Interior Wall Surfaces Research Articles

A simulation analysis on the internal and external application of new silica-aerogel-based (Quartzene) coatings effects on energy use in a typical building in two different climates

The study investigates the impact of improved synthetic amorphous silica, specifically developed aerogel-based insulating coatings, Quartzene (Qz), on energy efficiency in buildings across cold and warm climate zones. Simulations were conducted on various coatings and thicknesses for exterior and interior wall surfaces, as well as roofs. These were evaluated using a prototype residential building under dynamic thermal conditions. Wall coatings were analyzed, including a base plaster and a mixture with 10%Wt aerogel-based Quartzene. Additionally, three roof coating samples were tested: Qz 12.5%Wt, TiO2 3.3%Wt, and a blend of aerogel-based mixtures and TiO2. Mixtures containing Qz exhibited the lowest thermal conductivity (0.05 W/(m·K)) and high short-wave reflectance (up to 0.93 μm), impacting transmission loads, time lag, and decrement factor. Energy savings of up to 11% were observed in warm climates when implementing the coatings (unaged performance). Overall, the coated surfaces increased time lag and reduced decrement factor compared to uncoated surfaces. Aerogel-based coatings showed enhanced effectiveness in lowering transmission loads.

Improving Natural Lighting Performance in Historical Education Venues: Ulugazi Primary School

Natural lighting is an essential factor in the design of educational buildings, as it creates an environment that provides psychological satisfaction, increases motivation, encourages healthier conditions and saves energy. Using the same finishing materials in classrooms facing different directions and sizes in educational buildings causes natural lighting effects of different quantity and quality. This situation creates psychological, physiological and cognitive inequality among students. This negativity can be annihilated by changing facade elements, the ratio of the transparent surface and the materials. However, these applications should be made with minor interventions in the historic structure. Within the scope of this study, which aims to determine the current natural lighting performance of the classrooms in Ulugazi Primary School, a historic school building in Kocaeli, the scenarios are designed with approaches that will have the most negligible impact on the building identity.
 
 In this context, with the Climatestudio analyzes were conducted for four classes with different characteristics. Visual comfort problems were determined with the Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) that evaluate the illuminance level annually and with the Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE) that reveal the glare probability, within the scope of Leed V4.1. Furthermore, scenarios were created with the choice of finishing materials and curtains with different optical properties for the interior wall surfaces and ceiling, which have lost their authentic value, based on the same metrics. Thus, it has been revealed to what extent the quantity, quality and distribution of natural lighting in classrooms have changed. According to the simulation results, it was determined that there were significant glare problems in two of the four classes, with ASE ranges ranging from 0% to 31.4%. Class B facing south and east, has the most significant glare potential. In addition, all classrooms spatially provide the sDA value. However, more illuminance levels are required in the back corners of the classrooms.

Residual efficacy of Fludora Fusion against Anopheles arabiensis in simple huts in Ethiopia.

Emergence and spread of malaria vectors resistant to the available insecticides required a new and efficacious insecticide. Residual efficacy of Fludora® Fusion was evaluated against insecticide susceptible Anopheles arabiensis in ten circular huts similar to the residential huts. Fludora® Fusion WP-SB 56.25, FICAM WP80 and Clothianidin WG70 were sprayed, by experienced technician, on interior wall surfaces: paint, dung, smooth mud, and rough mud. WHO cone bioassays were carried out a month after spraying and thereafter on monthly intervals for 12 months. Knockdown was recorded at 60 minutes and mortality at 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours holding time post-exposure. Fludora Fusion induced 100% An. arabiensis mortality during the first four months post-treated on all surface types at 24 hours holding time post-exposure. Its activity remained over 80% from the fifth to the twelfth month post-treated on the surfaces with the exception of two assessment points, at seventh month and eleventh month, on paint and smooth mud surfaces. FICAM induced 100% mortality rate during the first 4 months and 92% mortality during the fifth month post-treatment on painted surfaces. Its activity was over 96% mortality 1-month post-treatment on smooth mud and rough mud surfaces and 92% mortality 2-month post-treatment on dung surfaces. Clothianidin caused 89% and 86% mortality 1-month post-treatment on smooth mud and rough mud surfaces. Fludora Fusion can be used as alternative indoor residual insecticide spraying against An. arabiensis in Ethiopia.

