Other Engineering Commons^™

Research On Control Methods Of Roof Radiant Cooling System, Yongbin Li, Zhaoyi Zhuang, Qiqi Zhu, Jian Song, Haipeng An

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Taking the capillary ceiling radiation air conditioning system in radiation cooling Laboratory of comprehensive experimental building in Shandong Jianzhu University as an example, research the two different control methods which are room temperature control and water temperature control. The roof cooling model was established by using TRNSYS simulation software, two typical summer days were selected to explore the stability of the room temperature and the supply and return water temperature, research the comfort of human body and system energy consumption under two control methods. The results show that the indoor temperature of the two control methods can be stable at …

Gas Generation, Haorong Li, Daihong Yu, Yanshun Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A first system includes a feedstock load port and a feedstock discharge port. The first system also includes a tank configured to retain biomass feedstock for aerobic biodegradation. The first system further includes a mechanical ventilator in fluid communication with the tank. The mechanical ventilator is configured to supply air to facilitate the aerobic biodegradation of the biomass feedstock. The first system also includes an exhaust port configured to receive gas generated during the aerobic biodegradation. A second system includes a feedstock load port and a feedstock discharge port. The second system also includes a pressure vessel configured to retain …

Linking Geospatial Engineering Into Collaborative Multidisciplinary Bim Projects - An Educational Perspective, Avril Behan, Helen Murray, Jonathan Argue, Ronan Hogan, Audrey Martin, Pat O'Sullivan, Robert Moore, Malachy Mathews

Conference papers

This paper describes the background to and execution of a postgraduate project undertaken by students on DIT's MSc in Geospatial Engineering (GeoEng) in support of a project on level 2 BIM being undertaken by students on the MSc in applied Building Information Modelling & Management (aBIMM) around the retrofit of and new build extension to the Grangegorman Clock Tower Building. In support of this requirement, an external and internal survey of the existing structure and its surrounding topography was required. The aBIMM students and staff acted as the Design Team who subcontracted the Geo Eng group who were organised into …

Study On The Methods For Predicting The Performance Of A Hybrid Solar-Assisted Ground-Source Heat Pump System, Zhaoyi Zhuang, Qiqi Zhu, Jian Song, Xin Zhang, Haorong Li

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

It is critical to find suitable setting parameters for designing a hybrid solar-assisted ground-source heat pump system in the practical engineering application, but the heat pump performance is unpredictable after many years of operation. This paper used 2000 sets of performance data collected from solar-assisted GSHP systems that keep operating over 20 years to simulate long term used heat pump with a professional software called GeoStar. Adopted the classification and regression tree (CART) method, the design of solar energy collector areas can be predicted. The multi-linear regression is also utilized to predict average monthly per meter borehole heat exchange. Seasonal …

Research On The Cooling Characteristics In Building Interior Zones Using Displacement Ventilation System, Zhaoyi Zhuang, Yongbin Li, Qiqi Zhu, Jian Song, Haipeng An, Haorong Li

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The outdoor low temperature fresh air can be used as a free cold source to eliminate waste heat for the building interior zones during the transition season and winter. This paper takes a project in Hunan as an example, and the project building interior zones is 25m×7m×3.9m(L×W×H). Using Fluent software to simulate the temperature field and velocity field both the interior and exterior zones of the engineering offices. The simulation results show that using the displacement ventilation system to take the outdoor air into inner rooms not only cooling but also improving the air quality and adding comfort. According to …

Performance And Energy Efficiency Analysis Of Data Center Cooling Plant By Using Lake Water Source, Li Ling, Quan Zhang, Liping Zeng

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A cooling plant by using lake water source was proposed to cool the space in data centers. It combines free cooling technology and variable capacity technology to remove heat and reduce energy consumption effectively. In this paper, firstly, the control strategies for this cooling plant were proposed. Then, a detailed annual energy consumption model with considering the effect of the dynamic heat dissipation characteristics of servers, lake water temperature, outdoor weather conditions, and cooling plant thermal performance, will be established to evaluate the performance and energy efficiency of this cooling plant under different load factors. The results show the mode …

Hvac System Remote Monitoring And Diagnosis, Jeffrey N. Arensmeier, Gregg M. Hemmelgarn, Fadi M. Alsaleem, Priotomo Abiprojo

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A monitoring system for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building includes a monitoring device installed at the building, a monitoring server located remotely from the building, and a review server. The monitoring device measures an aggregate current Supplied to components of the HVAC system and transmits current data based on the measured aggregate current. The monitoring server receives the transmitted current data and, based on the received current data, assesses whether failures have occurred in first and second components of the HVAC components. The monitoring server generates a first advisory in response to determining that …

Project Impact: A Case Study Of Developing A Manufactured Construction Workforce Through Contextualized Training, Arefeh Mohammadi, Kevin R. Grosskopf

