RADIATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY | Rotary Wing Aircraft | SANITARY - ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | STRUCTURAL SEISMIC AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

| TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IN BUILDINGS AND URBAN CONTEXT | TERRITORIAL DESIGN AND GOVERNEMENT | URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN | Virtual Prototypes and Real Products | WATER ENGINEERING | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING | ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION | ARCHITECTURE, URBAN DESIGN, CONSERVATION OF HOUSING AND LANDSCAPE | BIOENGINEERING | BUILDING ENGINEERING | DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR CULTURAL HERITAGES | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING | ENERGY | GEOMATICS AND INFRASTRUCTURES | INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING | INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | INTERIOR DESIGN | MANAGEMENT, ECONOMICS AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING | MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS | MATERIALS ENGINEERING | MATHEMATICAL MODELS AND METHODS IN ENGINEERING | MECHANICAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING | PHYSICS | PRESERVATION OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE | PROGRAMMING, MAINTENANCE, REHABILITATION OF THE BUILDING AND URBAN SYSTEMS

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Chair:

Prof. Giuseppe Turchini

Formation aims The building sector represents a greatly relevant section in the panorama of the domestic and European productive systems both for its size and for its technical-economic complexity. Furthermore there is a growing complexity determined by the remarkable activity of the manufacturers of materials concerning the building sector, from new production organizations, from new emergencies connected with sustainability to the control of the environmental impact. In addition the interaction of environmental, economic and sociopolitical, organizational, and procedural factors lead to continuous changes of the conditions of the demand in the building market concerning both product quality and quantity. Inside this complex sector, the engineering discipline section that supports the planning of building works has consolidated into stable and profitable research lines that involve various scientific disciplinary sectors connected with the science of materials, environmental issues, energy, well-being, technical plants, to the organizational aspects, of building and management, to the economy. The productive development of the building sector requires the right skills to compete nationally and internationally at all levels. Such competition, more and more characterized by an incentive towards technological innovation unprecedented in the history of building, is characterized through important developments of all the themes that operate in the vast sector of engineering of the building processes in all development phases. An authentic and continuous innovation, based on essential binomials as environment/development, preservation/use of resources, is not sufficiently nourished, in planning terms, by research. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the technological transfer towards the production sites spread over the entire territory, and for this reason the preparation of high-profile professionals, like the ones that the Doctoral School intends to produce, becomes essential. This figure operates inside the engineering processes in building systems that are becoming increasingly complex and require interdisciplinary engineering talents that, in addition to the traditional disciplines, invest the building science & technology on the versants of building physics, building material engineering, the systems and components service life, building production engineering and management, safety engineering, applied economy.

Synthetical indication of the phd profiles Highly technically qualified professionals suitable for roles as planning and development managers in building companies, in material, components and system manufacturing industries and in service companies, primarily engineering companies. Professionals with high technical qualifications, suitable for filling consulting and projectmanager positions in engineering companies, public structures, professional firms, material, components and system manufacturers as interpreters of a technological innovation who are fully aware of demand problems and needs and completely updated from an engineering analysis knowledge and instrumentation point of view. Highly qualified researchers destined to operate as planning managers for research and control projects in private and public research institutions and centres (obviously including the University). The formative programme The formative programme generally develops in the following way: The first year is dedicated to the formulation of the research problem, to the development of the first mastery in the field, to covering possible formative debts and to the attendance of basic and specialized courses. The second year is dedicated to the mastery of the research problem through the extension of the knowledge concerning the objectives of the thesis. The third year constitutes the most intense period of autonomous and original elaboration of the thesis and its argument. In the development of the thesis, the relations with other researchers and the periods of

The doctorate activities are strengthened by the systematic and operative contact with: the most advanced manufacturers of the sector; research centres and particularly ITC/CNR in Italy, CSTB in France, CIB (International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction) at an international level, the doctorate is member of the CIB Students Chapter; the Italian (UNI) and International (ISO, CEN, EOTA, IAI) Headquarters of normative elaboration; the public administrations system; the industrial and professional associations that operate in the sector. In the last years internships and study periods have been made possible at these institutions: University of Gvle (HIG), Sweden BRE Building Research Establishment London CSTB Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment - Paris Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory California -USA Aalborg Universitet - Denmark Fraunhofer Institute fr Solar Energy Systems ISE - Mnchen Werner Sobek Engineering and Design - New York Main topics The topics, that have prevalently been developed through multidisciplinary support, draw from the following research areas: 1. Technological and planning innovation in the construction sector, both for the section of new building and of refurbishment, is orientated at facing urgent problems, particularly those deriving from the environmental sustainability and energy strategies:

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DOCTORAL PROGRAM in building engineering

The research doctorate in building engineering, as a higher level of formation, aims at the development of the necessary skills for professionals with a high technical and managerial profile. These professionals could become key workers of public administrations, construction firms, engineering companies, manufacturers, research and development bodies and of all the structures and bodies that have to do with the construction processes.

study and internship at Italian and foreign research centres (stages) are fundamental. Such experiences are highly appreciated and favoured by the doctorate. The thesis is carried out with the support of an assistant and its whole course is monitored by the teaching staff through semi-annual disputations. At the end of the doctorate the staff admits (or not) the doctoral candidate to the final disputation, on the basis of the thesiss scientific validity and originality.

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through the analysis and study of high efficiency building components; through the analysis and study of building systems that mainly use renewable energy sources; through the analysis and study of the reactivity of the systems and components towards deterioration agents and mechanisms, with the goal to optimize their life cycle. 2. The innovation of the productive and managerial processes of the industry, the companies and the public administrations involved in the building sector, for new buildings as well as for the management and refurbishment of existing buildings: through the study of the operative, procedural, managing methods and tools for the optimization, qualification and validation of such processes, as for example project and construction management, project financing, value engineering, interoperability.

