Building Performance Evaluation Research Articles

Hybrid model combining multivariate regression and machine learning for the rapid prediction of interior temperatures affected by thermal diodes and solar cavities

Sustainable design often requires highly efficient building performance evaluations. This study proposed a hybrid model combining multivariate regression modelling (MRM) and machine learning modelling (MLM) for the rapid prediction of interior temperatures affected by heat pipe thermal diodes and solar cavities based on experimental data. A heat pipe thermal diode can promote unidirectional heat transmission from the solar cavity on the south side of our newly built experimental house to the indoor environment to increase the interior temperature and reduce the heating load in cold climates. Experimental data were collected and then imported, cleaned, and split according to MRM and MLM requirements, respectively. In MRM, linear multivariate formulas were generated according to the thermal diode's two different working conditions. In MLM, a machine-learning model was created and trained using the experimental data. The results our hybrid model produced were comprehensively evaluated via R-square, statistical discrepancies, and complex MRM analyses. The similarity between the prediction and experimental results clearly demonstrates our model's accuracy and efficiency. This research was an original attempt to integrate emerging computational tools and provide a means to perform highly efficient quantitative analysis of indoor thermal environments for environmental studies and sustainable designs in the early stages.

Building Performance Evaluation for Adaptive Reuse: A Multi-Criteria Approach

Adaptive reuse is a common approach for buildings that no longer serve their original function despite their good physical conditions. Such applications require the examination of the building regarding its qualities and capabilities. The focus of this study is the capability of the buildings to correspond to the user’s requirements following adaptive reuse processes, and the effects of new functions on the building performance optimization. Achieving reliable data in building performance evaluation will be possible only through the correct definition and association of the criteria. This study examines the adaptive reuse of Mugla Museum, a former prison building, through archive research, plan analysis, observations, and interviews. The result of the study has shown that the functional and perceptive performance of Mugla Museum is neutral, while the technical performance of the building has been found to be good. The building corresponds to its function with average performance, and the level of performance has the potential to be increased through adjustments in the building program or capacity increase. The study has shown that performance evaluation is necessary for determining the strengths and weaknesses of buildings. Within this context, developments in assessment methods would contribute to the betterment of adaptive reuse processes.

Building performance evaluation of public housing in Harare, Zimbabwe

This study sought to evaluate the performance of residential building spaces in public housing in Harare, Zimbabwe. It specifically measured building performance indicators determined by the building’s characteristics and the physical, locational and service attributes of buildings. A quantitative research design was adopted, in which questionnaires and observations were used in data collection. A two-stage sampling technique was used, because the population could be subdivided into clusters. From residents in three clusters, which include Highfield-Venice Flats, Avenues Flats and Mbare Flats, 263 respondents were conveniently chosen. Results from the independent t-test that was conducted showed that, at 95% confidence level, there exist significant differences in residential satisfaction among residents of Highfield-Venice Flats and those of Avenues Flats (t = 2.159, p-value= 0.035>0.05). Overall, residents are dissatisfied with the attributes of the buildings in which they live and the general residential situation. There is a general dissatisfaction with the buildings, suggesting that the building performance is not meeting their needs and expectations. Housing attribute preferences, privacy, dwelling proximity, and neighbourhood attachment showed a significant and positive impact on general residential satisfaction. Hence, there is a need to improve housing attribute preferences such as improving the quality of air and lighting as well as noise levels, since respondents expressed dissatisfaction with these attributes. Housing ceilings can be installed to reduce noise levels. More so, the quality of air and lighting can be improved by inserting more air ventilations and wider windowpanes. Privacy should be improved by ensuring that the residential structures have boundary walls that may be needed by the residents. More so, dwelling proximity ought to be improved. The Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities and other public housing institutions can consider developing structures such as shopping centres, public schools as well as roads and social amenities such as parks, pools and workout facilities before they build residential houses.

