Construction has always been considered a major producer of serious environmental problems due to large consumption of resources in terms of materials and energy accompanied by environmental pollution; therefore, the projects aiming to reduce these damaging effects are more than welcome. The objective of sustainable development is difficult to be performed by civil and structural engineers at a global scale. However, some solutions and systems for load bearing and cladding elements that make the buildings or other types of civil engineering applications may contribute, at least partially, to attaining some goals of sustainability. Fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) composite structures and hybrid systems may become sustainable when they utilise minimum material resources, increase the life span of buildings, have a very low environmental impact and ensure the high quality of civil infrastructures. The main objectives of the paper are related to the use of FRP composites in new construction components as well as rehabilitation of deteriorated civil engineering structures aiming to achieve sustainable solutions in civil and structural engineering. Starting from the concept of FRP composites and hybrid systems the authors describe a number of research and development projects carried out by the Composite in Construction Research Group (CCRG) at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi. After a critical evaluation of FRP composite materials applied in construction, the authors describe and analyse their results which addressed a long term program including: all composite structures, multilayered sandwich construction, concrete elements reinforced with FRP composite bars, and modern solutions for structural rehabilitation of load carrying elements made of traditional building materials aiming to improve the building components performance.

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The paper presents experimental and numerical investigations on the behaviour of rubberized concrete short columns confined with aramid fibre reinforced polymer (AFRP) subjected to compression. Additionally, the possibilities to substitute fine aggregate with crumb rubber granules, obtained from discarded worn tires, in structural concrete is also assessed. Because replacing traditional concrete aggregates by rubber particles leads to a significant loss in compressive strength, the authors highlight the use of AFRP confinement to partially or fully restore the compressive strength by applying a number of 1, 2, and 3 layers. Analytical models available for confined regular concrete are used to predict the peak stresses and the corresponding peak strains. Some analytical models give accurate results in terms of peak stress while others better approximate the ultimate strain. The full stress-strain curve of rubberized concrete and the experimentally obtained values for the material properties of AFRP are used as input data for the numerical modelling. A good agreement is found between the results obtained for the peak stress and corresponding axial strain from both the numerical simulations and the experimental investigations.

The aim to retrofit and preserve the monumental stone masonry buildings due to their historical and cultural relevance is accompanied by the necessity of understanding the behaviour of the unstrengthen structure, as well as its behaviour after the strengthening systems are applied. There is scarce information related to the mechanical properties of stone masonry buildings and even less regarding the assessment of these characteristics in numerical models. Therefore, simulating the force displacement variation and the stress-strain distribution of stone masonry loaded in diagonal compression is a challenging issue. This work contributes to this topic by developing two detailed micro non-linear 3D models. The first model was designed for an unreinforced masonry (URM) wall and the second one was developed for a strengthened URM wall. For this purpose, a commonly used seismic strengthening system, referred to as reinforced plastering mortar (RPM) or textile reinforced mortar (TRM) was applied on the wall. All the components of the TRM strengthening system and the interfaces between the system and the stone masonry wall were considered in the numerical model. The structural responses of the models were analysed and compared and the TRM system effectiveness in increasing the in-plane load resistance and ductility of stone masonry walls was highlighted.

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Concrete is a building material with a continuous demand in the construction industry due to the convenient price-performance ratio. On the other hand, concrete is not an environmentally friendly material. Thus, in order to obtain a sustainable material, wood waste can be recycled and used as light aggregates in the manufacture of precast ecological building blocks. Block walls must satisfy not only structural criteria but also functional requirements. In addition, thermal contribution is important in reducing energy consumption over the life of the building. The presence of moisture on the exterior walls due to the appearance of condensation will decrease the thermal performance of building materials. This paper analyses the occurring of condensation risk and its location in the outer wall made of wood-concrete blocks by the Glaser method, for different situations of arrangement and composition of the layers.

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