Building Performance Assessment Research Articles

Performance Assessment of Commercial Building for Symmetric and Asymmetric Plan Configurations in Different Seismic Zones of Bangladesh Using ETABS

Bangladesh is among the nations most vulnerable to earthquakes worldwide. Being a developing country, it has been a challenging issue to ensure commercial prosperity along with safety against seismic hazards. Structural engineers also face difficulties in accurately designing buildings with maximum economy and efficiency. ETABS, a leading global engineering software with BNBC 2020 guidelines plays a vital role in these cases. In this study, analysis of a B+G+6 storied building for Symmetric & Asymmetric Plan configuration has been performed using ETABS software. Both kinds of structures have experienced a range of loads for example- dead loads, live loads, partition loads, wind loads, and seismic loads, as well as load combinations that have been pursued following BNBC 2020 requirements. The objective of this work is to evaluate the seismic impact resulting from varying seismic coefficients for four seismic zones in Bangladesh, given identical symmetric and asymmetric plan arrangements. Four required metrics were evaluated between the structural performances of symmetric and asymmetric structures: storey drift, overturning moment, storey shear, and storey stiffness. The structural software provided the analytical results and parameter computations. The comparison's result demonstrates that the asymmetric structure exhibits greater storey rigidity and less storey drift over the longer axis.

Structural performance and fragility assessment of elevated residential buildings during 2017–2018 hurricanes in Texas and Florida

Elevating coastal houses on columns or piles is recognized as an effective technique for reducing the risks of flooding and storm surges. However, recent hurricanes have exposed a potential vulnerability in this approach, as many elevated residential structures sustained significant wind damage even at wind speeds below the current design level. Elevating a structure increases its exposure to stronger winds and leads to potential changes in the wind effects due to the air gap beneath the floor. However, there has been limited research comparing the performance of actual constructed elevated and slab-on-grade residential structures during realistic wind events. To fill this gap, authors utilized publicly available building performance datasets, collected by the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network and others, to extract data on the performance of 851 elevated and 1536 slab-on-grade residential houses impacted by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Michael. Effects of several key parameters were analyzed in terms of the intensity and distribution of the damage experienced by the different components. Furthermore, empirical fragility functions were developed for different roof shapes and cladding materials by combining the estimated wind speed that affected each structure and the assigned damage ratios for the roof and wall claddings. Analysis using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the median wind speeds of various damage states of the components in both elevated and slab-on-grade houses. Additionally, a significant difference was observed in Texas slab-on-grade houses which experienced either no, minor, moderate, or severe damage, compared to their Florida counterparts. Results showed that elevated houses experience more damage than their slab-on-grade counterparts regardless of the roof shape, cladding materials, and construction age. Additionally, results showed that the elevated houses built in Texas exhibit the highest level of vulnerability among the various housing groups studied. Specifically, the percentage of elevated houses in Texas that experienced destroyed damage state surpassed those of slab-on-grade houses in Texas and elevated houses in Florida by 343 % and 166 %, respectively. The paper identified several knowledge gaps, and it emphasized the need for further experimental tests of building components and different building geometries to improve existing risk models.

Exploring occupant detection model generalizability for residential buildings using supervised learning with IEQ sensors

This study explores two modeling approaches for occupancy detection at room level for residential buildings in Denmark. The aim is to assess the performance and generalizability of occupant detection models using XGBoost method trained on a rich dataset comprising indoor environmental quality (IEQ) variables and occupancy ground truth. A global approach (all rooms) and a room-specific approach are considered. After a thorough feature- selection and importance analysis process, the occupancy detection models (ODMs) are trained and tested in a nested cross-validation schema. The time of the day, indoor CO2 concentration, and feature transforms related to short-term IEQ dynamics were found to be the most important features of the ODMs. Both the global and room-specific models show good occupancy prediction performance, especially for bedrooms. When tested for generalizability with an unseen dataset from a different residential building, the ODMs maintain very good performance for the bedroom but not for the office room. This discrepancy could be explained by significant differences in occupancy and ventilation patterns, and large air infiltration from adjacent rooms. Although currently limited in terms of generalizability, XGBoost-based ODMs using IEQ data have the potential to provide robust and scalable occupancy detection for occupant-centric control and occupant-aware building performance assessments. The IEQ dataset with occupancy ground truth collected for this study is made available in open access.

