Evaluation Of Building Materials Research Articles

Improving the Calibration of Surface Time Domain Reflectometry Sensors for Moisture Evaluation of Building Materials Using the Analysis of Covariance Method

Improving the Calibration of Surface Time Domain Reflectometry Sensors for Moisture Evaluation of Building Materials Using the Analysis of Covariance Method

The Effect of Sustainable and Natural Looking on Perceived Aesthetics and Eco-Friendliness in Building Material Evaluation

With the development of material synthesis technology, many artificial materials imitating natural materials have emerged in the construction industry. The processing technology of these materials’ surface imitating natural texture is becoming more and more realistic. Some materials are not made of sustainable material but use natural textures to imitate natural materials, attempting to bring users a sense of being close to nature and ecology to attract consumers to use it. However, the intention of use still depends on the user’s other factors like health, aesthetics, and environmental friendliness of the material. Therefore, the challenge for material manufacturers and designers is to understand people’s perceptions of these materials to increase their acceptance by users. This paper aims to investigate the user’s perception of materials (sustainable-unsustainable) to evaluate their perception of naturalness, environmental friendliness, and aesthetics through the visual senses. A total of 112 participants participated in the experiment which was divided into two groups (professional architects and non-professionals). The judgment of non-professionals on the environmental protection of materials imitating natural skin is relatively accurate, which is almost consistent with the judgment of professionals. Results show the importance of maintaining the naturalness of the surface texture in the material, which can enhance the user’s demand for a natural aesthetic feeling. Therefore, it is important to maintain the naturalness of surface texture in the process of material surface treatment. Users’ natural perception of materials will affect their aesthetic perception of materials.

Circular economy potential of sustainable aggregates for the Malaysian construction industry

To promote environmentally resilient development of cities and their infrastructure, government policies and business models are shifting towards sustainable practices especially through implementation of circular economy (CE) principles. Within the construction industry, successful transition to CE should be supported by holistic and comprehensive evaluation of building materials and their sustainable alternatives. This study evaluates the regional environmental impacts of construction materials, specifically aggregates for concrete production in urban areas. The Malaysian construction industry was taken as an example for this purpose. Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out on 3 concrete types each containing a different aggregate: natural aggregate (NA); recycled aggregate (RA); and palm oil clinker (POC). Route analysis determined the transportation impacts of materials from their respective origins to the city centres of 5 main Malaysian cities. Results showed that KL was the city with the highest potential for use of sustainable aggregates as it had the lowest transport distances for all materials. Based on these findings, this study proposes recommendations to encourage CE implementation in the local construction industry and their applicability to different cities in Malaysia.

Evaluation of Building Materials Using Energy Efficiency Criteria in Selected Museums in South-West Nigeria

Energy efficiency ensures reduced energy for heating and cooling space, lower maintenance requirements, reduce the cost of running a building, and improve users’ comfort in a space. The amount of energy used by building materials is an essential factor in defining the energy efficiency of the building. This study evaluates the building materials used in selected south-western museums using energy efficiency criteria to identify materials that comply with energy-efficient criteria, which would be recommended to ensure energy-efficient materials are adopted by Museum buildings. The study’s objective is to identify the existing energy-efficient materials used in Museums and evaluate the identified building materials in terms of energy efficiency. The study methodology employed is qualitative, engaging case studies and observation guides to determine the materials used in existing museums. The materials identified were evaluated using the energy-efficient criteria provided by Yüksek [1]. The sample size consists of materials used in selected national Museums of southwest Nigeria. The results derived from the case studies identified the materials used in the selected Museums and their level of energy efficiency, which affects the maintenance and the overall cost for running the Museum. The results from the study identified a total of eleven materials. It was shown from the results that while four of the eleven materials complied fully with the energy-efficient criteria, the other materials did not comply fully with the energy-efficient criteria. This study recommends that more materials that comply with energy-efficient criteria be adopted to improve energy efficiency in buildings. Professionals in the built environment should focus more on energy-efficient materials to ensure an energy-efficient building

