Buildings Monitoring

Air flow and the associated indoor carbon dioxide concentrations have been extensively monitored in 62 classrooms of 27 naturally ventilated schools in Athens, Greece. The specific ventilation patterns as well as the associated carbon dioxide concentrations, before, during and after the teaching period are analysed in detail. During the teaching period, only 23% of the measured classrooms presented a flow rate higher than the recommended value of 8 l/p/s while the mean daily fluctuation was close to 40%. About, 52% of the classrooms presented a mean indoor CO2 concentration higher than 1000 ppm. The specific experimental data have been compared against existing ventilation rates and carbon dioxide concentrations using published information from 287 classrooms of 182 naturally ventilated schools and 900 classrooms from 220 mechanically ventilated schools. The relation between the air flow rates and the corresponding indoor carbon dioxide is analysed and then compared to the existing data from naturally and mechanically ventilated schools. It is found that all three data sets present a CO2 concentration equal to 1000 ppm for air flows around 8 l/p/s. Specific adaptive actions to improve the indoor environmental quality have been recorded and the impact of indoor and ambient temperatures as well as of the carbon dioxide concentration on window opening is analysed in detail. A clear relation is found, between the indoor temperature at which the adapting action takes place and the resulting air flow rate. In parallel, a statistically significant relation between window opening and the indoor–outdoor temperature difference has been established.

Guber, Rosana La etnografía, método, campo y rcílexividad / Rosana Guber. — Bogotá : Grupo Editorial Norma, 2001. 146 p.; 18 cm. — (Enciclopedia latinoamericana de sociocultuní y comunicación) ISBN 958-04-6154-6 Etnología 2. Antropología social - Investigaciones 1. ...

This paper examines how surveying and monitoring improve our knowledge about ancient buildings, allow the interpretation of their structural response and help in the search for the best solutions for their conservation. The case study of Palazzo del Capitano in Mantua (Italy) is analyzed. In particular, the attention is focused on the use of a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) for surveying and monitoring too, considering that the building structural control has been performed in combination with other traditional topographic techniques such as geometric leveling and topographic networks for 3D control based on measurements through total stations. The study of TLS monitoring has been tested only in the last decade and it is an innovative method for the detection of displacements of particular surfaces. Till now the research has focused only on the use of TLS monitoring to control large structures and in particular landscape situations; thus its use for a civil construction and histori...

Warehouses are premises used to store goods or products with the key task of ensuring its security as well as maintaining its value and quality. Some unexpected events in the warehouse such as temperature fluctuations and humidity changes, and other unwanted events may destroy the value of goods and products.In such circumstances, continuous monitoring of the warehouse and condition control should be carried out. Internet of Things (IoT) enables the development of various cost-effective solutions based on modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and infrastructure. IoT brings new opportunities and benefits for the development of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). This paper put in light some possibilities of IoT applications for a smart warehouse monitoring system. We present a model of IoT system that helps to overcome some shortcomings in existing solutions for warehouse monitoring control.

A paradoxical situation exists where vernacular building traditions are in a state of decline and are being replaced by modern counterparts, but they are repeatedly cited in the academic literature as exemplary models of environmental practice. This paradox is examined through research on whether vernacular passive cooling systems in the hot and dry climates of present-day Iran are practicable for the provision of comfortable indoor temperatures. Investigating their technical thermal performance as well as user perceptions and behaviour, positive and negative attributes of the cooling systems are identified. If conclusions about the long-term viability of vernacular buildings are to be drawn, then social, cultural, economic and environmental attributes need to be taken into consideration. Despite rather widespread and persistent assumptions, vernacular building traditions are not necessarily able to survive and the choices made by local people regarding the continuation or abandonment of specific traditions are influenced by a variety of cultural and practical factors. This substantiates the necessity of an integrated and holistic approach that engages with these variables in order to acquire a better understanding of the conditions for the survival of vernacular traditions.Le fait que les traditions architecturales vernaculaires se trouvent dans un état de déclin et sont remplacées par leurs équivalents modernes, alors même qu'elles sont citées à maintes reprises dans la littérature universitaire comme des modèles exemplaires de pratique environnementale, constitue une situation paradoxale. Ce paradoxe est étudié au travers de recherches visant à déterminer si les systèmes de refroidissement passif vernaculaires sous les climats chauds et secs de l'Iran d'aujourd'hui peuvent être mis en pratique pour assurer des températures intérieures confortables. L’étude de leurs performances thermiques techniques aussi bien que des perceptions et du comportement des utilisateurs permet d'identifier les attributs positifs et négatifs des systèmes de refroidissement. S'il faut tirer des conclusions concernant la viabilité à long terme des bâtiments vernaculaires, il est alors nécessaire de prendre en considération les attributs sociaux, culturels, économiques et environnementaux. En dépit de présomptions plutôt répandues et tenaces, les traditions architecturales vernaculaires ne sont pas nécessairement capables de survivre et les choix opérés par les populations locales quant à la poursuite ou l'abandon de traditions spécifiques sont influencés par divers facteurs culturels et pratiques. Ceci confirme la nécessité d'une approche intégrée et holistique qui, par ces variables, incite à acquérir une meilleure compréhension des conditions propres à assurer la survie des traditions vernaculaires. Mots clés: confort adaptatif, performances des bâtiments, attentes, traditions locales, occupants, refroidissement passif, architecture vernaculaire, Iran

ABSTRACT Monitoring damaged buildings in an area where an earthquake has occurred requires the use of techniques which provide rapid and safe measurements even in emergency conditions. In particular, remote sensing techniques like terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) can satisfy these requirements, since they produce very dense point clouds in little time and also allow an accurate geometric modeling of observed buildings. Nevertheless, strong constraints on TLS data acquisition geometry, such as acquisition distance and incidence angles, typically characterize an area in seismic emergency conditions. In order to correctly interpret the data, it is necessary to estimate errors affecting TLS measurements in these critical conditions. A reliable estimation can be achieved by means of experiments and numerical simulations aimed at quantifying a realistic noise level, with emphasis on reduction of artifacts due to data acquisition, registration and modeling. This paper proposes a data analysis strategy in which TLS-based morphological maps computed as point-to-primitive differences are created. The method can be easily used for accurate surveying in emergency conditions. In order to demonstrate the proposed method in very diverse situations, it was applied to rapidly detect deformation traces in the San Giacomo Roncole Campanile (Modena), the Asinelli tower (Bologna) and the Cantalovo Church (Verona), three buildings damaged by the Mw 5.9 Emilia Romagna 2012 earthquake (Italy).

Abstract: There is a growing concern on environmental impacts resulted from construction activities. Environmental assessment is a tool for reviewing, monitoring, checking and evaluating environmental performance for the construction industry, has been advocated. ...

New Zealand’s housing stock is well known for being cold, damp and resource inefficient. Beacon Pathway Limited aims to drive change in the New Zealand housing sector to see a significant improvement in the sustainability of our housing stock. In particular Beacon’s focus is on “ordinary ” homes and occupants – rather than the top 5 % niche normally the subject of eco home and high sustainability aspiration. In order to achieve this Beacon has developed two NOW Homes ® and nine NOW Home ® Renovations – houses built and renovated for an average budget for ordinary families which perform significantly better than the vast majority of New Zealand houses. These homes have been monitored in terms of their resource use, quality of the indoor environment and overall sustainability against key performance indicators and benchmarks set by Beacon. The homes have now demonstrated that development and retrofitting of these homes with current technology and for prices within the reach of ordinar...

In hot and humid climates thermal comfort can become a problem to the occupants of many residential buildings especially when they are not equipped with air - conditioning system. This paper presents out comes of an ongoing research work to investigate thermal comfort level in a naturally ventilated residential house in Malaysia using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Actual measurements of the temperature distribution, relative humidity and air flow pattern were conducted. CFD simulations on the model of the house allow us to visualize the temperature distribution and air flow pattern and velocity in the house. The thermal comfort in the house was found to be well outside the limits specified by ASHRAE standards. CFD simulation was used to investigate the effects of using a ceiling fan installed in the middle of the hall section and rotating at 150 RPM. It was found that the fan produced swirling flow pattern in the hall section resulting in a more uniform temperature dist...

Abstract: There is a growing concern on environmental impacts resulted from construction activities. Environmental assessment is a tool for reviewing, monitoring, checking and evaluating environmental performance for the construction industry, has been advocated. ...

Summary New Zealand's housing stock is well known for being cold, damp and resource inefficient. Beacon Pathway Limited aims to drive change in the New Zealand housing sector to see a significant improvement in the sustainability of our housing stock. In particular Beacon's focus is on "ordinary" homes and occupants - rather than the top 5% niche normally the subject of eco home and high sustainability aspiration. In order to achieve this Beacon has developed two NOW Homes ® and nine NOW Home ® Renovations - houses built and renovated for an average budget for ordinary families which perform significantly better than the vast majority of New Zealand houses. These homes have been monitored in terms of their resource use, quality of the indoor environment and overall sustainability against key performance indicators and benchmarks set by Beacon. The homes have now demonstrated that development and retrofitting of these homes with current technology and for prices w...

For nearly 50 years, geodesists and surveyors developed deformation monitoring techniques based on traditional land surveying equipment, such as theodolites, Electronic Distance Measuring Devices, both absolute at sub-millimetric accuracy (Mekometer, derived by a prototype of Physical National Laboratory, Teddington, UK), and interferometric (long arm Michelson laser interferometers) and submillimetric levels. From the 1980's onwards, these techniques were first supplemented and

This paper presents measurements of corrosion rate of reinforcement by means of the original method involving delimitation of the polarized area with an insulator. This method consists of a typical potentiostat connected with a three-electrode setup, in which a circular electrode used as the auxiliary electrode is placed on the surface of concrete, and the polarized area is delimited by making a notch along the whole thickness of concrete cover. The notch, finally filled up with resin, is ring-shaped with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the counter electrode. The results of this method were verified by conducting measurements in an aqueous extract from crushed concrete, with LPR and EIS methods. Its properties were modified to map various environmental conditions, e.g. strongly carbonated concrete, concrete saturated with chlorides, or concrete with satisfactory protective properties to reinforcement. Each of three extracts contained a polished rebar, and auxiliary e...

This paper proposes an approach to the creation of design tools that address the real information needs of designers in the early stages of design of nonresidential buildings. Traditional simplified design tools are typically too limited to be of much use, even in conceptual design. The proposal is to provide access to the power of detailed simulation tools, at a stage in design when little is known about the final building, but at a stage also when the freedom to explore options is greatest. The proposed approach to tool design has been derived from consultation with design analysis teams as part of the COMFEN tool development. The paper explores how tools like COMFEN have been shaped by this consultation and how requests from these teams for real-world relevance might shape such tools in the future, drawing into the simulation process the lessons from Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) of buildings.

The Parnassus Project was set up in 2010 as a multidisciplinary approach to the effects of extreme weather on cultural heritage involving the Engineering, Hydrography and Archaeology departments at the British Universities of Bath (now moved to UCL), Bristol and Southampton respectively. As the project nears completion, this paper is an investigation into the collaboration dedicated to preserving cultural heritage in the future. The project members from engineering and archaeology have worked closely together, collecting data, using and developing a range of technologies from each discipline to analyse buildings. Buildings are three dimensional environments and assessing the effects of climate change has to reflect this. The pooling of knowledge and equipment has led to the use of a wider range of technologies than would be in use by either discipline alone. Those technologies includes total station survey on buildings using AutoCAD and TheoLt to consider stability and proximity to water and 3D AutoCAD models in AutoDesk’s Algor structural analysis software to model structural integrity during increased flood risks, remote climate monitoring on/in the walls of chosen buildings together with electrical resistance tomography (ERT) on the walls to look at difference of structure, water and temperature on the outside and inside of walls for the impact of driving rain and freeze-thaw action and finally laboratory based weathering tests analysed using laser scanning and photogrammetry to quantify damage. This paper assesses the results of the collaboration from the perspective of each task and gives an overview of the results to demonstrate the possibilities and benefits of the interdisciplinary mixing of ideas, the aims of the project and technologies involved.