Search results for "CONSTRUCTION"
showing 10 items of 2670 documents
Fire safety investigation for road tunnel ventilation systems – An overview
2014
Abstract In recent years, research activities about fire events in tunnel have received a significant impulse, especially after several accidents. The Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) has a fundamental role about. Researchers have spent resources on various topics involving numerical tools as the performance of a ventilation system, the influence of this on the air flow motion in the tunnel or the methods for fire schematization, fire-induced smoke characterization, turbulence models, etc. One of the main phenomena to consider for the safety when a fire occurs in a tunnel is the possibility of the fire-induced smoke to rise the tunnel (backlayering). A well-designed ventilation system shal…
Corrigendum to “A procedure to calculate the five-parameter model of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules on the basis of the tabular performance…
2014
Only few manufactures provide the wide set of graphical data that are necessary to use high performance predictive tools for PV systems. On the other hand, reliable graphical data require accurate laboratory measurements that increase manufacturing costs. For this reason PV system designers have to choose between the use of cheap PV modules, lacking in technical data, and the reliable energy predictions that are possible only if the current–voltage characteristics are provided by the PV module manufacturers. This paper describes the procedure to evaluate the parameters of a one-diode equivalent circuit able to accurately epresent the electrical behaviour of a PV panel by means of the minimu…
A procedure to calculate the five-parameter model of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules on the basis of the tabular performance data
2013
Abstract Only few manufactures provide the wide set of graphical data that are necessary to use high performance predictive tools for PV systems. On the other hand, reliable graphical data require accurate laboratory measurements that increase manufacturing costs. For this reason PV system designers have to choose between the use of cheap PV modules, lacking in technical data, and the reliable energy predictions that are possible only if the current–voltage characteristics are provided by the PV module manufacturers. This paper describes the procedure to evaluate the parameters of a one-diode equivalent circuit able to accurately represent the electrical behaviour of a PV panel by means of …
A criterion for the assessment of the reliability of ASHRAE conduction transfer function coefficients
2010
This paper presents a new mathematical approach, which, when applied to conduction transfer functions (CTFs) of a multi-layered wall, is able to predict the reliability of building simulations. This new procedure can be used to identify the best set of CTF coefficients, which are a critical point at the core of the ASHRAE calculation methodology founded on the transfer function method. To evaluate the performance of different CTF coefficient sets, the authors performed a large number of thermal simulations on the multi-layered walls included in the ASHRAE Handbook, volume fundamentals, and on other walls typical of Mediterranean building heritage. Those data were employed to test an algorit…
Review of the energy and economic parameters involved in the effectiveness of grid-connected PV systems installed in multi-storey buildings
2014
Abstract The assessment of PV energy in an urban context is extremely complex because many factors have to be considered. Moreover, when the purpose is calculating the realistic amount of the electricity demand of a city that can be covered by the photovoltaic generation, it is necessary to estimate the number of photovoltaic systems whose installation is economically advantageous. Such a topic requires an economic analysis, which is affected by the number of energy and economic parameters involved and the values assigned to them to perform calculations. Some parameters are perfectly known and unvarying, like the paid incentives. Adversely, some parameters, like the efficiency degradation o…
The importance of reliable climatic data in the energy evaluation
2012
Abstract In the last few years, more and more attention has been focused on energy issues, as it is pointed out, for example, by the Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings and Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. However, in order to do that, reliable tools for technicians to design systems for such topics should be provided. Nowadays, several software are available; the weak point is the availability of reliable climatic data and, above all, the ones referring to solar radiation. In this work, after a short overview of the world climatic databases, a description of three statistical methods for the elaboration of a climatic…
Identifying First Responders Information Needs
2016
At the onset of an indoor fire emergency, the availability of the information becomes critical due to the chaotic situation at the emergency site. Moreover, if information is lacking, not shared, or responders are too overloaded to acknowledge it, lives can be lost and property can be harmed. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to identify information items that are needed for first responders during search and rescue operations. The authors use an educational building fire emergency as a case and show how first responders can be supported by getting access to information that are stored in different information systems. The research methodology used was a combination of literature review,…
Serious games as a virtual training ground for relocation to a new healthcare facility
2016
Purpose This paper aims to enquire into how building information modelling (BIM) and gaming can be integrated to support professionals in their learning about the spatial layout of a new building. This knowledge is important to prepare building operation and facilities management (FM). Design/methodology/approach Ingrained in task–technology fit theory, this paper reports from a case study of a serious game staged in the graphical environment of a building information model. A series of interviews with the client, subject-matter experts and software developers involved in developing the game were conducted. The industrial setting for the study is a major hospital construction project in No…
ICMM-a maturity model for software inspections
2010
Software inspection is widely acknowledged as an important method in software engineering. However, there is a need to better understand how to implement and improve inspection practices. This paper introduces Inspection Capability Maturity Model (ICMM), which provides support for assessment and improvement of software inspection practices in a software organization. The model has been developed iteratively based on a comprehensive literature survey and experiences from eight case organizations. This paper includes a detailed description of the used followed research process, the structure of ICMM and the rationale for the defined criteria. Additionally, the role of this kind of model in in…
Smart Technologies in Software Life Cycle
2007
In software life cycle models traditionally the main attention is being paid to the software development, including requirement gathering (specification), design, implementation and testing. Less research is devoted to the system maintenance and operation despite the fact that these aspects take up the main part of the duration of a successful system. In the paper smart technologies are being analysed - architectural designs and software components which using meta information on system and its usage conditions are able to solve efficiently the problems of maintenance and usage: data quality and performance monitoring, software flexibility and testability, context dependant user interface. …