Marco D’Orazio

Thermal performance of an insulated roof with reflective insulation: Field tests under hot climatic conditions

The use of reflective insulation materials in buildings, for energy saving in summer, has been spreading in southern Europe. These products are not typical of the local building context. There is a lack of well-established measurement systems for reflective insulation thermal transmittance. The aim of this article is to understand whether a reflective insulation material could be effective in hot and temperate climate, also compared with other roof solutions. For this purpose, we compared the thermal performance of a roof with and without reflective insulation, both installed in a full-scale experimental building near Ancona (Italy) in the summer period. The results showed that the reflective insulation benefits are quite limited when using the insulation level imposed by actual laws, which consider insulation as the main strategy for energy saving in temperate and hot climates.

An Experimental Study on the Correlation Between “Attachment to Belongings” “Pre-movement” Time

Many studies show that people carry out activities not directly connected with the evacuation after hearing a fire alarm. In this study we analyze the behavior of two groups of students in a Faculty of Engineering, following the activation of a fire alarm. The study shows that in these types of buildings, due to the fact that students are involved in activities with electronic devices, “pre-movement times” are very high and are strongly influenced by users’ attachment to their belongings. In particular this study allows the distribution of pre-movement time and the speed of people during the evacuation to be calculated.

Urban scenarios modifications due to the earthquake: ruins formation criteria and interactions with pedestrians' evacuation

One of the most influencing elements in inhabitants’ earthquake safety definition is represented by the interactions between people and post-event environment in urban scenarios. Understanding and simulating rules for pedestrians’ motion in earthquake evacuation could be useful to inquire the risk assessment introducing the “human” factor influence: integrated “risk maps” could be realized by combining results of similar analyses with the traditional site hazard, buildings vulnerability and exposition indices. This work proposes an innovative approach based on the analysis of these interactions. Two experimentally-based activities are required: an analysis of human behaviors towards the post-earthquake environment; a relation for defining environmental modifications. Results firstly show a summary of man-environment interactions in earthquake evacuations. A possible criterion for path choice in evacuation is also numerically defined. A theoretical agent-based model is developed on these bases and summarizes phases, motion rules and man-environment interactions in earthquake pedestrians’ evacuation in urban scenarios. Secondly, quick criteria for scenario modifications involving ruins formation are proposed and evaluated: for each building, the percentages of internal and external ruins area is a function of its vulnerability and the expected earthquake Richter magnitude. Moreover, the external ruins formation criterion is validated by comparing predicted and effective values of ruins area depth in real cases. The model could be proposed as a tool for evaluating probable pedestrians’ choices in post-event scenarios, in order to reduce the interferences between the built environment and the evacuation process through interventions on buildings, urban fabric and strategies for emergency management.

Multi-Agent Simulation Model for Evacuation of Care Homes and Hospitals for Elderly and People with Disabilities in Motion

The progressive population aging provokes an increase of importance in safety aspects for the elderly and the people with disabilities that are housed in care homes and hospitals. Current regulations denote an inadequate approach to safety problems connected to possible evacuation due to events like earthquakes, floods, fires. The law approach implicates that patients are directly carried out by health workers assistants in evacuation. However, many patients can autonomously evacuate, helped by specific facilities for way finding and not assisted by the medical staff. Our research is intended to design “guidance” system for these categories, and to inquiry how these facilities interact with people and influence their motion. The understanding and the simulation of behaviors of this category become essential in order to reach these goal. This work proposes a multi-agent model for evacuation simulation, based on the Social Force motion approach and on experimental data. This paper focuses on joining group behaviors for autonomous elderly. The validation concerns various quantities describing group motion phenomena. The model will be integrated including aspects connected with eventual disabilities in motion for patients.

A field study of thermal inertia of roofs and its influence on indoor comfort

Many of the current European Member States regulations on energy saving in buildings seem to follow North European trends that call for high insulation of the envelope. However, this kind of set-up overlooks some specific elements that are necessary to build typical buildings in warmer climates. Thermal inertia on the internal surface of the envelope has traditionally been used in such contexts not only to contain solar gains but also to protect against cold winter because of its capacity to store and to slowly release energy. This research investigates how thermal inertia on roof slabs could positively affect the comfort indoors, also in buildings that tend towards being nearly zero-energy buildings, as suggested by last European Directive 2010/31/EU. With this aim, an experiment was conducted on a full-scale building with different roofs, on light and heavy slabs, under hot and moderate climatic conditions (Ancona, Italy). The thermal performance of roofs was monitored during summer and winter seasons. In winter, the building was also subjected to cyclical internal heat gains. The experiment demonstrated that a certain thermal inertia in the slab guarantees better indoor comfort in both summer and winter, and it can also reduce energy consumption from heating.