Antonio Acerbo (Comune di Milano) - Central director of the technical area Claudio De Albertis (Assimpredil) - President Giuseppe De Martino (AIPPEG) - Director Guido Far (Tecnoform Spa) - General Manager Libero Ravaioli (UNCSAAL Unione Nazionale Costruttori Serramenti Alluminio Acciaio e Leghe) President Giuseppe Rigamonti (Rigamonti Francesco SpA, ANCE Associazione Nazionale Costruttori Edili) Chief executive officer Piero Torretta (UNI) - President Vico Valassi (Unioncamere) - President Roberto Vinci (ITC-CNR Institute for building technologies) - Director

Scholarship Sponsors
Assimpredil DIVINA VALENTINO Srl FCC Srl Permasteelisa Group Fumagalli Spa Ing Srl IVAS Spa RDZ Spa Rigamonti Spa STO ITALIA Srl Termoisover Srl Comune di Verona

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Advisory Board

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Roberto Francieri
Current historical period is strongly characterized by continuous pushes toward novelty. The term innovation is constantly used, even without a real innovation in place. If we dont look at innovation as a mean but as a process of renewal and performances implementation, its meaning gets more complex and it must be considered as a evolutionary phenomenon inside a defined industrial reality. During my studies I have considered some of the sectors that are key technology areas. They recorded a continuously increasing push toward new and higher performances. Despite results are better and better, there is always a limit, due to the (human) use that makes the innovation useful to itself, or only for competitive strategic purposes. The literature shows that the dynamics of ideas development, or innovation research can follow different paths, not always predictable and previously appraisable, and often not identifiable in a classical model. The matter becomes more difficult in case of Small/Medium companies, often without a structured R&D department, and in companies where innovation is outsourced or developed in other research centers like Private Institutes or Universities. In the construction industry, the different chain for product development and distribution makes the innovation adoption slower. The Buyer (last user of the work) doesnt often actively participate to the choices in the various moments of the building process and doesnt give an immediate feedback. On the construction site, between industrial production and finished product (building), the different products are assembled by people (not always specialized), with all the unknown issues that can arise and possible modifications to the product performance. The building process and the final result depend also on others choices (people with different charges and decisional powers like Designers - Construction CompaniesArtisans). It may happen that their decisions do not reflect the real request from the Buyer. Finally the technological complexity is often hidden, making difficult, for the buyer, the understanding and appreciation of the added value in terms of quality and innovation. In this general picture we need to also consider the construction laws and the obligations from the technical standards UNI-ISO. Together they have a considerable impact but dont ensure development of innovation. If we schematize the production in phases, we can identify a first level (phase 1) of industrial production of work in progress and finished materials, and a second level (phase 2) of assembly and final materials workmanship, necessarily done locally (construction site). Potential developments for innovation are in phase 1, while in phase 2 there are many strong limitations, for various technical and cultural reasons. They obstruct the innovation diffusion and adoption (for both product or system innovation) The research for this thesis is founded on the opposition of these two phases, with the major objective to identify a model of development for innovation, easy to adopt in the industrial compartment of Small/ Medium Companies, assuring the adoption during the whole building process. The first choice is between Incremental Performance Innovation and Radical Innovation, different from each other, both for the approach and for the methodology of development. My choice has been on the Incremental Innovation, which is based on the assumption to improve the characteristics or the functions of a system/product, maintaining

The information obtained from analysis on product/chain/life cycle should be used as strategic communication tool. The adoption of an evaluation tool (resulting from LCA and EPD databases) like Ecolabel, but of greater effectiveness and understanding, could help to report with clarity and simplicity some standard parameters, to use as comparison among similar products. Procedures of prior assessment exist already but they often force to very complex calculations that reduce the possible implementation. The obligation for a clear and comparable description of product would create a virtuous circle of competition among companies. Conclusion is that innovation is the tool for the improvement of performances and information, that makes the sector most sensitive to the choices of development, with dynamics of integration, consistent with the increasing request of quality in building.

For testing purposes I have examined some examples of Incremental Innovation, developed inside the Politecnico of Milan, in cooperation with some construction companies,

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Incremental Innovation and performance complexification as competitive strategies in the construction industry

a continuum between what it is currently available and what is innovated. It is NOT the progressive development of products, where company makes an improvement in production in order to optimize resources and reduce costs. Small/Medium companies often do not have R&D department for cost control reasons. Therefore the tool of Incremental Innovation needs to follow simple procedures to set a first level of choice for the research. This first choice has to be shared among the various people working in the company. Besides, the initial choices to define the development strategy are influenced by: economic value of the initial investment, market conditions, product type, technical comparison among competitors, professional ability of the company, strategic alliances, and time. As found during the search, timing is fundamental to propose a model of implementation that gets to an Innovated product that has immediately some market share, that means a little group of first-users, which will provide a feed-back for the next implementation and improvement, with following gain of bigger market areas. The Incremental Performance Innovation models defined in the thesis are: Innovation by Composition: it develops a different composition of the product, with addition of new materials, for stratigraphy or mixing them. The performances improvement and the different composition could result in new potential uses. New materials could then adapt to increase the

functionalities of the new uses; Innovation by Technology: it implements the technology of the product, or applies a new one. It improves the product performances but the product can also change itself into a system increasing the field of use. Also in this case there can be subsequent improvements to adapt the system to the constructive type; Innovation by Information: it implements the product information already known, or studies the most greater peculiarities of it, deepening information on the productive cycle, and appraising the characteristics during the average life cycle, the wear and maintenance of the components to the definition of the end of the life cycle. The research includes the study of the material recovery options, the recycling, or the type of warehousing in the dumps, the evaluation of the incorporated energy both during production and in all the passages of the life cycle of the product. This last innovation type is the easiest to adopt and can be used to evaluate other implementations. The deep technical knowledge of the product, in terms of consumptions (of energy, water, toxic substances etc., during the whole production cycle) allows to innovate the different phases of the system, strongly reducing consumptions and environmental impact.

