Rafael Suárez

Acoustic evaluation of the cathedral of Seville as a concert hall and proposals for improving the acoustic quality perceived by listeners

The acoustic evaluation of the cathedral of Seville as a concert hall is carried out through the simulation of acoustic models derived from the modification of the model of the current state and calibrated using the results of in situ measurement. These models reproduce the configurations adopted for major music concerts held there regularly. The results obtained led to the proposal of a new layout plan for an audience of 1500 people and other corrective measures in keeping with the history of the cathedral and compatible with its heritage value, improving subjectively perceived sound. This is assessed in terms of subjective reverberation, evaluated through early decay time, the perceived sound level and the uniformity of the sound field (measured with sound strength parameter), perceived clarity (assessed through clarity and central time parameters), and the spatial sensation (assessed through early lateral energy fraction).

Estrategias pasivas de optimización energética de la vivienda social en clima mediterráneo

Personal fall protection systems are set up by EN-363 to avoid or retain people falls safely (without relevant damages). They are the ultimate resource to prevent a fall after other measures being considered. This paper analyses the variables affecting the system behaviour: free fall height, length of retaining rope, stiffness and damping of retaining material, and worker weight. To this end, fall phenomenon has been simulated with finite elements dynamic models with an elas- tic rope and a rigid ballast. It allows obtain likely values of maximum forces on the injured and over the system during the impact. Results demonstrate the fundamental role of height fall vs. rope length rate (fall factor), which results more important than the fall height itself. The severe values obtained for maximum forces show that future research would include elastoplastic energy absorbers to decrease impact until reasonable values.

The mur neutralisant as an active thermal system: Saint Gobain tests (1931) versus CFD simulation (2015)

Abstract: At the same time as the initial development of air conditioning systems for indoor climate control in buildings were occurring in USA, Le Corbusier and Lyon made truly innovative proposals for different projects he was working on in Europe. These served to generate homogenous thermal environments and focused on the combined effect of his mur neutralisant and respiration exacte. The clearest example of their shortcomings is the City of Refuge in Paris (1930-33). Given the technological and economic mistrust towards these proposals, as it was impossible to execute these according to the original plan these were not pursued. CFD simulations carried out by our research team confirm that the mur neutralisant and respiration exacte for the City of Refuge in Paris would have functioned together if they had been executed following the original plans. The main aim of this paper is to confirm the validity of the mur neutralisant as an active thermal system for buildings. Firstly, the results of the tests carried out by the engineers of Saint Gobain are compared to the results of the CFD simulations. Based on the comparison of the results from the physical models tested in Saint Gobain laboratories and CFD energy model simulations, a possible calibration is proposed for CFD which might prompt the establishment of other operation hypotheses. Keywords: Le Corbusier; mur neutralisant; The City of Refuge; Active Facade System; Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD); Numerical Simulation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.899