Precast Concrete Building Construction and Envelope Thermal Behavior: A Case Study on Portuguese Public Social Housing

A considerable part of Southern European countries building stock was constructed before the implementation of national thermal regulations, and as such, it is currently exposed to challenges such as energy poverty and climate change. Portuguese public social housing presents a significant variety o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:CivilEng 2021-06, Vol.2 (2), p.271-289
Main Authors: Brandão, Pedro I., Lanzinha, João C. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Awards & honors
building envelope
Building envelopes
Case studies
Climate change
Concrete construction
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Green buildings
Insulation
Precast concrete
precast concrete constructive systems
Public housing
Reinforced concrete
Retrofitting
Shades
social housing
thermal behavior
Thermodynamic properties
thermography
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A considerable part of Southern European countries building stock was constructed before the implementation of national thermal regulations, and as such, it is currently exposed to challenges such as energy poverty and climate change. Portuguese public social housing presents a significant variety of construction systems and applied typologies. Among them, the “Novobra NK1”, a precast concrete construction system that exploits some innovative features in envelope components, has been used in several projects. Considering the importance of retrofitting to improve and adapt the thermal behaviors of buildings to face the aforementioned challenges, this article aims to provide an understanding of the behavior of a NK1 thermal envelope of a dwelling located in Covilhã, Portugal, and the impact of some constructive envelope retrofit measures applied. Results show that existing opaque envelope elements and glazed areas present characteristics that are no longer able to provide proper responses to contemporary building constructive requirements. External insulation was identified as a key retrofit measure, window replacement also being an advised solution for rigorous heating seasons. Improvements from the internal side of windows, such as roller shades, may provide few benefits during cooling seasons, and applying solar films is not advised without a proper thermal repercussion analysis.
ISSN:2673-4109
2673-4109
DOI:10.3390/civileng2020015