Building Configurations Research Articles

Implementing an open-source tool for modelling solar PV potential in dense urban areas

Distributed PV has the potential for generating a significant proportion of many cities’ electricity needs. However, the number of installations in dense urban locations is still negligible. Unlike detached single-family homes in low-density neighbourhoods, where installation is relatively straight-forward and solar access is generally unobstructed, dense urban areas pose special challenges. The paper demonstrates application of a free, open-source tool to assess how building configurations affect insolation and hence PV installation potential on building envelopes (roofs and facades) in complex, irregular urban environments. A sensitivity analysis using generic building types in regular plans highlights differences in the PV potential of contrasting building typologies providing a similar number of dwellings for a prototypical 300x300m urban block with a population density equivalent to 25,000 persons/km2.

Comparative Study for the Effect of Rigid and Semirigid Diaphragms on Reinforced Concrete Walls

Rigid diaphragm is generally an acceptable option in most of the seismic design codes in which the in-plane deformability is not permitted because of the infinite in-plane stiffness properties. Several building configurations may exhibit significant flexibility in floor diaphragms and accordingly using the semirigid diaphragm is recommended as significant in-plane deformation does occur. In this study, a comparative study by using rigid and semirigid diaphragms is performed to identify the related effect on the reinforced concrete (RC) walls. In this study, a numerical study for a twelve-story building with dual system of RC columns and walls is performed. All geometrical and loading properties have been kept constant while using two types of diaphragm as rigid (RD) and semirigid (SRD). The seismic performance of the studied two structures was evaluated in terms of the fundamental period, maximum inter-story drift, maximum base shear and stresses on RC walls. Generally, RD produce results nearly identical to those of SRD for base shear, story displacements and inter-story drifts as the slab is sufficiently thick and membrane deformation due to lateral loading is negligible. Compared to SRD, using RD led to increase the internal moment and shear forces resulted from the seismic loads and acting on the RC walls while the resulting vertical loads are nearly identical.

Numerical investigation on the effects of different wind directions, solidity, airfoils, and building configurations on the aerodynamic performance of building augmented vertical axis wind turbines

ABSTRACTFor utilizing the high-quality wind energy around the high-rise building, the aerodynamic performance of building augmented straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine (BASB-VAWT) was investigated by 2-dimensional CFD. The effects of wind direction, solidity, airfoil, and building configurations on BASB-VAWTs were studied to provide the reference of practical application. By considering the boundary layer effect of the building, the numerical results show that the aerodynamic performance of BASB-VAWTs is significantly sensitive to the wind direction. When the wind direction is North (the channel direction of BASB-VAWT is West), BASB-VAWTs barely generate power. The different airfoils, various solidity, and architectural configurations also have a great influence on the aerodynamic performance of BASB-VAWTs. With the increasing solidity, the load fluctuation can be reduced sharply and the maximum power coefficient is increased firstly and then decrease. Therefore, the optimal blade of NACA 0021 airfoil and solidity of 0.333 is promising to achieve better performance. Most of the building configurations were determined initially and thus the results in this paper merely provide a suggestion of the optimal building configuration.

Pressure-equalised façade systems: Evaluation of current watertightness test standards used to assess the performance of enclosure components

Watertightness test standards are used to evaluate enclosure components in terms of water penetration resistance. Currently, there is a wide variety of watertightness tests in use for façades elements and wall systems; however, none of them specifically addresses and evaluates the drainage capacity in pressure-equalised façade systems. In addition, recent research has revealed many inconsistencies in the possibility of these test standards to represent all possible conditions that can occur under different operating conditions, varying building configurations and at different locations. As such, the three main variables for water penetration testing (water spray rate, pressure differential and duration of the pressure application) have been called into question. Nonetheless, these studies do not bring up the protocols and other technical specifications incorporated in the test standard procedures. Furthermore, neither are concerns raised about the influence that these other parameters might have on the outcomes of the watertightness test, which is the aim of this research. To this end, the article provides a critical review of current watertightness tests standards from around the world in the first section. Thereafter, a thorough comparison of the information incorporated in the protocols of the test standards has been carried out. The evaluation and discussion of the test parameters and technical specifications incorporated in the tests standards is undertaken based on the state of the art and laboratory experiments of three mock-ups with pressure-equalised façade systems, where the water management capacity of the system is assessed. As a result of this research work, a guideline was prepared for the establishment of test procedures when developing new watertightness standards for pressure-equalised façade systems.

