A contribution for the quantification of the influence of windows on the airtightness of Southern European buildings

Almeida, Ricardo M. S. F.; Ramos, Nuno M. M.; Pereira, Pedro F.

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.01.012

Cited by 31 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…It includes the infiltrations plus the ventilation through the use of the windows. Additionally, we considered the following values for the infiltration air flow rate per internal volume through the envelope (n50), both in HULC and Design Builder: 5.72 h −1 for scenario 0 (original building), as reported by Fernández-Agüera et al [41] for multifamily social housing in Mediterranean Europe, and 4.91 h −1 for the improved scenarios (1 to 4), since according to Almeida et al [42], the average window contribution for the room permeability is 15% and we changed windows with air permeability of 50 m 3 /h•m 2 to 3 m 3 /h•m 2 (a reduction of 94%). Night ventilation of four renovations per hour during summer was considered in the two software tools, since all the studied buildings allow for crossed ventilation.…”

Section: Methodology To Estimate Energy Use Co 2 Emissions and Thermentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Retrofit of Social Housing with Cultural Value in Spain: Analysis of Strategies Conserving the Original Image vs. Coordinating Its Modification

2020

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Two renovation strategies were considered and compared in this paper for the energy renovation of social housing in condo buildings built in 1945–1969, situated in residential estates that have been declared urban areas of interest. One of the strategies, named here the image conservation approach, consists of renovating the building with very efficient solutions, except for the brick-facing walls, which will only have insulation in the existing cavities. The other strategy, the image coordination approach, consists of renovating the whole building with efficient solutions, including external insulation for existing brick-facing walls, and drawing up coordination plans for each of the residential estates in order to guarantee a coordinated new image of the residential estates. By means of three case studies in the city of Zaragoza and four scenarios of improvement, the two strategies are compared regarding the regulation compliance, the energy use, the emissions reduction, the thermal comfort, and the cost-effectiveness of the measures. The results show that the image coordination approach is the best strategy in regard to the studied aspects, achieving a 69%–79% reduction of CO2 emissions and a 75%–97% reduction of heating use, as well as being the only one capable of transforming these buildings into nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs).

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Section: Methodology To Estimate Energy Use Co 2 Emissions and Thermentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Retrofit of Social Housing with Cultural Value in Spain: Analysis of Strategies Conserving the Original Image vs. Coordinating Its Modification

2020

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“…The contribution of natural ventilation is also significant, and airtight frames for glazing systems are more and more adopted, in order to reduce energy consumption [4][5][6][7][8]. Almeida et al [9] showed that the windows' permeability indices can have a very wide range of variability (from 4.8 to 96.4 m 3 /h m 2 ), due to the year of construction, the frame material, and the opening system. Nevertheless, if the airtightness performance is too high, it can contribute to deteriorating indoor air quality (IAQ), due to the less air exchange [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mean Age of Air in Natural Ventilated Buildings: Experimental Evaluation and CO2 Prediction by Artificial Neural Networks

Buratti

Palladino

2020

Applied Sciences

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The mean age of air (MAA) is one of the most useful parameters in evaluating indoor air quality in natural ventilated buildings. Its evaluation is generally based on the CO2 monitoring within the environment; however, other methods can be found in the literature, but they have not always led to satisfactory results. In this context, the present paper is focused on two main topics: the effect of the windows airtightness and of the environmental conditions on MAA and the application of artificial neural network (ANN) for the CO2 prediction within the room. Two case studies (case study 1 located in Terni and case study 2 located in Perugia) were investigated, which differ in geometric dimensions (useful area, volume, window area) and in airtightness of windows. The indoor and outdoor environmental conditions (air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, air velocity, and indoor CO2 concentration) were monitored in 33 experimental campaigns, in four room configurations: open door-open window (OD-OW); closed door-open window (CD-OW); open door-closed window (OD-CW); closed door-closed window (CD-CW). Tracer decay methodology, according to ISO 16000-8:2007 standard, was compiled during all the experimental campaigns. A feedforward ANN, able to simulate the indoor CO2 concentration within the rooms, was then implemented; the monitored environmental conditions (air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and air velocity), the geometric dimensions (useful area, volume, window area), and the airtightness of windows were provided as input data, while the CO2 concentration was used as target. In particular, data of 19 experimental campaigns were provided for the training process of the network, while 14 were only used for testing the reliability of ANN. The CO2 concentration predicted by ANN was then used for the MAA calculation in the four room configurations. Experimental results show that MAA of case study 2 is always higher, in all the examined configurations, due to the higher airtightness characteristics of the window and to the higher volume of the room. When the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature increases, the MAA increases too, in almost all the investigated configurations. Finally, the CO2 concentration predicted by ANN was compared with experimental data; results show a good accuracy of the network both in CO2 prediction and in the MAA calculation. The predicted CO2 concentration at the beginning of experimental campaigns (time step 0) always differs less than 2% from experimental data, while a mean percentage difference of −18.8% was found considering the maximum CO2 concentration. The MAA calculated using the predicted CO2 of ANN was greater than the one obtained from experimental data, with a difference in the 0.5–1.3 min range, depending on the configuration. According to the results, the developed ANN can be considered an alternative and valuable tool for a preliminary evaluation of MAA.

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“…Windows are indispensable construction units for building facades, given their implications for basic aspects related to habitability and comfort such as watertightness [1], air permeability [2], lighting [3], etc. At the same time, these openings interrupt the continuity of external walls and amount to numerous singularities in the construction solution that still need to meet all requirements of the envelope, without decreasing the performance of the whole.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cataloguing of the Defects Existing in Aluminium Window Frames and Their Recurrence According to Pluvio-Climatic Zones

et al. 2020

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The sustainability of building envelopes is affected by its windows, since these establish the connection/separation between the indoor rooms and the external environment. They can also lead to problems if they do not offer sufficient protection against external agents. The data source in this research is unprecedented, as it is based on records of court sentences. There is a significant number of cases (1615), which provides high representativeness for the functional reality of windows. The methodology that was developed classifies the defects and the causes that were found, also analysing correspondence with their recurrence according to aspects of climatological location. In the results, the cases pertaining to water infiltration, air permeability and humidity by condensation are highlighted. This study provides a vision that categorizes problems related to aluminium windows that may be useful for future interventions by agents participating in the construction process.

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A contribution for the quantification of the influence of windows on the airtightness of Southern European buildings

Cited by 31 publications

References 19 publications

Energy Retrofit of Social Housing with Cultural Value in Spain: Analysis of Strategies Conserving the Original Image vs. Coordinating Its Modification

Energy Retrofit of Social Housing with Cultural Value in Spain: Analysis of Strategies Conserving the Original Image vs. Coordinating Its Modification

Mean Age of Air in Natural Ventilated Buildings: Experimental Evaluation and CO2 Prediction by Artificial Neural Networks

Cataloguing of the Defects Existing in Aluminium Window Frames and Their Recurrence According to Pluvio-Climatic Zones

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