Wireless Performance Evaluation of Building Materials Integrated With Antenna Arrays

To avoid negative visual and weight impact of antenna arrays in indoor multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the antenna arrays can be integrated in building materials. In this letter, we model building materials integrated with antenna arrays and develop an approach that can characterize and evaluate their wireless performance using a ray-tracing model that incorporates multipath propagation from line-of-sight (LOS), reflected, and other paths. The approach comprises the following: 1) Using the effective transmission coefficient to characterize the electromagnetic (EM) coupling between the antenna array and the building material with which it is integrated; 2) Taking the spatially averaged capacity as a performance metric to quantify wireless performance of integrated materials; 3) Optimizing integrated materials’ wireless performance by tuning their conductivity, permittivity, thickness and integration depth; and 4) Comparing wireless performance between optimized and unoptimized integrated materials. Our numerical results show that the spatially averaged capacity varies with different material property settings, indicating that integrated materials should be carefully designed to enhance their wireless performance.

Nanocomposite Building Materials in Modern Architectural Design

Architecture is the precipitation of history, not only the embodiment of technical level but also the inheritance of history and culture. Excellent architecture contains high historical value and emotional factors, and it continues to deepen over time. Nanotechnology is a new technology that was born in the late 1980s and is emerging. It mainly refers to the study of the laws of motion and interactions of electrons, atoms, and molecules in the composition system of matter in the range of 0.1 to 100 nm. Nanomaterials have special properties and structures, and the composite materials made of them have the effect of strengthening and toughening the polymer by virtue of their high‐quality strength and toughness. Therefore, the aim of this text is to explore the application of nanocomposite building materials in modern architectural design and analyze the advantages and development trends of new building materials. The method in this paper is to use the method of experimental comparison to analyze the performance improvement effect of nanocomposite building materials on the current main building materials of concrete. By establishing a model to study the impact on the shrinkage and mechanical properties of cement‐based materials, it can also improve the environmental performance and comprehensive evaluation of building materials. Corresponding conclusions are drawn through data comparison. When the amount of nanocomposite building materials is 1.5%, the chemical shrinkage value of the cement paste will increase by 58.2%, and the shrinkage strain will increase by 15.3%. When the fly ash content is 20%, the chemical shrinkage value of cement paste is reduced by 30.5%, and the shrinkage strain of concrete is reduced by 8.8%. Therefore, adding nanocomposite building materials to cement‐based materials can promote cement hydration, optimize pore structure, and to a certain extent can make up for the shortcomings of mineral admixtures and achieve better improvement effects.

Embodied energy analysis to understand environmental impact of brick industry in West Godavari region

The Indian construction industry is one of the largest in terms of volume of non-renewable resource consumption. In Sustainable buildings (i.e. for example construction materials like bricks, cement, iron) are designed based on efficient use of available natural resources, balancing environmental, economic and societal impacts to meet today’s design objective while considering future impacts. The energy consumption is required for the production of building materials or products. In the aspect of environmental sustainability, the embodied energy analysis is used as a construction design assessment tool. The process-based analysis study was found to be more suitable for the embodied energy evaluation of building materials, especially for the Indian construction industry. A case study was conducted to evaluate the energy consumption of brick industry in West Godavari region. From the life cycle assessment analysis, the total embodied energy of clay-fired brick was ranging between 4.9 GJ/m3 to 7.8 GJ/m3, and the total embodied energy of fly ash blocks and AAC blocks in rang between 2.4 GJ/m3 to 4.5 GJ/m3. Thus, comparing the embodied energy of fly ash, AAC blocks, and conventional bricks, it can be concluded that fly ash and AAC blocks overall provide a sustainable alternative.

