Climate change is predicted to have a profound influence on the performance and durability of infrastructure and people's quality of life. Researchers and professionals are stepping up effort to improve both structural and human users’ well-being. Work to improve the durability of structures, optimise their design and minimise material use, while at the same time ensuring the required comfort of structural users, are only some goals of the drive towards a better world. This issue of Structures and Buildings is a collection of experimental and numerical studies contributing to taking a step in the right direction.
Improving numerical models to better predict structural performance is a way to reduce conservativeness (and therefore wastefulness) of some design solutions. Aras et al. (2023) do this by investigating finite-element-based modelling strategies for modelling infill masonry walls in reinforced concrete buildings that are known to introduce uncertainties into predicting the dynamic performance of the structure. They warn against using the same modelling strategies for differing loading scenarios that result in substantially different vibration responses. On the other hand, Ebrahimi Motlagh and Tehrani (2023) are looking to establish novel ways to effectively assess the seismic fragility of reinforced concrete bridges by utilising near-field and far-field ground motion records and employing incremental dynamic analysis.
Many people have experienced a situation whereby airborne noise negatively impacts their mood, performance at work, ability to rest, and more generally their health and well-being. In this light, ensuring building floors are designed to effectively block sound transmission is of crucial importance. Increasing use of timber in floor construction requires an understanding of their sound transmission properties. Zhang et al. (2023a) contribute to this theme by studying improvement in sound insulation of timber floors through the incorporation of different types of cushioning materials. In a search for improved performance of a different kind, Zhang et al. (2023b) investigate the improvement in ductility, energy dissipation and bearing capacity that insulated concrete sandwich walls in seismic regions can offer over the benchmark concrete shear walls.
The two final contributions propose novel numerical approaches for improving modelling at different scales. Namely, the penultimate paper by Ladeira and Rodrigues da Silva (2023) offers a method for generating a strut-and-tie model for analysing reinforced concrete structures under a plane stress while the final paper by Chen et al. (2023) proposes a method for simulating chloride removal from offshore concrete structures with the goal of providing better predictions as to their durability.
In a search for transformative strategies regarding how structures are designed to ensure a greener world, our profession continues to make substantial effort to improve all aspects, whether by optimising numerical techniques, improving structural performance, extending structural life or improving comfort of structure users. The collection of papers in this issue are a reflection of this collective effort. We thank all the authors, reviewers and readers for their contributions, and we welcome discussion on any of these papers.
