Papers by Neritan Shkodrani
Albania, along with other Western Balkan countries, has undergone signi cant economic, social, an... more Albania, along with other Western Balkan countries, has undergone signi cant economic, social, and political changes in recent years. As a result, housing, planning, and the resilient management of territorial development have emerged as critical issues. is is because these regions face signi cant challenges in providing a ordable housing, addressing the impact of urbanization on the environment, fostering evidence-based decision-making on the territory, and bringing forth the commitments towards climate neutrality. e organizers use the term "multi-modality" to de ne complex situations (in matters of territorial planning, management, architecture, housing, public space, technology, etc.) that have historically encompassed Western Balkans and Mediterranean cities in a logic of coexistence and value co-creation. A combination of knowledge and heritage that throughout time and history have given life to civilization in this region of Europe. e active involvement of Albania in the existing network of the Mediterranean Basin and the EU, through a joint action plan with UN / UNECE, and the Albanian and regional authorities, including reputable scienti c bodies such as the Academy of Sciences of Albania, makes this conference even more intriguing to explore fascinating areas of research. e conclusions, to be considered as a stage for open innovation, will include recommendations for further scienti c and applied research, projects, and events. e geographical focus of the conference covers three dimensions: i) Albania; ii) the Western Balkans; iii) Euro-Mediterranean countries. POLIS University aims to focus on the above-mentioned research areas that are of common interest to both Western Balkans and Mediterranean cities, including, but not limited to: housing policies, urban history and architecture typology, innovation and digitalization in urbanism, energy e ciency, resilience and environmental sustainability, governance and smart technologies for city management, education and gender aspects in urban planning research. In this regard the main aim of this international conference is to bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to examine the pressing issues of housing, planning, and land development in these regions, in a context of transition fatigue, climate challenges and post-pandemic realities. Conference Aim e main aim of this international conference is to bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to examine the urgent issues of housing, planning and land development in these regions, in a context of transition, climate challenges and post-pandemic realities. -Consolidation of the cooperation network between Albanian and non-Albanian researchers, lecturers, managers, with the aim of participating in joint research projects at the regional and international level; Innovative Soft Planning Tools and the Concept of Positive Energy Districts.
Journal of civil engineering and architecture, Oct 28, 2022
Journal of civil engineering and architecture, May 28, 2015
The liquefaction is a very significant phenomenon in clayey silty soils, silty sands and also san... more The liquefaction is a very significant phenomenon in clayey silty soils, silty sands and also sands. The high potential of liquefaction is generally recognized when these types of soils are laid under the hydrostatic water table. Low plasticity silts, silty sands and sands are found as recent alluvial deposits in the western coastal part of Albania, especially in the sandy beaches of Adriatic Sea near Durres City. The aim of this study is to evaluate the soil liquefaction potential in the area of Golem. Ten CPTUs (cone penetration test with pore pressure measurements) are carried out for the site investigation of soils. In this paper, results of the CPTU based liquefaction analysis are presented. The data of two CPTUs (10 in total) are analyzed and factor of safety was found by considering different levels of hazard and ground water. The results of liquefaction potential analysis show that the soils in the area of Golem have a high risk of liquefaction.
2nd Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering ‒ 2CroCEE
In recent years, the improvement of disaster and emergency management through building a harmoniz... more In recent years, the improvement of disaster and emergency management through building a harmonized and efficient system for risk assessment of structures in the cross-border region (CBR) has become increasingly popular. Harmonization of the risk exposure model for cross border regions is first and most important step for assessment of risk in the region. Different countries, even neighboring ones, have different frameworks in which buildings for basic services and transport infrastructures are designed, built and maintained. Hence, they involve different institutions and employ different ways of gathering information on existing structures within their networks. Each of them may use different methods and systems for keeping records on their assets. Therefore, there is no readily available inventory which covers the entire stock of bridges and buildings for basic services in any of the CRISIS adjacent partner countries. The harmonized regional risk exposure model is result of the ac...
2nd Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering ‒ 2CroCEE
This paper aims to describe the CRISIS web-based platform (WBP) in all its parts and functionalit... more This paper aims to describe the CRISIS web-based platform (WBP) in all its parts and functionalities. The platform is the main result of the two-year EU-funded project CRISIS (Comprehensive RISk assessment of basic services and transport InfraStructure). It has been developed by EUCENTRE (European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering) using the most up-to-date web programming frameworks and technologies. The CRISIS WBP is a user-friendly tool intended to support disaster and emergency management authorities in case of earthquakes and/or seismo-induced landslides in the cross-border region of Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece. It has been designed to collect, organise, and visualise for the project target area: i) the exposure data of educational facilities, health facilities, and bridges; ii) the seismic and landslide hazard data; iii) the earthquake damage scenarios (calculated both for selected historical events and in real-time); and iv) the landslide ris...