CFD simulations for examining natural ventilation in the learning spaces of an educational building with courtyards in Madurai

This paper attempts to investigate the potential of courtyards in optimizing natural ventilation and improving comfort levels in the learning spaces of a naturally ventilated educational institution with courtyards in the warm-humid climatic region of Madurai. Field measurements and experimental studies were carried out to predict the indoor and outdoor environmental conditions. The numerical study was carried out using computational fluid dynamics-based simulations using Ansys Fluent as the solver. The main aim of the simulation is to understand the airflow pattern and air velocity fields inside the classrooms surrounding the courtyards for different wind directions. The computational fluid dynamics results were validated by comparing it with the experimental results obtained in the current study and numerical results from other studies. The major findings of the current study suggest that courtyards with an aspect ratio of 1:2, orientations of openings at an angle of 0–20° to the predominant wind directions and the overall percentage of openings between 15 and 30% in buildings in Madurai region can enhance natural ventilation and thus improve thermal comfort of the occupants.Practical application: Naturally ventilated buildings in warm-humid climates have difficulty in providing thermal comfort to the occupants. CFD tools have been used to predict the ventilation performance of a naturally ventilated educational building with courtyards. The CFD results were helpful in identifying the implication of building design on the indoor air flow pattern. The recommendations given in this paper are applicable to any building type which relies on natural ventilation for thermal comfort provided they have similar building configurations, boundary conditions and weather conditions. The study is intended to help architects and building designers in the effective design of naturally ventilated buildings with respect to its climatic conditions.

Performance Evaluation and Crack Repair in Building Infrastructure

The implementation of building infrastructure development to improve people’s lives is important. The use of reinforced concrete structures has increased very rapidly. But many buildings are failed and are not safe because of overloading, changes in function and configuration of buildings, poor maintenance, and natural disasters. Many methods developed to reduce the damage caused by earthquakes so that the development of methods to strengthen and repair building structures is needed to anticipate damage to buildings. This study focuses on beam-column joint cracks with simple building characteristics, column size 20/20 and beam 15/20 (monolithic) with concrete quality fc’= 21 MPa, so it is necessary to evaluate and repair beam-column joint cracks in buildings because of overload. The method used was experimental and testing in a laboratory with a single static load and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) test to determine the density after repair. Test specimens are SK (control-specimens) and SK-repairing. The results showed that the beam-column joint performance before and after repairs had relatively the same flexural strength of 1,669 kg and 1,686 kg, while the stiffness was lower at 14.48%. The velocity after repair average is 3,327.5 m/s (medium-category). The elasticity average modulus of the test is 20.43 GPa.

Response Quantities of Framed Buildings under Dynamic Excitation

Seismic analysis of structure is employed to make the structure enable to resist the seismic forces and perform against the factors causing the failure of the structure under dynamic excitation. Among various response factors, the base shear and time period of buildings are predominant factors used in the analysis and design of the structure.The prime objective of the paper is to present an analytical study on non-linear seismic analysis of moment resisting framed buildings (as per Indian code IS1893 – 2016) to evaluate the base shear of different configurations of buildings according to different mode combination methods. The obtained results have been presented the comparative analysis of different combination methods. The paper also presents the evaluated results in the form of the time period values of the different buildings depending upon variation in its configuration. As a result, the responses of multistoried moment-resisting framed buildings have been evaluated for various models of considered buildings based on different mode combination methods, and the results of obtained responses have been analyzed in a comparative manner to understand the behaviour of buildings under various methods and configuration conditions. The work presented in the paper can support to develop better understanding of structural response and efficient designing of structures.

