Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

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    Sensitivity analysis on energy performance, thermal and visual discomfort of a prefabricated house in six climate zones in Australia
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M (ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2021-09-15)
    In prefabricated buildings distinctive construction process and lightweight components affect design strategies and consequences. Therefore, to create more sustainable prefabricated buildings, it is important to understand the effects of their envelope parameters on energy performance and indoor environmental quality. Although previous research have investigated the effects of envelope on energy and indoor comfort outputs, the parameters of lightweight prefabricated envelope are not thoroughly considered. This article quantifies the effects of building envelope parameters on the energy use, thermal comfort and daylighting levels of a prefabricated house built in Australia. A building simulation model was developed and validated by comparing predicted with measured indoor temperatures of the house. The baseline performance for evaluation of energy consumption, thermal discomfort hours and daylight unsatisfied hours were carried out using Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) tool. Series of regression-based sensitivity analyses (SAs) to identify the most sensitive parameters were conducted by coupling TRNSYS, jEPlus and SimLab. Applications in six climate zones were investigated. The important focus areas found by SA in each climate and their corresponding design responses can be applied across ranges of prefabricated building projects if built in similar climatic conditions. SA results revealed window glazing and shading among the most influential parameters on all targeted performance outputs. The relationship between sensitivity levels to energy consumption and degree days indicated that the type of window has a higher impact on the reduction of energy use in the cooling dominated climates while insulation of wall was found a more effective strategy in heating-dominated climates.
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    Multi-objective optimisations of envelope components for a prefabricated house in six climate zones
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M (Elsevier, 2021-01-15)
    The ever-increasing attention towards implementation of environmentally sustainable buildings necessitates the predictions of energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) during early design stages. Prefabrication of buildings changes the construction process and components which affects building performance. Better understanding the effects of envelope components on energy performance and IEQ will inform design decisions leading to the creation of more sustainable buildings. In this article multi-objective optimisations of building envelope were carried out by coupling TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Tool) and jEPlus + EA (EnergyPlus simulation manager for parametrics + Evolutionary Algorithms). The objective functions to be minimised were thermal discomfort hours (TDH), daylight unsatisfied hours (DUH) and life cycle costs (LCC) while maintaining acceptable sound transmission levels and indoor air quality. The decision variables were envelope components of a prefabricated house. Applications for six different climate zones corresponding to eight locations in Australia were investigated. The optimal solution sets were unique for each climate zone. The optimal solutions achieved 27–31% savings in LCC compared to the baseline. The reductions for TDH varied from 6% to 55% among the locations. As a result of trade-offs, the selected compromised solutions in each climate could achieve better reductions for either TDH, LCC or both.
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    Dataset on baseline performance and sensitivity analysis of a prefabricated house in six climate zones in Australia
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M ( 2020-11-26)
    This dataset includes the results of baseline performance evaluation and sensitivity analysis of a prefabricated house in six climate zones in Australia. The performance parameters investigated are monthly heating loads, monthly cooling loads, monthly thermal discomfort hours (TDHs) and monthly daylight unsatisfied hours (DUHs) of the living room, study room, and rumpus room in the prefabricated house.
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    Dataset on validation of TRNSYS building model for a prefabricated house built in Australia
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M ( 2020-11-26)
    This dataset includes data from the validation of TRNSYS building model for a prefabricated house built in Australia. The simulated indoor temperatures were compared with the measured ones in Melbourne. The comparison was carried out for the period between 19:00:00 on 31 March 2018 and 00:00:00 on 2 April 2018. Coefficient of determination (R²), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Correlation Coefficient (CC) were applied for quantification of the agreement between simulated and measured temperatures.
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    Dataset on thermal properties, sound reductions, TVOC emissions, and costs of envelope components for prefabricated buildings in Australia (Version 2)
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M ( 2020-07-18)
    The data included in the dataset are related to prefabricated building components and their specifications. The specification provided are component type, material, thickness, density, thermal conductivity, specific heat, sound reduction index, total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) emissions and costs in various locations of Australia. The components that are included in this dataset are wall cladding, wall core, interior wall lining, insulation, roof cladding, floor covers and glazing. The authors attempted to cover most of the available component types and their available thicknesses. However, the authors acknowledge that due customisability of these products, other variations of the materials and their dimensions may have not been mentioned in the dataset. For some materials the specifications related to certain properties could net be accessed. Therefore, this dataset is designed to be open for updates and further development in the future. The dataset has been used in sets of building envelope design optimisation practices as input parameters.
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    Dataset on thermal properties, sound reductions, TVOC emissions, and costs of envelope components for prefabricated buildings in Australia (Version 1)
    Naji, S ; Aye, L ; Noguchi, M ( 2020-04-04)
    This data article includes the common envelope components for prefabricated buildings in Australia. The thermal properties, sound reductions, total volatile organic compound emission rates and the cost data are included in this dataset. The material types and their available thicknesses were collected from commercially available standardised construction components. This data set can be used for building energy and indoor environmental quality performance evaluations. The cost data can be used for estimating the initial cost of building envelope. By further modification of data, they can also be used in Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools.