Commercial High-rise Buildings Research Articles

Study on Evacuation Strategy of Commercial High-Rise Building under Fire Based on FDS and Pathfinder

Study on Evacuation Strategy of Commercial High-Rise Building under Fire Based on FDS and Pathfinder

The Relevance of Automation in the Facility Management of Selected High-Rise Buildings in Lagos, Nigeria

Operators (owners/facility managers) of high-rise buildings are continuously faced with the challenge of finding innovative means of controlling and managing the facilities of high-rise buildings. This is due to consistent change in the nature and functions of building systems. Meanwhile, the use of computerized systems affords building operators the tools and methods that will enhance facility management activities. This study examined the importance of automation to the facility management of high-rise buildings in developing countries, using the case of Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research approach, administering a structured questionnaire to 53 facility managers of identified commercial high-rise buildings in Ikoyi, Lagos Island, and Victoria Island in Nigeria. It also applied regression analysis in determining the significance of automation on facility management activities. The findings of the study revealed that security services are the most automated facility management activity. Results also showed that automation had a positive effect on facility management practice, with R square of 0.66. The study concluded that although automation is seldom used in carrying out facility management activities, it has a positive impact on facility management services, with 66% significance level on facility management activities. It then recommended that steps should be taken by all stakeholders to develop the practice of facility management and research, as well as facility management education.

Solar power windows: Connecting scientific advances to market signals

Recent materials advances have enabled researchers to envision and develop highly efficient, partially transparent photovoltaic (PV) prototypes, exposing a potentially large and untapped market for solar energy: building integrated (BI) solar powered windows. In this perspective, we assess the case for market deployment of BIPV windows, specifically intended for commercial U.S. high-rise buildings. Research and development on solar powered windows has been predicated on the hypothesis that sunlight-to-electrical power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device cost per unit area are the key figures of merit that might drive market adoption. Here we investigate the market landscape and desirability for solar powered windows by identifying and evaluating the customer needs for the commercial high-rise building window market. In the course of this assessment, we performed 150 interviews with experts across the value chain for commercial windows. We found that the market forces are complicated by a misalignment of incentives between the end users of BIPV windows and the key decision makers for building projects that could incorporate this technology. Our assessment leads us to frame new figures of merit for BIPV windows that address the underlying needs of prospective customers as well as technical metrics for energy generation. We finally discuss one possible direction for BIPV window technology in which photovoltaics are integrated with switchable windows. Here, the integrated PV converts visible and infrared light transmission into useable electricity enabling standalone, self-powered active windows that can potentially address market needs for smart windows, thereby enabling a pathway for BIPV window deployment.

Energy performance optimisation of building envelope retrofit through integrated orthogonal arrays with data envelopment analysis

Retrofitting building envelopes is regarded as an effective solution that can help commercial and individual investors offset daily power usage. However, it is worthwhile to explore a highly efficient approach to seek optimum retrofitting strategies. A novel hybrid approach that integrates energy simulation, Orthogonal Array Testing (OAT), and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is developed in this research to discover optimal solutions for building retrofit. A commercial high-rise building is chosen as a case study, and five parameters are considered, including the exterior envelope fabric, exterior window type, sunshade type, window-to-wall ratio, and airtightness. The energy consumption is first simulated and verified as a baseline. OAT is then employed to conduct experiments and explore potential solutions to the energy optimisation problem, based on which the most efficient strategy is obtained through DEA benchmarking. The identified optimal solution is able to save an annual operation energy of 7.01 kWh/m2, which is also cost-effective. It is also found that the window type and airtightness are significant factors with regard to the energy performance of building envelope retrofit. The study benefits designers and construction managers in determining the optimal solution of retrofitting building envelope for achieving energy-efficient building operations.

Analysis and Design of B+G+10 Commercial High-rise Building under Seismic Load and Wind Load by Using Software

Analysis and Design of B+G+10 Commercial High-rise Building under Seismic Load and Wind Load by Using Software

Value engineering application in a high rise building (a case study in Bali)

Finding affordable alternatives material to replace the initial design of the architecture work of a commercial high rise building project without reducing the value of the material itself. Then analysing the cost saved from applying the value engineering in the architecture work of a high rise building. Calculation through the value engineering process was conducted. A commercial high rise building in Bali was chosen as a case study to implement the value engineering process in the design stage. The value engineering stages included calculating the cost/worth function, analysing through Function Analysis System Technique (FAST), innovation and creativity stage, evaluation of the life cycle cost, decision analysis and last the decision making. The research found that by applying value engineering through several items of work in a commercial high rise building it could save up to up to 8% of the total cost of the architecture work. The architecture work that was analysed through value engineering were the wall work, the door work, the floor work and the sanitary work. These were found to be the most effecting result from the Pareto calculation. The application of value engineering is this research was only done in one commercial high rise building in Bali. The work analysed was also only the architecture work. Therefore other types of construction project might result in different value of cost saving. This research identifies the cost saved through the application of value engineering in a commercial high rise building in Bali, which emphasizes on high quality materials in the architecture work. This research will contribute to the study literature of value engineering with a case study of commercial high rise building.