Damage and performance evaluation of masonry buildings constructed in 1970s during the 2019 Albania earthquakes

A Mw 6.4 earthquake hit the NW region of Albania on November 26, 2019, resulting in extensive damage to the civil structures in the broader area of Durrës city and its surroundings. According to the official statistics, it caused 51 death toll and ∼ 1.2 billion US dollars economic loses. This study investigates the seismic response of masonry buildings damaged during the earthquake. Four important typologies are selected to draw general conclusions from the performance analysis and damage assessment. A detailed field survey after the earthquake was conducted in Albanian territory to observe the impact on low and mid-rise buildings. Seven masonry buildings with 3 to 5 floors were chosen to represent the commonly constructed template designs. Mathematical models of each building were prepared in the light of experimental test results on the quality of structural wall components. Seismic displacement capacities of each building were estimated by pushover analysis. The significance of the findings was further explored by considering the inelastic response of a group of representative buildings during the 2019 Albania earthquake sequences. According to the analyses made, Near Collapse damage state may be reached at a PGA of 0.16 g for some type of buildings. At 0.26 g all considered buildings are expected to be either collapsed or at a near collapse stage. The expected PGA with a return period of 475 years is around 0.3 g and even reaches to 0.4 g in the region. Considering the analysis results, it can be said that decision makers should be aware of the catastrophic consequences of similar future events.

A study of Indoor Environment of Large Glazed Office Building in Semi Arid Climate

In recent years the rate of buildings with large glazed facades is rapidly increasing, particularly in office buildings. Where, the creation of a suitable thermal and visual comfort is a significant factor affecting productivity. The use of large glazed facades without adapted shading measure generates thermal and visual discomfort, wich ranges from uncomfortable environment conditions to serious health effects. Specialized work and literature about performance evaluation of large glazed office buildings in relation to their environment are lacking in semi arid climates, characterized by significant intensity of solar radiations in the summer period of the year. This study investigates the impact of large glazing areas on thermal and visual comfort in a sample of naturally ventilated office building located in the semi arid climate of Algeria (36°, 17 N and 7°, 23’ E). A Post Occupancy Evaluation technique (POE), being a mainstream activity in the process of building operation phase is used for this purpose. The main objective is to stress practitioners, specifically architects, to take conscious decisions in an early phase of design process. The study clearly highlighted discomfort in the studied office building. It included unacceptable temperature arising from glazed facade; overheating due to excessive solar gains; insufficient ventilation and poor daylighting. The results indicate that such large fenestration system is not recommended in summer time. However, a judicious choice of the glazing size and type by simulation tools must balance lighting and thermal needs.

Engaging UK repair–maintain–improve practitioners in improved building performance

PurposeTo improve building performance and meet statutory carbon reduction targets, a radical transformation of existing UK building stock is needed. Much previous research on building performance has focussed on large-scale construction. However, retrofit of existing housing stock – which will contribute the majority of the requisite efficiency improvement – is carried out by practitioners in the repair–maintain–improve (RMI) subsector. These practitioners are the sole traders and micro-firms who constitute two-fifths of employment in the construction sector. The study aims to examine the factors influencing these practitioners in RMI work to understand how better to engage them with improved building performance.Design/methodology/approachA total of 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with RMI professionals from around the UK and analysed using template analysis.FindingsThe analysis identified capabilities of the practitioners who influence building performance, including knowledge and co-ordination of people and resources; opportunities including state action and customer demand; and motivations including pride in work, customer care and satisfaction, maintaining a viable business and working relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThe participants were a small, mixed group in terms of firm size and specialisation. The qualitative approach adopted provided detailed insights but does not make claims for statistical generalisability or representativeness of the findings. Future work could look to extend the findings with a statistically representative survey.Practical implicationsFor a successful transition to high standards of building performance, modelling is not enough. Initiatives are needed to address the multiple factors which determine engagement in energy-efficient retrofit: capacities, opportunities and motivations. The desire of RMI practitioners to meet customer expectations could be used to develop pragmatic building performance evaluation, guided by householder satisfaction criteria.Originality/valueThe study examined the attitudes and experiences of an under-researched sector who are essential to the delivery of improved building performance. This study makes a novel contribution by applying an established psychological model of behaviour change, the capability, opportunity, motivation – behaviour model, for the first time in this domain.

