Life-cycle assessment of light steel frame buildings : A systematic literature review.

Light Steel Frame structures (LSF) have become one of the main competitors of traditional construction systems. The optimized material use, its lightness, and the timesaving in the construction phase, show the potential of this technology to reduce environmental impacts. The purpose of this study is to review and analyse the current literature on the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to LSF buildings and identify related gaps. A systematic literature review has been performed to query Web of Science and Scopus databases, highlighting methods, limitations, trends, and tools used to address LCA applied to LSF buildings. Although many efforts have been made to evaluate LSF buildings in comparison with other construction solutions, a gap persists in performing whole LCA. Considering the potential disassembly and reuse offered by LSF and the recyclability of steel, there is a need for future research focusing beyond the end-of-life stage

High energy-efficiency buildings

In cold, central European climates, hyper-insulated, heat-conserving buildings have proven a very effective way to reduce current energy consumption to 1/10 th of a traditional house. Using dry, stratified building techniques (Str/En) allows to obtain quite easily the required thermal and acoustical performances, also enhancing the construction process and allowing for the final recycling of the components. In a warmer climate – such as the Italian one – a heat-conserving strategy has to be balanced against the potential overheating problems. Among the possible solutions, the use of building-integrated Phase Change Materials, which could create a " light thermal inertia " (that is, without heavy mass), was also investigated

Improving Energy Efficiency Through Artificial Inertia: Use of Phase Change Materials in Light, Internal Components

Phase Change Materials (PCM’s) are characterised by a large thermal capacity and by melting temperatures close to those associated with human comfort. Thanks to the “artificial inertia” they can give a building, they can be used in components such as wallboards, floors, etc. in order to: - store free heat gains during winter days and release energy during the night; - reduce overheating risks in summer, especially in well-insulated Structure / Envelope constructions (Str/En) with poor thermal capacity (lightweight construction), thanks to the peak-shaving effect; - store off-peak energy – both in winter and summer – in order to have, during the day, a warm / cool surface that contributes to irradiative comfort in winter / summer. An extensive experimental campaign was set up in Ancona (I) and Gävle (S) during the EU-FP5-funded research called C-TIDE (Changeable Thermal Inertia Dry Enclosures), involving Politecnico di Milano, Università Politecnica delle Marche, BMG and three SME. Different configurations were studied and tested on site, allowing to understand the potential for integration of hydrated salt PCM’s in lightweight floors and internal partitions. The experimental campaign included: - prototyping a specific packaging system based on aluminium pouches (the “PCM blanket”); - testing the blanket – both in wall and floors – in experimental boxes with controlled temperature conditions; - testing the implication of sandwiching the blanket in a traditional plasterboard wall from the point of view of assembly procedures, time, everyday use, etc. The results, which were supported by mathematical modelling using the FDM method, show a good potential for integration of PCM’s in light plasterboard components. PCM’s work as a thermal flywheel, reducing the peak loads (for heating and / or cooling) and energy consumption

High energy efficient buildings: sustainable strategies based on Structure / Envelope techniques with artificial thermal inertia.

The big amount of energy requested by buildings has shown the necessity of proposing new technologies in building construction and services. Saving energy has become a primary issue nowadays. An integration during the design phase among Architecture, Building Technology and Services, is very recommended in order to obtain a more sophisticated “living-environment” using relatively simple strategies avoiding extra-costs. Industrialized systems of construction, based on assembled stratified layers over a bearing frame structure, seem to offer a lot of advantages in a sustainable approach. Through the exploitation of renewable sources and the optimization of the building thermal behavior it is possible to reduce considerably the energy consumption. Thermal inertia appears to be one of the fundamental characteristics of buildings (combined to high levels of thermal insulation). New materials can be investigated to enhance the performances of lightweight building systems. Among these, PCM (Phase Change Materials) can be integrated into lightweight building components, providing an artificial inertial effect. They can be used for storing heat during winter days and releasing energy during the night, reducing overheating risks in summer, especially in Structure / Envelope constructions (S/E) and storing off-peak energy in order to have a warm/cool surface that contributes to irradiative comfort by day. An extensive experimental campaign was set up to understand the potential for integration of hydrated salt PCM’s in lightweight floors and internal partitions. Some recent examples are shown to underline the possible strategies and their effective results. The residential projects illustrated demonstrate how to design high energy efficient buildings using ordinary technology and performing a pleasant contemporary architecture: sustainable buildings don’t mean to be aesthetically unsustainable

ski yurt upcycle of downhill skis for a shelter in cacine guinea bissau

Downhill skis are composite materials with very high performances. Very often after few years of use, they are changed due to new fashions or ski techniques. This means a lot of waste which still has the potential for very high structural performances. Thus, the idea to upcycle these materials thanks to a cooperation with the University of Grenoble in the joint activities of their laboratory and Velux Lab. Several tests and dome structures were realized in order to show the potential of these materials. Then a yurt was designed, tested, and pre-built at the Politecnico di Milano before shipping it to Africa, through the equatorial forest in Guinea-Bissau, as a first shelter-base camp in a desolated land where a mission was later founded. The purpose is also to make a structure with very high performances and that is resistant to the aggression of termites (only hard wood is suitable there but it requires deforestation) without using steel since it is too expensive. So the final goal is not to send waste to Africa but to show how waste can also become a very solid structure and a valued asset

