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Publications (72)
Plasterboard is an important building material in the construction industry because it allows for quick installation of walls, partitions, and ceilings. Although a common material, knowledge about its performance related to modern polymers and fabrication conditions is still lacking. The present work analyzes how some manufacturing factors applied...
The structural and energy performance of the light-frame buildings is intrinsically linked, but the design process of both domains is not. Light-frame timber buildings are subjected to overheating due to the lack of thermal mass. A solution to eliminate or mitigate overheating is adding thermal mass, but the main drawback is increasing the seismic...
The building construction has a significant impact on sustainability worldwide. However, industrialised building systems (IBS) might reduce these impacts compared to traditional building systems (TBS). Previous literature reviews have analysed IBS's sustainability, based primarily on environmental aspects and through qualitative indicators, disrega...
Recently, living walls and vegetative roofs have emerged as envelope technologies that can save energy owing to the cooling effects of the building envelope. However, simulation models are required as part of the design support tools available for sizing greenery systems according to architectural constraints and climate. In this study, a green roo...
There is extensive literature showing the effect of solar shading devices on energy savings, preventing overheating and achieving occupants’ visual comfort in highly glazed office spaces. Nevertheless, solar protection devices can also significantly diminish the visual contact with the outside. This work evaluates the view to the outside through ex...
The building sector could have a high impact on the reduction of GHG emissions. Several countries have developed public policies to encourage Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) as one of the main approaches to reach their GHG reduction goals. Chile has adopted different goals and action plans to reduce fossil fuels and GHG emissions. However, there i...
Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are materials with high latent heat. When integrated into the glazing, they arise as an innovative strategy to improve thermal performance and provide thermal inertia in office buildings with a lack of opaque. Climates with high solar radiation and great temperature variation between day and night are especially intere...
Office buildings are usually characterized by low thermal inertia, which could cause underperformance in terms of energy consumption. Moreover, the use of large, glazed façades in office buildings can cause thermal and visual discomfort due to high solar heat gains and excessive daylight transmitted into the office space. Phase Change Materials (PC...
Urban air quality has been a long-standing problem in most cities worldwide. Many strategies have been proposed to solve it, including green infrastructures such as green roofs (GRs) and green walls (GWs) that provide multiple environmental benefits. Many studies have focused on GRs and GWs strategies to mitigate urban air pollution. However, to th...
Exposure to ambient PM 2.5 poses serious threats to human health. In such cases, the presence of green roofs (GRs) and green walls (GWs) has several environmental benefits, including the capture of the pollutant. Choosing appropriate designs of GWs and GRs to improve urban air quality is challenging because their performances depend on their consti...
Office buildings around the world are mostly designed with high window-to-wall (WWR) facades, regardless of the type of climate where they are located. Chile, a country with a high climate diversity from north to south and from the coast to the Andes, is no exception to this situation. In order to improve the thermal and visual performance of offic...
In order to save energy consumption in concrete buildings, there is a demand for structural cement-based materials with low thermal conductivity and sufficient compressive strength. This paper evaluates the effect of various proportion combinations of three concrete constituents namely, coarse expanded clay (CEC), fine expanded clay (FEC) and fly a...
In order to save energy consumption in concrete buildings, there is a demand for structural cement-based materials with low thermal conductivity and sufficient compressive strength. This paper evaluates the effect of various proportion combinations of three concrete constituents namely, coarse expanded clay (CEC), fine expanded clay (FEC) and fly a...
The mining industry is the largest electricity consumer in Chile. Sustainability reports of Chilean mining companies show that electricity consumption of mining camps is 350–500 kWh/m² per year. Despite cold climate conditions, mining camps show overheating, and 40% of the miners find them uncomfortable. Mining camps’ energy access is difficult bec...
Highly glazed façades in office buildings are often affected by excessive solar heat gains and daylighting. The use of exterior shading devices is one of the most effective strategies for controlling daylighting and solar heat gains through glazed façades and for maintaining the thermal and visual comfort. Exterior shading systems can either be fix...
This study analyzed and compared in detail two existing heat and mass transfer models for vegetative roofs, which were developed by Sailor (2008) and Tabares-Velasco and Srebric (2012). The main equations governing the heat transfer through a vegetative roof were compared side by side. Similarities and differences were highlighted. Both models were...