HABITABILITY CONDITIONS IN SELF-CONSTRUCTED RURAL HOUSES WITHIN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

In the Multidimensional Poverty Index, housing conditions carry a weight of 25%. In Ecuador in 2022, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, the rate of multidimensional poverty in rural areas was 70%, while the rate of extreme multidimensional poverty stood at 41%, accompanied by a Gini Index of 0.433. Paradoxically, the processes of globalization related to construction and modern material resources adapted from ancestral knowledge have led to worse habitability conditions in communities settled in the rural Paramus of the High Andes. This study aims to evaluate rural housing under extreme conditions of climate, topography, accessibility, and basic services, in order to establish strategies that are context-appropriate and promote house improvements through collaborative workshops. The conditions of 40 houses in two indigenous communities were assessed through direct observation and thermography. Site characteristics, spatial distribution, materiality and pathologies, along with perceived thermal comfort, were recorded on an adapted datasheet. The assessment was conducted by a researcher and the homeowner, with the objective of generating a participatory diagnosis. Data was analyzed using a multicriteria matrix proposed within a comprehensive framework for assessing building performance in the context of sociocultural and technical dimensions. The main results reveal that inhabitants uphold traditional aspects like collaborative construction processes, a relationship with the landscape, and efficient space utilization. However, the loss of ancestral construction knowledge and the influence of migration to cities have led to technical building errors; consequently, the majority of the dwellings exhibit structural vulnerability and poor indoor environmental quality.

Seismic performance assessment of post-tensioned CLT shear wall buildings with buckling-restrained axial fuses

Post-tensioned cross-laminated timber (PT-CLT) walls have been demonstrated to be a low-damage seismic force-resisting system (SFRS) due to their self-centering capability. However, there is still a need to examine the seismic performance of such SFRS in high-seismic risk zones. This study evaluates the seismic performance of 6-, 9-, and 12-storey PT-CLT shear wall buildings in Vancouver, Canada, equipped with buckling-restrained axial fuses. The prototype buildings were designed using the displacement-based design method, and the assessment considered the most recent seismic hazard model provided in the 2020 National Building Code of Canada. To conduct nonlinear response history analysis (NLRHA) and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA), numerical models were developed in OpenSeesPy and calibrated based on component- and system-level experimental tests. The NLRHA and IDA results demonstrate that all the studied buildings have adequate collapse margin ratios, with less than a 10% chance of collapsing at the maximum considered earthquakes.

Evaluasi Kinerja Saluran Irigasi Daerah Irigasi Rawa Kumpeh Desa Maju Jaya Kabupaten Muaro Jambi

The Rawa Kumpeh Irrigation Area is one of the swamp irrigation areas that is still actively operating in Muaro Jambi Regency. In the management of swamp irrigation areas in this area, namely the performance of the swamp irrigation area itself, which includes the availability of water obtained from the tides of the Kumpeh River as well as the need for irrigation water for food crops, namely rice and secondary crops developed in the swamp area. Apart from that, the main thing about Tidal Swamp Irrigation is water management with a Water Gate Operation System. The aim of this research is to determine the performance conditions of Swamp Irrigation Areas, especially DIR. Kumpeh Swamp which can provide input in managing the swamp irrigation network. The data collection methodology was carried out by means of interviews, literature studies and field surveys. The results of this research can be concluded that the network performance value at the research location is 70.00% - 90.00% for performance. Condition is in the good category (functions well, no significant damage was found). Includes Primary, Secondary SK 1, Channel Types. SK.2, SK.3, SK.4, and SK.5 Block E, the network performance value at the research location is 55.00 % - 69.00 % for performance Condition in the Medium Category (functional, found there is damage but can resolved and put into operation) Includes Secondary Block E SK.4, while for the buildings at the research location, there are 3 (three) sluice gates with sliding doors in fairly good condition with the building performance assessment results averaging 82.81 % where the results of the performance value are included in good performance (70 - 90%). The performance value of the canals and buildings at the research location can also be concluded as the magnitude of the benefit value of the canals and buildings, in relation to the area of agricultural services that utilize these canals and buildings to irrigate agricultural land.