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

With a looming shortage of skilled craft workers forecast to exceed 2 million by 2017, prefabrication may become a necessity for many U.S. contractors attempting to remain competitive with a smaller, lower-skilled workforce. Building components manufactured in a controlled, offsite environment have proven to reduce time, cost and site logistics while improving productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. However, entry-level workers, including more than 765,000 recession displaced manufacturing workers, often lack the basic skills necessary to retrain for jobs in manufactured construction. As a result, a $ 6.3M U.S. Department of Labor grant was awarded to an institutional consortium to develop …

A Case Study Of Upper-Room Uvgi In Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms By Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements, Chunxiao Su, Josephine Lau, Fang Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic research. In this case study, real-time bioaerosol monitors (RBMs) were applied in elementary school classrooms—a densely occupied environment—along with upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices. The classrooms were separated into a UVGI group and a non-UVGI control group. Fluorescent bioaerosol counts (FBCs) were monitored on 20 visiting days over a four-month period. The classroom with upper-room …

Social Sustainability Indicators In Mass Housing Construction, Ali Karji, Asregedew Woldesenbet, Mostafa Khanzadi

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

In the construction industry, buildings constitute more than half of the new construction built in the world. With the rapid growth of population in urban areas and high-energy consumption of buildings, considerable attention and efforts have been devoted to creating a sustainably built environment. As a result, various sustainable rating systems, principles and tools have been developed in recent years. This paper presents efforts underway for evaluation of sustainability in mass housing construction projects in the Middle East from a social aspect. The study reviews reports, guidelines and best practices at national and international levels to detect key sustainability indicators. …

Heat - Pump System With Refrigerant Charge Diagnostics, Fadi M. Alsaleem, Gregg H. Hemmelgarn

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A heat-pump circuit may include an indoor heat exchanger, an outdoor heat exchanger, a compressor adapted to circulate a working fluid between the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers, and an expansion device disposed between the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers. A monitor for the heat-pump system may include a return-air temperature sensor, a supply-air temperature sensor, and a processor. The return-air temperature sensor may be adapted to measure a first air temperature of air upstream of the indoor heat exchanger. The supply-air temperature sensor may be adapted to measure a second air temperature of air down stream of the indoor …

Lifelong Housing Design: User Feedback Evaluation Of Smart Objects And Accessible Houses For Healthy Ageing, Matteo Zallio, Niccolò Casiddu

Conference Papers

According to the latest research by the European Community and ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) surveys, Europe has the highest average age for its population. According to those data, in the near future, it could be necessary to move from a welfare model based on the centralization of care systems, to a system based on the distribution of certain healthcare facilities [1]. This means that the ageing population is ever increasing, thanks to better lifestyles, innovative medical care and wider access to different services. This work seeks to observe and analyse key implications of architectural and interior design features …

Thermal Mass Behaviour Of Concrete Panels Incorporating Phase Change Materials, Dervilla Niall, Roger West, Sarah Mccormack, Oliver Kinnane

Conference papers

Phase Change Materials (PCM) have been incorporated into a range of building envelope materials with varied success. This study investigates two different methods of combining concrete and phase change materials to form PCM/concrete composite panels. The first method involves adding microencapsulated paraffin to fresh concrete during the mixing process. The second method involves vacuum impregnating butyl stearate into lightweight aggregate which is then included in the concrete mix design. The primary aim of the study is to determine which method is the most effective way to improve the thermal mass characteristics of a concrete panel in the context of a …

Development Of Coordination Control For Multiple Rooftop Units, Denchai Woradechjumroen, Haorong Li, Akekachai Deesiri

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Rooftop Units (RTUs) have been widely applied in providing space heating and cooling for commercial buildings. In total, they serve over 60% of the commercial building floor space in the U.S. Even through the current control approaches of a RTU can maintain the zone temperature corresponding to a set point temperature, it performs inefficiently due to several factors such as limited sensing capability, non- coordinated local control, inherent oversizing effects and so on. In addition to unnecessary power consumptions, the current control and operation technology on RTUs also lead to the space humidity problem, equipment efficiency degradation, and premature failure. …

A Need For Evidence-Based And Multidisciplinary Research To Study The Effects Of The Interaction Of School Environmental Conditions On Student Achievement, Josephine Lau, Lily M. Wang, Clarence E. Waters, James A. Bovaird

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Healthy Schools initiative, a research team from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on establishing how environmental conditions in K-12 school buildings impact student scholastic achievement. The objectives of the research project are: (1) to study comprehensively the impacts of a wide set of indoor environmental factors (including indoor air quality, thermal, lighting and acoustic conditions) on student achievement; (2) to investigate how these environmental conditions interact with each other to impact student achievement; (3) to rank order the environmental variables in terms of their relative impact on …

