Advances in Civil Engineering Materials

People concern about their living conditions in recent years. There are different factors that could be applicable to improve public living conditions. One of these essential factors is daylighting. Therefore, daylighting is implemented in modern buildings to use natural light into the spaces more efficiently while improving comfort and living conditions, including acoustic comfort, thermal comfort, and as well as luminous comfort. Satisfaction with daylight should be the prime concern in luminous comfort studies. In the past and recent, many studies have been conducted about daylighting in buildings. However, in a few studies, satisfaction with daylighting has been considered as a main impressive element in luminous conditions of buildings. One of the most critical places where daylight issue should be concerned is the libraries. The proper luminous conditions in the library could lead to boosting users’ productivity and psychological health. Therefore, this paper investigates the factors that influence levels of satisfaction with daylighting in libraries. According to the importance of daylight satisfaction in the level of luminous environment, these factors also cause to improve luminous comfort. The study reviews the factors including physical environment, feelings towards daylight, and interior design with the aid of figures.

This research to discuss the strategies of green procurement in Malaysia and to outline the barriers faced. In addition to that, the objective of this research is set to expand its existing measures by providing suggestions based on other successful countries as references to achieve sustainable development for a greener environment. The research methodology that are being applied includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data enables us to compare and contrast results and data collected in deeper insights. To support the objectives of the study, questionnaire is being used as the main primary data. The respondent who have taken part in the questionnaire are those construction companies registered under CIDB, following the list given by our college during the internship programme. All the answers of the respondents are being recorded to draw conclusion and analysis regarding to green procurement. The data is analyzed through relative importance index method in order to rank the factors, challenges and strategies relevant to the research objectives. From the data collected from 50 participants who have taken part in the survey, the results show that majority of them have agreed that green procurement helps to improve health and quality of life of occupants of the green building as the main benefit gained from implementing green procurement.

This study showed the results of experiments evaluating the use of eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder from egg waste production industry and palm oil waste production as partial replacement for ordinary portland cement. Research on the reuse of waste materials in the concrete industry has been quite intensive in the past decade. The objective of this research is to identify the performance of eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder as a partial cement replacement in the production of concrete. Eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder of various amounts, namely 5, 10, 15 and 20% by volume, was added as a replacement for ordinary Portland cement. The results showed that eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder concrete greatly improved the compressive and flexural strength of concrete. The rate of water absorption of eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder concrete was reduced as eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder filled up the existing voids, making it more impermeable. However, the compressive strength of the eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder concrete decreases gradually when the amount of eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder increased. It can be concluded that the optimum percentage of eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder as a partial cement replacement is 15%. In this direction, an experimental investigation of ultrasonic pulse velocity, carbonation test, compressive strength, flexural strength and water absorption was undertaken to use eggshell powder and palm kernel shell powder and admixtures as partial replacement for cement in concrete.

In construction industry there has not been a significant decrease in number of fatality rates, injuries and death rates in construction site despite of the efforts made by safety experts and government officials. Some of the factors which are playing a vital roles are inappropriate work planning, ineffective way of communication between workers and supervisors and poor safety planning. Construction industry is one of the most hazardous industry around the globe because of its nature of work and environment. The aim of this research is to highlight the factors that are responsible for causes of accidents in construction projects and to elaborate the visualization technology in construction safety management. Furthermore, the research design and methodology will also presented which will serve as a guidance to the construction safety model. The project results will help in creating a platform for safety management model in order to improve the safety performances and to help in reduction in accidents in construction sites.

