construction currently exists. This paper introduces a new dataset for such walls and compares it to the associated default and calculated U-values. Brick walls < 325 mm performed on average 36.8% better than default assumptions, while brick walls ≥ 325 mm aligned on average reasonably well with the defaults. However, the results ranged from −18.7 to +33.1% of the defaults. Stone walls performed on average 7.2% better than the defaults but with substantial variability at −54.8 to +40.8%. In contrast, mass concrete walls performed significantly worse than assumed (+37.2%), while an earthen wall exceeded expectations by 21.5%. The findings demonstrate that in-situ U-value measurements provide a valuable, non-invasive means of improving the accuracy of thermal performance assessments for traditional solid walls.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163153

Authors: Guanghao Mai Zhi Shu Haifeng Li Guangliang Huang Zhe Xiong

The FRP–concrete–steel double-skin tubular column (DSTC) is a novel composite column designed to meet the structural demands for high strength, exceptional durability, and lightweight characteristics. To investigate the axial compression performance of DSTCs, this study conducted axial compression tests on 16 circular DSTCs and three circular fully filled columns (FCSCs). This research focused on analyzing the effects of steel tube wall thickness, void ratio, rubber content, steel fiber content, and GFRP tube wall thickness on stub columns’ failure modes, load–displacement curves, load–strain curves, and stress–strain relationships of concrete. The results demonstrated that GFRP tube wall thickness is the most critical parameter influencing the bearing capacity and deformation capacity of the column. The ultimate bearing capacity of all specimens ranged from 1606.9 to 3447.9 kN; the peak displacement of the specimens ranged from 7.49 to 17.77 mm. Increased void ratios decrease bearing capacity but enhance ductility, whereas steel tube wall thickness and steel fiber content have relatively minor effects. Based on the experimental results, models for the ultimate bearing capacity, ultimate strain, and stress–strain relationship of short columns were proposed, taking into account rubber content. The average predicted-to-experimental capacities ratio is 0.97 and the predicted load–displacement curves match well with the experimental curves, indicating the very high accuracy of the proposed models.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163152

Authors: Yuyan Pan Zhenyu Cao Ka Wang Jun Ling Haoqi Wu

Against the background of the transformative renewal of legacy university campuses, this study takes three legacy campuses of Zhejiang University—Hubin, Huajiachi, and Yuquan—and their surrounding communities as empirical cases to investigate three campus transformation modes: overall replacement, partial replacement, and internal renewal. Based on space-syntax indicators, a two-dimensional “function–structure” evaluation framework for town–gown interaction space is constructed. The study quantitatively compares the transformation differences among the three modes, summarizes their spatial characteristics, and further proposes transformation strategies that align transformation objectives with appropriate renewal modes.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163151

Authors: Fengping Qin Yangping Chen Mengdi Hou Jianbo Huang

Flexural strength (FS) governs the structural performance of 3D-printed concrete (3DPC) under bending loads yet remains difficult to predict owing to the coupled influence of binder composition, supplementary cementitious materials, water-to-binder ratio, and fiber reinforcement geometry on interlayer fracture behavior. Much of this compositional diversity stems from supplementary cementitious materials, industrial by-products whose reuse as partial cement replacement lowers the embodied carbon of printable mixes. A machine learning framework was trained on 209 FS records covering OPC- and SAC-based systems (FS: 3.65–45.0 MPa; W/B: 0.15–0.65). Six composite features were constructed from physical principles, two of them specific to bending: Fiber_Pullout_Index encoding post-crack pullout energy and Binder_Efficiency capturing cement quality per unit water content at the fiber–matrix interface; Lasso regularization with the one-standard-error rule reduced the 19-variable space to 14 active predictors. Twenty regression algorithms spanning eight families were benchmarked under 30 independent partitions; the Friedman test rejected equal performance (χ2=337.02, p=4.88×10−60) and all 19 pairwise Wilcoxon comparisons against CatBoost were Holm-significant. CatBoost ranked first (mean rank of 18.17/20; 30-run R2=0.9302±0.0722; seed-42 partition: R2=0.9557; RMSE = 1.761 MPa; MAPE = 11.20%). n(W/B) emerged as the primary driver across SHAP, ALE and LIME, with a monotonic ALE profile spanning 8.99 MPa and no inflection over the full printable window; Binder_Efficiency ranked second (PDP range: 5.21 MPa), isolating cement grade and paste dilution as independent strength levers. Cross-conformal prediction provided finite-sample coverage guarantees without distributional assumptions (empirical coverage: 95.24%; conformity quantile: 3.83 MPa); bootstrap analysis put the epistemic component at a mean predictive SD of 0.946 MPa, a quarter of that quantile. External validation yielded R2=0.769 (Pearson R=0.923, RMSE = 1.91 MPa), with 19 of 20 predictions (95.0%) within Bland–Altman 95% limits of agreement, confirming transfer to a source study withheld from model training. A graphical user interface packaging the 14-feature CatBoost pipeline supports mix design queries without programming.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163150

