Posts Tagged ‘civil engineering’
Science & Technology - Mar 10, 2010 12:57 - 8 Comments
Are LED lamps a best buy for cities?
U. PITTSBURGH (US)—Light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights strike the best balance between brightness, affordability, and energy savings over their lifespan—from production to disposal—a new bulb comparison shows. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 22, 2010 17:40 - 0 Comments
Quake drill points to shaky communication
U. COLORADO (US)—Researchers who devised the largest earthquake preparedness event ever undertaken in the United States say one of the biggest challenges was translating devastation projections from a hypothetical magnitude 7.8 San Andreas Fault temblor into timely, usable information to the more than 5 million California participants in 2008. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 16, 2010 11:42 - 0 Comments
Giving roads a green grade
U. WASHINGTON (US)—A new rating system does for road construction what the Energy Star system does for appliances—provides a sustainability performance metric for new and reconstructed or rehabilitated projects. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 26, 2010 18:35 - 3 Comments
Earthquake engineer reports from Haiti
U. BUFFALO (US)—Days after arriving in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince, a team of French-speaking structural engineers led by Andre Filiatrault, University at Buffalo civil engineering professor, was appointed by the United Nations as its interim lead coordinating team for organizing and initiating building assessments. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jan 18, 2010 13:02 - 1 Comment
Thirsty cities should mix it up
PENN STATE—To save money, avoid surpluses, and reduce shortages, urban water planners should combine three approaches to buy water: permanent rights, options, and lease. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jan 14, 2010 12:57 - 2 Comments
Energy from Haiti quake like nuclear blast
STANFORD—Anne Kiremidjian, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, talks about the devastating earthquake in Haiti and why so many buildings collapsed. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jan 13, 2010 17:38 - 0 Comments
Stirring up question of PCBs
U. IOWA—The Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and scientists are unsure whether planned dredging in the next few years will help or hurt the situation. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 24, 2009 13:23 - 3 Comments
Wireless smart sensors inspect bridge
U. ILLINOIS (US)—An inexpensive wireless system designed to continuously—and reliably—monitor structural health has been successfully deployed at full scale on the Jindo Bridge in South Korea. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 12, 2009 15:23 - 1 Comment
How walkable is your neighborhood?
U. MINNESOTA (US)—Life in the suburbs may not be all its cracked up to be. A new study finds that the suburbs fare poorly in both walkability—the degree of ease for walking—and in pollution levels. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 16, 2009 19:55 - 3 Comments
‘Tendons’ bring building in line after big quake
Schematic diagram of the rocking frame set up for shake-table testing. The steel-braced frame is shown in red. The white structure behind the frame simulates the weight of a three-story building. The inset shows the replaceable steel fuse, in yellow, at the base of the rocking frame. Behind and in front of the fuse are the vertical steel cables that pull the building back into plumb after an earthquake. During testing, the frame was sandwiched between two of the white structures. (Credit: Xiang Ma/Stanford)
Science & Technology - Sep 2, 2009 12:05 - 0 Comments
‘Smart’ pipes call for help
Engineers Pai Chou (pictured), Masanobu Shinozuka, and colleagues are developing a water pipe monitoring system that features GPS tracking, fail-safe wireless communication, and video cameras such as the one shown.