Fault Diagnosis Of Refrigerant Charge Based On Pca And Decision Tree For Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems, Jiangyan Liu, Huanxin Chen, Jiangyu Wang, Guannan Li, Haorong Li, Wenju Hu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems are easily subjected to performance degradation due to refrigerant leakage, mechanical failure or improper maintenance after years of operation. Ideal VRF systems should equip with fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) program to sustain its normal operation. This paper presents the fault diagnosis method for refrigerant charge faults of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems. It is developed based on the classification and regression tree (CART) algorithm. Data of the experimental VRF system is used to test the advantages of the CART method. Results show that the decision tree can achieve desirable diagnosis efficiency on undercharge faults, …

Cognitive Radio For Smart Grid With Security Considerations, Khaled Shuaib, Ezedin Barka, Nedaa Al Hussien, Mohammed Abdel-Hafez, Mahmoud Alahmad

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate how Cognitive Radio as a means of communication can be utilized to serve a smart grid deployment end to end, from a home area network to power generation. We show how Cognitive Radio can be mapped to integrate the possible different communication networks within a smart grid large scale deployment. In addition, various applications in smart grid are defined and discussed showing how Cognitive Radio can be used to fulfill their communication requirements. Moreover, information security issues pertained to the use of Cognitive Radio in a smart grid environment at different levels and layers are …

A Prediction Method For Overall Economic Value Of Fault Detection And Diagnostic Tools For Rooftop And Split Systems, David Yuill, James Braun

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) tools for air-conditioning application may perform well or poorly, but it is difficult to characterize this performance in a meaningful way. Some recently proposed evaluation techniques have provided various statistics to characterize FDD performance, but these results can be difficult for a potential adopter of FDD to understand. A new method of characterizing FDD performance by predicting the overall economic value of the FDD tool is proposed in this paper. It is applicable to FDD tools intended for air-cooled unitary airconditioners, such as rooftop units (RTU) and split systems. The method gives an estimated dollar …

Normalized Effect Of Condenser Fouling And Refrigerant Charge On Performance Of Vapor Compression Air Conditioning Systems, Mehdi Mehrabi, David Yuill

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Several laboratory experiments have studied the effect of faults on vapor compression cycle air-conditioning systems. There has been a particular focus on refrigerant charge variation, which is believed to be quite common in air conditioners, and a lesser focus on heat exchanger fouling. The majority of the published results evaluate the fault effects on particular system operating parameters in one unit. For example, the effect on capacity and efficiency are typically evaluated. The results differ from one study to the next. The current paper summarizes the effects for all of the results available in the literature for condenser fouling and …

Student Absenteeism And The Comparisons Of Two Sampling Procedures For Culturable Bioaerosol Measurement In Classrooms With And Without Upper Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation Devices, Chunxiao Su, Josephine Lau, Shawn G. Gibbs

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Upper room ultraviolet germicidal irradiance (UVGI) has been shown to reduce the concentration of bioaerosols in controlled chambers. However, there is a lack of experimental results on the reduction of bioaerosol concentrations by UVGI devices in actual uncontrolled buildings. This study was carried out in an American elementary school in the Midwest. Two sampling procedures were carried out in six selected classrooms with similar dimensions that were separated into two groups: (1) UVGI exposure group and (2) non-UVGI control group. Two-stage Tisch culturable impactors were utilized to collect airborne culturable bacteria and fungi. Monthly samples were collected during unoccupied period …

Fault Detection And Diagnosis Process For Oversizing Design On Multiple Packaged Air-Conditioning Units, Denchai Woradechjumroen, Haorong Li, Thanapat Promwattanapakee

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems are seldom designed or commissioned properly. The situation leads to abrupt or degradation faults resulting in inefficient energy uses, excessive energy consumption and high service costs. To solve these aforementioned problems, fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) is utilized to firstly detect any abnormal conditions of a system and then diagnoses and determines their causes. In order to apply this concept in HVAC oversizing designs, this paper proposes the state-of-art procedure of a FDD procedure for analyzing the inherently faulty design (oversizing) of multiple packaged air-conditioning units used to supply cooling for an open …

Compressor Having A Control And Dagnostic Module, Hung M. Pham, Fadi M. Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

An apparatus includes a Voltage sensor, a current sensor, and a controller. The Voltage sensor measures Voltage values of alternating current power Supplied to a capacitor. The capaci tor is electrically coupled to a compressor. The current sensor measures current values of the alternating current power. The controller is configured to receive the Voltage values and the current values. The controller is configured to determine a first power factor value based on at least one of the voltage values and at least one of the current values. The controller is configured to selectively detect a first capacitor fault in response …