New Indices for the Existing City-Centers Streets Network Reliability and Availability Assessment in Earthquake Emergency

ABSTRACT During earthquake emergencies in existing city-centers, streets network permits inhabitants to reach safe areas, and rescuers to access damaged zones and help population. However, the network can suffer from blocks due to debris of collapsed or heavily damaged buildings. Understanding urban fabric modifications and classifying elements vulnerability are fundamental steps while dealing with risk-assessment and risk-reduction strategies. This article offers a first quick approach for assessing seismic vulnerability of paths network by considering interferences with building heritage damages. Quick data about existing urban fabric (e.g., buildings typology; streets and buildings geometries) are combined for developing new vulnerability indices for streets network. The earthquake macroseismic intensity is introduced for evaluating probable street blockages and summarizing the overall rating of risks in critical network locations, thus intensity that is not included in other current quick methods for streets-building interference is here taken into account. Risk-reduction strategies based on the proposed indices could minimize the interventions on architectural heritage, maximizing the safety of evacuees. These new indices could be combined with traditional assessment of buildings vulnerability, and evaluations on pedestrians’ and vehicles evacuation flows, for evaluating management strategies.

How to simulate pedestrian behaviors in seismic evacuation for vulnerability reduction of existing buildings

Understanding and representing how individuals behave in earthquake emergencies would be essentially to assess the impact of vulnerability reduction strategies on existing buildings in seismic areas. In fact, interactions between individuals and the scenario (modified by the earthquake occurrence) are really important in order to understand the possible additional risks for people, especially during the evacuation phase. The current approach is based on “qualitative” aspects, in order to define best practice guidelines for Civil Protection and populations. On the contrary, a “quantitative” description of human response and evacuation motion in similar conditions is urgently needed. Hence, this work defines the rules for pedestrians’ earthquake evacuation in urban scenarios, by taking advantages of previous results of real-world evacuation analyses. In particular, motion laws for pedestrians is defined by modifying the Social Force model equation. The proposed model could be used for evaluating individuals’ evacuation process and so for defining operative strategies for interferences reduction in critical urban fabric parts (e.g.: interventions on particular buildings, evacuation strategies definition, city parts projects).Understanding and representing how individuals behave in earthquake emergencies would be essentially to assess the impact of vulnerability reduction strategies on existing buildings in seismic areas. In fact, interactions between individuals and the scenario (modified by the earthquake occurrence) are really important in order to understand the possible additional risks for people, especially during the evacuation phase. The current approach is based on “qualitative” aspects, in order to define best practice guidelines for Civil Protection and populations. On the contrary, a “quantitative” description of human response and evacuation motion in similar conditions is urgently needed. Hence, this work defines the rules for pedestrians’ earthquake evacuation in urban scenarios, by taking advantages of previous results of real-world evacuation analyses. In particular, motion laws for pedestrians is defined by modifying the Social Force model equation. The proposed model could be used for evaluating individuals...

Superfici autopulenti e biocide nel restauro archeologico di pietre e laterizi

Archaeological artifacts are inevitably subject to deterioration caused by natural air pollution, contaminants by human actions, and biodeterioration from microorganisms. Their preservation is considered a more and more strategic factor in many countries because of their economic, social and cultural implications. Modern techniques of interventions often require re-application after some years, and they cannot be used in all restorations. Recently, the use of nanotechnologies was transferred to the restoration sector bringing many innovations. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the main nanostructured material used to prevent the comparison of weathering traces, to obtain self-cleaning materials and to slow down biofouling as well. In this paper, its potential use was tested on common archaeological materials like sandstone, limestone and bricks. The self-cleaning ability of this innovative material, as well as, its biofouling prevention were evaluated in laboratory simulated tests. Results show the high potentiality of this nanomaterial in making the tested archaeological surfaces self-cleaning and biocide.

A Methodology for the Evaluation of Hygrometric and Mechanical Properties of Consolidated Stones

ABSTRACT Several authors agree that stone surface consolidation works should not significantly alter original mechanical and hygrometric properties of the stones in order to avoid differential stress between the consolidated and non-consolidated parts. Specific limitedly destructive methodologies have been developed for assessing the variation in both mechanical and hygrometric properties, but they require preliminary calibration procedures that are very costly to adopt in terms of both time and money. This research study describes an analytical and experimental procedure aimed at obtaining the necessary hygrometric and mechanical characterization of natural and/or artificial stone, before and after consolidation works, by simply assessing the variation in the distribution of the porous structure.

Innovative evaporative cooling walls

Water evaporative cooling walls represent a very powerful technology for summer cooling of buildings and can preserve high insulation levels, which make them high-performing in cold seasons, too. This chapter reviews the state of the art and presents the most important approaches currently adopted, namely direct and indirect cooling. This description is supported by a review of some numerical models, relative to the simulation of evaporative cooling components. These models were shown to be suitable for integration within more comprehensive routines, of the kind usually adopted for whole building simulations. In addition, an example of a prototype recently tested by the authors is reported. The experimental results helped assess the extent to which cooling loads can be reduced. Comments on likely future trends, suggestions about other sources of information, and conclusions finalize this contribution.