Por solicitação da Secretaria de Estado dos Transportes, Obras Públicas e Comunicações, doMinistério da Economia do Governo de Portugal, entidade responsável pelo

The overall aim of the BioBuild project is to create a set of new bio-composite construction systems that can replace high-embodied energy materials by significantly improving the environmental impact and sustainability of the building industry. The project aims to fulfil this goal by introducing and broadening the use of bio-composite material systems in order to reduce the overall embodied energy associated to facades, supporting structure and internal partition systems by at least 50 % over benchmark solutions. The result of the project would be a set of low cost, lightweight, durable and sustainable biocomposite building systems for both new-build and refurbished structures, based on panels, profiles, frames and sandwich structures, with full technical and environmental validation. Throughout the project, and particularly within WP 2 and 3, the natural fibres have been optimised in terms of mechanical performance as well as surface treatment, while the resins have been tailored to achieve the best durability and compatibility with the reinforcements, as well as improved resistance to biodegradation. In general the materials have been optimized to improve other relevant performance such as: mechanical performance, fire resistance, biodegradation resistance, fibre-matrix interface, so that they can be used in a wide range of building components.

Controlling urban floods and managing direct discharges of effluents intoreceiving waters from combined sewer overflows (CSO) are two majorchallenges faced by urban water management utilities. Discharges from largecities can have significant environmental impacts on marginal water bodies,affecting the quality of life in general, and recreational activities in particular(Marsalek and Rochfort, 2004; David and Matos, 2005; Passerat et al., 2011).These impacts can be exacerbated by climate change. First, the growingmagnitude and frequency of extreme precipitation events (Groisman et al.,2005; Frei et al., 2006) will increase the number and severity of the discharges.Secondly, sea level rise and the resulting increase of salinity intrusion into thesewers can degrade the performance of wastewater infrastructures, affectinggate and pump operations and advanced biological wastewater treatmentprocedures.The ability to jointly manage an entire urban drainage and treatment system,towards an efficient and environmental-friendly operation of theseinfrastructures in a climate-change context, is often limited by the lack ofreliable real-time information. Existing information systems are frequentlydevoted to specific parts of the network, lacking synoptic and cross-domaindata. In addition, data and prediction tools are usually focused on physicalvariables alone. Water quality information is, at best, supported by verysimple modelling approaches and limited sensors. More often, thisinformation is sparse and not organized to provide efficient command andcontrol procedures, taking into account climate change effects in the variousdomains.Timely prediction and monitoring of environmental conditions, as well asanticipation of hazardous events, are essential parts of recreational watersmanagement. Monitoring and forecasting platforms can provide the necessaryinformation for safe and efficient economic activities, and the protection ofvaluable natural assets, including the preservation of ecosystems andrecreational areas.To this end, an innovative, real-time, coupled urban and estuarine platformwas developed to support the integrated water quality management ofwastewater systems, from the upstream catchment to the receiving waters.The platform efficiently integrates the monitoring and modelling of thedifferent physical and water quality processes from the catchment to thereceiving waters, at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. It providesreal-time web access to on-line hydrodynamic and water quality monitoringnetworks and short-term model predictions, based on a coupled modellingsystem that includes relevant interactions between the urban drainage systemand the receiving waters, automatically compared with available on-linenetwork data. This innovative decision support tool for urban drainagesystems management is organized to provide tailor-made, automatic servicesto support the major operation tasks, drilled-down to the necessary details fordecision support.The forecasting engine behind the platform provides hydrodynamic andfaecal contamination predictions in all components of the systems (drainagenetwork, wastewater treatment plant and estuary), accounting for allinteractions between them. Prediction models are forced by regional forecastswhenever possible, and by real-time data otherwise. The accuracy of thepredictions is verified through continuous, automatic comparison with datafrom the innovative on-line monitoring network, including both physical andwater quality sensors (Rodrigues et al., 2014).Based on the platform

The research project DRYMASS – Drying of porous building materials possibly contaminated with soluble salts (PTDC/ECM/100553/2008) took place from February 2010 to January 2014. The project allowed advancing the knowledge on drying of porous building materials, as well as about how soluble salts and some types of surface layers affect that behaviour. A new method to characterize salt decay processes by optical profilometry was proposed, and the usefulness of NMR to clarify the causes of such processes demonstrated. There was also a provisional patent application, which was based on research results about the influence that lime coatings have on drying. The main findings of the project were specifically the following. Lime coatings may accelerate the drying of porous substrates. Also due to their high drying rate, ordinary building materials have a high evaporative cooling potential. With salt solutions, the drying kinetics of porous building materials is slower than with pure water. One of the causes is the reduction in sorptivity. Occasionally, there is also obstruction to vapour transport by the efflorescence. However, in most cases, porous efflorescence occurs, which pose no obstruction to this transport. Further, fissures or disaggregation may accelerate drying. Soluble salts amplify the effects that the natural heterogeneity of porous materials has on the drying kinetics. Due to the chaotic nature of the process, lime coatings will not necessarily enhance drying in this case. Sodium sulfate can be very destructive in the absence of high temperature or successive wet/dry cycles. A delamination pattern similar to those found in real constructions was observed on the well-known Ançã limestone. NMR showed that mirabilite and heptahydrate can both be responsible for this delamination pattern, in different conditions. Thermal expansion may be one of the mechanisms involved in salt decay processes.

The Mozambican Roads Administration (ANE) has embarked on a project to establish a Road Research Centre (RRC) in Mozambique aiming to provide the basis for improving the long-term capacity to undertake relevant, high quality research relating to the road sector of Mozambique. This project forms part of the Africa Community Access Programme (AFCAP), which is a research programme supported by the Department of International Development (DFID) of the Government of the United Kingdom and managed by Crown Agents Ltd on behalf of DFID. CSIR, in association with LNEC has been commissioned by Crown Agents to provide Technical Assistance for phase 2 A of the project, which aims to address institutional issues relating to the RRC, draft a strategic research plan and develop a 5-year business plan for the RRC. This monthly progress report dated January 2014 summarises progress made with the identification of the road research needs of Mozambique; the production of recommendations on the institutional structure of the RRC; the establishment of the Road Research Technical Committee (RRTC) and the Road Research Steering Committee (RRSC); and the drafting of the business and strategic research plans for the RRC. The activities planned for February 2014 are also presented.

No presente relatório apresentam-se os dados meteorológicos do ano de 2013, recolhidos na estação meteorológica existente no Núcleo de Materiais Orgânicos do Departamento de Materiais do LNEC, em Lisboa.

Este relatório apresenta os resultados da monitorização do nível piezométrico e da qualidade daságuas subterrâneas efetuada nos furos e nos poços localizados no interior do perímetro do campusdo LNEC, bem como dos volumes de água drenados pelo sistema de bombagem instalado nas cavesdo edifício principal, durante o ano hidrológico 2012-2013.Apresentam-se as principais conclusões obtidas na perspetiva de compreensão da dinâmica entre osfenómenos de precipitação e a sua importância para a reposição dos níveis piezométricos, tendo emvista uma melhor gestão dos recursos hídricos subterrâneos do campus do LNEC

No âmbito das preocupações com a eficiência energética dos edifícios e com as exigências decorrentes do estabelecimento de requisitos mínimos de desempenho energético dos edifícios, baseados em níveis ótimos de rentabilidade em conformidade com as exigências da Diretiva 2010/31/EU recast, o LNEC colaborou na realização do estudo Português aplicável aos edifícios novos de comércio e serviços. Neste relatório, reúne-se parte das contribuições do LNEC para o estudo de edifícios de escritórios novos e apresentam-se as principais conclusões.

This is a mandatory delivery in the scope of European Union LIFE programme, consisting on the first activity report from LIFE Hymemb project and covering the period between January 1st 2014 and July 31st 2014. LIFE Hymemb general objective was to demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of advanced membrane processes for the treatment of drinking water, in order to provide a safer and more resilient barrier against emerging contaminants, with lower environmental impacts. The project relied on long-term demonstration of the powdered activated carbon/ceramic microfiltration (PAC/MF) technology in Alcantarilha Water Treatment Plant. This report contains 7 chapters, including the executive summary, administrative part, technical part (actions reporting), financial part and annexes.