DESIGN OF A LOW-ENERGY ENVELOPE SYSTEM FOR AN APARTMENT BUILDING THROUGH AN INTEGRATED DESIGN PROCESS:A CASE STUDY

The potential to conserve energy in an apartment building in Toronto,Ontario,Canada through the implementation of an advanced envelope system was explored in this study.This paper illustrates the possibility in reducing energy demand through an integrated design process(IDP),where research outcomes were incorporated into the architectural design.Using the floor plan and schematics provided by the designer,a building energy model was established in an advanced simulation program to evaluate the performances of nine low-energy envelope design strategies in reducing the heating and cooling energy consumption.Through this study,it can be concluded that performing detailed energy simulations early in the design process to identify which low-energy envelope strategies can be omitted or substituted in the final envelope design is crucial in identifying the most effective strategies for improving energy performance.This study also demonstrates the potential of collaboration between academia and industry in generating high performance buildings.

A Semi-Analytical Method for the PDFs of A Ship Rolling in Random Oblique Waves

The PDFs(probability density functions) and probability of a ship rolling under the random parametric and forced excitations were studied by a semi-analytical method. The rolling motion equation of the ship in random oblique waves was established. The righting arm obtained by the numerical simulation was approximately fitted by an analytical function. The irregular waves were decomposed into two Gauss stationary random processes, and the CARMA(2, 1) model was used to fit the spectral density function of parametric and forced excitations. The stochastic energy envelope averaging method was used to solve the PDFs and the probability. The validity of the semi-analytical method was verified by the Monte Carlo method. The C11 ship was taken as an example, and the influences of the system parameters on the PDFs and probability were analyzed. The results show that the probability of ship rolling is affected by the characteristic wave height, wave length, and the heading angle. In order to provide proper advice for the ship’s manoeuvring, the parametric excitations should be considered appropriately when the ship navigates in the oblique seas.

Microstructure and Characterization of Capric-stearic Acid/Modified Expanded Vermiculite Thermal Storage Composites

In order to improve the thermal storage capacity of expanded vermiculite（EV） based formstable composite PCM（FS-PCM） via organic modification of EV, first, EV was modified with a sodium stearate（Na St） as surface modifier, and organic EV（OEV） with hydrophobicity and higher adsorption capacity for fatty acid was obtained. A novel capric-stearic acid eutectic（CA-SA）/OEV FS-PCM with high thermal storage capacity was then developed. OEV and CA-SA/OEV were characterized by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR）, differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, thermal gravimetry（TG）, and thermal cycling test. Results showed that OEV has obvious hydrophobicity and a higher adsorption capacity for fatty acid. Its adsorption ratio has increased by 48.71% compared with that of EV. CA-SA/OEV possesses high thermal storage density（112.52 J/g）, suitable melting temperature（20.49 ℃）, good chemical compatibility, excellent thermal stability and reliability, indicating great application potential for building energy efficiency. Moreover, organic modification of inorganic matrix may offer novel options for improving its adsorption capacity for organic PCMs and increasing heat storage capacity of corresponding FS-PCMs.

Design on rural eco-house in cold areas of Northern China

Many kinds of factors that influence rural housing construction in Northern China are analyzed systematically and the connections between them are weighed from ecology and sustainable angles, so that an optimized green house can be built. At the same time, the energy efficient envelope structure and the method of choosing insulation material in the cost of unit thermal resistance are proposed. Integrated quality evaluation by computer shows that thermal comfort in the house would be improved remarkably for the value of PPD drops from 35%-40% to 15%, the rate of saving energy is 51.73%, much higher than the third goal of saving energy in China, and the comprehensive ecological benefit achieves good effect so as to promote the sustainable development of rural housing and community in cold areas of Northern China.