M.J. Falcao Silva

National Laboratory for Civil Engineering | LNEC · Department of Buildings

This study employs Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) and the Random Forest Machine Learning (ML) algorithm to enhance flood hazard assessments in Portugal. It utilizes NASA's LP DAAC (2023) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and slope data from EPIC WEBGIS PORTUGAL DATA, offering detailed topographical insights for environmental planning. Addit...

Previous studies have utilized machine learning algorithms that incorporate topographic and geological characteristics to model flood susceptibility, resulting in comprehensive flood maps. This study introduces an innovative integration of geospatial artificial intelligence for hazard mapping to assess flood risks on road networks within Portuguese...

Floods pose a significant threat to road networks globally, disrupting transportation, isolating communities, and causing economic losses. This study proposes a four-stage methodology (avoidance, endurance, recovery, and adaptability) to enhance the resilience of road networks. We combine analysis of constructed assets and asset system performance...

This study introduces the Risk-Informed Asset-Centric (RIACT) process, a novel approach aimed at enhancing the safety and resilience of urban infrastructures against natural and man-made disasters. The RIACT method stands out for its comprehensive analysis of potential disruptions to urban areas, encompassing their susceptibility to disasters, vuln...

The resilience of buildings and civil engineering infrastructures has increasingly attracted the attention of different stakeholders, including engineering professionals from different areas, scientists, standardization bodies, investors and financial institutions, regulatory agencies, different user groups, as well as national and regional adminis...

The recognition of the high costs of the vulnerabilities of cities and communities due to various types of disaster risks have helped build the business case for investments improving the quality and resilience of buildings and civil engineering works. This important issue has attracted the attention of several stakeholders, including engineering p...

Resilience evaluation systems have been used to aggregate and calibrate multi-dimensional resilience-related inputs. But these evaluation systems do not offer comprehensive outputs nor sufficient analytical capacity to support the design and implementation of city and community recovery and resilience plans. Urban resilience research covers multipl...

Natural disasters cause an average of 60,000 deaths per year. There was a total of 416 natural disasters worldwide in 2020. Resilience to disruption and quick recovery of the operational performance of buildings and infrastructure is critical to the continuous functioning of cities and communities. This requires recognition of critical weaknesses o...

A segurança das pessoas e o elevado valor dos bens construídos e dos seus conteúdos, bem como a sua criticidade na satisfação das necessidades básicas e bem-estar das comunidades, sempre suscitaram preocupações quanto à sustentabilidade, resiliência e fiabilidade do ambiente construído. A resiliência dos ativos construídos está frequentemente ligad...

Livro de atas do Congresso ptBIM 2022, onde se promove um fórum de discussão técnico-científica em língua Portuguesa nas metodologias ‘Building Information Modelling’ (BIM), envolvendo a participação ativa das comunidades profissional e académica das áreas de Arquitetura e Engenharia. Pretende-se enfatizar os problemas e esforços de implementação n...

Livro de atas do Congresso ptBIM 2022, onde se promove um fórum de discussão técnico-científica em língua Portuguesa nas metodologias ‘Building Information Modelling’ (BIM), envolvendo a participação ativa das comunidades profissional e académica das áreas de Arquitetura e Engenharia. Pretende-se enfatizar os problemas e esforços de implementação n...

1 2 3 Resumo O Building Information Modeling (BIM) oferece uma nova abordagem nos processos de controlo e gestão de toda a informação criada e desenvolvida na fase de projeto pelas várias especialidades, bem como por todos os intervenientes durante o ciclo de vida dos edifícios, através da criação de um modelo digital. A reabilitação de edifícios t...

Livro de atas do Congresso ptBIM 2022, onde se promove um fórum de discussão técnico-científica em língua Portuguesa nas metodologias ‘Building Information Modelling’ (BIM), envolvendo a participação ativa das comunidades profissional e académica das áreas de Arquitetura e Engenharia. Pretende-se enfatizar os problemas e esforços de implementação n...

Livro de atas do Congresso ptBIM 2022, onde se promove um fórum de discussão técnico-científica em língua Portuguesa nas metodologias ‘Building Information Modelling’ (BIM), envolvendo a participação ativa das comunidades profissional e académica das áreas de Arquitetura e Engenharia. Pretende-se enfatizar os problemas e esforços de implementação n...