An integrated control on thermal and noise environment of tropical building material

The environmental problems of thermal and noise environment are recently considered the most important contributors to the tropical building in an urban area. The porous tropical materials provide both a solution for cooling and airborne noise problem from the source to receiver when the wind is in the same direction. This research optimizes the integrated control of thermal and noise environment which are directed into building material evaluation. Surabaya is selected as representative of the hotter area of the lowland while Malang is determined as the colder urban area of the highland. An eco-tropical lightweight material, wood, is examined as a case study. The field measurement for surface material temperature and its transmission loss were conducted in order to give information on thermal and acoustical properties of the material. The optimization is conducted by comparing Sound Reduction Index and by Conduction Heat Flow. The results highlighted that for the same material, the thickness that effect on its mass is important for both thermal and noise control. The higher the thickness is, the higher the Sound Reduction Index and the lower the conduction heat flow are. Modifying material by adding the thickness of wood results that by material mass minimum 36.5 kg/m2, the critical lowland building meets the standard of World Health Organization noise limits and has lower heat gain.

Evaluation of Building Materials Based on Sustainable Development Indicators

Construction industry regarded as one of the key aspects of achieving the goals of sustainable development in communities. In this regard, the choice of building materials is one of the key challenges in order to improve project performance with respect to sustainable development indicators and the use of sustainable materials, is an effective step towards achieving sustainable construction. This research uses information and evidence, interview and questionnaire prepared (by five points Likert scale method). Also, it has provided expert opinions related indicators widely used in a construction materials, manufacturing process and defining the impact of the production of these materials on sustainable development deals. Validity and reliability of the questionnaires were also performed (with Cronbach's alpha method). As a result of this research, Cement was identified as the most unsustainable material, after that Steel and then Brick and Glass were located with a wide margin. So Light concrete block, Gypsum, Stone, Lime, and Concrete were identified as the most sustainable materials according to existing indicators respectively. The consequences of this study can help the project executors in order to promote the use of sustainable building materials in construction and also industries will be aware of the impact of the sustainability indicators on their products.

PARAMETRIC IDENTIFICATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF PROPERTIES OF BUILDING MATERIALS AS COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Ponte Academic JournalFeb 2017, Volume 73, Issue 2 PARAMETRIC IDENTIFICATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF PROPERTIES OF BUILDING MATERIALS AS COMPLEX SYSTEMSAuthor(s): Irina Garkina ,Alexander DanilovJ. Ponte - Feb 2017 - Volume 73 - Issue 2 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2017.2.10 Abstract:Is given a method of multicriteria evaluation of building materials (a complex system) based on parametric identification. By invariants of the matrix (natural frequencies, dimensionless damping coefficients, trace of a matrix, determinant) of system of differential equations (describing the kinetic processes of formation of physical and mechanical characteristics) is developed the functional of material quality. Areas of equal quality of material are determined by the functional. Classification of systems by roots of a characteristic polynom is made. The offered approach can be used also for objectification of assessment by the operator of quality of an object of ergatic system in the course of normal operation. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

Radiological evaluation of building materials used in Malumfashi, Katsina state, using gamma-ray spectroscopy analysis

The activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides ( 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K) in building materials (sand, cement, blocks, granite, and paints) used in the construction of buildings in Malumfashi local Government area of Katsina state, Nigeria were determined by means of a gamma-ray spectrometry system using Sodium Iodide thallium activated (NaI(Tl)) detector in a low background configuration. The average activity concentrations for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K ranged from 17.07±4.98 to 50.72±6.74, 23.03±1.54 to 42.91±2.37 and 84.03±5.44 to 363.45±5.27 Bqkg -1 respectively. Except for block samples, all the samples mean activity concentrations were less than their respective world averages. The estimated absorbed gamma dose rate (D) ranged from 30.75±4.22 to 64.57±4.78 nGyh -1 and the outdoor annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) varied from 0.038±0.004 to 0.06±0.0051 mSvy -1 ; these values are below the worldwide effective dose of 0.07 mSvy-1. The values of radium equivalent activity (Ra eq ), the external hazard index (H ex ) and the internal hazard index (H in ) for all the samples in the present work were lower than the accepted safety limit value of 370 Bqkg -1 . Keywords : Radionuclide, hazard indices, gamma-ray spectrometry, building materials, Malumfashi

Criteria for evaluation of building materials hazard based on their natural radioactivity in Russia and in the European Union countries

We hereby have considered the natural radioactivity of building materials as a source of radiation for the human environment. We have considered the Russian and the European evaluation criteria for ensuring radiation safety of the population. We also present an experimental research of the content of natural radionuclides in building materials. We have calculated the effective specific activity and the activity concentration index based on the results presented. We have identified discrepancies between the Russian and the European standards.