High-rise buildings and other low-level buildings influence on the pedestrian-level wind (PLW) environment quality especially in street width, wind velocity, and wind direction. The study investigates the design that creating different street width dimensions based on the analysis of the wind conditions. The wind around buildings may create uncomfortable zones and dangerous problems in cities and would lead to the inconvenience to the occupants of high or low buildings. In spite of large numbers of on-going and previous research, the results of scientific research haven’t yet been quite enough on residential projects in the hot-dry climate of Iraq. The airflow around two or more buildings it is even more complicated than individual buildings, a recirculating wind flow will happen in the street canyon through the buildings. As well, wind characteristics will be formed the disturbance level to the occupants of pedestrian regions. This paper takes the residential building as a case study in Najaf-Iraq and applies quantitative methods to enhance pedestrian-level wind on street canyon through using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation analysis. The results of this study revealed that the effects of building height to street width aspect ratios (H/W) on the pedestrian-level wind and presented the comfortable zone between the residential buildings in Iraq.

Steel Sandwich composites have been used widely in offshore industry. However, the use of steel is unsustainable and require expensive maintenance. Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Polymer plates are potential replacements as they possess high tensile strength and many advantages. In this research, GFRP sandwiches with one and two-face configurations and Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) as the core are constructed to investigate their ultimate behaviour against bending. Mechanical Connectors are used as shear-resistant elements. Moreover, the effect of shear span to depth ratio (a/d) is investigated. Results show that load resistance increases with thickness of ECC core. However, the use of GFRP plates in the compression zone of section rendered ineffective due to the fact that GFRP cannot act in compression. All slabs tested have not experienced any diagonal shear cracks while all crack formed were flexural. All slabs showed a significant deflection capacity and ductility prior to failure.

In the past decade, value management (VM) has become an established practice using widely known techniques and practices. VM is also exposed to demand of time and resources. Nevertheless, the actions/methods of this approach are linked to informal approaches in developing countries. However, previous research has suggested that many VM activities and elements for delivering VM in construction projects. This research aims to verify these activities through qualitative thematic analysis approach. The thematic analysis confirms the necessity of the VM activities identified in the previous research for managing construction investment and provides directions for construction organisations to improve VM adoption. The study also revealed five (5) phases of value management activities/methods for the Egyptian construction industry, including information, function, innovation, evaluation and development and presentation phases. The findings will support and improve the implementation of VM applications in Egypt's Therefore, the results reflect the need to adopt the method in line with the formal VM approach in Egypt and other developing countries.

This paper seeks to create awareness of the international High-Speed Rail (HSR) station, a new building typology of airport significance. Due to the ongoing planning of the Pan-Asian Railway (PAR) (South-East Asia), it is beneficial to understand the international HSR developments in Asia and Europe to date, as well as to study built examples of the international HSR Station. The PAR network will be introduced and a summary of the HSR networks within the United Kingdom (UK)/Europe (EU) and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)/China (CN) will be given. The St. Pancras International Station (SPIS) in London (UK) and the West Kowloon Station (WKS) in Hong Kong SAR (CN) are selected as precedents for investigative purposes, to further understand the features of this new building typology. International HSR stations comprise of a complex building program and are expensive to construct. Consideration should be given at the outset of the project, to determine the exact building requirements and desired aspirations for the level of architectural status (iconic landmark/standard design). International HSR Stations act as a catalyst for urban redevelopment [(King’s Cross Central Development) (KCCD) (UK)] and development [(West Kowloon Cultural Development) (WKCD) (HKSAR)], thus creating new destinations within cities of a contemporary yet forwarding image.

The construction industry has always been considered as one of the most hazardous industries globally. The condition is worse in developing countries due to poor implementation of safety management. To overcome this problem, there is a need to focus on improving the implementation of safety programs. This paper aims to identify the elements of safety programs in construction projects in developing countries. An extensive review of literature found 25 elements. Sixteen semi-structured interviews with experts in the Iraqi construction industry was conducted to gain in-depth insight and understanding of these elements. The interviewees confirmed the relevance of the elements and emphasized on the importance of several elements, including safety objectives, safety policy, safety committee, training. These elements can used as a procedure to implement safety program in developing countries construction industry. The findings can used in the Iraqi construction industries and in developing countries to support the implementation of safety program.

