This paper presents a detailed analysis of the research into modern thermal energy storage systems dedicated to autonomous buildings. The paper systematises the current state of knowledge concerning ...thermal energy storage systems and their use of either phase change materials or sorption systems; it notes their benefits, drawbacks, application options, and potential directions for future development. The rapid proliferation of studies on installation systems, new composites, and phase change materials requires a systematisation of the subject related to short- and long-term thermal energy storage in building structures. This paper focuses on assessing the validity of the current improved thermal energy storage solutions for buildings with very high energy efficiency standards and buildings that are energy-independent. The paper presents the current results of the energy and economic analyses of the use of heat storage systems in buildings. This paper shows the optimal heat storage systems for autonomous buildings. Moreover, it also shows other potential ways to develop systems and composites capable of storing heat in autonomous buildings.
The adoption of green building technology has become significant for ensuring sustainable development; it has become the main step to a sustainable future. The designs for green buildings include ...finding a balance between comfortable home construction and a sustainable environment. Moreover, the application of emerging technology is also used to supplement existing methods in the development of greener buildings to preserve a sustainable built environment. The main problem of this research is how to tackle the environmental parameters balance based on new techniques that are being used for green building optimization. To mitigate the cumulative effect of the constructed climate on human wellbeing and the regular ecosystem, the most popular goals for green buildings should be planned. This can be achieved by efficient use of natural resources such as energy, water, and other resources and minimizing waste. This will contribute to the security of occupant health, enhancement of work performance, emissions control, and improvement of the environment. In the construction of green buildings, several criteria that may contradict, interrelated indistinct and of qualitative and/or quantitative environment are broadened to utilize. This paper provides a detailed state of the art analysis on improving existing practices in green architecture/building using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) techniques to tackle the environmental balancing values based on optimal strategies and designs by green solutions to help make the best possible option from numerous options.
This paper delivers an idea of weather-based optimization as a sustainable design strategy addressing the changing climate. An environment-driven design technique is introduced and tested at the ...urban and architectural scale. Utilizing the interplay between the architectural intention and weather influences (specifically solar radiation and wind effects), the optimal design solution for the urban configuration and architectural shape emerges. An exploratory case study near the amphitheater in Kosice, Slovakia, demonstrates the proposed approach. Through the real-time iterative analysis of the environmental performance of multiple design variants, an urban concept of offices/apartment blocks, reacting to the local wind and sun situation, is formed. The wind flow situation and comfort are investigated in a design loop, blending the newly developed AI-driven simulation prediction models of InFraRed11InFraRed: AI-based real-time analysis of wind, sun, and thermal comfort in the streets developed by the CIL of the AIT in Vienna, Austria. and the sun hours analysis in Ladybug with the Galapagos optimization within Grasshopper. The final step of this method is the design and subsequent wind and sun analysis of fluid-shaped lamellae in three variants acting as wind catchers/shading systems. Improved pedestrian wind comfort for outdoor sitting (more than 30% increase in areas suitable for short and prolonged sitting) and optimum sunlight hours (25% gain in sunlight during winter solstice) is achieved using the proposed technique.
•Design – Wind analysis – Sun analysis – Shape optimization interconnected within one working environment.•The InFraRed tool is fast yet precise wind conditions projector, which can be leveragd in wind-induced optimization of architecture.•The local environmental aspects trigger the design idea, and, reciprocally, the architecture influences the wind flow and speed.•Solutions for overheating or lack of sunlight can emerge during the design phase.
In the climate change era, the tendency to utilize computer-aided strategies in architectural design enables the incorporation of the influences of ambient conditions into the design process. Such a ...design strategy can consequently contribute to creating nature-based, sustainable architectural, and urban solutions. In this paper, it will be shown that the built environment can be designed, already from the first concepts, to affect and consequentially improve the local wind microclimate by addressing the unfavorable wind effects and proposing solutions for transforming them into an advantage. Utilizing the iterative Research Through Design (RTD) approach, the proposed data-driven wind-oriented shape optimization is introduced in a case study located in Stockholm. Three complex architectural shapes, resulting from the wind-oriented design approach, are parametrically designed in Grasshopper for Rhino and subsequently analyzed in a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plug-in Swift for Grasshopper.