Effects of Beam Members on Performance of Buildings under Seismic Forces

The main aim of the paper is to present an analysis to study on non-linear seismic analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings as per the provisions of Indian code IS1893-2016 to evaluate the response of the building configurations depending upon the section sizes of the horizontal members; beams and as per variation in its cross-sectional area. The response of buildings has been noted in terms of quantities as the time period of buildings.Indian seismic code IS 1893 has been employed for the design provisions of the seismic analysis and the structures have been evaluated for seismic zone II. The design software STAAD.Pro has been used for the dynamic analysis.The response of the structure under lateral force system, induced due to seismic activities is must be analysed to understand the behaviour of structure under dynamic forces. The paper evaluates the most common but important response factors of the structure which are most important in the design of building. The paper also shows the detailed results of the time period of buildings for various building configuration. The evaluated results have been tabulated and analysed with the help of a comparative study of the obtained data. The work is useful for better understanding of the performance of the reinforced concrete buildings as per the different sizes and sections and stiffness of the beam elements.

Revealing deep semantic commercial patterns: Insights from urban landscape depiction

Commercial functions play a significant role in economic growth and sustainable development. Influenced by socioeconomic changes which were investigated based on commercial behaviours using big geo-data, urban environment shows polycentric structures and further leads to more complex commercial landscapes. Thus, research considered environmental consequences of urban growth to better understand the commercialization process. However, only general commercial areas or certain commercial retail locations were investigated with the effects of urban environmental landscapes in existing studies. The decomposition of the commercial patterns such as accommodation and catering functions remains undiscussed. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a framework to decompose commercial patterns based on insight from different urban landscapes. First, we depict urban landscapes using spatial metrics, including the density of points of interest (POIs), percentage of landscape of buildings, landscape shape index of buildings and density of roads. Then, we examine the spatial distribution of the decomposed commercial patterns by delineating potential deep semantic topics. Finally, a structural equation model is utilised to determine the relations among urban landscapes and commercial patterns. The results show that four types of urban landscapes exhibit different spatial patterns, revealing various perspectives of commercial characteristics. Meanwhile, the decomposed commercial patterns, including those for catering and accommodation functions, display a heterogeneous distribution. These commercial patterns are directly affected by various configurations of buildings, POIs and roads. On this basis, suggestions are offered to improve commercial pattern development, including integrating urban landscape construction, organising the commercial pattern distribution and enhancing the harmony between the urban environment and commercial land uses.

Seismic response control of asymmetric buildings using tuned mass dampers

SummaryThe aim of the present study is to investigate the efficiency of the torsional tuned mass dampers (T‐TMDs) in response control of asymmetric buildings under bidirectional earthquake ground excitations. The efficiency of the T‐TMDs is compared with bidirectional tuned mass dampers (BTMDs). The T‐TMDs are oriented to the rotation of the structures about vertical axis with a single torsional mass attached to spring–dashpot elements, whereas the BTMD connects a single mass to two orthogonal sets of spring–dashpot elements oriented to principal axes of the building. The buildings are idealized three‐dimensional models with two translational and one torsional degrees of freedom for each floor. Three different configurations (cruciform‐shaped, L‐shaped, and T‐shaped) of multistory buildings are considered. The 5‐, 15‐, and 20‐story buildings with and without the tuned mass damper schemes are subjected to bidirectional earthquake ground excitation. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the T‐TMDs and BTMD, the rotation, displacement, acceleration, and base shear force responses are computed. Parametric studies are conducted for all the configurations installed with the T‐TMDs and BTMD by varying their mass ratio, damping ratio, and ground motions. It is concluded that the T‐TMDs are more effective in mitigating the torsional response of asymmetric buildings as compared with the BTMD.