Soil erosion is a serious environmental concern in which soil particles are detached and ultimately cause land degradation. This process occurs abundantly in watershed areas of Malaysia due to the exposure of heavy rainfalls throughout the year on steep slopes. It has been observed that geotextiles are effective in minimizing soil loss and runoff. In this study, coir geotextile was used to analyse its impact in terms of soil loss and runoff control at rainfall intensities of 40 and 60 mm/h, which are average rainfall intensities of Perak, Malaysia. The experiment was performed in the laboratory using sandy loam soil as a substrate under a rainfall simulator at a steep slope of a 30° angle. The decrease in soil degradation from treatment in comparison to the bare slope was observed to be very remarkable, i.e., up to 99% at rainfall intensities of 40 and 60 mm/h. Similarly, the effectiveness of coir geotextiles to minimize runoff was also found significant, approximately 4% at rain intensity of 40 mm/h and 7% at precipitation intensity of 60 mm/h. The study has effectively shown the ability of natural geotextiles for soil protection and runoff control.

Spaces for healing represent some of the most personal and complex services provided: intimate personal information must be shared with strangers; complex and often frightening situations might occur, where the staff speaks an entirely different language [1]. Studies have shown that buildings that are designed with little therapeutic qualities then frequently heighten the levels of stress in patients, staff, and families. A lot of beliefs and possibilities in terms of designing a healing environment through spatial awareness regarding all the social and humanities issues that have been evaluated. Thus, the focus of this study is to highlight the possible architectural solutions in creating a healing environment through spatial quality in space design. Based on the research that has been done, architectural elements and principles to be applied on spatial healing have a high tendency to restore the healing environment with the stimulation of human senses. These architectural elements will stimulate a positive healing environment that can enhance and support the care of mental health.

It is essential to adopt more sustainable behaviours in today’s world. In this research study, the potential of textile waste as a sound insulation panel to solve the problem of noise pollution is identified. The aim of this paper is to investigate the type of textile waste that can potentially be converted into insulation material to solve the problem of noise pollution. The sound that is too high in decibel may create noise and harms the humans’ hearing ability to the point it is called noise pollution. A quantitative approach is adopted in this study which is by conducting the sound absorption coefficient measurement method. The results show that the application of textile waste as sound insulation is able to absorb sound and reduce the reflected sound. The usage of cotton as sound insulation shows better sound-absorbing efficiency compared to other materials. The usage of textile waste not only able to reduce the noise levels but also can give a positive impact on the environment and economy.

The paper discusses potential improvements of building spaces to aid cognitive learning of visually impaired persons. It begins with identification of sensory perceptions of the visually impaired, i.e. how the five senses are used in navigation, followed by challenges encountered in pedagogy and cognitive learning. This paper combines interviews with blind individuals and field observations carried out at the Malaysia Association for the Blind (MAB), Kuala Lumpur. The participants of this research consists of members of the MAB and a few other individuals. Findings revealed their the unique experiences, the role of sensory features, and the connections between architecture elements and cognitive learning of the visually impaired. The paper ends with a discussion on possible improvement to the design and conditions of their learning spaces.

Most of the civil engineering laboratory experiment induces the rate of corrosion process based on current value Am/cm2 to represent the effect of corrosion, however this method has lack of quantifying the actual mass loss rate of steel in the natural environment. This paper presents the Linear Polarization Resistant (LPR) experimental test technique as supplementary method for supporting the impressed current method validation and result for square tubes with 3 mm thickness. The most important parameter of the current impressed method is the length of time required to run the test, size of the sample, and amount of current applied to achieve laboratory corrosion rate close to the natural rate. On the other hand, the linear polarization resistance (LPR) needed only 24 h to complete, and the result in this paper found correlation between the impressed current corrosion, to the LPR system in term of mass loss. Based on result of the tests, the mass loss of the impressed current can be validated by LPR mass loss yearly, which reveal the equivalent number of years needed to have natural corrosion as the same sample used in laboratory with accelerated impressed current method.

