BIM and orthogonal test methods to optimize the energy consumption of green buildings

Xiaojuan Li, Mingchao Lin, Ming Jiang, C. Y. Jim, Ke Liu, Huipin Tserng — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The construction industry’s rapid growth significantly impacts energy consumption and environmental health. It is crucial to develop optimization strategies to enhance green building energy efficiency and encompass comprehensive analysis methods. This study aims to introduce and validate a novel framework for optimizing energy efficiency design in green buildings by integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, and orthogonal testing methods, focusing on enhancing energy efficiency and reducing life cycle costs. The optimization parameters for the building envelope are identified by analyzing energy consumption components and key green building factors. The orthogonal testing method was applied to streamline design options. Building Energy Consumption Simulation (BECS) software and LCC analysis tools were employed to calculate each optimized option’s total annual energy consumption and the current life cycle costs. Using the efficiency coefficient method, each optimization scheme’s energy consumption and economic indicators were thoroughly analyzed. The framework’s validity and applicability were confirmed through an empirical analysis of a campus green building case in Fujian Province, demonstrating that the optimized framework could reduce energy consumption by 4.85 kWh/m² per year and lower costs by 38.89 Yuan/m² compared to the reference building. The case study highlights the framework’s significant benefits in enhancing environmental performance and economic gains. The results provide critical parameter selection and offer scientific and technological support for the design of building energy efficiency, promoting optimization techniques and sustainable development within the construction industry.

The effect of relative density, granularity and size of geogrid apertures on the shear strength of the soil/geogrid interface

Ali Lakirouhani, Mojgan Abbasian, Jurgis Medzvieckas, Romualdas Kliukas — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The increasing use of geogrid in various geotechnical projects has made the evaluation of the shear behavior of soil reinforced with geogrid become particularly important. In this article, a series of large-scale direct shear tests have been performed on sand and gravel samples reinforced with geogrid. The purpose of the experiments was to investigate the impact of the geogrid mesh size and the relative density of the samples on the shear strength coefficient of the interface between soil and geogrid. In this study, 5 geogrids with different mesh sizes and one type of geotextile were used. According to the results, the average shear strength coefficient of sand and gravel samples reinforced with geogrid for different normal stresses and different relative densities was obtained between 0.72 and 0.94. As the relative density increases, the interface shear strength coefficient decreases, this means that the denser the sand, the more the shear strength of the sand/geogrid interface decreases. Based on the results, it was found that the contribution of particle interlocking in the shear resistance of the sand/geogrid interface is particularly important, so that the shear resistance coefficient of the interface increases with the increase in the size of the geogrid mesh.

Journal of Civil Engineering and Management

BIM and orthogonal test methods to optimize the energy consumption of green buildings

The effect of relative density, granularity and size of geogrid apertures on the shear strength of the soil/geogrid interface