The use of Building Technology to support Disaster Resilience: The case study of Air Shelter House

This paper reports on a study to investigate the feasibility of Thermal Reflective Multi-layer System (TRMS) as support for Disaster Resilience. It is an innovative insulation system, developed from space engineering studies, lightweight and is characterized by a thermal conductivity of 0.038 W/mK, making it a strong candidate for inexpensive shelter after disaster design. One of the results of this study is a proposal for the Air Shelter House (ASH), a new concept design of a shelter based on TRMS. The combined use of TRMS with low cost building materials and a 3D printer system for the construction joints provides a good comprise of building cost and energy efficiency performance. Such an innovative design supports disaster resilience during response, reconstruction and mitigation phases and is suitable for a wide variety of cultural and environmental situations where energy efficiency is important

borboleta and papagaio emergency unit and children s nutritional center in farim guinea bissau

Farim is a city on a deep fjord of the Atlantic Ocean in Guinea-Bissau. The Mission of Padri Oblati di Maria has operated there for many years and the research team has realized two units in recent years: Borboleta, which is an emergency unit for children but also for all those in need, and Papagaio, which is a nutritional center for young children. Due to the salt of the fjord (which also creates an economy), the atmosphere of the environment is typically saline so steel structures have been protected with special nanotechnologies (thanks to Triplex tech by NordZinc) for Borboleta. Papagaio is a nutritional center which provides food for the youngest groups of children who otherwise would have very few possibilities of survival. The structure of the pitched roof space has been developed with a transfer of technology from industrial scaffold elements transformed into columns and beams. Only one section becomes the rule of construction and the whole structure and sandwich panels roof were built in two weeks by volunteers connected to the Padri Oblati di Maria. After the mechanical erection, the envelope (realized in crude earth blocks and plaster) was completed by local people who in those years had been trained to learn basic masonry rules

Development of a composite prototype with GFRP profiles and sandwich panels used as a floor module of an emergency house

A series of experimental tests carried out on a composite prototype to be used as a floor module of an emergency house is presented in this paper. The prototype comprises a frame structure formed by GFRP pultruded profiles, and two sandwich panels constituted by GFRP skins and a polyurethane foam core that configures the floor slab. The present work is part of the project “ClickHouse – Development of a prefabricated emergency house prototype made of composites materials” and investigates the feasibility of the assemblage process of the prototype and performance to support load conditions typical of residential houses. Furthermore, sandwich panels are also independently tested, analysing their flexural response, failure mechanisms and creep behaviour. Obtained results confirm the good performance of the prototype to be used as floor module of an emergency housing, with a good mechanical behaviour and the capacity of being transported to the disaster areas in the form of various low weight segments, and rapidly installed. Additionally, finite element simulations were carried out to assess the stress distributions in the prototype components and to evaluate the global behaviour and load transfer mechanism of the connections.Quadro de Referência Estratégica Nacional (QREN)FEDER funds through the Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors – COMPETE and the Portuguese National Agency of Innovation (ADI) - project no. 3896

Smart-Eco Buildings: iperisolamento e inerzia termica artificiale per l’architettura del futuro

I risultati riportati nella presente pubblicazione sono inclusi nel percorso di ricerca europea Smart Eco Building (Specific Support Action in the FP6 financed by the EU), che coinvolge molte importanti istituzioni, sia accademiche sia professionali, con il fine di tracciare una visione dei futuri eco-edifici nell’intervallo 2010-2030. La costruzione stratificata a secco rappresenta una strategia per promuovere l'innovazione e la sostenibilità delle costruzioni. In questa cornice, le esperienze di applicazione dei PCM (materiali a cambiamento di fase) in edifici leggeri e iperisolati a clima temperato-caldo, mostrano come l'innovazione può unire il problema di isolamento (con diversi materiali) con l'utilizzo di inerzia termica artificiale e programmata (non necessariamente inerzia di massa) grazie al calore latente dei PCM. Test di simulazione e sperimentazione sono stati condotti per mostrare l’affidabilità e la potenza di queste strategie. Si sono svolti monitoraggi su alcuni casi di studio sia d’estate che d’inverno