The paper looks at the selected Modern building, the Angkasapuri Complex, as an archetype for interrogation via layered analytical diagrams. Angkasapuri was completed in 1968 at a pivotal phase of Malaysia, where it was seeking to formulate a national identity through various enterprises, including architecture. Layered analytical diagrams is used to document a building’s change over time, considering it manifesting multiple entities, taking into account contextual influences that it had had on the building’s design. The figurative concept of the palimpsest is used as a method to analyze the building in its embodiment of socio-culture, economy, technological and political influences through addition, adaptation and architectural elements. This creates a historical narrative of the monumental and ambiguous changes inflicted onto the building which allow for a contemporary and modernist discussion. Visual representation is critical in capturing changes allowing for an anticipation of emerging layers within the chronological timeline to encapsulate the building’s reading. This allows for a comprehensive understanding of historical value and an open discussion through visual clues and analytical diagramming. The diagrams in a palimpsest form is relevant to the application of Malaysian modern architecture where since the Malaysian Independence, the buildings have changed to accommodate new functions and programs. With this, the sense of reinterpretation, rewriting and rearranging the palimpsest accommodates to architecture being progressive and in constant shifts.

This paper begins with a curiosity in the subject of futurism concerning the changing social landscape and its effects on its community. And then it tries to imagine the implications of these changes towards mosque designs as architecture often are reflections of human's technological progress. Scholars in architecture often debate and challenge the validity of ‘Islamic architecture’ concerning mosques as its often seen as having been borrowed and then expanded the language of other architectural civilizations. However, the dawning digital evolution of the future would potentially even deconstruct these ‘Islamic sacred architecture’ as technology evolves people's livelihood and sacred spaces get reinterpreted. This study will investigate the evolution of digitality through various works of literature and its impact on spirituality, religiosity and eventually the mosque as a sacred space. Through qualitative research, it tries to speculate on the evolution of mosque architecture in a projected future.

Disasters pose a great danger to societies due to the impact on various aspects of life such as social, educational, economics which calls to find better post-disaster solutions. This paper is highlighting the war in Syria as one of the human-made disasters that threaten Syrian’s children present and future. Education is an essential factor in terms of societies’ recovery and to children's recovery process and overcoming the trauma of war. Providing post-disaster school building is an essential part of children's post-war recovery. The current paper is trying to identify a modular system suitable for school design and propose a school model that depends on natural materials available in the area and using the traditional architectural methods in an attempt to construct a building with a good efficiency and at lower costs. The methodology is based on a survey on a number of schools in Syria to show the impact of the war on the school buildings. The paper suggests an architectural design system to achieve the best environmental results in terms of thermal comfort and ventilation in order to minimize the cost of air-conditioning and mechanical equipment.

This research report shows the results of survey regarding Building Information Modelling (BIM) and E-procurement system in Malaysia. The construction industry is constantly evolving throughout the decade. The objective of this research is to identify the adoption, barrier of implementation and strategy of implementation of BIM and E-procurement system in Malaysia construction industry. 100 respondents’ response were analysed and the data are discuss and tabulated. The results show that majority of the respondents are aware of BIM and E-procurement system and their advantage and barriers of implementation in Malaysia. The respondent response towards BIM is more positive due to its clear advantages, while many still have doubt about the E-procurement. However, both BIM and E-procurement were being agreed as being the future of construction industry in Malaysia if given proper strategies of implementation. It can be concluded that both BIM and E-procurement is still in early phase of implementation in Malaysia construction industry. However, once implemented, the advantages and benefits of these software will bring the industry to a whole new level.

