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Vol 1 No 1 (2022)

  • Modeling, assessment, and optimization of urban sustainability using probabilistic system dynamics

    Maozhi Wu, Jiaqi Wang, Yan Zhang, Limao Zhang

    Urban sustainable development of cities could ameliorate many aspects such as population expansion, housing price increase, and ecological environment. For a better understanding of urban sustainability, many scholars have conducted different frameworks to make an accurate evaluation for urban planning. However, a myriad of existing research analyzes sustainable development based on separate and static indicts, which inevitably miss some important information related to interconnects between different indicators and timelines. This study, thus, proposes a comprehensive method that integrates the system dynamic and Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis to examine the interrelationships between different subsystems with a time series, in order to predict the feasibility of new policies for future development. A probabilistic system dynamics approach for policy optimization of sustainable urbanization is proposed with the consideration of dynamic changes and time flows. Several scenarios are simulated to perform and validate the proposed framework, where the comparisons from different results provide optimal strategies for urban sustainability. Some interesting findings can be drawn: (1) the social system is more sensitive to policy change, typically for transport connections and traffic saturation flow respects; (2) policies A1, B1, and B2 are encouraged to implement, as these regulations will boost the urban development; (3) the proposed hybrid method can be used to analyze the variables with a dynamic and long-term urban system.

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  • Standards and Problems for Epidemic Prevention in Buildings: A Systemic Review

    Xiaoqiang Gong, Lei Yuan, Zengwen Bu, Yezhao Cai

    The complexity of the building environment directly affects the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 inside the building. Therefore, the paper systematically reviewed the effective and feasible measures, designs and relevant epidemic prevention guidelines formed in the field of epidemic prevention during the period of COVID-19, as well as the excellent research and projects around the world. The study found that most of the people infected with COVID-19 were infected indoors, but the current building design was not included in the scope of epidemic prevention design, not effectively resist the spread of infectious diseases, and there is no standard guideline for epidemic prevention building design so far. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate building epidemic prevention standards, and by considering the epidemic prevention design in the architectural planning and design stage, the use of building epidemic prevention products, healthy wind environment design, etc. to establish a healthy building environment can effectively reduce the risk of epidemic transmission inside the building. However, due to insufficient epidemiological data and pathological research on the risk of epidemic transmission among residents, further research on the standards for epidemic prevention and quantitative risk assessment methods of building is limited.

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  • An Analysis of Elevated Building Design on Building Surrounded Outdoor Wind Environment

    Jiawei Zhang, Zhen Tian

    Building elevated design is one of the methods that may improve the outdoor wind environment. Integrating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation into an architectural design can provide an informed decision for architectural design. In this study, CFD simulation was used to explore elevated design impacts on a case study building wind environment at the building’s pedestrian height. Simulation results from two CFD programs were compared and both showed that the elevated design of the case study building had a good effect on improving the wind environment at the pedestrian height of 1.5 m. The elevated design can increase the wind speed of the 1.5 m pedestrian height in the building’s windward area when the elevated height is 2.4～3.0 m. When the elevated design height is above 3.0 m, the elevated design has little impact on the 1.5 m height wind speed at the building’s windward area. Taking the case study building as a prototype, the impact of various building heights and elevated widths on the pedestrian height outdoor wind speeds were explored. Results show that when the building height is between 24 and 72 m, increasing the building height can increase the wind speeds of at pedestrian height in the high wind speed area of the windward area, but may gradually reduce the wind speed at the pedestrian height in the low wind speed area of the windward area around the building. When the total height of the building and the elevated height is unchanged, results show that increasing the elevated width of the building can increase the pedestrian height wind speeds in the high wind speed area of the windward area and has no significant impacts on the pedestrian height wind field distribution in the low wind speed area of the windward area.

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  • The Effect of Connections on the Global Response of Built-up Cold-formed Steel Beams with Corrugated Webs

    Ioan Both, Florin Bodea, Viorel Ungureanu

    The objective of this paper is to quantify the slippage and rotation in the connections of a double fixed corrugated web beam. Two types of connections between the component parts of the built-up beam were used, i.e. MIG brazing and spot welding, which offer different rigidities and bearing capacities for the built-up beams. Experimental tests were conducted on three MIG brazed and two spot welded specimens, respectively. The test setup consisted of a six-point bending configuration which is equivalent to a uniform distributed load applied to the beam. The load was applied from a 500kN actuator through a leverage system that allowed the distribution of the force. An out-of-plane structure prevented the beam from lateral torsional buckling. The testing exhibited relatively large slippage and deformation in the bolted connections and in the supporting device, respectively. However, the high rigidity of the beam maintained the mid-span deflection in the serviceability limit state limits. The built-up corrugated web beams made of cold-formed steel profiles represent an efficient and suitable structural solution for buildings. Nevertheless, experimental research due to inevitable slippage and the endplate deformation must be performed to characterize the connection.

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  • A Foreword from the Editor

    Limao Zhang

    Low-carbon and intelligent construction are two of the current research hot spots in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) field. Green building, smart city, AI, BIM, and sustainable development have become high-frequency words in the field[1]. The lack of the adoption of digital technologies (e.g., BIM, AI, digital twin) will lead to project delays, cost inefficiencies, poor quality, and tedious management[2]. Emerging innovations of those digital technologies are bringing a new evolutionary process of engineering applications towards more sustainable and intelligent development[3-4].

    In October 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) release the heavyweight report Global Status Report on the Building and Construction Industry 2021[1]. The report states that since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, CO2 emissions from the buildings and construction sector have peaked in recent years and subsequently fallen to 2007 levels in 2020. This current decline is due mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, this decline appears to be temporary as emissions pick up again with increasing economic activity. Whereas transformative, long-term progress in sector decarbonizing remains limited[1].

    To achieve the Paris Agreement, the global buildings and construction sector must almost completely decarbonize by 2050. Collectively, stakeholders in the sector must seize the opportunity that the COVID-19 economic recovery period offers to foster transformation for decarbonizing the sector. The sector must simultaneously meet a projected near-doubling of global demand for energy services in buildings and at least a doubling of floor space as developing economies continue to respond to the growing demand for building floor space, access to energy services and economic activities. Therefore, to meet the future needs and developments of this fast-growing field, a brand-new journal, Journal of Building Design and Environment (JBDE) has been launched.

    JBDE is a semi-annual, double-blind peer reviewed, open access journal, dedicated to publishing original research articles/reviews—amongst other submission categories—on the research and application of sustainability and intelligence in the field of construction engineering and design. The scope of JBDE covers (but is not limited to) the following:

    Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

    Building and Structural Design

    Construction Materials

    Built Environment

    Construction Engineering and Management

    Computer Aided-Design and Simulation

    Energy and Buildings

    Sustainable Development

    Urban Planningand Resilience

    Architectural Aesthetics and Townscape

    To further encourage research in this area, our publisher, Omniscient Pte. Ltd. has decided to waive article processing charge for the first two issues of the journal’s first volume. Therefore, we strongly welcome all who are interested in building design and environment research to join us authors, reviewers or editorial board members. It is the hope of the entire editorial team of JBDE that this journal will fulfil the needs of those specialising in building design and facilitate discourses and advances in the field.

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