Adaptive opaque façades and their potential to reduce thermal energy use in residential buildings: A simulation-based evaluation

Adaptive façades are a promising choice to achieve comfortable low-energy buildings. Their effective performance is highly dependent on the local boundary conditions of each application and on the way the dynamic properties are controlled. The evaluation of whole building performance through building performance simulation can be useful to understand the potential of different Adaptive opaque façades (AOF) in a specific context. This paper evaluates through dynamic simulations promising design solutions of AOF for a residential building use in six different climates. It quantifies the total delivered thermal energy of 15 typologies of AOFs which consist of alternative adaptation strategies: (i) variation of solar absorptance of the cladding, (ii) variation of the convective heat transfer of air cavities and (iii) adaptive insulation strategies. For the first time, it also quantifies the performance of AOF which combine more than one adaptation strategy. The results show that the variation of the heat transfer by means of Adaptive Insulation components has the most significant impact on the reduction of the thermal energy use. The variation of the solar absorptance has also a significant positive impact when reducing heating consumption, but only if this adaptation strategy is actively controlled and combined with Adaptive Insulation components.

Design and Implementation of Content Validity: Instrument Development for Evaluating Functional Building Performance

The research aim is to critically evaluate the content validity of the functional building performance evaluation criteria using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and modified kappa statistic. The selection of relevant criteria for functional building performance evaluation should be managed effectively by the building management team because it is strongly related to the achievement of organizational objectives and the building occupants’ satisfaction. Studies over the past decades have shown that the criteria vary, relying on the intention of conducting the performance evaluation and the types of building. These selection criteria have a direct impact on the functional building performance and need to be done systematically. Thus, the content validity of the functional building performance evaluation criteria is a necessary step in instrument development. To achieve this research aim, the instrument has been developed based on numerous construct items that have been obtained from previous studies by various authors and established rating tools or standards. The sample of the respondents for content validation comprises of seven (7) expert panels in the area of historic building management and building performance evaluation, such as from the local municipality, related government agencies, academician and building management team. The panels reviewed and rated the instrument to ensure its relevance and the representativeness of each item. The result shows that a total of 39 items are valid and are considered to be retained, and will be further tested in the next study. The result has also shown that the Scale level – CVI/ Averaging calculation method (S-CVI/ Ave) for all items has met the criterion of 0.90. Significantly, content validity should be treated as important because it provides adequate and acceptable items of the content domain

Agri-food building performance evaluation by an integration of different measurement techniques: Case study of a bakery in south Italy

The performance of a building plays a key role in its sustainability, since a building cannot be sustainable if the needs of its users are not satisfied. In fact, the priority of a sustainable building is to meet the user requirements in an adequate manner, while limiting its environmental impact. The aim of this study is to supply a suitable Building Performance Evaluation method (BPE) to technicians, facility managers and designers, in order to improve the quality of management, design and construction by providing more sustainable agri-food buildings. In this study, in order to measure building performance with respect to user requirements, the simultaneous application of three different measurement techniques was proposed: a User survey by means of a questionnaire; an analysis of building documents and a walkthrough analysis by experts; and instrumental measurements and a direct survey of building characteristics. The proposed BPE method was based on a fuzzy weighted average at three levels. The fuzzy method proved to be particularly suitable for describing the vagueness of users when answering the questionnaire, for translating the document analysis, or considering the instrumental measurements for performance measures. The proposed method was applied to a typical agri-food building in southern Italy. This application demonstrated the correctness of the setting, its ease of application, and its ability to manage real cases. The method allowed for the evaluation of building performance by taking advantage of the positive characteristics of each measurement technique: the users' and occupants' perception, the knowledge and critical sense of expert technicians, and the accuracy and objectivity of instrumental measures. The results of the model were represented by mean fuzzy membership functions, which preserved the “vagueness” of the initial performance attributes. To obtain more synthetic values, a normalization procedure was applied to obtain a value performance judgment, expressed by a number in the range of 0 and 1 (where 0 is the worst and 1 is the best). The general performance of functional areas and the differences in performance in the same functional area were compared using this operation. The results of the case study demonstrated the reliability of the proposed method; in particular, it can determine the state of the building's functionality, drawing attention to weak points that should be monitored to prevent potential faults. The method proposed is a key element intended to help develop agri-food buildings that are effective and efficient and perform as expected and it contributes to improve the general quality of agri-food buildings.

