building-and-construction

If you drop a block of modern standard concrete into the ocean, the salty seawater will slowly chew it apart. Within a few decades, chemical reactions erode the material, causing micro-cracks that eventually lead to catastrophic structural failure. Yet, two-thousand-year-old Roman piers, breakwaters, and harbor structures still stand completely intact across the Mediterranean coastline. Even more…

To support the European Union’s decarbonization pathway for buildings – phasing out fossil heating and cooling by 2040 and achieving zero-emission standards by 2050, this work presents a forecast-based model predictive control (MPC) for thermally activated building components (TAB). TAB provides large-area, low-temperature heat transfer and substantial thermal storage, enabling the controller to …

dc.title: Methods of Portland cement production from pure chemicals dc.description.abstract: This study investigated the production of ordinary portland cement (OPC) and its phases from pure chemicals, with the intention of aiding a later project producing OPC from waste materials such as fly ash. Suggestions of materials and methods were compiled from a literature review for the production of th…

This study describes observations on the earthquake performance of unreinforced masonry buildings from a reconnaissance mission following the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence. The area affected by the earthquakes is home to a remarkably diverse masonry building stock, which is introduced first. Specific attention is given to the stone and timber-laced unreinforced masonry constructions, whi…

Aiming at the core contradiction between structural strength and material weight reduction in the lightweight design of impellers, this paper proposes a topology optimization method considering support-free forming and blade geometric shape retention based on selective laser melting (SLM) additive manufacturing technology. The variable density method is adopted for topology optimization design, a…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 22 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-53187-y Hybrid BOTDA-DIC sensing for flexural behavior characterization of eco-concrete reinforced beams under four-point loading

The assumption that a smaller building is a simpler project causes problems in townhouse work more reliably than almost anywhere else. A four or five-story urban infill townhouse looks manageable next to a 40-story residential tower. The scope is bounded. The systems count is lower. The owner group is often just one family. None of...

No compressor. No refrigerant. No power bill spikes. One DIY builder spent four years putting an ancient cooling method to work beneath his own yard.