1.1. SAFETY OF CIVIL STRUCTURES Society expects that the failure of civil structures is extremely rare and relies on the care and expertise of the professionals involved in the design, construction and maintenance of structures. This is in particular true for public technical systems such as transportation or energy supply systems and structures such as bridges. Structural safety may be defined as follows: "Adequate safety with respect to a hazard is ensured provided that the hazard is kept under control by appropriate measures or the risk is limited to an acceptable value. Absolute safety is not achievable." It is thus not the structure as such that is designated safe but rather the people, goods and the environment in its surroundings. The continued use of existing structures is of great importance because the built environment is a huge economic and political asset, growing larger every year. Nowadays evaluation of the safety of existing structures is a major engineering task, and structural engineers are increasingly called upon to devise ways for extending the life of structures whilst observing tight cost constraints. Also, existing structures are expected to resist against accidental actions although they were not designed for. Engineers may apply specific methods for evaluation in order to preserve structures and to reduce a client's expenditure. The ultimate goal is to limit construction intervention to a minimum, a goal that is clearly in agreement with the principles of sustainable development.

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I: Damage Assessment and Reconstruction of Structures. Editorial. Civil Engineering Structures: Multiscale Damage Representation, Identification, Controlled Destruction And Quick Reconstruction; A. Ibrahimbegovic et al.- Non-Destructive Assessment Of Concrete Damage: Interest, Difficulies And Research Needs; D. Breysse.- Improving Safety And Durability Of Civil Structures; E. Brühwile.- Structural Damage And Risk Assessment And Uncertainty Quantification; H.G. Matthies.- Computational Verification And Validation Of Engineering Structures Via Error Controlled Model And Discretization Adaptivity; E. Stein et al.- Predictive Modeling Of Damage In Structures And The Development Retrofitting Or Mitigation Strategies; D.R.J. Owen et al.- On Fundamental Concept Of Structural Collapse Simulation Taking Into Account Uncertainty Phenomena; D. Hartmann et al.- Earthquake Ground Motions For Seismic Damage Assessment And Re-Evaluation Of Existing Buildings And Critical Facilities; P. Leger, R. Tremblay.- II. Damage Assessment and Reconstruction of Infrastructure. Damage Assessment And Disaster Prevention In NAT Tunnels During Construction: Micromechanics-Supported Hybrid Analyses; H. Mang et al.- Crisis Management In Water Distribution Networks; P.Villon, A. Nace.- Nonlinear Behavior Of Soils As The Main Source Of Damage Of Structures; S. Dolarevic, A. Ibrahimbegovic.- Fire induced damage in structures and infrastructure: analysis, testing and modeling; A. Ibrahimbegovic et al.- Appendix: Damage Assessment To War And Natural Disasters In Bosnia And Herzegovina; Damage Assessment For Masonry, And Historic Buildings In Bosnia And Herzegovina M. Hrasnica.- Environmental Damage Assessment Waste Manage And Overview Of The Current Situation In Bosnia And Herzegovina; A. Serdarevic.- Illustrative Examples Of War Destruction And Atmospheric Impact On Reinforced Concrete Structures In Sarajevo; S. Medic et al.- Authors index.