Building Life Cycle Research Articles

Making sense of LCA results when evaluating multiple building designs – comparison of interpretation concepts

ABSTRACT Identifying environmental hotspots and comparing design options are the most common goals in building life cycle assessment (LCA). Our paper focuses on the latter by identifying and evaluating various concepts for interpreting LCA results that can be applied when comparing multiple design options. The term LCA interpretation concept is introduced. Eight approaches were analysed and classified into three groups; (i) raw LCA data, (ii) benchmarking and (iii) single score indicator interpretation concepts. Features and attributes for making sense of LCA data were defined and used to evaluate how the investigated LCA interpretation concepts support decision-making. Finally, the results were compared and evaluated whether the applied LCA interpretation concepts could influence the designer's perception of environmental superiority. The outcomes show substantial differences in the ability of LCA interpretation concepts to support the decision-making process. Benchmarking, weighting and normalization are essential to making environmental decisions when comparing multiple design options coupled with multiple environmental indicators. Otherwise, the risk of decision-making dilemmas due to data overflow is high. Our case study with 21 design options showed that the perception of environmental superiority and inferiority may be conditioned by the selection of the LCA interpretation concept.

In situ model fusion for building digital twinning

Building digital twins are crucial in holistic, synthetic, and supervisory digital environments for intelligent and energy-efficient building operations. As buildings are designed, constructed, and operated for long-term periods with uncertainties, it is essential to model, verify, extend, and calibrate the digital twin models in situ over the building life cycle, unlike digital twin modeling in the manufacturing industries. Therefore, this study proposes in situ model fusion techniques for building digital twinning, which include (1) model coupling and (2) model assembly. The first model coupling technique enables nonintrusive in situ verification and calibration for prediction models without the model observations (Y). The second model assembly enables in situ modeling or a more accurate model construction by connecting the verified models through the model coupling technique to the input layer of the target model. In the case studies conducted in a central heating system, the prediction model for the secondary-side return water temperature was modeled and calibrated without relying on the model observation data (Y), thanks to the model coupling technique. The nonintrusive model showed an accuracy with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.53 °C, which was comparable to the intrusive gray-box models (around 0.5 °C RMSE) calibrated using intrusive datasets (Y). Additionally, the prediction model could improve the benchmark model's performance from 0.44 °C to 0.26 °C (RMSE) using the model assembly technique. The in situ model fusion would enable and enhance nonintrusive modeling approaches, providing a reliable and extensive model environment for digital twins in the building sector.

Composite Materials of Rice Husk and Reed Fibers for Thermal Insulation Plates Using Sodium Silicate as a Binder

The civil construction industry is responsible for a large part of the world’s energy consumption; therefore, in recent years, sustainable practices in this sector have become increasingly common to minimize the environmental impacts of civil construction during the life cycle of buildings. As a result, new materials and more sustainable building techniques are being sought. In Portugal, rice husk is an abundant agricultural waste with great potential to be used as a raw material in thermal insulation materials, as well as giant reed, which is considered an invasive plant. In this study, thermal insulation plates composed of rice husks and/or reed fiber were developed, using sodium silicate as a binder in various proportions and with dimensions of 30 × 30 × 3 cm and density ranging between 0.219 and 0.352 g/cm3. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the thermal characteristics of the plates, such as thermal conductivity, as well as the mechanical resistance to bending and water absorption. The results of the thermal conductivity tests were promising for all compositions, with values in the range between 0.0602 and 0.0745 W/m·K, meeting the requirements to be considered as thermal insulation materials. The results for bending strength and water absorption presented values within the expected range for materials of vegetal origin.