Authors: Dan Wang Yunyun Qin

The construction industry is inherently high-risk, with workers’ unsafe behaviors directly causing most safety incidents. As smart technologies are widely deployed on construction sites, new forms of risk-taking behavior have emerged, but their underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Grounded in Human–Technology–Organization (HTO) theory, this study establishes a multi-factor coupling analytical framework and employs a mixed NCA–fsQCA method to empirically analyze data from 312 workers across two smart construction sites in Beijing. The results show that no single antecedent variable acts as a necessary condition for either type of high-risk-taking behavior, though each variable exerts distinct bottleneck constraints. Five configurations driving high-risk behaviors are identified: smart technology adaptability serves as the core condition for automation trust bias behaviors, while individual risk-taking propensity and task situational pressure are universal core factors for both behavior types. These findings uncover the multi-dimensional coupling logic of risk-taking behaviors and offer theoretical and practical insights for targeted safety management in smart construction contexts.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163149

Authors: Faranak Zagia Stephen Kajewski Omid Motamedisedeh Sara Omrani Timothy Rose

Construction project delays remain a persistent challenge in the construction industry, yet existing studies have generally examined delay risk prioritisation and organisational risk management maturity as separate research domains. This study addresses this gap by investigating how organisational risk management maturity influences the evaluation and prioritisation of construction delay risks in the Australian construction context. A structured survey instrument based on the Generic Risk Maturity Model was used to assess maturity across five dimensions: management commitment and leadership, organisational risk culture, risk identification, risk analysis, and standardised risk management processes. Expert judgements were used to derive impact severity, probability of occurrence, and composite criticality scores for 22 construction delay risk factors. Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were then applied to explain how maturity dimensions influence risk evaluations. The results show that maturity is associated with changes in both the level and pattern of delay risk prioritisation. Owner’s late decisions remained the top-ranked composite risk across all maturity levels, while other risks exhibited maturity-related shifts, with the composite risk weight of poor project cost estimation declining from 0.079 at maturity Level 1 to 0.041 at maturity Levels 3–4, and rainfall and weather conditions becoming more prominent at higher maturity levels. The proposed XGBoost–SHAP framework provides a transparent, data-driven diagnostic tool for linking organisational capability with delay risk prioritisation and supporting more consistent and evidence-based delay risk management. The results further indicate that weaker organisational risk culture and lower process standardisation are associated with greater perceived exposure to planning-, coordination-, and decision-related delay risks. Within the sampled Australian construction organisations, the XGBoost–SHAP framework provides a transparent analytical approach for examining associations between organisational capability and delay risk prioritisation.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163148