Key Performance Indicators for Decision Support in Building Retrofit Planning: An Italian Case Study

To achieve climate and energy goals in the building sector, the current pace of renovating existing structures must double, overcoming prevailing barriers. Key Performance Indicators play a pivotal role in science-based decision making, emphasizing both direct and indirect benefits of building retrofits. The authors aim to contribute to proper metric identification for multi-perspective building performance assessment and formulate a methodology supporting energy planning decisions. They introduce the Global Cost per Emission Savings (GCES), an aggregated indicator encompassing both public (CO2 emissions) and private (global cost) perspectives of diverse retrofit technologies for building HVAC systems. Applied to the Italian residential building stock via the Reference Building approach, the methodology is tested using condensing gas boilers, biomass boilers, and electric heat pumps, revealing diverse environmental and economic performances. Addressing the establishment of effective decision-support tools for policymakers, the paper explores the potential impact of various policies on the favorability of technologies. Different policy scenarios are delineated to analyze how distinct approaches may influence the attractiveness of technologies. Notably, in the baseline scenario, biomass boilers hold an advantage over heat pumps according to the GCES index. However, scenarios involving technology-specific incentives or a greenhouse gases emission tax failed to alter the technological ranking, leaving heat pumps financially uncompetitive. In contrast, the TXPM scenario positions heat pumps as the most financially appealing option, penalizing biomass boilers for high particulate matter emissions.

Probabilistic Seismic Performance Assessment of Tall RC Special Moment-resisting Frame Buildings Equipped with Buckling-restrained Braces under Near-field Excitations

Many tall buildings have already been constructed near faults throughout the world, several of which have sustained casualties and economic losses during strong ground motions. This study investigates the effect of near-fault excitations on the vulnerability of tall, reinforced concrete (RC) special moment-resisting frame (SMRF) buildings equipped with buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) using seismic fragility curves. After attaining the structure’s response modification factor (R), three-dimensional (3D) models of 15-, 25- and 35-story frames were developed by the OpenSees software according to the Iranian code provisions. Thus, the seismic response of the elements was obtained. Subsequently, incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) was conducted by selecting a suitable number of compatible accelerograms in two near-field and far-field groups. Considering the maximum story drift as the demand parameter and selecting the interstory drift ratios (IDR) for the slight, moderate, extensive, and complete collapse seismic performance levels proposed by Hazus, IDA curves were plotted. Then, the seismic fragility curves were produced using the structural reliability relations. The median fragility at complete collapse damage level reduced from 0.73g, 0.62g, and 0.61g to 0.68g, 0.59, and 0.57g for the 15-, 25, and 35-story near-field and far-field earthquake models, respectively. This was attributed to increasing vulnerability and seismic fragility of the structures as a result of both height increase and distance reduction from fault. Based on the results, the most vulnerable structure, i.e., the 35-story near-fault model, experienced a 40, 17, 18, and 6% increase in median fragility at slight, moderate, extensive, and complete collapse damage levels, respectively.

Energy Performance and Thermal Comfort Assessment of an Educational Building in Northern Italy: The Importance of Climatic Files in Energy Simulations

Energy efficiency and thermal and acoustic comfort play crucial roles in the design and management of educational buildings. The literature underscores their influence on students’ and teachers’ well-being and productivity. Additionally, numerous works emphasise the growing environmental awareness among children attending sustainably designed or adapted buildings. In light of these considerations, the present study aims to evaluate the dynamic energy performance of a school located in Northern Italy, conceived as a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB). The school integrates various technologies, intelligent systems, and renewable sources to reduce energy requirements. A second aspect under evaluation involves using both real and virtual anemometers to generate crucial weather data for energy simulations. Dynamic analyses often rely on traditional meteorological year (Typical Meteorological Year) datasets derived from outdated sources, leading to inaccuracies in representing current climatic conditions, especially in the case of results related to a specific period.