Application of BIM to Buildings and Structures Life Cycle Management

Introduction. Information modeling of buildings and structures (BIM) implies comprehensive examination of an object including studying engineering, technological and economic information about a building and all interrelations and 42 dependencies it has [1–2]. Such approach enables considering a building and all things referring to it as a single facility.Information modeling is an important tool to be used at various stages of the project implementation, including the design and construction stage [3]. Information modeling is used at each life cycle stage of a facility, including the investment stage, construction itself, and commissioning, which envisages maintenance of a building and management of the assets. Having the information model at this stage is a great advantage for the company managing a facility, due to reduction of the costs arising from the operational shortcomings. The aim of the research was to develop the facility’s operation stage model in the information environment, as the most expensive stage of a building life cycle and supplement it with the calculation of the need-for-repairs indicators.Materials and Methods. During the research the data-analytical environment “Information and Analytical System for Housing and Communal Services” (IAS ЖКХ) for forecasting the technical state of a constructed facility was studied. The method of creating the three models of a multi-storey residential building's operation stage at the pre-investment period was applied: a building undergoing natural depreciation; repairs of the main structural elements directly affecting the existence and functioning of a facility are carried out; regular repairs of all elements are performed.Results. Following the carried-out calculations, a rational model of building operation was approved, based on the period of efficient operation and the cost of repairs during this period.Discussion and Conclusions. The method of the constructed facility operation stage modeling allows examining various scenarios of the building life cycle after its construction and evaluating the relevance of one or another type of operation of a particular facility.

Research on the Whole Lifecycle Emission Reduction Effect of Buildings with Different Structures in Severely Cold Regions—A Case Study in China

Since the construction industry is one of China’s high carbon emission industries, to achieve China’s carbon neutrality target by 2060, CO2 emissions in cold regions must be reduced. At the same time, forests have excellent carbon sequestration abilities, so this paper takes residential buildings in severely cold regions as the object of carbon emission reduction research. A model of a two-story building in Changchun was constructed, and the life-cycle carbon emissions of reinforced concrete and wood structures were measured using the life-cycle evaluation method as the basis for calculation and simulation with DesignBuilderVer.7 software. The results show that the life-cycle carbon emission of a wood structure house is 61.46 t less than that of a reinforced concrete house, and the life-cycle carbon emission reduction rate of a wood structure house is 43.39%. Based on the data, it has been proven that wooden structures effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions during the building life cycle while enhancing building performance, given the same structural conditions.

Low carbon urban rail transit station city integration based on building information modeling and sensor fusion

In order to better play the role of information technology in the construction management of rail transit projects, we analyze the application of geographic information system (GIS) + building information modeling (BIM) technology in the construction management of rail transit projects by combining the characteristics of GIS+BIM technology and aiming at the overall improvement of project management efficiency and technical management methods. This study is mainly conducted with the support of BIM technology and sensing technology. In the design stage, carbon emissions are classified according to the source activities of building carbon emissions, and the carbon emissions in the building life cycle are quickly calculated by using BIM technology, and the design is optimized according to the analysis of the budget results. The experimental results prove that the low-carbon building evaluation standard cloud model of all-electronic computer interlocking system for urban rail transit established in this study, combined with the comprehensive weighting results, calculates the low-carbon index cloud model and comprehensive cloud model, and derives the operational safety risk level of the all-electronic computer interlocking system, and the model optimization effect is good. Practice shows that GIS+BIM technology can realize the refinement and informatization of construction management, and has a broad development space in the field of urban rail transit and urban underground space construction.

Sequencing the carbon emission cycle of green buildings in China based on an ecological city perspective

As people's basic material living standards continue to rise, the demand for a better living environment and a better life is becoming increasingly strong. Since the 18th and 19th National Congresses of the Party proposed to carry out ecological civilization construction and build a beautiful China, carrying out ecological city construction has become one of the effective ways to solve the current urban development problems. In this paper, we summarise the latest research on green building assessment systems, life-cycle carbon emissions and life-cycle costs of buildings. We find that China's green building assessment system still has many shortcomings compared to the world's advanced green building assessment systems. Based on this, we have conducted a sequencing analysis of the life cycle carbon emissions of green buildings in China, so that buildings can meet the green building rating and at the same time achieve energy and carbon savings. The results of the study show that the building use phase has the highest carbon emissions in the building life cycle, accounting for 77% of the life cycle carbon emissions.

