Current competitiveness scenario in which engineering companies act, demands new production approaches, where the environmental variables play a key role. In such a way, the sustainability concept should begin to be managed by all the agents involved: engineers, architects, owners, among others. Sustainability concept, being of general character, has remained in a conceptual context, becoming difficult the development of tools that facilitate its consideration through the entire project life cycle. This study had as purpose to integrate the philosophies of Sustainable Construction, or Green Building, and Lean Construction, the latter employee as the necessary complement to give an analysis baseline focused on the production management. The design, planning and construction stages were defined as the enclosed life cycle, being determined integration vectors by means of the morphological analysis and cross-impact matrix. The vectors with direct relationship for the implementation of the Green-Lean integration were determined. As implementation tool of the Green-Lean integration, Constructability was used which allowed sequencing the construction processes. This conceptual exercise was only applied at design level. As a result, at conceptual level was stated that the tools applied in the project management (Lean Construction and Constructability), give a sound support for the implementation, and future application, of Sustainability criteria in the processes and stages involving the whole project life cycle.

Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.1, pp. 05-32. ISSN 0718-5073.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732009000100001

This paper describes the beginning and evolution of the now worldwide growing offshore wind energy industry. In particular, the current renewable energy policy in the UK is described. The characteristics of the environmental loads offshore, type of seabed soils and foundations commonly adopted are explained. The type of structure and loading regime establish new conditions from a Civil Engineering point of view. Suction caissons are introduced as an alternative foundation for offshore wind turbines. Suction caissons are currently an accepted alternative to pile foundations in applications for the oil and gas industry. However, this is not yet the case in applications for offshore wind turbines.

Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.1, pp. 33-48. ISSN 0718-5073.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732009000100002

Construction industry is one of the largest and most important industries in Palestine. Quality and safety in the industry still suffers from ignorance and lack of supervision and accident rate on construction projects is very high. The objective of this paper is to identify the quality and safety factors that relate to safety, and determine their relative importance as perceived by contractors to help reduction of accidents. A survey was conducted by using a 55 item questionnaire which was grouped into 15 major categories. Analysis of the responses found the most important factors that included: "safety organization formed with community culture considers safety is a vital need for people", "all managers are required to go through proper safety management training", "all engineers are needed to go through relevant safety management training", "lack of orientation training of new workers decreases quality and increases risks for them", and "safety organization formed in such a way that workers and top management exercise positive behavior towards safety". The results found that safety training group was categorized as the most important among the 15 categories.

Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.1, pp. 49-78. ISSN 0718-5073.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732009000100003

This paper presents the results of an experimental research on influence of steel fibers on shear behavior of concrete, using modified JSCE - SF6 test. The tests results are used to evaluate the energy dissipation capacity of concrete during failure or fiber reinforced concrete toughness, in terms of amount and type of fibers. With the results, it can be concluded that the addition of fibers as shear reinforcement influence significantly the ductility of concrete. The results show that the absorption energy capacity of concrete, measured by mean of absolute toughness, increase 3 times when concrete is reinforced with steel fibers, and reach ductile failures. Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of fiber on concrete is a good solution for improving the properties of hardened concrete under shear stress. Additionally, this work shows that Japanese recommendation JSCE - SF6, slightly modified, give consistent and reproducible results, allowing to quantify different properties of fiber reinforced concrete under shear stress.

Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.1, pp. 74-94. ISSN 0718-5073.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732009000100004

Using finite elements method a numerically pull out test is reproduced that usually is performed in composite slabs with steel deck to estimate slip resistance due to longitudinal shear forces between steel deck and concrete block surfaces. Has been assumed an elastic- plastic model to represent steel behavior,and a plastic damage model for concrete. Bases have been establish to perform a parametric study of the problem, an to develop analytic method to calculate longitudinal shear.

Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.1, pp. 95-113. ISSN 0718-5073.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732009000100005