Decision-makers in public and private asset-intensive organizations strive to consistently deliver and maximize benefits in the face of competing investment alternatives. The intended aim of these decisions is to satisfy organizational objectives and stakeholders' needs and expectations. This paper proposes a decision making support tool based on a...

The tangible and intangible value derived from the built environment is of great importance. This raises concerns related to the resilience of constructed assets to both human-made and natural disasters. Consideration of these concerns is present in the countless decisions made by various stakeholders during the decades-long life cycle of this type...

The real-estate valuation is still complex when it comes to the quantification of the areas and all the factors and coefficients involved in the tax asset value calculation. Automatic methods developed for this purpose have been using various possible approaches and tend to be quite complex for the calculation speed required in most cases. Building...

The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector has innovated in the design and construction methods using new technologies, with emphasis on the Building Information Modeling (BIM) methodology. However, it is still necessary to explore how this methodology can be applied to rehabilitation, in general, and to functional re...

Transport infrastructures such as roads, railways and runways are under increased traffic loading and their rehabilitation has to be performed in an efficient way, structurally and financially. In this process, monitoring of structural and functional capacity of transport infrastructures using non-destructive tests is performed in a systematic way....

The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is growing in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) sector. BIM is an innovative methodology that enables a new approach to construction information management, based on the design of a virtual information model, and which presupposes a new paradigm in the way information ex...

The rehabilitation of buildings has been growing in the last few years, being one of the areas with greater investment by the public and private sectors. The challenge on the rehabilitation of buildings allows reducing the use of resources, trying to reduce the environmental impact and making the construction sector more efficient. The energy rehab...

Over the last few decades, the architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) sector did not follow the technological evolution observed in other sectors. Although there have been technological innovations, which include BIM and the Protocol for Standardization of Technical Construction Information (ProNIC—Portuguese abbreviation), th...

Building Information Modeling (BIM) stands out as a vector of innovation encouraging a revolution in modern Civil Engineering. This methodology congregates process, politics, and technology enabling a collaborative construction in virtual space. BIM implementation in buildings and infrastructures has been advantageous when compared to traditional p...

Amongst the numerous challenges faced by the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) sector, there is the need to fulfil the requirements from a wide range of increasingly demanding stakeholders, which are usually seeking for some sort of demonstration of the degree to which their needs are fulfilled (e.g. certification of buil...

The building rehabilitation emerges as an opportunity for the construction sector to readapt, betting on the requalification of the existing building heritage, improving, if possible, its quality based on sustainability principles. In this sense, when interventions financed through public funds are planned in a qualified public building, there are...

The number of buildings that have been rehabilitated in recent years has increased, making this, one of the areas with the biggest investment by the public and private sector. In fact, one of the main purposes of building rehabilitation is to increase its life cycle, allowing a better adaptability, increasing quality standards, reducing the utiliza...

The decision to intervene in Railway Infrastructures (RI) in a sustainable way is complex, because the involved costs require different assessment levels, given their relevance to all stakeholders in decision-making, and are not always easily quantifiable. Following recent decisions of the EU, it is urgent to carry studies to support RI sustainable...

A conjuntura dos últimos anos em Portugal, tem promovido a reabilitação de imóveis em detrimento da construção nova, sendo que ações deste género possuem especificidades técnicas que devem ser alvo de estudo por parte dos intervenientes no projeto, construção e manutenção. De forma a realizar este estudo é necessária uma base onde toda a informação...

A normalização procura a definição, a unificação e a simplificação, recorrendo para o conseguir às Normas. A existência de Normas para a construção é fundamental para a segurança e conforto de pessoas e bens. O presente trabalho pretende contribuir para a definição de um Sistema de Classificação da Informação na Construção (em inglês CICS) Nacional...

A normalização é um fator fundamental numa atividade, em conformidade com o fim a que se destina, traduzindo-se através da elaboração de documentos denominados por normas. O aumento da complexidade no setor de Arquitetura, Engenharia, Construção e Operação (AECO) e o desenvolvimento da metodologia Building Information Modelling (BIM) vieram gerar m...

O setor de Arquitetura, Engenharia, Construção e Operação (AECO) tem um papel fundamental e determinante no conjunto das atividades mais relevantes nas economias modernas sendo importante estabelecer metas para o seu desenvolvimento e modernização. A implementação de novas ferramentas tecnológicas contribui para que este setor se torne ainda mais c...