Insights into the Multifaceted Applications of Architectural Concrete: A State-of-the-Art Review

The application of colour, form and texture to a concrete surface can transform the visual aspect of a structure. Such structural or non-structural elements possessing aesthetic finish exposed as an interior or exterior surface in the completed structure is usually termed as ‘Architectural Concrete’. The term ‘Architectural Concrete’ was coined in the year 1924 by a US architectural sculptor named John J. Earley. Over the years, many designers are fabricating architectural concrete blocks of several textures, colour and outline to deliver a vast range of structural appearance options. Architectural concrete is suitable for both structural and veneer applications. Archi-structural units offer economic and environmental benefits from their systematic combination of structural load-bearing, elegance and surface finish properties. Architectural concrete is often an economical and eco-friendly choice for crafting exterior or interior wall surfaces compared to the ceramic or stone finishing; however, it is unreasonable to procure at a structural concrete price. This review provides comprehensive information about the design and fabrication of architectural concrete, including forms, fabrication materials and its applications. The serviceability and durability aspects; production cost and the economy of the architectural concrete are also discussed in detail. Architectural concrete is the advanced solution, regardless of whether it is for structural engineering, economic or aesthetic reasons.

Dynamic modeling and performance assessment of single and double phase change material layer–integrated buildings in Mediterranean climate zone

Nowadays, latent heat storage is becoming an imperative in building sector since it plays a crucial role in conserving energy through controlling the thermal comfort level. In this field, different storage systems based on phase change material show great performances in terms of energy saving, leading to a significant improvement of occupant thermal comfort. In this work, the thermal behavior and energy efficiency of a residential house incorporating various phase change materials (RT18HC, RT21HC, RT25HC, and RT28HC) in Mediterranean climate region were investigated via numerical simulations. EnergyPlus software was used to analyze the thermal performance of phase change materials applied to the interior wall surfaces of a simplified building model in El Jadida city. The integration of different single and double phase change material layers has been evaluated based on various concepts such as the average temperature fluctuation reduction and the monthly energy saving. The study showed that low melting point phase change material outperforms in terms of heating load, while phase change material with high melting temperature favors the cooling performance. Moreover, the results show that double-layer systems formed by two distinct phase change materials exhibit higher performance than a single phase change material layer throughout the whole year. The annual energy saving rate reaches 41.42% and 55.41% when using single and double phase change material layers, respectively. Finally, we opted for an optimum double-layer system for lower energy consumption in the selected city.

A Flexible Inference Machine for Global Alignment of Wall Openings

Openings such as windows and doors are essential components of architectural wall surfaces. It is still a challenge to reconstruct them robustly from unstructured 3D point clouds because of occlusions, noises and non-uniformly distributed points. Current research primarily focuses on meliorating the robustness of detection and pays little attention to the geometric correctness. To improve the reconstruction quality, assumptions on the opening layout are usually applied as rules to support the reconstruction algorithm. The commonly used assumptions, such as the strict grid and symmetry pattern, however, are not suitable in many cases. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, named an inference machine, to identify and use flexible rules in wall opening modelling. Our method first detects and models openings through a data-driven method and then refines the opening boundaries by global and flexible rules. The key is to identify the global flexible rules from the detected openings, composed by various combinations of alignments. As our method is oblivious of the type of architectural layout, it can be applied to both interior wall surfaces and exterior building facades. We demonstrate the flexibility of our approach in both outdoor and indoor scenes with a variety of opening layouts. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation results indicate the potential of the approach to be a general method in opening detection and modelling. However, this data-driven method suffers from the existence of occlusions and non-planar wall surfaces.

