Interdisciplinary research is considered a source of innovativeness and creativity, serving as a key mechanism for creating recombination necessary for the evolution of science systems. The aim of this study is to quantitatively establish the connection between interdisciplinary research and the research fronts that have recently emerged in civil engineering. The degree of interdisciplinarity of the research fronts was measured by developing metrics from bibliographic analyses. As indicated by the consistent increase in the metrics of interdisciplinarity over time, research fronts tend to emerge in studies with increasing diversity in the disciplines involved. The active disciplines involved in the fronts vary over time. The most active disciplines are no longer fundamental but those associated with energy, environment, and sustainable development, focusing on solutions to climate change and integrating intelligence technologies.

A numerical framework was proposed for the seismic analysis of underground structures in layered ground under inclined P-SV waves. The free-field responses are first obtained using the stiffness matrix method based on plane-wave assumptions. Then, the domain reduction method was employed to reproduce the wavefield in the numerical model of the soil–structure system. The proposed numerical framework was verified by providing comparisons with analytical solutions for cases involving free-field responses of homogeneous ground, layered ground, and pressure-dependent heterogeneous ground, as well as for an example of a soil–structure interaction simulation. Compared with the viscous and viscous-spring boundary methods adopted in previous studies, the proposed framework exhibits the advantage of incorporating oblique incident waves in a nonlinear heterogeneous ground. Numerical results show that SV-waves are more destructive to underground structures than P-waves, and the responses of underground structures are significantly affected by the incident angles.

In recent years, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been widely used in tunnel construction. However, the TBM control parameters set based on operator experience may not necessarily be suitable for certain geological conditions. Hence, a method to optimize TBM control parameters using an improved loss function-based artificial neural network (ILF-ANN) combined with quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) is proposed herein. The purpose of this method is to improve the TBM performance by optimizing the penetration and cutterhead rotation speeds. Inspired by the regularization technique, a custom artificial neural network (ANN) loss function based on the penetration rate and rock-breaking specific energy as TBM performance indicators is developed in the form of a penalty function to adjust the output of the network. In addition, to overcome the disadvantage of classical error backpropagation ANNs, i.e., the ease of falling into a local optimum, QPSO is adopted to train the ANN hyperparameters (weight and bias). Rock mass classes and tunneling parameters obtained in real time are used as the input of the QPSO-ILF-ANN, whereas the cutterhead rotation speed and penetration are specified as the output. The proposed method is validated using construction data from the Songhua River water conveyance tunnel project. Results show that, compared with the TBM operator and QPSO-ANN, the QPSO-ILF-ANN effectively increases the TBM penetration rate by 14.85% and 13.71%, respectively, and reduces the rock-breaking specific energy by 9.41% and 9.18%, respectively.

An analytical model is proposed to estimate the discontinuous mechanical behavior of an existing shield tunnel above a new tunnel. The existing shield tunnel is regarded as a Timoshenko beam with longitudinal joints. The opening and relative dislocation of the longitudinal joints can be calculated using Dirac delta functions. Compared with other approaches, our method yields results that are consistent with centrifugation test data. The effects of the stiffness reduction at the longitudinal joints (α and β), the shearing stiffness of the Timoshenko beam GA, and different additional pressure profiles on the responses of the shield tunnel are investigated. The results indicate that our proposed method is suitable for simulating the discontinuous mechanical behaviors of existing shield tunnels with longitudinal joints. The deformation and internal forces decrease as α, β, and GA increase. The bending moment and shear force are discontinuous despite slight discontinuities in the deflection, opening, and dislocation. The deflection curve is consistent with the additional pressure profile. Extensive opening, dislocation, and internal forces are induced at the location of mutation pressures. In addition, the joints allow rigid structures to behave flexibly in general, as well as allow flexible structures to exhibit locally rigid characteristics. Owing to the discontinuous characteristics, the internal forces and their abrupt changes at vulnerable sections must be monitored to ensure the structural safety of existing shield tunnels.

The application of unbonded post-tensioning (PT) in structural walls has led to the development of advanced self-centring (rocking) shear wall systems that has significant advantages, including accelerated construction due to the incorporation of prefabricated elements and segmental construction for different materials (e.g., concrete, masonry, and timber), reduced residual drifts, and little damage upon extreme seismic and wind loads. Concrete, masonry, and timber are often used for the construction of unbonded PT structural wall systems. Despite extensive research since the 1980s, there are no well-established design guidelines available on the shear wall configuration with the required energy dissipation system, joint’s locations and acceptance criteria for shear sliding, confinement, seismic performance factors, PT loss, PT force range and residual drifts of shear walls subjected to lateral loads. In this research a comprehensive state-of-the-art literature review was performed on self-centring shear wall system. An extensive study was carried out to collect a database of 100 concrete, masonry, and self-centring shear wall tests from the literature. The established database was then used to review shear walls’ configurations, material, and components to benchmark requirements applicable for design purposes. The behaviour of concrete, masonry and timber shear walls were compared and critically analysed. The general behaviour, force-displacement performance of the walls, ductility, and seismic response factors, were critically reviewed and analysed for different self-centring wall systems to understand the effect of different parameters including configurations of the walls, material used for construction of the wall (concrete, masonry, timber) and axial stress ratio. The outcome of this research can be used to better understand the behaviour of self-centring wall system in order to develop design guidelines for such walls.

