IMPROVING THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF BUILDINGS BY PROVIDING BETTER PROTECTIVE STRUCTURES BASED ON THE UNIVERSITY'S KNOWLEDGE HUB

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Modern university buildings use a large number of resources, such as heat, cold and hot water, as well as electricity, which is the main consumed energy resource and is used for lighting, office equipment, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In order to improve the energy efficiency of university buildings, it is necessary to carry out heat and energy modernization of internal and external envelopes, which will allow for internal billing and qualitative analysis of consumption, which contribute to prompt decision-making on heat and energy modernization of the premises.METHODS. To assess the potential for improving the energy efficiency of buildings by improving the quality of protective structures, methods for assessing the temperature and humidity conditions of multilayered enclosing structures in a wide range of humidity under stationary boundary conditions were developed on the basis of the University Hub of Knowledge.FINDINGS. On the basis of the University Hub of Knowledge, Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, the moisture content profile was calculated for the general estimation of the moisture condition for building No. 4, the planes of the highest moisture content were determined to find the most dangerous, from the moisture condition point of view, section of the structure, the calculation of the enclosing structure modernization according to the maximum allowable moisture condition for the analysis of moisture accumulation in the coldest month of the year was made.CONCLUSION. The advantage of the proposed method of increasing the energy efficiency of buildings by improving the quality of protective structures based on the University Hub of Knowledge is the possibility of calculation in a wide range of moisture content of materials, including supersorption moisture zone, as well as applicability to structures with multizone condensation of moisture. The clarity and simplicity of the proposed method makes it available for the practical implementation of energy efficiency improvements in all university buildings.

Constructing a method for assessing the effectiveness of using protective barriers near highways to decrease the level of air pollution

Highways are an intensive source of environmental pollution. Atmospheric air is exposed to the fastest anthropogenic influence. Therefore, a particularly important task is to minimize the level of air pollution near the highway. An effective method for solving this problem is the use of protective barriers of various shapes installed near highways. At the stage of designing these protective structures, an important task arises to assess their effectiveness. Estimation of the effectiveness of protective barriers by the method of the physical experiment takes considerable time to set up and conduct an experiment, as well as analyze the results of physical modeling. This method is not always convenient during design work. An alternative method is the method of mathematical modeling. For the designer, it is very important to have mathematical models that make it possible to quickly obtain a predictive result and take into consideration a set of important factors on which the effectiveness of the protective barrier depends. A method has been devised that makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of using protective barriers to reduce the level of air pollution near the highway. It was found that an increase in barrier height by 80 % leads to a 22 % decrease in the concentration of impurities behind the barrier. It was established that applying a barrier with a height of 1.5 m leads to a 26 % decrease in the concentration of impurities in buildings adjacent to the highway. A method has been devised to assess the effectiveness of using absorbent "TX Active" surfaces on the protective barrier located near the highway. This study's result revealed that the application of a barrier with one "TX Active" surface leads to a decrease in the concentration of NO behind the barrier by an average of 43 %. When using a barrier with two "TX Active" surfaces, a decrease in the NO concentration behind the barrier is 85 % on average

Safety assessment method of steel protective structure against large-scale debris flow

Recently, steel pipe open type protective structures (steel open dams) have been damaged because of large-scale debris flow resulting from torrential rainfall based on abnormal climate. This article proposes a safety assessment method for the load-carrying capacity of a steel open dam against large-scale debris flow load (level II load) using the energy constant law. First, the safety assessment method of steel open dams is proposed that the ultimate strength must be larger than the required strength against the level II load, which is determined by using the energy constant law. Second, the load-carrying capacities of three types of steel open dams with different structural shapes against the front and eccentric debris flow loadings are investigated by a push-over analysis. Finally, the safety assessments on load-carrying capacities against the front and eccentric debris flow loading are confirmed and the strength reduction by the eccentric loading is examined for three steel open dams.

Effect of Needle Type, Number of Layers on FPAFC Composite against Low-Velocity Projectile Impact

Protective structures subjected to intensive loads that may benefit from the use of multilayer composite structures with excellent hardness and impact resistance represent an emerging research field in recent times. In this study, low-velocity projectile impact tests were performed on Functionally-graded Preplaced Aggregate Fibrous Concrete (FPAFC) mixtures to evaluate their performance. The effects of projectile needle type, fibre type and hybridization in addition to the number of layers in the composites on projectile impact were investigated. The bioinspiration of the excellent impact strength of turtle shells was used to design an FPAFC comprising a higher amount of steel and polypropylene fibres at the outer layers. In parallel, one and two-layered concretes were also cast to assess the effectiveness of three-layered FPAFC. The tests were performed on disc specimens using non-deformable compound bevel, convex edge and hollow edge projectiles. The damage severity was quantified by the top damage area, bottom damage area and depth of penetration. In addition, a simple analytical model for predicting the composite mass expulsion was developed and implemented. Findings indicated that regardless of fiber type and distribution, the compound bevel projectile needle produced the lowest impact numbers for all single, double and triple-layer specimens compared to the convex edge and hollow edge projectiles. Repeated projectile impacts increased the penetration depth and damaged area at the top and bottom surfaces of all targets. Targets were more resistant to convex edge and hollow edge projectile penetration than the compound bevel. The experimental and analytical model results for mass expelled from the top surface are reasonably acceptable. This research gives an idea of developing advanced fibrous composite with superior impact resistance for the promising protective structures.

Impact Resistance of Functionally Layered Two-Stage Fibrous Concrete

The impact resistance of functionally layered two-stage fibrous concrete (FLTSFC) prepared using the cement grout injection technique was examined in this study. The impact resistance of turtle shells served as the inspiration for the development of FLTSFC. Steel and polypropylene fibres are used in more significant quantities than usual in the outer layers of FLTSFC, resulting in significantly improved impact resistance. An experiment was carried out simultaneously to assess the efficacy of one-layered and two-layered concrete to assess the effectiveness of three-layered FLTSFC. When performing the drop-mass test ACI 544, a modified version of the impact test was suggested to reduce the scattered results. Instead of a solid cylindrical specimen with no notch, a line-notched specimen was used instead. This improvement allows for the pre-definition of a fracture route and the reduction of the scattering of results. The testing criteria used in the experiments were impact numbers associated to first crack and failure, mode of failure, and ductility index. The coefficient of variation of the ACI impact test was lowered due to the proposed change, indicating that the scattering of results was substantially reduced. This research contributes to the idea of developing enhanced, more impact-resistant fibre composites for use in possible protective structures in the future.

The impact of heavy object on an underground structure when falling onto the ground surface

At the objects of space infrastructure and at nuclear power facilities there are industrial structures, the main task of which is to protect a person, equipment or machinery from emergencies such as, for example, explosions, falling of various objects, fragments. In accordance with the requirements of the Federal Law On the Protection of the Population and Territories from Natural and Technogenic Emergencies, when calculating such structures, all types of loads corresponding to their functional purpose must be taken into account. So, for structures located in the area of a possible accident and the fall of space rockets, it is necessary to calculate for the fall of the destroyed parts of the rocket engine. For nuclear power plant facilities, such accidents occur when containers and other heavy objects fall on the ground, affecting underground structures located in the ground, and for civil defense protective structures built into the basement floors of buildings, it is necessary to consider situations in which the overlying floors of a building collapse when exposed to there is an air shock wave on them. Therefore, this problem is relevant, and in this study, a finite-element method for calculating an underground structure in a non-linear dynamic setting has been developed when a large overall object collides with the ground.

Impact action of a projectiles on special protective structures and ways to increase their protective capacity

A method for studying the reaction of elastic elements of protective structures to a series of impact actions of shells has been developed. In the work, the elastic elements of the protective structure are modeled by homogeneous beams, and the dynamic action of the shells is simulated by instantaneous point-applied forces. A mathematical model of this dynamic process is constructed, which is a boundary value problem for a hyperbolic equation with an irregular right-hand side. The latter is described using Dirac delta functions. Cases of both fixed and free ends of protective elements are considered. The main ideas of perturbation methods are used for the researches carried out in the work. Analytical dependences for the description of elastic deformations of a protective element which are basic for definition of its strength characteristics are received. They and the graphical dependences built on their basis for specific cases show that the dynamic deformations of the protective element for the fixed ends are greater in the case of the projectile closer to its middle, at the same time for the free ends – closer to the end. With regard to the modernization of protective structures, the dynamic effect on their elements can be reduced by using elastic reinforcement or changing the method of fixing the ends of the protective element: elastic or with a certain angle of inclination of the bearing surfaces. It is proposed to use special plastics, soil layer, flexible wood flooring, etc. as elastic reinforcement. The technique used in the work is the basis for determining the strength characteristics of protective elements, and from so – to check the reliability of the protective structure; study of the dynamics of protective and similar types of structures, taking into account the nonlinear characteristics of the elastic elements of protective structures; study of more complex oscillations of elements of protective structures. In the case of a series of impacts, it is obvious that the amplitude of deflection of the protective element after each impact will increase over time, because the model does not take into account the force of viscoelastic friction. These tasks will be the subject of further research.

Fracture of Protective Structures from Heavy Reinforcing Cement During Interaction with High-velocity Impactor

In this work, the fracture of a reinforced concrete barrier made of heavy reinforced ce- ment is numerically simulated during normal interaction with a high-velocity titanium projectile. The projectile has the initial velocity 750 m/s. The problem of impact interaction is numerically solved by the finite element method in a three-dimensional formulation within a phenomenological framework of solid mechanics. Numerical modeling is carried out using an original EFES 2.0 software, which al- lows a straightforward parallelization of the numerical algorithm. Fracture of concrete is described by the Johnson-Holmquist model that includes the strain rate dependence of the compressive and tensile strengths of concrete. The computational algorithm takes into account the formation of discontinuities in the material and the fragmentation of bodies with the formation of new contact and free surfaces. The behavior of the projectile material is described by an elastoplastic medium. The limiting value of the plastic strain intensity is taken as a local fracture criterion for the projectile material. A detailed numerical analysis was performed to study the stress and strain dynamics of the reinforced concrete target and the effect of shock-wave processes on its fracture. The influence of reinforcement on the resistance of a heavy cement target to the penetration of a projectile has been investigated

Exothermic synthesis of ceramic materials based on barium and strontium aluminosilicates

Ceramic materials were synthesized in the RO(R=Ba, Sr)–Al2O3–SiO2 system using exothermic synthesis from solutions containing barium and strontium nitrates, silica and organic reducing agents (glycine and carbamide). It was shown that only the use of a mixture of glycine and carbamide as well as the addition of ammonium nitrate allows carrying out a complete exothermic synthesis with the formation of an X-ray amorphous product with a small fraction of the crystalline phase. It was established that monophase materials based on barium and strontium aluminosilicates (BaAl2Si2O8 and SrAl2Si2O8) are formed when the obtained X-ray amorphous product is heat-treated at the temperatures above 10000C. Ceramics from synthesized materials sintered at 15500C has a high refractoriness, open porosity of 0–1.0%, compressive strength of 115–120 MPa; dielectric constant of 3.25–6.0 (at the frequency of 1 MHz) and the loss tangent of (1.5–5.2)10–3. The results shows that the exothermic synthesis ensures the preparation of nano- and sub-microcrystalline powders in the system RO(R=Ba, Sr)–Al2O3–SiO2. Materials based on the obtained aluminosilicates can be used in the manufacture of protective structures for devices operating in the radio frequency band, in radar installations of aviation and rocket technology, in microwave elements, etc.

ENERGY DISSIPATING MODES AND DESIGN RECOMMENDATION OF H-SHAPED STEEL BAFFLES SUBJECTED TO BOULDER IMPACT

Flexible barriers are one of the most effective protective structures, which have been widely used for the mitigation of rockfalls. As the only compression members in a flexible barrier system, steel posts maintain the integrity of the interception structure to keep the function of the system. Due to the random trajectories of rockfalls, steel posts may be impacted by boulders directly. The impact scenario may result in the failure of the post and even the collapse of the system. In this paper, firstly, steel baffles were proposed to be an additional structural countermeasure to avoid the direct impact of posts. Secondly, numerical method was adopted to study the structural behaviour of steel baffles under direct boulder impact. Then, an available published experimental test of H-shaped steel beams under drop weight impact loading by others was back analyzed to calibrate the finite element model. Finally, numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the energy dissipating modes and energy dissipating efficiency of the H-shaped steel baffles. The simulation results show that there are three typical energy dissipating modes of H-shaped baffles subjected to boulder impact, namely flexural, local compression buckling and shear buckling. Local compression buckling is the most efficient energy dissipating mode. The thickness of the web of an H-shaped baffle is suggested to be 4 mm and 6 mm for the rated dissipating energy of 50 kJ and 100 kJ, respectively.