Civil Engineering News

May 31, 2024

Top Headlines

Wind Farms Are Cheaper Than You Think -- And Could Have Prevented Fukushima, Says Global Review

May 28, 2024 — Offshore wind could have prevented the Fukushima disaster, according to a review of wind ...

Performance of Eco-Friendly Cooling Applications Enhanced

May 28, 2024 — Researchers have developed a sustainable and controllable strategy to manipulate interfacial heat transfer, paving the way for improving the performance of eco-friendly cooling in various applications such as electronics, buildings and solar ...

Researchers Introduce Programmable Materials to Help Heal Broken Bones

May 21, 2024 — Natural materials like bone, bird feathers and wood have an intelligent approach to physical stress distribution, despite their irregular architectures. However, the relationship between stress modulation and their structures has remained elusive. A ...

Blueprints of Self-Assembly

May 20, 2024 — Scientists have taken a step closer to replicating nature's processes of self-assembly. The study describes the synthetic construction of a tiny, self-assembled crystal known as a 'pyrochlore,' which bears unique optical properties. The advance ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:56pm EDT

Combining Simulations and Experiments to Get the Best out of Fe3Al

May 30, 2024 — Researchers combined computer simulations and transmission electron microscopy experiments to better understand the ordering mobility and formation of microstructure domains in Fe3Al alloy. They were ...

Researchers Create Materials With Unique Combo of Stiffness, Thermal Insulation

May 29, 2024 — Researchers have demonstrated the ability to engineer materials that are both stiff and capable of insulating against heat. This combination of ...

Researchers Design New Metal-Free Porous Framework Materials

May 22, 2024 — Researchers have used computational design methods to develop non-metal organic porous framework materials, with potential applications in areas such as catalysis, water capture or hydrogen ...

What Is the Carbon Footprint of a House in Japan?

May 15, 2024 — Researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis on the carbon footprint of constructing a wooden house in Japan. The team found that the estimated carbon footprint of a house in Japan is 38 tons of ...

Green Concrete Recycling Twice the Coal Ash Is Built to Last

May 15, 2024 — New modelling reveals that low-carbon concrete can recycle double the amount of coal ash compared to current standards, halve the amount of cement required and perform exceptionally well over ...

Getting Dirty to Clean Up the Chemical Industry's Environmental Impact

May 9, 2024 — The global chemical industry is a major fossil fuel consumer and climate change contributor; however, new research has identified how the sector could clean up its green credentials by getting ...

Bio-Inspired Materials' Potential for Efficient Mass Transfer Boosted by a New Twist on a Century-Old Theory

May 7, 2024 — The natural vein structure found within leaves -- which has inspired the structural design of porous materials that can maximize mass transfer -- ...

Caterbot? Robatapillar? It Crawls With Ease Through Loops and Bends

May 6, 2024 — Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting ...

The Clues for Cleaner Water

May 6, 2024 — By using experimental electrochemical analyses, mass spectrometry, and computational quantum chemistry modeling, the researchers created an 'atomic-scale storyline' to explain how ozone is generated ...

Marriage of Synthetic Biology and 3D Printing Produces Programmable Living Materials

May 1, 2024 — Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid ...

This Highly Reflective Black Paint Makes Objects More Visible to Autonomous Cars

May 2, 2024 — Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar ...

Innovation Promises to Prevent Power Pole-Top Fires

Apr. 30, 2024 — Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires ...

Details of Hurricane Ian's Aftermath Captured With New Remote Sensing Method

Apr. 29, 2024 — Using aerial imagery data and LiDAR, a study remotely identified the hardest-hit areas of Southwest Florida's Estero Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Researchers estimated the extent of ...

Pattern Formation in the Nano-Cosmos

Apr. 24, 2024 — A new model extends the theory of elastic phase separation towards nanoscopic structures. Such patterns are frequent in biological systems and also used in nano-engineering to create structural ...

Novel Material Supercharges Innovation in Electrostatic Energy Storage

Apr. 18, 2024 — Scientists have developed artificial heterostructures made of freestanding 2D and 3D membranes that have an energy density up to 19 times higher than commercially available ...

An Ink for 3D-Printing Flexible Devices Without Mechanical Joints

Apr. 18, 2024 — Researchers are targeting the next generation of soft actuators and robots with an elastomer-based ink for 3D printing objects with locally changing mechanical properties, eliminating the need for ...

Clearing the Air: Wind Farms More Land Efficient Than Previously Thought

Apr. 17, 2024 — Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable. However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land ...

A Smarter City Skyline for Flood Safety

Apr. 9, 2024 — With climate change and rising urbanization, the likelihood and severity of urban flooding are increasing. But not all city blocks are created equal. Researchers investigated how urban layout and ...

Building Blocks for Greener Energy: Reconfigurable Elastic Metasurface

Apr. 2, 2024 — Energy harvesting, an eco-friendly technology, extends beyond solar and wind power in generating electricity from unused or discarded energy in daily life, including vibrations generated by passing ...

Biofilm-Resistant Glass for Marine Environments

Apr. 2, 2024 — Engineers have created ultraviolet (UV) rays-emitting glass that can reduce 98% of biofilm from growing on surfaces in underwater ...

Are High-Purity Cathode Materials Truly Necessary?

Apr. 1, 2024 — Researchers introduce a groundbreaking alternative to reduce secondary battery ...

With a New Experimental Technique, Engineers Probe the Mechanisms of Landslides and Earthquakes

Mar. 25, 2024 — Researchers developed a method for 3D experiments that can reveal how forces are transmitted through granular materials, and how the shapes of the grains can dramatically change the outcomes. This ...

Bridge in a Box: Unlocking Origami's Power to Produce Load-Bearing Structures

Mar. 18, 2024 — Load-bearing structures like bridges and shelters can be made with origami modules -- versatile components that can fold compactly and adapt into different shapes -- engineers have ...

Batteries for Airborne Electric Vehicles That Take Off and Land Vertically

Mar. 12, 2024 — Researchers are taking cleaner transportation to the skies by creating and evaluating new batteries for airborne electric vehicles that take off and land vertically. Researchers are developing new ...

Have Metalenses Expanded Their Reach Into the Ultraviolet Region?

Mar. 12, 2024 — A team achieves successful mass production of metalenses designed for application in the ultraviolet ...

Would the Highly Sensitive Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Revolutionize Biomedical Imaging Technology?

Mar. 11, 2024 — A team develops an ultrasensitive broadband transparent ultrasound ...

Pinging Pipes Could Help to Identify Lead Water Lines Without Excavation

Mar. 7, 2024 — A recent study showed that it is possible to discern the composition of a buried pipe by striking an accessible portion of it and monitoring the sound waves that reach the surface. This method could ...

First Metamaterial Developed to Enable Real-Time Shape and Property Control

Feb. 28, 2024 — Engineers have unveiled an encodable multifunctional material that can dynamically tune its shape and mechanical properties in real ...

What Will It Take for China to Reach Carbon Neutrality by 2060?

Feb. 26, 2024 — To become carbon neutral by 2060, China will have to build eight to 10 times more wind and solar power installations than existed in 2022, according to a new study. Reaching carbon neutrality will ...

UBC Okanagan Researchers Look to the Past to Improve Construction Sustainability

Feb. 23, 2024 — Researchers are revisiting old building practices -- the use of by-products and cast-offs -- as a way to improve building materials and sustainability of the trade. A technique known as rammed earth ...