Large Building Complexes Research Articles

Advanced fire emergency management based on potential fire risk assessment with informative digital twins

Modern large complex buildings, with their vast expanses and multipurpose usability, present diverse fire-spread scenarios, necessitating precise awareness of fire situations. Despite numerous studies integrating building information models with IoT and AI technologies to provide contextual information, there may be limitations in recognizing potential risks under dynamic fire behaviors during urgent situations. This paper presents a fire emergency management system based on an informative digital twin (IDT) to provide instantaneous fire situational information. Utilizing IDT, the system gathers building-specific fire scenario knowledge for immediate fire recognition. Leveraging this knowledge, the IDT assesses building fire risks and shares safety information on egress routes and zones with fire-related applications. A simulation case study revealed a fire recognition processing time of 0.88 s, acceptable for fire emergencies. Additionally, the IDT’s risk assessment reduced the total evacuation time by 65 s and potential injuries by 406, demonstrating the system’s effectiveness in fire emergency management.

Feasibility assessment of next-generation smart district heating networks by intelligent energy management strategies

Increasing flexibility of energy demand in a district heating network (DHN) results in both more possibility of interactions between the heating network and renewable resources and managing peak loads by shaving and shifting. This paper summarizes a series of tests performed in a large building complex that may drive future operational strategies for DHN. These novel strategies aim to impact selected customers with a specific range of heat consumption intensity to assess achievable flexibilities in heating demand without additional cost. The results show that a reduction in DHN supplied temperature by 6 °C does not significantly influence the heat consumption of customers equipped with radiators and thermostatic valves. However, its reduction by 10 °C, and 20 °C can impact users with higher consumed heat rates of approximately 0.2 and 0.1 [Unit/10min], respectively. Moreover, prolonging test periods until midday, when there is the highest probable outdoor temperature and solar irradiation may avoid sharp energy variations after tests.

Towards accurate correspondence between BIM and construction using high-dimensional point cloud feature tensor

The correspondence between BIM and construction instances is crucial to construction management. However, spatial deviation and geometric heterogeneity between BIM and construction point clouds pose great challenges. This paper establishes high-dimensional point cloud feature tensor to devise a point cloud semantic segmentation network and an incremental point-to-point correspondence estimation strategy against spatial deviation and geometric heterogeneity. In the construction of the stadium for the 31st Summer World University Games, the method achieved semantic segmentation accuracy (OA) of 93.8% - 99.9% and reduced BIM-and-construction correspondence error from 16 cm to 3 cm, and automatically documented four-phase construction progresses of 38 317 instances with progress monitoring error of 1%. These results demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method in BIM-to-construction semantic transfer and BIM-and-construction instance correspondence for large complex buildings. Future research will design transfer learning networks to achieve fully BIM-driven semantic understanding and knowledge mining for intelligent construction.

Short report on the excavations of the Legionary Bath of Brigetio in 2023

Since 2015, excavations have been carried out in different parts of the legionary fortress in Brigetio. Due to the systematic geophysical surveys of the praetentura, a large building complex came to light, which could be identified as the bath of the fortress, even before the fieldworks started in the territory. In the area of this building complex, the excavations started in 2021, and continued in the next two years. Now, an approximately 1800 m2 surface of the bath is excavated. During the last season of the fieldwork several heated and unheated rooms and three new (possible) pools and four praefurnia were unearthed. The north-eastern closure of the bath was identified, and parts of the northern apses of the basilica thermarum were unearthed. A huge number of coins and bronze small finds were discovered, and thanks to the brick stamps, some new data have become available on troop movements and military history of the Pannonian ripa.

