No abstract

This paper describes the effect analysis on ultraviolet radiation environments in the summer in actual urban street for various tree planting types using a numerical simulation tool previously developed. As an index of UV environment, in order to evaluate UV radiation received by the human body in an urban street, we used UV scalar luminance after considering the weighting factor for the surface area of the human body. A holiday promenade as a typical type of actual urban greenery area was selected for the analysis. We planted several types of trees different tree crown shapes and planting position for the street to compare the effects of the greenery. Simulation results showed that diurnal variations of UV scalar luminance for the tree planting types are different from the direction of human and sky view factor. For UV environments in an urban street, we received high reflected UV radiation from building façades and paved surfaces, including areas with shadows depending on the area. Therefore, spreading tree crown shapes will not only reduce UV radiation, but combining multi-layered planting with both tall and low tree coverage is effective.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Different functional areas within general hospitals have varying environmental requirements, with relatively high energy consumption. A comprehensive evaluation of the operational performance’s rationality is of great significance in hospitals’ energy conservation efforts. This study conducted an annual post-occupancy evaluation of a general hospital located in a hot summer and cold winter area in east of China. Two hundred and seventy-eight valid online satisfaction questionnaires, sixty valid point-to-point questionnaires, indoor environment data of each typical season, and energy consumption data were obtained. The overall indoor environment of the selected hospital met the standard requirements. The results showed that occupant satisfaction was influenced by gender, working hours, and length of stay. The annual energy consumption level of this building was 84.7 kWh/m2, which is significantly lower than that of other public general hospitals in China and general hospitals in developed countries. The energy consumption of the inpatient department was directly related to the hospital days, with an increase of 12.2 kWh/m2 for every 1000 additional hospital days. A new indoor environment quality (IEQ) model and a new comprehensive evaluation model for energy efficiency were established. Overall, the outpatient department exhibited superior performance compared to the inpatient department. These evaluation models can help owners and decision-makers in the identification of environmental performance in hospitals.

This paper describes an along-wind vibration of frame-type pylons of Hakucho Suspension Bridge found from longterm vibration monitoring data. It is shown that the vibration is very harmonic although its amplitude is small and it occurs under certain ranges of wind direction (10~30 degree from the bridge perpendicular axis) and of wind velocity (13~25 m/s). The dominant frequency of the vibration is either 0.6 Hz or 0.8 Hz depending on the wind velocity and these correspond to the natural frequencies of the in-plane pylon dominant modes of the suspension bridge. A series of the wind tunnel experiments using a spring-supported scaled model are conducted under uniform flow and the alongwind pylon vibration was observed and its vibration characteristics is found to be consistent to those observed in Hakucho Bridge. It is also found that the vibration is very sensitive to the incident angle of wind and to the distance between the two columns.