Authors: Yanhong Li Yong Qian Zhaokun Wang Liquan Xie

Prefabricated pile-cap joints have been applied in concrete pile foundations in waterway revetment structures for decades. However, the mechanical performance of such joints for small-section (≤400 mm) prestressed piles has not been systematically validated, which hinders their application in civil and waterway engineering. This study evaluates this joint system through full-scale tests on six identical 400 mm × 400 mm prestressed concrete pile-cap specimens (C60 pile, C30 joint concrete, HRB400 anchoring bars threaded into embedded steel sleeves) under monotonic tension, bending, and shear, with strain gauges monitoring the response. The results show that the joint sustained a tensile load of 1400 kN, which exceeds the pile’s design value by 52%, a bending moment of 277 kN·m, which is 32% higher than the pile’s ultimate capacity, and a shear force of 680 kN, which reaches more than 2.5 times the design shear, without any occurrence of joint failure. These findings provide the first comprehensive experimental evidence that this prefabricated joint system can effectively transfer tensile, bending, and shear loads in small-section prestressed piles, thereby supporting its safe application in green, industrialized engineering.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163147

Authors: Than Dendoung

Neighborhood quality is the hardest hedonic component to measure and is usually proxied by coarse census aggregates. I ask whether complaint composition reveals infrastructure quality that markets capitalize, or if it merely reflects unequal engagement and urbanicity. I link 556,882 geolocated complaints from Thailand’s Traffy Fondue platform (January 2025 to June 2026) to 8553 for-sale condominiums across Bangkok, geocoding each project with two independent services (76% building precision, cross-validated to 45 m), and measure the local complaint environment within 250 to 1000 m rings. Across the 45 active districts, price tracks complaint composition strongly, but the fingerprint is collinear with urban density and collapses once complaint density is controlled. The central contribution is a within-area test: conditional on district and sub-district fixed effects, condominiums in a locally more flood-prone micro-location sell for less, 4.4% per standard deviation, strengthening with radius and with geocoding precision, and surviving false-discovery-rate correction. Complaint-mix diversity is likewise capitalized. Footpath share is positively signed but does not survive correction: complaint composition is two-dimensional, some categories indexing disamenity, others urban intensity. Regional PM2.5 haze carries no within-city signal. Citizen complaints are thus a spatially resolved fingerprint of local environmental quality, capitalizable only where the signal is local.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163145

Authors: Liangfu Ma Zhian Jiao Xinxing Bo Ziye Gao Dan Xu

Single-story unreinforced masonry rural houses along the Tanlu Earthquake Belt in Anhui Province are generally constructed without ring beams and tie columns, resulting in poor structural integrity and low seismic performance. This paper proposes a convenient single-sided High-Ductility Concrete Strip (HDCS) retrofitting method. Two 1:2 scaled test specimens, namely the unretrofitted model M1 and HDCS single-side retrofitted model M2, were fabricated for shaking table tests. Systematic analyses were carried out based on white noise sweep tests, failure modes, acceleration responses and inter-story displacement responses. The test results show that HDCS possesses excellent tensile capacity, which forms continuous confinement at wall joints and openings to boost structural stiffness and greatly restrain post-seismic stiffness degradation, as well as achieve more uniform structural deformation distribution. Under strong seismic excitations, the unretrofitted model suffers severe damage, including penetrating diagonal shear cracks and separation between gable walls and lower walls. In contrast, damage of the retrofitted model is concentrated within the HDCS overlay, realizing damage redistribution and preventing brittle failure of the main masonry. HDCS stabilizes the distribution of acceleration amplification factors and restrains wall rocking and stress concentration around openings. Although single-sided strengthening induces slight out-of-plane effects, its adverse influence is acceptable.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163146