Emergency evacuation based on long range communication technology

The complexity and uncertainty of a fire in a large public building with complex structure leads to risks during emergency evacuation. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct intelligent emergency evacuation according to the situational development of the accident environment, the crowding degree of evacuation routes, as well as the reliability and flexibility of data transmission in large complex building structures. In this study, we develop an Intelligent Emergency Evacuation System (IEES) based on the Long Range (LoRa) communication technology and the Evacuation Decision Optimization Model (EDOM). The IEES comprises three parts, i.e., multi-sensor Fire Monitoring System (FMS), Central Control System (CCS), and Wireless Evacuation Indication System (WEIS). The LoRa communication technology is used for data transmission among the three parts of the IEES to assist large scale evacuation. The EDOM is developed to support the CCS based on the improved adaptive ant colony algorithm. To facilitate the evacuation decision optimization, the initial node database in the evacuation spatial network is established intelligently on the Building Information Modeling (BIM) platform. An on-site application in a subway station with three underground floors is conducted. The results demonstrate that the IEES can guide people in evacuating from hazardous locations according to the state of the fire. Moreover, the phenomena of crowd retention and congestion at a few certain evacuation exits are considerably reduced to achieve global optimization of the evacuation path and accomplish the objective of intelligent emergency evacuation. Furthermore, WEIS can maintain normal operation and have good visibility in the fire environment of heat radiation and thick smoke. The IEES can realize dual wireless indication of vision and sound perception, and its response time is slightly affected by the building structure and transmission distance. The electromagnetic signal of electrical equipment and the operational state of vehicles in and out of the subway station causes the response time to a relatively larger lag. The response time of the IEES is delayed up to 14 ms. Nonetheless, it fulfills the requirements of response time of evacuation indication signs stated in the Technical Standard for Fire Emergency Lighting and Evacuate Indicating System.

Excavations at the Late Bronze Age site of Erimi-Pitharka, Cyprus (2022-2023 seasons): Regional production and storage in the Kouris Valley

The rural site of Erimi-Pitharka is located in the archaeologically rich Kouris Valley of south-central Cyprus. Previous rescue excavations by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, have revealed a subterranean complex, industrial areas, and a building complex at the highest topographical point of the site. New excavations by an international team began in 2022 and continued in 2023. We here report on the findings from these first two seasons, which have focused on the large building complex in Area I/1A. Dated to LC IIC-IIIA (c. 1300-1150 BCE), this part of the site is characterised by an emphasis on agricultural production and storage. The inhabitants took advantage of the soft limestone-rich bedrock to create subterranean and semi-subterranean installations, rooms and storage spaces, and pithoi were similarly used for storage and industrial activities. Pitharka was peacefully abandoned, and much of the material culture was removed in the process.

Introduction of Electricity Storage and Photovoltaics for an Adequate Self-Sufficiency in Large Building Complexes

Energy usage in large-scale premises exhibits a distinctive pattern, encompassing both thermal energy and electricity. As a result of the recent energy crisis, the operational expenditures associated with these demands have markedly risen. In line with EU Energy Policies, one of the future goals is the transition towards energy-wise self-sufficient buildings powered by renewable energy sources (RES). Nowadays, a combination of contemporary energy management systems, electricity storage and RES are proposed to achieve nearly zero emission-producing energy consumption in buildings. This paper examines the energy consumption patterns of a hotel situated on the Mediterranean, in order to investigate the potential of RES-induced independence and forecast future expansion prospects. An algorithm has been introduced to both optimize and enhance the self-sufficiency of the hotel under consideration. The proposed algorithm successfully enhances the hotel's energy self-sufficiency, achieving a remarkable 99% rate through the dimensions of PV power and corresponding battery capacity for all years under examination, yielding the corresponding financial and environmental conclusions.

Deformation Monitoring of High‐Rise Building Clusters: Acquiring Deformation Coefficients by Combining Satellite Imagery and Persistent Scatterer Interferometry