Интеллектуализация строительно-технической экспертизы кровель как инструмент управления ее жизненным циклом

The program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation", approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, is being actively implemented in the building construction industry, mainly at the stages of engineering surveys and architectural and construction design. Building information modeling (BIM) technologies are used by most foreign and domestic CAD system vendors. At the other stages of the building's life cycle, digitalization has not been widely distributed, despite the fact that the operation stage is the longest and the trouble-free existence of building structures at this stage is the key to the economic and social efficiency of building ownership. Flat rolled roofs in our country are the most common type of roofs and at the same time the most susceptible to defect formation structural element of a building. The standard operation period of such roofs is 10 years, despite the fact that the actual period of trouble-free operation of flat rolled roofs rarely exceeds 7 years. The assessment of the technical condition of the roofs is carried out by a construction and technical expertise, performed, as a rule, after the occurrence of leaks. Assessment of the degree of damage, as well as the prevalence of defects, is carried out by an expert visually, often without the use of measuring equipment. Due to the fact that the assessment of damage by an expert is purely subjective, it is impossible to correctly assess the development of the defect over time. The proposed technology of automation of construction and technical expertise of flat rolled roofs of a building allows timely detection of defects, assess the degree of their danger and make forecasts of their development over time. This approach allows you to make a timely decision on the need to carry out current repairs or to plan their implementation in the future. This will increase the service life of a flat rolled roof without increasing the cost of the life cycle.

Выбор программного обеспечения при реализации проектов на основе технологий информационного моделирования

Building information modeling is associated with the process of collecting data about a building in a centralized repository, the data of which is used by all stakeholders at each stage of the building's life cycle. This information is necessary not only for the design and construction of the main structures of the facility, but also for the development of control systems for the engineering equipment of the building, these include control systems for power supply, water supply, sanitation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Relevant information about both the building and its systems is the basis for the design of process automation, providing new opportunities to optimize the management strategy, both to improve the energy efficiency of the facility and for the convenience of users. At the stage of operation of the building, specialists from various fields and levels are involved, who need information and documents from other project participants. In addition, the use of information modeling technologies (TIM) avoids duplication of data on the object and significantly increases the reliability of stored information. For this reason, today there are many software vendors for solving BIM tasks, they offer solutions both for individual stages and for the entire life of the object, starting with the development of the project concept and ending with the demolition of the building upon completion of operation. The purpose of this article is to conduct a comparative analysis of software from different developers, to show the possibilities of using information modeling technologies for the development of projects for the construction and operation of a building at the stages of its life cycle.

Информационное моделирование и управление жизненным циклом строительных объектов в городе Новочеркасске

For the construction industry, the actual direction of development is the digitalization of construction at all its stages and the creation of a state information system for supporting the urban planning activities of the Russian Federation. It is possible to create this system taking into account the widespread introduction of digital twins, BIM models and building life cycle management systems.
 The paper considers the development by the team of the SRSPU (NPI) named after M.I. Platov BIM-models of buildings as the basis for creating a digital twin of the entire architectural complex of the SRSPU (NPI).
 To create a BIM model, two types of software were used: the ArchiCAD PC and the domestic Renga complex. A distinctive feature of the creation of the model was that an existing building was used as a prototype with significant alterations and changes in spatial planning and design solutions carried out during operation. In a practical way, it was revealed that the PC Renga is the most convenient for the purposes of creating BIM projects, since it implements most of the functions for modeling building structures.

District cradle to grave LCA including the development of a localized embodied carbon database and a detailed end-of-life carbon emission workflow