Perception of Wind in Open Spaces

Dense urbanization influences the livability of cities. Changes in local meteorological conditions can be adverse for human health and well-being. In urban open spaces, it is widely known that changes in building density and configuration in cities influence wind speed (Va). This influence modifies latent heat flux between the human body and surrounding environment and thereby affecting the thermal comfort conditions in open spaces between buildings. Several studies have demonstrated the significant effect of wind speed on outdoor thermal comfort. Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) has recently experienced dense urbanization and this pattern of development has instigated noticeable changes in meteorological conditions. Some evidence has suggested that the patterns of wind flow induce thermal discomfort during cool seasons. Conversely, the wind is most welcomed during warm seasons. This study was conducted to assess outdoor users’ responses to Va in three open spaces of an educational precinct in Melbourne’s CBD. The open spaces studied are different in terms of design and function. Users’ responses and meteorological conditions were examined through a series of field measurements and questionnaire surveys from November 2014 to May 2015. This study used three perceptual scales to analyze participants’ experience of Va during field surveys: “Bedford preference”, “thermal sensation” and “personal acceptability”. Analytical results yielded the wind perceptual comfort thresholds for different seasons as well as the entire study period. The results suggested that in addition to the geometry of the urban open space, the function of place could influence people’s perceptions of Va. The research findings contribute to developing thermally comfortable outdoor environments.

An approach to develop a green building technology database for residential buildings

Buildings consume approximately 39% of the total energy used in US, of which 53% is consumed by residential buildings. Besides, indoor air quality (IAQ) have significant impacts on occupant health since people spend on average around 90% of their time indoors. Nowadays, a great number of green building technologies (GBTs) have been developed and implemented in buildings for reducing energy consumption and improving IAQ. This paper proposes an approach to develop a green building technology database for residential buildings including their the technology’s feature and performance for energy saving and IAQ improvement under different building configuration and climate conditions. The GBTs are collected from case study buildings. For each study case, the GBTs are classified by the Virtual Design Studio (VDS) building assessment method. A local reference building is first defined for the region where the case building is constructed. Both forward-step evaluation of a proposed GBT to a reference building and backward-step tracking of the contribution of the technology to the case building are conducted. A scalability analysis is also conducted to understand the practical application of the performance parameters to other cases with different building design. EnergyPlus and CHAMPS-Multizone are used to analyse the energy and IAQ performance for each technology. The approach is verified by a case study of two single-family houses in US.

Effect of Un-reinforced Masonry Infills on Seismic Performance of Hill Buildings

The present study investigates the influence of un-reinforced masonry infill panels on the seismic performance of stepback and stepback-setback hill building configurations. Masonry infills are often used for partition in RC frame construction and its significance as a structural element in the analysis and design is generally neglected. Thus, to observe the structural effect on the seismic response of hill buildings, masonry infill panels are modelled as diagonal struts and analysed as truss elements. In all, sixteen models with and without masonry infills are modelled and analyzed by using response spectrum method and dynamic properties are presented and compared within considered configurations. It is observed that masonry infills not only reduce overall storey drift and base shear at different foundation levels but also increase the shear demand in the surrounding frame due to high lateral stiffness when subjected seismic loads. It is concluded that the masonry infill panels entirely change the seismic response of a building and thus, it is important to incorporate these elements in the analysis and design of the building structure, in order to understand the true structural response.

Additive manufacturing infill optimization for automotive 3D-printed ABS components

PurposeLightweighting of components in the automotive industry is a prevailing trend influenced by both consumer demand and government regulations. As the viability of additively manufactured designs continues to increase, traditionally manufactured components are continually being replaced with 3D-printed parts. The purpose of this paper is to present experimental results and design considerations for 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) components with non-solid infill sections, addressing a large gap in the literature. Information published in this paper will guide engineers when designing fused deposition modeling (FDM) ABS parts with infill regions.Design/methodology/approachUniaxial tensile tests and three-point bend tests were performed on 12 different build configurations of 20 samples. FDM with ABS was used as the manufacturing method for the samples. Failure strength and elastic modulus were normalized on print time and specimen mass to quantify variance between configurations. Optimal infill configurations were selected and used in two automotive case study examples.FindingsResults obtained from the uniaxial tensile tests and three-point bend tests distinctly showed that component strength is highly influenced by the infill choice selected. Normalized results indicate that solid, double dense and triangular infill, all with eight contour layers, are optimal configurations for component regions experiencing high stress, moderate stress and low stress, respectively. Implementation of the optimal infill configurations in automotive examples yielded equivalent failure strength without normalization and significantly improved failure strength on a print time and mass normalized index.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to experimentally determine and quantify optimal infill configurations for FDM ABS printed parts. Published data in this paper are also of value to engineers requiring quantitative material properties for common infill configurations.