Evaluating Thermal Comfort in Ward Areas of the Public Hospital in the Tropical Climates

Thermal comfort in hospitals is a crucial element to provide appropriate indoor air quality for health and well-being. However, the airconditioning system usually has deficiencies to meet target criteria for the relevant thermal environmental factors. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate thermal comfort in ward areas of the newly built public hospital in Thailand during the operation phase to examine how the building maintain comfort. The measurement equipment was installed for 24 hours in ward areas for collecting data and evaluating thermal comfort using the predicted mean vote (PMV) model. The results indicated that achieving thermal comfort could be found among inpatients and medical staff, with differential considerations on personal factors. As a few studies in hospitals in Thailand has been done, the results from this study can act as evidence to develop building performance assessments and operation strategies to optimally enhance health and well-being of the occupants in a public healthcare facility in Thailand and tropical regions.

POST OCCUPANCY EVALUATION (POE) FOR ENHANCING SATISFACTION LEVEL OF COMFORTS IN MALAYSIA’S SCHOOL BUILDINGS

The physical factors of building performance in a school building must be determined to meet the users’ basic requirement of comfort level. The disruption of physical factors such as ventilation, lighting, or thermal may constitute to reduce the productivity and efficiency among users. Thus, Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is a significant tool to indicate the level of satisfaction and occupants’ comfort in ensuring the current issues mainly related to physical aspects such as indoor environmental quality, space utilization, energy efficiency, and so forth. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction level of school building users in Malaysia, including students, teachers, and staff to improve the quality of the indoor environment in a school building as the leading learning space for the future generation. The interview was conducted with 12 participants in determining the satisfaction level of building performance assessment on school buildings. Next, the survey instrument was distributed to 224 respondents in 7 different schools, to evaluate the awareness level of POE in current practice and to analyse the physical criteria to conduct the evaluation standards on school buildings in Malaysia. This study concludes that POE is the most accurate approach to estimate the quality of building performance, especially for school buildings. Also, it should be emphasized as a continuous routine of physical environment evaluation or a periodic assessment of school buildings.

Creating granular climate zones for future-proof building design in the UK

Climate zones play an important role in promoting climate responsive building design and implementing climate-specific prescriptions in national building standards and regulations. The existing studies on climate zoning are subject to several limitations, i.e. the incapability of distinguishing microclimates and the lack of consideration of climate change. In this research, we propose a two-tiered ensemble clustering method for the identification of granular climate zones using the projections of future climate. The first tier identifies primary climate zones using a combination of climatic features and geographical locations, whereas the second tier identifies distinct local variations within each primary climate zone using the temperature related features. The proposed ensemble clustering model is applied to the UK to create a mapping of granular climate zones for future proofing building design. The method identified 14 distinct primary zones and distinguished microclimates at a range of scales from large urban areas, such as the Greater London Area, to national parks, such as Dartmoor and the Pennines. The identified mapping resolves two major obstacles in the creation and usage of weather data for building performance assessment in the UK, i.e. the lack of guidance for selecting weather files, and the absence of scientific rationale for representing the UK climate using the current 14 locations.

Performance assessment of steel frame buildings with hybrid self-centering braces under extremely rare far-field earthquakes

This paper investigates the seismic performance enhancement of steel frame buildings using a novel hybrid self-centering braces (HSBs) under extremely rare earthquake events. The hybrid self-centering brace consists of shape memory alloy (SMA) cables and viscoelastic (VE) dampers. A prototype bracing system is designed and fabricated to explore its basic mechanical behavior and working mechanism under cyclic loading, with a focus on its failure modes under large deformation loading condition. A multi-material mechanical model is developed to capture the mechanical behavior and failure of the HSB. Furthermore, five steel frame buildings with different parameterized HSBs are designed and modeled in OpenSees. Nonlinear dynamic analyses and incremental dynamic analyses are conducted on the five case-study frames using 44 far-field ground motions. The risk-based seismic performances of steel buildings with HSB are evaluated to assess the performance of HSB during extremely rare seismic events. The results show that the hybrid self-centering brace exhibits excellent self-centering and energy dissipation capabilities with the maximum equivalent viscous damping ratio reaching 9.4 %. Even under large deformations, VE dampers continue to work effectively after the failure of SMA cables, demonstrating remarkable redundancy. Numerical simulations further reveal that the redundancy of HSB can improve the structural seismic resilience in terms of inter-story drift ratio, residual drift, and floor absolute acceleration. The higher the redundancy of HSB in the case-study frames, the smaller the seismic response and mean annual frequency of exceedance of the engineering demand parameters, thereby indicating a significant improvement in seismic performance.