A Test Chamber Investigation of the Effect of Charging on Aerosol Deposition on Indoor Surfaces

Exposure to radioactive aerosols of accidental origin is harmful to human health. Radioactive aerosols have an ability to self-charge due to ionization, and this influences their deposition behavior, but this effect has been rarely studied. In a test chamber study, the effect is investigated by using a corona unit to apply charges that are representative of the levels found on radioactive particles to three aerosol size distributions of 0.5 μm, 1.0 μm and 2.0 μm. Aerosol deposition velocities were calculated for each particle size, two chamber airflow values, three aerosol charge regimes (high positive, high negative, and no corona charging), and three interior wall surfaces (aluminum, wallpaper, polyethylene). The results show no significant difference between deposition velocities of charged aerosols of opposite polarities, but a difference of up to 72% between deposition velocities of corona-charged and uncharged aerosols. For all aerosol sizes and charge regimes, aerosol deposition was found to be enhanced to the greatest degree when the chamber walls were lined with polyethylene, with values found to be up to 4–8 times higher than those calculated in aluminum-walled chamber cases.

Interior plastering of Ottoman bath buildings

Ottoman baths were peculiar buildings with their function in community life, architectural characteristics and material use. Their interior spaces were exposed to high humidity and temperatures that made the building structure vulnerable to physical, chemical, physicochemical and biological degradations. Plasters used on the interior wall surfaces were the most important agents to protect the structure from deterioration and provide durability. This study aims to exhibit the plaster characteristics of Çinili Bath in İstanbul which was an outstanding example of Ottoman baths and built by Great Architect Sinan. Basic physical properties, raw material compositions, mineralogical, microstructural and hydraulic properties of original brick-lime plasters called as horasan (khorasan) plasters used on the walls were determined by XRF, XRD, SEM-EDS and TGA. Multilayered plaster application together with the use of glazed tiles were observed on the wall surfaces of all interior spaces. The plasters were produced from pure lime and pozzolanic crushed brick or tile aggregates and hydraulic because of the pozzolanic properties of aggregates. They are stiff, compact and durable in hot and humid conditions of bath buildings due to their self-healing properties and the formation of calcium silicate hydrates and calcium aluminate hydrates at the lime-brick interfaces and in the pores of the pozzolanic brick aggregates by the reaction of lime. Characteristics of brick aggregates were compared with the construction bricks used in the building. Their chemical and mineralogical compositions revealed that the aggregates had not been produced from construction bricks. All the results indicated that brick-lime plasters were the most suitable materials for bath buildings to protect the structure from the effect of water.

Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Perlite and Rubber Insulation Cement Mortar

The thermal analysis of the concrete walls showed that the connection mortar between the bricks works as thermal bridges, which transfer the heat to the interior wall surfaces. Therefore, insulation materials were used to produce insulation mortar in this research. Powder perlite and fine rubber were substi­tuted with sand with three dosages 5%, 10%, and 15% by weight. The compres­sive strength, thermal conductivity, density, and absorption were measured ex­perimentally in the lab. The results showed that the maximum reduction in com­pressive strength was 44% and 63% for 15% substitutions of perlite and rubber, respectively. On the other hand, the absorption of perlite was higher than rubber mortar by 59%, for the content of 10%. The thermal conductivity results proved the higher efficiency of perlite and rubber, which reached around 50% and 30%, respectively for the contents of 15%. According to ASTM C 270, the perlite and rubber mortars were satisfying the conditions.

Effect of wall colour on the perception of classrooms

The objective of this research was to assess the effects of three different colours on the interior wall surfaces of classrooms on the perceptual performance of male students, taking into account of their class distinctions. A semantic differential scale composed of 11 bipolar adjectives was applied in order for students of the Incirli Vocational High School, Ankara, Turkey, to evaluate photographs of classrooms with cream, blue and pink wall surfaces. According to the results, spaces with blue walls were perceived to be more positively compared to cream or pink coloured spaces. In addition, it was determined that 9th grade students perceived the spaces more positively compared to 10th, 11th and 12th grade students at level p < 0.05. The results of the study clearly indicate that the use of different colours in interior spaces of a classroom has a statistically significant effect on the perceptual performance of the male students.

