Design Of New Buildings Research Articles

Predicting Maximum and Cumulative Response of A Base-isolated Building Using Pushover Analysis

The evaluation of the maximum and cumulative response is an important issue for the seismic design of new base-isolated buildings. This study predicts the maximum and cumulative response of a 14-story reinforced concrete base-isolated building using a set of pushover analyses. In the proposed pushover analysis method, the maximum and cumulative responses of the first and higher modes are evaluated from the nonlinear analysis of equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) models. Then, the maximum local responses are predicted by enveloping the two pushover analysis results by referring to the contribution of the first and higher modal responses, while the cumulative strain energies of the lead-rubber bearings and steel dampers are predicted from the cumulative response of the first mode. The results reveal that the responses predicted by the proposed set of pushover analyses have satisfactory accuracy.

Low- carbon design strategies for new residential buildings – lessons from architectural practice

ABSTRACT This study presents the environmental life cycle assessment of four low carbon design strategies applied in Danish, architectural practice. The subject of analysis is a set of five buildings erected within the same constrictions in terms of floor area, energy performance and construction costs. The tested design strategies were: use of recycled materials, design for extended durability of components, adaptable design, and design for reduction of operational energy demand. The results of the five buildings are compared with a reference building (i.e. a typical, Danish single-family dwelling). Results show that the recycling/upcycling strategy is the most effective in reducing the embodied carbon. The use of structural wood in the same design furthermore points to the use of wood as a viable low-carbon strategy. In combination, these two strategies result in an approximate 40% saving of life cycle embodied carbon compared to the reference. Using durable materials yields up to 30% lower embodied carbon compared to the reference, whereas a design for adaptability results in 17% lower embodied carbon. However, these results are sensitive to the scenarios made for the service lives of materials and the implemented disassembly solutions. In a life cycle carbon perspective, the emissions from energy use prove to be of importance, although depending on the modelling approaches of the energy mix. With the shrinking, global carbon budgets in mind, there is justified reason to holistically optimize the design of new buildings by integrating various design aspects addressing the whole life cycle of the building.

Thermal comfort models and perception of users in free-running school buildings of East-Mediterranean region

This paper explores the impact of natural ventilation on the indoor thermal environment through an extensive field survey of educational architecture in Cyprus performed both during the winter and summer periods. The study included seasonal indoor and outdoor monitoring of physical parameters, as well as a questionnaire-based survey. The study shows that the naturally ventilated spaces on the upper floor demonstrate operative temperature below the acceptable comfort zone during the winter period, while during the summer period, the findings show the vulnerability of the occupants to summertime temperatures. During the winter, a closed classroom shows the best results in terms of operative temperature; however, this conflicts with the air quality. During the summer, the case of cross-ventilation, both during the day and night, is the most efficient and operative way to passively cool educational premises. Moreover, the results of the subjective survey demonstrate that most students feel comfortable in both the winter and summer demonstrating high thermal tolerance. The results of the current study can be applied to inform strategies for the improvement of thermal comfort and reduction of energy use in educational buildings, as well as the design of new educational buildings.

Application of Direct Displacement Based Design of Reinforced Concrete Frames Subjected To Earthquake Loads

Numerous studies are reported in literature on performance evaluation and rehabilitation of building however, limited studies are reported on performance based design of new buildings. Displacement based design procedure is a new method which is not available in Indian building design codes. An effort has been done to investigate the Direct Displacement Based Design (DDBD) for four, eight and twelve story regular RC frame buildings proposed by Priestley et al, using Indian code Response Spectrum for Zone V which is considered as a very high intensity seismic risk zone for life safety and collapse prevention performance levels. Nonlinear time history analysis is carried out for available ground motion and compared with the performance levels (in terms of drift, displacement). Observations show that design displacement reduction factor should be different for life safety and collapse prevention levels. The effective damping increases as the height of the building increases and is higher for collapse prevention.

What’s so special about character?

Special Character Areas (SCAs) in Auckland, New Zealand, are areas with distinctive aesthetic, physical and visual qualities. Preservation policies entail controls on the design and appearance of new buildings, and on demolition, additions and alterations to existing buildings. To promote densification of the city, the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) removed SCA preservation rules in certain areas. This article assesses the trade-off between SCA preservation and housing development. We employ hedonic prices models to about 85,000 sale transactions between 2012 and 2016 and find that in 2012, the SCA price premium was 11.4% whereas the premium on upzoned properties (those with increased development allowances under the AUP) was zero. Over time, the SCA premium decreases, and by 2016 it was down to about 4.3%. At the same time, upzoning premiums increased to about 5% in 2016. These results reveal a demand shift from the protections of SCA towards flexibility on the development options of land.

