Journal of Construction and Building Materials Engineering

Advancing Sustainable Construction in India: Exploring Standardization, Challenges, and Opportunities in 3D Printing, Robotics, and Automation Integration for Large-Scale Projects

Varshni Selvam — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

With the convergence of 3D printing, automation, and robotics, large-scale construction is bound to be redefined, especially in urbanizing countries like India. While 3D printing for the construction of large-scale buildings is commercially scalable to a small degree, it faces the barriers of regulations, technology, and standardization mainly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The article assesses gaps through case studies, expert analysis, and literature, identifies standardization, analyzes the role of mobile robots concerning scalability, and discusses labor implications needs, waste reduction, and sustainable development goals. Surely, overcoming all these roadblocks will lead to establishing a means that is efficient, safe, and cost-effective and contributes to sustainable construction and enhanced performance within projects in India.

Analysis of Sustainable Construction Material [Bamboo] for Public Sector Housing

Saughya R. Sonawane, Gitanjali A. Chaudhari, M. S. Shikalgar — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In India, a significant portion of the population, approximately 1.77 million individuals, faces homelessness, residing primarily in makeshift shelters or urban slums. The country's homelessness rate stands at 0.15% of the total population, highlighting a critical social issue. Addressing this challenge involves exploring sustainable construction materials like bamboo, which offer promising ecological and economic benefits. Bamboo is a renewable, ecological, and inexpensive alternative building material that will become increasingly available shortly due to weakening wood forests and the proposed regulations forbidding the cutting down of natural forests. This study aims to evaluate bamboo's mechanical properties, such as tensile and compressive strength, and consider the broader socioeconomic and environmental benefits of bamboo. Additionally, the project will explore bamboo’s cultural relevance and potential to replace conventional building materials with a sustainable alternative.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Construction Building Projects

Jasmeet Singh — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Risk management is an essential aspect of construction project management, as construction projects are inherently exposed to a wide range of uncertainties that can jeopardize their success. These uncertainties, if not effectively managed, can lead to delays, cost overruns, and quality issues. As the construction industry faces increasing complexity and demands for efficiency, the need for effective risk assessment and mitigation strategies becomes more critical than ever. This paper examines several key risk assessment methods, including Construction Risk Management Systems (CRMS), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Building Information Modelling (BIM), which have been adopted to address these challenges. The study evaluates the effectiveness of these methods, highlights common implementation challenges, and suggests strategies for improving risk management practices. The findings aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of risk mitigation in the construction industry, offering practical and scalable solutions to enhance project outcomes. This research is particularly important for improving decision-making processes and ensuring the successful delivery of construction projects in an increasingly complex and uncertain environment.

Construction Safety Practices In Bangladesh: An Overview

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This report, which is a component of a larger study, sought to evaluate the condition of safety management procedures at construction sites in Bangladesh, with a focus on Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. An attempt was made to identify the main factors that lead to accidents, look into unsafe activities, and track down components such as safety of construction site. The study involves the assemblage and analysis of data from various sources and field observations. Construction fatality data from Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health, and Environment Foundation (OSHE) and the Safety & Rights Society revealed the most typical causes of construction related fatalities. The two main causes of death, which together accounted for 86.2% of the total number of fatalities, were electrocution and falling from a height, scaffolding, or ladder; falling after tripping over equipment or power wires fall from heights. However, these casualties may have been avoided by implementing a few simple safety precautions. A comprehensive practical on field study was carried out for investigating and drawing conclusions about the problems with facilities for welfare, safety gear, and other elements influencing safety of construction, as well as their respective significance. Workers, staffs and industry insiders were questioned, and later analysis based on their answers was conducted with the use of statistical elements. The Chi-square test was utilized to ascertain whether any notable differences existed in the respondents' answers. The result of the Chi-square statistic was 74.67. This demonstrated that employers and employees both concur that the safety and welfare facilities fall short of expectations. Factors such as budget constraints, time pressures, and a lack of skilled safety personnel often hinder the effective implementation of safety practices. Furthermore, the absence of a strong safety culture and a comprehensive safety management system poses significant challenges to ensuring the overall safety of these projects.

Adaptive Pavement Design for Weak Subgrade Soils: A Case Study of the Almahata Road in Sudan using AASHTO 1993 Methodology

Adil A. M. Elhassan — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Road infrastructure is crucial to sustainable development, so flexible and rigid pavement design and evaluation are crucial for long-term security and reliability. This study examines the Almahata road in Aljazeera State, Sudan, where weak subgrade soil causes problems. The main goal is to evaluate the road’s structural and geometric design according to AASHTO 1993 guidelines, emphasising surface drainage and material selection. Complete field investigations were conducted, collecting soil samples from four trial pits at various depths. Particle size distribution, Atterberg limits, specific gravity, compaction, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), and Resilient Modulus (MR) were tested on these samples.

AASHTO and Unified Soil Classification Systems divided the soils into five groups. The recommended design CBRs is 4.0% for the subgrade, 32% for the sub-base, and 62% for the base layer. A CBR range of 4.0% to 62.0% was found. The final pavement structure had a 525 mm thickness, 75 mm Hot Mix Asphalt, 200 mm base, and 250 mm sub-base layers. Reduced asphalt thickness was offset by increased base and sub-base layers to cut costs. This study shows that adaptive design in pavement construction is cost-effective and structurally sound. Future research should examine these designs' long-term performance under increasing traffic and changing environmental conditions.

A Simplified Stress-Crack Width Model for Strain Hardening Cementitious Material (SHCM)

Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, Anik Mahamud, Mamunul Karim — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this study, the influence of fiber orientation on stress-crack width behavior conducts of strain-hardening cementitious materials was experimented with. A simplified stress-crack width model has been developed which may consider the influence of fiber orientation before cracking and the post-peak part of the softening curve. Fiber volume and fiber orientation about the flow direction during casting are considered key parameters. A detailed experimental investigation was performed to understand the behavior of fiber orientation in the matrix. From the experimental investigation, it was observed that 0° fiber orientation shows more strain hardening properties after cracking whereas 90° degree shows the least strain hardening. As a whole, fiber addition in the self-compacting cementitious material brought strain hardening behavior in the matrix. Based on the experimental results, the model parameters were observed and formulated. To validate the simplified model, a comparison was made between experimental results and the proposed model. A quality agreement was accomplished between experimental results and the proposed simplified model.