Bare Wall Research Articles

Assessing the Impact of Vertical Greenery Systems on the Thermal Performance of Walls in Mediterranean Climates

This study investigates the impact of vertical greenery systems (VGSs) applied to several typical wall configurations on indoor thermal conditions in a building module situated in the Mediterranean climate of Catania, Italy. By means of dynamic simulations in TRNSYS vers.18, the research compares the thermal behavior of walls made of either hollow clay blocks (Poroton) or lava stone blocks against a lightweight wall setup already in place at the University of Catania. The primary focus is on evaluating the VGSs’ capability of reducing peak inner surface temperatures and moderating heat flux fluctuations entering the building. The findings indicate that adding an outer vertical greenery layer to heavyweight walls can decrease the peak inner surface temperature by up to 1.0 °C compared to the same bare wall. However, the greenery’s positive impact is less pronounced than in the case of the lightweight wall. This research underscores the potential of green facades in enhancing the indoor thermal environment in buildings in regions with climates like the Mediterranean one, providing valuable insights for sustainable building design and urban planning.

Soil Erosion Characteristics of the Agricultural Terrace Induced by Heavy Rainfalls on Chinese Loess Plateau: A Case Study

Terrace erosion has become increasingly pronounced due to the rising incidence of heavy rainfalls resulting from global climate change; however, the processes and mechanisms governing erosion of loess terraces during such events remain poorly understood. A field investigation was performed following a heavy rainfall event in the Tangjiahe Basin to examine the soil erosion characteristics of loess terraces subjected to heavy rainfall events. The results show that various types of erosion occurred on the terraced fields, including rill, gully, and scour hole in water erosion, and sink hole, collapse, and shallow landslide in gravity erosion. Rill erosion and shallow landslide erosion exhibited the highest frequency of occurrence on the new and old terraces, respectively. The erosion moduli of the gully, scour hole, and sink hole on the new terraces were 171.0%, 119.5%, and 308.7% greater than those on the old terraces, respectively. In contrast, lower moduli of collapse and landslide were observed on the new terraces in comparison to the old terraces, reflecting reductions of 34.2% and 23.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the modulus of water erosion (32,102 t/km2) was 4.5 times that of gravity erosion on the new terraces. Conversely, on the old terrace, the modulus of gravity erosion (8804.1 t/km2) exceeded that of water erosion by 14.5%. Gully erosion and collapse dominated the erosion processes, contributing 67.8% and 9.4% to soil erosion on the new terraces and 38.7% and 34.0%, respectively, on the old terraces. In the study area, the new terraces experienced significantly greater erosion (39,252 t/km2) compared to the old terraces (16,491 t/km2). Plastic film mulching, loose and bare ridges and walls, inclined terrace platforms, and high terrace walls, as well as the developing flow paths, might be the key factors promoting the severe erosion of the terraces during heavy rainfall. Improvements in terrace design, construction technologies, temporary protective measures, agricultural techniques, and management strategies could enhance the prevention of soil erosion on terraces during heavy rainfall events.

Psychological Effects of a Living Wall System on Office Occupants: A Comparative Study Based on Physiological Responses

A Living wall system (LWS) is a biophilic design element that has been introduced into indoor environments in recent years. Previous studies have demonstrated that the LWS improves indoor visual comfort and air quality. However, studies on its psychological effects on occupants are still scarce. In this paper, the psychological effects were investigated by recording and analyzing the parameters of occupants’ physiological responses including an electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV). A cross-over experiment was conducted among 43 participants under three different desk work environments based on various materials involving an LWS, a fake LWS, and a bare white wall. The results conclude that LWSs effectively reduce the accumulation speed of negative psychological states caused by desk work to about 1/3, compared with a regular office environment without an LWS. However, occupants tend to be less excited and focused after resting in the LWS environment. Therefore, it is recommended to place LWSs in the rest area rather than close to the desk area in an office building, considering the balance between mental health and work efficiency.

Contrastive Investigation of High rise building with distinctive infill wall by Pushover analysis

Pushover analysis is a method that uses simple nonlinear techniques to predict seismic structural deformations. Today, we use masonry infill in reinforced concrete (R/C) frames for architectural, aesthetic or economic reasons. In this project, we need to study the effect of backfill on the damage structure of the reinforced concrete frame. The main purpose of this study is to show that adding walls to the reinforced concrete frame can increase the strength and stiffness of seismic resistant structure loads and increase the feedback for strength and stiffness analysis.These instructions strictly comply with FEMA-356. In this project, we use three types of bricks: red brick, fly ash brick, deep brick and siporex brick. Taking the output of non-linear analysis, we compare layer V/S i) Base Shear, ii) Storey Displacement, iii) Floor Shift Base Shear V/S Attack and Observe Spectrum Acceleration V/S spectral function . We also use ETABS 2017 software to study the effects of bare shear walls.. Key Words: Pushover Examination, Brick infill, FEMA-356, Displacement, Float, Shear Divider, ETAB-2017

Evaluating the Urban Heat Mitigation Potential of a Living Wall in Milan: One Year of Microclimate Monitoring

Urban heat island (UHI) mitigation and adaptation are urgent needs in a built environment, which requires us to search for sustainable solutions to limit the urban heat island effect and improve the energy efficiency of building envelopes. Among these solutions, vertical green structures (VGSs) have recently attracted significant attention for their potential to mitigate adverse effects, especially in densely built areas. This study presents a comprehensive data analysis of the microclimate of a living wall in Milan, Italy. Our aim was to evaluate this VGS’s performance in mitigating temperature increases caused by the UHI effect. In the literature, similar studies are limited to shorter monitoring periods (mostly in cooling seasons) and specific orientations (mostly facing south). However, the VGS presented in this case study here faces northwest and was continuously monitored for one calendar year. During this continuous in situ monitoring campaign, air temperature data from sensors either embedded in vegetation or exposed on a bare wall were collected and analysed over a whole calendar year, which is a novelty compared to the existing literature focused on VGSs due to the long duration. The findings indicate that the studied VGS has the ability to influence the outdoor microclimate depending on the season, the precipitation events, the wall exposure, the type of vegetation, and the vegetation’s phenological attributes. The analysis showed that the VGS consistently maintained cooler temperatures than the bare wall, with mean temperature differences ranging from 2.8 °C in autumn to 0.8 °C in spring through the winter. The vegetation acted as a natural insulator by reducing the air temperature during the hot summer and in early autumn, corresponding to the growing period of the vegetation. Thus, VGSs show potential to mitigate the global warming effect. These findings provide valuable insights on vegetation’s capability to act as a thermal regulator for sustainable urban planning and energy-efficient building design and retrofitting.

Experimental investigation of wax deposition on multiple steel alloys

Paraffin wax deposition is a flow assurance issue that occurs frequently in subsea crude oil and gas condensate flowlines and pipelines. While some mitigation techniques involve coatings, most wax deposition in the oil and gas industry occurs on bare pipe walls made of various steel alloys. Previously, there has not been any investigation into the possibility of differences in the wax deposition that could be attributed to the different types of steel alloys, and this study set out to fill that gap. A cold finger apparatus with interchangeable fingers was used to generate deposits. Deposits were created from waxy model oils across several bulk oil temperatures and rotational speeds. To cover a wide array of materials, six different steels were tested: A2, A36, 1018, 4130, 304, and 316. These materials range from low-carbon steels to high-chrome content stainless steels. Each cold finger's surface was finished with the same process to create a roughness of 4.6 ± 0.5 mm. Deposit mass, thickness, and composition all showed non-negligible differences between deposits formed on the steels investigated: masses varied by 5–15%, thicknesses varied by 30% or more, and deposit compositions were noticeably skewed. Alloy composition, contact angle, roughness, and thermal conductivity were discussed as possible indicators of the effects an alloy would have on wax deposition. These findings facilitate the comparison and interpretation of the results from wax research literature using different steel alloys as well as the design of laboratory wax testing that more closely resembles field conditions.

Unit‐Cell‐Thickness Electron Confinement by Geometrically Constrained Antipolar Ordering

AbstractAchieving precise electron or spin confinement is essential for the progress of oxide electronics and emerging quantum information processing. While 2D electron confinement is commonly achieved with bare surfaces, heteroepitaxial interfaces, and charged domain walls, its practical application poses challenges, notably by diverse confinement widths, limited material selection, and the lack of freedom of positioning to a desired location within a given material system. Here, with scrutinizing a novel defect structure, the study suggests a new strategy with compelling evidence to trigger electron confinement down to single unit‐cell‐thickness, through geometrically constrained antipolar ordering facilitated by superlattice‐like periodic planar faults in metallic SrFeO3. Employing atomic resolution electron microscopy and density functional theory, the results demonstrate that electrons are confined two‐dimensionally to screen the positive bound charges on head‐to‐head antipolar state boundary, meanwhile oxygen vacancies segregated in the planar faults compensate the negative bound charges on the tail‐to‐tail one, leading to the stabilization of the antipolar ordering. Additionally, distinguished from traditional methods, this approach offers a potential programing capability for achieving precise charge and spin control by regulating planar fault structure at atomic scale.

