The construction industry is vital for Sri Lanka's economy and society, yet it poses environmental challenges with long-term impacts on both. To achieve social and economic development, ...sustainability is imperative. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is widely acknowledged as an effective method for organizations to adopt sustainability within business operations. However, implementing CSR comes with various challenges. To overcome these hurdles and enhance CSR's impact, Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) has emerged as an effective approach, integrating entrepreneurial principles and innovation into CSR practices. A qualitative study with 17 semi-structured interviews conducted to understand prevailing CSE practices among Sri Lanka's construction business organisations and to develop a conceptual CSE model. Data analysis was based on transcribing, coding and categorizing. Prevailing CSE practices in construction businesses can be classified into five categories as: attitudinal perspective, innovative business strategies, awareness and commitment, stakeholder engagement, and research and development. To bridge the existing gaps in CSE, the proposed conceptual CSE model emphasise the importance of top management commitment, organisation-wide initiative actions required and effective monitoring and regulating. This model aims to promote CSE initiatives within construction organisations addressing micro level issues. Macro environmental gaps impend the sustenance of this CSE model. Thus, further studies are proposed to research on mitigating macro environmental gaps.
Incorporating recycled plastic waste in concrete manufacturing is one of the most ecologically and economically sustainable solutions for the rapid trends of annual plastic disposal and natural ...resource depletion worldwide. This paper comprehensively reviews the literature on engineering performance of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) incorporated in concrete in the forms of aggregates or fiber or cementitious material. Optimum 28-days’ compressive and flexural strength of HDPE fine aggregate concrete is observed at HDPE-10 and splitting tensile strength at HDPE-5 whereas for HDPE coarse aggregate concrete, within the range of 10% to 15% of HDPE incorporation and at HDPE-15, respectively. Similarly, 28-days’ flexural and splitting tensile strength of HDPE fiber reinforced concrete is increased to an optimum of 4.9 MPa at HDPE-3 and 4.4 MPa at HDPE-3.5, respectively, and higher than the standard/plain concrete matrix (HDPE-0) in all HDPE inclusion levels. Hydrophobicity, smooth surface texture and non-reactivity of HDPE has resulted in weaker bonds between concrete matrix and HDPE and thereby reducing both mechanical and durability performances of HDPE concrete with the increase of HDPE. Overall, this is the first ever review to present and analyze the current state of the mechanical and durability performance of recycled HDPE as a sustainable construction material, hence, advancing the research into better performance and successful applications of HDPE concrete.
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the coastal disaster resilience and the disaster management framework of Sri Lanka, by conducting a case study in a few coastal areas in the district of Matara ...which were majorly affected in 2004 by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Although it has been 15 years since the disaster struck the country, Sri Lanka is still struggling in building back better. This reveals the need to strengthen the action plan toward coastal disaster management by identifying the barriers and challenges that still exist in policies and frameworks, the use of technology in evacuation planning, implementation of evacuation plans and capacity building of the community.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted through structured and in-depth interviews among the general public and government officials targeting the eventual outcome as to ascertain barriers incorporated with the disaster management framework and then possible improvements to the framework were identified and suggested.
Findings
The findings showed that the practice of an administrative-oriented disaster management framework was a key element in creating a welfare-oriented community that is still building back better in Matara, which was one of the worst affected cities in the country during the 2004 Tsunami.
Originality/value
This paper facilitates resilience development by identifying the overall development of the system after 2004. The required modifications needed to strengthen the system have thereby been identified through the developed output which was produced by analyzing the barriers and challenges.
