Review Category : Emerging Technology

Hope, Hype, or Hindrance for Structural Engineering

Machine learning (ML) is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that uses algorithms to find patterns in data and make predictions about the future, essentially enabling computers to learn without being programmed explicitly beforehand. While AI and ML have been active fields of study and research since the 1950s, they have exploded in popularity over the past decade. This explosion is thanks to deep learning (DL), a type of ML that leverages big data and neural networks to tackle a diverse range of problems, from image recognition and fraud detection to customer support chatbots and language translation. Figure 1 shows the relationship between AI, ML, and DL, while Figure 2 shows the three major types of ML.

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3-D Printed Concrete Walls

Advances in construction technology create opportunities using new and innovative methods for the building construction industry, which are fast, efficient, reliable, and cost-effective. One of these methods is three-dimensional (3-D) printing construction technology (also known as additive manufacturing) for the job site construction of 3-D concrete structures. Although 3-D printing technology is not new and has been utilized for small-scale part production since the 1980s, it has found its way most recently into the construction industry and is pushing the boundaries of how engineers view and approach building construction.

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Concrete Block Serves as Electrical Batteries and Sensors

A new class of material has become the focus of much research in the field of cement science and concrete design. Geopolymers were initially named by French materials scientist Joseph Davidovits in 1979, who attributed this term to the amorphous to semi-crystalline tri-dimensional alumino-silicates that can be formed at low temperature and short time by alkali reaction with naturally occurring alumino-silicate solid materials – quite a mouthful but a precise representation of the chemistry involved.

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STRUCTURE magazine