Volume 28 (2020): Issue 4 (December 2020)

A useful method for the disposal of waste from an incineration plant is to reuse it for geotechnical and civil engineering applications. The primary objective of this study concerns the reuse of local incinerated ash from municipal solid wastes in soil stabilization. Municipal Solid Waste Incinerated Ash (MSWIA) is blended with soil in various combinations and tested for its Atterberg limits, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), California Bearing Ratio (CBR), and Free Swell Index (FSI). A 1-D Consolidation Test was conducted, and changes in the soil during the test were examined by a scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis. The test results showed that there are increments in the UCS and CBR values with the reductions in the FSI, swell pressure, and swell potential of the treated soils.

This paper presents the results of an experimental study that investigates the compression behavior of concrete and evaluates the effect of hybrid reinforcement by multiple geometries, and total and partial confinement, using CFRP and GFRP composite materials.

A total of nine (09) variants of concrete cylindrical specimens, including one (01) variant of unconfined concrete and eight (08) variants of confined concrete with different geometries were subjected to axial load compression.

The objectives of this study were to verify the applicability and effectiveness of partial and total confinement to improve the behavior of concrete, evaluate the effect of the hybrid confinement used, and obtain a typical reinforced model.

The results obtained clearly show the effectiveness of the hybrid confinement and partially confined concrete in improving the compressive strength and deformation of the concrete, so it is possible to replace CFRP total confinement by partially confined concrete with two CFRP layers or by a hybrid confinement with a CFRP layer in the central zone and GFRP layers on the top and bottom of the specimen.

To ensure low-energy consumption in new generation energy-efficient houses, the technology of a ground heat exchanger with a heat recovery system is used almost everywhere. However, this technology has not been widely disseminated in Ukraine. The work is aimed at presenting insights from research on the combination of ground heat exchangers with a heat recovery system for building ventilation by analyzing the operational and techno-economic indicators obtained. Current studies permit revealing the optimal configuration of a ground heat exchanger with a heat recovery system for ventilation in a residential building in order to analyze the efficiency of ground heat exchangers with a heat recovery system for ventilation of a residential building in comparison with several conventional ventilation options to assess the main price/ performance ration of the process of constructing a ground heat exchanger with a heat recovery system and to determine the duration of the technological process, the labor-intensive characteristics, and the estimated cost of the technology.

With the current worldwide trend of increasing individual car traffic in urban road networks, public transport has become one of the key issues for the sustainable future of transport in cities, especially when the level of automobilization is growing rapidly. Many cities are already at the capacity limit of an existing road network. Therefore, many cities are trying to solve the question of how to improve the existing systems of public transport to become more attractive for their citizens. The quality of the public transport service from a passenger’s point of view is not only about the number of links and their occupancy, but also about the time and distance availability of stops and stations. When we were creating the general master plan for one small Slovak town, we tried to take various criteria into account. Of course, it was also necessary to carry out traffic surveys to determine the occupancy of public transport systems, but equally important was to determine the isochrones and isodistances of the passengers. The lessons learned and complications that arose from the preparation and realization of the actual analysis of the results in the creation of the general master plan are set out in the contribution.

The paper presents the structure and indices of the annual energy consumption in educational buildings subject to comprehensive thermal retrofitting. Seven buildings were analyzed; the energy consumption for heating and ventilation, hot water preparation, and built-in lighting was analyzed in each of them and, in the case of one structure, also cooling. The indices of the usable, final, and primary energy consumption were analyzed. The values calculated were compared to the requirements of the energy standards in force in Poland. The percentage shares of the above-mentioned energy demands of each of the buildings investigated are given in the total energy performance. Within the investigation, we evaluated the shares of the particular building services in the total energy consumption and determined that even after the thermal retrofitting, the energy demands for heating together with lighting are still the most significant compared to the other demands.

This article focuses on 3D printing of buildings using cement mortar-based material. Specific requirements are necessary for such a material; it therefore must have different properties compared to conventional cement mortar. These properties of a fresh mixture and the possibilities for their testing are described in more detail in the first part of the article. Specifically, these are pumpability, printability, buildability, and workability. In order to achieve these properties, it is necessary to add various additives and admixtures to the mixtures, in addition to the basic components such as water, sand, and cement. Scientists around the world are working to create an optimal mix. The second part of this article presents an overview of the most commonly used ingredients and their effect on the properties of the mixture.

The aim of this article is to point out the potential of urban spaces that have not been primarily meant to be barefoot parks. The stimulation of bare feet is used as a part of therapy or for the prevention of plantar problems. The high number of research papers or blogs available about bare feet shows the interest in this topic among scientists, doctors and the broader population. People are usually shod in a city environment. An analysis of some existing barefoot/sensomotoric spaces compares 3 different projects located in Italy, Germany, and Colombia. The paper shows the common and different approaches in information systems and the amount, variability, and spatial arrangement of stimulation surfaces of these projects. The same method of categorization is used in the analysis of a newly reconstructed park in Slovakia, which was built without a request for a barefoot space. A comparison of these analyses shows the high potential for a regular park having a barefoot area. This research proves that barefoot places in urban areas could be instituted without any significant financial or construction interventions.

Concrete hinges can withstand extremely high loads and rotations, while requiring only minimal maintenance. Their use is widespread, mainly in bridge construction, but they also find applications in the prefabrication of tunnel segments. With the right design and implementation, they can meet the highest requirements for the durability and resistance of a structure. However, the existing models and design procedures are relatively outdated. The models are based solely on empirical assumptions, whereas the shear resistance of the joint itself plays only a marginal role. The following paper aims to compare existing design models against experimental results in order to find the most suitable design approach that reliably captures the performance of a hinge under a shear load. An experimental program was developed in which 9 samples of concrete hinges were tested for different levels of axial loads and degrees of reinforcement. The results of the experiments were then compared with the selected design models, and a numerical nonlinear analysis was conducted.