An important parameter that affects indoor climate of buildings and also ventilation heat losses and gains is the speed of air change between the outdoor environment and the interior of buildings. ...Indoor air quality is therefore significantly associated with ventilation. Quantification of air change rate is complicated, because it is impacted by many parameters, the most variable of which is air flow. This study focuses on the determination and comparison of air change rate values in two methods by quantification of the aerodynamic coefficient Cp = Cpe − Cpi, so-called “aerodynamic quantification of the building” and the methodology based on “experimental measurements of carbon dioxide”. The study describes and takes into account the effect of wind, building parameters and air permeability for the building using “aerodynamic quantification of the building”. The paper compares these calculated results with the values obtained from experimental measurements method of carbon dioxide in a selected reference room in apartment building and evaluates the accuracy of the prediction of the air exchange rate obtained by these methods. At higher wind speeds the values of air change rate with considering the effect of openings are closer to the values obtained based on experimental measurements of carbon dioxide and the difference between the values without considering the effect of openings increases significantly.
The aim of this research is to provide bioclimatic design suggestions to improve the thermal comfort of people in hot and humid climates according to the BWh (hot desert climate) Köppen climate ...classification. The city of Minia is considered one of Egypt’s hot desert regions. This study considered two main variables to achieve thermal comfort according to air velocity and temperature. To select the best bioclimatic design tactic, the findings are reviewed and plotted on the Climate Consultant (CC) Bioclimatic Chart and the Mahoney Table (MT). The proposed procedures are presented as figures relating to the approaches and are examined independently. We conclude that specific bioclimatic design strategies have been applied through the extensive study presented in this paper for Minia City, which can be exported to other regions with comparable climates. These strategies are practically and effectively considered functional architectural approaches that can improve thermal comfort for people. The two tools CC and MT are compared based on 27 recommended strategies that can be achieved according to the bioclimatic parameters that were studied. They agreed with 30% as good natural ventilation, passive solar heating with a high percentage that reached 10% for each. Where there is a difference of 20 recommendations to 70%, this represents other factors or recommendations such as shading with which it is proposed in MT as well as other parameters.
This paper studies the Egyptian building design strategies for different building envelope shapes based on the green building design using the DesignBuilder program by simulating the outdoor climate ...conditions depending on the Egyptian meteorological data. The simulated results are applied to Minia City as one of the hot-desert climate regions in Egypt. The research is performed on the hottest day in summer according to the analysis of climatic data overall months using the climate consultant tool. This research studies two main variables to characterize the quantitative relationships between the building form and the Natural Ventilation (NV) of thermal comfort to be achieved, which are mixed-mode maximum wind speed, and natural ventilation setpoint temperature. The research focuses on two output parameters, which are air velocity and pressure, relating to natural outdoor ventilation. The simulation findings revealed that the circle form offers the best case, which has a significant role in achieving thermal comfort that optimized the value between the two major parameters in building design, while the worst case is the U-shaped building based on the same two optimized values. Finally, the usage of natural ventilation, simultaneously with choosing the suitable building geometry, is principal for adapting the current outdoor air velocity and pressure, thus reducing the energy consumption of buildings.
Practical application: This paper studies the relationship between building form and natural ventilation to achieve outdoor thermal comfort and its effects on buildings. The study assesses the wind speed and temperature parameters using the DesignBuilder tool. The study suggests a combination between natural ventilation and choosing the suitable building form to adapt the air velocity and pressure to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings.
