Despite all modern techniques in registering terrestrial laser scanner point clouds, registration of multiple scan positions is still a crucial issue, especially in large projects. Processes like the detection of corresponding points in scans and placing targets in fields consume a lot of effort, time and money. Three points are the minimum number of common points required for registration. In this work, a new two points registration (TPR) algorithm is developed to register terrestrial laser scanner point clouds using only two common points automatically. Decreasing the number of the required common points to two points reduces one-third of the registration work in both field and laboratory. An accuracy assessment study is then performed to compare the registration accuracy of the developed algorithm and the traditional algorithm employing both the time of flight laser scanner and the phase shift one. The results show that the accuracy of the two algorithms is approximately equal within the considered point clouds accuracy in both cases.

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The increasing value of land and the limited availability of suitable sites for construction are greatly encouraging engineers to consider in situ improvement of weak soil deposits. To economically develop marginal sites a number of ground improvement techniques have been developed as stone columns, jet grouting, compaction grouting, short pile, dynamic compaction, lime stabilization etc. Stone column treatment is one of the most promising and favourable ground improvement techniques widely practiced all over the world. This paper presents a critical review of analytical, experimental, numerical and field studies on the aspect of ordinary and encased stone columns which have been published in the past three decades. Focus is on the recent advancement of encasing these columns with geosynthetic products to enhance their performance in load bearing capacity, decreasing the compressibility, accelerating and reducing the consolidation settlement. Another advantage of encasement is to prevent excessive bulging, squeezing of stone into soft soil. This paper presents installation methods, failure modes of stone columns and brief review of previous researches.

Effective utilization of Daylighting Systems (DLS) in buildings has the potential to maximize the benefits of daylighting, reduce energy consumption, and achieve a quality building environment for the users. Even though the number of possible alternatives that can be generated for integrating DLS in buildings is immense, the number of DLS alternatives simulated and analyzed in previous research has been fairly limited. Therefore, this paper focuses on expanding the number of design alternatives to be simulated and analyzed for integrating DLS individually and collectively at both individual zones and in the whole building, including at different orientations, in order to better inform and enrich design decisions for selecting the best alternatives of DLS that can achieve the highest energy performance for office buildings in a hot climate zone such as Egypt. Daylighting and Energy simulation are conducted for these alternatives, along with visual and comfort analysis. The results of conducting a comparative study of various DLS in Office Buildings in Egypt include identifying optimal alternatives for improving energy efficiency. Results indicate that HSD and HST, whether individually or collectively, can achieve the highest savings, with a reduction of 40% in the energy consumption of cooling and lighting, while HLE saves 38% and HBI saves 24% of the energy consumption for cooling and lighting. The paper concludes with a developed guide to be used by building designers at the conceptual design stages to improve energy efficiency of buildings by selecting and integrating the most appropriate DLS based on building conditions and designers’ preferences of façade design.

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Numerous urban seismic vulnerability studies have recognized pounding as one of the main risks due to the restricted separation distance between neighboring structures. The pounding effects on the adjacent buildings could extend from slight non-structural to serious structural damage that could even head to a total collapse of buildings. Therefore, an assessment of the seismic pounding hazard to the adjacent buildings is superficial in future building code calibrations. Thus, this study targets are to draw useful recommendations and set up guidelines for potential pounding damage evaluation for code calibration through a numerical simulation approach for the evaluation of the pounding risks on adjacent buildings. A numerical simulation is formulated to estimate the seismic pounding effects on the seismic response demands of adjacent buildings for different design parameters that include: number of stories, separation distances; alignment configurations, and then compared with nominal model without pounding. Based on the obtained results, it has been concluded that the severity of the pounding effects depends on the dynamic characteristics of the adjacent buildings and the input excitation characteristics, and whether the building is exposed to one or two-sided impacts. Seismic pounding among adjacent buildings produces greater acceleration and shear force response demands at different story levels compared to the no pounding case response demands.