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is a remote sensing measurement technology based on electromagnetic waves, capable of simultaneously monitoring deformations in large urban building complexes with millimeter‐level precision. However, relying solely on the line of sight (LOS) deformation sequence based on a specific permanent scatterer cannot accurately analyze building deformations, particularly in cases where high‐rise buildings may simultaneously experience various deformation components such as temperature‐induced deformation, shrinkage, creep, and tilting. To accurately identify the deformation states of high‐rise buildings, the paper begins by systematically summarizing three typical deformation patterns from the unique perspective of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. These patterns include Pattern I, characterized by temperature‐induced deformation alone, and Pattern II and Pattern III, which involve a combination of deformation in different directions relative to the SAR satellite in addition to temperature‐induced deformation. To accurately monitor the LOS deformation of high‐rise buildings, the paper introduces the concept of acquiring the evolutionary trends of temperature‐related deformation coefficients and proposes a methodology for recognizing and quantifying deformation in high‐rise buildings. Subsequently, this study utilized freely available Sentinel‐1 satellite data to observe the deformation of nine high‐rise buildings in Changsha, China. The research findings indicate that the thermal expansion coefficients of most high‐rise buildings fall within the range of 6 ∼ 12 × 10−6/°C. High‐rise buildings that have been constructed for more than ten years almost no longer experience significant shrinkage or creep, while new constructions may exhibit an initial shrinkage and creep of up to 1.2 × 10−4 mm/mm. Additionally, the study results demonstrate that super‐tall buildings may exhibit centimeter‐scale lateral deformations at their tops due to uneven shrinkage. Findings from the study indicate that the proposed method can achieve cost‐effective and sustainable deformation monitoring of high‐rise building clusters within a large urban area.

Nabû at the Frontiers of the Assyrian Empire: An Inscribed Bronze Necklet from Yasin Tepe, Iraqi Kurdistan

Abstract This paper presents an inscribed bronze necklet discovered at Yasin Tepe, one of the largest tell-type sites in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The necklet was found on the floor of a large building complex of the Neo-Assyrian period that probably belonged to an elite family living at the site. The two-line inscription dates to around the eighth to seventh centuries BCE, and mentions the dedication of a son by his father to the god Nabû, implying the diffusion of his worship to the frontier of the Assyrian empire. Nishiyama wrote Sections 1–4, and Yamada Section 5, respectively; both share the responsibility for Section 6. Abbreviations follow M. P. Streck et al. (eds.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 15. Berlin/Boston, except for RINAP 2 = Frame 2020; RIMA 2 = Grayson 1991, RIMA 3 = Grayson 1996.

Assessment of Batteries’ Contribution for Optimal Self-Sufficiency in Large Building Complexes

The EU has set ambitious targets to combat climate change. Incorporating renewable energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a critical aspect of achieving the European Union’s (EU) 2030 climate goals. Similarly to all member countries of the EU, Greece shares the same climate goals. In order to achieve these goals, ensuring a consistent supply and the effective use of clean energy is pursued, as it has a significant impact on the sustainable development and growth of the country. As the Greek tourism sector is one of the most energy-consuming of the national economy and a major contributor to the country’s GDP, opportunities are presented for innovation and investment in sustainable practices. Such investments must focus on buildings and facilities, where the energy consumption is concentrated. One of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece is the island of Crete. Visitation patterns are seasonal, which means during the summer months, Crete is exceptionally popular and more demanding energy-wise. One of the highest energy-demanding types of tourism-based businesses is the hospitality industry. Energy demands in hotels are driven by factors such as heating, cooling, lighting, and hot water. Thus, such activities require thermal and electrical energy to function. Electrical energy is one of the most essential forms of energy for hotels, as it powers a wide range of critical systems and services throughout the establishment. Therefore, the hotels are highly susceptible to fluctuations in energy prices which can significantly impact the operational costs of hotels. This paper presents an analysis of the annual consumption for the year of 2022 of five hotels located in Crete. An algorithm is also implemented which strives to minimize the capital expenditure (CAPEX), while ensuring a sufficient percentage of self-sufficiency.

Seismic isolation analysis and design of a plane irregular building structure in high earthquake intensity area

Taking the large commercial complex building of Changzhou Golden Eagle Plaza as the research object, this paper analyzes various parameters of typical special-shaped space structure under different isolation schemes under the conditions of earthquake protection, rare earthquake and extremely rare earthquake, compares three isolation layer design combinations of rubber isolation bearing, lead isolation bearing, rubber isolation bearing + lead isolation bearing, and studies the influence of different isolation layer arrangement schemes on the steel core and mass center of the building structure. The results show that the reasonable isolation design can obtain the reasonable arrangement pattern and rule of the plane irregular building structure in a high seismic intensity area by comparing and analyzing the arrangement schemes of different types and forms of isolation bearings in the isolation structure model.