Analysis and Comparative Study of Unbonded Post-tensioned Cast-In-Place Parking Floor on the Effects of Tendon Layout using Safe

In recent years post-tensioned floors are commonly used for parking purposes in residential and commercial high rise buildings. This paper includes result on a study of un-bonded post tensioned cast-in-place parking floor subjected to various arrangements of tendon layout based on FEM analysis. Modelling and analysis of post-tensioned flat plate is done by using SAFE software. Equivalent loads based on cable profiles are applied to the flat plate according to the tendon layout. Design moments, service moments, hyper-static moments, short term deflection, long term deflection, and punching shear are compared for the various tendon layouts at service and ultimate limit state.

Højhuse i Danmark 1950-2010

Med udgangspunkt i det moderne højhus' fødsel i det 19. århundredes USA samt fænomenets internationale historie, belyser artiklen højhusets historie og udbredelse i Danmark. Fra velfærdsstatens funktionalistiske boligkolosser i midten af det tyvende århundrede, over 1970'erne og 80'ernes modreaktion og 'småt er godt'-mentalitet til de seneste årtiers individuelle og amerikansk inspirerede<br />prestige-projekter med vartegnsambitioner, sættes den danske udvikling ind i en europæisk kontekst og prioriteret bevidsthedshistorisk forklaringsramme. Siden midten af det tyvende århundrede har erhvervshøjhuse i bycenteret hørt til de mest karakteristiske træk ved storbyers udvikling verden over, men i Danmark er den slags højhuse endnu relativt sjældne. Også i danske byer peger udviklingen i de seneste år dog i retning af flere høje, markante byggerier i eller nær bymidten.<br /><br />Abstract:<br />In recent decades, the distinctive urban setup, with a nucleus dominated by clusters of office towers, has spread to most parts of the world. Economic growth and structural conditions are obviously of fundamental importance for this development, but as the present article shows, the limited construction of such centrally located high-rise buildings in Danish (and European) cities may also be put into a framework of history of consciousness. The first modern skyscrapers were erected in American cities in the late 19th Century, but it was not until the middle of the 20th Century that a related, but dissimilar development gained momentum in Europe and Denmark. In Copenhagen, as well as in other European cities, office towers fitted badly into the the maze of streets in the city centres, and they also conflicted with the laws that restricted building heights. Because of the post-war shortage of housing and the rapid economic growth of the 1950s and -60s, the first high-rise buildings in Denmark were built in the mid-1950s in the form of suburban residential towers. Since then, these pre-fabricated concrete towers have affected the Danish townscape for better and perhaps especially for worse; and this may be one of the reasons why high-rise buildings fell into disrepute in Denmark. At any rate, the first generation of high-rise buildings in this country was mostly suburban, and a child of European modernism and functionalism. Due to a fear of Americanization and the ruining of Copenhagen"s "unique" low skyline, only a few "American" highrise buildings were allowed to be built in Copenhagen"s inner city in this period. From the early 1970s until 1990, practically no high-rise buildings were constructed in Denmark. The building activity was affected by low economic growth; and in addition, the bad experience from the 1950s and -60s influenced the new catchword of the building industry: dense, low. Since the last decade of the 20th Century, however, high-rise buildings have once again become fashionable in Denmark. Not all types of high-rise buildings, though, but characteristic and unique "American" commercial high-rise buildings in or near city centres. This development may be seen not only in Copenhagen, but also in several of the larger provincial towns. Public opposition to these towers is still significant, but as a consequence of increased globalization and the race for attracting multinational companies and the favour of the professions, municipal councils in Denmark are bending over backwards to signal progressiveness and an attractive business environment - for instance by stimulating the<br />construction of office towers.<br />

External convection coefficients for framed rectangular elements on building facades

Using data obtained from a heated test plate fixed to the wall of an eight-storey building, correlations are presented for the external convection coefficient h c, as a function of windspeeds measured at 1 m from the test plate surface and at 11 m above the roof (in the free stream). The effects of a rectangular frame on the value of h c are measured for a range of frame depths, the geometries tested relating to facade configurations which are typical of glazing framework designs commonly found in UK commercial high-rise buildings and atria. For the stated conditions of use, the regression correlations may be used by designers and thermal modellers for the prediction of h c values for a range of typical building facades comprised of mullion and transom-type protrusions. The findings are particularly relevant to improving the accuracy of heat loss calculations from glazing.

Surface Convection Coefficients for Building Facades with Vertical Mullion-Type Protrusions

Accurate knowledge of the heat transfer processes that take place at the external surfaces of a building is necessary for thermal modelling and for design purposes. Using a heated test plate fixed at the sixth-floor level to the wall of an eight-storey building, correlations are presented for the external convection coefficient, hc, as a function of wind speeds measured 1 metre from the test surface and 11 metres above the roof in the free stream. The effects of vertical mullion-type protrusions on the value of hc are measured for a range of protrusion heights separated by a fixed spacing, the geometries tested relating to facade configurations which are commonly found in British commercial high-rise buildings. Regression correlations are derived which may be used by designers and thermal modellers for the prediction of hc values for a range of typical building facades with vertical mullion-type protrusions.