One of the major causes of ecological and environmental problems comes from the enormous number of discarded waste tires, which is directly connected to the exponential growth of the world’s population. In this paper, previous works carried out on the effects of partial or full replacement of aggregate in concrete with waste rubber on some properties of concrete were investigated. A database containing 457 mixtures with partial or full replacement of natural aggregate with waste rubber in concrete provided by different researchers was formed. This database served as the basis for investigating the influence of partial or full replacement of natural aggregate with waste rubber in concrete on compressive strength. With the aid of the database, the possibility of achieving reliable prediction of the compressive strength of concrete with tire rubber is explored using neural network modelling.

A significant number of old unreinforced load-bearing masonry (URM) buildings exist in many countries worldwide, but especially in Europe. In particular, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an important stock of masonry buildings constructed from the 1920s until the 1960s without application of any seismic code, due to their nonexistence at that time. With the 1963 Skopje earthquake, this class of buildings were shown to be rather vulnerable to seismic actions, which exhibited serious damage. This article assesses the seismic vulnerability of a typical multi-storey residential unreinforced load-bearing masonry building located in the heart of Sarajevo, which may be exposed to an earthquake of magnitude up to 6 by Richter’s scale. The buildings of this kind make up to 6% of the entire housing stock in the urban region of Sarajevo, while in Slovenia this percentage is much higher (around 30%). The analysis of a typical building located in Sarajevo revealed its drawbacks and the need for some kind of strengthening intervention to be implemented. Additionally, many structures of this type are overstressed by one to two additional floors (not the case of the analyzed structure) constructed from 1996 onwards. This was due to the massive population increase in the city center of Sarajevo and further increased the vulnerability of these buildings.

The buildings of architectural and cultural heritage are mostly built with stone or brick wall elements, which are connected using limestone or limestone cement mortar, without a full knowledge of the mechanical properties of masonry structures. The compatibility of heritage masonry buildings with valid technical specifications and the rules for earthquake resistance implies the need for construction work such as repairs, strengthening or reconstruction. By strengthening the masonry buildings, ductility and bearing capacity are increased to a level, which, in the case of the earthquake design, allows for some damage to happen, however the structure retains sufficient usability and bearing capacity without the possibility of collapse. Comparison between traditional and modern techniques for seismic strengthening of masonry buildings is given according to their effects, benefits and disadvantages. Recent Croatian provisions provided for heritage buildings enabling deviation of technical specifications are discussed.

Abstract Bridges can be subjected to damaging environmental actions due to flooding and seismic hazards. Flood actions that result in scour are a leading cause of bridge failure, while seismic actions that induce lateral forces may lead to high ductility demand that exceeds pier capacity. When combined, seismic actions and scour can lead to effects that depend on the governing scour condition affecting a bridge. Loss of stiffness under scour can reduce the ductility capacity of a bridge but can also lead to an increase in flexibility that may reduce seismic inertial forces. Conversely, increased flexibility can lead to deck collapse due to support loss, so there exists some uncertainty about the combined effect of both phenomena. A necessary step towards the performance assessment of bridges under flooding and seismic actions is to calibrate numerical models that can reproduce structural responses under different actions. A further step is verifying the achievement of performance goals defined by codes. Structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques allow the computation of performance parameters that are useful for calibrating numerical models and performing direct checks of performance goal compliance. In this paper, various strategies employed to monitor bridge health against scour and seismic actions are discussed, with a particular focus on vibration-based damage identification methods.

U radu su prikazani glavni parametri gradnje kamenih mostova te bitni čimbenici pri odabiru novog (zamjenskog) kamena i morta za gradnju. Opisani su rezultati laboratorijskog ispitivanja kamena i morta koji se uobičajeno koriste kod sanacije i rekonstrukcije građevina kulturno-povijesne baštine u Bosni i Hercegovini iz perioda osmanske vladavine. Posebna pažnja je posvećena ispitivanju fizikalnih i mehaničkih karakteristika sedre, travertina i vapnenaca kao osnovnih kamenih materijala koji su korišteni prilikom izgradnje takvih konstrukcija.

The positioning of an object in space, i.e. "transfer" of data from the design to the field is an extremely significant and important geodetic operation. This activity requires great and well-deserved attention, especially when it comes to sensitive structures such as bridges. The position of a stakeout point in the field depends on a variety of different influences, all determining the actual accuracy of the stakeout. The aim of this Article is to investigate the dependency of horizontal setting out of the bridge axis accuracy (abutments and piers of the bridge) from the distance between the station and the setout point, the datum of the geodetic control network, and the precision of angular and linear measurements. The authors use an innovative visualization technique for the assessment of spatial variation of the horizontal stakeout by error ellipses.

Main parameters for the construction of stone bridges, and major factors for selection of new (replacement) stone and mortar, are presented in the paper. Laboratory test results are given for the stone and mortar normally used in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of cultural and historical heritage structures from the Ottoman period in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A special attention is paid to physical and mechanical characteristics of tufa, travertine and limestone, as basic materials used in the construction of such structures.

This study aims to investigate the capacity of different models to reproduce the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete framed structures. To accomplish this goal, a combined experimental and analytical research program was carried out on a large scaled reinforced concrete frame. Analyses were performed by SAP2000 and compared to experimental and VecTor2 results. Models made in SAP2000 differ in the simulation of the plasticity and the type of the frame elements used to discretize the frame structure. The results obtained allow a better understanding of the characteristics of all numerical models, helping the users to choose the best approach to perform nonlinear analysis.

The most devastation natural disasters are earthquakes, landslides and floods aside from hurricanes, tornados, volcanic activity, drought etc. It is the interaction of these effects and their mutual cause and effect relationship that are investigated. Earthquake-induced landslides have been the source of significant damage and loss of people and property. These interactions are being investigated thought the world and special attention is given to the earthquakes which happened numerous years ago. Ground shaking due to earthquakes destabilizes cliffs and steep slopes, causing landslides and rockfalls as a significant side-effect. Nearly 60% of all landslide are triggered by earthquakes. Landslides set off by the devastating earthquake in 1949 in Ecuador of ML=6.8 proved to be the deadliest feature of the disaster. The landslides also caused some flooding by changing water-flow patterns. Heavy rain and unconsolidated or fractured rock are exacerbating factors. 1970 Peru earthquake Mw=7.9 caused a huge rock avalanche that killed almost 54,000 people and buried two cities. Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand which occurred in 2016 of magnitude Mw=7.8 triggered over 80,000 landslides and brought up a reinvestigation of the 1929 Murchison earthquake Mw=7.3. This was a major event that probably triggered even more landslides than the most recent earthquake. The shallow quake that occurred in the region of Maca in south Peru, Mw=6.0 in July 2013 led to ground subsidence causing numerous landslides and flooding. It has been suggested that there is an analogy between the mechanics of ground movements and tectonic faults, opening up new avenues for research into the dynamics of these faults.