Currently, office buildings are designed with a high window to wall ratio (WWR), without external solar protection systems (CPS), causing visual and thermal discomfort and high building’s energy consumption. Complex fenestration systems (CFS), which include an external CPS, allow the mitigation of these problems. During the design process of a buil...
Current modelling approaches for energy simulations in green roofs use a range of values for parameters such as stomatal resistance (r s) of the vegetation. r s reflects the capability of a plant to transpire, thus it has a direct relation to the cooling potential of green roofs in buildings. Therefore, r s values need to be revised based on differ...
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of thermal inertia of the substrate of a vegetative roof on its thermal behaviour. Thermal inertia of the substrate was incorporated in two existing thermal models of vegetative (green) roof systems, the Sailor (2008) and Tabares and Srebric (2012) models. The predicted temperatures across the substra...
Vegetated or green roofs are sustainable roofing systems that have become increasingly widespread across the world in recent decades. However, their design requires accurate numerical modeling to fully realize the benefits of this technology at the building and larger scales. For this reason, several heat and mass transfer models for vegetated roof...
In the last two decades, the incorporation of green roofs and living walls in buildings has increased significantly worldwide because of their benefits such as building energy savings, promoting biodiversity, controlling water runoff , mitigating urban heat island effect, improving indoor and urban air quality, and connecting people with nature. Ho...
Fully glazed building façades often experience high solar heat gains and daylight transmission, resulting in high cooling energy consumption and visual discomfort. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of perforated exterior louvers for controlling solar heat gains through a fenestration system, providing visual comfort to th...
Green roofs offer a series of benefits to buildings and to the urban environment. Their use in dry climates requires optimizing the choice of their components (i.e., vegetation, substrate and drainage layer) for the specific local climatic conditions, in order to minimize irrigations needs while preserving the attributes of the roof. In this study,...
ESTA PUBLICACIÓN REÚNE 17 DOCUMENTOS PARA POLÍTICA PÚBLICA CON MIRADAS LOCALES SOBRE LA NUEVA AGENDA URBANA DE LA ONU QUE BUSCA SER UN APORTE A LA DISCUSIÓN DE LA CALIDAD DE VIDA EN LAS CIUDADES CHILENAS. CEDEUS es un centro interdisciplinario de investigación que busca la generación e intercambio de conocimiento con el fin de enfrentar los desafío...
Construction companies need to formulate sustainable construction business strategies to create a competitive advantage and remain in the market. This requires that construction firms incorporate sustainability into their business model. However, the current situation of the firm must be known before following the path to be a sustainable construct...
In a certain climate, the lighting and thermal performance of a building can be improved if the position of a fixed solar protection system of a complex fenestration system (CFS) is changed according to the period of year. The main objective of this paper is to optimize the lighting and energy performance of a fixed exterior horizontal and curved p...
Impervious areas change hydrological processes, reducing infiltration and evapotranspiration, and increasing direct runoff. Stormwater practices using green infrastructure are implemented locally to control runoff and preserve the hydrological cycle. Applying these techniques in semiarid and Mediterranean regions requires accounting for aspects rel...
Office buildings are greatly affected by solar heat gain and daylight transmission through fenestrations. External shading devices control the solar radiation transmission, thus they significantly influence building performance because of improving energy efficiency and visual comfort. Automated control systems for external shading devices to simul...
In Chile, about 20% of the energy is consumed by the residential sector. There is consensus in the country that the thermal performance standards for housing are extremely low, explaining the high amount of energy that is currently used for space heating. Nowadays, firewood accounts for close to 50% of this consumption. The high share of this fuel...
Buildings play an important role in energy use and greenhouse emissions. Vegetated roofs, so-called green roofs, offers many benefits beyond energy savings. Among different building types, retail stores with flat and large roof/walls ratio, offers a match for this technology. Despite this potential in retail stores the literature review shows a lac...
Core Ideas
Hydrodynamic and thermal properties of five green roof substrates were determined.
Coupled heat and water transport in a hypothetical roof was simulated.
The green roof substrates showed a large capacity to store and transport water.
Water retention, storage, and organic matter control substrate hydraulic behavior.