like Brianza Plastica e Velux Italia

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Process, baseline definition and models for fault detection and diagnosis
Michele Liziero
ASHRAE Guideline 0, The Commissioning Process, defines commissioning as a qualityoriented process for achieving, verifying, and documenting that the performance of facilities, systems, and assemblies meets defined objectives and criteria. Commissioning ensures building quality using peer review and in-field or on-site verification. Commissioning also accomplishes higher energy efficiency, environmental health, and occupant safety and improves indoor air quality. Organizations that have researched commissioning claim that owners can achieve savings in operations of $4 over the first five years of occupancy as a direct result of every $1 invested in commissioning an excellent return on investment. Meanwhile, the cost of not commissioning is equal to the costs of correcting deficiencies plus the costs of inefficient operations The Ongoing Commissioning is a continuous process of energy optimization of the buildingHVAC system final energy consumption. This approach is consolidated in the industry context, where the production system is well known and its modification is low through the time, whereas in case of buildings this is a relatively new approach that is developing under the necessity to reduce the energy consumption in the actual context. On the side of this introduction, considering a. the European objectives of energy consumption and CO2 emission reduction, like the 20/20/20 plan by 2020 and the European directives 2002/91/EC and 2006/32/EC; b. the fact that the European buildings represent about the 40% of the final energy consumption of the mainland; c. the change tax of the building stock is very low (less than 2%) and a lot of buildings and HVAC systems need continuous intervention or maintenance and requalification; it appears, for what concerns the not residential buildings, that an Ongoing Commissioning procedure is a fundamental requisite for the increasing of efficiency for the building and HVAC systems existents and/or recently built. The magnitude of this approach has been demonstrated to be in the 5-30% in term of reduction of the final energy consumption. The principal phases of the procedure of ongoing commissioning consist in 1. Develop the commissioning plan and define the responsibilities 2. Develop the performance baselines 3. Conduct system measurements and develop commissioning measures
4. Implement commissioning

measures
5. Document comfort

improvements and energy savings 6. Keep commissioning continuously It isnt aim of the elaborate to develop of the ongoing commissioning plan in contractual terms or the improvements of the maintenance plans with consideration of a continuous measure and verification of the system performances, whereas it is objective to describe the phases that are relative to the calculation of the energy Baseline and the elaboration of the on the field measures for calculate and document the energy consumption reduction that could be obtained. The Baseline determination, that is necessary to calculate the energy and economic savings obtained with the Ongoing Commissioning, is a part of the building commissioning process. In order to understand where and how act after have elaborated an energy baseline is necessary to identify the faults of the system comparing the consumption values with the benchmark constituted by the energy baseline (Fault Detection and Diagnosis, FDD). The data that are necessary for make this comparison

Taking in mind those consideration the study of the elaborate propose is concentrated on the building simulation via the study and validation of a simplified model derived from the UNI EN ISO 13790:2008 and on the air handling units, being those among the most energy consuming components, but that have proved to be the one that are susceptible to the higher improvements. For what concern the study of the simplified hourly model, this have been implement in Python code and this has been validated comparing it with a dynamic model and with the real measured data of a test building. The most shows to be able to follow the energy needs of the building, being adaptable to the schedules variation (ventilation, internal gains, etc.) and considering the influence of the mass of the building. For what concerns the AHUs the objective is the elaboration , starting form models, of performances maps and of simplified relationships that can be considered baseline if data for estimate the energy performances of such systems are not available. The AHUs are complex systems, strongly related with the other components of the buildingHVAC system (typically they need hot water, cooled water, sanitary water, electricity and sometimes other fluid like

On the first side the UNI EN ISO 13790: 2008 simple hourly method has been implemented and tested. Then the basis of a structured study for the elaboration of simplified performance functions for the AHUs has been elaborated. On the basis of the available models the most representatives AHUs typologies at the European level have been chosen, with the result to determine 8 interesting configurations. The AHUs models elaborated starting for the single components could be then simulated under a various set of conditions. The tools thought for this are the software GenOpt (General Optimization Program), that allows to run parametric simulation in an automatic way. The adequate number of simulation could allow to determine the Performance maps and the simplified relationship for estimate the ideal performances of the system in case of commissioning analysis.

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BUILDING COMMISSIONING

are obtained through the measurement devices placed on the HVAC systems and/or the exploiting of the building automation system (BAS) if existent on the building. The data obtained for identify and diagnose the faults can be elaborated via the utilization of the calculation methodologies and models that can be catalogued in: a. white box; b. black box; c. gray box. depending on the physical meaning of the parameters used in the models (white are physical models, black are regressive models and gray have characteristics of both). Those models are also useful for the implementation of the algorithms that can be utilized for the optimization of the systems, if they have been calibrated on the system under study. Although this large set of tools study a building-HVAC system of a big building with the actual standard of knowledge and considering the actual maintenance practice give various problems, sometimes not possible to overcome with a reasonable effort. Chronic is the lack of data of the building and his HVAC systems, only partially obtainable with a investigation on the field. The actual efforts for the research on commissioning in the building field are concentrated on the elaboration of tools the most possible simplified. Those have the aim to investigate on the system performances via the elaboration of a baseline with a limited amount of data and elaboration of the results in a manner that can be understood by the common technical operators

with average knowledge and experience. For each typical component of the airconditioning systems is therefore necessary to have available methods and tools that allow to identify the typical faults in the functioning in a simplified and economic manner.

steam). Up to know the tools that can be used for their analysis are principally simulation tools, like dynamic simulation tools, that require an high effort for the collection and the treatment of the data. Corollary of the lack of evaluation instruments of those systems is the fact that at the norm level doesnt exist CEN norms useful for the performance certification of the system (considering the 2002/91/EC directive and his recasting), whereas at European level only some excellences like the DIN 15899 (reception of the 2002/91/EC in Germany) introduce the question of the estimation of the performances of the AHUs.