Performance assessment of RC frame buildings with open ground storey

Buildings with open ground storey (OGS) evidenced catastrophic failure in past earthquakes. Building code provisions usually: (i) avoid designing such buildings (e.g., ASCE 7–16), (ii) provide structural walls up to 2% plan density (e.g., IS 1893–1) and (iii) design by amplifying the demand at ground storey using modification factor (e.g., Eurocode 8) or reducing the response reduction factor using an irregularity factor (e.g., NTE-E030). Hence applicability of these provisions is checked with a set of 2D RC frame buildings; it includes (i) a simple OGS building (OGS1), (ii) OGS building with structural wall at ground storey, IS 1893–1 (OGS2), (iii) OGS buildings designed as per NTE-E030 (OGS3) and Eurocode 8 (OGS4). Their inelastic behaviour is obtained using nonlinear static and dynamic analysis, including infill walls as an equivalent strut. OGS2 suffered the least (damage in struts), and OGS3 sustained more damage (in struts, beams and columns). It is mandatory to provide structural walls at the ground storey rather than designing for amplified force demands. A parametric study is conducted (for OGS using IS 1893–1): (a) by varying the height of the building, and (b) including structural walls in 1, 3 and 5 bays. Increasing height or providing structural walls in more bays increases damage in struts and no damage in other elements. The response reduction factor (R) for OGS3 is more than OGS1, OGS2 and OGS4, as it shows more damage; it is necessary to avoid damage in OGS buildings. Also, the R-value reduces with building height and increases with structural walls in more bays; thus, a single R-value is not applicable to all buildings.

Seismic Performance Assessment of RCC Building with Podium

With the advancements in structural engineering, seismic performance of buildings can be adjudged on the basis of performance-based techniques. This paper presents the performance based seismic evaluation of buildings with podiums for varying ratios of tower area to podium area. The structural system of the building consists of shear walls and moment resisting frames. Buildings with podiums have been designed and analysed with and without connection between the tower portion and the podium portion for Seismic Zone IV, by carrying out response spectrum analysis as per IS 1893-2016. The structural responses have been compared in terms of diaphragm forces, base shear, time period, storey stiffness, storey shear, storey displacement etc. for the variations in number of podiums i.e., single, double & three podium levels. Performance-based seismic evaluation of the buildings has been carried out with podium and tower as a connected unit with varying ratios of 0.35, 0.45, and 0.55 of tower area to podium area i.e., by keeping the tower area constant and increasing the podium extents. Pushover analysis is carried out and comparison is done for the influence of podium on the non-linear behaviour of the structures.

Environmental Performance Assessment of Tall Building “Architectural Features”

Environmental Performance Assessment of Tall Building “Architectural Features”

Optimizing Time Performance in implementing Green Retrofitting on High-Rise Residential by using System Dynamics and M-PERT

