Catastrophic events like strong earthquakes can cause big losses in life and economic values. An increase in the efficiency of reconnaissance techniques could help to reduce the losses in life as many victims die after and not during the event. A basic prerequisite to improve the rescue teams’ work is an improved planning of the measures. This can only be done on the basis of reliable and detai...

to enhance the understanding of the impact of obstacle buildings on pollution transportationand dispersion in the atmospheric boundary layer, it is necessary to know the atmospheric flow characteristics over terrains. wind flow characteristics in a boundary layer over a step-shaped cliff topography model with rough and smooth surfaces were studied numerically using computational fluid dynamics ...

A wall climbing robot using propulsive force of propeller has been developed for wall inspection use. Thrust force is inclined to wall side to make use of frictional force between wheels and wall surface, and the robot can move on a vertical wall safely. A long body with many wheels is considered to move on an irregular wall surface. A strong and turbulent wind is predicted on a wall of high ri...

The recorded responses of an Anchorage, Alaska, building during four significant earthquakes that occurred in 2002 are studied. Two earthquakes, including the 3 November 2002 M7.9 Denali fault earthquake, with epicenters approximately 275 km from the building, generated long trains of longperiod (.1 s) surface waves. The other two smaller earthquakes occurred at subcrustal depths practically be...

One of the simplest methods to construct a 3D city model is to extrude building footprints to obtain “block-shaped” polyhedra representing buildings. While the method is well-known and easy to implement, if the 2D topological relationships between the footprints are not taken into account, the resulting 3D city models will not necessarily be topologically consistent (i.e. primitives shared by 3...

In this paper, a new method for the automated generation of 3D building models from directly observed point clouds generated by LIDAR sensors is presented. By a hierarchic application of robust interpolation using a skew error distribution function, the LIDAR points being on the terrain are separated from points on buildings and other object classes, and a digital terrain model (DTM) can be com...

A three-dimensional finite element model has been developed at Oxford University to study the effects of subsidence from soft ground tunnelling on adjacent surface structures. Simulation of excavation and the ground loss associated with tunnelling are incorporated in the model. Surface buildings are also included, as groups of interconnected two-dimensional façades composed of an elastic no ten...

We propose and describe a method for the estimation of the energetic rehabilitation state of buildings. It combines a virtual 3D city model with real measured heating energy data in order to determine energetic relevant building characteristics. Among these characteristics are, e.g., the volume, the assignable area, the building type or the surface-to-volume ratio (S/V). Using these values the ...

Uncontrolled excess moisture in buildings is a common problem that can lead to changes in fungal communities. In buildings, moisture parameters can be classified by location and include assessments of moisture in the air, at a surface, or within a material. These parameters are not equivalent in dynamic indoor environments, which makes moisture-induced fungal growth in buildings a complex occur...

Virtual reality applications in the context of urban planning presume the acquisition of 3D urban models. Photo realism can only be achieved if the geometry of buildings is represented by a detailed and accurate CAD model and if artificial texture or real world imagery is additionally mapped to the faces and roofs of the buildings. In the approach presented in this paper height data provided by...