Building pathology

Citation

de Freitas, V.P. and Delgado, J.M.P.Q. (2016), "Building pathology", Structural Survey, Vol. 34 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/SS-02-2016-0005

Building pathology

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Structural Survey, Volume 34, Issue 1.

This special issue of Structural Survey contains selected papers presented at the first International Symposium on Building Pathology (ISBP-2015), held at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal, during the period March 24-27, 2015, which was organized jointly by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto and the Politecnico di Milano and co-sponsored by CIB W086 commission – building pathology supporting the discussion on building pathology – the research and the practice.

The goal of the conference was to provide an excellent opportunity to exchange information and stimulate reflection, to present the latest results as well as to review the relevant issues on structural pathologies, hygrothermal pathologies, diagnosis techniques, building pathology vs durability, asset and maintenance management, information dissemination, building performance simulation and several case studies.

The ISBP conferences aim at attracting a balanced portion of delegates from academia, industry and research institutions; providing a binding platform for academics and industrialists to learn with the past and current building pathologies and encouraging the systematic application of that knowledge to the design, construction and management of buildings. Building pathology is the scientific study of the nature of building failure and its causes, processes, development and consequences. In order to provide an economic and effective remedy to building defects it is essential to identify properly the cause in order to address the problem.

More than 170 abstracts were submitted which allowed the selection and publication of more than 80 papers presented by researchers coming from more than 20 different countries. The large number of presented papers emphasizes the considerable academic and industrial interest in the conference theme. The editors wish to thank the invited speakers and the authors for their participation and cooperation, which made this international conference especially successful.

Finally, we wish to express our warm thanks and appreciation to our colleagues of the organizing committee and the members of the scientific committee for their sustained assistance, help and enthusiasm during the preparation of the conference.

The second conference, ISBP-2018, will be held in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Vasco Peixoto de Freitas and João M.P.Q. Delgado

Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal