scholarly journals Influence of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Materials on Building Energy Performance

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Tara L. Cavalline ◽  
Jorge Gallegos ◽  
Reid W. Castrodale ◽  
Charles Freeman ◽  
Jerry Liner ◽  
...  

Due to their porous nature, lightweight aggregates have been shown to exhibit thermal properties that are advantageous when used in building materials such as lightweight concrete, grout, mortar, and concrete masonry units. Limited data exist on the thermal properties of materials that incorporate lightweight aggregate where the pore system has not been altered, and very few studies have been performed to quantify the building energy performance of structures constructed using lightweight building materials in commonly utilized structural and building envelope components. In this study, several lightweight concrete and masonry building materials were tested to determine the thermal properties of the bulk materials, providing more accurate inputs to building energy simulation than have previously been used. These properties were used in EnergyPlus building energy simulation models for several types of commercial structures for which materials containing lightweight aggregates are an alternative commonly considered for economic and aesthetic reasons. In a simple model, use of sand lightweight concrete resulted in prediction of 15–17% heating energy savings and 10% cooling energy savings, while use of all lightweight concrete resulted in prediction of approximately 35–40% heating energy savings and 30% cooling energy savings. In more complex EnergyPlus reference models, results indicated superior thermal performance of lightweight aggregate building materials in 48 of 50 building energy simulations. Predicted energy savings for the five models ranged from 0.2% to 6.4%.

Author(s):  
El Hassan Ridouane ◽  
Marcus V. A. Bianchi

Uninsulated wall assemblies are typical in older homes, as many were built before building codes required insulation. Building engineers need to understand the thermal performance of these assemblies as they consider home energy upgrades if they are to properly predict pre-upgrade performance and, consequently, prospective energy savings from the upgrade. Most whole-building energy simulation tools currently use simplified, 1D characterizations of building envelopes and assume a fixed thermal resistance that does not vary over a building’s temperature range. This study describes a detailed 3D computational fluid dynamics model that evaluates the thermal performance of uninsulated wall assemblies. It accounts for conduction through framing, convection, and radiation and allows for material property variations with temperature. Parameters that were varied include ambient outdoor temperature and cavity surface emissivity. The results may serve as input for building energy simulation tools that model the temperature-dependent energy performance of homes with uninsulated walls.


2011 ◽  
Vol 121-126 ◽  
pp. 2860-2867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Shan Yang ◽  
Li Hua Zhao ◽  
Michael Bruse ◽  
Qing Lin Meng

To provide a more accurate prediction of building energy consumption, it is necessary to take into account the influence of the microclimate around a building establishing through the interaction with other buildings or the natural environment. This paper presents a method for the quantitative assessment of building performance under any given urban context by linking the urban microclimate model ENVI-met to the building energy simulation (BES) program EnergyPlus. The full microclimatic factors such as solar radiation, thermal radiation, outdoor air temperature, humidity, and wind speed have been considered in the proposed scheme. The method outlined in this paper could be useful for urban and building optimal design.


1994 ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Mat Nawi Wan Hassan ◽  
Mohd.Yusoff Senawi ◽  
Hartini Omar

The energy performance of a four-storey library (PSZ) building of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has been simulated using a microcomputer-based building energy simulation program, SHEAP. The simulation results give a comparative estimate of the potential annual savings for nine parameters. Significant savings (greater than 3.7% of RM 815,680 in operating cost) can result from the use of a Variable Air Volume (VAV) system, reduced air-conditioning times and reduced electrical lighting intensity. A 25% glazed-facade can contribute about 1% in saving,while the other parameters contribute less than 0.2% in savings to be of any significance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8327
Author(s):  
Gabriele Battista ◽  
Marta Roncone ◽  
Emanuele de Lieto Vollaro

It is well known that the construction sector is one of the main sectors responsible for energy consumption in the current global energy scenario. Thus, buildings’ energy software become essential tools for achieving energy savings. Climate and its implications for building energy performance are a critical threat. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate the climatic conditions in urban and suburban areas of Rome, estimating the incidence of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. To this end, meteorological data obtained from three different areas (two airports and one inside the city) were examined and compared. Then, TRNSYS software was used to create a simple building, in order to assess the impacts of various climatic situations on building energy performance. The study revealed significant percentage differences both in terms of energy needs for heating, from −20.1% to −24.9% when the reference stations are, respectively, Fiumicino and Ciampino, and for cooling, with a wider range, from +48.7% to +87.5% when the reference stations are Ciampino and Fiumicino. Therefore, the study showed the importance of more accurately selecting sets of climate values to be included in energy simulations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 193-194 ◽  
pp. 258-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching Hin Law ◽  
Jian Kun Yang ◽  
Xiang Yang Jiang

This research introduced and implemented building energy simulation via a case study of a commercial project in China, by considering the green features which can reduce the annual energy consumption of this building. This simulation process was based on the requirement described within LEED EA c1 Optimize Energy Performance. The result concluded that more than 39.41% of energy cost was reduced and thus the project can obtain 16 points from this credit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1679-1702
Author(s):  
Hong Xian Li ◽  
Zhiliang Ma ◽  
Hexu Liu ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Mohamed Al-Hussein ◽  
...  

PurposeThe operational phase of a building's lifecycle is receiving increasing attention, as it consumes an enormous amount of energy and results in tremendous detrimental impacts on the environment. While energy simulation can be applied as a tool to evaluate the energy performance of a building in operation, the emergence of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is expected to facilitate the evaluation process with predefined and enriched building information. However, such an approach has been confronted by the challenge of interoperability issues among the related application software, including the BIM tools and energy simulation tools, and the results of simulation have been seldom verified due to the unavailability of corresponding experimental data. This study aims to explore the interoperability between the commonly used energy simulation and BIM tools and verifies the simulation approach by undertaking a case study.Design/methodology/approachWith Autodesk Revit and EnergyPlus selected as the commonly used BIM and energy simulation tools, respectively, a valid technical framework of transferring building information between two tools is proposed, and the interoperability issues that occur during the data transfer are studied. The proposed framework is then employed to simulate the energy consumption of a single-family house, and sensitivity analysis and analysis on such parameters as schedule are conducted for building operations to showcase its applicability.FindingsThe simulation results are compared with monitored data and the results from another simulation tool, HOT2000; the comparison reveals that EnergyPlus and HOT2000 predict the total energy consumption with a difference from the monitoring data of 8.0 and 7.1%, respectively.Practical implicationsThis research shows how to efficiently use BIM to support building energy simulation. Relevant stakeholders can learn from this research to avoid data loss during BIM model transformation.Originality/valueThis research explores the application of BIM for building energy simulation, compares the simulation results among different tools and validates simulation results using monitored data.


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