“Virtual Design Studio”—Part 2: Introduction to overall and software framework

The “Virtual Design Studio (VDS)” is a software platform for integrated, coordinated and optimized design of building energy and environmental systems. It is intended to assist management, architectural and systems design teams throughout the early to detailed building design stages as analyzed in Part 1 (DOI: 10.1007/s12273-013-0110-2). This paper presents an overview of the VDS design and method of software implementation, including system composition, architecture, graphical user interface (GUI), and simulation solver integration. A VDS user workflow is also illustrated with a simplified design example.     

SMART Sprinkler Protection for Highly Challenging Fires—Part 1: System Design and Function Evaluation

An experimental study was conducted to prove the concept of a new protection system—a sprinkler system that uses Simultaneous Monitoring, Assessment and Response Technology (SMART). The present work focuses on the system design and function evaluation at the component level. The objective is to demonstrate the feasibility that the SMART sprinkler system can provide adequate protection to highly challenging fires. The new protection system has several key functions including multi-sensor detection, real-time fire location calculation, dynamic sprinkler activation and wireless communication coordinating the system components. A series of fire detection, sprinkler activation and fire suppression tests were carried out to evaluate these system functions. Results show that a combination of smoke and temperature sensors can detect the fire at a very early stage, with the fire size reduced by one order of magnitude, and provide sufficient data to locate the fire. A thermal centroid based algorithm can determine the fire location within less than 50% of the sprinkler spacing on average. The sprinkler activation (six units) concentrating water discharge in the vicinity of the fire can suppress and even extinguish the fire under certain experimental conditions. These results confirm that the design objectives have been achieved. The experimental data also provide crucial information to assess system performance in full-scale tests.     

The Äspö pillar stability experiment: Part I—Experiment design

The Äspö pillar stability experiment was carried out to examine the failure process in a heterogeneous and fractured rock mass when subjected to coupled excavation-induced and thermal-induced stresses. The rock pillar was created by the excavation of two adjacent large-diameter boreholes. The pillar was loaded by a combination of excavation-induced stresses and heating of the surrounding rock by a rectangular heater pattern. The experiment was designed using the observation design method. The characterzation of the experiment volume showed that the experiment was located in a fractured water-bearing rock mass that was considered typical for the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Äspö HRL) and for the Fenno-Scandinavian shield. Scoping calculations using two- and three-dimensional elastic stress analyses were carried out to reduce the uncertainty for the far-field in-situ stresses, establish the geometry for the access tunnel that would provide a elevated uniform stresses in the floor of the tunnel, and determine the optimum width of the pillar. It was concluded, based on the rock mass characteristics, that a 1 m-wide pillar formed by two 1.75 m diameter boreholes would meet the design objectives. Thermal modelling showed that thermally induced stresses in the pillar were adequate to elevate the pillar stresses above the stress magnitude required to initiate failure.Acoustic emission, displacement, and thermal monitoring systems were installed according to the experiment design without problems. No sensors were lost over the three month duration. After the experiment was completed, a laser scan of the pillar revealed the extent of the damaged pillar. The experiment commenced in January 2002 and was successfully completed in 2006.     

CROSS—BOUNDARY跨界-“interior design”

从室内设计师身份的确认来探寻和认知高层心灵对我们设计的呼召,回归本源,提升灵魂,实现跨界。     

The “New” Evironmentalism: Behaviorism and Design

Abstract

URBINO: la storia di una citta e il piano della sua evoluzione urbanistica Giancarlo De Carlo With English captions and summary by Denise Scott Brown. Marsilio Editori, Padua, 1966. n.p.     

Computer-aided energy—conscious design: primary school

New Local Authority school designs in Britain are required to better the thermal performance criteria laid down by the Department of Education and Science Design [1]. Such rules meet the need for background performance checks, but are unable to respond to design decision-making related to optimising the interaction between the building envelope and the climate, to minimise the use of applied energy.

In a recent 240-place primary school development project certain strategic decisions were required concerning the nature of the building fabric—the possible range of choice extended from earth-protected heavyweight to lightweight construction.

An interactive thermal prediction computer program BUILD provided an hour by hour simulation of each building model-type over a whole year and the results were used to decide on the most suitable structure to achieve a cost-effective energy-conscious design.     

Continental Roofs: Some New Clues—Part I

Abstract

From the point of view of vernacular architecture France is still the terra incognita of Western Europe, and from ignorance of the French evidence several misconceived theories have developed among scholars in northern Europe. The poinçon (hung king-post) which is probably the most typical feature of French roofs is not a true post but a vertical brace in the dominant family of principal rafter roofs. The most common types of relation between posts, wall-plates and tie-beams are 'reversed assembly' and the 'anchor beam', common in most parts of France as in other Western European countries. The origins of these current vernacular patterns may be found in medieval aisled buildings (barns or market-halls) at a time when the French rafter roof was only found in buildings of high economic and artistic status. In vernacular architecture the French rafter roof has a mainly southern distribution and comprises only three basic types.

The roof of the medieval peasant house before 1400 was seemingly of ridge-post type, but in Romance countries ridge-post roofs are associated with principal rafters. Still widespread in France, they are very common in many parts of northern Spain. Except in Galicia, the vernacular names of the ridge-post (or at least of its elementary forms) come from the Latin 'furca.'     

从1K House到10K House——美国麻省理工学院建筑系Option Studio回顾

通过对美国麻省理工学院建筑系高年级Option Studio“1K House”到“10K House”教学历程记录和课程脉络的梳理,介绍MIT近年建筑教育探索的一个方向;展现该课程对美国建筑教育的反思和改进,以及对当代建筑前沿问题的关注和回应.     

DeST—An integrated building simulation toolkit Part II: Applications

This is the companion paper of part I of DeST overview. DeST was developed as a building simulation tool with the aim of benefiting both design of and research on building energy efficiency. During its development, DeST has been applied to many projects, development of building regulations, and research. This paper gives examples of several areas in which DeST has been applied, including building design consultation, building commissioning, building energy conservation assessment, a building energy labeling system, and scientific research. Examples from a demonstration building are presented to demonstrate the entire process of aiding design with DeST. Additional projects and regulations are also mentioned to introduce other applications of DeST.     

Wind and Fire Coupled Modelling—Part I: Literature Review

Wind and fire phenomena can together be a devastating force, whether in the case of a building fire, release of smoke in an urban area or forest fire near an urban habitat. Most of the fire phenomena are influenced by the wind, usually for the worse. If we want to understand fires, we have to understand wind as well, and model it appropriately. This modelling is described by the discipline of Computational Wind Engineering, from which we are able to transfer invaluable knowledge to coupled wind-fire analyses. This two-part review is dedicated to such a transfer. In Part I, the authors describe the historical and most current instances of wind and fire coupled modelling, referred to as simple models, in situ measurements, wind tunnel experiments or numerical studies with CFD. The review is subdivided into six categories, namely flame behaviour in wind conditions, indoor flows, natural smoke ventilators, tunnel ventilation, wildfires and firebrand transport, and urban dispersion of smoke. Besides flame behaviour, all remaining topics are covered, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, with multiple references to valuable experimental and numerical studies. In Part II of the review, the authors describe the best practices of Computational Wind Engineering, that may be transferred to fire-oriented numerical studies. This part provides good practice guidelines, reference studies and a proposal for the optimisation of the simulation procedure for coupled wind and fire models.     

Behavior of Steel–Concrete Partially Composite Beams Subjected to Fire—Part 1: Experimental Study

Partially composite steel–concrete beams are commonly used in building construction, and so the behavior of such beams in fire is an important problem. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the response of two composite beam specimens subject to fire exposure. The two specimens were nominally identical, except for the shear connection ratio. Based on room temperature calculations, one specimen was designed as fully composite, and the second was designed as partially composite with a 50% shear connection ratio. The concrete slab for each specimen was constructed with a flat steel deck and reinforcement was provided by a reinforcing bar truss. Both specimens were subject to a constant vertical load applied at four locations along the span and tested in a furnace with an ISO-834 standard fire. Both specimens achieved large deflections associated with flexural yielding of the composite beams and exhibited measured flexural capacities larger than predicted from Eurocode 4. Based on test measurements, the shear connection ratio had a significant influence on interface slip and uplift behavior of concrete slabs. Failure of the specimens was defined when the maximum deflection reached span/30. The fire exposure time needed to reach this definition of failure was nearly the same for both specimens, and was 51 min for the fully composite beam and 49 min for the partially composite beam. A companion paper considers the degradation of material properties with temperature and slips behavior of shear connectors at elevated temperatures and also provides an analytical approach to predict fire response of steel–concrete partially composite beams.     

Wind and Fire Coupled Modelling—Part II: Good Practice Guidelines

The requirement to model wind is inherently connected with the modelling of many fire-related phenomena. With its defining influence on fire behaviour, spread and smoke transport, the solution of a problem with and without wind exposure will lead to substantially different results. As wind and fire are phenomena that often require different scales of analysis and approaches to modelling, their coupling is not a trivial task. This paper is the second part of a two-paper review of the coupling between fire safety engineering and computational wind engineering (CWE). Part I contained a review of historical interactions between these disciplines, sorted into six distinct areas: flames, indoor flows, natural ventilators, tunnels, wildfires and urban smoke dispersion. This part of the review contains practical information related to wind modelling in fire analysis, based on various available CWE best practice guidelines. As the authors conclude, the most relevant of these are guidelines related to urban physics and natural ventilation; however, many more are discussed and presented, together with the results of other essential wind engineering experiments and computations. Introduction of wind as a boundary condition is explained in details, both based on wind statistics, or meso/micro scale coupled modelling. The guidelines for wind/fire coupled analyses are subdivided into recommendations for: building the digital domain, spatial and temporal discretisation, the consequences of the choice of a turbulent flow model, and the procedure for optimising CFD analysis of both wind and fire phenomena.     

Strength enhancements in cold-formed structural sections — Part II: Predictive models

Cold-formed structural sections are manufactured at ambient temperature and hence undergo plastic deformations, which result in an increase in yield stress and a reduction in ductility. This paper begins with a comparative study of existing models to predict this strength increase. Modifications to the existing models are then made, and an improved model is presented and statistically verified. Tensile coupon data from existing testing programmes have been gathered to supplement those generated in the companion paper [1] and used to assess the predictive models. A series of structural section types, both cold-rolled and press-braked, and a range of structural materials, including various grades of stainless steel and carbon steel, have been considered. The proposed model is shown to offer improved mean predictions of measured strength enhancements over existing approaches, is simple to use in structural calculations and is applicable to any metallic structural sections. It is envisaged that the proposed model will be incorporated in future revisions of Eurocode 3 [2,3].     

Beach protection and restoration Part II: a perspective of “soft” methods

In Part I (Vide previous issue) the authors underscored the world‐wide character of coastal erosion and particularly the shrinking of beaches. If nature is the causal agent, man clearly enhances the process. To counter the steady encroachment of the sea upon the land, several protective devices have been placed along the shores. Some of these were even conceived as means to bring about sand accretion in specific sites.

The results have been overall disappointing, or of local value only. In this paper beach protection and beach restoration methods that call upon the natural processes are examined. The “soft” approach to the problem includes implanting artificial reefs, placing vegetation, or fences, on dune or beach, and especially artificial beach nourishment.