Assessing the Energy Efficiency and Daylight Performance of Windows in Buildings in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

The importance of research on sustainable and energy-efficient building design is increasing, considering thathumanity may face a shortage of natural resources as a result of irrational energy use. This article focuses on optimising the window characteristics of the buildings to be constructed in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in order to improve their energy efficiency and daylight performance. Specifically, simulations were performed with the DesignBuilder software to study the effects of the window-to-wall ratio (WWR), glazing type, shading, and building orientation on the energy performance of the building and the comfort level of the occupants. As a result, triple-pane windows with 10 to 15% WWR oriented mainly to the south were found to have better performance compared to other configurations. However, a life-cycle analysis can be performed to verify its benefits in terms of cost and environmental burden. On the other hand, limitations of the glazed area on each facade may affect the comfort level of the occupants in terms of temperature increases, lack of daylight, and poor ventilation. Thus, a discussion of the simulation results is provided, along with issues that might arise. Suggestions for future studies were also included.

Energy Saving Aspects of Green Facades: Current Applications and Challenges

One of the most effective key methods to meet today’s increasing energy demands is to use resources efficiently. Especially in heating and cooling applications, notable energy savings are possible by efficient use of resources. For this purpose, insulation applications on building surfaces have been conducted for many years on a global scale. Besides, green facades are also considered to be one of the most suitable and efficient building cover technologies because of their superior benefits like energy saving, acoustic and thermal features, environmental aspects, and aesthetic appearance. Green facades are greenery media climbing over the facade, either traditionally or with special support structures. It is a highly preferred method in building coating applications, especially in recent years, but the initial installation and maintenance costs are somewhat expensive compared to traditional methods. Nevertheless, it still stands out as a cost-effective technology when its impacts on human health and environmental aspects are evaluated along with architectural features and social acceptance. Within the scope of this review, green facade systems are investigated in detail in terms of methodology, building applications, cost, challenges and potential solutions.

A Review of Building Construction Cost Research: Current Status, Gaps and Green Buildings

An overall scoping review was conducted to examine research on building construction costs in the past decades. The aim is to provide a better understanding of conventional building construction cost estimation methods, gaps and potential improvement strategies that may mitigate the high risk of the cost overrun in conventional and sustainable building. This study first examined the components included in a building's construction cost and the commonly used calculation methods for cost estimation. Then, additional components included for sustainable buildings were identified and explained. The causal factors for construction cost overruns in sustainable building werediscussed as well. The findings concluded the following: (a) there is no consistent cost definition used in the industry; (b) a variety of cost estimation methods create ambiguity and confusion; and (c) newer cost estimating methods and tools, such as parametric cost estimation, which integrate risk and uncertainties have not been broadly adopted by the building industry. The current practice used to determine a sustainable building's cost estimation is the same traditional method that has been used over several decades, which is based on the material and labor costs. Such a conventional approach does not consider other factors, including the complexity of the sustainable building system, an organization's environment, and the capability of teams, among others. To respond to such a knowledge gap, a comprehensive and consistent cost estimation framework was proposed to integrate risk and uncertainty consideration, which is particularly prevalent in sustainable building.

Spatial and Security Organisation of Court Buildings: An Assessment of Selected High Court Buildings in Nigeria

Within the context of functional efficiency, this study assesses the spatial organisation and security of court building in Southwest Nigeria as a panacea to a design proposal for an ideal high court building. To achieve this, fifteen structural parameters were employed for measuring efficiency. These are spaces organisation, spaces standard, structural fitness, communication, noise, environmental cleanliness, building layout, privacy, visual form, security, parking spaces, acoustics system, circulation pattern and spaces allocation. Towards the realisation of these objectives, both primary and secondary data were collected. The primary data employed include field measurement, personal observation of court proceedings, oral interview and administration of 290 questionnaires to court personnel, and other court participants to elicit information on the effects of adequate security and spatial organisation. The merits and demerits of the studied area along with their photographs were also documented. The information from the questionnaires was analysed using frequency distribution tables, simple percentages and relative important index. Results revealed that the court buildings were largely inadequate to space organisation and space standard. The result shows that 90% of the respondents agreed that poor spatial organisation, inadequate security, and poor landscaping are the major shortcomings inhibiting the efficiency of court buildings, while 80% agreed that the existing structures are satisfactory only in the areas of environmental cleanliness and communication within the courtrooms. Hence, the study presented useful suggestions and recommendations.

3D-CFD Study of Oblique Streamlining Membranes on the Roof-Top of a Low-Rise Building, Targeting Pedestrian Comfort-A Case Study

Considering the cubic nature of the most frequent geometries among the urban elements and their configurations, the manipulation of the free stream wind flow around the enormous objects, as well as within relatively narrow corridors, such as street canyons is significant in many regards. One of its instances could be mentioned as pedestrian comfort. In this case study, the implementation of an Oblique Streamlining Membrane (OSM) has been studied on a sub-branch of a low rise, but bulky, building, over which a roof-top outdoor food court area has been primarily designed. The OSM serves as the streamlining mechanism, preventing the roof-top area from the intense fluctuations of the wind flow after the flow is separated from the inlet corner side of the building in question. The optimization of sub-geometries and the proof of the concept for the OSM flow controlling mechanism were the subject of the current manuscript, for which a 3D numerical Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) scheme has been used. An unstructured computational grid has been applied around the 3D geometry of the entire building and its sub-branching details, which is in contrast with most studies on full-scale geometries, tending to have simplifications on the body to reach a more generalized set of results. All cases have been numerically tested with and without the presence of the OSM. This comparison has been the grounds for proving the effectivity of the said flow controlling mechanism to eliminate high gradient fluctuations of the separated flow off the roof corners. This has led to pedestrian/resident comfort on the roof-top food court area located on top of the building.

A Review of Values of Green Building at Building and City Scales

Green Building is the term used for the buildings characterized by a higher energy and water efficiency, a lower use of natural resources and materials compared to the conventional buildings and an improvement in the health and comfort of the living environment. Since this building concept primarily focuses more on the ecological and the social factors, within the three aspects of a sustainable development, the economic benefits of Green Building are less discussed despite their presence. Therefore, this paper aims to look for the various values of Green Buildings at building and city levels through a summary of relevant secondary data. At the building level, in comparison with the conventional buildings, the values of Green Building are obtained from a saving of operation cost, a larger return compared to the initial cost, a shorter payback period, a higher property value, a higher transaction, rental and occupancy rate as well as an improvement in the occupants' health and productivity. At the city level, their values reflect through a lower demand for the urban technical infrastructure capacity, market expansion, job creation and higher tax collection possibilities. Since these values are gained through various ways, this paper indicates the positive relations between environmental and economic benefits at both building and city scale. By these findings, it contributes to the emerging literature on the benefits of Green Building that helps to promote further the development of Green Building in the future.

The Effects of Acidic and Basic Pumice on Physico-Mechanical and Durability Properties of Self-Compacting Concretes

In this study, properties of self-compacting concretes (SCCs) containing acidic and basic pumice (AP-BP) was investigated. SCCs incorporating AP-BP (SCCAs-SCCBs) were produced with constant slump flow diameter of 720±20 mm and 690±20 mm by adjusting superplasticizer (SP), respectively. Control mixture was designed with totally crushed stone aggregate. SCCAs and SCCBs could be produced up to 100% coarse AP with 20% increments and 60% coarse BP with 10% increments, respectively, to ensure the desired limit values for SCC. Firstly, fresh properties of SCCs were determined. Then, the mechanical and durability properties of SCCs were measured at 28 and 56 days. Test results indicated that workability properties of SCCAs are markedly higher than that of SCCBs. Additionally, mechanical and durability performances of SCCs decreased with increasing of AP and BP. The compressive strengths of SCCs containing 60% AP and BP decreased approximately 28-29% and 22-24%, compared to the control mixture, respectively. Similarly, modulus of elasticity of same mixtures decreased around 35-39% and 17-19%, respectively. However, all results indicated that SCCs produced with AP and BP provided the available limits in the design of SCC. Additionally, SCCBs exhibited higher performance than SCCAs in terms of hardened properties. Moreover, high correlation coefficients (R2>0.89) between the durability and mechanical properties were found for SCCs.

2D-CFD Analyses of Flow Controlling Plates on Gable Roof Geometry Cross-Sections for Light Air to Strong Breeze Wind Speed Classifications-an Unsteady RANS Approach

The flow field analysis has been numerically performed on the effectiveness of a flow control mechanism called the Flow Controlling Plate (FCP) on buildings. For this purpose, the gable roof geometry has been considered as a common urban element in the western residential architecture. As the justification step towards the functionality of the concept of FCPs, the 2D numerical investigation of the flow field under the realistic assumptions of atmospheric boundary layer profiles for the spectrum ranging from the so-called light air to strong breeze wind speed classifications have been performed. The CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) field calculations have been conveyed as an unsteady case for the flow around a bluff body, using RANS (Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes) averaging methods targeting a solution of Navier-Stokes equations of the fluid flow. The results have proven the hypotheses of the contribution of the FCPs on preventing the flow separation on a partial region of the surface and improving the boundary layer development on the rest of the gable roof facades, which have led to a drastic reduction in the convective heat transfer coefficient as well as the drag force exerted on the roof