Effects of different architectural solutions on the thermal behaviour in an unconditioned rural building. The case of an Italian winery

Referring to the wine sector, in the Mediterranean area, most of the wine farms make use of unconditioned above-ground buildings constructed without a specific attention to temperature control, where indoor temperatures easily show trends in disagreement with correct wine-ageing and conservation. Moreover the suitable temperature ranges can differ from wine to wine, and are considerably different from ideal temperatures for human comfort. This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of different architectural elements in improving the thermal behaviour of unconditioned farm buildings, by means of energy simulations validated on an Italian case-study, comparing the data provided by the simulations with different temperature ranges. Results showed the building thermal performance depends on the chosen intervals, some solution played negative or positive role according to the analysed range and in general roof and wall interventions were more effective than orientation and solar shading, and the combination of more strategies allow to achieve improved results

Calibration and comparison of different CFD approaches for airflow analysis in a glass greenhouse

CFD has been increasingly applied to greenhouses to optimise indoor environmental conditions for cultivation and management. Numerical simulations have proved fundamental for the enhancement of energy-efficient design criteria and management procedures. The objective of the study is the comparison between different computational approaches for the study of airflow patterns in a representative study case of a glass greenhouse, also through the calibration of the models and the validation of simulation results against experimental data. A three-span greenhouse of about 300 m2 located in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) has been considered as study case. Several analyses with the same boundary and initial conditions were performed using two codes, broadly used for research and design purposes. With both programs, 2D or 3D models have been used and, for every case, the grid convergence was verified by performing multiple steady state analyses with increasingly finer meshes. The results led to define the most suitable solutions to set up computational models for the simulation of airflow patterns inside a greenhouse. The study provided a preliminary outline of the differences due to the adoption of various computational approaches characterised by different levels of accuracy and complexity. The results indicate the advisability of further developing the research by carrying out deeper experimental insights necessary to quantify more in detail the validity and the reliability of the adopted analytical methodologies

LCA of virgin and recycled materials to assess the sustainability of paved surfaces in agricultural environment

The construction sector is currently characterized by high raw material consumption but also by the production of high volume of wastes, mostly constituted by construction and demolition wastes that could be valorized promoting the use of recycled aggregates in substitution of raw aggregates. A promising application for recycled aggregates is for the realization of rural roads and pavements. The agricultural context, characterized by particular type of traffic and need to balance performance and integration with the environment, is suited for the use of these materials for paved surfaces since it can promote, in several cases, the adoption of rural circular processes internal to the farm. However, if on one hand the adoption of recycled aggregates could increase the sustainability of the sector, on the other it could increment the environmental loads if the whole process is not properly organized. For instance, the negative effects of transportation operations can cancel the environmental benefits if high distances between the production and the destination sites are present. This work reports the results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), from cradle-to-gate, of four different construction aggregate classes that can be used for the realization of rural roads, pavements and forecourts, and paved areas in agricultural environment. The first three materials are recycled aggregates produced by the recycling processes of construction and demolition waste and the fourth type refers to gravel aggregates produced from natural resources. The Life Cycle Assessment was realized using site-specific primary data from the local territorial context and paying particular attention to transportation-related impacts, land use, avoided landfill and preservation of non-renewable resources. The results of the work clearly show that the environmental impacts in both scenarios of recycled aggregates are lower than the virgin aggregate scenario. In fact, considering the midpoint categories, the recycled materials proved to be more virtuous in almost all the indicators, with the exception of except for the marine eutrophication. The most significant gap between virgin and recycled materials has been in global warming and marine and freshwater eco-toxicity

Long-range Radio for Underground Sensors in Geothermal Energy Systems

The paper presents the design of a temperature monitoring system in a very harsh environment, such as Shallow Geothermal Systems (SGS), where the information of underground temperature is necessary to assess the thermal potential of the soil, for maximizing the efficiency of the SGS. The challenge is to get information at different depths (sometimes up to - 100m), to transmit data wirelessly in rural areas where conventional wireless connections (e.g. WiFi, GSM) are not guaranteed and energy availability poses severe limits. Our design exploits a recent new modulation protocol developed for long-range transmission, at the minimum energy cost, and a two-tier hardware architecture for measuring underground temperature. Aggressive duty cycling permits to achieve lifetime of several years. Experimental results demonstrate the utility of such a system during the design and the operational activity of a SGS