Green roofs integrate...
Shading devices control daylight transmission through fenestration systems, which influences the occupant's visual comfort and the building's energy performance. Fenestration systems containing a light-redirecting layer, such as shading devices, are known as complex fenestration systems (CFSs). Despite the increased optimization in the building per...
Highly thermal insulated building envelopes are the base of energy efficient buildings worldwide, however, concrete show poor thermal insulation properties. Developing a structural and thermal insulating concrete is challenging because improving thermal properties undermines mechanical properties. This study aims to understand the interactions betw...
Extensive vegetated roofs are claimed to save energy in buildings. It is well-known from the literature that the climate and vegetation-substrate parameters influence the impact of vegetated roofs on the buildings’ thermal performance. However, there are very few studies about the influence of thermal insulation and their conclusions do not agree w...
Semiarid regions, such as Central Chile, are characterized by high solar radiation and temperature. In this climate, current architecture of fully glazed façade office buildings might cause high cooling energy consumption due to high solar heat gains (SHG), even in winter periods. In Chile's Central region, the implementation of outdoor complex fen...
Resumen: Los edificios de oficina en Santiago han mostrado severos problemas de sobrecalentamiento, deslumbramiento y de alta demanda de refrigeración, lo que puede explicarse por el tipo de fachada utilizada en su envolvente. Con el objetivo de caracterizar los sistemas de fachadas utilizados en estos edificios, se diseñó un protocolo para medicio...
Complex Fenestration Systems (CFS) incorporate a non-specular layer within the window assembly (e.g. undulated and perforated screens). CFS are often incorporated to the building façade for improving building thermal and visual performance. Thermal–lighting simulations of spaces with CFS are carried out with different tools. However, an integrated...
The main objective in building design is to balance energy efficiency with healthy, comfortable and productive indoor environments for the occupants. Interior building openings, such as stairwells, are significant paths for the exchange of heat, air, moisture and pollutants. The interzonal airflow through horizontal openings has not been profoundly...
Complex fenestration systems (CFS) need to be evaluated to quantify how well they contribute to avoid glare and manage the solar heat gains through building façades. It is possible to use solar bidirectional properties of CFS in some building energy simulations tools in order to evaluate more accurately their impact on lighting, cooling and heating...
Each year, urban populations become larger and new buildings are needed to house them; consequently, urban green areas are reduced and hard surface density in cities is increased all over the planet. This increase in hard surfaces, such as concrete and metal, is one of the main responsible for the increment of urban temperatures, also known as the...
The aim of this paper is to study the influence of different parameters related to the vegetation and substrate of vegetated roofs (VRs) on the thermal and energy performance of a supermarket building. The main studied parameters of the substrate are density, thermal properties and moisture content while the evaluated vegetation parameters are plan...
Green roofs integrate vegetation into infrastructures to reach benefits that minimize negative impacts of the urbanization. Green roofs use artificial soils (substrates) that have an improved performance compared to natural soils. In this work, we characterized four substrates in terms of their hydraulic and thermal properties, and performed numeri...
Overheating, high cooling energy demand and glare are common concerns in office buildings in Santiago de Chile. Complex Fenestration Systems (CFS), which include an external shading device, represent a means to control these problems, reducing cooling energy demand and enhancing visual comfort. The present paper evaluates and compares the thermal a...
In Office buildings in Chile, cooling energy demand is higher than heating demand. The climate of the country show important differences between cities by the ocean and those of interior regions. Main cities of Central Chile are Santiago and Valparaíso, both located at around 33°S. Santiago presents a Mediterranean climate, with a high temperature...
Overheating, glare, and high-energy demand are recurrent problems in office buildings in Santiago, Chile (33° 27'S; 70° 42'W) during cooling periods. Santiago climate is warm and dry, with high solar radiation and temperature during most of the year. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the thermal and daylighting performance of office buildi...
Complex Fenestration Systems (CFS) are those that incorporate a non-specular layer within the glazing assembly, such as a shading device. CFS are often used in buildings for simultaneously enhance thermal and visual comfort and reducing energy consumption. Currently existing tools allow performing efficient lighting and thermal annual simulations o...
