Anas Issa

United Arab Emirates University | UAEU · Civil Engineering

In recent years, energy conservation became a strategic goal to preserve the environment, foster sustainability, and preserve valuable natural resources. The building sector is considered one of the largest energy consumers globally. Therefore, insulation plays a vital role in mitigating the energy consumption of the building sector. This study pro...

Pounding of structures may result in considerable damages, to the extent of total failure during severe lateral loading events (e.g., earthquakes and wind). With the new generation of tall buildings in densely occupied locations, wind-induced pounding becomes of higher risk due to such structures’ large deflections. This paper aims to develop mat...

This study evaluates the importance of an exit exam tailored to a specific curriculum in assessing student learning and their grasp of the intended skills and knowledge in engineering programs, known as Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs). The use of this exam as a direct measure of student achievement is thus investigated. First, students' exam score...

The exit exam is a comprehensive assessment tool that provides direct evidence of student learning and the level of achievement of program learning outcomes (PLOs). Initial offerings of exit exams showed poor student performance and little correlation to their coursework grades. Accordingly, a continuous improvement process was prompted, including...

Waste from the production of paper and pulp, known as paper sludge, is typically dumped in landfills creating huge environmental problems. Waste-paper is an eco-friendly low-cost cellulose-rich material that can be utilized as a thermal insulation material in the building to achieve sustainability goals. In this study, the wastepaper pulp termed ce...

Moment-resisting frames (MRFs) are widely employed in earthquake-prone areas due to their ability to withstand lateral loads. Despite their inherent strength, additional measures are often required to enhance their structural integrity. This study explores the effectiveness of Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) as a retrofitting strategy for a reinf...

The uncertainty of climate-related challenges, including cold climates, wildfires, flooding, and high winds, is increasing throughout Canada due to the escalating effects of climate change. Therefore, climate data is a crucial source of information for a wide range of activities, from agriculture and transportation to infrastructure design and disa...

Nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) bars represent a prosperous future in structural engineering, offering a promising avenue for the reinforcement and stabilization of structures. SMA bars possess unique properties , such as super elasticity and shape memory effect, making them highly suitable for various engineering applications. The...

Earthquakes have been a primary concern for people, contributing to several damages and some-times fatal losses. Earthquake rates have increased dramatically in the Middle East. Accordingly, buildings in the region should be designed safely and effectively to withstand seismic loads. This research represents the impact of the partial replacement of...

Structures in proximity subjected to a substantial lateral load (e.g., wind and earthquakes) can lead to a significant hazard known as structural pounding. If not properly mitigated, such impacts can lead to local and global damage (i.e., structural failure). Mitigation approaches can include providing a suitable separation gap distance between str...

Steel braced frames resist earthquake ground motion by undergoing several cycles of inelas-tic deformation. These deformations include elongation under tension and buckling in compression. To facilitate an understanding of the inelastic response of concentrically braced steel members under cyclic loading, several experimental, numerical, and analyt...

Pounding of adjacent structures under lateral loads (e.g., earthquake and wind) due to proximity has been a major cause of building damages in the past. The effects of pounding can be mitigated by providing a suitable gap distance between structures, adequate shock absorbers or by designing for the additional pounding loads. However, if not properl...

As essential infrastructure components, existing substandard bridges may cause significant economic losses at the urban scale as they are prone to different damage modes under seismic excitations. Due to the large number of existing RC bridges in earthquake-prone regions and the continuous updates in seismic design criteria, there is increasing int...

This paper employs the Closed-Loop Dynamic (CLD) testing method for evaluating the seismic response of Spring-Based Piston Braced Frames (SBPBF) by utilizing a combination of experimental and numerical approaches. The CLD testing procedure is an iterative process, which is initiated by conducting cyclic tests on a reduced-scale bracing element and...

Extreme wind events are becoming a higher risk within dense locations involving the newer generation of taller and slender structures. When tall structures are constructed in close proximity to one another, pounding of structures can transpire when subjected to such extreme lateral loading (e.g., wind or earthquakes) when the separation distance is...

Visual damage detection of infrastructure using deep learning (DL)-based computational approaches can facilitate a potential solution to reduce subjectivity yet increase the accuracy of the damage diagnoses and accessibility in a structural health monitoring (SHM) system. However, despite remarkable advances with DL-based SHM, the most significant...

This paper introduces a novel self-centering Piston-based Bracing with Polyurethane Cores (PBPC) as a passive seismic control device. Frames fitted with such bracing elements will be able to mitigate the loss of life, post-earthquake repair costs, and downtime recovery after a major seismic event. The proposed earthquake-resistant archetype integra...

Periodical vision-based inspection is a principal form of structural health monitoring (SHM) technique. Over the last decades, vision-based artificial intelligence (AI) has successfully facilitated an effortless inspection system owing to its exceptional ability of accuracy of defects' pattern recognition. However, most deep learning (DL)-based met...

Welcome for submission! https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings/special_issues/J15YK44T64

Visual damage assessment of reinforced concrete bridge components, such as cracking and spalling, can aid engineers in evaluating the structural condition and identifying the damage mechanisms. Therefore, image-based structural health monitoring techniques have gained growing interest in continuous monitoring of deteriorated structures. Utilizing d...

Pounding of adjacent structures under lateral loads (e.g., earthquake and wind) due to proximity has been a major cause of building damages in the past. The effects of pounding can be mitigated by providing a suitable gap distance between structures, adequate shock absorbers or by designing for the additional pounding loads. However, if not properl...

Maintaining the stability of civil structures under excessive dynamic loads, including earthquakes and wind-storms, has always been a big challenge for researchers and designers in structural engineering communities. The recent integration of multi-functional smart materials into structural bracing systems has opened a new horizon in civil engineer...

In braced frames, the response of a structure after an earthquake can be affected by the strength and properties of the bracing system. Concentric Braced Frames (CBFs) are mostly used in order to resist seismic load. However, traditional tension-compression bracing system may not perform well under earthquake loads because of buckling in compressio...

This comparative study probabilistically assesses the relative safety margins of code-compliant and pre-seismic code RC buildings with different heights in a region of medium seismicity. Detailed structural design and fiber-based modeling of six benchmark structures, namely two code-compliant buildings and two pre-code structures before and after r...

Bracing systems have been used for decades to enhance the structural integrity of the buildings against seismic loadings. Recently, studies have been conducted to explore the magnetorheological fluid (MRF) applications and the shape memory alloy (SMA) in bracing systems to improve their performance and functionality for structural stability under s...

CSCE's Engineering Mechanics and Materials (EMM) division is organizing a panel session titled: Transitioning from Graduate Studies to Securing Faculty Positions, to be held on Wed, May 26, 12-1 pm (EST), as a part of the CSCE annual conference (https://csce2021.ca/). All CSCE graduate student members are welcome to join.

Seismic performance of concrete frame buildings reinforced with superelastic Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) rebar is evaluated in terms of Collapse Margin Ratio (CMR). CMR is the ratio of the ground motion intensity at the median collapse to the Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) ground motion intensity at the fundamental period of the building frame. T...

Although conventional lateral force resisting systems, such as concentrically braced frames (CBFs), are generally deemed to provide adequate safety for design level earthquake intensities, they depend on significant structural inelasticity to survive lateral movement in the system. Thus, protection against economic loss is not guaranteed owing to r...

Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) are a new generation of smart materials with the capability of recovering their predefined shape after experiencing a large strain. This is mainly due to the shape memory effects and the superelasticity of SMA. These properties make SMA an excellent alternative to be used in passive, semi-active, and active control system...

The initial step in structural analysis is to idealize, or model, the actual structure. This step depends on the complexity of the structure, the purpose for which the analysis is being made, and the available computational tools. It also invariably depends on the time spent on modelling versus the degree of accuracy achieved. With the continuous p...

Due to the increasing demand for renewable energy resources, there is an increase in the demand for dam construction for the purpose of producing hydropower. India plans to produce 175GW of its power from renewable resources by 2022, including several new dams that are located in highly seismic zones. The seismic performance evaluation of concrete...

In seismic regions, steel braced frames are one of the most commonly used seismic lateral force resisting systems for their reliable performance. This study presents a comparative seismic performance of different braced steel frames at their system levels. Three types of bracings for steel frames are investigated: Buckling Restrained Bracing (BRB),...

There is little longitudinal research that directly compares the effectiveness of Canada's Government-Assisted Refugee (GAR) and Privately Sponsored Refugee (PSR) Programs that takes into account possible socio-demographic differences between them. This article reports findings from 1,921 newly arrived adult Syrian refugees in British Columbia, Ont...

About 2,100 of the operating dams in the United States are considered “unsafe”. The seismic safety of concrete dams is becoming one of the most important issues in the engineering field. The performance of the non-overflow sections of the dams have been studied in detail. However, the overflow section (i.e. spillway and pier) have not been as thoro...

In braced frames, the response of a structure after an earthquake can be affected by the strength and properties of the bracing system. Concentric Braced Frames (CBFs) are mostly used in order to resist seismic load. However, traditional tension-compression bracing system may not perform well under earthquake loads because of buckling in compressio...

Buildings with traditional structural systems experience large residual deformation after an earthquake, and often lose their serviceability and need to be demolished incurring huge economic losses. In order to resolve this issue, various smart structural systems have been developed by many researchers. One such system is the novel piston based sel...

Concentric Braced Frames (CBFs) are commonly used all over the world to resist seismic forces in buildings. Buckling, however, is a major concern for CBFs where they lose their strength and stiffness when subjected to load reversals during earthquakes. To tackle this problem, a novel easy-to-fabricate low-cost Spring Based Piston Bracing (SBPB) sys...

About 2,100 of the operating dams in the United States are considered "unsafe". The seismic safety of concrete dams is becoming one of the most important issues in the engineering field. The performance of the non-overflow sections of the dams have been studied in detail. However, the overflow section (i.e. spillway and pier) have not been as thoro...

This study investigates the seismic performance of a newly developed self-centering bracing system using a novel experimental technique named as closed-loop dynamic (CLD) testing. The bracing, named piston-based self-centering (PBSC) apparatus, employs Ni-Ti superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) bars inside a sleeve-piston assembly for its self-cen...

Superelastic shape memory alloy exhibits flag-shaped hysteresis with self-centering capability. Nevertheless, shape memory alloy undergoes some residual deformation after large plastic strain, especially under repeated cyclic loading. In order to accurately simulate this behavior during nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis, a shape memory alloy...

There is little longitudinal research that directly compares the effectiveness of Canada’s Government-Assisted Refugee (GAR) and Privately Sponsored Refugee (PSR) Programs that takes into account possible socio-demographic differ-ences between them. This article reports findings from 1,921 newly arrived adult Syrian refugees in British Columbia, On...

Concentric braced frames (CBFs) are commonly used all over the world to resist seismic forces in buildings. Buckling, however, is a major concern for CBFs, in which they lose their strength and stiffness when subjected to load reversals during earthquakes. To tackle this problem, a novel easy-to-fabricate low-cost spring-based piston bracing (SBPB)...

Concentric Braced Frames (CBFs) are commonly used for lateral load resistance in buildings. Buckling, however, is a major concern for CBFs where they lose their strength and stiffness when subjected to load reversals during earthquakes. To tackle this problem, a novel easy-to-fabricate low-cost Spring Based Piston Bracing (SBPB) system is developed...

Seismic evaluation and prediction of dam response during a seismic event have always been challenging, with complex dam-water-foundation interaction. Nonlinear analysis of a dam is currently the best possible option to understand the interaction between the dam, the foundation, and the reservoir with its effect on the dam. When seismic ground motio...

Buildings with traditional structural systems experience large residual deformation after an earthquake, and often lose their serviceability and need to be demolished incurring huge economic losses. In order to resolve this issue, various smart structural systems have been developed by many researchers. One such system is the novel Piston Based Sel...

A systematic seismic vulnerability assessment of a benchmark 8-story structure representing pre-seismic code frame buildings in a highly populated and seismically active area is conducted in this study. Detailed structural design and fiber-based modeling are carried out for the reference structure. Forty earthquake records are selected to represent...

A number of driving engines are required for earthquake loss estimation and mitigation, including an inventory of exposed systems, seismic hazards of the study area and fragility relationships. The number of existing buildings in the UAE that may be at risk because of insufficient seismic design provisions cannot be underestimated. A crucial role i...

The number of existing buildings that may be at risk because of insufficient seismic design provisions cannot be underestimated. Recent studies have confirmed the pressing need for the seismic retrofit of pre-code structures to reduce their probability of collapse. A number of retrofit approaches are therefore assessed in this study, namely reinfor...

The main outcomes of recent research projects that were devoted to the probabilistic vulnerability assessment of the modern and pre-code building inventory in an earthquake-prone area in the UAE are briefly presented in this paper. The selection and design approaches of a wide range of structures to represent the study area with varying building he...

The number of existing buildings that may be at risk because of insufficient seismic design provisions cannot be underestimated. Recent studies have confirmed the pressing need for the seismic retrofit of pre-code structures to reduce their probability of collapse. A number of retrofit approaches are therefore assessed in this study, namely reinfor...

A systematic seismic vulnerability assessment of a benchmark 8-story structure representing pre-seismic code frame buildings in a highly populated and seismically active area in the UAE is conducted in this study. Detailed structural design and fiber-based modeling are carried out for the reference structure. Forty earthquake records are selected t...