T&A Technik & Architektur

There is a growing trend in steel glass facades to maximize the transparency of buildings with structural glass elements e.g. beams, columns, and stiffeners. A relatively new way is the use of glass beams in order to stiffen large glass curtain walls. Although the material glass is a material that is able to resist very high compression stresses, structural glass elements tend to fail because of instability due to their high slenderness. In the past years lateral torsional buckling of glass beams has been studied in many research works. The studies were limited to the fundamental situation of a simple beam without lateral restraint. However, in practice glass beams in glass curtain walls are fixed over the whole length to the front glazing panels by means of structural silicon joints or mechanical fixings. The load carrying behaviour of beams with lateral restraints is different compared to beams with a free lateral displacement. In this work, experimental and theoretical investigations on the lateral torsional buckling of monolithic and laminated glass beams with lateral restraint have been conducted. The objectives were to investigate the load carrying behaviour and to study possible design methods for stability-critical lateral supported glass beams. Finite element simulations were carried out and compared to experimental tests on real size glass beams made of monolithic and laminated glass. The design concept is based on well-known design con

In the mid-1990s the climatic loading of double-glazed units (DGU's) was investigated and design rules were developed for use in practice. Even though at the time those rules were developed for DGU's, they have recently also been used for the design of modern triple-glazed units (TGU's) and multilayer facade systems. So far, no research has addressed the question whether this design process, and in particular the temperature differences that have been determined for DGU's, can be applied to other systems. It is therefore the aim of this paper to determine the governing temperatures in insulated glass units (IGU's) under up-to-date boundary conditions. To do this, the thermal behaviour of TGU's, multilayer facade systems and solar shading is investigated in detail. A simple calculation model is developed, which can be used to determine the gas temperatures in various facade configurations in accordance with the relevant standards. The results show that while parts of the existing requirements are still valid, there are distinct differences in the requirements for more contemporary applications. The gas temperatures affect the climatic load and therefore also influence the structural design of IGU's.

The experimental setup implements a simplified PASSYS test cell construction, which is combined with a detailed simulation to reduce measurement effort. To analyze the cell’s dynamic behavior, the test cell was closely monitored with thermal sensors, and different static and dynamic heating modes were applied during a three-week calibration period. Co-heating tests were performed for steady-state measurements and cyclic heating periods account for the transient behavior of the test cell. The cells response was compared to the results of transient simulations with the software packet Modelica. The equation based Modelica framework allowed a detailed transient thermal simulation of the test cell’s dynamic to be set up that shows close agreement with the measurements. In addition, the flexibility of Modelica allowed unforeseen events affecting the experimental setup to be replicated, thereby ensuring an uninterrupted heat flow history of all surfaces. More than 96% of the predicted air...

A novel façade element is presented that forms a symbiosis between an enhanced box-type window, a closed cavity façade, and a Trombe wall. This hybrid, transparent-opaque façade element features an absorbing water tank, that is installed behind a controlled shading device toward the cavity of a non-ventilated Double Skin Façade in the parapet section. To evaluate the potential impact on building performance, a transient simulation model is developed in Modelica and calibrated by comparison with measurements on a prototype. The effect of the absorbing thermal storage on heat transfers under solar radiation is analyzed in comparison to (i) conditions excluding solar radiation and (ii) an empty tank. An evaluation for four European cities demonstrates that the annual heating demand can be reduced by more than 4.2% and cooling demand by at least 6.6% compared to a façade without thermal storage. The effect is explained not only by the increased thermal mass, but also by the effective mo...