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A simulation study on the feasibility of ventilation assisted TAWS in cooling season

Giorgio Pansa
Background Thermally Activated Building Systems, called TABS, are heating or cooling systems based on the circulation of a fluid in the pipes embedded in the building components. TABS integrate therefore the building structure into the overall energy strategy of the building, using the heat capacity and the heat transfer properties of the construction to condition the built environment. These systems accumulate a certain quantity of energy (cool, in summer, heat, in winter) in the building construction, manly during the night; this stored energy is then exploited during the following day, when the building component stores heat (in summer) or gives it off (in winter). The main advantage is therefore the reduction of the thermal load peaks and their transfer in periods of lower energy demand, with consequent reduction (and then optimization) of the system. Another advantage of TABS is related to comfort issues, as the surface where the hydronic system is collocated has a temperature close to the desired room temperature in order to achieve the comfort of the occupants. This results in a positive effect on the average radiant temperature, related to the view factors, and consequently on the operative temperature. In addition, the use of low difference temperatures allows an easier implementation of renewable energy sources in the built environment, and a considerable increase in their efficient use. In the last few years such systems registered a large spread, as they are considered a promising solution from both an energetic and an economic point of view. The typical solution is the application to internal floors of multi-storey nonresidential buildings, in particular offices, in combination with air-conditioning equipments used to cover the latent heat load during the hours of occupation. The application of such systems to vertical walls has not already been studied in literature till today, with the only exception of some solutions, characterized by different functional models, which include the use of capillary micropipes collocated in the internal side of the enclosure. The research This work wants therefore to explore the potentialities of activation of opaque building envelope exterior surfaces, through the flowing of a fluid characterized by a fixed energy level. The research is focused only on the summer season, which is considered the real critical point of the design. These potentialities have been evaluated in terms of thermal comfort reached in the environment and through simple evaluations of energy convenience, related essentially to energy need and energy costs. The thermal mass activation provides for what represents the real weakness of iperinsulated building envelops, that is the lack of a system to store energy, moving towards the approach of the envelope as a tank of energy. The traditional vision of the Building Envelope strictly connected to the limitation of the thermal flux entering (and, for this reason, characterized by characteristics of passivity), has to be changed with a vision of an Active system, which is able to respond to external changing in the most spontaneous way and that is able to guarantee adequate conditions of internal comfort. The resulting integration of the Building and the HVAC system becomes not only an integration in terms of performance, but also in physical and technological terms. Even if this solution could appear limited by the constraints of external enclosures (geometrical availability, presence of openings, presence of furniture, etc.) and by the efficiency of the system (energy

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THERMALLY ACTIVATED WALL SYSTEMS

supply outwards), the system demonstrates, under certain configurations, its clear and defined validity, in terms of energy savings and improvement of comfort conditions. Such configurations essentially involve the assumption of an adaptive thermal comfort model and the integration with natural ventilation systems, which is an aspect rarely studied in literature. According to these considerations, this study analyses in which conditions the thermal mass activation of the opaque exterior building envelope leads to benefits in the summer season. The effect of different parameters, both from the building point of view (thermal capacity, exposure, area of the openings, internal loads, etc.) and from the HVAC system one (temperature of use, time of operation, pipes spacing, etc.) has been investigated by the Author using design and simulation strategies based on simplicity, the element of success of this system, which appears nevertheless original. The informative character of the research, which tries to investigate the feasibility of such systems, is to be considered a further step toward a solution. Results From the results of simulations, Thermally Activated Wall Systems seems to be a promising technology, which can be applied to improve thermal comfort conditions in the summer season, above all in existing buildings that need a refurbishment investment in order to fulfill national standard requirements, without a significant increase of costs. This is achieved essentially

by the using of some environmental energy. The system can be applied to all construction characterized by homogeneous building layers. Since the strong integration between HVAC system and building structure, it has to be pointed out how these systems are characterized by an high number of parameters, on both sides, which are strictly dependent each other. The role played by each of them has been deeply investigated. The simplification in the design and management of the system appears to be the key concept in the achievement of the study and feasibility of such solution. The creation of a large simulation database related to the parametric hypothesis about building and HVAC system has been used to create a preliminary tool to evaluate the feasibility of TAWS in cooling season in the decisional stage of the building process. Limits and further developments The limits of this research are fundamentally tied to the theoretical character, deprived of a proper experimentation and validation. Analyses have been performed for a defined set of configurations; anyway it is suggested to consider a broader anthology of case studies, to better understand the overall performance of the system. In fact, results presented in terms of power and energy are related to the peculiar building scheme adopted for simulations, while the overall performance can be investigated into detail only taking into account a real case. In addition, a deeper investigation of primary energy

and energy cost is necessary. This research focused on commercial buildings; residential buildings should be studied to evaluate the influence of internal gains and the different occupancy pattern on the performance. In such buildings, natural night ventilation could be investigated. If a mechanical system is used to implement ventilation air changes, further consideration will be useful in terms of the correlation between this system and the performance of TAWS. Hybrid ventilation could be an interesting aspect to take into account. Moreover, it could be necessary to analyze heating scenarios, focusing on the possibility to use the same energy source, i.e. heat pump ground source, to answer to all energy needs of the building. Together with energy costs, investment costs need to be investigated more into detail. In order to establish them, fundamental is the study of the building technology of such systems, in particular the junction of different panels and the design of the entire system, which takes into account some specific plant aspects (i.e. pressure drop, interstitial condensation, etc.) not considered in the presented analysis. A more detailed analysis by means of Finite Elements Method is required for building components including air cavities.

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Martina Pasini
Since energy savings in buildings is today mandatory in developed countries, it is imperative to perform, during the design stage, an accurate estimation of the energy used by their service systems to assure different kinds of comfort. Therefore we need first to describe the object of the design, as a collection of components and relationships among them, i.e. a system (the conceptual model), and then to emulate its behaviour (through simulation) with an assured level of accuracy. The object of the design is the Building System or BS, including Buildings Fabric, Buildings Envelope and Service Systems. Its behaviour depends, in a sophisticated way, from different aspects. Given the complexity and non linearity of the BS, addressing all the interrelated performance aspects simultaneously is the only way to allow the designer to explore the relationships between buildings form, fabric, services and controls. However, analysing such a system is certainly not a trivial task. Even if progresses in physics, numerical analysis and computer science theoretically allow the simulation of the various phenomena involved in BSs in quite-all their complexity, time execution issues have historically imposed a reduction of the simulated phenomena. Anyway, new calculus frontiers, arisen thanks to the advent of distributed calculus, might offer new possibilities. At the same time the BSs evolving nature requires the tool continuously evolves to address new features and include new technologies. Fortunately, this evolutionary nature, together with similar problems and resolutions, could be found in different research fields and application domains. This diffuse necessity to create new models and new numerical algorithms for the simulation of always more complicated problems and to use the most advanced resources developed in other research fields (numerics, maths, ITs) claims the importance of a shared resolution approach, able to promote the work done in different fields and to allow reuse by modification. Modularity shows good features for answering these requirements. However, in the Building Performance Simulation (BPS) field, modularity has plural implications and has been interpreted in different ways without having, in some sense, reached its full potential. Even the attempt to switch to equation-based tools has not provided an optimal solution. Indeed they are better suited for rapid model prototyping than traditional BPS tools, but they typically lack the vast range of state of the art models of other BPS tools, the calculation facilities offered by other programming languages and other facilities related to specific input/output processing. In relation to these new requirements and to the need of a higher confidence level in using todays tools, two principal problems in BPS (Building Performance Simulation) tools have been risen up: the difficulties in mastering the BPS tool itself; the difficulties involved in the maintenance and improvement actions aimed at the tools evolution. By reviewing the state of the art in BPS tools, gaps in addressing the observed problems have been identified. As a matter of fact, while for the simulation of Service Systems the current modelling approach is clearly inspired by the paradigms of Object Oriented Programming (OOP), for the Buildings Envelope the same hierarchical modelling (system and components aggregation) has not been followed; on the contrary it has always been designed as strongly monolithic. This could be due to the localized and dynamic nature of Service Systems, in

Such model aggregates notions pertaining to various fields of research (Mathematical and Numerical modelling, Building Systems Physics and Information Technology) in order to bring the modularity at each level (representational, mathematical and numerical) by reconceptualising the Architecture of BPS tools. To test such architecture, a prototype has been developed. The C# language has been used and the work environment chosen has been the .Net framework. The main concern of this thesis has been devoted to evaluate such modeling approachs feasibility and to estimate the advantages gained as far as concern the possibility to easily improve and use the developed prototype and to make it evolve in a distributed environment. This thesis has demonstrated that using evolved ITs has shorten the development time (thanks also to the use of existing libraries), has contributed to define a more intelligible model (class structure and inheritance) and has provided new facilities to navigate through and inquire into the developed model (class diagram, automatic documentation, etc...). However, to exploit these

As a matter of fact, this approach might help in distributing, over the internet, always-updated services for the calculation of specific certified components. Further analysis should be devoted to confirm the intuition that this philosophy could also allow faster calculation by reducing the number of performed calculations. The belief is that this enriched modular architecture might impact on the design process, since it makes easier to understand the BPS model built with such tools and it allows an easier development of new models at different levels. Furthermore, this approach will pose the bases for a shared development of BPS tools components that joints different figures to reach a common goal that is: incrementing the accuracy, reliability, user friendliness and intelligence of BPS tools, in order to pursue a more sustainable and comfortable living, on this world, inside our buildings.

As a solution to these problems, in this thesis, an enriched modular object-oriented model has been proposed. Starting from the observation that the simulation of the building involves different and heterogeneous components, this model would allow the decomposition of the problem. This decomposition would reduce the size of the global system by keeping its various parts separated. Each module would therefore perform its calculation when necessary and with the numerical method more convenient according

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TOWARDS AN ENRICHED MODULARITY OF BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATIONS PROGRAMS Reconceptualisation and development of an ObjectOriented model for the Simulation of the Building System

contrast with Buildings Fabric and Buildings Envelope diffuse nature and immobility. However, today, new materials, architectural trends and buildings strategies characterize the evolving and dynamic nature not only of the Service System, but also of the Building itself, leading to the need to discard those old models that do not cope anymore with new construction typologies. For example, innovative building component, such as the Double-Skin Faade, or materials with memory are not yet appropriately represented by such old models. However, if we want to introduce the model of a new faade into an existing tool, or this is just not possible, or we would be obliged to open the code and to work at the source code level on some others work. Even when the program is declared as modular, almost always there is the need of forcing the model into the tool with some workaround, introducing, perhaps, additional errors.

to its nature. After that it will expose its state variables to all the other modules. Such a strategy would allow the incremental development of new mathematical modules, the parallelization of the calculation and the possibility to solve the problem in the way more efficient for its nature.

advantages has been necessary to review the mathematical models aggregation of the different objects involved into the simulation of the BS and to demonstrate the numerical convergence of the proposed architecture. We have demonstrated that, subjected to different conditions, the whole system shows good convergence features. We have also confirmed that this autonomous processes philosophy is well suited for the evolution towards distributed and parallelized calculation.