The Evaluation of Building Materials in Terms of Energy Efficiency

Buildings consume energy at different levels in every stage of the life-cycle. Building materials occupy a great share of this consumption. Therefore, the amount of energy consumed by materials used in building during their life cycle is an important parameter in determining the energy eciency of the building. In this study, the importance of energy- efficient material selection in designing “Energy-Efficient Building” is considered and discussed. It is possible to evaluate some building materials in Turkey in the framework of energy ecient building material criteria. This information is considered as a guide for users and employees of the building sector. As a result of the study, the selection of building material and energy efficient features of building materials are important parameters for the provision of energy efficiency.

Possibilities of Thermal Analysis for the Evaluation of Construction Materials

The article deals with the use of thermal analysis as an effective tool for the evaluation of building materials. The applied method of combined DSC/TG analysis is briefly described. Its utilization is illustrated by analyzing a sample of carbonated concrete. The method has wide application in other sectors, including analysis techniques in forensic science.

Environmental Evaluation of Building Materials of 5 Slovak Buildings

Abstract Building activity has recently led to the deterioration of environment and has become unsustainable. Several strategies have been introduced in order to minimize consumption of energy and resulting CO2 emissions having their origin in the operational phase. But also other stages of Life Cycle should are important to identify the overall environmental impact of construction sector. In this paper 5 similar Slovak buildings (family houses) were analyzed in terms of environmental performance of building materials used for their structures. Evaluation included the weight of used materials, embodied energy and embodied CO2 and SO2 emissions. Analysis has proven that the selection of building materials is an important factor which influences the environmental profile. Findings of the case study indicated that materials like concrete, ceramic or thermal insulation materials based on polystyrene and mineral wool are ones with the most negative environmental impact.

Reduction of primary energy and CO2 emissions through selection and environmental evaluation of building materials

Building materials as principal components of building constructions and entire buildings play an important role in overall impact on the environment. In this paper, the environmental assessment of building materials in selected building in the Slovak Republic using life cycle assessment data is presented. Environmental parameters, such as the amount of primary energy, global warming potential and acidification potential together with weight of used materials were evaluated. For selected constructions, the alternation of materials basis was performed to minimize the negative effect of building materials. As a result of optimization a 13.5% reduction of primary energy intensity, 3.7% reduction of global warming potential and 4.2% of acidification potential were achieved for the whole building by the change of building materials.