Seismic performance of cold-formed steel shear walls with a shear plate of low-yield steel

A novel cold-formed steel (CFS) sheathed and bare shear walls with a low-yield steel shear energy-dissipating plate is proposed by taking advantage of the plastic deformation generated by the shear plates to reduce the damage of CFS shear walls under earthquake. In this paper, the seismic performance of six CFS shear walls with shear plates using low-yield steel is experimentally studied through full-scale cyclic tests. Different configurations of energy dissipation segments and the replacement of the energy-dissipating shear plate after the earthquake (through two walls) are investigated. A list of influencing parameters on the performance of the shear walls is studied including the fixed conditions of the specimens, the type of built-up studs, the rigidity and strength of the shear plates, and the connection method between the shear plates and the walls. Overall, within a certain lateral displacement level, the damage of the shear wall is concentrated in the energy dissipation segment. The shear plate reaches the plastic stage before the CFS frame as designed. Meanwhile, the mechanical performance of repaired structures with the shear plate replacement after the earthquake is maintained well.

Structural attributes and macrofaunal assemblages associated with rose gorgonian gardens (Leptogorgia sp. nov.) in Central Chile: opening the door for conservation actions

Gorgonians (like corals) are important habitat-forming organisms that support a diversity of macrofauna. This study explored structural attributes of gorgonian gardens formed by rose gorgonians (Leptogorgia sp. nov.) and associated macrofaunal assemblages in Caleta Pichicuy (Central Chile). Hierarchical sampling was conducted at 20 m depth (maximum colony abundances) in order to assess spatial variability in abundance and colony attributes at two spatial scales (among sites and rocky walls). The abundance and composition of the associated vagile and sessile macrofauna were also examined using univariant (Taxa richness and Shannon index (H’e)) and multivariant approaches and were compared with adjacent bare rocky habitats. Our results showed a high abundance of gorgonians (ca. 28.9–36.5 colonies m−2) compared to other gorgonian gardens in the world. For structural attributes, our results showed smaller colonies with thicker holdfasts in more exposed sites, suggesting the influence of hydrodynamic forces on the colony morphology. Taxa richness and H’e of vagile fauna showed threefold and twofold, respectively, higher values in gorgonian gardens compared to bare walls, but no differences were observed for sessile fauna. In addition, PCoA and PERMANOVA evidenced a distinctive assemblages’ composition between habitats for both vagile and sessile fauna. Correlation analyzes and dbRDA showed, however, little association between structural attributes and associated faunal assemblages (R2 = 0.06, and ca. 3–9.4% of the total variation explained, respectively). Our results constitute the first assessment of structural habitat complexity and accompanying fauna in these gorgonian gardens and establish the baseline for understanding possible future changes associated to human activities.

Development of constitutive relations for predicting film boiling crisis in bare and inner wall coated cryogenic tubes with a low-thermal conductive layer for heat transfer enhancement

Closure models for transient cryogenic quench flow boiling heat transfer prediction are finding significant attention to support the design of energy-efficient, cost-effective, and reliable cryogenic fluid management systems. In this regard, the characterization of the film boiling crisis, which indicates the beginning of transient wetting of the wall by liquid, is essential due to the significant heat transfer change past this stage. In the current work, a new rewetting database is developed from 112 chill-down experiments conducted using LCH4, LOX, LAr, and LN2 in feed lines having 0.11 m to 11 m length, 0.4 cm to 2.2 cm inner diameter, 0.5 mm to 5 mm wall thickness, and low-thermal conductive coating thickness up to 157 μm, under several pipe orientations. Additionally, the dataset comprises a mass flux from 10.5 kg/m2s to 1805 kg/m2s, pressure from 109.8 kPa to 1153.8 kPa and gravitational acceleration from terrestrial condition to ±0.01 g. Subsequently, 30 existing seminal rewetting correlations are analyzed for their applicability to transient cryogenic rewetting prediction. Moreover, the importance of feed line and flow parameters in this phenomenon is also studied. Accordingly, a new correlation for rewetting temperature is proposed with 4.15% mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Further, applying a low-thermal conductive coating to the feed line inner wall surface has already been proven to enhance the chill-down efficiency up to 80%. For modeling such feed systems, determining bulk wall rewetting point is necessary. Hence, a new apparent rewetting temperature correlation to characterize the film boiling crisis in cryogenic coated tubes is proposed for the first time with a MAPE of 4%. Finally, the paper presents the predictions from a non-homogeneous two-phase thermal-hydraulic code, employing the previously reported film boiling correlations and the rewetting correlations from the present work. The obtained model performance indicates considerable improvement in prediction while using the proposed closure models. This shows their potential to support optimization tasks to achieve higher chill-down efficiency.

