Zbigniew Suchorab

• Ph.D. D.Sc.
• University Professor at Lublin University of Technology

Capillary rise is a dangerous phenomenon touching many objects built of aerated concrete which is a porous material and highly prone to water influence in case of any horizontal water insulation failures. Aerated concrete is the artificial building material offering both suitable strength parameters and heat insulation properties. Water migrating f...

W niniejszym opracowaniu omówione zostaną dwa popularne narzędzia do wspomagania projektowania. Jednym z nich jest program AutoCAD. Jest on podstawowym oprogramowaniem graficznym, które możemy obecnie spotkać praktycznie w każdym, nie tylko szanującym się biurze projektowym. Drugą omawianą aplikacją jest pakiet programów InstalSystem w wersji firmy...

Computer Aided Designing is one of the most important enhancements for the new generation engineers, especially in Environmental Engineering discipline. It is almost not possible to be a professional designer of the complicated sanitary systems who’s working with tracing- or graph-paper and the technical pens, drawing complicated solutions and doin...

Zasolenie przegród budowlanych to powszechny problem wielu obiektów, a w szczególności historycznych. Jony soli przemieszczające sięz wodąw przegrodach budowlanych sąprzyczynąich zniszczenia. W dużych stężeniach krystalizująwewnątrz porów struktury materiału budowlanego i niszcząją. Sąrównież bardzo uciążliwe przy renowacjach obiektów zabytkowych z...

The article presents the experiment which determines moisture influence on aerated concrete heat conductivity parameter. Applied experimental setup consisted of two climatic chambers generating cold and hot temperatures on two sides of the sample which was equipped with necessary sensors to measure temperature, heat-flux and moisture. For moisture...

This study explores the application of materials used in 3D printing to manufacture the housings of non-invasive sensors employed in measurements using a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) meter. The research investigates whether sensors designed with 3D printing technology can serve as viable alternatives to conventional invasive and non-invasive sen...

This article presents problems related to the storage of building material samples and discusses the related requirements and standards. Solutions for containers to store material samples were proposed and tests were performed in accordance with the EN ISO 12570 standard to demonstrate that all the water that may have condensed during the samples’...

Accurate determination of moisture in buildings helps to prevent many problems, structural or health and hygiene. The Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique can be used to determine moisture in buildings. This technique offers the possibility to perform measurements directly in the field without major destruction of the measured buildings. This...

This article shows the possibility to adopt Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning method to predict moisture of building materials measured by the Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) method. TDR is an indirect technique of moisture detection. It enables to evaluate apparent permittivity of moist material and then predict moisture using physical or empi...

In this article, the results of studies testing the anisotropy of autoclaved aerated concrete in terms of water and heat transport are presented. Using image analysis techniques, a study was conducted on four different samples of concrete produced in the same process. To ensure the comparability of results, the pictures were taken from a fixed dist...

The article presents the possibility to use microwave contactless measuring system for evaluation of moisture of porous media, mainly building materials utilizing the frequency domain analysis. In the article the description of microwave sensing technique is presented and the methods of microwave data analysis described. In the second part of the m...

The article presents the comparison of two methods of microwave data analysis for evaluation of moisture content in porous materials. The content of the paper covers the short description of microwave technique for moisture evaluation and the description of the two methods of microwave data analysis – the time domain and frequency domain. In the se...

This work deals with the estimation of the apparent permittivity value of PLA polymers using the reflectometric technique. Physical and chemical properties of polylactide are discussed. Test samples were prepared using 3D and FDM printing technology. The samples were examined using a time domain reflectometry multimeter, and then the obtained resul...

Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is an artificial building material commonly applied in energy efficient buildings. Blocks of AAC are characterized by relatively homogenous distribution of pores and their dimensions. However, during manufacturing there occurs irregular pores positioning which may influence water transport processes. This phenomeno...

This article provides an overview of the various techniques used to measure the salt content of building materials. The authors discuss the importance of salinity measurement, as high salinity can lead to degradation and damage in building materials. They then consider the traditional methods of salinity measurement, including conductivity measurem...