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Methodology, technology and construction

Fabio Perrotta
Research has been developed during Ph school and it has been financed by two construction factory. Main sponsor produces prefabricated technologies for industrial buildings and houses. Other sponsor develops and produces radiant systems for heating and cooling. Both sponsors agreed on objectives and research has been developed with constant supervision of tutor and Ph school professors. Title of thesis low energy prefabricated houses: methodology, technology and construction, clearly points out the topic of research. The main objective is to analyze and to generalize the most important methods used in design of low energy prefabricated houses. Finally, this study realizes three simple tools to use in the design of low energy building. The first part of research is focused on analysis of prefabricated elements and systems. Stato dellarte is based on a large data acquisition by bibliographical documents and realized building. The research on bibliographical document is divided in two portions. The first portion checks innovative prefabricated houses; it analyzes building shape, service installation, technology and energy performances. The second

avanzate are classified considering saved energy and indoor comfort. Contemporary application of all potenzialit plans eco-sustainability house design. In this research this house design has called modello evoluto. This house is an example of low energy prefabricated building: reduction of consumption is about 30%.
1. Eco-sustainability house design: modello evoluto

portion checks prefabricated element performances in housing system. It analyzes characteristics of prefabricated component, physical properties and pathologies. The research on realized building has been realized on houses built by the sponsor. Visiting some yard, it was possible to identify constructions real conditions and to check differences from original designs. The reserch on realized building includes an energy performances analysis of the most sold prefabricated house. The analysis points out how much consumption decreases without changing architectural house structure. Increasing envelope isolation and increasing number of service installation is possible to reduce energy consumption from 1,76 TEP/a to 1,44 TEP/a. These strategies reduce consumption but the architectural design idea

doesnt have eco-sustainability standards. The second part of ph research analyzes some house properties called potenzialit avanzate. Mathematical analysis calculates how much energy consumption decreases and how much indoor comfort grows up for each potenzialit used in the house. Analysis includes the study of envelope shape, building type, glazing area, surface orientation, south sunspaces, external shading system and natural ventilation. Each of these potenzialit causes a varying reduction of the consumption (from 4 kWh/ m2a to 12 kWh/m2a). The third part of research generalizes mathematical correlation between potenzialit avanzate and saved energy. This part is very important because it extends application of potenzialit to all house types. Potenzialit

Generalization of potenzialit includes study of modello evoluto response in all climatic zones in Italy. This house has a good response in zone E (consumption reduction: -33%), in zone D (- 21%) and in zone C (-10%). In climatic zone B, house has a high consumption for cooling energy used in summer. The last analysis is the study of envelope mass. In all climatic zones, the increase of envelope mass reduces the energy consumption. Quantity of saved energy in zone E and D is elevated because in these zones there is a large daily thermal excursion. Ph research has created three methodological tools for energy safe design of prefabricated houses. The first tool is constituted by lists that point out adaptability, compatibility and energy convenience of every potenzialit in prefabricated model. The second tool

2. Second tool: righello energetico

3. Third tool shows which potenzialit use in every climatic zone

is righello energetico: a ruler-graph that points out the quantity of saved energy for each potenzialit. The third tool is constituted by some graphs that show which potenzialit to use in prefabricated house design in every italian climatic zone.

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Low energy prefabricated houses

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Cristian Rossi
In the last two decades, in the building construction sector, public or private, we had an increase of attention regarding the quality of building construction products, through the introduction of a list of laws that aim to regulate aspects that were completely unknown up until a few years ago. Starting from the aspects described by the legislation regarding the structural calculation and from the legislation on security aspects, including the laws about the regulation of acoustic problems, up until the aspects about the energy saving, Italy is walking on a path that should take the Country in alignment with other European Countries. Also the introduction into the market of new technologies and new semi-manufactured product offers, to people who work in the building construction sector, a multiplicity of technical solutions that, to be utilized well, need the collaboration several professionals. We come from a period where the design phase of a building was developed by few professionals (the architect, the structural engineer, the geologist), but we are entering in a new era where, the complexity of Italian legislation, the multiplicity of solutions and the new market conditions, ask for, on one side, the involvement of several professionals (the acoustic expert, the building energy expert, the environmental impact expert, the market analysis expert, plant systems experts, the realtor, the lawyer, etc.), and on the other side, the responsible involvement of the construction company also during the design phases. I concentrated on market conditions because, after a decade of great expansion, we reached a predictable halt which inevitably obliges the construction professionals to manage design phases and construction phases differently from how it has previously been done in the past. From a decade where profit was obtained with the increase of revenues, we are coming into a period where,by having constant revenues, we can obtain profit only working on the reduction of costs, on very careful design of buildings, on accurate choice of possible solutions, introducing into the market new high quality products. These new products are the result of a collective design of several professionals. Because of this, it becomes more complicated to manage the entire design process, and it is in this context where the Project Management becomes helpful. The PMO (Project Management Office) represent the element that plots, measures and cuts the destiny of the project, using a list of management techniques during the design activities, that: give a clear and unique definition of the targets, plans the activities of the resources involved in the design process, program the duration of the activities defining dead lines, review steps, and closure of the design phases, control and analyze the results of the different design (architectural design, structural design, electrical systems, heating and cooling systems, etc.), reprogram the progress of the project, allow the PMO to be the interface between the design team and the client. Starting from these considerations, we had the will to analyze, with this research work, those instruments and those procedures that are necessary to improve the control of the design process ensuring a high level quality to the project. The instruments mentioned above are: Life Cycle Cost Analysis for the evaluation of the economic and financial impact of the design decisions, Life Cycle Assessment for the evaluation of the impact of the building intervention on the environment, Value Management that, from one point of view, gives you the exact understanding of

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The Project Management Engineering process of a Building Construction instruments, procedures ed samples

the target of the business, from another, let you to maximize the value for every stakeholder interested in the project (environment, owner, staff, suppliers, etc.) and lastly let you verify the design alternatives based on the value given to the performance targets that every designed technological element should ensure, Uncertainty and Risk Evaluation that allow you to evaluate the probability of occurrence and that gives you the possibility to make some considerations about the uncertainty linked to every project that provides a very long life span, Building Information Modeling, Energetic Modeling and Acoustic Modeling Instruments that, in a very short time, evaluate the design alternatives (lay-out, plants systems, etc.) and measure the compatibility of those alternatives to the set targets, Project System that permit you to manage the execution of a project , from contract management to the delivery of completed building, using the execution of the necessary logistic phases, Enterprise Resource Planning that gives the company the possibility to integrate in real time the data used by the whole organization through the integration of the business processes, Document Management System and WEB Portal that is a collaborative platform offering a list of instruments that, if well utilized, guarantee the perfect alignment of the information between stakeholders with the intention of: collecting and organizing the