The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the effect of color changes on the interior surfaces of a selected hall on the level of daylight, represented by the DF factor. A single-story hall was ...chosen as the reference building, in which daylight falls through the side windows and a skylight at roof level. Measurement of the level of daylight in the real state of the building (in situ) was carried out. The measurement took place when the external boundary conditions of the measurement were met (external state of the sky). A survey was conducted among users, in which they considered the visual perception of the environment and what colors would be suitable for the walls, ceiling, and floor in the working environment of the hall. The evaluation of the respondents who considered the color of the floor was interesting, and several agreed that the floor should be brown. After debugging the model for the simulation based on the actual state of the measurement, simulation calculations were performed with selected surface colors in the interior of the hall. Computational simulations were performed for changing calculation boundary conditions. Daylight Factors (DF) (%) were evaluated, namely minimum, maximum, and average DF values for 15 selected simulations. The calculations were performed in the RADIANCE simulation program. Simulations included the change in the surface color of the simulated wall and the current ceiling surface color, the color of the simulated ceiling surface and the current wall surface color, and the color of the simulated wall and ceiling at the same time. The floor color did not change during the evaluation; it was considered brown. Based on the evaluation of AHP, evaluations of the significance and comparability of colored areas were performed. The value of the average DF was chosen as the most important, the less significant minimum DF value was chosen, and the maximum DF value was considered in the last place. The results show that white, gray, green, or yellow walls, white ceiling, and brown floor were rated as the most suitable for the interior surfaces in the considered hall.
The use of Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) increased in the field of civil engineering throughout the last few decades. UHPFRC is being used considerably on a large scale in ...megastructure applications. High compressive and tensile strength permits reconstruction and optimization of the structural members. At the same time, its improved durability properties make it easier to extend the life of the design and can be used as thin layers, cladding, repairs, and column coverings. Although UHPC has an extremely high compressive strength, it exhibits very brittle fracture behavior compared to normal strength concrete (NSC). Since the ductility and fracture toughness of UHPC can be enhanced by adding fibers, the addition of fibers to production adds innovative features to UHPFRC structures and opens up new application areas for UHPFRC. The aim of this study is to investigate the axial behavior of square reinforced concrete (RC) columns strengthened with UHPFRC jackets. Nineteen specimens were cast (1000 mm in height and a cross-sectional area of 150 × 150 mm, whose interface treatment methods were prepared through vertical grooving (VG), horizontal grooving (HG), and without grooving (NG), with the jacket thickness (20 mm and 40 mm) and the number of strengthened sides of the column (two, three, and four sides). The results show a brittle failure for all strengthened specimens. The UHPFRC-reinforced RC columns with vertical grooving (VG) showed a higher ultimate load capacity compared to the columns with horizontal grooving (HG) and the columns without grooving (NG). The horizontal grooving (HG) gives a better result than the jacket without grooving (NG) and increases the cohesion area between the jacket and the column for two and three of the RC columns’ strengthened sides. But, in the case of strengthening the columns on four sides, the effect of confining the jacket to the column appears, and the grooving causes weakness in the body of the original column so that the jacket without grooving (NG) gives a better result than the jacket with horizontal grooving (HG).
Flexural behavior of a concrete slab system with an optimal weight-to-strength ratio comprising layered and hollow-core slab structures was investigated using two-layered slabs with hollow cores ...(LS/HCS). Six slabs with dimensions of 180, 450, and 1600 mm were tested experimentally and numerically using ANSYS software. Each layered slab comprises a 90-mm-thick lightweight concrete bottom layer and a 90-mm-thick high-strength concrete top layer. Three parameters were studied: core diameter (58, 86, and 110 mm), reinforcement ratio (0.37%, 0.53%, 0.95%), and treatment type (bonding agent, nails). Treatment types were analyzed via push-out testing; both nails and agents connected the slabs with sufficient bond strength. A control slab with 86-mm core diameter, shear-span-to-effective-depth ratio of 4, reinforcement ratio of 0.53%, and agent material was used. Concrete, steel bars, and loading support plates were modeled using SOLID65, LINK180, and SOLID185 elements, respectively. Analytical results were validated experimentally. A parametric study analyzed other parameters affecting LS/HCS behavior, including compressive strength, opening numbers, core shape, applied loading type, added top steel reinforcement, slab type, and slab height. Core diameter reduction, increased reinforcement ratios, and using nails enhanced the failure load. The LS/HCS gives an optimum weight-to-strength ratio with a 33.672% reduction compared with solid slabs.