Façanes vegetades. Estudi del seu potencial com a sistema passiu d'estalvi d'energia, en clima mediterrani continental

L'objectiu general d'aquesta tesi doctoral és la realització un estudi sobre els sistemes de vegetació de les façanes d'edificis i del seu possible ús com a sistema passiu d'estalvi d'energia en edificació.En la primera part del treball, s'aborda de forma general l'estat de l'art de l'anomenada arquitectura vegetada, tant de cobertes com de façanes, fent incidència en els aspectes funcionals de la integració de vegetació en els edificis, és a dir, dels seus avantatges i desavantatges.Un cop acotada la temàtica objecte de la tesi, és a dir les façanes vegetades, es duu a terme un estudi més específic sobre aquests sistemes, contemplat des de tres vessants, des de l'àmbit dels sistemes constructius, des de l'àmbit de la recerca, i finalment des de l'àmbit normatiu. En aquest estudi s'evidencia la existència de un gran nombre de sistemes constructius diferents emprats per a la vegetació de façanes, i en conseqüència la dificultat en interpretar i comparar les dades referents als seus aspectes funcionals (avantatges i desavantatges). També es detecta que la recerca en aquest sector és incipient i que la normativa és quasi bé inexistent.En la segona part de la tesi, i amb la informació recopilada en la fase anterior, es proposa una classificació d'aquests sistemes verticals de vegetació d'edificis, a partir de la qual es puguin diferenciar clarament les tipologies de sistemes verticals de vegetació d'edificis. També és fa una primera valoració de cadascun d'aquests sistemes d'acord a diferents criteris de caire general, la qual permet fer-se una idea del que poden aportar uns i altres.D'aquesta anàlisi es pot considerar que són les façanes vegetades, i concretament les de doble pell o cortines vegetals les que ofereixen millors expectatives en quant a proveir superfícies vegetades verticals integrades a l'edificació, mitjançant sistemes constructius senzills i fàcilment desmuntables (si s'escau), de manteniment extensiu.Cal però tenir en compte que la funcionalitat d'aquestes façanes dependrà de les espècies que s'utilitzin, així com del tipus de clima en el que es fan anar. En aquest sentit, en la tesi es proposa, per a façanes vegetades de doble pell o cortines vegetades, una relació de les espècies més adequades per a clima mediterrani, tot diferenciant entre clima mediterrani continental i clima mediterrani litoral. En aquesta relació, les espècies s'han agrupat en funció de l'estratègia de desenvolupament de cadascuna d'elles i dels sistemes de subjecció o suport que els hi poden ser més escaients en cada cas. El resultat final són unes taules que amb la relació d'espècies que cal considerar en el moment del disseny i en funció de les necessitats, per a les condicions climàtiques especificades.Finalment, en aquesta segona part de la tesi, s'ha avançat en l'estudi del potencial de les façanes vegetades com a sistema passiu d'estalvi d'energia en edificació.En general, es pot afirmar que la utilització de vegetació, de forma ben dissenyada i gestionada, pot ser una eina útil de regulació tèrmica d'edificis amb el conseqüent estalvi energètic que comporta. Aquesta pot tenir lloc de quatre formes, sovint relacionades:Actua com aïllament tèrmic.L'efecte ombra.El refredament evaporatiu. La variació de l'efecte que produiria el vent sobre l'edificació. Per obtenir dades relatives a aquesta i d'altres qüestions sobre el funcionament de les façanes vegetades de doble pell o cortines vegetals, i concretament en clima mediterrani continental s'han plantejat i desenvolupar diverses accions.En un experiment implementat a Puigverd de Lleida l'objectiu principal ha estat l'estudi i comparació de la capacitat per produir ombra de diferents espècies d'enfiladisses en clima mediterrani continental. Amb aquest propòsit s'han dissenyat i construït uns enreixats, s'han plantat quatre tipus d'enfiladisses i s'han deixat créixer durant un any, moment en el que s'ha dut a terme mesures de la seva transmissivitat lumínica. Els valors obtinguts per a la transmissivitat lumínica per a les diferents espècies són comparables als valors del Factor d'Ombra que s'especifiquen emprant obstacles de façana en el Codi Tècnic de l'Edificació, per a façanes sud.Una altra acció ha consistit en dur a terme l'estudi i seguiment durant un any del comportament d'una façana vegetada de doble pell o cortina vegetal, mitjançant enreixats modulars i Glicina (Wisteria sinensis), a la població de Golmés. En aquest cas es pot verificar el gran potencial d'aquests sistemes en la intercepció de radiació (ombra), així com la creació d'unes condicions microclimàtiques diferents en l'espai intermedi entre la cortina vegetal i la paret de l'edifici, caracteritzades per una temperatura major i humitat relativa més baixa a l'hivern (període sense fulles), i menor temperatura i una humitat més alta a l'estiu (període amb fulles). Els resultats posen de manifest, a més de l'efecte d'ombra, que la cortina vegetal actua com a barrera contra el vent, i verifica l'efecte que produeix l'evapotranspiració de les plantes.També s'ha verificat l'efecte que produeix la façana vegetada en l'edifici per mitjà d'una anàlisi termogràfica tant a l'hivern com a l'estiu.Finalment, i mitjançant l'eina de simulació Bioclim+Confie, s'han elaborat diferents simulacions del funcionament de les façanes vegetades, en funció de la seva capacitat de produir ombra, tot fent anar uns coeficients mensuals de transparència tant aplicats en els buits de finestra com en la part opaca de les parets de façana. Aquestes simulacions aporten dades interessants en quant a la modificació dels guanys solars i les demandes d'energia de les edificacions quan es planteja com a estratègia la utilització de pantalles vegetades.En general, la tesi revisa l'estat actual dels sistemes verticals