Search results for "retrofit"
showing 10 items of 132 documents
Modelling load-transmission mechanisms in axially loaded RC columns retrofitted with steel jackets
2018
The use of steel jacketing technique is a common practice for retrofitting existing reinforced concrete (RC) columns, as it allows increasing load-carrying capacity and ductility of the member. When the external jacket has no-end connections – i.e. the jacket is indirectly loaded- the load sustained by the column is transferred from the inner RC core to the external jacket through shear stresses along the contact surface. The assessment of this mechanism is quite complex, due to the marked non-linear behaviour of constituent materials and to the calibration of a proper shear stress-relative slip constitutive law of the concrete-to-steel interface. In this paper, a step-by-step analytical ap…
Performance Analysis of Innovative Vacuum Insulation Panel
2013
Thermal insulation has become one of the central themes in energy behavior improvement. The use of insulating materials, from the thermal and hydrothermal aspect, allows the reduction of the heat transfer in each of the technical elements increasing their thermal inertia. Even if the research has led to the use of innovative materials with high values of thermal insulation, one of the main problems, which is difficult to resolve, is the thickness of the building envelope to reach levels of transmittance that can allow considerable savings of energy and CO2 emissions. With this objective the VIP (Vacuum Insulation Panel) technology in building applications is an innovative solution to obtain…
ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS FOR THE ENERGY RETROFIT OF EXISTING BUILDINGS
2015
Today is widely recognized that the main cause of CO2 production and of non-renewable energy consumptions in Europe is due to the building field. For this reason, to improve the energy performance of existing houses through an energy retrofit action (adapting their performances to those required by regulations) is an important strategy to reduce energy consumptions since they are much more than new ones, also representing an economic opportunity. In particular, an important approach in the reducing energy needs consists in the thermal insulation of the envelope, through the application of innovative technologies and materials. The paper will present the result of a research about the possib…
Artificial neural network decision support tool for assessment of the energy performance and the refurbishment actions for the non-residential buildi…
2017
The public buildings sector represents one of the most intensive items of EU energy consumption; the application of retrofit solutions in existing buildings is a crucial way to reduce its impact. To facilitate the knowledge of the energy performance of existing non-residential buildings and the choice of the more adequate actions, Public Administrations (PA) should have the availability of proper tools. Within the Italian project "POI 2007-13", a database and a decision support tool, for easy use, even to a non-technical user, have been developed. A large set of data, obtained from the energy audits of 151 existing public buildings located in four regions of South Italy have been analysed, …
Is the NZEB Benchmarking Approach Suitable for Assessing Energy Retrofit Design?
2013
Currently, many effort have been done to enable energy saving issues in building design and many definitions have been introduced for most performing constructions based on energy balance between energy demand and supply. Recently, the Net Zero Energy Building theory has bypassed old Passive House concept but many questions still remain open. Present work aims to estimate how NZEB requirements matching could be affected by the choice of their definition and the choice of weighting factor system, to be count in the energy balance. NZEB concept is mainly referred to new buildings design. Its application to existing buildings is for sure an hard task provided the architecture and physical cons…
Energy and economic analysis and feasibility of retrofit actions in Italian residential historical buildings
2016
Abstract The application of retrofit actions to existing building stocks can improve the energy performance of the residential sector. In this context, particular attention should be given to historical buildings, which represent a large part of the Italian building stock. To improve the energy performance of them, adequate retrofit actions must be applied. Many studies and regulations have focused on identifying the best refurbishment measures. However, the selection of these measures is difficult due to restrictive regulations, which are dictated by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, high retrofit costs, and variable climate zones. Thus, energy renovations in Italian buildi…
Scenarios of Climatic Resilience, Economic Feasibility and Environmental Sustainability for the Refurbishment of the Early 20th Century Buildings
2019
This paper aims to examine the theme of energy retrofit within the circumscribed field of refurbishment interventions on load-bearing masonry buildings built in the early 20th century. These include a remarkable share of the fabric of many European cities and, in particular, they can be found in geographical areas characterized by a Mediterranean (mild) climate. The main objective is to increase the climate resilience of the buildings by verifying the economic feasibility and the environmental sustainability of the interventions at the same time observing the specific architectural features of the buildings. We put forward alternative retrofit solutions carrying out synoptic comparisons of …
The effects of vegetation on indoor thermal comfort: the application of a multi-scale simulation methodology on a residential neighborhood renovation…
2017
Abstract Despite the acknowledged positive effects of vegetation at urban, neighborhood and building scales, there are still only limited comprehensive design tools for multi-scale evaluation of the microclimate and thermal benefits of plants and building-integrated vegetation (BIV) systems. The paper describes a case study in the city of Palermo (Italy) that applied simulation methodology to quantitatively assess the microclimate effects of different neighborhood and building retrofit scenarios where vegetation plays a main role. The simulation workflow moves from a micro-urban to a building scale assessment by linking the ENVI-met software to the building energy simulation program EnergyP…
Strategies for building energy retrofit in the mediterranean basin
2012
The paper focuses on passive and active strategies for achieving sustainable recovery of existing buildings in the Mediterranean Basin, in order to improve indoor comfort and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. The Mediterranean Basin is characterized by relatively mild winters and very warm summers. Although Mediterranean climate conditions offer excellent opportunity for the application of alternative energy sources (eg. wind, solar, hydroelectric), they are not very applied yet. Italy and Sicily in particular, comparing to most of EU countries , hang still behind in the application of innovative techniques for sustainable design and planning, and energy retrofitting of exi…
Building integrated solar thermal design: assessment of performances of a low cost solar wall in a typical Italian building
2016
Abstract Present work deals with the topic of building integration of solar thermal collector (BIST) as a refurbishment measure. Such equipment, more than its main function as heating generator, plays a specific role as a building component (envelope finishes, thermal insulation layer, roof cover etc). Consequently, from a heat transfer point of view, an integrated component affects twice the global building balance: supporting the thermal plant (i.e. providing heat for final uses) and modifying the wall heat-transfer pattern (i.e. reducing thermal losses). In turn, the collector performance itself is influenced by the wall structure (back losses reduction). Present work proposes a method f…