Rehabilitation of damaged bridges may be more beneficial than building new bridges. However, proper methods are necessary to assess the level of damages and to verify the fitness of such bridges for ...further use. In the assessment, there are two important criteria to consider. One is the amount of damage due to fatigue caused by usual past vehicle loading and the other is the magnitude of damage caused by the unexpected actions. The present paper is about a wrought iron bridge damaged by floods. In order to do the assessment, a condition survey was first carried out. Then an analysis was done using a finite element model of the bridge. The model was validated using results of a field loading test. Both static and dynamic loading tests were conducted using a locomotive with six numbers of 13.16-ton axles for five different loading cases to measure the displacement, strain and acceleration at predetermined (critical) members of the bridge. Then the damage in the bridge due to past loading histories and the future fatigue life of the bridge were estimated. Furthermore, using the validated model, the ability of the bridge for higher loading situations was confirmed. The future life was found as 30 years with a factor of safety of 3. The cost estimated for retrofitting work and constructing new reinforced concrete abutments was much less than that for constructing a new bridge. Therefore, it was decided that the rehabilitation of the bridge with necessary retrofitting work is more economical and sustainable than demolishing it and constructing a new one. The bridge is now in use after being repaired, retrofitted and placed on new abutments.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a method and results of evaluating damaged building extraction using an object recognition task in pre- and post-tsunami event. The advantage of ...remote sensing and its applications made it possible to extract damaged building images and vulnerability easement of wide urban areas due to natural disasters.Design methodology approach - The proposed approach involves several advanced morphological operators, among which are adaptive transforms with varying size, shape and grey level of the structuring elements. IKONOS-2 satellite images consisting of pre- and post-2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami site of the Kalmunai area on the East coast of Sri Lanka were used. Morphological operation using structural element are applied for segmented images, then extracted remaining building foot print using random forest classification method. This work extended further the road lines extraction using Hough transform.Findings - The result was investigated using geographic information system (GIS) data and global positioning system (GPS) ground survey in the field and it appeared to have high accuracy: the confidence measures produced of a completely destroyed structure give 86 percent by object-based, respectively, after the tsunami in one segment of Maruthamune GN Division.Research limitations implications - This study has also identified significant limitations, due to the resolution and clearness of satellite images and vegetation canopy over the building footprint.Originality value - The authors develop an automated method to detect damaged buildings and compare the results with GIS-based ground survey.
The utilization of industrial and agricultural by-products for the production of alkali activated concrete (AAC) has the potential to yield significant benefits towards sustainability goals. To be a ...viable material, the construction industry requires a construction material that achieves the requisite strength and the other property requirements as specified in codes and standards while demonstrating improved sustainability criteria. Fly ash and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) are abundantly available waste products, principally located in Asian countries. Currently, a significant proportion of these materials are disposed of in landfills, lagoons and rivers but offer potential to utilize in AAC. Hence, the identification of variables associated with fly ash and fly ah-RHA blended AAC by utilizing fly ash and RHA is vital. This study quantifies the environmental and economic factors by assessing the Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, environmental impacts and benefits, and cost analysis of utilizing fly ash and RHA in AAC compared to Portland Cement (PC) concrete. Alkaline activator is a key component responsible for the highest GHG emission, cost and environmental impact amounts obtained for fly ash geopolymer and blended alkali-activated concrete compared with PC concrete. Alkali activators contribute to 74% of the total GHG emission, while heat curing contributed only 9% to the total GHG emission. The addition of 10% RHA to alkali-activated concrete showed a slight benefit for the analysis. Utilization of waste fly ash and RHA is responsible for providing significant benefits in terms of fresh and marine water ecotoxicity by avoiding waste disposal at the dumpsites, rivers, and storage lagoons.
•12% & 48% increment in GHG emission and initial cost was observed, respectively, for blended alkali-activated concrete.•Alkali activators contributed 74% to the total GHG emission of blended alkali-activated concrete.•Addition of 10% RHA leads to a reduction of 1 kgCO2-eq/m3 of GHG emission.•Sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide are responsible upto 97% of the total impact for all categories except marine water ecotoxicity.•Utilization of waste fly ash & RHA provides environmental credits in terms of fresh and marine water ecotoxicity.
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