de vegetació de d'edificis, els ordena i classifica de cara a accions futures, i inicia línies de treball amb aquests sistemes en condicions locals de clima mediterrani i en referència al seu ús com a sistemes passius d'estalvi d'energia.The overall objective of this PhD is conducting a study on vegetation systems in facades of buildings and their possible use as a passive system of energy savings in buildings.The first part of the work addresses, in a general way, the state of the art of vegetated architecture, both in roofs as in facades, with attention on functional aspects of the integration of vegetation in buildings, ie, their advantages and disadvantages.Once narrowed the subject of the thesis, the vegetated facades, a more specific study about these systems was carried out, viewed from three aspects, from the point of view of building systems, from the research, and finally from the normative domain. This study demonstrates the existence of a large number of different construction systems used for vegetation on facades, and hence the difficulty in interpreting and comparing the data on its functional aspects (advantages and disadvantages). It also detects that the research in this area is nascent and that the legislation is almost nonexistent.In the second part of the thesis, with the information collected in the previous phase, a classification of vertical vegetated systems of buildings in which they can clearly differentiate the types of these systems is proposed. An initial assessment of each of these systems according to various criteria of a general nature, which gives an idea of what they can bring, is also done.This analysis shows that there are green facades, specifically the double-skin or vegetable curtains, that offer better expectations to provide vertical vegetated surfaces integrated in the buildings, through simple construction systems, are easily removable (if it's necessary), and only need a extensive maintenance.Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that the functionality of these facades depends on the species used and the type of climate in which they are used. In this sense, in the thesis a list of the most suitable species for Mediterranean climate for double-skin green facades or green curtains is proposed, distinguishing between continental and Mediterranean climate Mediterranean climate coast. In this relationship, the species were grouped according to the development strategy of each species and fastening systems or support they may be more appropriate in each case. The end result is a table with the list of species that should be considered in the design time, depending on climatic conditions specified, and for each subject or support systems.Finally, in this second part of the thesis, the potential of vegetated facades as passive system of energy saving in buildings is also studied. In general, it can be said that the use of vegetation, well designed and managed, can be a useful tool for thermal regulation of buildings with the corresponding energy savings. This can occur in four ways, often related: The insulation effect. The shadow effect. The evaporative cooling. The variation of effect that the wind produced on the building.For information on these and other questions about the operation of double-skin green facades or green curtains, particularly in continental Mediterranean climate, several actions were initiated and developed.In an experiment implemented in Lleida Puigverd, the main objective was the study and comparison of the ability to produce shade of various species of climbers in continental Mediterranean climate. For this purpose some trellises were designed and built, and four types of climbing plants were planted and allowed to grow for a year. After a year measures of their light transmissivity were carried out. The values obtained for the light transmissivity for the different species are comparable to the values of Shadow Factor obstacles that are specified using obstacles in the Technical Building Code, for south facades.Another action was the study of the behaviour of a double-skin green facade or green curtain, made with modular trellis and Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), in the village of Golmés, near Lleida, during one year. In this case the great potential of these systems in light interception (shadow) could be checked, but also the possibility to create different microclimatic conditions in the space between the curtain of vegetation and the building wall, characterized by a higher temperature and lower relative humidity in winter (leafless period) and lower temperature and higher humidity in summer (period with leaves). The absolute humidity remains slightly higher in the intermediate space in most months of the year, increasing the difference in the summer period. The results show, in addition to the shadow effect, that the curtain of vegetation acts as a barrier against the wind, and verifies the effect of evapotranspiration from plants. The effect of the vegetated facade on the building through a thermographic analysis, both winter and summer, was also verified. Finally, through the simulation tool Bioclim+Confie, different simulations of green facades were developed, based on their ability to produce shade, using monthly coefficients of transparency, applied in holes of the window and in the opaque area of the facade walls. These simulations provide interesting information regarding the modification of solar gains and the energy demands of buildings when the strategy is the use of green screens.In general, the thesis reviews the current state of the art of vertical vegetated systems of buildings, and classifies them for future actions. Besides, a research line in reference to their use as passive systems for energy savings in local conditions Mediterranean climate was started.Postprint (published version