O BIM é uma metodologia que serve para toda a indústria AECO (Arquitetura, Engenharia, Construção e Operação) e, como tal, permite a representação das características estruturais e funcionais de uma construção, incluindo atividades, entre outras informações. A característica principal do BIM é o sistema de modelação tridimensional que inclui a gest...

O setor da construção revela algumas vezes uma grande disparidade entre os prazos e custos previstos e os prazos e custos de execução, considerando-se que existem oportunidades de melhoria da eficiência do processo. Desta forma, as novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação na construção, nomeadamente a metodologia Building Information Modelling...

The socio-economic objectives of transport projects are generally related to the improvement of travel conditions for goods and passengers as well as the improvement of the quality of the environment and the wellbeing of the served population. Railways infrastructure projects are always complex because of the many variables involved. In railway reh...

This paper is based on the master's dissertation of the first author, developed under the existing protocol between LNEC and FCT-UNL, whose subject is "Structuring Interoperability between BIM objects and the application ProNIC in the specialty of installations” and aims to develop a methodology for linking Building Information Modeling (BIM) with...

The decision to rehabilitate Architectural Heritage (AH) in a sustainable way is complex, because the associated costs require different levels assessment, given their relevance to all stakeholders in decision-making, and are not always easily quantifiable. Following recent decisions of the EU, it is urgent to carry studies to support AH sustainabl...

The management of information systems contributes to the economic development of the construction sector by organizing and structuring technical and economic information. It is proposed how BIM (Building Information Modelling) and a Portuguese information system-ProNIC (abbreviation for Protocol for the Standardization of Construction Technical Inf...

This paper is focused on the study of an earthquake protection system, the tuned liquid damper (TLD), which can, if adequately designed, reduce earthquake demands on buildings. This positive effect is accomplished taking into account the oscillation of the free surface of a fluid inside a tank (sloshing). The behaviour of an isolated TLD, subjected...

Resumo: A construção industrializada de edifícios está em geral associada à utilização de soluções tecnológicas, incluídas em sistemas e produtos de construção com forte componente inovadora, através das quais se obtêm acréscimos de produtividade e de qualidade da obra, bem como uma significativa redução dos prazos e do custo total da construção. U...

Resumo: Pretende-se apresentar as principais soluções construtivas recentes para paredes interiores e exteriores de edifícios, e analisar os aspetos essenciais relativos ao seu desempenho funcional e durabilidade. Abstract: The aim is to present the main construction solutions for internal and external buildings walls, and to analyse the essential...

The inclusion of passive energy dissipation devices is seen as a cost effective way to improve protection against seismic loads. A considerable number of these devices have already been installed in structures throughout the world. In the recent years devices such as Tuned Liquid Dampers (TLD) have been receiving increasing attention as a simple bu...

The inclusion of passive energy dissipation devices is seen as a cost effective way to improve protection against seismic loads. A considerable number of these devices have already been installed in structures throughout the world. In the recent years devices such as Tuned Liquid Dampers (TLD) have been receiving increasing attention as a simple bu...

A mitigação de danos em edifícios submetidos a acções sísmicas, tem vindo a ser alvo de importantes contribuições provenientes de diferentes áreas do conhecimento visando uma melhoria de eficiência das construções. Uma das vias em desenvolvimento passa pela utilização de sistemas de absorção de vibrações O presente artigo descreve um sistema de sim...

This paper describes shaking table tests, and their main results, of an asymmetric limestone masonry building, under two different reinforcement techniques. The work was developed within the scope of the project “Enhancing Seismic Resistance and Durability of Natural Masonry Stone” for User Group 3 of the European Consortium of Laboratories for Ear...

The seismic protection of the gas lifelines, essentially composed by buried pipelines, has become a growing preoccupation in the latest years. In Portugal, particularly in the Lisbon's metropolitan area, this problem has an increased importance. the work presented in this paper is part of a study performed to evaluate seismic vulnerability of the L...

O trabalho apresentado neste artigo insere-se num estudo realizado para a avaliação e caracterização da vulnerabilidade sísmica de redes de gás e combustível impementadas na área metropolitana de Lisboa e alguns concelhos limitrofes. O principal objetivo desta investigação consiste no estudo da vulnerabilidade sísmica de condutas enterradas deste t...

This paper describes the shaking table tests, and their main results, of an asymmetric limestone masonry building, under different reinforcement conditions. The work was performed in the aim of the project "Enhancing Seismic Resistance and Durability of Natural Masonry Stone" for User Group 3 of the European Consortium of Laboratories for Earthquak...