Short Report on the Excavations in the Legionary Fortress of Brigetio in 2021-2022

While the legionary fortress of Brigetio is one of the key sites in the province of Roman Pannonia, its inner structure and buildings are almost unknown. Although the retentura of the legionary fortress is almost entirely covered by modern buildings, the praetentura can be researched using remote sensing methods. Over the past few years, systematic excavations took place in the praetentura, based on results of the geophysical surveys. A large building complex was identified as the bath of the legionary fortress, with an area of at least 4,000 m2. In the excavation seasons 2021 and 2022, about 1,200 m2 of the bath was unearthed. Several cold and hot rooms, pools, sewers, hypocaust systems and praefurnia were found, yielding abundant find material. In the present state of research, the chronological periods and building phases of the bath are mostly unknown. The only chronological data comes from the in situ stamped bricks of the Legio XI Claudia, dating the earliest period of the bath between AD 101 and 105, which was also the earliest period of the legionary camp. From the Late Roman Period, some tegulae with the names of Lupicinus tribunus and Frigeridus dux have been preserved, which indicate building activity in the last third of the 4th century AD.

Building Automation Using Wireless Sensor Networks

AbstractThe use of wireless senor networks in building automation is gaining popularity so as to improve the safety, security, and energy efficiency of the buildings. The automation solution will differ as per the type of building. In this paper, authors have proposed three wireless sensor network (WSN) based automation solutions for buildings of different sizes. First strategy has been proposed for a small building using a single network. Second one is for a large building complex using multiple networks and third strategy is for building automation solution for local individual control. For building automation both monitoring and control of the parameters of interest are required. Authors have implemented first strategy in a small room of 501.9 m length and 410.9 m breadth. The humidity temperature and pressure (HTP) and TL sensor nodes of Eigen Technologies Ltd. have been used in this research work. HTP sensor node has been used for monitoring of humidity, temperature, and pressure. However, for the monitoring of luminosity TL sensor node has been chosen. Four sensor nodes of each type have been placed at appropriate locations in the selected room. Finally, a general control strategy for the temperature control has been proposed for the control of the building automation of a small building.

Analytical Study on the Prediction of Fire Evacuation Time in Large Complex Buildings Using the Ensemble Learning Technique

With the recent increase in the risk of fire in buildings, the number of casualties that occur in the event of a fire have increased. This emphasizes the importance of performance-based design. However, simulating a performance-based design requires a lot of manpower and time, and re-simulation with minor changes is a difficult task. Therefore, in this study, we attempt to develop a prediction model that can easily predict the ASET for each fire distance as a fire factor and spatial factor by applying ensemble learning. The prediction model developed using machine learning based on FDS data showed a high coefficient of determination of 0.91, and we believe that ASET for each distance can be derived in real time by applying this prediction model.

Dynamic Testing in Support of the Seismic Assessment of a Century Old Masonry Building Complex

The vulnerability assessment of existing masonry buildings is a largely investigated research topic with some aspects still to be faced. In historic towns, masonry buildings are aggregated and together confined, and their final appearance is derived from interventions and additions during their lives in different times and with different masonry textures or different construction materials. Demolitions and reconstructions of some parts were frequent, with the difficulty of now understanding the effectiveness of the mutual constraints. The seismic assessment of a case study of a 175-year-old building complex in Udine (Italy) provides an opportunity to use the results of ambient vibration tests to face the problem of modelling aggregate buildings for their seismic assessment. The “Padiglione Lodi” building complex was built in 1847 and extended and renovated several times afterwards. It was built mostly using URM with limited use of reinforced concrete. It consists of a main building and three wings (western, central and eastern). The inspections, experimental survey and analysis of the available documentation are used to suitably calibrate a Finite Element Model of the whole complex. Moreover, this allows the singling out of the central wing, as the unit needs more careful investigation. Non-destructive dynamic testing is then applied to the central wing in order to further validate the model and improve the knowledge of the interaction of the unit with the rest of the building. General remarks on the effective application of non-destructive dynamic analysis in conjunction with other methods to the seismic assessment of large URM building complexes are drawn.

