Search results for "Building and Construction"
showing 10 items of 783 documents
An integrated energy simulation and life cycle assessment to measure the operational and embodied energy of a Mediterranean net zero energy building
2022
Abstract Net Zero Energy Buildings can play a key role in reducing the energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and the use of natural resources associated to the built environment. It is widely recognized that in low energy building a shift in relevance may occur from the operational to the embodied impacts. However, building performance assessment focus mostly on the operational phase and on primary energy consumption. This study aims to assess the energy and environmental impacts of a residential net zero energy building expanding the analysis to the full life cycle and to a wide range of environmental impact categories. The methodological approach integrates a non-steady state building ener…
Stiffness and strength of composite truss beam to R.C. column connection in MRFs
2015
Abstract The results of experimental and numerical investigations on the cyclic behavior of composite truss beam to reinforced concrete column connection of moment resisting frames are reported. The beams are constituted by a steel truss and end zone added rebar embedded within a concrete block cast in place, so that, after curing, the steel truss and the added rebar work together with the concrete matrix as reinforcement of the composite beam. Particularly, three specimens of two-span continuous beams were tested under monotonic and cyclic actions as three point bending test. With the goal to investigate about the behavior of the end zone of the beam integrated into a moment resisting fram…
Performance of Steel Fibrous Reinforced Concrete Corbels Subjected to Vertical and Horizontal Loads
2009
A softened strut-and-tie macromodel able to reproduce the flexural behavior of corbels in plain and fibrous concrete and with the presence of steel bars, including softening of compressed struts and yielding of main and secondary steel bars, is presented in this paper. The main focus of the proposed model is the determination of the load-deflection curves of corbels subjected to the coupled effects of vertical and horizontal forces bearing in mind the influence of the type of concrete (normal or high strength), of the fiber percentage and of the arrangement and percentage of the main and secondary (horizontal stirrup) steel bars. A validation of the proposed model is made therefore with ref…
The use of steel angles for the connection of laminated glass beams: Experiments and modelling
2012
Abstract In the present paper the experimental results relative to three-point bending tests on multilayer glass beams and on semi-rigid connections realised with stainless double web angles are presented and discussed. Small and medium size glass beams were tested and load–deflection curves and crack patterns at failure were recorded. The laminated glass specimens, of equal cross-section, were characterised by three different combinations of annealed float and fully thermally tempered glass plies and different interlayers. Steel joints constituted by double web angles to connect two glass beams were tested adopting several geometrical configurations and using stainless steel bolts preloade…
Utilization of water glass as an activator in the manufacturing of cementitious materials from waste by-products
1987
Abstract In the present paper, the possibility of producing new-type cementless building materials is discussed when water glass as an activating agent is used. The experimental data are presented for a set of raw materials which normally do not show any binding ability. However, if they undergo some physico-chemical treatment and water glass is used, a solid structure of the material is formed. According to the method described here, lots of different mineral waste by-products could be activated, thus gaining binding properties.
The coffee-house: Upcycling spent coffee grounds for the production of green geopolymeric architectural energy-saving products
2023
This study investigates a possible alternative reuse of spent coffee grounds (SCG), the major residue of the brewing process, to manufacture green geopolymeric materials for innovative building applications in energy-saving construction, in line with the European Green Deal towards zero-energy building. Specimens were prepared by a combination of biomass fly ash from the Kraft paper-pulp process, as raw material (70 wt%), and SCG (up to 17.5 %), as filler. The high amount of reused bio-wastes makes the material fit the requirements for the Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) certification, in light of the Circular Economy (CE) approach. Sustainability is also boosted by the manufacturing p…
Enzymatic biodiesel: Challenges and opportunities
2014
The chemical-catalyzed transesterification of vegetable oils to biodiesel has been industrially adopted due to its high conversion rates and low production time. However, this process suffers from several inherent drawbacks related to energy-intensive and environmentally unfriendly processing steps such as catalyst and product recovery, and waste water treatment. This has led to the development of the immobilized enzyme catalyzed process for biodiesel production which is characterized by certain environmental and economical advantages over the conventional chemical method. These include room-temperature reaction conditions, elimination of treatment costs associated with recovery of chemical…
Convolution-based ensemble learning algorithms to estimate the bond strength of the corroded reinforced concrete
2022
Reinforced concrete bond strength deterioration is one of the most serious problems in the construction industry. It is one of the most common factors impacting structural deterioration and the major cause of premature decadence of reinforced concrete structures. Therefore, developing an accurate model with the lowest variance and high reliability for the bond strength of corroded reinforced concrete is very important. The current work evaluates the efficiency of convolution-based ensemble learning algorithms. To address these issues, convolution-based ensemble learning models are developed using a database collected from the previous experimental studies of relative bond strength for corro…
Lit environments quality: A software for the analysis of luminance maps obtained with the HDR imaging technique
2013
Abstract Energy performance of lighting systems has assumed a significant role in the assessment of buildings’ consumptions and consequently lighting design is aimed to reduce installed power but at the same time to achieve an excellent lighting quality both for visual and health purposes. Lighting design is nowadays essentially based on illuminance values on visual tasks and surrounding areas, but today designers’ and researchers’ interest is focused on the analysis of luminance maps obtained through video luminance meters or with numeric simulation tools. Luminance maps availability focus the attention on a more accurate study of the light reaching the eyes (luminance), rather than on the…
Effect of operating conditions and feedstock composition on the properties of manganese oxide or quartz charcoal pellets for the use in ferroalloy in…
2020
peer-reviewed The full text of this article will not be available until the embargo expires on the 26/12/2021 This study investigates the effect of heat treatment temperature on the properties of charcoal composite pellets used for the reduction of ferroalloys. The heavy fraction of biooil was used as a binder for the charcoal ore pellet preparation. The effect of heat treatment temperature on the pellet shrinkage was related to the degree of reduction which varied with feedstock and ore composition. The results showed that the size and shape of the charcoal pellets were not affected by the biooil devolatilization. Manganese charcoal pellets showed higher electrical resistance during pyroly…