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Structural Engineering

Portland State University

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Detailed Energy Efficiency Strategies For Converting An Existing Office Building To Nzeb: A Case Study In The Pacific Northwest, Ali Alajmi, Abby Short, Janna Ferguson, Kalina K. Vander Poel, Corey T. Griffin Jan 2020

Detailed Energy Efficiency Strategies For Converting An Existing Office Building To Nzeb: A Case Study In The Pacific Northwest, Ali Alajmi, Abby Short, Janna Ferguson, Kalina K. Vander Poel, Corey T. Griffin

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is an attempt to identify a methodology for converting conventional energy consumption buildings to net-zero energy buildings (NZEB). The first step was rather different from the usual energy audit, which is to analyze a facility’s energy consumptions from both macro- and micro-scales. To implement such an approach, a governmental office building (Metro) in Portland, OR, was chosen as a case study. After a building model was validated against a real measurement, it was then used to evaluate different energy efficiency strategies (EESs) so as to reduce the energy consumption. The EESs showed a reduction in energy use intensity …


The Effect Of Microencapsulated Phase-Change Material On The Compressive Strength Of Structural Concrete, Chad Norvell, David J. Sailor, Peter Dusicka Jul 2013

The Effect Of Microencapsulated Phase-Change Material On The Compressive Strength Of Structural Concrete, Chad Norvell, David J. Sailor, Peter Dusicka

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Latent heat energy storage through phase-change materials (PCMs) is one possible strategy to control interior temperatures in buildings, improve thermal comfort, and passively reduce building energy use associated with heating and cooling. While PCMs integrated into building structure elements have been studied since the 1970s, challenges of integrating PCMs into building materials while maintaining their heat storage benefits have limited their application in practice. The recent introduction of microencapsulated phase-change materials provides the energy storage capability of PCMs in micron-scale, chemically-inert capsules that can be easily integrated into composite materials such as gypsum wallboard and concrete. The size and physical …