The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials

A review on simulation-based optimization methods applied to building performance analysis

The Covid-19 pandemic has raised significant challenges for the higher education community worldwide. A particular challenge has been the urgent and unexpected request for previously face-to-face university courses to be taught online. Online teaching and learning imply a certain pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), mainly related to designing and organising for better learning experiences and creating distinctive learning environments, with the help of digital technologies. With this article, we provide some expert insights into this online-learning-related PCK, with the goal of helping non-expert university teachers (i.e. those who have little experience with online learning) to navigate in these challenging times. Our findings point at the design of learning activities with certain characteristics, the combination of three types of presence (social, cognitive and facilitatory) and the need for adapting assessment to the new learning requirements. We end with a reflection on how responding to a crisis (as best we can) may precipitate enhanced teaching and learning practices in the postdigital era.

/pdf/online-university-teaching-during-and-after-the-covid-19-3h8e2qfq5p.pdf

Online University Teaching During and After the Covid-19 Crisis: Refocusing Teacher Presence and Learning Activity

This paper presents a comprehensive review of all significant research applying computational optimisation to sustainable building design problems. A summary of common heuristic optimisation algorithms is given, covering direct search, evolutionary methods and other bio-inspired algorithms. The main summary table covers 74 works that focus on the application of these methods to different fields of sustainable building design. Key fields are reviewed in detail: envelope design, including constructions and form; configuration and control of building systems; renewable energy generation; and holistic optimisations of several areas simultaneously, with particular focus on residential and retrofit. Improvements to the way optimisation is applied are also covered, including platforms and frameworks, algorithmic comparisons and developments, use of meta-models and incorporation of uncertainty. Trends, including the rise of multi-objective optimisation, are analysed graphically. Likely future developments are discussed.

A review of computational optimisation methods applied to sustainable building design

Mixed methods research.

Despite the increasing use of glass facades in the past years, both in new construction and in major renovations, there is still a lack of comprehensive design guides and standards and a huge gap with the real-world applications. The presented research aims to identify the major methodological issues to support the development of glass facades design process, through a survey about how facade consult- ants and experts cope with different design aspects. The purpose is to support the architectural designer to consider the different issues, to be aware of the available solutions and of the main elements that need to be evaluated in the choice of a glass facade. The present work intro- duces the aspects of integration, identifies some of the key challenges and unfolds a scenario for a novel approach to environmentally sus- tainable glass systems.

/pdf/interviewing-the-experts-1vqf5stn8n.pdf

Interviewing the Experts

Spectrometers with ever-smaller footprints are sought after for a wide range of applications in which minimized size and weight are paramount, including emerging in situ characterization techniques. We report on an ultracompact microspectrometer design based on a single compositionally engineered nanowire. This platform is independent of the complex optical components or cavities that tend to constrain further miniaturization of current systems. We show that incident spectra can be computationally reconstructed from the different spectral response functions and measured photocurrents along the length of the nanowire. Our devices are capable of accurate, visible-range monochromatic and broadband light reconstruction, as well as spectral imaging from centimeter-scale focal planes down to lensless, single-cell-scale in situ mapping.

/pdf/single-nanowire-spectrometers-rcf63il1ot.pdf

Single-nanowire spectrometers

Adaptive building envelope systems have the potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the energy flexibility of buildings, while maintaining high levels of indoor environmental quality. The development of such innovative materials and technologies, as well as their real-world implementation, can be enhanced with the use of building performance simulation (BPS). Performance prediction of adaptive facades can, however, be a challenging task and the information on this topic is scarce and fragmented. The main contribution of this review article is to bring together and analyse the existing information in this field. In the first part, the unique requirements for successful modelling and simulation of adaptive facades are discussed. In the second part, the capabilities of five widely used BPS tools are reviewed, in terms of their ability to model energy and occupant comfort performance of adaptive facades. Finally, it discusses various ongoing trends and research needs in this field.

/pdf/review-of-current-status-requirements-and-opportunities-for-2y3mya1oy6.pdf

Review of current status, requirements and opportunities for building performance simulation of adaptive facades†

... .10) i=1 i=1 in which I is the number of data points included in the fit. ... the least squares method can be used to estimate parameters of any model, ...

Mauro Overend

Papers

Interviewing the Experts

Single-nanowire spectrometers

Review of current status, requirements and opportunities for building performance simulation of adaptive facades†

Structural Use of Glass

The optimal thermo-optical properties and energy saving potential of adaptive glazing technologies