and Arts, the European Façade Network and the European research network COST Action TU1403 "Adaptive Facades Network" have joined forces in the organisation of the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! Conference. This international scientific conference-held on November 26-27, 2018 at the culture and convention centre Lucerne (KKL), Switzerland-focuses on adaptive, multifunctional and dynamic building envelopes. It gathers excellent architects, engineers, researchers and representatives from the façade industry to discuss recent façade projects, the advances in the design, new adaptive technologies and future developments in research. Within the FAÇADE conference series, this is the fifth edition-following the editions in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016-held in Lucerne and organized by Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts. Within the COST Action TU1403, it follows the mid-term conference held at the TU Munich in 2017. This book provides the proceedings of the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! Conference and, as such, it forms one of the final publications of the COST Action TU1403 with the booklets '3.1. Cases Studies', '3.2 Performance Simulation and Characterisation of Adaptive Facades', '3.3. Research and Education', and the Special Edition Adaptive! of the Journal of Façade Design and Engineering (JFDE), which is dedicated to the conference FAÇADE 2018. Nearly 60 peer-reviewed papers, published by more than 150 authors from 30 different countries, provide a profound state-of-the-art on adaptive facades. Thirteen high quality papers have been selected by the scientific committee to be published in the special edition of the JFDE journal. The papers are divided over five subthemes, which address products and materials for adaptive facades, strategies for design, performance assessment, experimental tests and post occupancy evaluation of adaptive facades. Moreover, five keynote presentations provide inspiring projects and ideas for further reflection. Organising this conference and editing the conference proceedings has once again been an enjoyable experience. We would like to acknowledge all authors for their contributions, the scientific committee members for their valuable comments, our esteemed keynote speakers for their inspiring presentations, and of course, all conference participants for their interest in this event. In addition, we are grateful to our Sponsors Stahlbau Pichler, MHZ and HALIO, as well as the nonprofit organisations Suisse Innovation Agency (Innosuisse) and the Swiss association for windows and facades (SZFF) for supporting the organisation of this conference. We also would like to thank the editors in chief of the JFDE journal, Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Klein, Thaleia Konstantinou and Alejandro Prieto for their great support and the special edition dedicated to the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! conference. Finally, we would like to acknowledge COST for supporting both the conference and publication of these conference proceedings, and all COST Action TU1403 members for their contributions to make this happen. Particularly we would like to thank science officer, Mickael Pero, and administrative officer, Carmencita Malimban, for their great and valuable support during the course of COST Action TU1403. We wish you an enjoyable conference and we hope you will find inspiring publications in these proceedings.

Energy efficient buildings significantly contribute to meeting the EU climate and energy sustainability targets for 2020 as approximately one third of all end-user energy in Europe today is consumed by space heating / cooling, ventilation and lighting of buildings. In this context, the energy performance of future building envelopes will play a key role.

fossil fuels. One example of novel sustainable materials is Wood-Plastic-Composite (WPC) which consists of wood fibres embedded in a petrochemical matrix. They are so far applied as wall cladding. Further regulations. Our findings demonstrate that current WPCs are still in need of further application-oriented development of a GCF a challenge which our paper finally encounters by the proposition of an all embracing Life-Cycle-Sustainability-Assessment. environmental potential speaks for a career as niche product particularly for highly environmentally friendly applications in the building envelope. Keywords

In times of energy use awareness, decarbonisation, and resource efficiency, the performance of well-known facade components must be pushed beyond current limits through innovative designs and new combinations in construction. This paper presents an unconventional redesign of a double skin facade (DSF), based on Trombe wall principles, to enlarge solar gains in heating seasons and avoid overheating issues in summertime. The DSF variant is equipped with a thermal storage mass in the DSF cavity and interior insulation. The thermal mass, in this case concrete, is of a dark colour for high solar absorption, whereas the shading device is highly reflective. In contrast to traditional Trombe wall systems, this TCW is not supposed to actively heat interior space or transfer thermal energy. Instead, the TCW aims to regulate heat flux within the facade level by the management of solar thermal energy fluxes. The potential to reduce buildings’ heat losses through solar energy use is shown and co...

Modern cities face a climatic problem due to the high proportion of sealed surfaces that increase the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Green surfaces offer a way to mitigate the UHI effect, as they positively influence the thermal energy storage and air temperature. To support an increase of green surfaces in the limited resources of cities, vertical spaces, e.g. façades, must be exploited. A possible realisation of a vertical green system are overgrown rope façades. Overgrown rope façades have pre-fitted ropes in front of façades on which climbing plants can grow. However, such systems have to deal with dynamic wind forces, which pose static challenges to the climbing system. In order to design such systems for the effective wind forces, so-called drag coefficients of the climbing plants must be known. Unfortunately, there are no guidelines or known values that provide such specific drag coefficients for climbing plants. In this study, based on a study review of relevant data for dr...