For localized fires, it is necessary to consider the thermal and mechanical responses of building elements subject to uneven heating under the influence of wind. In this paper, the thermomechanical phenomena experienced by a ceiling jet and I-beam in a structural fire were simulated. Instead of applying the concept of adiabatic surface temperature (AST) to achieve fluid–structure coupling, this paper proposes a new computational fluid dynamics–finite element method numerical simulation that combines wind, fire, thermal, and structural analyses. First, to analyze the velocity and temperature distributions, the results of the numerical model and experiment were compared in windless conditions, showing good agreement. Vortices were found in the local area formed by the upper and lower flanges of the I-beam and the web, generating a local high-temperature zone and enhancing the heat transfer of convection. In an incoming-flow scenario, the flame was blown askew significantly; the wall temperature was bimodally distributed in the axial direction. The first temperature peak was mainly caused by radiative heat transfer, while the second resulted from convective heat transfer. In terms of mechanical response, the yield strength degradation in the highest-temperature region in windless conditions was found to be significant, thus explaining the stress distribution of steel beams in the fire field. The mechanical response of the overall elements considering the incoming flows was essentially elastic.

This study aimed to investigate a novel slender buckling-restrained knee brace damper (BRKB) for welded and weld-free steel framing systems. The proposed BRKB adopts steel bar cores connected by a central coupler and restrained by tube buckling restrainers with a cover tube supporter. The advantages of the proposed damper include easy assembly compared to conventional buckling restrained braces, and high architectural flexibility for the retrofitting of large-span weld-free or welded steel moment-resisting systems. Specifically, by increasing the number of contraction allowances, undesirable failure mechanisms that are global instability and local buckling of the restrainer ends can be effectively suppressed because the more uniform plastic deformation of the core bar can be achieved longitudinally. In this study, displacement-controlled compression and cyclic loading tests were carried out to investigate the deformation capacities of the proposed BRKBs. Structural performance metrics associated with both loading tests, such as strength capacities, strains at the cover tubes and buckling restrainers, and hysteretic behaviors of the proposed damper under cyclic loads, were measured and discussed. Test results revealed that the geometrical characteristics of the cover tubes and adopted contraction allowances at the dampers play essential roles in their load-bearing capacities.

In this study, a novel diagonally inserted bar-type basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) connector was proposed, aiming to achieve both construction convenience and partially composite behavior in precast concrete sandwich panels (PCSPs). First, pull-out tests were conducted to evaluate the anchoring performance of the connector in concrete after exposure to different temperatures. Thereafter, direct shear tests were conducted to investigate the shear performance of the connector. After the test on the individual performance of the connector, five façade PCSP specimens with the bar-type BFRP connector were fabricated, and the out-of-plane flexural performance was tested under a uniformly distributed load. The investigating parameters included the panel length, opening condition, and boundary condition. The results obtained in this study primarily indicated that 1) the bar-type BFRP connector can achieve a reliable anchorage system in concrete; 2) the bar-type BFRP connector can offer sufficient stiffness and capacity to achieve a partially composite PCSP; 3) the boundary condition of the panel considerably influenced the out-of-plane flexural performance and composite action of the investigated façade PCSP.

Reinforced concrete structural walls are commonly used for resisting lateral forces in buildings. Owing to the advancements in the field of concrete materials over the past few decades, concrete mixes of high compressive strength, commonly referred to as high-strength concrete (HSC), have been developed. In this study, the effects of strategic placement of HSC on the performance of slender walls were examined. The finite-element model of a conventional normal-strength concrete (NSC) prototype wall was validated using test data available in extant studies. HSC was incorporated in the boundary elements of the wall to compare its performance with that of the conventional wall at different axial loads. Potential reductions in the reinforcement area and size of the boundary elements were investigated. The HSC wall exhibited improved strength and stiffness, and thereby, allowed reduction in the longitudinal reinforcement area and size of the boundary elements for the same strength of the conventional wall. Cold joints resulting from dissimilar concrete pours in the web and boundary elements of the HSC wall were modeled and their impact on behavior of the wall was examined.

Multilayered nanoscale structures are used in several applications. Because the effect of surface energy becomes nontrivial at such a small scale, a modified continuum theory is required to accurately predict their mechanical behaviors. A Gurtin–Murdoch continuum model of surface elasticity is implemented to establish a computational scheme for investigating an elastic multilayered system under axisymmetric loads with the incorporation of surface/interface energy. Each layer stiffness matrix is derived based on the general solutions of stresses and displacements obtained in the form of the Hankel integral transform. Numerical solutions to the global equation, which are formulated based on the continuity conditions of tractions and displacements across interfaces between layers, yield the displacements at each layer interface and on the top surface of the multilayered medium. The numerical solutions indicate that the elastic responses of multilayered structures are affected significantly by the surface material properties of both the top surface and interfaces, and that they become size dependent. In addition, the indentation problem of a multilayered nanoscale elastic medium under a rigid frictionless cylindrical punch is investigated to demonstrate the application of the proposed solution scheme.