Past studies have reiterated that environmental quality is the key to better education. A well-defined learning environment is not only promoting a better learning engagement and emotional impact. It also contributes to students’ positive perception of their ability to succeed. The need for improvement should be extended to all education streams, including the quality of the Islamic education institutions. This paper aimed to explore whether the students’ learning environment and the sitting facilities play an important role in achieving better performance. The objectives of the study were to: (i) analyse the effect of the learning environment on the performance of tahfiz students between gender in Quran memorisation and (ii) investigate the impact of students’ sitting style towards their Quran memorisation performance. A total of 24 tahfiz students were selected to participate in the 10-day experiment. In knowing their perception in each sitting, each student was required to complete a different hafazan task in various positions provided during the experiment. The findings showed that the male students were affected more emotionally and performance when they sat on a chair as compared to sitting cross-legged. Conversely, female students claimed both sitting styles had similar effects in terms of condition, which caused sleepiness, sickness and delays throughout the experiment. Concisely, both gender seemed to have better performance when they sat cross-legged, regardless of their perceptions towards the sitting condition. The findings propose that these could be due to their common sitting style (cross-legged) practices and adapted before the experiment. This research can be a turning point in improving the quality of tahfiz learning premises for better learning experience and performance.

In Malaysia, rising dampness is one of the most common building defects in heritage building, especially the masonry structural heritage building which is built of bricks. The dampness or moisture brought the soluble mineral salts from the ground and damaged the masonry building structures through capillary effect. The salt residues inside the columns, walls and other structures will weaken its structural stability. Besides that, high salt contamination in masonry structures of a heritage building will cause extensive crumbling and damage of wall plaster especially the lower part of the walls. According to National Heritage Act 2005 (Act 645) and Guidelines on Heritage Building Conservation (2017), the implementation of scientific tests in heritage building conservation practice in Malaysia is encouraged and recommended by the National Heritage Department of Malaysia [1, 2]. Thus, ion chromatography test or salt test is conducted in heritage building conservation projects to investigate the level of salt embedded in the columns, walls, structures and components of a heritage building. This paper is based on the study on documentation recording the ion chromatography test conducted in the conservation of Fort Margherita, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia (2012–2014) such as the ion chromatography test report and the final conservation report. The result of the ion chromatography test on the conservation of Fort Margherita, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia (2012–2014) was evaluated based on the literature review on ion chromatography. The research findings revealed the purpose and basic procedure in conducting the ion chromatography in masonry heritage building conservation in Malaysia.

As buildings, age and natural deterioration occur, many types of defects are common and can be found in these buildings. Some of these defects can affect the security of building structures while most are local and non-structural. To address these issues, the study intends to identify how common is the common defects that typically happened. Using Quantitative Research Method to emphasize the objective measurements through the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of the data collected through questionnaires online surveys. The finding shows how typical building defect can be so repetitively expected and common and this illustrates that perhaps effort to provide defects solution guide for the building construction players need to be stepped-up. One of the analytical variables; Concrete Flat Roof (CFR) affecting defect factor positively by letting the water to seep through its roof. Thus, this negative act impacting the interior space and qualitatively become the defects of most pertinent evidence. To conclude, there is a significant correlation between the selected building variables (for this case) and how they play the most typical defects role that indicates these evidence facts should come to grips with.

Daylight design performance is a significant architectural factor and facade design has a great effect on its performance. In order to predict environmental changes and achieve more efficiently behaviour, kinetic facade is an architectural approach that use for higher effectiveness. This paper presents a facade design correspond with LEED v4.1 and Daylight Availability. It relies on Origami’s technique of papers foldability where the facade morphs through rotation motion to enhance daylight performance. Rhino platform and its plugins Grasshopper and Diva through Daysim and Radiance engines were used for a parametric daylight simulation through two phases for an office facade oriented to east in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Base cases simulations and simulations for a specific classification of rotation angles and size variable were conducted in first phase through parametric optimization process. 50 cm of radius façade size and 20° of rotation’s angle reached outcome that achieve LEED v4.1 demands. a comparative simulation was conducted in second phase between the previous optimized result which exemplify the static base case with proposed dynamic system where second phase is a current development of phase one. The simulations were conducted on two days of solstice and two days of equinox for each working hours from 8AM–6PM. Lastly, a comparative analysis for the same days of parametric simulation results. Results proved that daylight achieved a better performance in comparison with optimized static case in all seasons approximately.

Building information modelling (BIM) has been adopted in the construction industry in the last few years due to its potential to enhance construction business performance in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. In Malaysian construction industry, BIM appears as innovative technology to escalate the performance and productivity in handling a construction project. The impact of BIM knowledge and years of experience on the absorptive capacity (AC) of construction stakeholders to adopt new information for organizational learning is investigated through this study. Hence, the main objectives from this study which are to identify the application of the absorptive capacity concept of external knowledge and experience on BIM implementation among construction stakeholders. The data collected by using questionnaire survey which distributed within Selangor area that represents the highest value of construction work done. The data were analysed by using SPSS software. As a result, the finding demonstrated 5 of the main factors on external knowledge and experience on BIM implementation with a value of Mean Ranking Analysis almost 80%. While 1 main factor which is knowledge and experience of BIM as a prerequisite to secure project has a value of mean about 75% only. Thus, it is expected that the finding shall bring significance and knowledge for the construction practices adopting BIM across the construction projects and become one of the main digital tools to improve construction projects effectively.

Architectural value can be seen in aesthetic form to make that physical form easy to recognize by surrounding people. For instance, iconic buildings can make cities easily known, historic buildings that capture the commemoration of famous events and people, and galleries and museums that hold and display cultural values and serve as places of focus and inspiration that bring people (communities) together (Scerri et al. 2016). Aesthetic value is a subjective evaluation; as researcher’s view the value can be defined as the beauty of the physical form, function, components, details and others. Value of the aesthetic can be obtained through the contribution of identity, vision and reputation as ways in which groups, institutions, and cities express an ideas, ambitions and intentions (Scerri et al. 2016). Other than that, architectural value able to create “sense of welcoming” for the destination and make the area rich in culture. Cultural value creates a sense of place by connecting location, context and patterns of historical development incorporating cultural symbolism and social meaning (Hayllar et al. 2008). The aesthetic and cultural value creates intangible social and community benefits while architecture value creates tangible benefits to a destination. This paper will describe researcher’s methodology consist of site study, method of research including qualitative and quantitative instruments which is describe in detail. It also identifies sampling for data collection process, purposive sampling used because it has special relevance in this study. It is very important to ensure that this research is not misleading with the objective. In addition, purposive sampling signifies strategic choices about with whom, where and how they can give information through the research. All information obtained is based on several instruments to get views from various aspects and angles. The researcher found a research gaps; the value of architecture is not widely mentioned in many studies as it is a subjective subject for assessment and the tourism industry does not emphasize the importance of architecture, whereas it is a key element of the industry’s success. In conclusion, this research plays important role in explaining the key components of the study which can be a guide for another researcher. The study will conduct to analyze value of physical structure as tourism attraction and explore urban tourism elements which is an important factor to forecast tourist motivation in urban area for tourism activities. Thus, the activities will contribute to the economic growth of the place.

Previous studies on coconut fibre reinforced concrete, and coconut shell concrete showed the potential of these wastes to be used as alternative materials in building construction. Presence of coconut fibre and coconut shell gives beneficial to concrete in increasing concrete toughness and produced lightweight concrete. In this experimental study, a combination of these coconut components (fibre and shell) was used as concrete composite to investigate its physical properties and compressive strength. Three types of concrete were cast, i.e. normal concrete, coconut shell concrete and coconut fibre reinforced coconut shell concrete. The amount of coconut fibre added in coconut shell concrete was 0.5% of mass volume. The results showed that replacing aggregate with coconut shell reduced the concrete density and compressive strength. Additional coconut fibre aided in holding the coconut shell concrete material and improve the slump value.

Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) is a type of gap-graded hot mix asphalt which consists of a coarse aggregates’ skeleton and high binder content. This type of mixture has been used in many countries due to its toughness, stability and rut resistance mixture that relies on stone-to-stone contact for its strength and a rich mortar binder for its durability. On the other hand, there are some distresses that occur in SMA road pavement, which leads to a significant decrease in the life of the asphalt pavement. Therefore, the asphalt mixture needs to be modified by additive, such as fiber, to improve its mechanical properties and delay the deterioration. In this study, the influence of black PET fiber as an additive in the SMA mixture was focused. Six sets of asphalt mixtures were prepared using different proportions of black PET fiber content (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1.0% by the total mixture weight). Volumetric properties, Resilient Modulus, and Indirect Tensile Strength performance were investigated. The result showed that the optimum binder content for SMA mixture was 6.22%. It is also indicated that the use of black PET fiber as additive improved the Resilient Modulus and Indirect Tensile Strength performance. In conclusion, the use of Black PET fiber in SMA mixture indicates a positive potential to be applied in flexible pavement construction.

Aging of asphalt binders occurs when oxidation takes place in the binder, and this in turn causes the deterioration of pavement. This paper presents the effect of aging on 60/70 penetration grade asphalt binder incorporated with polyurethane (PU) in terms of chemical interaction, morphological and wettability properties. The chemical characteristics of the base binder (BB) and polyurethane modified binder (PUMB) was evaluated using Fourier Transform Infrared while the morphological properties were analyzed using Raman Spectroscopy. Contact angle test was performed to determine the wettability of PUMB over the aggregates. In this study, the BB is modified with 3 wt% PU. Rolling Thin Film Oven and Pressure Aging Vessel tests were conducted to simulate the short-term aged and long-term aged of the samples. Results showed that the addition of PU to BB has no significant effect on the chemical interaction in the modified binder before and after aging. The incorporation of PU and the aging of modified binder resulted in a reduced bee-structure in the BB, which in turn reduced the wettability of the asphalt binder. The incorporation of PU to the BB improved the oxidative aging of the binder.

The integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Prevention through Design (PtD) concept is a proactive initiative towards facilitating the visualisation of safety features for designers to minimise risk and hazards at early design phases. Despite the explicit benefits of both BIM and PtD, studies focusing on the BIM-PtD integration remain elusive. This research aims to explore the potential of adopting BIM in the PtD approach with the role of designers incorporating safety measures in their design solution. The research firstly identified the link between BIM capabilities and the PtD concept for designers to incorporate safety elements in their design through optimising use of BIM capabilities. The methodology of this study is by linking BIM capabilities and PtD principles through literatures pertaining to the area of safety and BIM in construction research, established by perception by the designer on how to use BIM to incorporate safety design. A number of papers on safety with PtD concept and BIM with safety were screened, reviewed, and critically discussed, subsequently highlighting the roles and obligation of the designers to implement PtD by using BIM. Findings from the literature was further validated through a pilot interviews with designers in Malaysia, who have been using BIM to implement safety in design of construction projects. Finally, the concept BIM-PtD for the designer to implement design for safety is proposed to fulfil their obligation over the whole construction project lifecycle; and is known as the attributes of BIM-PtD for designers. The significance of BIM-PtD attributes will enhance the designers’ understanding on how to incorporate safety elements in their design solution that could further benefit all the stakeholders in construction projects.