Seismic performance evaluation of CFS strap-braced buildings through experimental tests

Lightweight steel (LWS) buildings, made of cold-formed steel (CFS) systems, have many advantages and are often employed in seismic areas as low- and medium rise buildings. However, in Europe the codification does not provide specific rules for seismic design of those structures. In light of this, the University of Naples “Federico II” has recently completed a research project in cooperation with Lamieredil S.p.A. Italian Company, aimed to investigate the seismic behaviour of non-dissipative strap-braced structures. The partnership between academia and industry also led to development of a patented system. This paper discusses the selection and design process of the case study buildings and the overall experimental activity, going from small-scale tests of components, to static tests of full-scale walls, up to shake-table tests of two reduced scale mock-ups, which differ only for the adopted floor typology. The influence of floor typology on the seismic response of CFS strap-braced structures is also provided. Tests results confirmed that, although no specific seismic rules were employed, strap-braced structures had a good seismic response achieving high inter-storey drifts without showing severe damages.

Earthquake loss analysis and assessment of group buildings in Songyuan area

To study the earthquake damage and loss of group buildings in towns and urban areas of Songyuan, the simulation analysis of earthquake damage of group buildings in some areas of Chaganhua town and urban areas of Songyuan was conducted. In this paper, based on the building performance evaluation method in FEMA-P58 and the Standard for seismic resilience assessment of buildings (GB/T 38591-2020), the different methods between China and the US were eliminated. Firstly, the distribution of earthquake damage of various buildings was analyzed. The economic losses of the two regions are analyzed and compared by using PACT software to evaluate the repair costs and repair time of buildings under different earthquake levels.

Operation performance evaluation of green public buildings with AHP-fuzzy synthetic assessment method based on cloud model

At present, there always is a significant gap between the design and the actual operation performance. This study presents the application of AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and fuzzy synthetic evaluation method based on cloud model theory to evaluate the overall operation performance of the green public buildings, considering indoor environment quality (IEQ) and energy consumption. The evaluation method contains three criteria as objective IEQ, subjective IEQ and annual energy consumption. Criteria of objective and subjective IEQ includes the same six sub-criteria of thermal environment in summer, in winter and in transition season, luminous environment, air quality and acoustic environment. The criteria annual energy consumption includes four sub-criteria of air conditioning electricity, lighting and socket electricity, power electricity and special electricity. Two cases of green and non-green library building are applied to be evaluated by this method, which is also validated with other method. Building managers can judge if the building performs efficiently or not with the evaluation method, and can also find which criteria or sub-criteria has poor operation performance. Furthermore, the evaluation method can reflect the relationship between sub-item of energy consumption and corresponding sub-criteria of IEQ, it can provide a direction for optimizing energy consumption. This evaluation method can not only be applied to evaluate the operation performance of different similar buildings, but also can be applied to evaluate the same building in different years. This study can provide a certain guiding significance for the development of evaluation the comprehensive operation performance of green buildings.

Role of Spatial Design in Green Buildings-A Critical Review of Green Building Rating Systems

Green Building is a movement today and given the resources, all buildings aspire to be green certified. While making green building, the task is to achieve efficiency of site, energy, water and waste. The effort is rated and ranked through different green building rating systems prevalent across the world and certification label is issued based upon the credits achieved. This research paper carries out a comparison of all rating systems currently available. The credits are studied and classified under various themes (Architecture, MEP, Materials and Practices). There are further two categories under each theme-products/technology and design. Each credit is put under one or the other category and theme. Categorization of credits revealed some astonishing facts and one of the most astonishing facts is that spatial design/architectural design hardly figures in green building rating systems across the world. Most of the credits can be earned through incorporation of more efficient technology/products. There is very little importance given to design input. While credits can be awarded for selecting higher efficiency chiller, there is no means of comparing efficiency of one type of building design to another simply because base case is different for each building in terms of design. The study reveals that potential of architectural design in achieving efficiency has totally been ignored through credits awarding system. The study concludes that some more credits need to be added to the existing system to take into account the impact of architectural design in performance evaluation of green buildings which would make not just the buildings but architecture of these buildings also green.