The building industry is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in today's world. To measure the environmental impacts of GHG emissions, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been increasingly utilized in recent years, and building LCA tries to evaluate the GHG emissions in three main phases including embodied carbon (EC), operational carbon (OC), and End-of-life carbon (EOLC).Most of the studies in this field have dealt with individual buildings as the scope of their research. The literature review showed a significant gap regarding the implementation of the LCA on a wider district-level scale rather than just one building. In addition, most of the studies have only considered landfilling of the waste materials and emissions related to this activity for the whole disposal phase emissions. Therefore, a more detailed analysis regarding the EOLC emission has been carried out to recognize the actual share of this section in the whole building’s LCA.To fill the mentioned gaps, this research has done a cradle-to-grave LCA by utilizing localized building materials' EC emission data, besides an OC emission assessment followed by a detailed EOLC emission analysis for a district in Montreal's downtown. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis regarding the selection of the best building materials according to their environmental performance has been implemented.The results of this study show that for different retrofitting scenarios of the buildings in a district, among the main building components for renovations (walls, roofs, and floors), walls are responsible for the most significant share of the GHG emissions and between various components of the walls, insulation layers have the most impact on the total embodied, operational and EOLC emissions. Detailed EOLC emission analysis revealed that even after implementing a detailed examination of the end-of-life phase, the share of EOLC emissions within the building's life cycle remains below 10%. Finally, the sensitivity analysis among the insulation layers has illustrated that buildings using foam glass for their insulation layer have the most GHG emissions, and buildings with glass wool have the least amount of emissions.

MANAGEMENT PROPERTIES AND PROCEDURES IN THE INFORMATION MODEL OF THE HISTORIC BUILDING HBIM ON BUILDING FACADES

Abstract. Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) has become the ideal tool for professionals studying building conservation and restoration. The BIM model allows one to identify structural deformations following three-dimensionally resolved models. In addition, this methodology is specifically designed to register parametric construction models, as an information manager by adding semantic components to the model, including information on the different transformations of the historical artefact, and allowing continuous progress in the building's life cycle. In this work, graphic information and data related to conservation projects are compiled that allow a management of all the documentation integrated in the same Project, from all the disciplinary fields related to the heritage conservation and rehabilitation process. Specifically, from the geometric identification and the restoration documents, it is intended to develop an experimental application where both terrestrial laser scanning records and the use of image processing routines can allow automatic operations to monitor alterations in façades, in order to subsequent control by conservation experts. For this, a building with certain characteristics has been chosen, such as the Miguel de Mañara palace in the city of Seville. A building that has a main façade of 43.30 metres in length by 6.75 metres in height and, in which its façade rotates in an angled guideline to adapt to the urban planning of the time. The analysis is based on the applicability of two segmentation algorithms and the construction of the multilayer enclosure model where the different stratigraphies of the results obtained are exposed.

Dealing with uncertainties in comparative building life cycle assessment

Building LCA aims at guiding designers towards more sustainable projects. Many sources of uncertainties affect environmental modelling. Therefore, the reliability of decisions based on building LCA is questioned. However, information on uncertainties can strengthen decisions, when properly addressed. In this study, seven statistical metrics are compared based on dependent samplings for sensitivity analyses (SA) and uncertainty analyses (UA). It allows to identify a set of indicators on which conclusions are more reliable. For the first time, this methodology is applied to comparative building LCA, considering three construction alternatives: a concrete, a concrete blocks and a wooden-framed house. A new SA method, based on Morris, helps identifying which of 153 uncertain factors are more likely to influence decisions. More precise data is then collected on these uncertain factors. In this case study, the Heijungs significance metric and the distribution of relative differences were the most appropriate metrics to assess UA results. They allow to determine, for each indicator, which is the best alternative and how much better it performs. Consequently, the non-conclusive indicators are discarded. Applying this methodology, decision are enhanced by uncertainties and rely on a smaller set of indicators to select an alternative in terms of environmental performance.

A Proposed Management System for Construction Practices during Sustainable Buildings Life Cycle

For many years, the construction industry damages have been overlooked such as unreasonable consumption of resources in addition to producing a lot of construction waste but with global awareness growth towards the sustainable development issues, the sustainable construction practices have been adopted, taking into account the environment and human safety. The research aims to propose a management system for construction practices which could be adopted during constructing different types of sustainable buildings besides formulating flowcharts which clarify the required whole phases of sustainable buildings life cycle. The research includes two parts: theoretical part which generally ,handles the sustainability concepts at construction industry and specially buildings .But the practical part comprises investigating the professional opinions in construction industry about applications possibility of sustainable requirements and global criteria to construction of sustainable buildings in Iraq where the weakness and strength points in the essential requirements for achieving the sustainable construction practices have been diagnosed and the development needhas been specified. The utilized statistical analysis of questionnaire results show readiness of buildings sectors to implement the sustainable practices. The different strategies and techniques in the proposed management have been employed for getting the sustainable procedures of sequences practices within project life cycle.

