The thermal behavior of three different walls, made with and without by-products, is assessed by means of the Finite Element Method, aiming to evaluate its performance in terms of the sustainable construction of the blocks. Results were compared to those obtained from an experimental campaign, aiming at validation of the model. The by-products used for the blocks were “lime sludge” and “sawdust”, whose performance was compared against the traditional blocks made of concrete as a reference, aiming to demonstrate its sustainability, showing decreases of the thermal transmittance up to 10.5%. Additionally, following the same methodology, the thermal behavior of these above-mentioned blocks but now with added internal insulation made of “recycled cellulose” was assessed, showing higher decreases up to 25.5%, increasing sustainability by addressing an additional reduction in waste, so the right combination of using by-products and the insulating filler in their cavities has been revealed as a promising way of optimizing the walls, offering a relevant improvement in energy savings. Finally, when comparing the U-values of the blocks made of concrete without insulation versus those made of by-products, with insulation, improvements up to 33.3% were reached. The adaptation of the procedure through a moisture correction factor was also incorporated.
This paper evaluates the indoor temperature and relative humidity of three construction systems in a Dominican social housing scheme, located in different micro-climates present in the Dominican Republic (DR). For the latter, we used DesignBuilder to model the most common type of social housing (S1). In addition, we have also modelled two other improved construction systems (S2 and S3), which have been the result of two different studies, which were conducted in DR. The simulations were carried out in 10 cities. These cities belong to the following five micro-climates: tropical wet Savanna, tropical wet rainforest, tropical wet jungle, dry semiarid and wet temperate. In this article, we have evaluated the construction systems’ performance in the context of thermal conditions inherent to DR. The latter has been done to verify which of the evaluated construction systems is the most adequate for each micro-climate. For this, we determined the average operating interior temperatures and relative humidities for each construction system. We conclude that Samples S2 and S3 show the lowest temperatures in warm climates, while Sample S1 shows improved performance in colder climates. S1 exhibits the lowest values of relative humidities, followed by S3, while S2 presents the highest values.
The daily lives of the world population were impacted and went into crisis mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which, as of November 2019, has taken over us. The changes in everyday behavior have generated consequences in all aspects of life hindering the labor, education, and recreational sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic has led us to analyze and rethink relevant or predominant factors for choosing a home. The workplace, location of the best schools, safety, and economic aspects are of great influence when it comes to choosing a home. During this past year, not all of these factors played a role since we have been forced to continue with all of our activities from home. But what happened to the population that did not consider space, ventilation, and even access to fresh air or recreation when choosing their home? Where the economic factor, as well as access to work and/or school environments, have always prevailed. With this in mind, a survey was performed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of discovering the effects of spaces, electronic devices, and access to basic services during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are crucial for current telecommuting and distance learning processes.
The vertical growth of cities is a general phenomenon in many countries, aiming to address a more efficient use of space, due to the high cost of the urban area. In the Dominican Republic, approximately 11% of households are apartment buildings, being the second predominant group of residential buildings. According to the National Statistics Office (ONE), the construction of this type of residential buildings is growing significantly, especially in the biggest city of the country. This research has analyzed the interior thermal behavior of these types of households using DesignBuilder®, an energy and environmental simulation software, searching for passive alternatives to allow the reduction of interior temperatures, as a result of overheating because of the tropical climate conditions. The most common type of four levels buildings have been analyzed in this study, through the evaluation of different parameters, such as the optimal orientation, the effect of using sunshades in the windows, and the modification of the building envelope. The objective of the study if to identifying the best alternatives to achieve the thermal comfort of the building, without the use of active control climate techniques such as air conditioning.
Smart and sustainable communities seek to ensure comfortable and sustainable quality of life for community residents, the environment and the landscape. Pollution is a key factor affecting quality of life within a community. This research provides a detailed insight into a successfully developed and deployed framework for an environmental monitoring platform for an urban study to monitor, in real time, the air quality and noise level of two cities of the Dominican Republic—Santo Domingo and Santiago de Los Caballeros. This urban platform is based on a technology range, allowing for the integration of multiple environmental variables related to landscape and providing open data access to urban study and the community. Two case studies are presented: The first highlights how the platform can be used to understand the impact a natural event, for example, how dust landscapes (such as the Sahara) impact a community and the actions that can be taken for wellness and preventive care. The second case focuses on understanding how policies taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 affect the air quality and noise level of the landscape and community. In the second case, the platform can be used to expand the view of decision makers in the urban landscape and communities that are affected.
Reutilizar subproductos para el desarrollo de bloques de hormigón que sean más sostenibles y con mejores propiedades térmicas, para el sector de la edificación es una necesidad y buena alternativa a desarrollar en el sector construcción. Se realizó un análisis del ciclo de vida (ACV) a los bloques con y sin subproductos, a fin de cuantificar los beneficios medioambientales que conllevaría la incorporación de estos subproductos en los bloques. El ACV se realizó de acuerdo con lo establecido en la norma EN-ISO 15804, que establece las reglas de cálculo para el análisis de productos de construcción. Este análisis se ha realizado mediante la herramienta de software “Eco-it”, con un alcance de la cuna a la puerta. Con base a los resultados se puede concluir que, la sustitución parcial del árido fino por las virutas y del cemento por los lodos de cal en la mezcla, es una vía alternativa para obtener bloques más respetuosos con el medio ambiente y a su vez con mejores propiedades térmicas.
In developing countries, large quantities of agricultural residues associated with harvests are generated, given that agriculture is one of the most important economic activities. The valorization of these residues for the construction sector could contribute to the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings. Through passive techniques, the construction of insulating thermal-acoustics panels, blocks, and aggregate for reinforced concrete can improve the energy efficiency. In this study, an experiment was performed to measure thermal conductivity of the Agricultural-Thermal Insulation Panel (ATIP) based on rice hulks. These Agricultural-Thermal Insulation Panels were elaborated follow a standard process to compaction of the rice hulks to be employed as insulation material with a panel dimension of 200x200x34.5(mm3). A “Hot Box” configuration was used to obtain the thermal conductivity of the panels, using different temperature gradients between hot and cold chambers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.