Technical Performance Evaluation of Primary Education Buildings Based on Unesco Guidelines

Compulsory education is one of the Indonesian government’s programs in an effort to advance the nation. The compulsory education program can run well if it is supported by right facilities and infrastructure, such as good quality educational buildings. The technical performance of educational buildings can be realized with good quality if the building is designed and built with due observance to the technical standards of a predetermined building. With the same quality of educational buildings in all regions of Indonesia, this study will evaluate the technical performance standards of basic education buildings. The aim of the study was to determine the feasibility level of the technical performance of basic education buildings in Indonesia based on the UNESCO guidelines for school building design in Asia. The study used a qualitative method with a comparative case study approach, namely six basic education buildings in the province of Bali. Those buildings are compared with UNESCO guidelines based on aspects of the environment, teaching spaces and service areas.The results of this comparison are expected to be able to consider more environmental aspects, teaching spaces and service areas in sustainable design, development and maintenance so that the policies applied are localities, such as the use of materials and building methods

On the accuracy of enhanced pushover procedures for seismic performance evaluation of code-conforming RC moment-resisting frame buildings subjected to pulse-like and non-pulse-like excitations

In this paper, the applicability and validity of enhanced pushover procedures in estimating the seismic demands of mid- and high-rise reinforced concrete (RC) building frames under pulse-like near-fault ground motions having forward-directivity and fling-step effects as well as non-pulse-like near-fault and far-fault ground motions are assessed through the comparison with the nonlinear response history analysis (NL-RHA). The enhanced pushover procedures including the modal pushover analysis (MPA), force-based adaptive pushover (FAP), displacement-based adaptive pushover (DAP), extended N2 method (EN2), single-run multi-mode pushover (SMP), and non-adaptive displacement-based pushover (NADP) procedures, as well as a conventional pushover method based on the first mode of the structure, are performed. To this end, three plan-symmetric buildings including the 9-, 12-, and 18-story RC frames designed in accordance with the provisions of ASCE 710 and ACI 318-14 are examined. The engineering demand parameters considered are the interstory drift ratios and story shears, which are representatives of the deformation and force demands, respectively. Additionally, the seismic performance of the RC buildings is assessed using the conventional and the enhanced multi-modal pushover procedures in accordance with the systematic evaluation scheme of the ASCE 41-17 standard. The comparative evaluation demonstrates that the accuracy of the NSPs varies with the type of the ground motions. Some methods result in satisfactory performance for pulse-like ground motions, some for non-pulse-like ones, and some for both of them. All in all, the MPA, EN2, and SMP procedures provide a relatively better prediction of the seismic demands of RC building frames.

Our climate conditions are already changing – Should we care?

The IPCC and many others predict significant changes to our climates over the rest of this century, including average temperature increases for 2–5°C. However, we can see possible indications of change already – increasing frequency of severe storms and other weather events. However, many of the major weather data sets used around the world for building energy simulation are more than 15 years old. Does it matter? This paper compares several of the major data sets used in building performance simulation against newer data derived from the past 15 years. Ten of the past 15 years are the hottest on record and this rapidly changing climate already is evident in the temperature record. We use energy simulation to demonstrate how the various data sets impact energy use. In addition, the design conditions for heating and cooling calculations are already seeing slight changes over the past 20 years. Data for 12 locations around the world is used to demonstrate the changing climate that we already see. Practical application: This paper encourages building designers to use the most up-to-date climatic data in their design and evaluation of building performance.

A decision support tool for building design: An integrated generative design, optimisation and life cycle performance approach

Building performance evaluation is generally carried out through a non-automated process, where computational models are iteratively built and simulated, and their energy demand is calculated. This study presents a computational tool that automates the generation of optimal building designs in respect of their Life Cycle Carbon Footprint (LCCF) and Life Cycle Costs (LCC). This is achieved by an integration of three computational concepts: (a) A designated space-allocation generative-design application, (b) Using building geometry as a parameter in NSGA-II optimization and (c) Life Cycle performance (embodied carbon and operational carbon, through the use of thermal simulations for LCCF and LCC calculation). Examining the generation of a two-storey terrace house building, located in London, UK, the study shows that a set of building parameters combinations that resulted with a pareto front of near-optimal buildings, in terms of LCCF and LCC, could be identified by using the tool. The study shows that 80% of the optimal building’s LCCF are related to the building operational stage (σ = 2), while 77% of the building’s LCC is related to the initial capital investment (σ = 2). Analysis further suggests that space heating is the largest contributor to the building’s emissions, while it has a relatively low impact on costs. Examining the optimal building in terms compliance requirements (the building with the best operational performance), the study demonstrated how this building performs poorly in terms of Life Cycle performance. The paper further presents an analysis of various life-cycle aspects, for example, a year-by-year performance breakdown, and an investigation into operational and embodied carbon emissions.

