The Structural Insulated Panel SIP Hut: Preliminary Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

The Army uses a variety of soft shelters and semi-permanent structures at contingency operating bases for functions such as barracks, dining halls, administrative offices, and maintenance shops. Soldiers or local nationals commonly build these structures by hand, and they often manifest performance...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kreiger, Megan A, Chu, Dahtzen, Shrestha, Som S, Hay, K J, Kemme, Michael R, Johannes, Andrew C, Decker, Charles, Lawrence, Debbie, Kumar, Ashok, Hart, Steven D
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Condition, Heating, Lighting & Ventilating
Air Pollution and Control
AIR QUALITY
CONSTRUCTION
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
IAQ(INDOOR AIR QUALITY)
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INSULATION
PANELS
SHELTERS
SIP HUTS
SIP(STRUCTURAL INSULATED PANELS)
Structural Engineering and Building Technology
VENTILATION
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Summary:The Army uses a variety of soft shelters and semi-permanent structures at contingency operating bases for functions such as barracks, dining halls, administrative offices, and maintenance shops. Soldiers or local nationals commonly build these structures by hand, and they often manifest performance problems. The use of prefabricated Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) offers significant benefits for enhancing the performance of building envelopes and reducing assembly time. SIPs used in the simple SIP hut can eliminate or reduce many of the problems associated with existing structures constructed in theater. This work compared the performance of the SIP hut with commonly used B-huts in terms of cost, shipping, assembly time, skill level required to build, durability, energy efficiency, and indoor air quality (IAQ). Results show that the SIP hut can be constructed quickly using minimal tools and unskilled labor, has excellent building envelop air tightness, can maintain acceptable IAQ levels with proper ventilation, and may potentially use only about one-fourth of the heating energy and onesixth of the cooling energy required by an ordinary B-hut. The SIP hut does have some issues with water intrusion, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and fire protection requirements that will be addressed in newer versions of the hut. The original document contains color images. Prepared in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, and the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. Sponsored in part by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), Natick, MA.