Multicentre studies of insecticide-treated durable wall lining in Africa and South-East Asia: entomological efficacy and household acceptability during one year of field use

BackgroundIndoor residual spraying (IRS) is a primary method of malaria vector control, but its potential impact is constrained by several inherent limitations: spraying must be repeated when insecticide residues decay, householders can tire of the annual imposition and campaign costs are recurrent. Durable lining (DL) can be considered an advanced form of long-lasting IRS where insecticide is gradually released from an aesthetically attractive wall lining material to provide vector control for several years. A multicentre trial was carried out in Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Mali, South Africa and Vietnam to assess the feasibility, durability, bioefficacy and household acceptability of DL, compared to conventional IRS or insecticide-treated curtains (LLITCs), in a variety of operational settings.MethodsThis study was conducted in 220 households in traditional rural villages over 12-15 months. In all sites, rolls of DL were cut to fit house dimensions and fixed to interior wall surfaces (usually with nails and caps) by trained teams. Acceptability was assessed using a standardized questionnaire covering such topics as installation, exposure reactions, entomology, indoor environment, aesthetics and durability. Bioefficacy of interventions was evaluated using WHO cone bioassay tests at regular intervals throughout the year.ResultsThe deltamethrin DL demonstrated little to no decline in bioefficacy over 12-15 months, supported by minimal loss of insecticide content. By contrast, IRS displayed a significant decrease in bioactivity by 6 months and full loss after 12 months. The majority of participants in DL households perceived reductions in mosquito density (93%) and biting (82%), but no changes in indoor temperature (83%). Among those households that wanted to retain the DL, 73% cited protective reasons, 20% expressed a desire to keep theirs for decoration and 7% valued both qualities equally. In Equatorial Guinea, when offered a choice of vector control product at the end of the trial (DL, IRS or LLITCs), DL consistently emerged as the most popular intervention regardless of the earlier household allocation.ConclusionsJust as long-lasting insecticidal nets overcame several of the technical and logistical constraints associated with conventionally treated nets and then went to scale, this study demonstrates the potential of DL to sustain user compliance and overcome the operational challenges associated with IRS.

Theoretical analysis of thermal radiative equilibrium via a radiosity method

AbstractWe propose a theoretical consideration of thermal radiative equilibrium via a radiosity method. According to G. Kirchhoff's research on cavity radiation, the condition of radiative equilibrium arises in a cavity in which the internal wall temperature is uniform. Furthermore, by considering the balance of energy on the wall surfaces in the cavity, the relationship, emittance ϵ = absorptance α, is obtained. Adversely, in the present study, we developed a method to prove the conclusion of the uniformity and uniqueness of radiative equilibrium in the cavity (independent of the emittance of the interior wall surfaces) by considering the relationship ϵ = α on the wall surfaces to be a supposition. Using the concept of radiosity, we proved that the radiosities on the internal wall surfaces can be kept uniform in the enclosed system of thermal radiative equilibrium. This knowledge is advantageous for inspecting the benchmarks of various programs for radiative analysis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj). DOI 10.1002/htj.20372

The Hazardous Effects of Interior Wall Materials and Surfaces on Indoor Radon Concentrations in Iranian Houses

The Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal (IRCMJ) is international, open access, peer-reviewed, monthly, and ISI- Journal, affiliated to Iranian Hospital- Dubai, publishes original scientific studies in English that have direct clinical significance on Basic Science, Clinical Medicine, and Disaster Management. The journal strives to release the original articles related to various disciplines of medicine, including Review Articles, Meta-Analysis, Systematic Reviews, Clinical and Experimental Trials, Case Reports, and Letters. All research articles published in the journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees. The journal strives to strengthen connections between research and practice, so enhancing professional development and improving practice within the field of medicine.