In this study an investigation was performed to know the effect of drying-wetting cycles and geometrical parameters on the cracking and shrinkage behavior of composite landfill liners. To these attempts, composite landfill liners were prepared with fly ash at varying mixing proportions of 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% by dry weight with different water content. Experimental work has been carried out with three different mixing water content equals to optimum moisture content (OMC), plastic limit (PL) and liquid limit (LL) of composite soil slurry. In this study, steel mold of 30 cm diameter at different thickness of 10, 20 and 30 mm was used. Result reveals that cracking and shrinking behavior in terms of crack intensity factor (CIF), crack density factor (CDF), shrinkage area, crack length and crack width decreases with the increasing fly ash content, while, increases with increasing water content in liners. In addition, CDF, shrinkage area and crack width increase, while, CIF and crack length decreases with the increasing of liner thickness. With the multiple drying-wetting cycles, amount of cracking did not change significantly after 2nd wetting-drying cycle. The image processing technique through this study provided a better and easiest way to analyze cracking and shrinking behavior of liner.

The Green Energy Office (GEO) building showcases the sole building-integrated photovoltaic incorporated into its atrium architecture in Malaysia. Previous studies focus on the energy performance and indoor environment of this atrium. However, architectural design issues and challenges of integrating a photovoltaic (PV) system onto this building atrium were not studied and discussed. This paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews involving relevant stakeholders and site observations. Results reveal various challenges such as aesthetic concerns, indoor environment, project costs, rainwater leakages, and compatibility of the installed inverter. This study presents a path for solutions to BIPV installation issues. It provides recommendations for improvements to form references for future installations of BIPV systems onto building atria in Malaysia and other similar contexts.

Banyuwangi is the city in Java Island–Indonesia with the potential of natural and cultural tourism, and have many creative economic activities which need to be developed. The local wisdom and cultural activities that reflect the creativity of community can provide economic values through the cultural tourism. Planning and designing creative economy space for cultural tourism has been done by the local society suitable with their social and economic conditions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the cultural tourism in Banyuwangi has been down. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of architectural design of creative economy space for cultural tourism in Banyuwangi that built by society, and what is its challenges during the new normal period. The method of this study uses a qualitative descriptive method. The results of the study provide an overview that the architectural design of creative economic space that built by society in Banyuwangi generally use vernacular approach. The local government provides a stimulus (funding, training of hard skill and soft skill) to revive tourism, and ensure all tourist destinations must meet and have Covid-19 health protocol certification in the tourism sector.

There are various types of lightweight concrete that already exist today. In producing lightweight concrete, the use of added materials in lightweight concrete has been widely studied. Among of those materials, fly-ash and silica-based material are commonly being used as additive material in concrete. The purpose of this literature research is to determine the extent of the use of fly-ash and silica in Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) lightweight concrete. From several studies that have been done previously, lightweight concrete from EPS was quite significant to give good results in order to reduce the unit weight of concrete but has not shown the expected compressive strength results. The literature review method to gather information about the use of fly ash and silica in EPS lightweight concrete will be conducted in a systematic way. Data search was performed on qualified journal databases such as Science Direct and Scopus. The timeframe of journals taken was that published between 2000 and 2020 to ensure getting the latest research. From the results of observing and searching the article, there were at least two methods of using fly-ash and silica as added material, which were in pure/as-is form (as part of concrete mixture material) and modified form (both modifying the form of fly-ash and silica or as part of modifying the aggregate). The use of fly-ash and silica have shown positive results in improving the quality of lightweight concrete. But from the literature search results, there were still many gaps or things that can be developed and processed to look for other mixed methods and materials. This can increase the ability of fly-ash and silica as an additive material in order to create better EPS lightweight concrete.

Generally, pedestrian walkway are designed to provide an accessible and safe path for people who prefer to walk. The walking activity can benefit both people and society in term of health and environment conservation through reducing usage of vehicle transpiration. Hence, the pedestrian walkway can serve more than providing a safe path and are potential to be an energy efficient space. This study aims to review renewable energies exist in pedestrian walkway spaces. Therefore, two sources of walking energy and solar energy is selected and harvesting technologies are investigated. Among the different mechanism piezoelectric transduction is selected and fundamentals and circuitry are discussed. The results show that in order to harvest optimum energy, arrangement of harvesters is an important factor. Moreover, system sizing is important in the design of hybrid renewable energy system.