Seismic Performance Evaluation of Steel Buildings with Oil Dampers Using Capacity Spectrum Method

This study proposes a capacity spectrum Method (CSM)-based procedure to estimate the maximum seismic performance of steel buildings passively controlled with bilinear oil dampers. In the proposed CSM, the maximum seismic response of a building was estimated, in the acceleration-displacement response spectrum, as the intersection between the capacity curve and the damping-adjusted demand curves, using the equivalent linearization method. The building equivalent damping ratio was determined by the sum of the inherent damping, and the square root of sum of squares (SRSS) of the hysteretic damping and the viscous damping of the supplemental oil devices. The calculation steps of the proposed CSM are explained in detail based on the equivalent single degree of freedom (ESDOF) system, and its accuracy was examined by comparison with time history analysis (THA) results. Two model steel buildings of 4 and 10 stories, uniformly equipped with oil dampers along the height, were subjected to six selected earthquake ground motions scaled to be compatible with Level-2 earthquakes, as defined in the Japanese Building Standard Law. The seismic performance of the buildings was estimated by the proposed CSM procedure and compared with the results of nonlinear THA in terms of the maximum story displacements and the shear forces. It was observed that the proposed CSM scheme provided a satisfactory accuracy to assess the maximum nonlinear response of steel buildings passively controlled with oil dampers.

Reinforcement learning of occupant behavior model for cross-building transfer learning to various HVAC control systems

Occupant behavior plays an important role in the evaluation of building performance. However, many contextual factors, such as occupancy, mechanical system and interior design, have a significant impact on occupant behavior. Most previous studies have built data-driven behavior models, which have limited scalability and generalization capability. Our investigation built a policy-based reinforcement learning (RL) model for the behavior of adjusting the thermostat and clothing level. Occupant behavior was modelled as a Markov decision process (MDP). The action and state space in the MDP contained occupant behavior and various impact parameters. The goal of the occupant behavior was a more comfortable environment, and we modelled the reward for the adjustment action as the absolute difference in the thermal sensation vote (TSV) before and after the action. We used Q-learning to train the RL model in MATLAB and validated the model with collected data. After training, the model predicted the behavior of adjusting the thermostat set point with R2 from 0.75 to 0.8, and the mean absolute error (MAE) was less than 1.1 °C (2 °F) in an office building. This study also transferred the behavior knowledge of the RL model to other office buildings with different HVAC control systems. The transfer learning model predicted the occupant behavior with R2 from 0.73 to 0.8, and the MAE was less than 1.1 °C (2 °F) most of the time. Going from office buildings to residential buildings, the transfer learning model also had an R2 over 0.6. Therefore, the RL model combined with transfer learning was able to predict the building occupant behavior accurately with good scalability, and without the need for data collection.

Linking data model and formula to automate KPI calculation for building performance benchmarking

Buildings consume a large proportion of global primary energy and building performance management requires massive data inputs. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a tool used for comparing different buildings while avoiding problems caused by heterogeneous data sources. However, silos of building and energy consumption data are separate, and the linkages between a KPI formula and different data sets are often non-existent. This paper develops an ontology-based approach for automatically calculating the KPI to support building energy evaluation. The proposed approach integrates building information from BIM and energy and environmental information collected by sensor networks. A KPI ontology is developed to establish a KPI formula, thereby linking static and dynamic data generated in the building operation phase. Each KPI can be defined by inputs, a formula and outputs, and the formula consists of parameters and operators. The parameters can be linked to building data or transformed into a SPARQL query. A case study is investigated based on the proposed approach, and the KPIs for energy and environment are calculated for a real building project. The result shows that this approach relates the KPI formula to the data generated in the building operation phase and can automatically give the result after defining the space and time of interest, thus supporting building performance benchmarking with massive data sets at different levels of details. This research proposes a novel approach to integrating the KPI formula and linked building data from a semantic perspective, and other researchers can use this approach as a foundation for linking data from different sources and computational methods such as formula created for building performance evaluation.