An indoor evacuation guidance system with an AR virtual agent

It is challenging to evacuate people quickly and safely in large complex buildings in emergencies. With the rapid development of smart mobile devices, the research of augmented reality (AR) technology in emergency evacuation is gradually becoming a hot topic. Meanwhile, virtual agents have been widely used in numerous fields and have been proved to be helpful for guidance. Therefore, this study proposes an indoor evacuation guidance system with an AR virtual agent. The system uses smartphones as mobile terminals to deliver optimal exit path directions for users in real-time. An AR virtual agent is used to guide users to evacuate quickly and safely in complex building environments. In this paper, we take a museum as an example and use the permanent features in the museum as markers for the AR application to activate the virtual agent, which plays the role of a guide to help users evacuate the building. This paper describes the design and implementation of the system, and conducts a user study at a local museum to evaluate the system's usability. The results show that the system can effectively provide guidance and help users to evacuate indoors in the emergency.

Heat flow metering in building practice - A critical field study for a large industrial building complex

Increasingly complex concepts for the heating and cooling supply of buildings require both intelligent and transparent operational management strategies. One way of sequencing and coordinating different generator components is to include information about heat flows on the consumption side. In addition to heat meters, modern pumps also provide heat flow detection. The present study compares the heat flow detection via heat meters and pumps for multiple hydraulic circuits in the operating phase of a large industrial demonstration object. In particular, the influence of typical errors in the installation of the temperature measurement and their elimination are quantified.

Excavations at Samahij, Bahrain, and the implications for Christianity, Islamisation and settlement in Bahrain

AbstractThe episcopal seat of Meshmahig or Mašmahig is referred to in various historical sources, such as the synods of the Church of the East of 410 and 576. These sources have been extensively explored, and it is suggested that Mašmahig can be linked to the village of Samahij in north‐east Muharraq Island, Bahrain. However, archaeological evidence for a Christian presence in Samahij, or elsewhere in Bahrain, was lacking. Excavations completed within the village cemetery at Samahij uncovered part of a large building complex. Based on the architecture, associated material culture and chronology, it is suggested this building was occupied by a Christian community, perhaps as part of a monastery or even the episcopal palace itself. This was abandoned after Islamisation, seemingly in the eighth century. The results of the first season of excavations are described, and the implications for Christianity, Islamisation and settlement in Bahrain are considered.

A reliability analysis method for earthquake resistance of large complex building structure

The seismic reliability calculation of complex building structures requires a lot of simulation analysis and therefore the calculation cost is high. Fitting performance function with surrogate model can improve computational efficiency, but how to ensure the calculation accuracy while improving the reliability analysis efficiency of the engineering structure is a problem worthy of study. This paper proposes a Kriging-based reliability analysis method, which establishes the Kriging surrogate model with fewer calculations of the performance function, improves the accuracy of the surrogate model of performance function by infill-sampling, and obtains the approximate failure probability combined with Monte Carlo simulation. Two numerical examples are analyzed; the results show that this method is efficient and accurate. The method is applied to the seismic reliability calculation of mega-sub controlled structural system, in which the randomness of structure and seismic action is considered. The application results show that it is an effective method for reliability analysis of complex building structures.

AUTOMATED SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC BIM DATA VALIDATION USING VISUAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is part of a digitalization process that, in recent years, has been revolutionizing the way buildings and infrastructures are designed, built, and maintained. Compared to traditional processes, BIM enhances the production and the management of data related to buildings and infrastructures throughout their life cycle. It is founded on a three-dimensional graphical model based on the specificity of project goals following the “level of information need” defined in BIM procurement documents. In this framework, an automated process for checking information within a BIM model plays a role of fundamental importance. Although this increases the model’s reliability, on the other hand, it decreases the time of working. Therefore, this research aims to develop a working methodology based on Visual Programming Language (VPL) for an automated BIM Data Validation process. This workflow aims to meet the growing need of owners to centralize data relating to their real estate assets to always have the appropriate one at the operational level. This methodology has been tested in different case studies to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of using a standardization protocol in a large portfolio and complex buildings. This allows the huge amount of data from BIM models to be checked and summary reports to be produced, sharing with the various stakeholders involved in the knowledge process.