Authors: Elena Lucchi

The twentieth (20th) century represents a radical transformation in architectural history. Unlike previous centuries, characterized by gradual stylistic continuity, it witnessed a succession of theoretical ruptures, technological innovations, material discoveries, and experimental design paradigms. Each movement emerged by questioning the assumptions of its predecessors, generating an experimentation laboratory that transformed the relationship between buildings, resources, climate, and society. Despite this exceptional intellectual and technological legacy, 20th-century architecture is still predominantly interpreted through its technological shortcomings, while the historical evolution of its contributions to environmental sustainability and energy efficiency is still lacking. This study reconstructs the historical genealogy of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency across the principal architectural movements of the 20th century. Through a comparative analysis of design theories and architectural principles, it identifies environmental and energy paradigms, drawbacks, and design lessons. Environmental sustainability evolved around material durability, adaptability, resource optimization, contextual integration, and life cycle thinking, whereas energy efficiency developed through passive climatic strategies, building morphology, envelope performance, daylight, natural ventilation, and environmental control. The study demonstrates that many of the principles underpinning contemporary sustainable and energy-efficient architecture originated during the 20th century. Approaches such as Parametricism, Computational Design, Biomimetic Architecture, Climate-Responsive Design, Circular Architecture, and Regenerative Design extend these concepts through new scientific understanding, digital technologies, and environmental performance objectives.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163144

Authors: Shuhan Zhang Yixuan Zhou Liang Sun

Human-centered design has taken on an increasingly central role in the 21st century. However, most research on spatial perception has focused on above-ground environments. In contrast, the enclosed nature of underground spaces often induces a sense of insecurity among users, yet it has received far less attention. To address this gap, this study adopts an embodied perspective and focuses on the underground commercial space of the Golden Eagle district in Xuzhou. We selected 22 experimental sites and collected 660 sets of psychological and physiological data from 30 participants. Principal component analysis extracted four principal components: spatial isolation, commercial atmosphere, visual perception, and functional diversity. Correlation and regression analyses showed that spatial isolation and commercial atmosphere were positively associated with subjective safety perception; commercial atmosphere and functional diversity were negatively correlated with electrodermal activity and pupil diameter, suggesting an association with physiological tension; and although the overall linear effect of the visual perception factor was not significant, its constituent indicators exhibited mutually offsetting antagonistic relationships. The conclusions drawn from the data highlight perceptual differences between underground and above-ground spaces and confirm the practical value of this study. The findings suggest, within the specific context of the Golden Eagle underground commercial district, a positive association between spatial isolation/commercial atmosphere and subjective safety perception, and correlated with lower physiological arousal levels and visual vigilance responses, thereby making people feel safer and more comfortable.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163142

Authors: Liang Huang Chao Qin Xin Ruan Zhengwei Fan Yibo Chen

Residual mortar on recycled fine aggregate contains pores and microcracks that weaken mortar strength and resistance to water ingress. This study treated recycled fine aggregate with 5 wt.% KH570 silane and used waste ceramic micropowder, at 4–12% of the total recycled fine aggregate mass, to replace an equal mass of the fraction not exceeding 0.6 mm. At a constant water-to-cement ratio and comparable flowability, compressive strength, flexural strength, 28 d water absorption, and maximum water pressure without visible leakage were evaluated, together with SEM, XRD, and MIP analyses. Mortar strength first increased and then decreased with increasing ceramic micropowder content, whereas water absorption showed the opposite trend. Among the tested replacement levels, SCR8 achieved the most favorable mean performance, with 28 d compressive and flexural strengths of 42.4 and 6.0 MPa, respectively, 38.6% and 25.0% higher than those of the unmodified recycled mortar. Its water absorption decreased by 36.4% to 7.48%, and it sustained 0.6 MPa without visible leakage. Microstructural results indicated fewer local defects, improved interfacial continuity, lower cumulative mercury intrusion, and a shift toward smaller pore throats. These improvements could be associated with combined regulation of aggregate wettability and pore-throat structure.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163143

Authors: Kristýna Schulzová Jan Pešta Anna Marie Černá Nika Trubina Tereza Pavlů Licia Felicioni

