The 10 most recently published documents
Die Corona-Krise stellt das städtische Zusammenleben auf eine harte Probe. Nicht nur sozialer Austausch, Kultur und Verkehr, sondern auch die kommunale Demokratie ist massiv beeinflusst. Wer kann in der Krise noch mitsprechen? Und wie verändert sie das Zusammenspiel von Verwaltung, Politik und Zivilgesellschaft? Die Beiträger*innen untersuchen anhand von Fallstudien die Auswirkungen der Krise auf die kommunale Beteiligungskultur. Sie fragen mit interdisziplinärem Blick nach der kommunalen Krisenbewältigung und erfolgreichen Governance-Strukturen im Kontext multipler Krisen. Ihr Ansatz der kritischen Urbanistik versteht sich dabei als Einladung zur Reflexion, Debatte und alternativen Praxis.
The characteristic values of climatic actions in current structural design codes are based on a specified probability of exceedance during the design working life of a structure. These values are traditionally determined from the past observation data under a stationary climate assumption. However, this assumption becomes invalid in the context of climate change, where the frequency and intensity of climatic extremes varies with respect to time. This paper presents a methodology to calculate the non-stationary characteristic values using state of the art climate model projections. The non-stationary characteristic values are calculated in compliance with the requirements of structural design codes by forming quasi-stationary windows of the entire bias-corrected climate model data. Three approaches for the calculation of non-stationary characteristic values considering the design working life of a structure are compared and their consequences on exceedance probability are discussed.
Research into bio-based epoxy resins has intensified in recent decades. Here, it is of great importance to use raw materials whose use does not compete with food production. In addition, the performance of the newly developed materials should be comparable to that of conventional products. Possible starting materials are lignin degradation products, such as vanillin and syringaldehyde, for which new synthesis routes to the desired products must be found and their properties determined. In this article, the first synthesis of two amine hardeners, starting with vanillin and syringaldehyde, using the Smiles rearrangement reaction is reported. The amine hardeners were mixed with bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, and the curing was compared to isophorone diamine, 4-4′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone, and 4-Aminonbenzylamine by means of differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the two amines prepared are cold-curing. As TG-MS studies showed, the thermal stability of at least one of the polymers prepared with the potentially bio-based amines is comparable to that of the polymer prepared with isophorone diamine, and similar degradation products are formed during pyrolysis.
As an optimization that starts from a randomly selected structure generally does not guarantee reasonable optimality, the use of a systemic approach, named the ground structure, is widely accepted in steel-made truss and frame structural design. However, in the case of reinforced concrete (RC) structural optimization, because of the orthogonal orientation of structural members, randomly chosen or architect-sketched framing is used. Such a one-time fixed layout trend, in addition to its lack of a systemic approach, does not necessarily guarantee optimality. In this study, an approach for generating a candidate ground structure to be used for cost or weight minimization of 3D RC building structures with included slabs is developed. A multiobjective function at the floor optimization stage and a single objective function at the frame optimization stage are considered. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is employed for selecting the optimal ground structure. This method enables generating a simple, yet potential, real-world representation of topologically preoptimized ground structure while both structural and main architectural requirements are considered. This is supported by a case study for different floor domain sizes.
We present a physics-informed deep learning model for the transient heat transfer analysis of three-dimensional functionally graded materials (FGMs) employing a Runge–Kutta discrete time scheme. Firstly, the governing equation, associated boundary conditions and the initial condition for transient heat transfer analysis of FGMs with exponential material variations are presented. Then, the deep collocation method with the Runge–Kutta integration scheme for transient analysis is introduced. The prior physics that helps to generalize the physics-informed deep learning model is introduced by constraining the temperature variable with discrete time schemes and initial/boundary conditions. Further the fitted activation functions suitable for dynamic analysis are presented. Finally, we validate our approach through several numerical examples on FGMs with irregular shapes and a variety of boundary conditions. From numerical experiments, the predicted results with PIDL demonstrate well agreement with analytical solutions and other numerical methods in predicting of both temperature and flux distributions and can be adaptive to transient analysis of FGMs with different shapes, which can be the promising surrogate model in transient dynamic analysis.
Nonlocal theories concern the interaction of objects, which are separated in space. Classical examples are Coulomb’s law or Newton’s law of universal gravitation. They had signficiant impact in physics and engineering. One classical application in mechanics is the failure of quasi-brittle materials. While local models lead to an ill-posed boundary value problem and associated mesh dependent results, nonlocal models guarantee the well-posedness and are furthermore relatively easy to implement into commercial computational software.
This paper presents initial findings from the empirical analysis of community based social enterprise (SE) and non-profit organisation (NPO) ecosystems in Johannesburg. SEs and NPOs are widely recognised as contributors to the resilience of marginalised urban communities. However, the connection between these organisations , urban governance, and community resilience has not yet been sufficiently understood , particularly in African urban contexts. The 'Resilient Urban Communities' project focuses on Johannesburg as a case study to shed light on this under-researched topic. The key to exploring it is understanding SEs and NPOs as providers of public services, job creators, and promoters of good governance, all of which contribute to community resilience. Using this premise as a starting point, this paper investigates ecosystem conditions with a particular focus on state-civil society partnerships. Empirical data was generated through semi-struc-tured interviews and analysed with a grounded theory approach. Preliminary results of this ongoing research reveal that urban geography is a relevant ecosystem factor for SEs and NPOs from marginalised communities. We also suggest that co-production could be an opportunity for growth within the investigated state-civil society partnership.
Real-world labs hold the potential to catalyse rapid urban transformations through real-world experimentation. Characterised by a rather radical, responsive, and location-specific nature, real-world labs face constraints in the scaling of experimental knowledge. To make a significant contribution to urban transformation, the produced knowledge must go beyond the level of a building, street, or small district where real-world experiments are conducted. Thus, a conflict arises between experimental boundaries and the stimulation of broader implications. The challenges of scaling experimental knowledge have been recognised as a problem, but remain largely unexplained. Based on this, the article will discuss the applicability of the “typology of amplification processes” by Lam et al. (2020) to explore and evaluate the potential of scaling experimental knowledge from real-world labs. The application of the typology is exemplified in the case of the Bauhaus.MobilityLab. The Bauhaus.MobilityLab takes a unique approach by testing and developing cross-sectoral mobility, energy, and logistics solutions with a distinct focus on scaling knowledge and innovation. For this case study, different qualitative research techniques are combined according to “within-method triangulation” and synthesised in a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The analysis of the Bauhaus.MobilityLab proves that the “typology of amplification processes” is useful as a systematic approach to identifying and evaluating the potential of scaling experimental knowledge.
Experimental testing of nailed connections taken from old roof trusses is presented in this paper. To enable the further use and preservation of nailed roof trusses, it is important to understand how the nail corrosion and aging processes of steel and wood affect the load-bearing capacity and deformation behaviour of such structures. The hypothesis was investigated whether corroded nails allow an increase in load-bearing capacity. Several old and new joints were tested in a first test series, and the results were very promising regarding the initial assumption. However, more tests must be carried out to verify the results.
This paper presents the development of an assessment scheme for a visual qualitative evaluation of nailed connections in existing structures, such as board trusses. In terms of further use and preservation, a quick visual inspection will help to evaluate the quality of a structure regarding its load-bearing capacity and deformation behaviour. Tests of old and new nailed joints in combination with a rating scheme point out the correlation between the load-bearing capacity and condition of a joint. Old joints of comparatively good condition tend to exhibit better results than those of poor condition. Moreover, aged joints are generally more load-bearing than newly assembled ones.