For many structural glass components, buckling is known to be a major design issue, which is influenced significantly by several parameters. The latter include boundary conditions, slenderness and geometrical imperfections, in particular initial curvatures. However, in spite of their importance for building practice, experimental data for the latter are very poorly documented. Consequently, an extended experimental campaign is presented in which initial curvatures of 312 monolithic and laminated glass beams with a variable length, height, glass thickness, glass type and -wherever applicable -interlayer, have been accurately measured and analysed. Major conclusions have been drawn regarding the shape and the size of initial curvatures.

ZusammenfassungDer Rückgang der Heiratsziffern sowie die Verschiebung der Eheschließung auf einen späteren Zeitpunkt im Lebensverlauf können u.a. durch neue Formen des Zusammenlebens erklärt werden. Eine in diesem Zusammenhang für Deutschland noch weitgehend ungeklärte Frage ist, ob durch eine „Probeehe“ das Scheidungsrisiko einer nachfolgenden Ehe verringert werden kann, weil - wie die „weeding“-Hypothese postuliert - instabile Partnerschaften vor einer Eheschließung beendet werden können. Zahlreiche Befunde aus verschiedenen Ländern können diese Annahme nicht bestätigen: Sie zeigen vielmehr, daß voreheliches Zusammenleben mit einem höheren Scheidungsrisiko verbunden ist. Der Aufsatz überprüft für Deutschland die „weeding“-Hypothese anhand eines aktuellen und eigens für das Thema „Ehescheidung“ konzipierten Datensatzes. Die Analyse zeigt erstens, daß Paare, die vor der Ehe zusammengelebt haben, aufgrund ihrer Merkmale einem höheren Scheidungsrisiko unterliegen und daher ein inhären...

The potential of exemplary organic and inorganic Phase Change Materials (PCMs) as façade integrated storage is tested. The impact of two PCMs on heat flows is assessed in comparison with water and concrete. The simulation-study employs a transient Modelica simulation model of a test cell featuring the Solar Energy Balanced Façade (SEBF). It is shown that, when compared to water, PCMs of identical volume change the seasonal energy balance in winter and summer by only ± 4%. Other than water, the PCMs maintain this effect even if the storage volume decreases. Due to spatial constraints, this can support the integration of thermal storage in façade design considerably. Preliminary results indicate that designing thermal storage in façades with PCMs must not only consider the latent heat storage capacity, but also take into account the combined effects of latent heat capacity, melting point, conductivity, and dead load. The application of PCMs promises to foster the integration of the te...

and Arts, the European Façade Network and the European research network COST Action TU1403 "Adaptive Facades Network" have joined forces in the organisation of the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! Conference. This international scientific conference-held on November 26-27, 2018 at the culture and convention centre Lucerne (KKL), Switzerland-focuses on adaptive, multifunctional and dynamic building envelopes. It gathers excellent architects, engineers, researchers and representatives from the façade industry to discuss recent façade projects, the advances in the design, new adaptive technologies and future developments in research. Within the FAÇADE conference series, this is the fifth edition-following the editions in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016-held in Lucerne and organized by Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts. Within the COST Action TU1403, it follows the mid-term conference held at the TU Munich in 2017. This book provides the proceedings of the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! Conference and, as such, it forms one of the final publications of the COST Action TU1403 with the booklets '3.1. Cases Studies', '3.2 Performance Simulation and Characterisation of Adaptive Facades', '3.3. Research and Education', and the Special Edition Adaptive! of the Journal of Façade Design and Engineering (JFDE), which is dedicated to the conference FAÇADE 2018. Nearly 60 peer-reviewed papers, published by more than 150 authors from 30 different countries, provide a profound state-of-the-art on adaptive facades. Thirteen high quality papers have been selected by the scientific committee to be published in the special edition of the JFDE journal. The papers are divided over five subthemes, which address products and materials for adaptive facades, strategies for design, performance assessment, experimental tests and post occupancy evaluation of adaptive facades. Moreover, five keynote presentations provide inspiring projects and ideas for further reflection. Organising this conference and editing the conference proceedings has once again been an enjoyable experience. We would like to acknowledge all authors for their contributions, the scientific committee members for their valuable comments, our esteemed keynote speakers for their inspiring presentations, and of course, all conference participants for their interest in this event. In addition, we are grateful to our Sponsors Stahlbau Pichler, MHZ and HALIO, as well as the nonprofit organisations Suisse Innovation Agency (Innosuisse) and the Swiss association for windows and facades (SZFF) for supporting the organisation of this conference. We also would like to thank the editors in chief of the JFDE journal, Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Klein, Thaleia Konstantinou and Alejandro Prieto for their great support and the special edition dedicated to the FAÇADE 2018-Adaptive! conference. Finally, we would like to acknowledge COST for supporting both the conference and publication of these conference proceedings, and all COST Action TU1403 members for their contributions to make this happen. Particularly we would like to thank science officer, Mickael Pero, and administrative officer, Carmencita Malimban, for their great and valuable support during the course of COST Action TU1403. We wish you an enjoyable conference and we hope you will find inspiring publications in these proceedings.

