Alberto Muscio
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
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Publication
Featured researches published by Alberto Muscio.
Journal of Civil Engineering and Management | 2015
Hashem Akbari; Constantinos Cartalis; Denia Kolokotsa; Alberto Muscio; Anna Laura Pisello; Federico Rossi; Matheos Santamouris; A. Synnefa; Nyuk Hien Wong; Michele Zinzi
AbstractIncrease of the ambient air temperature in cities caused by the urban heat island phenomenon has a seri- ous impact on the economic and social system of cities. to counterbalance the consequences of the increased urban temperatures important research has been carried out resulting in the development of efficient mitigation technologies. the present paper aims to present the state of the art in terms of local climate change and urban heat island mitigation techniques. In particular, developments in the field on highly reflective materials, cool and green roofs, cool pavements, urban green and of other mitigation technologies are presented in detail, while examples of implemented projects are given.
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing | 2004
Alberto Muscio; M. A. Corticelli
The effectiveness of infrared thermography applied to the detection of abandoned land mines is not yet acceptable. It can probably be improved, however, by computerized processing of the thermal images. This requires reference data, which must be provided mainly by experiments. A method is presented here, by which the heating and cooling cycles of a soil with a buried land mine can be replicated with reduced size and duration. The reference data acquired in the laboratory can be associated to realistic on-field tests by simply stretching the space and time scales. This will permit to reproduce indoors, quickly and effortlessly, the outdoor conditions of any place where the detection of buried land mines must be performed. In this paper, the general thermal problem is described, and the proposed method is comprehensively explained. The results of computer simulations and some laboratory tests are finally reported for validation.
Advances in Building Energy Research | 2014
Chiara Ferrari; Ali Gholizadeh Touchaei; Mohamad Sleiman; Antonio Libbra; Alberto Muscio; Cristina Siligardi; Hashem Akbari
Clay roof tiles are widely used as roofing materials because of their good mechanical and esthetical properties. The exposure to atmospheric agents and, most of all, to pollutants and smog affects negatively the solar reflectance of a tile surface. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of aging on the solar reflectance of clay roof tiles. We studied samples provided by manufacturer in Greece and USA. Samples were coated with either organic or inorganic coatings. Natural aging processes were used for samples with inorganic coating, and artificial aging simulation was performed on all samples. Samples were naturally aged in a test farm in Arizona, with an exposure time of three years. In artificial aging processes, the surface of the tiles was subjected to the application of two different mixtures simulating exposure to (i) Arizona weathering agents such as clay, salts and soot and (ii) Arizona, Florida and Ohio weathering agents through an average mixture made by clay, salts, particulate organic matter and soot. The amount of soiling mixture deposited on the surface of the samples was aimed at reproducing a three-year exposure. Soiled samples were subjected to air blowing and rinsing under running water to simulate the wind and rain effects, respectively. The effects of both natural aging and artificial soiling on the surface reflectivity of the clay roof tiles were assessed in the ultraviolet–visible–near infrared range (range from 300 to 2500 nm). The two different soiling conditions were found to affect significantly the solar reflectance of the samples, in particular the samples soiled with the average mixture present a decrease up to 0.20, while Arizona weathering condition affects the solar reflectance up to 0.05, and neither air blowing nor rinsing seem to permit a significant recovery of the surface properties. All solar reflectance measurements were computed by averaging the spectral reflectivity weighted by the air-mass 1 global horizontal solar spectral irradiance.
Advances in Building Energy Research | 2013
Chiara Ferrari; Antonio Libbra; Alberto Muscio; Cristina Siligardi
Solar reflectance (SR) is the key performance parameter of cool roof and cool pavement materials. For its assessment, the measured spectral reflectivity of the sample is weighted by a reference spectrum of solar irradiance. Several standard and non-standard spectra are, however, available, taking into account different climate conditions, angle of incidence of the solar beam, and the contribution of the diffuse radiation content. This study is aimed at investigating the impact of using different solar irradiance spectra as specified by existing standards or suggested by qualified research institutions, and verifying if those spectra can yield equivalent SR values from the viewpoint of assessment of standard performance and comparison of commercial products. Several actual material are considered, either white or coloured ones and with assorted spectral behaviour.
Thermosense XXI | 1999
Paolo Bison; Alberto Muscio; Ermanno G. Grinzato
The use of a Peltier device in thermal contact with a specimen can provide heat source and sink. The utilization of this equipment is experimented, applying successive heating and cooling stages on various specimens and measuring the temperature outside of the contact area. Oscillating temperature in time and space can provide indication on the thermal diffusivity. The appealing ability of sourcing and sinking heat, with average null effect on temperature, may represent an innovative approach with respect to traditional simulation technique. A simple analytical model is exploited for recovering the inversion equations. Numerical simulation allows to better understand the real proces on the sample.
