Airtightness in New and Retrofitted U.S. Army Buildings

Zhivov, Alexander; Herron, D.; Durston, J. Lee; Heron, Matthew; Lea, George

doi:10.1080/14733315.2014.11684026

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Due to this large energy penalty, extensive research has been performed to develop methods for determining the air leakage rate of building envelopes [1][2][3][4][5]. Among these, blower door tests [6] are most commonly used to gather air leakage measurements of commercial buildings for research purposes [7] or to comply with building code requirements [8][9][10]. Additionally, various methods have been proposed to simulate air leakage in buildings [11][12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Simplified Methodology to Estimate Energy Savings in Commercial Buildings from Improvements in Airtightness

et al. 2018

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Air leakage through the envelope of commercial buildings in the United States accounts for approximately 6% of their energy use. Various simulation approaches have been proposed to estimate the impact of air leakage on building energy use. Although approaches that are based on detailed airflow modeling appear to be the most accurate to calculate infiltration heat transfer in simulation models, these approaches tend to require significant modeling expertise and effort. To make these energy savings estimates more readily available to building owners and designers, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Air Barrier Association of America, and the US Department of Energy (DOE) are developing a user-friendly online calculator that applies a detailed airflow modeling approach to examine energy savings due to airtightness in commercial buildings. The calculator, however, is limited to 52 US cities and a few cities in Canada and China. This paper describes the development of an alternative, simplified method to estimate energy savings from improved airtightness. The proposed method uses the same detailed approach for hourly infiltration calculations as the online calculator but it expands the ability to estimate energy savings to all US cities using hourly outdoor air temperature as the only input. The new simple regression model-based approach was developed and tested with DOE’s standalone retail prototype building model. Results from the new approach and the calculator show good agreement. Additionally, a simple approach to estimate percent energy savings for retrofitted buildings was also developed; results were within 5% of the energy saving estimates from the online calculator.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Simplified Methodology to Estimate Energy Savings in Commercial Buildings from Improvements in Airtightness

et al. 2018

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“…This situation seems to show that although codes focus on air barrier materials, unexpected defects affecting the airtightness of the whole building are still noticed onsite [9,16,22,26]. However, by developing appropriate testing and inspection measures, it is possible to achieve excellent leakage performance [22,27] as demonstrated by USACE's newest buildings with their average leakage rate of 0.9 L/s•m 2 @ 75 Pa [28]. The industrialized context of prefabricated structures favors the integration of more stringent monitoring as shown by the USACE buildings [13,27,28].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, by developing appropriate testing and inspection measures, it is possible to achieve excellent leakage performance [22,27] as demonstrated by USACE's newest buildings with their average leakage rate of 0.9 L/s•m 2 @ 75 Pa [28]. The industrialized context of prefabricated structures favors the integration of more stringent monitoring as shown by the USACE buildings [13,27,28]. This is especially true for modular structures that are 90% complete in industry and can rely on a controlled environment for the total completion of more complex sealing details [10,29].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Case-Study: Fully Prefabricated Wood Wall Connection to Improve Building Envelope and On-Site Efficiency

2022

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As fully prefabricated wood walls (FPWW) are envisioned to increase building envelope performance, the junction between panels becomes crucial. Since FPWW restricts access to the inter-panel joints, it is preferable to generate an upstream mechanism to complete the joint automatically on-site. This study aimed to design a self-sealing joint for FPWW that would achieve high energy standards and accelerate on-site construction. Airtightness tests and thermal bridge assessments were conducted in the laboratory to compare the developed self-sealing joints with different sealing materials. These same tests were conducted on-site, in addition to observations of the assembly speed of conventional prefabricated walls and FPWW. Of all the materials tested, butyl tape showed the tightest connections. This material helps the joint developed to automatically seal adjacent walls spaced up to 7 mm apart. FPWW maximize the industrialization of conventional prefabricated walls by realizing the sealing details and the installation of doors, windows and exterior siding offsite. This way, FPWW could reduce the duration of a conventional single-family residential project. FPWW maximize quality control while reducing transportation costs associated with conventional modular solutions.

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Improved Building Airtightness

Zhivov

Lohse

2020

Deep Energy Retrofit

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Airtightness in New and Retrofitted U.S. Army Buildings

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

A Simplified Methodology to Estimate Energy Savings in Commercial Buildings from Improvements in Airtightness

A Simplified Methodology to Estimate Energy Savings in Commercial Buildings from Improvements in Airtightness

Case-Study: Fully Prefabricated Wood Wall Connection to Improve Building Envelope and On-Site Efficiency

Improved Building Airtightness

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