Improving indoor environmental quality in an affordable house by using a vegetated wall: A case study in subtropical Brazil

Indoor environmental quality of buildings, including thermal, acoustic, visual comfort, and air quality, directly impacts the comfort, health, and productivity of occupants. However, in Brazil, the high deficit of affordable housing units has led to a situation where environmental quality is often overlooked in favour of low investment costs, prioritizing quantity over quality. Furthermore, the poorest segments of the population, who rely on affordable housing, are disproportionately affected by energy costs. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct research on low-cost energy solutions for social housing to improve the sustainability of people's lives. In this light, a study was conducted to monitor the energy performance of a vegetated wall made of deciduous species and compare it to a bare wall used in an affordable house in subtropical Brazil. Parameters, such as internal and external surface temperatures, nearby microclimatic conditions, and heat transfer through the vegetated and bare walls, were monitored every 5 min over a two-year period. The heat flux analysis revealed that the vegetated wall reduced conductive heat up to 83 % during summer days, significantly lowering the external surface temperature by 8.6 °C due to the presence of the plant layer. Moreover, the vegetated wall generally exhibited lower shortwave and longwave radiative and convective heat fluxes. These findings contribute to our understanding of energy transfer through vegetated walls in subtropical Brazil, including the impact of adjacent microclimatic conditions. Furthermore, the results confirm the potential of vegetated walls to effectively reduce cooling and heating demands at a minimal additional cost.

Comparative summer thermal performance analysis between open ventilated facade and modular living wall

In recent years, passive solutions for building envelopes have become much more common due to their capacity to decrease the heat flux through the envelope during summer time. Vertical greenery systems (VGS) are emerging as an interesting method of decreasing the thermal demand of cities, and also improving the quality of urban life. Open ventilated facades (OVF) have gained popularity due to their capacity to enhance the thermal resistance of the building envelope. As part of a project carried out in a Paslink cell in Vitoria-Gasteiz, an experimental campaign with full-scale VGS and OVF was carried out during the summer season to assess the thermal performance of a modular living wall (MLW) with respect to an OVF. The objective is to demonstrate that a stochastic differential equations (SDE) model can be used to assess the cooling requirements of an MLW and an OVF. An analysis was carried out to evaluate how different characteristics of the main facade affect performance, such as thermal resistance, solar absorption coefficient and convection coefficient. The results of these experiments show that both MLW (46 %) and OVF (67 %) configurations significantly minimize solar heat loads compared to non-passive bare wall (BW) facades, which are the reference configurations.

Evaluation of the Thermal Performance of Two Passive Facade System Solutions for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is essential for the future of the planet. Using passive elements, like ventilated facades based on insulation and air chambers, or living walls, which are solutions based on nature, is a powerful strategy for cities to improve their thermal environment, reduce energy consumption, and mitigate the effects of climate change. This approach allows for the quantification of the influence of passive surfaces on energy fluxes compared to bare surfaces. In addition, it delves into understanding how the incorporation of vegetation on building facades alters surface energy fluxes, involving a combination of physical and biochemical processes. This comprehensive investigation seeks to harness the potential of passive and natural solutions to address the pressing challenges of urban sustainability and climate resilience. This research uses a surface energy balance model to analyze the thermal performance of two facades using experimental data from a PASLINK test cell. This study uses the grey box RC model, which links continuous-time ordinary differential equations with discrete measurement data points. This model provides insight into the complex interplay among factors that influence the thermal behavior of building facades, with the goal of comprehensively understanding how ventilated and green facades affect the dynamics of energy flow compared to conventional facades. The initial thermal resistance of the bare facade was 0.75 (°C m2)/W. The introduction of a ventilated facade significantly increased this thermal resistance to 2.47 (°C m2)/W due to the insulating capacity of the air chamber and its insulating layer (1.70 (°C m2)/W). Regarding the modular living wall, it obtained a thermal resistance value of 1.22 (°C m2)/W (this vegetated facade does not have an insulating layer). In this context, the modular living wall proved to be effective in reducing convective energy by 68% compared with the non-green facade. It is crucial to highlight that evapotranspiration was the primary mechanism for energy dissipation in the green facade. The experiments conclusively show that both the modular living wall and open-ventilated facade significantly reduce solar heat loads compared with non-passive bare wall facades, demonstrating their effectiveness in enhancing thermal performance and minimizing heat absorption.