A data analysis method for detecting wall thermal resistance considering wind velocity in situ

To improve the accuracy of data analysis methods for the field measurement of wall thermal resistance, a method considering wind velocity is presented through an analysis of both surface heat flux and temperature samples. This analysis method takes the wall heat transfer of linear system into account, simplifying the first order differential equation of wall transient response based on the nodes of the interior and exterior wall surfaces. An approximate solution has been proposed in the form of time domain interpolation. By applying the weighted residual method for the approximate solution, the data analysis method about temperature, heat flux, and wind velocity can be achieved. A transient heat transfer model of a wall was established applying the infinite difference method, by which the proposed analysis method was validated in this paper. Additionally, the heat flow meter experiment platform considering wind velocity was built, on which the proposed method, the mean method and the dynamic analysis method suggested by the international standard ISO 9869 were applied to the test wall under different wind velocities. The wall thermal resistance value obtained in our proposed method has proven to be in better agreement with that obtained for a steady state.

Impact of wind-driven rain on historic brick wall buildings in a moderately cold and humid climate: Numerical analyses of mould growth risk, indoor climate and energy consumption

This paper gives an onset to whole building hygrothermal modelling in which the interaction between interior and exterior climates via building enclosures is simulated under a moderately cold and humid climate. The focus is particularly on the impact of wind-driven rain (WDR) on the hygrothermal response, mould growth at interior wall surfaces, indoor climate and energy consumption. First the WDR load on the facades of a 4 m × 4 m × 10 m tower is determined. Then the hygrothermal behaviour of the brick walls is analysed on a horizontal slice through the tower. The simulations demonstrate that the impact of WDR loads on the moisture contents in the walls is much larger near the edges of the walls than at the centre. The obtained relative humidity and temperature at the interior wall surfaces are combined with isopleths of generalised spore germination time of fungus mould. The results show that WDR loads can have a significant impact on mould growth especially at the edges of the walls. Finally, for the case analysed, the WDR load causes a significant increase of indoor relative humidity and energy consumption for heating.

Radioisotope Deposition on Interior Building Surfaces: Air Flow and Surface Roughness Influences

Interior surface deposition effects of vaporized radioactive aerosols are important in understanding their behavior in accident conditions such as the Japanese nuclear laboratory accident in 1999 and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, where entire communities had to be abandoned because of surface contamination, and the hopefully unlikelihood of a terrorist dirty nuclear bomb attack. Airborne radon progeny offers an opportunity to study radioisotope surface deposition. A significant annual lung cancer rate is also attributed to airborne radon progeny in the interior domestic environment. Surface deposition rates influence the airborne progeny levels. Here, we report extensive 218Po deposition rates over typical air change rates (ACHs) from 0.02 to 1.0 h-1 for interior furnishings surfaces in a 0.283-m3 test chamber to supplement earlier reported deposition rates for interior wall, ceiling, and floor surfaces. In analyzing the deposition results from the different materials, it is found that they correlate in terms of roughness with relative static friction and aerodynamic shear stress. Extrapolation to perfectly smooth surfaces provides a good estimate of the Fick’s law value. Contrary to prior radon analysis at higher air flow, where the Crump and Seinfeld (CS) turbulent deposition models seemed to fit, at low ACH below 0.5 h-1 the deposition data found excellent agreement with a new Brownian diffusive deposition model for laminar flow. A composite model using the Brownian diffusive laminar flow and the CS turbulent flow models provides an excellent fit to all data. These results provide insight into contamination issues relative to other airborne radioisotopes, with the relative effects being dependent on the airborne contaminant particle sizes and their respective diffusion coefficients as seen in the two deposition models.

Simultaneous determination of hydride forming elements (As, Bi, Ge, Sb, Se) and Hg in biological and environmental reference materials by electrothermal vaporization–microwave induced plasma-optical emission spectrometry with their in situ trapping in a graphite furnace

The approach for the simultaneous determination of five hydride forming elements (As, Bi, Ge, Sb, Se) and Hg by microwave induced plasma optical emission spectrometry (MIP-OES) is described. The combination of hydride generation (HG) and in situ preconcentration of the analytes onto the Pd (for As, Bi, Ge, Sb, Se) or Au (for Hg) pretreated interior wall surfaces of a graphite furnace (GF) has been used as a collection technique. The furnace comprised the electrothermal vaporization (ETV) sample introduction unit of a MIP-OES detection system. Compromise conditions are established. The trapping temperature was 300 °C and the vaporization temperature 2100 °C. Calibration was achieved via the method of standard additions. Absolute limits of detection (3σblank criterion, peak height) were 3, 8, 15, 8, 20 and 10 ng for As, Bi, Ge, Hg, Sb and Se, respectively. System efficiency for the generation and sequestration of the hydrides averaged better than 55%. The HG-ETV-MIP-OES method was successfully applied to the determination of As, Bi, Ge, Hg, Sb and Se in several certified biological and environmental reference materials (hair, tissue, leaves, soil, sediment, fly ash) with a precision of 8–15% RSD at a concentration 50-fold above the LOD, following high pressure decomposition and dissolution of the samples by microwave heating in a mixture of acids. The results obtained by this method were in fair agreement with the reference value.