information based in a design structure, sharing, using web applications, the information between internal and external partners involved in the project, executing the logistic process on a collaborative platform. Having the instruments is not enough if you do not define unique and clear procedures which allow you to use effectively the instruments and resources, defining when and how they should be involved in the design process to give their contribute. This was the motivation that convinced me and the company who funded my research to review the procedures of the design process with the purpose of improving the quality of the final product (in terms of compliance with the basic requirements of the design process) and to anticipate those decisions that have a great economical and financial impact on the operating management. The idea was to forget the common practice of a linear design process where design follows a logic of assemblage of single elements, where design activities are in sequence and where usually problems are solved just when works are already in progress, and approach the design process with a different structure that was named Continuous Value Optimization, where every professional gives his contribute during each stage of the design process. We designed three head chapters called strategic design, development design and operating design. The strategic design has the highest relevance because it is at

this preliminary stage that the most important decisions of the whole process are made. At this point it becomes clear that there is a lot of data that needs to be analyzed during the design process: data coming from performance and technological analysis of the technological subsystems and of the whole building. data coming from LCC and LCA analysis, data coming from risk and uncertainty analysis, data coming from economical and financial analysis of the investment. All this data needs to be reviewed and re-analyzed in every step of the design process with the purpose of improving the quality of the project and quality of the process. We passed from a situation where there was not much data to analyze and where synthesis were substantially bi-dimensional to a more complex context where there is much more data (of a different nature) coming from a different array, that need to be crossed and synthesized in a dynamic way to obtain multi-dimensional analysis (hypercubes) in a relatively short time. The context also see the presence of many resources that carry out many activities. For this reason there is the need to control the whole process in terms of results through the analysis of performance index and success index and through the use of dashboards that verify the progress of the project. The PMO is therefore the place where information is collected, data is analyzed and resources are evaluated with the instruments of Business Intelligence.

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Erica Rota
Item search is the study of the behavior of the envelope-radiant plant system in sustainable residential buildings built with structure/envelope technology. The final purpose of this work is the realization of a planning tool that allows, in Italian contest, to perform a practical and fast feasibility study of the building-plant system with reference to envelope typology and climatic context of the area, using predetermined parameters. This instrument of preliminary planning is directed to professionals, with the purpose to contribute to increase the awareness of the planners regarding the thematic of comfort and energetic saving. Through the simple use of the tool it will be possible to verify the incidence of the architectural choices for a more responsible use of the resources. The present study and the design tool base their methodology on the intersection of the results of different studies on envelope and plants, with the purpose to obtain a series of data that describes the behavior of the building-plant system in determined situations and contexts. Objective is to connect single researches to provide useful and immediately applicable information to the final users, to the purpose to direct the planning since the preliminary phase and to inform the single buyers on the energetic costs of the intervention, answering to their demands of comfort. Hypothesis of work has individualized, as priority, the optimization of energetic performances through the study of the integration among envelope and plant, in conformity with necessities in the different cases, pursuing two principals objective: the achieve of environmental comfort and the energetic efficiency of the buildings, with the final purpose to realize energetically independent constructions with low consumptions. From these considerations follows the idea to realize a tool that uses as parameters of comparison useful, final and primary energy. The realization of this tool has been object of planning, phase during which a series of constant and varying parameters has been defined. Among these last ones they reenter, in first hypothesis: geographical position, through the individualization of three Italian cities, Milan, Rome and Palermo, representative of the variability of the Italian climate; technological characteristic of the envelope and windows dimension. The passages for the realization of this tool are the followings: 1. Individualization of the cooling and heating unitary maximum sensitive demand, to individualize the peak value to calculate the necessary radiant plant in the different cases. 2. Sizing of the radiant plant in the cases with the purpose to optimize it. 3. Introduction of the data in TRNSYS, the software of dynamic simulation. This passage allows to estimate the influence of the varying parameters on the whole year, estimating annual consumptions in reference to the useful, final and primary energy. 4. Economic evaluation of single simulations, in terms of consumptions and incidence of the initial investment. First phase: Sizing of radiant plant From the development of the passages 1 and 2 of the program, some considerations emerge on the choices effected for the calculation of summer and winter maximum demand. The unitary sensitive heating demand constitutes in fact of the cooling demand, that it must be adopted to sizing the radiant plant. From the analysis it can be observed a law of proportionality for the residence object of examination among the size of the plant and the unitary value of the requirement. A second observation concerns the possibility to increase the variability of the characteristics

Second phase: Dynamic simulation The passage 3 constitutes the first part of the simulation phase. Dynamic simulations have been conducted for the individualized cases, appraising the contribution of different types of forced ventilation to define heating and cooling periods and consequently the entity of the energetic consumptions. At the end of such job the more effective strategies of winter and summer ventilation are been adopted. In the second part of the simulation phase the classification of the parameters has been changed. The number of initial parameters had been in fact contained with the purpose to avoid a dispersion of the data that estranged the attention from the thematic individualize. Particularly two parameters from fixed they become varying: the first one concerns the technological characteristic of the transparent envelope; the second concerns the use profile. In reference to the first aspect they have been considered two typologies of windows with inferior U-value. The initial phase of simulations has in fact put in evidence the strong influence of the windows on the entity of the consumptions, particularly with the increase of the transparent surface. In reference to the second aspect they are considered, for all the simulations, different schedule

Third phase: Evaluation of the consumptions Dynamic simulations have furnished the winter and summer consumption for the various cases in kWh of useful energy, to the purpose to generalize the study, maintaining the possibility to combine the model to any plant system compatible with radiant panels. It has been considered the adoption of heat pumps, to translate the results gotten by the simulations in final and primary energy, and to predispose a first economic analysis. Fourth phase: Economic analysis This section contains the metric calculations to the different cases, divided in building part and building-plant system. In building part, some works are common to all the cases and others are specific, to appraise the entity of the expense for the envelope and its influence on the total costs. Considerations are independent from the geographical position, otherwise to what happens for the second part, where it is introduced

Fifth phase: Realization of the tool The software used for the realization of the instrument is Excel. The result consists in a design tool where the planner can choose among a series of default parameters, getting information on the consumptions and costs. The program is divided in two input cards and three output cards and it is studied for being implementable. Input cards contain the geographical position, the geometric characteristics of the windows, the typology of opaque and transparent envelope. Output cards furnish the consumption of the select solution in useful, final and primary energy through the adoption of heat pumps, with the economic and environmental consequent costs of management in terms of issues of CO2. The tool furnishes the costs related to the envelope and to the radiant plant, with the possibility to appraise through the graphs the influence of the select parameters.