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Transport infrastructures, such as bridges, located in seismically active regions are potential e... more Transport infrastructures, such as bridges, located in seismically active regions are potential exposure due to seismic hazards. A bridge collapse can have tremendous consequences because they provide vital links in a transportation system. Cross border region historically is very well known as territory characterized with high seismic risk. For that purpose, this study is related to the identification of seismic hazard cross-border harmonization vulnerability assessment of risk based on defined levels of seismic hazard and definition of reliable risk of simply supported girders bridge, which is main typology scheme. This study presents an analytical method to predict damage exceedance probabilities due to seismic events using the development of fragility curves. The proposed framework is demonstrated by performing case study highway bridges located in cross border Albanian region with Greece and North Macedonia. Bridge hazard identification is defined by established each damage sta...
This paper presents the stability problems of an artificial cohesion-less embankment slope suppor... more This paper presents the stability problems of an artificial cohesion-less embankment slope supported on a saturated silty clay layer. In June 2011, an embankment about 9.00 m high started to be constructed in the Energetic Park of Porto Romano, in Durres city, Albania, as part of Preloading to Mitigate Seismic Risk project. The embankment, foreseen to be built in a conic trunk shape form, was to be used as a preload during the consolidation process of the site. Eighteen days after starting the construction process, when the embankment reached the height of 6.35 m, a soil stability failure of the embankment occurred. The calculations include the embankment slope stability analysis, during the design phase, considering the total height of the embankment (9.00 m) and at the moment of failure when the embankment height reached 6.35 m. The paper also presents the results of a back calculation of shear strength parameters at the moment of failure. Probability Based Design Method and Eurocode 7 Design Approaches are used during the analysis, considering long-term (drained) and short-term (undrained) conditions of the silty clay foundation.
Journal of Ecological Engineering
Soil erosion is closely related to climate changes, because changes to temperature and precipitat... more Soil erosion is closely related to climate changes, because changes to temperature and precipitation regimes may alter the erosivity of rainfall. The present study aimed to project future soil erosion phenomena in the Vjosa River Basin (VRB) using climate projections under the Representative Concentrations Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. SimCLIM model was used to perform the climate projection for the years 2035 and 2050, based on historical temperature and precipitation data (2000-2015). This investigation was carried out by using Erosion Potential Method EPM to estimate the effects of climate change on soil erosion in Vjosa River Basin, Albania. Results show an increase in average min and max annual temperature for both scenarios RCP4.5 and 8.5 by the end of 2050. The evaluation of the monthly precipitations for all RCPs reveals a likely decrease in summer precipitation, and a slight positive trend of winter precipitation for all time periods up to 2050. An increase in terms of eroded material and specific eroded material was estimated from the results of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Thus, it can be stated that the study area has and will have a moderate erosion risk under these climate conditions.
Academic platform journal of natural hazards and disaster management, Dec 1, 2020
Structural Engineering and Mechanics, 2021
Albania is considered a seismic region in Europe. Bridges are one of the main and the most vulner... more Albania is considered a seismic region in Europe. Bridges are one of the main and the most vulnerable components of the transportation system. Therefore they should be functional before and after earthquake action. Using the fragility curve is one of the popular tool in assessing the seismic behaviour of the bridges. The fragility curves are conditional statements, which give the probability of bridge exceeding a particular damage level for a given intensity level. In this study one of the most common bridges type in Albania is assessed. This paper presents a case study of developing fragility curves for simply supported bridges for Vora viaduct. The paper illustrates the use of fragility in verifying the performance objectives of bridge’s seismic design. The sources of date needed for this analysis are: bridge design project, ground motion date, geological maps. The analytical modelling and time history analysis were done and the limit states are defined for displacement ductility ...
In earthquake disaster prevention, one serious problem confronting the world's earthquakepron... more In earthquake disaster prevention, one serious problem confronting the world's earthquakeprone countries is seismic performance of buildings. A building is expected to remain safe and provide its intended function throughout its life span, with only small performance interruptions or damage due to earthquakes. It is necessary to identify buildings that are in risk and carry out their reconstruction or seismic retrofit in order to provide more strength and ductility. However the seismic retrofits come to a premium. Therefore, seismic retrofit of buildings entails an important riskmanagement decision problem as an optimal balance between the cost for the reinforcement and the future risks that must be achieved. This paper presents a decision methodology in seismic risk management considering only one fundamental risk, the cost imposed on the decision maker. The risk is expressed as the expected life-cycle cost, which is the expected amount of payments during the life of the buildi...
