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Buildings & Construction

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Displaying 801 - 825 of 3869

Factors Influencing the Smoldering Performance of Polyurethane Foam

September 26, 2012
Author(s)
Mauro Zammarano, Szabolcs Matko, Roland H. Kraemer, Rick D. Davis, Jeffrey W. Gilman, Shivani N. Mehta
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether polyurethane foam (PUF) could be produced as a standard reference material for ultimate use in a standard test intended to ensure the smoldering performance of commercially available upholstered furniture

Evacuation of People with Disabilities on Stairs

September 18, 2012
Author(s)
Erica D. Kuligowski, Bryan Hoskins, Richard D. Peacock, Emily A. Wiess
The time that it takes a population to reach safety when descending a stairwell during building evacuations is typically described by measureable engineering variables. These engineering variables include stairwell geometry, speed, density, and pre

More Thoughts on Defaults

September 18, 2012
Author(s)
Steve M. Gwynne, Erica D. Kuligowski, Michael Spearpoint
In this paper, the use of default values in egress models is explored and specific values are proposed to combat issues of model misuse. The authors suggest that defaults should represent the most credibly conservative estimates available for core egress

Annex 47 Extended Project Summary

September 17, 2012
Author(s)
Natascha S. Milesi-Ferretti, Daniel Choiniere
In 2006, researchers from 22 organizations in ten countries began a joint effort to enable the cost-effective commissioning of existing and future buildings to improve the buildings’ operating performance. The commissioning techniques developed through

Annex 47 Report 2: Commissioning Tools for Existing and Low Energy Buildings

September 17, 2012
Author(s)
Christian Neumann , Henk Pietsman, Harunori Yoshida , Hideki Yuzawa, Takeshi Watanabe, Katsuhiro Kamitani, Hiroshige Kikuchi , Dirk Jacob, Oliver Baumann, Daniel Choiniere, Natascha S. Milesi-Ferretti
This report summarizes part of the work of IEA-ECBCS Annex 47 Cost-Effective Commissioning of Existing and Low Energy Buildings. It is based on the research findings from the participating countries. The publication is an official Annex report. Report 1,

Commissioning Cost-Benefit and Persistence of Savings: A Report on Cost-Effective Commissioning of Existing and Low Energy Buildings

September 17, 2012
Author(s)
Hannah Friedman, Marti Frank, David Claridge, Kristin Heinemeier, Kim Crossman, Eliot Crowe, Cory Toole, Natascha S. Milesi-Ferretti, Daniel Choniere
Commissioning of new and existing buildings has been shown to reduce energy usage and can also produce non-energy related benefits such as improved occupant comfort. When compared with other initiatives such as installation of high efficiency equipment or

Effect of Al2O3 Nanolubricant on R134a Pool Boiling Heat Transfer

September 8, 2012
Author(s)
Mark A. Kedzierski
This paper quantifies the influence of Al2O3 nanoparticles on the pool boiling performance of R134a/polyolester mixtures on a roughened, horizontal, flat surface. Nanofluids are liquids that contain dispersed nano-size particles. A lubricant based

Assessment of Factors Affecting Fire Performance of Mattresses: A Review

September 3, 2012
Author(s)
Rick D. Davis, Shonali Nazare, Kathryn M. Butler
An in-depth analysis of U.S. residential fire statistics shows that although the total number of fires and deaths due to mattress fires has dropped as a result of several regulatory approaches, the mattress/bedding fires continue to account for one of the

Overview of the Structural Design of World Trade Center 1, 2, and 7

September 1, 2012
Author(s)
Therese P. McAllister, Fahim Sadek, John L. Gross, Jason D. Averill, Richard G. Gann
This paper summarizes the primary structural systems which comprised World Trade Center 1, World Trade Center 2, and World Trade Center 7. The buildings were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This paper describes the four major

Characterization of Surface Accumulation and Release of Nanosilica During Irradiation of Polymer Nanocomposites with Ultraviolet Light

August 12, 2012
Author(s)
Tinh Nguyen, Bastien T. Pellegrin, Coralie Bernard, Savelas A. Rabb, Paul E. Stutzman, Justin M. Gorham, Xiaohong Gu, Lee L. Yu, Joannie W. Chin
Nanofillers are increasingly used for enhancing multiple properties of polymeric materials in many applications. However, polymers are susceptible to photodegradation by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation Therefore, nanofillers in a polymer nanocomposite

Structural Analysis of Impact Damage to World Trade Center Buildings 1, 2, and 7

August 12, 2012
Author(s)
Therese P. McAllister, Fahim Sadek, John L. Gross, Steven W. Kirkpatrick, Robert S. MacNeill, R. Bocchieri, Mehdi S. Zarghamee, Omer O. Erbay, Andrew T. Sarawit
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted an extensive investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center towers (WTC 1 and WTC 2) and the WTC 7 building. This paper describes the reconstruction of impact damage to each of the

Are intelligent agents the key to optimizing building HVAC system performance?

August 10, 2012
Author(s)
George E. Kelly, Steven T. Bushby
This paper describes the development and implementation of a simulation testbed used to study the concept of employing intelligent agents to optimize the performance of building Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. One day simulated

VOC emissions from a LIFE reference: small chamber tests and factorial studies

June 28, 2012
Author(s)
Wenjuan Wei, Sylvester M. Greer, Cynthia H. Reed, Andrew K. Persily, Yinping Zhang
A liquid-inner tube diffusion-film-emission (LIFE) reference was developed to quickly evaluate the performance of a chamber system for furniture/building material VOC emission tests. The reference has a constant emission rate determined by an analytical

Analysis of Thermal-Conductivity Measurement Data from International Comparison of National Laboratories

June 19, 2012
Author(s)
Bruno Hay, Robert R. Zarr, Clark Stacey, Leonel Lira Cortes, Ulf Hammerschmidt, Nikolay Sokolov, J.T. Zhang, Jean Remy Filtz
For the first time under the auspices of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), seven national metrology institutes (NMIs) participated in an international interlaboratory comparison on thermal-conductivity measurements by the guarded hot
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