Advanced Construction and Building Technology

This earth has been facilitating us with a good environment for living and no other place is better suitable for human beings. But the population is increasing day by day and the worlds most livable lands are occupied. Moreover continuous process of industrialization and modernization made the earth more vulnerable to the natural calamities and it is very clear from the recent happenings of Tsunami, earthquakes and other frequent disasters. So it is now become a very essential issue for the human existence in the world that we should incline to build our structures more nature-friendly. From the earlier point of view, building construction means to make infrastructure to live or work in sophistically. But the definition of constructing buildings is changed and modern people now have to think more about the best possible usability of spaces, resources and longevity of the infrastructure against all natural forces. Although it has been an aspiration of men to create mega-structures and high-rises from the very beginning of the human history to express power, knowledge and wealth but modern designers are concerned more about the nature, resource, outburst population. Green revolution also works as an inspiration for the constructions. As engineers are tending more and more to build high-rises and heavy structures they have to follow certain regulations and also have to invent more ideas to elongate the sustainability of these structures. For instance, Woolworth Building (241meter) in New York was completed in 1913 and Willis Tower (442 meter) in Chicago was completed in 1974. The 2nd building is almost double in height as the first building. The material needed for the resistance of wind or lateral load increases squarely as the wind speed increases. So naturally the wind force is 4 times on the Willis Tower as on the Woolworth Building. The highest skyscraper in the world now is Burj Khalifa (828 meter) in Dubai which was completed in 2010 and obviously it has to resist more force than others. For this reason engineers are required not only to have more and more knowledge about the forces and environmental effects on a building but also they should possess the ability to create more ideas according to their experience. For instance, it is discovered by the modern engineers that the efficient structural systems like flexible exterior frames, inner core of stiff wind bracing frames are more suitable for the mega-structures than the rigid frames albeit those structural systems lessen the structures total weight. Thats why U-shaped frames, H-beam, I-beam etc. were introduced in building technologies. Advanced construction and building technology can be said is inspired by the highest possible utilization of available spaces, resources, labors and money which also secures the safety and comfort for the users as well as the environment too. Rapid globalization and modernization led the nations to adopt and practice advanced technology in their constructions. This technology also allows the recycling of the materials and resources. So it is obvious that proper utilization of the advanced technology is very advantageous for the climate of the world. Though advanced technologies still are not frequently used as the standard construction technologies which involve the utilization of masonry, timber and concrete but it is gaining more and more acceptance day by day. From World Housing Encyclopedia, advanced technologies include seismic isolation and passive-energy dissipation devices. The concept of Seismic

isolation of the buildings came from the idea of stabilizing the structures against earthquake. It was introduced in 1980s in USA, New Zealand and Soviet Union. In this isolation process, the whole building structure is made isolated from the ground but still can hold the upper section in the proper position and disallowing it to displaced and fell out from the specific ground. So the earthquake is not transmitted into the upper building structure and sustainability increases. Flexibility and damping elements are used in seismic isolating at the base. Another concept of advanced technology- Passive energy dissipation system is an upgraded alternative to the seismic isolation. This system is applied through yielding mild steel, sliding friction, motion of structural elements within viscous fluid, viscoelastic and polymeric materials. The commercial forms of these materials are viscous fluid dampers, metallic dampers, friction dampers, tuned mass dampers etc. Advanced technologies are becoming more adoptable, precise and reliable because of the introduction of automation and robotics. Those systems help in determining the loads, climatic and environmental effect on a structure and provide more accessibility, mobility thus saving a lot of time, labor and money. To tackle the demographic, ecological and socio-economic challenges resulted from the globalization we should be prepared with our arsenal of advanced technology. Continuation of the right utilization of advanced technological evolution can make the world a better place for human existence. (This essay is own creation of Mohammad Jamal Uddin except some statistical data taken from the resources available on internet)