This paper deals with the evaluation of liquefaction potential of the soils at the marsh of Porto... more This paper deals with the evaluation of liquefaction potential of the soils at the marsh of Porto Romano, located in the western central part of Albania, where will be constructed the Energetic Park of Porto Romano. These analyses are performed based on the data taken from different in situ testing techniques. Piezocone tests (CPTU) were carried out during the two different site investigations (before and after the ground improvement) for the characterization of soil layers and determination of soil properties. In addition, during the first phase of site investigation a full seismic study was performed to estimate the shear wave velocity, Vs, and the peak ground acceleration. During the second site investigation two seismic dilatometer Marchetti tests (SDMT) were also carried out very close to the CPTU locations. The paper shows the results of the liquefiability assessment by CPTU and SDMT tests carried out during the two site investigations.
Journal of Ecological Engineering, 2022
Soil erosion is one of the most important phenomena affecting land composition and settlement. Am... more Soil erosion is one of the most important phenomena affecting land composition and settlement. Among all natural causes of soil erosion such as rainfall intensity, temperature and wind, the human activity; massive deforestation and intensive agriculture, including the latest climate changes are considered as very important factors, especially nowadays. Thus, calculating the soil erosion coefficient appears very important in order to prevent the phenomena. Many methods are used to calculate such coefficient but in the presented research, the Erosion Potential Method was chosen. In this study, eight watersheds in southeastern Albania were evaluated. Results show that erosion is present in all considered watersheds. In one case (Panariti watershed) the erosion coefficient was very high; excessive, while in others it varies from heavy to very slight erosion. In conclusion, it can be stated that the Erosion Potential Method can be applied in the Albanian contest, same as in other neighbor countries. The results from Panariti, Roshani and Gianci should be further investigated due to the high quantity of soil eroded.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the liquefaction-induced ground deformations of sand-like so... more The aim of this paper is to evaluate the liquefaction-induced ground deformations of sand-like soils based on Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) at Semani site, Fieri prefecture in Albania. These tests are performed during the process of investigation of this area, in which a Liquid Natural Gas Ter-minal-Power Plant was supposed to be built. This paper presents the assessment of the liquefac-tion and of the liquefaction-induced ground deformations such as lateral spreading displacement and post-liquefaction reconsolidation settlement. The liquefaction-induced lateral spreading and post-liquefaction reconsolidation settlement are estimated based on CPT data according to the method in MNO-12 “soil liquefaction during earthquake”, presented by Idriss and Boulanger (2008). This evaluation is very important and should be taken into consideration for the design of engineering structures that will be constructed in this area. All the calculation’s results are shown in graphs. At the end, there a...
Bridges are one of the main and most vulnerable components on transport infrastructure network, d... more Bridges are one of the main and most vulnerable components on transport infrastructure network, due to aggressive environment, degradation during the years of service, steel corrosion etc. A considerable number of existing Albanian bridges have been designed and constructed before 1989 year, according to former design code. Now days the design seismic code and their requirement are change. Therefore we need to assess seismic performance of bridges under different seismic loadings in different levels of reliability regard in requirements of new standards to seismic actions. Developing fragility curve on assessing bridges performance is effectively methodology in evaluation of vulnerabilities of existing reinforced bridges. This study concerns on providing a new method of seismic bridge assessment for bridge typology in Albania by means of fragility curves, considering columns as most vulnerable component. Ductility analysis for circular section piers is estimated by moment curvature ...
One of the most important aspects of coastal management and planning programs that needs to be in... more One of the most important aspects of coastal management and planning programs that needs to be investigated is shoreline dynamics. Long-term coastal analysis uses historical data to identify the sectors along the coast where the shoreline position has changed. At the southern part of Durrësi Bay, the sandy beach has suffered strong erosions for the last 20 years. In particular, in different segments situated at Karpen Qerret lowland, during the last year the annual erosion rates reach values up to 30-37 m. The analysis of the coastal dynamics and spatiotemporal changes in the coastal morphology for the period between 1944 and 2010 is an important tool to identify the principal factor of these changes and consequently to recommend the appropriate engineering interventions necessary to protect and recover the interested area. The present study takes advantage of geographical information system (GIS) tools to contribute to the knowledge of the shoreline dynamics of the southern part of...
In this study, an assessment on the aftershock occurrence probability based on the combination of... more In this study, an assessment on the aftershock occurrence probability based on the combination of Gutenberg-Richter and modified Omori formulae is made in order to forecast how many large aftershocks should follow small main shocks and in order to evaluate aftershock probability that a randomly chosen event is greater than or equal to a certain magnitude of aftershock. For this purpose, we made an application of aftershock probability evaluation methods to nine aftershock sequences in which occurred Albania between 2004 and 2009 with magnitude level between 4.5 and 5.0.
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Papers by Neritan Shkodrani