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The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of cracks on external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) along the thermal insulation joints and the information available on the building pathology catalogue – PATORREB. The aim is to establish the methodology to study the cause of the pathology observed on a building which is located on the interior of Portugal based on in situ probing together with the analysis of hygrothermal and mechanical behaviour.

An in situ analysis was performed to assess the causes. The hygrothermal dynamic behaviour of the wall was analysed with a numerical simulation advanced tool considering the climatic conditions, the characteristics of the thermal insulation plates as well as the support and finishing layer properties. Moreover, a qualitatively analysis of the mechanical behaviour, based on the bonding process, thermal insulation and exterior rendering properties was performed.

It was concluded that the insulation properties – thermal expansion coefficient and stiffness, the thermal expansion coefficient of the exterior rendering, together with adverse climatic conditions were critical for the appearance of cracks along the plate joints, particularly with spot bonding. The expansion and retraction stresses and the restrained movements of the components can result in bending moments, especially when the insulation material has a high stiffness value, which will create the crack on the rendering system.

A combination between a hygrothermal and mechanical analysis of an ETICS pathology concerning the appearance of cracks with a subsequent integration into a building pathology catalogue.

This study draws on the experiences of a consortium of UK universities seeking to enhance the quality of undergraduate building education. Their initiative called, student‐centred learning in construction education (SLICE) was funded by the UK government to improve student learning by inspiring and equipping lecturers to develop effective student‐centred learning activities. The benefits of student‐centred and flexible learning are explored and the projects' outputs are described in general. One of the outputs, the “Building Pathology Lecturers' Toolkit” is examined in depth. A review of its content reveals that to be a valuable and practical resource for lecturers, providing them with guidance and ready‐to‐use yet adaptable exemplar learning materials for students. The potential impact of this toolkit and the toolkit programme generally is scrutinised using feedback data from lecturers and students, concluding that the flexible format and content offers considerable opportunities to enhance learning in the building pathology field.

Building defects are notoriously difficult to identify, even by the most experienced surveyor. Traditional training methods of identifying defects in buildings involved the physical visiting of a property. This has become more difficult as insurance and organisational issues have made this practice unsafe and costly. Methods of training surveyors can be brought up to date with the introduction of desktop technology to provide learners with a rich set of learning resources in a much easier format. Defects generated from real life cases using digital cameras are stored in a format that can be transformed into QuickTime VR movies and then used to train inexperienced surveyors. This paper describes a prototype application using case‐based‐reasoning virtual reality and multimedia authoring technologies. The architecture of the system is described and some details of the methodology used are discussed. An iterative approach is used to develop the system and validate it.

Infrared thermography is increasingly being used to diagnose pathologies in buildings, such as façade defects. The purpose of this paper is to assess the results reproducibility and the equipment influence on the measurements. To do so, it was defined as case study the assessment of rendering delamination.

Two infrared cameras of different makers were used to detect the presence of defects deliberately created in specimens. The tests were done in the laboratory with a heat source. The defects were detected through a temperature gradient between the zones with and without defect.

With this thermographic imaging, it was possible to identify the defects in the specimen both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results were found to be reproducible in the three cycles performed. The influence of the equipment on the results was of little significance for the quantitative assessment criterion “temperature difference between zones with and without defect”, but for the criterion “absolute surface temperature”, the difference in the results yielded by the two cameras was around 1.8°C.

The results suggest that there is reproducibility of the measurements, considering both the qualitative and quantitative approach, when assessing delamination, irrespective of the maker of the equipment used. The influence of the equipment on the results depends on the quantitative assessment criterion used.

This paper aims to set out the role of engineers in heritage conservation and investigates and evaluates the proposed available tools, technology and innovations that are currently available in the civil engineering sector that can be applied in heritage conservation.

As society has become more aware of the grandeur of heritage spaces and structures, there is increasing pressure to preserve historic buildings. But, it is the economic cost of maintaining this important heritage legacy that has become the prime consideration of every state in Australia. Dedicated intelligent monitoring systems supplementing the traditional building inspections will enable the involved and interested stakeholders to carry out not only timely reactive response, but also to plan the maintenance of such buildings in a more vigilant and systematic manner. This will, in future, help to prevent further degradation of heritage buildings, which is very costly, often difficult and sometimes impossible to address if neglected. Savings in time and resources can be achieved, but only if a building's pathological monitoring and inspection results are on hand for use to guide major decisions to be made on how to best prevent further decay, or to save an important historical structure or building fabric.

The emergence of technological tools will enable the realization of a maintenance-focused conservation model. However, aside from the cost, these tools are still experimental in nature. These technologies are yet to be applied within the conservation industry with hopes of creating an easier and economically effective systematic method of heritage conservation.

The paper discusses the emerging tools and technologies in easing the monitoring aspect of a maintenance-focused conservation model.

This work aims to study the hydrothermal behavior of mortar cement toward certain environmental factors (ambient air temperature and air velocity) based on its drying kinetics data. The objective is to provide a better understanding and controlling the stability of mortar structures, which integrate the sorption phenomenon, drying process, air pressure and intrinsic characteristics. This leads to predict the comportment of mortar structures in relation with main environmental factors and minimize the risk of cracking mortar structures at an early age.

Thermokinetic study was carried out in natural and forced convection solar drying at three temperatures 20, 30 and 40°C and three air velocities (1, 3 and 5 m.s-¹). The empirical and semiempirical models tested successfully describe the drying kinetics of mortar. These models simulate the drying process of water absorbed by capillarity, which is the most common humidity transfer mechanism in building materials and contain parameters with physical significance, which integrate the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures.

The models simulate the drying process of water absorbed by capillarity, which is the most common humidity transfer mechanism in building materials and contain parameters with physical significance, which integrate the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures. The average activation energy obtained expressed the temperature effect on the mortar diffusivity. The drying constant and the diffusion coefficient can be used to predict the influence of these environmental factors on the drying behavior of various building materials and therefore on their durability.

Evaluation of the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures on their durability.

The extent of defects within the construction sector is considerable. This not only has implications for final built products, but also impacts on remedial and repair work, time delays and additional cost. This research work aims to evaluate the success of applying knowledge engineering (KE) techniques to the domain of defect prediction focusing specifically on brickwork mortar. A structured approach is developed which relates to the prediction of defects on housing developments. Knowledge engineering techniques are assessed to facilitate the provision of domain knowledge readily accessible by design engineers and architects. The KE techniques are used as an alternative to the current methods, techniques and technologies used within the construction industry. This is achieved by assessment of the predictive approach to facilitate decreases in ‘quality losses’, i.e. decreases in pre‐mature failure and hence improved quality performance. Attention is also given to the consideration of complex defects to promote increased efficiency in communication and co‐ordination of information for design and building processes, thereby helping to reduce the cost of maintenance and repair work.