Influence of insulating materials on green building rating system results

This paper analyzes the impact of a change in the thermal insulating material on both the energy and environmental performance of a building, evaluated through two different green building assessment methods: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Istituto per l'innovazione e Trasparenza degli Appalti e la Compatibilità Ambientale (ITACA). LEED is one of the most qualified rating systems at an international level; it assesses building sustainability thanks to a point-based system where credits are divided into six different categories. One of these is fully related to building materials. The ITACA procedure derives from the international evaluation system Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool), modified according to the Italian context. In the region of Umbria, ITACA certification is composed of 20 technical sheets, which are classified into five macro-areas. The analysis was developed on a residential building located in the central Italy. It was built taking into account the principles of sustainability as far as both structural and technical solutions are concerned. In order to evaluate the influence of thermal insulating material, different configurations of the envelope were considered, replacing the original material (glass wool) with a synthetic one (expanded polystyrene, EPS) and two natural materials (wood fiber and kenaf). The study aims to highlight how the materials characteristics can affect building energy and environmental performance and to point out the different approaches of the analyzed protocols

Using of aerogel to improve thermal insulating properties of windows

For the best possible thermal-technical properties of building structures it is necessary to use materials with very low thermal conductivity. Due to the increasing thermal-technical requirements for building structures, the insulating materials are developed. One of the modern thermal insulating materials is so-called aerogel. Unfortunately, this material is not used in the field of external thermal insulation composite systems because of its price and its properties. The aim of this paper is to present possibilities of using this insulating material in the civil engineering - specifically a usage of aerogel in the production of windows.Web of Science14111

Redesigning A Trolley for The Stairs Building Based on Material Aspect

In Bandung, some buildings have three levels or more with no escalator and elevator for their daily needs in moving goods. One example is the Telkom University dormitory. As a resident of a building, problems are often found unconsciously and that has not been found a clear solution, for example when moving goods from the ground to the top level. The goods are referred to as suitcases, gallons, dispensers, large bags, etc. Some people will call the services of a porter or friend to help them transport goods. Because of that, a clear solution must be made for goods mobilization activities to be more effective and efficient, therefore, transportation equipment such as trolleys with good material and it can accommodate the load of goods that are usually moved in buildings without elevators is a solution for this problem. Keywords Stairs trolley, Material, Dormitory, Bandun

Upscaling aboveground biomass estimation at low-land royal belum forest reserve using unmanned aerial vehicle image

Thermal properties of certain building materials were studied with respect to environmental aspects. The building materials with significant insulation properties were laboratory tested using the special equipment based on Peltier module. During the experimental work, the samples of the following materials were tested: Expanded polystyrene (EPS), Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC): Ytong, Calcium Silicate Board: Super-Isol and Foam glass (Cellular Glass Insulation): PERINSUL. The temperature was measured directly in connection of material with the Peltier module as well as in the distances of 5mm, 27.5mm, 50mm and 95mm from the Peltier module. The temperature taken at the surface of Peltier module reached -22°C, a typical temperature in the cold winter season. The results of the laboratory experimental work were modelled using the graphic representation. Modelling the thermal distribution will help to determine the ideal material thickness in the design of the building insulation

Validation of a coupled heat, vapour and liquid moisture transport model for porous materials implemented in CFD

Moisture-related damage is an important issue when looking at the performance of building envelopes. In order to accurately predict the moisture behaviour of building components, building designers can resort to Heat, Air and Moisture (HAM) models. In this paper a newly developed heat and mass transfer model that is implemented in a 3D finite volume solver, Fluent®, is presented. This allows a simultaneous modelling approach of both the convective conditions surrounding a porous material and the heat and moisture transport in the porous material governed by diffusion. Unlike most HAM models that often confine to constant convective transport coefficients it is now possible to better predict these convective boundary conditions. An important application of the model is the convective drying of porous building materials. Especially during the first drying stage, the drying rate is determined by the convective boundary conditions. The model was validated against a convective drying experiment from literature, in which a saturated ceramic brick sample is dried by flowing dry air over one side of the sample surface. Temperature and relative humidity measurements at different depths in the sample, moisture distribution profiles and mass loss measurements were compared with simulation results. An overall good agreement between the coupled model and the experiments was found, however, the model predicted the constant drying rate period better than the falling rate period. This was improved by adjusting the material properties. The adjustment of the material properties was supported by neutron radiography measurements.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Validation of a coupled heat, vapour and liquid moisture transport model for porous materials implemented in CFD journaltitle: Building and Environment articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.06.024 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe

Effect of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) fibers to the compressive strength and water absorption of concrete

Growing popularity based on environmentally-friendly, low cost and lightweight building materials in the construction industry has led to a need to examine how these characteristics can be achieved and at the same time giving the benefit to the environment and maintain the material requirements based on the standards required. Recycling of waste generated from industrial and agricultural activities as measures of building materials is not only a viable solution to the problem of pollution but also to produce an economic design of building

Research on the combination of water and membranes as a structural building material

p. 3024-3033The aim of this paper is to investigate the combination of water and membranes for temporary architectural applications. Water as a construction material, can be useful for three different purposes: first of all, thanks to its thermal mass, it can be used as a medium for cooling down or heating up buildings (Pronk et al [6]); secondly water is uncompressible and, in combination with air, can be used as part of a structural element; thirdly the mass of water could work as a sound barrier so it can be used as sound insulation material (Rodrigues and Coutinho [7]). This paper shows the result of the structural behaviour. There is another paper about sound insulation properties of water. The research in both structural and sound insulation fields was carried out in the laboratories of Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The prototype is a "waterbeam" of 2 m span. Starting from the Tensairity(R) technology principle (Luchsinger et al [8]) developed by Airlight, the purpose of this experiment is to replace the iron struts with a second membrane chamber filled with water. Water works well in compression and air prevents buckling. The result is a rigid structural element made by non-rigid material (water, air, membranes and cables) with a significant reduction of weight and cost of transportation compared to the traditional iron beam but also compared with the Tensairity(R) system. Different bending tests were carried out. In each test, the two chambers of the beam were filled with air or water to understand the material behaviour.The comparison between the results shows that water works slightly better than air (stiffness increase of a range of 8-13% in the elements filled with water). Water application in architecture showed promising results. Further investigation (pure compression tests on columns, multiple layers sound barrier) should be carried out. These results could give architects new design opportunities and solutions concerning temporary buildings and moveable architecture. Moreover the company and building construction industry could develop innovative structural elements and new insulation components.Pronk, A.; Maffei, R.; Martin, H. (2009). Research on the combination of water and membranes as a structural building material. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/670

Building Materials Composition Influence to Sound Transmission Loss STL Reduction

Abstract. The development of the airport always causes the noise impact to the surrounding environment.1 Housing close to the airport will be annoyed by the aircraft noise, especially if the building is not added by absorber building materials. Housing lay out towards the runways as noise sources is also an aspect that should be considered. This research resulted building models equipped by simple material compositions that had capability in reducing the airport noise optimally. The decrease of the noise level found out from the research is caused by the value of Sound Transmission Loss (STL) of the building materials composition. The models of housing are laid out with a number of specific orientation angles towards the runway and resulted values of the highest noise level reduction