European circular construction policies, including the EU Construction and Demolition Waste Protocol and the Level(s) framework, provide strategic guidance for improving material recovery from buildings. However, limited research documents how these frameworks operate under real project conditions, characterised by incomplete information, evolving inventories and market-dependent recovery pathways. This paper documents a pre-demolition audit carried out in the Czech context and maps the observed process onto the EU CDW Protocol and Level(s) Indicator 2.2 framework. A structured implementation approach is applied to an in-depth case study of the selective deconstruction and deep refurbishment of an office building in the Czech Republic. The results show both the circular recovery potential and operational feasibility of the audit process, illustrating how audit recommendations evolved through documentation review, field verification and engagement with potential material outlets. The findings demonstrate that feasible recovery routes depended not only on material identification and technical recyclability but also on market verification, stakeholder coordination and legal or organisational enablement. The case further highlights the importance of auditor expertise and brokerage in enabling reuse and recycling routes under real project constraints. Insights from the case study are discussed in relation to experiences reported in other European countries. This study contributes empirical evidence documented in relation to European circular-construction frameworks and suggests that PDA reporting should combine mass-based indicators with the transparent documentation of recommendation maturity, implementation constraints and reporting-boundary assumptions.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163141

Authors: Fennee Chong Susilo Nur Aji Cokro Darsono Mahrus Lutfi Adi Kurniawan

The housing sector is an important pillar of the economy. Understanding the trend and factors influencing it is essential for effective policy formulation and purchasing decisions. The objectives of this study are to assess the performance trajectory of the Australian housing market and to identify key macroeconomic factors influencing it over the past two decades. The presence of structural shifts in the housing market due to changing economic conditions highlights the importance of examining both short-run adjustments and long-run equilibrium relationships; however, limited recent studies have investigated these evolving dynamics, which this study addresses by employing the cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). Empirical findings indicated the dynamics of previous period RPPI, interest rates, population growth, COVID-19 dummy, and adjustment components (ECT) are affecting housing market dynamics but with effects varying across different lag periods. On the other hand, the long-run estimates reported variables including population growth, the COVID-19 pandemic, household income, and unemployment rate have a significant impact on RPPI at the 5% significance level. The finding of the error correction model suggests a gradual adjustment of short-term deviation with ECTt-1 = −0.078 towards the long-term equilibrium quarterly. To further validate the robustness of the results, an Impulse Response Function (IRF) analysis was performed. The empirical findings are valuable as they provide insights that assist policymakers in formulating housing policies and support investors and purchasers in making informed decisions.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163140

Authors: Zehui Huang Yaru Xu Yuxuan Sun Xudong Zeng

Underground transport hubs must accommodate concentrated passenger arrivals in constrained multilevel spaces. Aggregate demand and period-average density offer limited guidance on whether crowding calls for geometric modification, facility reconfiguration, or circulation management. This study develops a field-data-informed framework combining agent-based simulation with dynamic level-of-service (LOS) assessment based on Fruin’s criteria to support spatial diagnosis and intervention selection. A MassMotion model of Chongqing Shapingba Station was developed using field counts, observed circulation patterns, and train-operation data. Experienced spatial density, maximum spatial density, LOS D–F duration, and individual social cost were used to identify hotspots and compare three interventions. Although pedestrian counts were higher during 08:00–09:00, crowding was more pronounced during 12:00–13:00, when concentrated high-speed rail arrivals generated LOS D–F conditions in the high-speed rail exit hall and around the Metro Line 9 security-check and fare-gate areas. Corridor widening produced the largest reductions in the extent and persistence of high-density conditions. Security-exempt transfer reduced total individual social cost by 8.19%, whereas fare-gate direction reversal produced a smaller improvement. By distinguishing geometric constraints, processing bottlenecks, and recurring flow conflicts, the framework supports targeted spatial retrofit and operational interventions in existing underground transport hubs.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163139