Immersive Technologies-Driven Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the Context of Metaverse

At present, considering the novelty of Immersive Technologies (ImTs) associated with Digital Twin (DT), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) in the context of the metaverse and its rapid and ongoing development in Building Information Modeling (BIM), knowledge of specific possibilities and methods for integrating ImTs into building process workflows remains fragmented and scarce. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the research progress and trends of immersive technology-driven BIM applications, providing a helpful reference for understanding the current knowledge system and stimulating future research. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to use macro-quantitative bibliometric analysis and micro-qualitative analysis methods to explore the research topic of ImTs-driven BIM. This study obtains 758 related studies in the past decade, year 2013 to 2022, through a series of keywords from the Web of Science Core Collection database and uses VOSviewer software to conduct keywords co-occurrence analysis and overlay visualisation to visualise the relationship between ImTs and BIM, which contains six clusters, namely VR, Internet of Things (IoT), DT, 3D model, design, and AR. The macro-quantitative analysis on ImTs-driven BIM applications throughout all the stages of the building lifecycle reveals the themes, content, and characteristics of the applications across the stages, which tend to be integrated with emerging advanced technology and tools, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and deep learning.

The effects of green management practice on organizational performance success: An empirical study in HK building industry

Building development has been causing adverse environmental effects with emissions of greenhouse gas in the range of about 40% and consumed energy of about 35% in 2018 in developing countries. Expediting green management practices in an environmental, economic, and social manner becomes crucial in the building industry. Guiding from the systematic literature review, a whole building life cycle engagement of Green Marketing Strategy (GMS) and Green Technology Development (GTD) as green management practices to achieve organizational performance success in terms of Green Performance Success (GPS) & Finance Performance Success (FPS) lacks scholars’ studies. From a theoretical point of view, the pre- and post-building phases’ critical factors should be further explored and investigated. Few research studies can be identified for the conventional construction projects in selecting critical organizational performance success factors in their pre- and post-project stages. This research aims to provide an understanding into the effects of the green management practices on organizational performance success through a questionnaire survey follows by post-survey interviews, case studies, and green expert interviews so as to incentivize the promotion of the green management practices to combat global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. The results of a moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed that green management practices in terms of green marketing strategy and green technologies development have a significant impact on firm performance in terms of green performance success and financial performance success. Further investigations of how the supplier cooperation and green building uncertainty moderate green management practices on organizational performance are studied. The experts’ interviews directed that the government take a leading role in asserting green management practices implementation, particularly in making green building development mandatory. Advanced construction information technology (e.g., building information modeling) should be used to inspire the building process to generate and manage building data to improve the green building technological design incorporation to recycle the building elements with waste reduction. Above all, the instituting of a robust and operational market platform for the green materials and products with a performance index would enhance the vision and mission of green marketing strategy to reduce the materials costs progressively. Commitment and cooperation of suppliers to deliver suitable green performance materials and products is also beneficial to the building industry. As the study indicated, the higher level of technological and logistical integration with the suppliers’ base will lead to higher levels of environmental collaboration and building firms’ performance.

Global Research Productions Pertaining to Design for Safety: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on WoS Database

Design for Safety (DFS) is a crucial tool that assists humans in paying closer attention to safety and health in project life cycles of buildings and other facilities. Analyzing DFS through a bibliometric perspective can facilitate the development of new theories, promote disciplinary content, and reveal the direction of development in the subject area. This paper presents a systematic, holistic, and comprehensive overview of the global literature focused on DFS, summarizing the number of publications, research hotspots, research methods, and distribution. Scientific publications are a measure of academic level and scientific strength of institutions and individuals, and this article provides an overview of interdisciplinary research on DFS from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2020, based on literature related to DFS in the Web of Science database (WoS-database). The paper highlights current research hotspots, ideas, and trends around the world, offering a global overview of contemporary and interdisciplinary research in DFS. By utilizing both keyword clustering and co-citation clustering techniques, the paper proposes the 4P framework (i.e., purpose, people, procedures, and phenomena) to better understand current global achievements and to achieve a complex structure for future development. This concise description of DFS trends may provide a logical mechanism for assessing and understanding the development of DFS research.