Investigation of the role of temperature on contact electrification of polyethylene particles

This work investigates the role of temperature on contact electrification of polyethylene particles. Particles were shaken at ambient temperature and 60 °C in two stainless steel cups with one having its wall coated with polyethylene particles. Particles in contact with a bare wall did not show a variation in charge transfer when temperature increased; however, contacts with an insulating coated wall resulted in a lower charge generation. A volume resistivity cell was designed and built to measure changes in volume resistivity with temperatures. Although reliable data for particles was not obtained, but volume resistivity of different insulating films declined at 60 °C. It was concluded that this drop could increase the mobility of charge carriers and facilitate the electrostatic charge dissipation between particles or to the ground, resulting a lower charge build-up on particles. This work recommends investigating the role of temperature when ion and material transfer mechanisms are at play.

Assessment of different types of bricks in varying wall configurations in an indoor thermal environment for a semi-arid region

This study evaluates the indoor thermal benefits of seven bricks, and their combination with cavity walls, Vertical Greening Systems (VGS), and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) insulation in a semi-arid Indian climate using EnergyPlus simulations. For walls with VGS and exterior EPS with higher heat capacity, peak summer Operative temperatures (Top) reduced up to 2.3°C, followed by cavity walls and EPS on middle of the wall (up to 1.3°C) compared to their respective bare walls. Interior EPS raised Top by up to 0.7°C. VGS and EPS minimized heat flux fluctuations due to their lower Decrement Factor. VGS exhibited superior indoor thermal comfort, with more occupants satisfied for longer durations compared to exterior EPS. This study suggests that applying VGS or EPS on the exterior (regardless of brick type) is more effective in enhancing indoor thermal comfort during hot days in semi-arid regions .

Conjugate Heat Transfer Evaluation of Turbine Blade Leading-Edge Swirl and Jet Impingement Cooling With Particulate Deposition

Abstract Internal cooling structures for gas turbine engines are becoming more complicated to push the hot gas temperature as high as possible, which, however, allows particulates drawn into the coolant air to be more readily to deposit within these passages and thus greatly affect their flow loss and thermal performance. In this study, internal swirl cooling and jet impingement cooling subjected to particulate deposition were evaluated and compared using a conjugate heat transfer method, with an emphasis on the thermal effects of the insulative deposits. To accomplish the goal, an unsteady conjugate mesh morphing simulation framework was developed and validated, which involved particle tracking in an unsteady fluid flow, particle–wall interaction modeling, conjugate mesh morphing of both fluid and solid domains, and a deposit identification method. The swirl and the jet impingement cooling configurations modeled the internal cooling passage for the leading-edge region of a turbine blade and were investigated in a dust-laden coolant environment at real engine conditions. Coupling effects between the dynamic deposition process and the unsteady flow inside the two cooling channels were examined and the insulative effects of the deposits were quantified by comparing the temperatures on the external and internal surfaces of the metal channel walls, as well as on the deposit layers. Results demonstrated the ability of the newly developed, unsteady conjugate simulation framework to identify the deposits from the original bare wall surface and to predict the insulation effects of the deposits in the dynamic deposition process. The dust almost covered the entire impingement channel, while deposits were only seen in the vicinity of the jets in the swirl channel. Despite this, a dramatical decrease of convection heat transfer was found in the swirl channel because the swirling flow was sensitive to the interruption of the deposits. In contrast, the deposits improved the heat transfer rate in the impingement channel. When the thermal effects of the deposit layer were taken into account, the wall temperatures of both two cooling geometries were substantially elevated, exceeding the allowable temperature of the metal material. Due to the denser deposit coverage, the impingement channel wall had a greater temperature increase than the swirl channel. In terms of flow loss, the presence of the deposits inhibited the swirl intensity by interrupting the swirling flow and thus reduced the friction loss, whereas the pressure loss was improved by the deposits in the impingement cooling.