The paper presents the linear regression model of moisture detection technique in the building material (clinker brick). In particular, the assumptions of linear regression model, which play very important role, are emphasized. The obtained data present the dependence between the moisture of clinker brick, evaluated gravimetrically and permittivity...

The article presents the description of moisture detection technique in building materials and comparison of two techniques of analysis. More precisely, two models of linear regression, with linear and polynomial dependencies are presented. The readouts present the dependence between the moisture of ceramic brick, evaluated gravimetrically and perm...

The aim this paper is to present the simulation of the building in the computer program PyroSim by Thunderhead Engineering based on the FDS calculation engine. The article presents simulations of the use of smoke vents and their impact on fire safety in a public building based on the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) calculation engine. Two scenarios w...

Featured Application The solutions presented in the work, based on the use of a multi-sensor matrix and the analysis of multidimensional data, can be used in practice for assessing the mycological risk of buildings, detecting the presence of mold in rooms and evaluating the risk of the sick building syndrome. Abstract Paper is in the scope of mois...

Citation: Kobetičová, K.; Nábělková, J.; Keppert, M.; Medved', I.; Suchorab, Z.;Černý, R. The Influence of the Quality of Brick Firing on Their Calcium Diffusion Capacity and Biodegradation Potential-A Preliminary Study. Mater. Proc. 2023, 13, 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/ materproc2023013006 Academic Editors: Katarzyna Mróz, Abstract: The diffusion...

This paper presents the investigation of the hygro-thermal properties of hemp concrete modified with gum Arabic (GA) admixture. The effects of modifying agents on the composite: density, total porosity, thermal conductivity, vapor permeability, sorption/desorption curves, and capillary uptake were studied. The main findings were the following. A sl...

The measurement of the moisture content of building materials is of key importance both in the process of building structures and in their subsequent operation. In engineering practice, indirect techniques of moisture measurement, mainly, resistance and capacitive, are the most popular. The main objective of this research work was to compare the cl...

Energy requirements for buildings are increasing – nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) are expected to become the standard by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, more and more often in the architectural, engineering and construction sectors, various tools are used to computerize the designing process, including programs using the BIM standard. Bui...

During the building design phase, a lot of attention is paid to the thermal properties of the external envelopes. New regulations are introduced to improve energy efficiency of a building and impose a reduction of the overall heat transfer coefficient; meanwhile, this efficiency is more influenced by the efficiency of the heating system and the typ...

The article concerns the issue of non-invasive moisture sensing in building materials. Two techniques that enable evaluating the value of the relative permittivity of the material, being the measure of porous material moisture, have been utilized for the research. The first is the microwave technique that utilizes the non-contact measurement of vel...

The article presents the results of studies concerning raw hemp shives obtained from the Polish crop of industrial hemp as a loose-fill thermal insulation material. The study focuses mainly on the measurements of the pore size distribution, thermal conductivity and air permeability of material. An increase in the value of the thermal conductivity c...

The article concerns the electric techniques of moisture detection that are based on the evaluation of the apparent permittivity of the tested medium. The main goal of the research was to evaluate the non-invasive Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) sensors’ sensitivity by measuring the span of elements and material moisture. To that aim, two non-invas...

The hemp-lime composite is mainly used as wall insulation material in timber frame structures. Due to the highly porous aggregate in the form of hemp shives, this material is characterized by high water absorption. The absorbed water adversely affects the parameters of the composite, including the decrease in thermal insulation and mechanical stren...

The article attempts to determine the best working conditions for desktop 3D printers with printing chamber. For the analysis, the polymer materials acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polylactide (PLA) as two most commonly used copolymers in 3D printing. The work presents the types of filaments and compares them in terms of shrinkage, which...

The aim of the research presented in the article was to check the differences in the hygro-thermal and mechanical properties of hemp-lime composites with different shives fractions, depending on the direction of mixture compaction. The research part of the paper presents the preparation method and investigation on the composites. Thermal conductivi...

The article assesses an impact of thermal retrofitting on an improvement of the energy quality of public buildings in terms of their heating. The analysis covered a group of 14 buildings, including schools, kindergartens or offices, while energy audits were carried out for 12 of them. The indications of individual gas meters were the source of actu...