Download: http://www.ricuc.cl/index.php/ric/article/view/506/pdf
Prediction of airflow pattern velocities, temperature, moisture and pollutants concentration is required to design healthy and comfortable indoor environments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the most advanced technique to model and predict the airflow in enclosed environments....
This paper undertakes a study to investigate the heat transfer through a horizontal opening connecting two rooms in a full-scale two-story test-hut with two ventilation strategies, namely ventilation with downward net flow through the opening and independent balanced ventilation in each room. The horizontal opening represents a stairwell opening in...
Prediction of airflow pattern velocities, temperature, moisture and pollutants concentration is required to design healthy and comfortable indoor environments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the most advanced technique to model and predict the airflow in enclosed environments. However, the main errors in CFD models and their results are link...
Prediction of different air distribution parameters is required to design healthy and comfortable indoor environments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the most advanced technique to model the indoor airflow. The robustness and reliability of CFD models and their results strongly depend on the experience and judgment of users to properly defin...
The socio-economic conditions of a country and the overall practices of the construction industry towards Sustainable Construction (SC) are critical factors to define the foundations for developing and carrying out a strategic plan to advance in sustainable construction. This paper reports the results of a study about SC practices currently impleme...
The main challenge for construction industry today is sustainability. Bamboo has properties that make it sustainable, but its fire behavior remains unknown. This paper presents an exploratory research on fire behavior of Guadua angustifolia kunth (a.k.) bamboo. Fire reaction was assessed through critical heat flux for ignition and flame spread whil...
Moisture transport by convection through large horizontal openings in dwellings, such as staircases, could have significant impact on the level, variation and distribution of humidity in each zone of dwellings. Yet, most studies and simulation tools of heat, air and moisture transport in buildings do not consider nor properly model this phenomenon;...
The aim of this paper is to study the air and moisture transport through a large horizontal opening in a full-scale two-story test-hut with mixed ventilation by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. CFD allows extending the experimental study presented in the companion paper [1] and overcoming some limitations of experimental dat...
Horizontal openings in dwellings, such as staircases, provide large paths for air and moisture transport between floors. They play an important role in the moisture transport from a moisture-source room to the rest of the house. The phenomenon, however, has been barely studied. The objective of this research is to study the moisture transport throu...
To investigate the relative performance of the drying capacity of building envelope systems it is important to (i) establish uniform initial moisture conditions in the wall panels, (ii) have a moisture source that can be measured and monitored as the moisture evaporates, and (iii) have a moisture source of sufficient size to provide enough vapor to...
Hexahydrated Magnesium Chloride or Bischofite is a salt.
It has different properties that enable it to be useful as a chemical stabilizer of granular road surfaces: its capacity of absorbing and retaining humidity from its surrounding environment, increases water surface tension and decreases its vapor pressure. The objective of this research was t...
Hexahydrated Magnesium Chloride or Bischofite is a salt.
It has different properties that enable it to be useful as a chemical stabilizer of granular road surfaces: its capacity of absorbing and retaining humidity from its surrounding environment, increases water surface tension and decreases its vapor pressure. The objective of this research was t...
Un objetivo fundamental al diseñar un espacio habitable, es asegurar el bienestar térmico de sus ocupantes, con una demanda energética compatible con las actividades desarrolladas al interior del mismo. En Chile, la vivienda social no cumple con este objetivo, debido a: (1) las viviendas no son diseñadas teniendo en mente este objetivo; (2) un alto...
A test has been designed to study the moisture interactions between the envelope, indoor and outdoor conditions, and ventilation rates in residential buildings. The measurements to be carried out correspond to the hygrothermal response of walls, room moisture buffer capacity, detailed indoor airflow pattern and RH variations in rooms, and the moist...
Indoor RH is an important parameters used to evaluate occupant comfort, mould growth, condensation risk, and energy consumption. A single RH value for the whole room is typically used. However, RH can vary across the room due to air moisture variation and temperature stratification. Besides the very limited experimental studies about RH distributio...
Horizontal openings in dwellings, such as staircases, provide large paths for air and moisture transport between floors. They play an important role in the moisture distribution from a moisture-source room to the rest of the house. The phenomenon, however, has only been barely studied. The objective of this work is to study the moisture transport t...