Determination of As, Sb, Se, Sn and Hg in beer and wort by direct hydride generation sample introduction−electrothermal AAS

A method is described for the hydride generation atomic absorption (HG-AAS) determination of As, Sb, Se, Sn and Hg in untreated samples of beer and wort using a batch system and in situ preconcentration of the analytes onto the Pd- (for As, Sb, Se, Sn) or Au-pretreated (for Hg) interior wall surfaces of a graphite furnace. Samples were degassed by filtration and the hydride was generated in the presence of an antifoam agent. Instrument parameters, hydride generation, transportation and trapping were selected. Determination of the total concentration of these elements was obtained after a previous reduction with thiourea. To minimize the amount of moisture from the reaction vessel reaching the graphite tube, an extra gas–liquid separator was installed in line. For 10 mL of sample, detection limits (LOD, 3σblank, peak height) of 28, 21, 10, 50 and 90 ng L−1 were obtained for As, Sb, Se, Sn and Hg, respectively, reflecting overall generation/collection efficiencies of 53, 100, 54, 57 and 66%, respectively. The detection limits were restricted by variations in the blank absorbance. Precision of replicate determination was typically 5% RSD at a concentration 50-fold above the LOD for a 10 mL sample volume. The accuracy of the method was confirmed by comparing the results obtained with those found for beer and wort using microwave-assisted digestion and by analysing five certified reference materials. Data comparable with those obtained by hydride generation after microwave-assisted digestion of samples were found for a series of natural samples, giving evidence of the applicability of the developed methodology to directly determining analytes. Calibration was achieved via the method of standard additions.

Behavior of Gypsum‐Sheathed Cold‐Formed Steel Wall Studs

Designers of load-bearing, cold-formed steel wall studs may use wall sheathing materials to provide bracing against flexural and torsional-flexural buckling. The American Iron and Steel Institute 1986 specification provides a design methodology including the strengthening effects of gypsum wallboard, commonly found on interior wall surfaces. Sheathing is assumed to act as a shear diaphragm with deformations distributed throughout the wall panel. Increased horizontal stud spacing results in increased axial load capacity for each individual stud, as the width of the shear diaphragm and thus its stiffness is increased. Testing of gypsum wallboard and steel-stud panels finds that deformations are localized at the connections. Furthermore, wall-assembly tests show the axial load capacity of gypsum-sheathed wall studs is independent of stud spacing. Thus, although the current American Iron and Steel Institute shear-diaphragm model provides conservative strength predictions for gypsum-sheathed walls, it does not accurately describe system behavior.

DYNASTIC IMAGERY IN EARLY TIMURID WALL PAINTING

painting's role in the Islamic Iranian context is the evidence of wall painting. Often accorded a status equal to that of manuscript illustration, its material remains are scarce, and it is literary evidence that in large part has fashioned current notions of the function, extent, and significance of painting programs on interior wall surfaces. Past general studies have not only repeatedly stressed the continuity of this ancient practice from the Sasanian period into the Qajar era, but have also viewed it as a formal extension of manuscript painting.' Earlier investigations focused on pre-Mongol or later Safavid examples, but what is less well known is the evidence from those centuries when a variety of TurcoMongol military dynasties held sway over the medieval Iranian cultural area, a period of accelerated activity for the development of Persian painting. Meager physical evidence, particularly from a royal, secular context, and the seeming absence of the human form have obviously accounted for much of this gap. What still remains to be examined is the evidence of