The majority of structural failures are attributable to errors in construction. This problem exists in all countries, but it is more frequent in developing communities. This study focuses on construction errors of structures in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. In this study, eighty-eight buildings have been investigated during the construction phase. These buildings have been categorized into ten types and have been distributed in twenty-two suburbs. Results showed that the buildings of Tehran can suffer from at least forty-nine major construction problems. In addition, for the first time, this research has introduced the following three terms in relation to prioritizing of construction errors: Relative Importance Factor (RIF), Priority Index (PI) and Structural Importance Index (SII). As a part of the conclusions, the results showed one hundred percent of investigated buildings are affected dramatically by the “use of untrained workers” and “lack of sampling or wrong sampling” too. In this regard, the RIF and PI of each “Lack of sampling or wrong sampling” and “use of untrained workers” are 100 and 1, respectively. Also, suburb 3 has the best construction conditions while suburb 10 has the worst.

Immediate aid to survivors of a natural disaster is the keynote to crisis management. Providing temporary access is one of the most important principles of immediate relief. However, in the post-disaster conditions, it is not possible to use road construction machinery, especially in rural areas. Therefore, in this study, the feasibility of using a Rapid Assembly Building (RAB) system for the temporary pavement with the possibility of rapid construction, which follows the natural topography of the place, is investigated. The introduced system consists of a high-density polyurethane (PUR) foam core as well as two continuous layers of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) facings. For this purpose, the mechanical properties of the materials and composite pavement were determined by a series of laboratory tests. Then, the mechanical performance and bearing behaviour of an element of the presented pavement system was numerically modelled under AASHTO loading. Since in the post-disaster situation, it is not possible to establish the subgrade, an uncompacted subgrade is used for modelling. The results show that this system can be used well in post-disaster situations to provide a rapid, safe, yet robust road without any permanent deformation.

Fabric Formworks which are made using textile sheets such as Polyolefin, Polyesters/Polyethylene Terephthalate, nylon and Polypropylene are being used instead of conventional formworks in the construction industry. This article summarises significant studies and provides an updated review of references on the structural performance of fabric formworks over the last decade. The survey showed that they could be categorised into seven themes; namely, “Feasibility studies and manufacturing methods of complex structural elements”; “Finite element modelling, structural optimizing and form-finding themes”; “Pneumatic / Vacuumatic formwork theme”; “Durability, sustainability, efficiency and quality improvement”; “Cable-net fabric formwork theme”; “Stay-in-place structural formworks theme”; and “Review papers”. These categories comprise about 25%, 17%, 15%, 15%, 10%, 6% and 6% of related studies respectively.

Foam made panels as efficient building elements are becoming a major role player in modular construction with a variety of applications worldwide. However, construction accuracy, technology, and method can have serious effects on the panels’ behavior. In this study, using a unique pneumatic pressure testing rig, bending tests are conducted on the two types of rigid polyurethane panels. The panels are categorized based on the existence of construction cold joints (seams) as S (Seamless) type and TS (Transverse Seams) type. The S type panels are tested under monotonic uniform loading with a maximum nominal pressure of about 1 atm as the witness specimens. The TS panels are tested under both monotonic and cyclic uniform loading, and the deflections-pressure behavior obtained. The results show that S panels could resist up to 0.77 atm under monotonic uniform loading, while the minimum tensile strength of the foam is 13 MPa. In addition, panels with transverse seams collapsed under monotonic and cyclic loads at an average of 0.46 atm and 0.33 atm respectively but at the same position, located on the seamed section, which represent the same failure mode. Based on the results, the seamed section exhibited a maximum tensile strength of about 33.1% of an intact section under monotonic loading; and 27.9% lower results under cyclic loading.

Moment frame connections have high share to withstand deformation caused by earthquakes. Hence, connections of reinforced concrete structures must have sufficient plasticity in addition to resistance. Observations after earthquakes and the results of tests prove that structural damages have been more observed in the connections area. Implementation of reinforcement in limited volume of connection area is difficult and hence improving the behavior of the connection areas has been among the major issues discussed in structural engineering. In addition, corrosion in the bad environmental conditions is one of the main difficulties in implementing steels in concrete arming. Among alternative materials, FRP rebars that have higher durability, were given attention in recent years. In this study, the behavior of the element has been compared in these conditions by modeling the connection area with steel and FRP rebars.