SPIE proceedings series | 2000
Sergio Marinetti; Alberto Muscio; Paolo Bison; Ermanno G. Grinzato
The numerical simulation of procedures for thermographic inspection is investigated in this work. The analysis is focused on the strategies that can be implemented to model the heat conduction processes in composite structures typical of thermal non-destructive evaluation procedures by means of commercial software packages for coupled mechanical-thermal analyses. The results of a pilot application of a commercial software packages to a real case are finally presented.
Heat Transfer Engineering | 2002
Alberto Muscio; Ermanno G. Grinzato
A new test method is presented for the on-field nondestructive measurement of the thermal diffusivity of solid materials. A periodic thermal disturbance is supplied to the inspected material by a thermoelectric source based on the Peltier effect. This can alternate heating and cooling stages and provide, if properly controlled, a harmonic disturbance with null net heat flux. A steady-periodic temperature field can thus be induced within the specimen. The diffusivity of the material is then estimated by monitoring the propagation of the temperature cycles along the optically accessible surface of the specimen, adjacent to the thermal input surface area. A camera for infrared thermography is used for nonintrusive surface temperature measurement. At the current stage of development, the focus is on the accurate reproduction of the theoretical model on which the method is based. Ease of operation and portability of the test equipment are also pursued. However, tests on thin specimens of materials with known properties give measurements in encouraging agreement with the nominal values.
International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics | 2015
Chiara Ferrari; Giulia Santunione; Antonio Libbra; Alberto Muscio; Elisabetta Sgarbi; Cristina Siligardi; G. S. Barozzi
A strong attention is recently paid to surface properties of building materials as these allows controlling solar gains of the building envelope and overheating of buildings and urban areas. In this regard, deterioration phenomena due to biological aggression can quickly damage solar-reflecting roof surfaces and thus increase sharply solar gains, discomfort, air-conditioning costs and waterproofing degradation. The same deterioration problem has deleterious effect on cultural heritage, ruining its huge historic and artistic value. This work is aimed at providing an overview on the different organisms that affect the surface of most used building materials, to support the design of new building materials with long-lasting surface properties and to find a way to preserve cultural heritage. Artificial ageing is the long-term aim of this investigation, in which what in nature happens after months or years is compressed in a very short time by forcing the growth of microorganisms through a strict control on the different conditioning factors. Both natural and artificial ageing are eventually outlined in the last part of this work to provide a comprehensive idea of what is necessary to study in a complete way biological ageing protocols on building materials. Several characterization techniques are also introduced to analyse the influence of microorganisms on the surface of different building materials.
SPIE proceedings series | 2000
Paolo Bison; Ermanno G. Grinzato; Sergio Marinetti; Alberto Muscio
The technique consisting in using a Peltier cell in contact with the material and producing successively heating and cooling conditions is presented for the measurement of diffusivity. Results on thermally thin materials with well known characteristics like stainless steel AISI 304 gives measurement values with precision around 10%. Analyzing the situation of a thermally thick marble sample, the in-depth propagation affects also the lateral ones. This is of general interest for a future use of this technique in the field where the thickness of the material may be important.
Advances in Building Energy Research | 2018
Giulia Santunione; Chiara Ferrari; Cristina Siligardi; Alberto Muscio; Elisabetta Sgarbi
ABSTRACT The properties of building materials relevant to their thermal or aesthetical performance can be seriously influenced by the colonization of external surfaces by microorganisms. Deterioration phenomena due to biological aggression cause the loss of energy performance of solar reflective materials because of the decrease of solar reflectance. Bio-deterioration also affects cultural heritage, damaging the aesthetic appearance and thus the historic value. In order to investigate the consequences of biological aggression in short times, an accelerated test method based on a laboratory-reproducible set-up is proposed. Specific and controlled environmental conditions are chosen to accelerate as much as possible biological growth on building materials. In this regard, a reproducible bio-ageing protocol has been outlined and it allows a set of materials to reach an advanced bio-aged level in a short time (8 weeks or less). This test method is aimed to comparatively evaluate different materials under a given set of ageing conditions. Through surface, microstructural and chemical analysis, the evolution of the materials’ properties after ageing is investigated. Attention is also paid to bacterial and algal growth rate by analysing time-progressive images.