Events

Past Event

CEEM Seminar Series | Erez Gal | Civil Engineering Practical Challenges During the Climate Crisis Era

February 28, 2023
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Mudd Hall 337

Prof. Erez Gal
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: 337 Mudd (Click here to attend via Zoom.)
Host: Prof. Haim Waisman

Abstract: This presentation is my research journey, during the last decades, that was reflected from the climate change phenomenon. To achieve sustainability impact on the building sector, a holistic approach is needed, especially, to be able to enlarge awareness of resident, stakeholder, decision maker, professional, etc.. The following research activities will be presented as an integrated approach for sustainability building applications:

  1. Shape optimization of the building e.g. non-flat surface for rooftop. Structural engineers always would like to minimize the amount of materials needed to construct the building, yet today it is needed to take a step forward and be able to represent the reduction in Carbon footprint and Energy;
  2. Non-Corrosive building design increases life span of the buildings and amount of material needed for protecting against corrosion;
  3. 3D printing of buildings has the potential to reduce construction time, noise and other environmental concerns. It is also has the potential to implement Modular Building Units that can be assembled easily on site i.e. “3D Lego” approach;
  4. Bio-Composite building materials which are based of plants, such as Hempcrete, can be used for the envelope and interior wall;
  5. Renewable energy is standard in several locations yet the information and control on that system should be approachable to the residents by suitable monitoring system, like in the car industry;
  6. Indoor air quality and monitoring should be approachable to the residents by a suitable monitoring system;
  7. LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) should be applied to quantified environmental aspects such as Carbon footprint, Energy, Natural resources use, etc.;
  8. Underground space utilization has a lot of potential to deal with overcrowding and other sustainability issues

 

Bio: Prof. Erez Gal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, where he teaches a variety of courses in structural mechanics. His research areas of interest include the development of multi-scale formulations and analysis; Sustainability Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Embodied Energy (EE), and Operational Energy (OE) formulations; and Finite Element Analysis of complex engineering problems. He received his B.Sc. (1994), M.Sc. (1998), and Ph.D. (2002) degrees from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Technion-IIT (Israel Institute of Technology).