Climate change is a threat and crisis that is engulfing the world today; therefore, the target of Net Zero Emission (NZE) by 2060 should be an obligation for all countries. The greenhouse effect, global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, forest destruction, uncontrolled use of CFCs, and industrial exhaust are factors that cause climate change. The consequences of climate change are dire, resulting in drought, water scarcity, land fires, rising sea levels, flash floods, melting polar ice caps, storms, and a decline in biodiversity. Green buildings (GB) are important in saving energy, water, and other resources by meeting technical construction standards and applying green building principles according to their function and classification at each stage of their implementation. Buildings with measurable performance. Expected to reduce carbon or greenhouse gas emissions. The latest Technical Guidelines for Green Building Performance Assessment Standards were developed through regulations from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) No.1 of 2022. The way to improve and find a solution to achieve a Green Building according to these regulations is by applying solar modules as an alternative energy source in the building under study, providing significant added value to the assessment process. This research aims to analyze whether the renewable energy source factor is an influencing factor in the application of the Ministry of PUPR Green Building in High-Rise Residential. This research framework is at least initiated from matters where M-PERT, which is an innovation and the latest method of continuation of the PERT method, is proven to be able to provide an accuracy of planning execution time of 99% or with an error rate of 1%. From the research results with the application of M-PERT, it is proven that it can provide an accuracy of implementation time of 98.93% in the Primary Rating, while in the Intermediate Rating, it can provide an accuracy of implementation time of 99.92% and 98.88% accuracy of implementation time for the Main Rating category. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-12-07 Full Text: PDF

A revised morphing algorithm for creating future weather for building performance evaluation

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges the building industry faces. Engineers and architects require representative future weather data if they would like to see how their buildings and designs will fare under a changing climate. The most common method used to create future weather involves manipulating observations commonly known as morphing, but the most used algorithms can create implausible weather conditions due to their unbounded nature. Here, bounded morphing algorithms will be described and their effectiveness proved mathematically. The improved bounded method applies two additional conditions on the morphed distribution to the maximum and minimum values, in addition to the mean values. The benefits over the standard approach will also be illustrated considering the changes in the distribution of temperature and solar irradiation due to climate change. The improved algorithms outperform the standard morphing procedures in terms of preserving the underlying climate signal while not creating unrealistic or implausible weather conditions. This method should give engineers confidence that the generated future weather series are more robust and representative of potential future weather. Practical application: The use of future weather to inform building design is now commonplace within the industry. Reliable weather files are crucial to support and deliver strategies for decarbonisation and adaptation to climate change in the built environment and the wider industry. This article provides support for the use of revised morphing algorithms which result in improved future weather time series which can be used in building simulation. For example, when applied to the temperature, it can be used to produce more accurate representations of future temperature profiles due to climate change, and for building performance assessment, such as energy consumption and overheating. It plays an important role in producing reliable and realistic weather data for future-proof building design.

Multi-criteria decision support framework for climate change-sensitive thermal comfort evaluation in European buildings

This paper proposes a novel multi-criteria decision support framework for climate change-sensitive evaluation of building thermal comfort performance in European buildings. The proposed framework considers various comfort categories based on building use and condition, comfort models based on building operation, sensitivity to climate change, key performance indicators, and their thresholds. The proposed framework is then implemented using a passive house-certified high-performance timber dwelling near Brussels as a case study. The thermal comfort in the free-running reference timber dwelling is assessed using a whole-building energy performance simulation model with a static threshold of 26°C for the bedrooms and an adaptive threshold for the other occupied zones. The analysis found an increase in indoor overheating degree by 1.7°C and ambient warmness degree by 6.5°C during heat waves from the current scenario to the end of the century scenario. However, the reference timber dwelling effectively suppressed the impacts of climate change with varying degrees of success towards the end of the century. The proposed framework is intended to support decision-makers in effectively evaluating performance during the early stages of building design. The study highlights the need for further research on building performance assessment techniques and guidelines in a changing climate.

An empirical review of methods to assess overheating in buildings in the context of changes to extreme heat events

Under climate change, extreme heat events are projected to become more frequent and intense. With people spending approximately 90% for their time indoors and buildings having long lifetimes, it is important that the built environment is resilient to these changes. Current methods to assess building performance in a future climate typically use morphed weather files and annual metrics. We compare 30 metrics and 2 weather data sources to assess and improve the representation of extreme heat events in building simulation. We show that morphing an extreme observed year may not necessarily result in an equally extreme year under the future climate and that current annual metrics do not correlate well with heatwave severity. We suggest that weather data from climate models is more robust in representing future weather for the UK and explore the recent UKCP18 data. We propose novel metrics which are able to capture heatwave severity inside buildings.