EnergyPlus, IDA ICE and TRNSYS predictive simulation accuracy for building thermal behaviour evaluation by using an experimental campaign in solar test boxes with and without a PCM module

For the design of new buildings or buildings undergoing major renovations, the use of building performance simulation (BPS) tools is a key instrument to sizing the envelope or to select the best solution to be integrated. Nowadays, many BPS tools are available and are used by researchers and designers, each of which was independently validated, by considering different operating conditions, and rarely were directly compared in the same conditions. The objective of this work is to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the most popular BPS tools, namely TRNSYS, EnergyPlus and IDA ICE, by means of a comparison of the simulated results and the experimental measurements detected under real operating conditions. For this issue, two different small-scale solar test boxes (STBs) with one glazed wall exposed to the outdoor environment of Rome were employed for the experimental investigation. The envelope of the reference STB is insulated and made by conventional materials. In the other case, the STB floor is equipped also with a commercial phase change material (PCM) panel. Both STBs were equipped with a data acquisition system to detect the internal air temperature, the glass external and internal surface temperature and, for the PCM-based STB, also the PCM floor internal surface temperature.A wide description and comparison of the mathematical models used by the three BPS tools are provided, followed by a geometric, weather data, technical and heat transfer parameters alignment was developed to put all the tools in the same conditions. Three different experimental campaign periods were considered and used for the evaluation of each BPS tool accuracy.Some common accuracy indices were used for the comparison, such as the R2, RMSE and normalized RMSE, and an overall accuracy index that summarizes the previous ones in the different experimental campaign periods. The results have shown have highlighted the most accurate mathematical models for the prediction of the dynamic thermal behaviour of the STB in the absence and presence of a PCM. In the absence of PCM in the STB, all the three tools are comparable providing high overall accuracy index in all periods with a rank variable as a function of the period owing to the different treatment of the solar radiation modelling. In the presence of PCM in the STB, IDA ICE leads to the highest overall accuracy index in all periods. Unlike to IDA ICE, TRNSYS and EnergyPlus do not take into account the PCM hysteresis phenomenon. Instead, TRNSYS model provides the worst accuracy since it neglects both hysteresis and phase change temperature range, that is instead implemented both in IDA ICE and EnergyPlus. However, TRNSYS predictions can be retained acceptable for a preliminary evaluation since only low data and very low computational cost is required.

Applications of BIM in Construction Engineering in China：A Review

Based on the CNKI database from 2002-2019, this paper conducts the comprehensive literature survey on the BIM applications in construction engineering. Aiming to pros and cons summarized from the current research examples, the BIM shows great potential and the related study is a rapidly evolving field in construction engineering. In general, the diversity of BIM application studies is involved in construction engineering, such as, design and construction of new building, operation and maintenance of the existing buildings. BIM can be a powerful tool if it was properly taken advantage. However, the BIM application in design is more emphasized than that in the other aspects, which hinders the popularization of its application. Therefore, suggestions for future research are given accordingly: (i) constructing a feasible and flexible system according to the different applications; (ii) expanding the research content based on proposed system; (iii) establishing a method of evaluation of BIM application.

The role of Ukrainian folk ornament in the Art Nouveau graphic: theoretical and applied aspects

The role of Ukrainian folk ornament in the Art Nouveau graphic: theoretical and applied aspects

Impact of neighbourhood-scale climate characteristics on building heating demand and night ventilation cooling potential