The problem of microbiological contamination has been an important issue in the construction and environmental industry for many years. The concept of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) means a combination of different health conditions, which can be eradicated by being in a specific interior. The basic prerequisite for an effective analysis of the issue...

This paper presents the application of the Darcy and Richards equations, describing water flow and dynamic changes of the water content in porous medium, for numerical modeling of water capillary rise in the selected building materials. The numerical simulations of unsaturated and variably saturated water flow in the studied materials were performe...

The paper presents the results of research concerning three fiber materials—mineral wool, hemp fiber and wood wool—as loose-fill thermal insulation materials. The analysis used the material parameters determined in previous works conducted by the authors, such as thermal conductivity and air permeability in relation to bulk density. These materials...

The paper explores the possibility of applying the nanopolymer trietoxiisobutylsilane and methyl silicon resin for hydrophobisation of mortars with the lightweight aggregate addition (PVC + PUR + WD). The investigation involved the mortars with two types of hydrophobic agents, without and with waste addition (5; 10; 15%). The results and discussion...

The paper presents the structure and indices of the annual energy consumption in educational buildings subject to comprehensive thermal retrofitting. Seven buildings were analyzed; the energy consumption for heating and ventilation, hot water preparation, and built-in lighting was analyzed in each of them and, in the case of one structure, also coo...

The paper presents the results of research concerning two fiber materials - hemp fiber and mineral wool as a loose-fill thermal insulation materials. The analysis involved the evaluation of thermal conductivity and air permeability in the relation of bulk density. Both materials used as thermal insulation are characterized with open porosity, so co...

Hemp-lime composite is a building material based on lime binder and hemp shives, obtained from the wooden core of industrial hemp stalks. It is used as a filling (thermal insulation) in timber frame construction walls. The direction of the shives related to the methods of compacting the composite mixture determines the anisotropic properties of the...

One of the main parameters influencing hygro-thermal performance of buildings is moisture in construction materials. The factor that is often used to characterize hygric properties of the materials is water absorption coefficient which allows to describe material capillary behavior as a function of time together with the surface area of specimen. I...

Construction materials are required to exhibit good mechanical properties, sufficient durability, and resistance to the negative influence of the environment, such as resistance of the moistened material to freeze-thaw cycles, resistance to intake and crystallization of salts or significant changes in temperature. Besides, it exists the requirement...

Increased humidity of building envelopes frequently leads to the appearance and growth of mold, which is one of the most important factors concerning Sick Building Syndrome evaluation. Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emitted by the fungi can be performed using gas sensor arrays. Array output in a form of multidimensional electric sig...

The building envelopes with higher thermal resistance contribute to a better thermal protection of buildings. On the other hand, external surface temperature of walls have dropped due to a reduced heat flux through the walls which may result in increased risks of moisture condensation and creation of favorable conditions for biofilms growth. This p...

The article presents the monitoring potential of a simplified surface Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) sensor design. Its basic element is a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plate with two rods placed along the plate edges. The paper describes typical, invasive TDR sensors and the attempts to build a non-invasive TDR sensor for the dielectric moisture deter...

This article presents research results relating to the potential for waste utilization in the form of polymer optical fiber (POF) scraps. This material is difficult to recycle due to its diverse construction. Three different volumes of POF were used in concrete in these tests: 1%, 2%, and 3%. The experimental studies investigated the basic properti...

Fired bricks represent one of the most popular building materials, of which production is still growing. Since the functional properties of bricks have reached their physical limits, the current development aims at an optimization of production procedures as it goes along with heavy environmental loads. This paper is focused on tailoring the firing...

The use of waste plants in the production of building materials is consistent with the principles of sustainable development. One of the ideas involves using hemp shives as an aggregate for the production of a composite used as a filling of the timber frame construction of the walls. The most important disadvantage of using the building materials b...

In this paper, we proposed an alternative thermal treatment of sewage sludge, aimed at its application in blended cements, which can reduce the energy demands and requires less technologically sophisticated processing. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to quantify the environmental impact of the sewage sludge used as a partial cement re...