Experimental calibration of underground heat transfer models under a winery building in a rural area

Ground temperature and hydrogeological conditions are key parameters for many engineering applications, such as the design of building basements and underground spaces and the assessment of shallow geothermal energy potential. Especially in urban areas, in the very shallow depths, it is diffi cult to fi nd natural undisturbed underground thermal conditions because of anthropic interventions. The assessment of underground behaviour in disturbed conditions will become more and more relevant because of increasing awareness to energy effi ciency and renewable energy topics. The purpose of this paper is to show a three-dimensional representation - based on models calibrated on experimental data - of the underground thermal behaviour aff ected by a building in a rural area in Italy. Temperature varies in space and time and it depends on ground, climate and building characteristics, and all these parameters are taken into account by the seasonal periodic modelling implemented. The results obtained in a context of low urbanization indirectly suggest the importance of these eff ects in dense urban areas; taking greater account of these aspects could lead to improvements in the design of underground spaces and geo-exchanger fi elds for geothermal energy exploitation

Microventilation system improves the ageing conditions in existent wine cellars

Background and Aims: The importance of indoor environmental conditions in a cellar is well known and continuously investigated. The process of wine ageing consists of several steps, during which temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) play a fundamental role as the quality of the final product is strongly related to stable and suitable environmental conditions. Critical factors, such as mould growth or wine evaporation, have emerged when ventilation has proved to be insufficient or poorly designed. The limitation of stagnant areas and the homogeneity inT and RH provide for proper wine conservation; however, unwanted local conditions can occur in the zones with insufficient air exchange. Methods and Results: Considering these aspects, a controlled microventilation and monitoring system was installed in a case study cellar, and T and RH were monitored for 1 year. The data have been analysed to investigate criticalities of the environmental conditions. The ventilation was activated in specific critical conditions to increase the homogeneity of the T and RH in the critical zones. The results show that the microventilation system improves the homogeneity of both T and RH without affecting the average values. Conclusions: The study demonstrated the efficacy of the system and indicated possible modifications to improve system performance. Significance of the Study: The system proved to be a useful tool for both improving the environmental conditions and providing useful information to the winemakers about the ageing conditions

Simulations in agricultural buildings: a machine learning approach to forecast seasonal energy need

A fast and reliable estimation of building energy need is essential in agricultural building design, nonetheless, a large number of simulations is required to obtain better energy saving solutions. The aim of this work is to understand if machine learning can substitute numerical simulations and speed up the building design process and assess the incidence of specific architectural elements. Supervised regression models has been trained and tested in a data-set of thousands simulations performed on a case-study agricultural building. Among the algorithms, the tree-based Extreme Gradient Boosting showed the best performance. A study on model explainability has been carried out using SHAP and features importance, which is fundamental to help academics and professionals devise better design strategies for both new constructions and retrofitting interventions

Lesson learned in big data for dairy cattle: advanced analytics for heat stress detection

This report provides an overview of the strategies for data management and data analysis developed within the EU project EIT Food DairySust “Big data and advanced analytics for sustainable management of the dairy cattle sector”. The main ambition of this project is to improve sustainability and animal welfare, besides productivity, in dairy farming, through advanced data analytics for every level of stakeholders. Good data management, in terms of acquisition, processing, harmonization and imputation, is required for good modelling for early diagnosis and for the identification of optimal prevention strategies, particularly in fields where monitoring can collect very heterogeneous data, and for which agreed protocols have not yet been standardized. The project investigated the “ecosystem” of data and application strategies for sharing computer resources and information in a secure and organic manner. This research first developed an optimal computational ecosystem based on the integration and harmonization of heterogeneous data types. Classical and advanced modelling strategies were used and compared. The results are suitable to provide the stakeholders with improved decision-making process about animal welfare and sustainability of the production. This report focuses on the implementation of a numerical model for the assessment of the impact of heat stress on milk production and provides a feedback on it