As buildings are main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is important to assess the performance of existing buildings and assist the design of new sustainable buildings through building energy simulation. It is well known that by using local climate measurements for building energy simulation would provide more accurate result than by using other typical weather data, i.e. typical meteorological year (TMY). However, as different built forms/architectural layouts would also have impacts on neighbourhood-scale microclimate, it is worthy to quantify the difference it would make. In this study, we performed a year-long measurement with four weather stations surrounding a campus building in 2009 and 2010. Each station was placed in a typical type of built form, including a street canyon, a courtyard, a semi-closed courtyard and a relatively larger open area. Besides, two typical weather data files, typical meteorological year (TMY) and actual meteorological year (AMY) were taken as reference. Annual heating demand and natural ventilation cooling potential were calculated based on all 6 weather files. Our simulation results show that the variation in annual heating demand of different built forms could be between 1.1 and 7.3%, where the large open area has the highest heating demand and it of the courtyard is the lowest. The difference between on-site measurement and TMY in annual heating load is as high as 10.8%. While in summer, night ventilation cooling potential of the courtyard and the semi-closed form are the highest, and it of the street canyon is the lowest. Using TMY could underestimate the night ventilation cooling potential by 26–31% and using AMY could overestimate it by 9–14% in total. Overall speaking, the courtyard form shows good performance in reducing heating demand and enhancing night ventilation cooling, while the street canyon shows relatively poor performance in both aspects. These findings highlight the importance to understand the impact of neighbourhood-scale microclimate on building energy performance.

Field measurement and evaluation of noise and vibrations induced by bridge cranes in full-scale over-track buildings.

Over-track buildings have been increasingly favored in the construction of metro depots and freight depots in China in the last decade due to advantages of intensive utilization of land resources and high-profits. However, due to the relatively heavy transportation mass and high-operating frequency of bridge cranes, over-track buildings are often complained by occupants for annoying noise and vibrations. So far this issue is rarely concerned and the characteristics of noise and vibrations under bridge crane loading remain unclear. In this study, field measurements of two full-scale over-track buildings, including a seven-story building over a metro depot and a three-story building over a freight depot, were conducted. Vibration characteristics of both the structure and the bridge crane were obtained. The transmission of vibrations from bridge crane system to the over-track building was obtained by transfer function (TF) of vibration from the column bracket towards the outdoor platform or building floors. The structure-borne noise inside the building was also captured and evaluated. The effect of bridge crane operational parameters (loading capacity and running velocity) and structural dynamic properties (non-structural components) on system responses was further discussed. Results show that the bridge crane-induced vibrations are comparable to the levels of train-induced vibrations. Besides, both buildings tested in this study suffer from unacceptable structure-borne noise, although the building vibration is acceptable. We recommend to carefully examining design of new over-track buildings to avoid annoying indoor noise and improve the living or working environment of occupants. It is demonstrated that vibrations of over-track buildings are more sensitive to running velocity than load capacity of bridge crane. It could be expected that the future increase of velocity will worsen the noise and vibration environment of over-track buildings. Furthermore, it is seen that non-structural components would remarkably affect dynamic responses of the building.

Sensitivity analysis of a simplified office building

The increase of thermal discomfort and the associated energy demand for the cooling of buildings further exacerbate the ongoing challenges for the design of new buildings and the adaptation measures of the current building stock to climate change. Dynamic, detailed and tailored building simulation methodologies are necessary to better understand and quantify the energy demand of buildings and consequences for supporting energy networks. The aim of this is to analyze the sensitivity of peak electricity demand for the provision of space cooling to different office building model parameters. In the research, two sensitivity methods, Morris Elementary Effect and Sobol, are used to evaluate the sensitivity of eight input model parameters. Relative to peak power consumption for cooling, the most important factor is the cooling set-point, followed by ventilation rate and internal heat gains, which are estimated to account for 38%, 26% and 25% of the variation. Regarding the annual cooling demand for the HVAC systems, these factors account for 35%, 33% and 58%, respectively.

Diverse approaches to the preservation of built vernacular heritage: case study of post-disaster reconstruction of the Xijie Historic District in Dujiangyan City, China

ABSTRACTPreservation of the built vernacular heritage contributes to maintaining a ‘sense of place' and cultural diversity; yet, it is often ignored in preservation practices that favour high styled architectures and monumental sites. In China, although the understanding of the value of vernacular expression has shown some progress, technical and methodological efforts are still necessary to address the diversity and complexity of vernacular heritage. In this paper, the Xijie Historic District in Dujiangyan City in China provides an example for the preservation of the built vernacular heritage in the context of neighbourhood revitalization during a post-earthquake reconstruction project. Five types of intervention are examined in this paper, including the repair and restoration of the monuments, restoration of historic buildings, rehabilitation of traditional houses, contextual design of new buildings, and demolition to provide public space and facilities. In particular, the measures implemented to meet the residents' needs while maintaining the diversity of the built vernacular heritage are inspected. This study concludes with three recommendations: the classification of vernacular environments and employment of diverse measures to each type; the adaptation of the vernacular environment to meet residents’ expectations and aspirations; and recognition of the development and reasonable control of the changes.

ВІМ–technologies as a method of optimizing the use of resources in the construction industry

The article is devoted to the efficiency of using ВIM–technologies for implementation of modern requirements of reduction of terms and cost of design, development, optimization of design solutions based on experience in the design of new buildings and structures, provision of necessary information support of the investment project during its entire life cycle. The article describes a new approach for the design of a construction object.Information modeling of a building is an approach to design, construction, equipping, ensuring responsible operation and repair of a building (to control the life cycle of an object), which consists in accumulation and complex processing in the process of designing all architectural-design, technological, economic and other information about a building with all its interconnections and dependencies, when the building and the objects of its life support are considered as a single system.A three-dimensional model of a building or other construction object associated with a database in which each element of the model can be assigned all the necessary attributes. The peculiarity of this approach is that the construction object is designed in fact as a single whole: The change of any of its parameters automatically changes in its parameters and objects, up to drawings, visualization, specifications and calendar graphics.The use of the information model goes beyond the planning and design phase of the project, covering the entire life cycle of the building and supporting all processes, including cost management, construction management, project management, site operation and environmental management.ВIM is a process of optimization of design and construction. Optimization of design and construction is possible with the help of an information modeling method. Optimization of the duration of the work is proposed to be carried out by determining their duration, taking into account the optimal level of time reserve, at which the total losses associated with the downtime of the front of work, the crews of workers are minimized. ВIM-technologies is our future, which will improve Ukrainian construction.

Satellite Monitoring of Thermal Performance in Smart Urban Designs

Climate change amplified by rapidly increasing urbanization is resulting in rising temperatures within urban environments. In recent years, to mitigate this the design and construction of new buildings has emphasized “smart” methods and materials for individual buildings rather than landscape-level planning and evaluation of new developments. Remote Sensing potentially offers a cost-effective means to monitor effectiveness of landscape-level urban design and guide developers to improve thermal regimes. This paper focuses on satellite monitoring of thermal variation in the area of London most affected by construction in 2010–2015. Split-window Land Surface Temperature (LST) models were applied to ASTER and Landsat 8 satellite imagery, requiring separate investigation of thermal trends due to temporal inconsistency. Getis-Ord-Gi* cluster analysis of the ASTER image identified three main thermal hot spots: Eastern, Stratford railway/underground station, and Stratford High Street. It is assumed that increased thermal stress within these areas is mainly from anthropogenic heat. However, local thermal variations for Eastern Olympic Village are attributed to changing meteorological conditions, facade materials, canyon morphology and orientation, or insufficient shading and ventilation. Future development of a new cultural hub at this location will significantly affect distribution of green spaces and influence their cooling ability.

Static and dynamic thermal properties of construction components: A comparison in idealized and experimental conditions using lumped parameter models

The U values assumptions for construction components represent a significant source of uncertainty when estimating the energy performance of buildings. This uncertainty affects decision-making processes in multiple ways, from policy making to design of new and refurbished buildings. The correct estimation of both static (e.g. thermal transmittance) and dynamic thermal properties is crucial for quality assurance in building performance assessment. Further, while today many sophisticated simulators are available for building performance modelling, lumped parameter models can help reducing computational time for parametric simulation or optimization and enable inverse estimation of lumped thermal characteristics. A lumped parameter approach for construction components is proposed, for example, by the ISO 52016-1:2017 norm, introducing simplifications that are intrinsically dependent on component’s stratigraphy. This approach complements ISO 13786:2017 norm method, which is limited to steady-state periodic temperature and heat flux boundary conditions. In this research we consider these two different approaches, detailed and lumped modelling, comparing them first in idealized conditions and then in experimental conditions to analyse the robustness of methods.

Links between the Aesthetic Education Environment of Schools and Pupils’ Artistic Self-Expression

Links between the Aesthetic Education Environment of Schools and Pupils’ Artistic Self-Expression

Seismic hazard level reduction for existing buildings considering remaining building lifespans

Seismic hazard levels lower than those for design of new buildings have been permitted for seismic evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings due to the relatively short remaining lifespans. The seismic hazard reduction enables cost-effective seismic evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings with limited structural capacity. The current study proposes seismic hazard reduction factors for Korea, one of low to moderate seismicity regions. The seismic hazard reduction factors are based on equal probabilities of non-exceedance within different remaining building lifespans. A validation procedure is proposed to investigate equality of seismic risk in terms of ductility-based limit states using seismic fragility assessment of nonlinear SDOF systems, of which retrofit demands are determined by the displacement coefficient method of ASCE 41-13 for different target remaining building lifespans and corresponding reduced design earthquakes. Validation result shows that the use of seismic hazard reduction factors can be permitted in conjunction with appropriate lower bounds of the remaining building lifespans.

Review of methods for evaluating adaptability of buildings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a review of existing models and tools for evaluating the adaptability of buildings. A baseline of the current state of the art in adaptability evaluation and adaptation decision support is established; from this baseline, gaps for future research are recommended. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was conducted to identify papers describing adaptability models and tools. The identified models were characterized based on their focus (new buildings, existing buildings, building life cycle), considered variables (physical and/or context features) and degree/type of validation. Findings Models can be grouped as those focusing on: evaluating adaptation decisions for existing buildings; the design of new buildings for future adaptation; and understanding adaptation throughout a building life cycle. Models focusing on existing building evaluation are further in development and validation than the other model types; as such, they are more suitable for use by practitioners. Another finding is that modeling of adaptability in buildings is still in its nascent stage and that data-driven quantitative modeling is a prime area for future research. Originality/value This paper is the first comprehensive review of models and tools for evaluating adaptability. Other works have evaluated the topic of adaptability more broadly, but this is the first paper to systematically characterize existing models and tools. Based on the review future, research topics are recommended.

Effect of accumulation elements on the energy consumption of wood constructions

Matters related to saving fuel, energy, and financial resources in particular, with respect to sustainability, are a much-debated topic. This means that one of the main considerations in the design and construction of new buildings, as well as in the case of existing buildings, is their energy consumption during use. Many newly-constructed buildings are already designed as low-energy or passive buildings. Construction systems based on wood are often assessed for these energy standards, as they have very positive thermal-technical properties. Construction time for wood constructions is very short, with a low – sometimes even negative – ecological footprint. The use of wood and structural elements based on wood save non-renewable resources, which is also highly desirable from the perspective of a sustainability philosophy. In terms of construction physics, we often encounter opinions in construction practice that the accumulation properties of wood constructions are not as positive as those of traditional materials such as brick, steel or concrete. With the above in mind, we formulated a hypothesis about the effect of accumulation elements on the energy consumption of wood constructions. The proposed hypothesis gave us an objective prompting us to analyse already completed constructions in actual use in terms of the presence of accumulation elements located in the constructions, and in terms of their effect on the energy consumption of the examined constructions. In our research of these actual wood constructions, we recorded a statistically significant effect of the presence of accumulation elements on the energy consumption of these examined constructions, both in terms of energy use and costs. This means that there is a clear benefit in using accumulation elements in wood constructions. These improvements in the structural properties of wood constructions can ultimately improve the properties of the resulting structure in many respects, whether in terms of cost saving, the level of comfort for users, or sustainability in general. Another contribution of our work is in raising awareness of constructions based on wood among all those who are involved in the construction process.

Possibilities of Using Modern Technologies and Creation of the Current Project Documentation Leading to the Optimal Management of the Building for Sustainable Development

Nowadays, we use many of the modern technologies to make the optimal design of new buildings. Building Information Modeling Technology offers state-of-the-art solutions that allow the design of a building to create in many variants a realistically time-consuming development process and, by virtue of an almost fully automatic assessment of the variants, choose the most appropriate one according to the required criteria. Such a design of the building assumes its optimal behavior according to the criteria required by the investor, the user and other stakeholders, but also helps to keep the construction towards the sustainable development goals. There are many existing buildings that have obsolete properties. The management and durability of such buildings is very costly. Such buildings should be refurbished to meet the properties and imitations of new building behavior. 3D scanning technology goes hand in hand with the building sector digitization and outputs from 3D scanning technology serves as a useful basis for further working with data using BIM technology. This paper outlines the possibilities of creation of basics for current documentation with graphical information of these buildings and how it may serve for evaluation of possible options for repairs and reconstructions through the whole building lifecycle and further use in facility management.