Exploring Emerging Technologies For The Built Environment Circa 2015 For Use In Architectural Engineering And Related Majors, Connor J. Hanlon

Architectural Engineering

For this senior project I am seeking to combine my knowledge of Structural Engineering with Construction Management. For this task, I have decided to look at Building Information Modeling (BIM). In this project I investigate the BIM tools Trimble Tekla Structures and Autodesk Navis- works Manage. Tekla is a modeling, fabrication, and design program. Navisworks is a visualiza- tion and Clash Detection tool. For this project I have identiÅied two main goals relating to Navis- works and Tekla:

1. Create content to allow students and professors learn how to use Tekla and Navisworks

2. Determine the capabilities of these softwares, and Åigure …

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Subjective Perception Of Varying Reflection Densities In Room Impulse Responses, Hyun Hong

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Reverberation time (RT) is a metric commonly used to describe room acoustic conditions, but different rooms which have the same reverberation time can have different reflection densities. Much less is known about how humans perceive different reflection densities and how sensitive humans are to changes in reflection density. Previous investigations in the existing literature have studied the upper limit of distinguishable reflection density using artificial impulse responses, but not with more realistic impulse responses simulated in room acoustic software or measured from real rooms. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate methods for quantifying reflection density from measured impulse …

Cultural Change Through Bim: Driving Lean Transformation In Education, Avril Behan, Malachy Mathews, Kevin Furlong, Ciara Ahern, Una Beagon, Peter Brennan, Colin Conway, Lee Corcoran, Pierce Fahy, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley, Trevor Woods

Conference papers

This paper presents a case study of how the adoption of BIM-based practices in the AECO industry is being reflected by cultural change in higher education in Ireland. The silo-mentality that has dominated the AECO sector for more than a century has, despite numerous reorganisations, been replicated in the structures of educational institutions, including in Dublin Institute of Technology since the inception of its founding colleges in the late 1800s. Most AECO programmes must include content that is external to the programme’s specific discipline. Through the School structures of the Institute, delivery of such content is known as "service teaching" …

Thermal Energy Storage In Building Integrated Thermal Systems: A Review. Part 2. Integration As Passive System, Dervilla Niall, Sarah Mccormack, Philip Griffiths, Luisa Cabeza, Lidia Navarro, Albert Castell, Alvaro De Grazia, Maria Brown

Articles

Energy consumption trends in residential and commercial buildings show a significant increase in recent decades. One of the key points for reducing energy consumption in buildings is to decrease the energy demand. Buildings envelopes are not just a structure they also provide protection from outdoor weather conditions always taking into account the local climate. Thermal energy storage has been used and applied to the building structure by taking advantage of sensible heat storage of materials with high thermal mass. But in recent years, researchers have focused their studies on the implementation of latent heat storage materials that if well incorporated …

Using Photogrammetry To Document, Analyze, And Reverse-Engineer Grave Markers, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

There are a wide range of applications for three-dimensional (3D) data in archaeology, and a diverse array of methods for collecting and analyzing those data. In this article, free 3D photogrammetry software (Autodesk 123D Catch) is used to document a series of grave markers. The data are subsequently exported to Geomagic Design X to demonstrate and briefly discuss the various potential analyses that might be used to illustrate the effects of preservation treatments and marker degradation through time. Further, one marker is reverse-engineered, illustrating the capacity of 3D modeling to expedite the process of design, should elements warrant replacement. Additional …

Air Change Rate Vs Airflow Pathway: Bioaerosol Containment And Removal In Patient Rooms, Kevin R. Grosskopf

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Recent studies have shown that higher air change rates may have the unintended consequence of creating turbulent airflows that entrain high concentrations of infectious particles within the breathing zone, and possibly, breakdown pressure relationships necessary to contain the spread of infectious particles to other clinical spaces.

Ventilation Rates And Airflow Pathways In Patient Rooms: A Case Study Of Bioaerosol Containment And Removal, Ehsan S. Mousavi, Kevin R. Grosskopf

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Most studies on the transmission of infectious airborne disease have focused on patient room air changes per hour (ACH) and how ACH provides pathogen dilution and removal. The logical but mostly unproven premise is that greater air change rates reduce the concentration of infectious particles and thus, the probability of airborne disease transmission. Recently, a growing body of research suggests pathways between pathogenic source (patient) and control (exhaust) may be the dominant environmental factor. While increases in airborne disease transmission have been associated with ventilation rates below 2 ACH, comparatively less data are available to quantify the benefits of higher …

Adaptive Predictive Functional Controller, Fadi Alsaleem, Arvind Rao

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A controller device and a method for controlling a system that utilizes an adaptive mechanism to self-learn the system char acteristics and incorporates this adaptive self-learning ability to predict a control parameter correctly to provide precise control of a system component.