Authors: Mehmet Sair Akkam Ezgi Yılmaz

This study investigates how formal references are transformed into architectural form and meaning. While previous studies have acknowledged the diversity of source domains in architecture, they often remain fragmented and lack a systematic framework that explains how such references are operated upon during design. This gap limits the ability to distinguish between the literal replication of recognizable forms and the deeper transformation of their conceptual, structural, and symbolic properties. In response, this research develops a Transformation-Based Formal Reference Framework (TFRF) that traces formal reference through six stages—source, interpretation, abstraction, transformation, architectural expression, and meaning production—with a feedback loop from received meaning back to interpretation. The contribution is therefore not a new classification of sources; classification by source domain (living organisms, cosmos and geographical formations, language, belief systems, precedent architecture, and human-made products) is retained only as the entry point of the process. Thirty-one architectural cases, selected through purposive sampling and independently double-coded (κ = 0.75 for abstraction and κ = 0.86 for transfer), are positioned within a two-dimensional matrix that crosses degree of abstraction (direct, analogy, abstraction) with type of transfer (form, structure, performance, symbol, space). The analysis suggests that source domain and transformation mechanism function as analytically distinct dimensions: one source can yield opposite mechanisms and distant sources can converge on the same one. The framework thereby reframes formal reference from a catalogue of inspirations into a navigable two-axis design space, offering a transferable analytical framework for understanding how architectural references become form and meaning.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16163138

Authors: Jiangcong Lv Fengjia Zhan Haonan Chi Haiyang Wang Min Zhang

To promote construction waste recycling and develop sustainable pavement materials, this study utilized recycled aggregates (crushing value 7.8%) obtained from bridge demolition as a 100% replacement for natural aggregates in recycled pervious concrete. The research focused on investigating the influence of different aggregate gradations (single-sized 4.75–9.5 mm and binary-graded combinations: 4.75–9.5 + 16–31.5 mm, 2–5 + 13–26.5 mm) and different water-to-cement ratios (0.26, 0.27, 0.30) on the concrete properties. Tests on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and connected porosity revealed the following results: The strength of recycled pervious concrete was comparable to that of natural aggregate concrete, and strength decreased with increasing aggregate size. The optimal water-to-cement ratio varied with gradation: 0.27 for the single-sized 4.75–9.5 mm aggregate and 0.30 for the binary-graded combinations. Splitting tensile strength was generally low, showed insignificant growth from 7 d to 28 d, was sensitive to interfacial defects, and exhibited high data variability. Connected porosity was inversely proportional to compressive strength and decreased with increasing water-to-cement ratio. This study provides experimental evidence for optimizing the preparation of high-performance recycled pervious concrete using recycled aggregates. In addition, the influence of fiber type, dosage, and length was preliminarily examined through an orthogonal design.

Buildings doi: 10.3390/buildings16153136

Authors: Teng Wang Shuang Wang Ziwei Tong Kunhang Li Chenghan Cai He Huang Hongqiang Li

The growing demand for low-carbon building materials and the challenges of handling agroforestry waste and discarded EPS particles have spurred research toward developing novel building composites that utilize solid waste. Therefore, this study aims to develop a lightweight geopolymer composite incorporating these recycled materials to balance thermal insulation, mechanical strength, and waterproofing properties. In this work, geopolymer served as the binder, with various types of raw biomass (sawdust, rice husk, rice straw, and coconut fiber) as the primary aggregates and EPS particles as an additive to create a closed-pore structure. The microstructure of the raw biomass was characterized by SEM, while its specific surface area and average pore diameter were determined by BET analysis. Furthermore, the prepared composites were comprehensively evaluated in terms of their microstructure, pore structure (MIP), density, thermal conductivity, compressive strength, total water absorption, capillary water absorption, surface wettability, and UV aging behavior. The results showed that the prepared composites exhibited a porosity of 59.9–65.7%, a density of 492.9–586.3 kg/m3, a compressive strength of 7.3–10.9 MPa, a thermal conductivity of 0.115–0.142 W/(m·K), a total water absorption of 35.2–42.2%, capillary water uptake coefficients of 4.9–11 kg/m2, and a water contact angle exceeding 140° (after modification). In addition, the developed composites offered significant environmental and economic benefits, with a low carbon footprint and an estimated cost of 100.6–150.3 USD/m3, making them more competitive compared to traditional insulation materials. Meanwhile, this study provides a scientific basis for developing high-strength building insulation materials from agroforestry waste, thus outlining a promising direction for future research and industry development.