Thermal performance of vertical greenery systems (VGS) in a street canyon: A real-scale long-term experiment

Outdoor vertical greenery systems’ (VGS) thermal aspects have been intensively studied in recent years; nevertheless, real-scale long-term experiments are scarce in the literature, and little is known about the thermal effect of VGS in street canyons. An experiment on east–west-oriented real buildings in street canyons was conducted for 31 months, analyzing the thermal performance of two VGS technologies using sensors and a thermal camera. Energy saving was assessed and an allometric model was used for carbon sequestration estimation. We present time series analyses of the diurnal and seasonal cycles of the outdoor and indoor environments with respect to bare walls street canyon. Daytime cooling in the middle of the canyon 10 m from the VGS persisted for 59.4% of the time in summer and 79.4% in a heatwave, while heating persisted for 73.9% of the day in the winter. The cooling effect was more efficient in higher temperatures and was stronger 1 m near the VGS. The surface temperature of the sunlit VGS was cooler by an average of −3.8 °C in the summer and −6.8 °C in a heatwave and was slightly warmer during the winter. The average indoor summer cooling effects were greater on the south-facing orientation (air −1.57 °C; wall −1.31 °C), while the winter warming effect was greatest on the north-facing orientation (air 2.67 °C; wall 1.6 °C). The yearly energy-saving performance due to air conditioning was 8.9%. The CO2 sequestration potential (140 kg/year) was negligible compared to the CO2 emissions that were saved from air conditioning (∼9 tons/year).

Preliminary Experimental Laboratory Methods to Analyse the Insulation Capacity of Vertical Greening on Temperature and Relative Humidity

Ground-based vertical greening is one of the well-known nature-based solutions that is widely used in city centres due to its small footprint and the large surface area of vegetation. Although the impact of vertical greening on the local microclimate has already been extensively researched, there is a poor understanding of the impact of vertical greening on historic building fabrics. The impact of vertical greening on microclimate environments has primarily been researched through in situ case-study monitoring; as such, there are currently no standard protocols for investigating this impact in laboratory studies. By performing simulations in controlled laboratory conditions, the influence of vertical greening on specific environmental conditions can be assessed as well as the significance for key mechanisms, such as the insulation capacity of a vegetation layer. Experimental results on the insulation capacity of vertical greening illustrate that the presence of vertical greening reduces the rate of heat exchange between the wall and the surrounding environment compared to the bare wall, resulting in a delayed temperature response of the wall. This delay varies across the seasons or its intensity, which is represented, for instance, by a more pronounced delay in the wall’s surface temperature response in summer than in winter. However, the magnitude of the insulation capacity is more pronounced in winter (up to +2.1 °C) compared to summertime. The insulation capacity of vertical greening is more likely to have a significant impact on façades with a lack of solar irradiation, such as façades facing north or shaded by built surroundings. This experimental investigation can help build an understanding of these processes more fundamentally and support the interpretation of in situ case-study monitoring as well as provide a standardized approach to investigate the environmental performance of vertical greening across climatic regions and seasons.

The Impact of Orientation on Living Wall Façade Temperature: Manchester Case Study

Living walls are a nature-based strategy to enhance climate resilience in urban areas. There is a need to study the possible influence of living walls on the thermal performance of building façades, given the rising temperatures in 2022 across the UK. This study aims to analyze the impacts of living walls on façade temperature based on orientation variation through simulation Envi-met 5.0.3. software. The living wall studied is attached to a multistory building located in Manchester city center consisting of seven evergreen plants. An environmental simulation was carried out linked to the 2022 climate, including extremely hot and cold days. Four scenarios of façades with and without greening on the northwest and southeast orientations in summer and winter were analyzed. The results highlighted the living wall’s ability to reduce the surface temperatures on both the northwest and southeast façades on a hot summer day. There is no significant evidence of improvement for the northwest façade in the winter climate, but a modestly increased temperature is shown in the southeast compared to the bare wall. These findings indicate that living walls provide measurable advantages in the building envelope, leading to energy saving.

First record of Bacillicladium lobatum (Chaetothyriales) in Caucasus (second finding in the world)

First record of Bacillicladium lobatum (Chaetothyriales) in Caucasus (second finding in the world)