Energy Efficiency Model Construction of Building Carbon Neutrality Design

We aim to create a feasible quantitative method to calculate the energy efficiency of building designs that are carbon-neutral and to develop a workable way of calculating energy efficiency in buildings that achieve carbon neutrality and the system for such a building’s design energy efficiency function. This paper first clarifies the idea of the design energy efficiency function for a carbon-neutral building over its whole life cycle. Subsequently, through the efficient analysis of carbon-neutral design dimension measures, this paper summarizes and integrates the mature theories of various disciplines, puts forward the energy efficiency function model of carbon-neutral design background, propulsion, and coverage, and implements the energy efficiency function model of carbon-neutral design in the whole life cycle of buildings. The index value of a building’s carbon emission factor is established based on the carbon accounting factor published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a carbon neutrality energy efficiency model for buildings over the duration of their whole life cycle is constructed. The results were as follows. 1. Technology energy efficiency is far better than scale energy efficiency and comprehensive energy efficiency. 2. The better the energy efficiency value inside the building stage, the less consumption and the higher the production. 3. Construction is when technical energy is used the least. This paper refers to a systematic design method that makes the level of building carbon neutrality design technologically advanced with the aid of all types of big data related to the building life cycle and various innovative design theories in order to fully represent the fundamental level, development potential, and the effectiveness of choosing the strategy of building carbon neutrality.

Building digital twinning: Data, information, and models

This study proposes a novel framework and methodology for building digital twinning (BDT) over the life cycle of a building. It aims to establish an intrinsic digital twin framework and methodology in the building sector, considering the inherent characteristics of the building industry compared with other industries, such as manufacturing. Thus, the framework includes digital twin elements, functional requirements, and enabling techniques and provides in-depth insight into the implementation of digital twin modeling for building operations. The key elements comprise data, information, and mathematical models. In terms of the elements, functional requirements include transfer, extension/augmentation, and correction/update. These requirements are identified and discussed, and enabling techniques are selected and orchestrated to establish digital twins and fulfill the requirements. Digital twin modeling methodologies and strategies are suggested for each building life cycle stage (i.e., design, commissioning, and operation) in terms of data, information, and models (DIM) to overcome the challenges of digital twinning for real building operations. Future research directions are discussed to realize building digitalization.

An open building information modelling based co-simulation architecture to model building energy and environmental life cycle assessment: A case study on two buildings in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg

Given the complexity and interconnection of different aspects involved in building evaluation, one of the most relevant, and challenging, research topics is the integration of different domain models (such as thermal comfort, indoor environmental quality and occupant comfort) to effectively describe and inform improvement strategies for the behaviour and performance of a building and building stock. Currently, this problem is unsolved with only one study attempting to integrate building energy simulation and life cycle assessments (separately, both practices are utilised to facilitate the design and management of buildings, traditionally consultancies offer building energy simulation services – most commonly for regulatory purposes – and more recently life cycle impact assessments), whilst no work has attempted this integration in a dynamic manner. This study addresses this gap by developing a dynamic, open building information modelling based co-simulation architecture. This architecture is the first to tightly couple and integrate EnergyPlus and Brightway2, in a way that does not rely upon heuristics or simplified tools. Furthermore, it is the first building energy simulation and life cycle assessment co-simulation to enable time-differentiated (dynamic) results and the first to be enabled only by open technologies. The architecture has been validated against two case-study non-domestic buildings located in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, demonstrating its applicability to the construction and operational life cycle phases of buildings. The work presented in this paper has shown how a time-differentiated co-simulation approach across energy and lifecycle domains enables a more holistic analysis of whole buildings with greater accuracy and granularity.