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study of the behavior envelope-radiant plant system in sustainable residential buildings built with structure/envelope technology DESIGN TOOLS

of wall: the respect of the summer requirement shows as the technological characteristic of the opaque component is negligible to the parameter constituted by the dimension of the windows.

of use of the residence from the users, to the purpose to appraise the influence on the consumptions in case of change of style of life by the occupants. Differently from the initial condition, that foresaw the contemporary presence of the three occupants for the whole arc of the day, in the new series of simulations it has been considered a family that uses the residence only to the break lunch, to the evening and the night.

the radiant plant, whose size compensates the behavior of a same envelope on different climates to the purpose to maintain the inside comfort. The analysis of the energetic costs in terms of useful, final and primary energy shows as a greater initial investment directed to the adoption of envelope components with best performance and the containment of the transparent surface allow a fast return of the investment.

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Design tools and technological issues for Mediterranean climate

Graziano Salvalai
An inappropriate architecture design has caused in the last years a huge penetration of conventional air conditioning systems in Europe, and mainly in the Southern countries. condition has a very serious impact on the countries electricity peak demand and on the corresponding energy consumption. The new European Directive on the thermal performance of buildings (Directive 2002/91/EC) asks from the member states to undertake all the necessary measures in order to decrease the energy consumption caused by air conditioning. One promising solution, as demonstrate from monitoring new low-exergy building (exergy is the part of energy flow that can be converted into some kind of high-grade energy, such as mechanical work or electricity), is the passive cooling concepts that can be successfully used in order to achieve a comfortable indoor climate during the summer, without high energy demand for air conditioning. In North and Middle Europe the passive strategies, as the solar protection and the heat modulation technique, are able to minimise the overall heat gains. So, the reduced internal heat can be removed with the use of natural heat sinks, e.g. night ventilation, earth-to-air heat exchanger or concrete slab cooling. The application of these strategies, however, does have the same results in all over the weather conditions, e.g. the night ventilation strategy shows a limited cooling potential in the south Europe climate. The main purpose of this thesis is to describe a model of new efficient office buildings for Mediterranean area, characterized by strong integration of passive cooling strategy and low exergy technology (which use less energy, which could also easily be delivered by sustainable energy sources). The new office model would become in the future the reference point when designing new office buildings. Within this thesis the author made a further step in the development and in the integration of passive and lowexergy cooling devices (erasing actual market limit). For the first analysis a simplified model, representative of an office building of the ninetys, was defined in TRNSYS environment. This software was used to simulate the energy consumption and to evaluate the potentialities of different technical solutions in the European area. A critical review of these results was done to take a choice from all the strategies analyzed to those with the greatest potential for office buildings in Mediterranean climate. This part of the thesis is carried out within the European program ThermCO (Thermal comfort in buildings with low-energy cooling). The studies highlight the capability of buildings which employ thermo-active building systems in combination with ground as environmental heat sources, natural night ventilation and heat pump system, to reduce the cooling energy consumptions. This solution is advantageous because it uses low temperature differences between the water stream and the rooms air, so the COP of the mechanical plant is higher. The performance of the building is evaluated in term of energy consumption and comfort. This final configuration for the new model of Mediterranean Efficient Office Building (MEOB) was studied using the dynamic simulation software, IDA Indoor Climate and Energy. Using this software the model of ground heat exchanger and the Thermo-Active Building Systems was validated respectively with monitoring data and with TRNSYS results comparison. Moreover, a new reversible heat pump with characteristic line was implemented and validated using a monitoring data of six heat pump systems locate in Germany. The proposed model is innovative for two main reasons: The main innovative contribution part of the thesis consists on the validation of whole building model included the plant systems. The whole building simulation results have been validated with detailed monitoring data of a real office building (E&B Druckerei located in Karlsruhe, Germany) that is use as reference case for MEOB. Using the validated model, a sensitivity analysis provided guidelines for the project of low-exergy building in typical Mediterranean climate as Rome. Due to the limited amount of energy of the environmental heat source (ground), the supply system must be adequately dimensioned and well operated. In case of heat pump systems coupled with the ground, a correct dimension of the heat exchangers and mass flow rate are crucial aspects. Applying the adaptive comfort approach of EN 15251:200708, the buildings, characterized by radiant cooling devices (suspended ceiling panels and capillary tubes), meet the requirements for thermal comfort classes A and B with low energy consumption.

1. Energy concept of the MEOB. The strategies consist on the reduction of cooling load and on the use of environmental heat sink. The ground can use directly or coupled with a heat pump systems. This configuration improves the ground cooling potential in spite of more electrical energy used. However, the electrical energy consumption can be product from PV modules.

2. New heat pump model validation. The green dots represent the condenser outlet water temperature and the grey dots the evaporator water temperature [C]. During the systems operation both the values are very close to the monitored values

firstly, it relies on data easily available from heat pump manufacturers (capacity, and electrical power absorbed based on the entering load and source temperatures). This approach uses hence two source files as input, a file containing cooling

performance data and a file containing heating performance data, secondly, it allows the reversibility of the cycle, and it can be used either to heat or cool depending upon the direction that the refrigerant is flowing through the system.

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PASSIVE DEVICES FOR SUMMER CLIMATE CONTROL IN BUILDINGS