Heat and Cold Roses of U.S. Cities: a New Tool for Optimizing Urban Climate

Thermal comfort in cities is influenced not only by air temperature but also by the shortwave and longwave radiation environment, and wind velocity. Increasing ventilation has been demonstrated to improve thermal comfort during hot weather conditions in cities. However, during cold conditions increased ventilation lowers thermal comfort. In the context of urban design for climate adaptation, it is desirable to know from which directions hot and cold weather conditions approach the city. For this purpose we present a simple extension to the conventional “wind rose” concept. This tool, which we refer to as ‘heat and cold roses’, visualizes the wind direction statistics in combination with hot and cold weather conditions. We demonstrate that for a multitude of cities in the U.S. the main directions of hot and cold weather conditions do not overlap. In analyzing the heat and cold weather roses from the 50 largest U.S. cities, two distinct typologies of heat and cold roses are identified. The implications and potential for using these typologies for developing improved building configuration designs is demonstrated by microscale bioclimatic simulations. The studied, hypothetical building design configuration improved thermal comfort for both hot and cold conditions.

Development of a user-friendly regression model to evaluate carbon emissions of office buildings design in the subtropics

Purpose Design teams have difficulties in assessing building carbon emissions at an early stage, as most building energy simulation tools require a detailed input of building design for estimation. The purpose of this paper is to develop a user-friendly regression model to estimate carbon emissions of the preliminary design of office buildings in the subtropics by way of example. Five sets of building design parameters, including building configuration, building envelope, design space conditions, building system configuration and occupant behaviour, are considered in this study. Design/methodology/approach Both EnergyPlus and Monte Carlo simulation were used to predict carbon emissions for different combinations of the design parameters. A total of 100,000 simulations were conducted to ensure a full range of simulation results. Based on the simulation results, a regression model was developed to estimate carbon emissions of office buildings based on preliminary design information. Findings The results show that occupant density, annual mean occupancy rate, equipment load, lighting load and chiller coefficient of performance are the top five influential parameters affecting building carbon emissions under the subtropics. Besides, the design parameters of ten office buildings were input into this user-friendly regression model for validation. The results show that the ranking of its simulated carbon emissions for these ten buildings is consistent with the original carbon emissions ranking. Practical implications With the use of this developed regression model, design teams can not only have a simple and quick estimation of carbon emissions based on the building design information at the conceptual stage but also explore design options by understanding the level of reduction in carbon emissions if a certain building design parameter is changed. The study also provides recommendations on building design to reduce carbon emissions of office buildings. Originality/value Limited research has been conducted to date to investigate how the change of building design affects carbon emissions in the subtropics where four distinct seasons lead to significant variations of outdoor temperature and relative humidity. Previous research also did not emphasise on the impact of high-rise office building designs (e.g. small building footprint, high window-to-wall ratio) on carbon emissions. This paper adds value by identifying the influential parameters affecting carbon emissions for a high-rise office building design and allows a handy estimate of building carbon emissions under the subtropical conditions. The same approach may be used for other meteorological conditions.

Seismic Response of High Rise Building with Openings in Shear Walls

Due to gradual development of metros and small towns and increasing population in India, the high rise buildings are constructed at a larger scale due to land scarcity and the commercial or cultural importance of a particular area. A high rise building should be architecturally viable and should have good light and air ventilation. In this project we compare and analyze the high rise buildings in three configurations.A high rise building is a structure which is more than 30m in height. In this project we consider a high rise building with story configuration of G+20. The three configurations of the high rise building are designed, configured and seismically analysed using ETABS software. Earthquake analysis in ETABS is carried out on Model (a)-Structure without a shear wall, Model (b)-Structure with shear walls and Model (c)-Structure with openings in shear walls resting in Type II soil and Type III seismic zone. The soil type and seismic zone considered for this project is specific for Amaravati the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Seismic analysis results for each configuration of the high rise building such as Base Shear, Time Period, Storey Drifts and Displacements are compiled and compared to find the suitable configuration of high rise structure.

Dynamic wind response of tall buildings using artificial neural network

SummaryThis paper presents an alternative approach for predicting the dynamic wind response of tall buildings using artificial neural network (ANN). The ANN model was developed, trained, and validated based on the data generated in the context of Indian Wind Code (IWC), IS 875 (Part 3):2015. According to the IWC, dynamic wind responses can be calculated for a specific configuration of buildings. The dynamic wind loads and their corresponding responses of structures other than the specified configurations in IWC have to be estimated by wind tunnel tests or computational techniques, which are expensive and time intensive. Alternatively, ANN is an efficient and economical computational analysis tool that can be implemented to estimate the dynamic wind response of a building. In this paper, ANN models were developed to predict base shear and base bending moment of a tall building in along‐ and across‐wind direction by giving the input as the configuration of the building, wind velocity, and terrain category. Multilayer perceptron ANN models with back‐propagation training algorithm was adopted. On comparison of results, it was found that the predicted values obtained from the ANN models and the calculated responses acquired using IWC standards are almost similar. Using the best fit model of ANN, an extensive parametric study was performed to predict the dynamic wind response of tall buildings for the configurations on which IWC is silent. Based on the results obtained from this study, design charts are developed for the prediction of dynamic wind response of tall buildings.

Features of the numerical simulation in research on the stress strain behavior of underground structures

In our time, widely use numerical calculations methods, the leading place among which is the finite element method (FEM).The necessity of using numerical methods in calculating underground structures is caused by complexity and the inability to perform analytical calculation because of such factors: сomposite build configuration, structural diagram of constructions, anisotropy of materials, differential subsidence, multistage construction, etc.The article considers the most common questions, which arise at the stage of discrete modelling for calculation of the stress strain behavior of system "underground development - a soil mass" by use of FEM, such as:Measuring and pattern of distribution dead loads from soil mass. At great depth underground pressure generally does not depend on depth of construction, that give a problem.Choosing a material model. The credibility of research results depends on selected mathematical model of the soil. Simple models give blunder and complex models require more conditions that need to be determined qualitatively using special purpose equipment. Choosing FE-mesh dimensions. Differing approaches to problem solving impact differently on the distribution of stress strain behavior in constructions and the soil mass.Also, the article deals questions of dimensioning mesh coarseness, selecting boundary conditions, the setting of interfaces, etc.Problem solution requires a thorough understanding of the mathematical methods and the physical phenomena that are modelled, taking into account the diversity of natural and production factors.

Structural reliability and performance evaluation of symmetric and asymmetric multi-storey buildings subjected to lateral wind forces

Lately there has been enormous enhancement of buildings architecturally. Most of the buildings are designed and constructed with diverse variations like soft–storey, torsional irregularity, asymmetrical layout of walls, irregularities in plan and elevation and thus overall building configuration. Any such variation result in challenging implications in terms of structural reliability and appropriate design of structural members. Calculation of lateral forces on these structures is an essential process in case of high– rise structures and structural performance of these aesthetically appealing asymmetric irregular shaped buildings especially when subjected to heavy wind forces need to be carefully assessed by structural engineers. The present work intends at performance evaluation by studying structural reliability of symmetrical and asymmetrical regular square, L, C and T–shaped reinforced concrete multi–storey buildings subjected to wind loads. The wind load analysis on these buildings is carried out in line with ASCE 7–10 design code. A comparative evaluation of critical parameters like fundamental period, natural and circular frequency of building, maximum joint displacement, storey drift ratio, inter–storey drift, internal forces in structural members, storey response and storey stiffness determines that difference in shape of a particular storey (or building) influence overall structural performance of building.