The evapotranspiration process in green roofs: a review

Previous research has shown that most of the green roof benefits are related to the cooling effect. In the literature available, however, it is still not clear how and how much the evapotranspiration affects the performance of a green roof. In order to fill the gap in this research topic, this study carries out a review on the cooling effect due to the evapotranspiration process of green roofs. First of all, an overview of the evapotranspiration phenomenon in green roofs, as well as the equipment and methods used for its measurement are presented. Then, the main experimental results available in literature, the physical-mathematical models and the dynamic simulation software used for the evaluation of the latent heat flux are also analysed and discussed among the available literature. Moreover, this review proposes a classification of the results carried out by previous studies as function of the main parameters affecting the evapotranspiration process (e.g. volumetric water content, stomatal resistance, Leaf Area Index, solar radiation, wind velocity, relative humidity, soil thickness, and substrate composition). Additionally, a sensitivity analysis of the results obtained from the literature allowed underlining the correlation among the main factors affecting the evapotranspiration. Finally, a vision of the world area where green roof studies were performed is provided. From the results, it is possible to emphasize that most of the studies that evaluated the evapotranspiration used high precision load cells. Furthermore, all the heat transfer models of green roofs considered in this review took into account the latent heat flux due to evaporation of water from the substrate and plants transpiration, however, only few of them were experimentally validated.This work is partially funded by the Spanish governmentENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers by the Government of Catalonia. Julià Coma would like to thank Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad de España for the Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2016-30345. This research is also funded by “the Notice 5/2016 for financing the Ph.D. regional grant in Sicily” as part of the Operational Programme of European Social Funding 2014–2020 (PO FSE 2014–2020)

Path planning with far-away obstacles detection under uncertainty

[Resumen] Hoy en día se están investigando robots de exploración terrestre y espacial más rápidos en respuesta a la creciente demanda de capacidades de exploración e investigación más rápidas, eficaces y rentables. Para estas plataformas móviles rápidas la identificación y evasión de obstáculos lejanos son críticas, ya que su alta velocidad implica la necesidad de tener en cuenta el mayor número posible de obstáculos cercanos y lejanos para el cálculo de la trayectoria global, evitando cualquier posible accidente debido a su velocidad y al tiempo de cálculo de los algoritmos de replanificación. Debido a su distancia, los obstáculos lejanos no se incluyen en los mapas locales, que están limitados por el alcance de las cámaras de profundidad. Por estas razones, este artículo propone el uso de técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial para detectarlos a partir de imágenes y estimar sus tamaños y posiciones con un cierto grado de incertidumbre. Los obstáculos detectados se incluirán posteriormente en los mapas globales, corrigiendo la trayectoria global en caso de colisionar con ellos.[Abstract] Nowadays faster terrestrial and space exploration robots are being investigated, in response to the growing demand for faster, more efficient, and cost-effective exploration and research apabilities. For these rapid mobile platforms, the identification and avoidance of far obstacles are critical, since their high speed implies the need to take into account as many near and far obstacles as possible for the global path computation, avoiding any possible accident due to their speed and the computation time of the replanning algorithms. Due to their distance, the far obstacles are not included within the local maps, which are limited by the range of the depth cameras. For these reasons, this paper proposes the use of Artificial Intelligence techniques to detect them from images and estimate their sizes and positions with a certain degree of uncertainty. The detected obstacles will be later included in the global maps, correcting the global path in case it collides with them

Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) for energy saving in buildings: A review

This review paper organizes and summarizes the literature on Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) when used as passive tool for energy savings in buildings. First, with the information obtained in the reviewed literature some key aspects to consider when working with VGS are clarified, such as the classification systems, the climate influence, the plant species used and the different operating mechanisms. Then, the main conclusions of this literature, sorted by construction system (Green Walls or Green Façades) and climatic situation, are summarized. In general, it can be concluded that VGS provide great potential in reducing energy consumption in buildings, especially in the cooling periods. However, a lack of data on operation during the heating period as well as during the whole year has been found. On the other hand, results show that the investigations of VGS are not equally distributed around the world, being basically concentrated in Europe and Asia. Moreover, the review concludes that some aspects must be studied in depth, such as which species are the most suitable for each climate, influence on energy savings of the façade orientation, foliage thickness, presence of air layers, and finally, substrate layer composition and thickness in the case of green walls.The work was partially funded by the Spanish Government (ENE2011-28269-C03-01 and ENE2011-28269-C03-02) and from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme(FP7/2007– 2013) under Grant agreement no.PIRSES-GA-2013–610692 (INNOSTORAGE)

Path planning with far-away obstacles detection under uncertainty.

Nowadays faster terrestrial and space exploration robots are being investigated, in response to the growing demand for faster, more efficient, and cost-effective exploration and research capabilities. For these rapid mobile platforms, the identification and avoidance of far obstacles are critical, since their high speed implies the need to take into account as many near and far obstacles as possible for the global path computation, avoiding any possible accident due to their speed and the computation time of the replanning algorithms. Due to their distance, the far obstacles are not included within the local maps, which are limited by the range of the depth cameras. For these reasons, this paper proposes the use of Artificial Intelligence techniques to detect them from images and estimate their sizes and positions with a certain degree of uncertainty. The detected obstacles will be later included in the global maps, correcting the global path in case it collides with them.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech