The Taj Mahal, built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, is considered to be a marvel of Mughal construction. While the structure has been studied in great detail from an architectural perspective, limited studies have been conducted with respect to its structural stability. Furthermore, very little information exists with regard to how the building, especially its distinctive dome, was constructed. The aim of this paper was to conduct a detailed structural analysis of the dome of the Taj Mahal in order to better understand how it was constructed. This is successfully performed by conducting a finite element analysis of the structure using Abaqus CAE, and by analyzing the materials, stresses, and dome construction techniques.@en

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the automation of the condition assessment process of an engineered system. When applied to geometrically large components or structures, such as those found in civil and aerospace infrastructure and systems, a critical challenge is in designing the sensing solution that could yield actionable information. This is a difficult task to conduct cost-effectively, because of the large surfaces under consideration and the localized nature of typical defects and damages. There have been significant research efforts in empowering conventional measurement technologies for applications to SHM in order to improve performance of the condition assessment process. Yet, the field implementation of these SHM solutions is still in its infancy, attributable to various economic and technical challenges. The objective of this Roadmap publication is to discuss modern measurement technologies that were developed for SHM purposes, along with their associated challenges and opportunities, and to provide a path to research and development efforts that could yield impactful field applications. The Roadmap is organized into four sections: distributed embedded sensing systems, distributed surface sensing systems, multifunctional materials, and remote sensing. Recognizing that many measurement technologies may overlap between sections, we define distributed sensing solutions as those that involve or imply the utilization of numbers of sensors geometrically organized within (embedded) or over (surface) the monitored component or system. Multi-functional materials are sensing solutions that combine multiple capabilities, for example those also serving structural functions. Remote sensing are solutions that are contactless, for example cell phones, drones, and satellites. It also includes the notion of remotely controlled robots.@en

Trajan's Bridge, built by Romans over the Danube River in the first years of the II century, was the first kilometer-long bridge ever built. It was a marvel of Roman engineering, especially taking into account challenging site conditions, available resources and record time for construction. The bridge's still-standing columns are witnesses to its masterful construction. The bridge was later intentionally destroyed by Romans, and several researchers in the past studied the bridge and attempted to reconstruct its appearance and structural system. However, the dearth of information generally associated with destroyed ancient structures makes their reconstruction extremely challenging. In the case of Trajan's Bridge, the only confirmed representation of the structure is on Trajan's Column, found just north of the Roman Forum. Nevertheless, several studies performed in the past proposed a structure different from the one shown in the Column. Most of these studies are not based on detailed structural analysis, and thus some of them do not seem to be credible from the engineering point of view. The aim of this paper was to reconstruct the structural system and appearance of Trajan's Bridge using structural analysis, and to determine to what extent the representation of the structure on Trajan's Column could be accurate. This is successfully performed by determining the number of degrees of freedom associated with the structure and by analyzing the materials, stresses, and the bridge construction technique.@en