국내 건축자재에 함유된 석면의 함량에 대한 X-선회절분석 연구

대표적인 일부 건축자재의 석면 함량을 일본공업표준법 (JIS)에 따른 X-선회절분석으로 측정하였고, 분석과정에서의 광물학적 성분변화와 문제점을 검토하였다. 국내의 슬레이트, 벽재, 천장재의 대표적인 건축자재에 대해 석면 함량을 정량한 결과, 슬레이트 시료가 6.87~6.93%의 온석면을 함유하여 가장 많은 석면을 함유하고 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 분석된 다른 건축자재들에서도 1.35~3.98%의 범위로 다양한 양의 온석면이 포함되어 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 이번 연구에서 국내에서 처음으로 일부 건축자재의 석면 함량에 대한 X-선회절방법에 의한 분석결과를 제시하였으며, 이런 방법을 통하여 국내에서 최근에 개정된 규정(노동부 산업안전보건법 제2007-26호)에서 규정한 석면의 허용기준량 0.1% 함량을 평가하는데 효과적인 것으로 나타났다. 일부 시료에서 온석면과 함께 투각섬석이 소량 수반되고 있음이 나타났으나, 이들의 결정형태와 그 함량과 지질학적 산출상태 등으로 보아, 석면 활용의 목적으로 첨가한 것이 아니고 온석면에 본래 수반되었던 볼순광물로 나타난 것으로 생각된다. X-선회절분석으로 석면상과 비석면상의 구분이 어렵기 때문에 형태를 관찰할 수 있는 광학현미경과 전자현미경의 보조적인 관찰도 필요한 것으로 나타났다. 이번에 사용한 X-선회절분석 방법에서는 가열처리와 산처리에 의한 소실율이 많아 석면의 농집도가 높은 건축자재 시료에 가장 효과적인 것으로 나타났다. The asbestos contents in some representative building materials were analyzed using JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The changes in mineral composition during analysis process and problems in JIS method were also examined. XRD analysis of some representative domestic building materials used for roof, wall, ceiling, and floor indicates that slate have the highest asbestos content having 6.87~6.93% of chrysotile. Other building materials analyzed in this study also have 1.35~3.98% of chrysotile contents. The XRD analysis results of asbestos contents in some domestic building materials are presented in this study. This method is very effective for the asbestos content evaluation of building materials according to newly modified asbestos content regulation (Law of Industrial Safety and Health, 2007-26) that limits asbestos content less than 0.1% by Ministry of Employment and Labor. Small amount of tremolite as well as chrysotile were also observed in some samples. With consideration of crystal shape, contents and geological occurrence, it is considered that tremolite is an associated mineral of chrysotile and is not intentionally added. Complemental analyses with optical microscope and SEM/EDS are also necessary because XRD method cannot distinguish asbestiform from non-asbestiform. The XRD method applied in this study is very effective in the asbestos content analysis of building materials, specially building materials showing high asbestos concentration in residues due to the high loss rate with ashing and acid dissolution procedure.

Modified Method in Group Comparison Matrixes Consistency Check and its Application in Building Material Evaluation

The comparison matrixes are obtained from decision makers might be contradictory, moreover an modified check method is proposed. Grey relational analysis (GRA) is adopted in group comparison matrixes consistency check for the first time. Firstly, the consistency indicators are put forward and are defined the definitions depending on GRA. Secondly, adjustment model is proposed to solve the group comparison matrixes inconsistency. Finally, the modified consistency check method are application in building material evaluation. It is believed that the proposed method is applicable to check consistency of building material evaluation.

A building material evaluation and selection model for the Turkish construction sector

PurposeThe research project called “Designing a building material relational database management system for Turkish construction sector”, aims to join “supply side” and “demand side” in the same environment that works on the subject of building material information in the Turkish construction sector. The paper aims to discuss the project findings.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered from the information supplied and demanded from the points of sources, levels and frequency of updating by the help of the questionnaires conducted. The data gathered were integrated into the pre‐construction stage and used in the analysis of the process as to how this information was used by the “demand side” for building material information. IDEF‐0, a structured methodology for functional process analysis, is used to figure out building material evaluation and selection processes in the pre‐construction stage.FindingsMaterial evaluation and selection process for the pre‐construction stage is figured out. Behaviors and requirements of demand‐side and supply‐side in building material information is studied. Difficulties in supplying and presenting building material information in Turkey are evaluated.Originality/valueAlthough the subject of the paper is well‐known, Turkish practices and problems are evaluated, and an alternative model is suggested for the Turkish construction sector.

Environmental evaluation of building materials: Example of two residential buildings in Belgrade

Environmental friendliness of building materials becomes an important factor in contemporary design and building concept and prerequisite for creation of sustainable buildings, e.g. sustainable architecture. Since in our circumstances, this concept is still at its very beginning, it would be interesting to determine what the answer that our building practice has offered so far has been. Therefore, typical buildings from Belgrade were chosen as models on which evaluation of environmental properties was conducted by using already developed evaluation methods and tools. Results of this research are presented in this work.