The development of the semiconductor technology and computer methods contributes to the improvements in measurement techniques of air pollution. Besides traditional techniques of air pollution measurement, such as chromatography or dynamic olfactometry, the electronic nose (EN) is attracting an increasing amount of attention in this area. EN is a d...

The use of low-processed materials is a requirement for building in accordance with sustainable development. The examples of such materials are the components of plant origin – cellulose fibers, cereal straw and hemp/flax shives. Their carbon footprint is often negative since they absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during th...

The flexural analysis of doubly curved functionally graded porous conoids was performed in the present paper. The porosities inside functionally graded materials (FGMs) can occur during the fabrication and lead to the occurrence of micro-voids in the materials. The mathematical model includes expansion of Taylor’s series up to the third degree in t...

The article presents the laboratory investigations of the basic thermal and hygric parameters of standard lightweight aggregate-concrete and lightweight aggregate-concrete supplemented with municipal sewage sludge. Both types of concrete are based on light aggregates, commonly used in the Polish building market. In order to improve the hygric param...

The Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is an electric technique of moisture detection, that can be successfully applied in engineering. It has been previously used in soil science for quick and quantitative estimation of soil moisture and monitoring of moisture processes in the soils. Within the last decade it has been developed and adopted to measure...

Passive house is a standard of construction characterized by very good parameters of isolation and the use of solutions aimed at reduction of energy consumption. According to the modern standards, passive house requires little energy for space heating, which is less than 15 kWh/m². It is possible to achieve such parameters if you replace traditiona...

A proper indoor environment in residential buildings is crucial for the occupants comfort. Several studies have analyzed the impact of the increased CO2 concentrations on indoor air quality (IAQ) complaints and health symptoms in buildings. Many recent studies have shown that non-residential buildings have significant indoor environmental problems,...

According to various literature studies, buildings’ life cycle is featured by significant share of the operational phase. Among the others, the type of energy source is one of the most important issues influencing the results of the Life Cycle Assessment focused on building. Heating and cooling purposes are the most significant in the operational p...

The aim of the study was to develop a method for early detection and identification of fungal contamination of building materials using an electronic nose. Therefore, the laboratory experiments based on the analysis of the air in the vicinity of fungal isolates potentially found in the building materials were performed. The results revealed that th...

Resistance readouts from the e-nose. (CSV)

The problem of water supply pipe’s failures is one of the most onerous for water distribution network’s (WDN) operators. Multiple actions undertaken to detect, minimise and eliminate the phenomenon of water losses are mainly focused on financial aspect of lost water. However, at some point, the further minimisation of water losses is unprofitable d...

The paper presents experimental measurements and numerical simulation of thermal environment in naturally ventilated room by a fresh air valve. For the aim of Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, a model room was created. The fresh air valve is located in an occupied space, at the external wall. It has a major effect on mixing indoor and outd...

W celu zagwarantowania niezakłóconego funkcjonowania całego systemu kanalizacji grawitacyjnej w budynkach, projektuje się i wykonuje układy napowietrzania na podstawie obowiązujących norm i przepisów. Najpowszechniejszym, a zarazem najbardziej efektywnym sposobem jest montaż rur wywiewnych pionów kanalizacyjnych. Innym sposobem napowietrzania układ...

The article presents the potential application of the time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique to measure moisture transport in unsaturated porous materials. The research of the capillary uptake phenomenon in a sample of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) was conducted using a TDR sensor with the modified construction for non-invasive testing. In t...

In recent years, black locust has been receiving special attention as a potential energy crop. Conversely, straw, which constitutes a waste product, is mainly used for energy purposes. The aim of this study was to perform the Life Cycle Assessment of straw pellet and black locust logs production. The environmental effects were investigated accordin...

The Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is an electric technique of moisture detection, that can be successfully applied in engineering. It has been previously used in soil science for quick and quantitative estimation of soil moisture and monitoring of moisture processes in the soils. Within the last decade it has been developed and adopted to measure...

The use of natural building materials is consistent with the principles of sustainable development in the building sector. One of the natural and unprocessed materials used in construction is clay. This raw material is used in a natural form as a binder in plasters, mortars and in composites based on organic fillers. In order to improve the thermal...

Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is a technique applied to determine apparent permittivity of porous materials with the measurement of electromagnetic pulse propagation time along the rods of the probes. Topp [1] and Malicki [2] showed that there is a polynomial functional dependence between apparent permittivity and humidity. Based on this relation...

Aerated concrete is an artificial building material which shows anisotropic features. This is mainly caused by the technology of its production, where the aluminium powder as the expansive agent creates macro-pores that may differ in shape, dimension and configuration. Material anisotropy is caused by the orientation of the air-gaps in the structur...

The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to evaluate the thermal comfort distribution in residential buildings has grown in importance in recent years. Convection and radiation are the dominant forms of heat and mass transfer in rooms, during heating period, and CFD simulations is necessary to achieve a good understanding of the thermal enviro...

The present study focuses on the static and dynamic response of functionally graded carbon nanotube (FG-CNT)-reinforced rhombic laminates. The cubic variation of thickness coordinate in the displacement field is considered in terms of Taylor’s series expansion, which represents the higher-order transverse cross-sectional deformation modes. The cond...

The present study focuses on the static and dynamic response of functionally graded carbon nanotube (FG-CNT)-reinforced rhombic laminates. The cubic variation of thickness coordinate in the displacement field is considered in terms of Taylor’s series expansion, which represents the higher-order transverse cross-sectional deformation modes. The cond...

Biomass as the biodegradable fraction of both agricultural products and industrial and municipal waste is currently a versatile energy resource. It can be stored and converted in practically any form of energy carrier and also into biochemicals and biomaterials from which, once they have been used, the energy content can be recovered to generate el...

https://books.google.pl/books?id=maRBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=DOI:+10.1016/B978-0-08-102156-9.00005-5&source=bl&ots=DY8yhYPySA&sig=SWq_SGeUDsvrAhmEClz1Ee96NOI&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihzaCJhd_bAhWJ1ywKHQAqAX4Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=DOI%3A%2010.1016%2FB978-0-08-102156-9.00005-5&f=false

Mold that develops on moistened building barriers is a major cause of the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). Fungal contamination is normally evaluated using standard biological methods which are time-consuming and require a lot of manual labor. Fungi emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) that can be detected in the indoor air using several techniques o...

Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD Recast) obligates European Union members to improve energetic performance of the buildings. One of the crucial standards of energy-saving buildings are the passive houses, which are characterized by annual maximum space heating below 15 kWh/(m²·a) and the use of the specific primary energy for all domestic applications (a...

Mold is considered to be one of the most important features of Sick Building Syndrome and is an important problem in current building industry. In many cases it is caused by the rising moisture of building envelopes surface and exaggerated humidity of indoor air. Concerning historical buildings it is mostly caused by outdated raising techniques amo...

Moisture accumulation and transport in the building barriers is an important feature that influences building performance, causing serious exploitation problems as increased energy use, mold and bacteria growth, decrease of indoor air parameters that may lead to sick building syndrome (SBS). One of the parameters that is used to describe moisture c...

The article presents the results obtained in the course of a study on prospective application of flax/hemp wastes as a filling material of lime-based composites in the construction of low-energy buildings. The utilized filler comprised the hydrated lime with clay and Portland cement used as additives. The analysis involved evaluation of such proper...

Mold threat is an important problem in building industry. It is one of the most important features that cause Sick Building Syndrome occurrence. In many circumstances this problem is caused by the increase of moisture in the building envelopes but also excessive indoor air humidity. Problem of mold threat is often connected with introduction of new...

This paper presents results of the studies of ciliate assemblage in benthos of lowland river influenced by sewage discharged from the municipal wastewater treatment plant. During the presented research the 47 ciliate species, including 45 species from the benthos of the river and 18 from the activated sludge of aeration chamber were identified. Onl...

The article presents the noninvasive attempt to measure moisture of building materials with the use of electric methods. Comparing to the other techniques of moisture detection like chemical or physical, the electric methods enable quick moisture estimation and they seem to be a suitable solution to monitor moisture changes. Most of electric moistu...