The irregular reflection and transmission properties of innovative fenestration components allow to redirect, and to selectively admit or block solar irradiation based on its incident direction. Compared to e.g. systems that implement adaptivity to external conditions by mechanical transformations, such tailored light scattering properties promise to reduce the complexity of installation, operation and maintenance as well as the impact on outward view and the aesthetical appearance of buildings. Examples of such innovative fenestration techniques, e.g. light redirecting films and Venetian blinds featuring irregular reflection properties, are presented with their gonio-photometrically measured light scattering properties. Techniques to model such innovative, optically complex fenestration in building simulation software to support product development and planning are presented. The effects on daylight availability, glare and solar gains are demonstrated for exemplary cases. Prelimina...

Climatic loads on Insulated Glazed Units (IGU) have been investigated since the early 1990s. Beginning in 1996 a German technical guideline defined the procedure to respect climatic loads in static design of IGUs. Furthermore the required values of climatic changes and thermal changes of Double Glazed Units (DGU) have been determined. In practice, those values have been applied to other systems like Triple Glazed Units (TGU) as well as Double Skin Facades (DSF). In the last two decade's those values haven not changed. This paper presents the results of a study on IGU's in summer conditions, evaluating the thermal performance recent constructions. The upgrade from DGU to TGU causes a significant change of the thermal behavior. By adding a third glass layer, the middle glass gets insulated on both sides. In case of solar radiation the middle glass layer absorbs energy and is disabled to release energy. As a result, higher temperatures can be reached on TGU. By considering ventilated or not ventilated DSF's, external or internal shading devices can influence further changes in the thermal behavior. This paper shows the development of an iterative calculation model by including present European standards. The model is able to deal with factors mentioned above. The results of different facade studies are shown and compared to the DIN 18008 standard. Furthermore the ongoing changes through European prestandards were discussed. Over all the study shows that a more sophisticated approach is necessary to determine correct temperature and climatic loads.

Electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) have been limited by low sensitivity at acceptable levels of specificity. A number of studies have demonstrated that body mass index (BMI) is associated with decreased sensitivity of ECG LVH classification in hypertensive patients. The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation relationship between LVH voltage criteria and BMI in Swiss conscripts.

A system was developed for real-time electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis and artifact correction during magnetic resonance (MR) scanning, to improve patient monitoring and triggering of MR data acquisitions. Based on the assumption that artifact production by magnetic field gradient switching represents a linear time invariant process, a noise cancellation (NC) method is applied to ECG artifact linear prediction. This linear prediction is performed using a digital finite impulse response (FIR) matrix, that is computed employing ECG and gradient waveforms recorded during a training scan. The FIR filters are used during further scanning to predict artifacts by convolution of the gradient waveforms. Subtracting the artifacts from the raw ECG signal produces the correction with minimal delay. Validation of the system was performed both off-line, using prerecorded signals, and under actual examination conditions. The method is implemented using a specially designed Signal Analyzer and Event Controller (SAEC) computer and electronics. Real-time operation was demonstrated at 1 kHz with a delay of only 1 ms introduced by the processing. The system opens the possibility of automatic monitoring algorithms for electrophysiological signals in the MR environment.