Search results for "construct"
showing 10 items of 3723 documents
Composite Building Materials: Thermal and Mechanical Performances of Samples Realized with Hay and Natural Resins
2017
Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 Recent years have seen an increasing public interest in issues related to energy saving and environmental pollution reduction in the building sector. As a result, many directives have been issued, the most important being the Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD Recast) on the energy performance of buildings, which requires that "Member States shall ensure that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings". This goal can be obtained not only by reducing energy demand for heating and cooling, but also, for example, by improving building envelope performances. In this work, a first analysis of the thermal and structural behavi…
A novel hybrid polygeneration system supplying energy and desalinated water by renewable sources in Pantelleria Island
2017
Abstract In this paper a thermoeconomic analysis of a novel hybrid Renewable Polygeneration System connected to a district heating and cooling network is presented. The plant is powered simultaneously by solar and geothermal sources, producing electricity, desalinated water, heat and cooling energy. System layout includes Parabolic Through Collector (PTC) field, geothermal wells, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) unit and a Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) system. Cooling and thermal demands are calculated by suitable building dynamic simulation models, calibrated for Pantelleria Island. Electrical demand is obtained by measured data. A detailed control strategy has been implemented in order to pr…
Factors affecting the choice of construction project delivery in developing oil and gas economies
2016
ABSTRACTConstruction academics and practitioners often disagree on which set of factors should take precedence over another and the basis for their inclusion in selecting a project delivery method. This disagreement exacerbates the probability of project failure, which could be detrimental to developing economies. Despite significant cost overruns and these economies being the largest contributors towards global energy sector growth, there is limited knowledge on appropriate factors to be used for selecting project delivery methods in developing oil and gas nations. An evaluation undertaken in Trinidad reveals there are no significant differences in the mean expressed by 133 professionals i…
Modelling relationship among energy demand, climate and office building features: A cluster analysis at European level
2016
Abstract More than one-third of the energy demand of industrialised countries is due to achieving acceptable conditions of thermal comfort and lighting in buildings. Energy demand in buildings depends on a combination of several parameters, such as climate, envelope typologies, occupant behaviour, and intended use. Indeed, assessing a building’s energy performance requires substantial input data describing constructions, environmental conditions, envelope thermo-physical properties, geometry, control strategies, and several other parameters. This has been a very active area of research in recent years, and several numerical approaches have been developed for building simulation; furthermore…
Fundamental period of infilled reinforced concrete frame structures
2016
AbstractThe fundamental period of vibration appears to be one of the most critical parameters for the seismic design and assessment of structures. In the present paper, the results of a large-scale analytical investigation on the parameters that affect the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures are presented. The influence of the number of storeys, the number of spans, the span length, the infill wall panel stiffness and the percentage of openings within the infill panel on the fundamental period of infilled RC frames was investigated. Based on these results, a regression analysis is applied in order to propose a new empirical equation for the estimation of the fundamental per…
Prediction of the additional shear action on frame members due to infills
2014
Infill masonry walls in framed structures make a significant contribution to the response under seismic actions. With special regard to reinforced concrete (RC) structures, it is known that internal forces modifications caused by the frame–infill interaction may be not supported by the surrounding frame because of the additional shear forces arising at the ends of beams and columns. Such additional forces may lead to the activation of brittle collapse mechanisms and hence their prediction is basic in capacity assessment, especially for structures that disregard the details for seismic zones. In this paper a parametric study is carried out addressed to the prediction of the shear forces ment…
How is Building Information Modeling Influenced by Project Complexity?
2014
Virtual design and construction of buildings and architectural spaces require extensive collaboration among a diverse set of design professionals. The authors analyze e-collaboration performance in two construction projects of differing complexity, to gain an understanding of how collaborative design based on building information modeling (BIM) is influenced by the complexity of the building project. The findings suggest that the perceived business value of BIM depends on project complexity and that BIM-based collaboration does not yield unconditional positive implications for all types of construction projects. The authors argue that current practice would benefit from a more structured ap…
The links between smart specialisation strategy, the quintuple helix model and living labs
2018
This paper analyzes how the Living Labs can be designed as tools for a more effective implementation of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) within the Quintuple Helix Model. Above all, the Quintuple Helix espouses the formation of a constructive situation encompassing ecology, knowledge and innovation, and creating extensive synergy between economy, society, and democracy. In this paper, we shall be focusing on the Quintuple Helix and Living Labs geared towards creating a shared arena in which services, processes and new ways of working via technology can be developed and tested with user representatives and researchers. Since the Living Lab is a rather new research area, the number of s…
A Review of Building Information Modelling for Construction in Developing Countries
2016
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is wide ly seen as a catalyst for innovation and productivity in the construction industry. BIM can assist a more sustainable construction process that in turn may contribute to eradicating poverty in developing c ountries (Un ited Nation Millennium Goals). While BIM is increasingly be ing adopted in developed coun tries, implementations in the developing country context are rare. Research has establishe d how construction firms struggle from several limitations having to do with the socio - economic and technological environment found in developing countries. Examples of issues preventing BIM adoption include a shortage of IT - literate personnel as wel…
How to unleash the innovative work behavior of project staff? The role of affective and performance-based factors
2017
Abstract Although the literature generally presumes that temporary forms of organizing such as projects are especially suitable for generating innovation, empirical support for this assumption that goes beyond case-based evidence is still scarce. The study at hand aims to close this gap in research by investigating how the characteristics of temporary organizations (TOs) affect an individual's innovative work behavior (IWB). By applying a structural equation modeling approach on an Austrian-German sample of 583 TO professionals, it can be shown that both, performance-based factors and affective factors are having a significant impact on the emergence of IWB. However, the hypothesized modera…