Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ)
Online ISSN : 1881-817X
Print ISSN : 1348-0685
ISSN-L : 1348-0685
Volume 83, Issue 750
Displaying 1-8 of 8 articles from this issue
  • Daigoro KIKUCHI, Yuji HASEMI, Noboru YASUI, Chihiro KAKU, Tadanori KIM ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 637-646
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Influence of horizontal loading on the fire resistance of traditional wood/soil wall qualified as Quasi-fireproof Construction is verified against loaded fire tests after racking tests for the survey of the feasibility of large-scale public buildings based on traditional timber structure harmonized with historic landscape. The specimen, 150mm square Cryptomeria Japonica (Japanese Cedar) columns and 90mm thick soil walls with bamboo mesh at the center of the wall, was designed to achieve 45 minutes loadbearing capacity, integrity and thermal insulation under the vertical loading to each column, 80.9kN, reproducing that on the ground floor of a three-story historic townhouse at the conservative side. The thickness of the wall panels was chosen to secure at least 40mm thick clay layer even if the clay layer on either side of the bamboo mesh partly fall for seismic effect or for fire exposure. Maximum deformation angles of the racking tests were chosen as 1/100 and 1/50 radians, to reproduce a typical condition assumed for the seismic design of low-rise wooden buildings and to reproduce a more plastic damage that could be caused by severer seismic effect. Red clay from North Kanto district was used for the wall panels, and the seismic effect on the fire resistance was verified through the comparison against the test without preceding racking test. The fire test with the deformation angle 1/100 radians was also conducted on the wall with Fukakusa clay, normally used for traditional buildings in Kyoto, of identical specifications except for the use of local materials for partial reinforcement. Previous fire tests showed Fukakusa clay wall weaker thermally insulating than Red clay wall. All tests were terminated by the acceleration of the deformation of the columns. The tests yielded the following conclusions.

     (1) Maximum deformation angle of 1/100 radians caused gaps between the wall panel and the timber frame and cracks on the wall panel surfaces. These damages do not cause noticeable reduction of fire resistance, which is confirmed as 47.5 minutes at the fire test without racking test.
     (2) Maximum deformation angle of 1/100 radians caused larger cracks to the Red clay wall than to the Fukakusa clay wall, yet not resulting in noticeable difference of the fire resistance.
     (3) Deformation angle larger than 1/100 radians caused noticeable plastic damage to the wall panel surface and edge between the wall panel and the timber frame. The test with maximum deformation angle 1/50 radians result in 5% reduction of the fire resistance in terms of the time of the column buckling. However, the fire resistance time is still over 45 minutes.
     (4) Some parts of the wall panel on the furnace side fell during the fire test after the maximum deformation angle 1/50 radians. However, it does not affect the thermal insulation because of the survival of the clay layers on back surface side.
     (5) The reduction of the fire resistance by horizontal loading of the present specimens is notably weaker than that of the Quasi-fireproof walls of popular modern wooden constructions.
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  • Yang HU, Daisaku NISHINA, Takahiro TANAKA, Wataru YAMASAKI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 647-656
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     The course selection factors can be divided into two major categories, external condition such as street shape, street pattern, facilities, etc. and personal feature such as character, preference, etc. Different personal features are deemed to have a great impact on the course selection behavior. In order to create a good street space, it is necessary to consider the personal feature. However, studies from the perspective of personal feature have not been sufficiently accumulated. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between course selection behavior and the personal feature, by analyzing the relationship between characteristics of the course selection and the difference of the personal feature.
     The course selection experiments were carried out by the method of drawing a walking course on 12 blank maps with various streets patterns. As a reason, on the one hand, when people choose their course in the street space, the street itself is the most fundamental and most important element of the street space, such as street shape, street pattern, etc. So it is necessary to discuss people's attention to the street itself. The blank map can be used to simplify the street space and only show people the street itself. In this way, we can clearly grasp the relationship between the street itself and the course selection behavior. On the other hand, course selection behavior may change with different street characteristics. We can provide a variety of streets patterns through the blank maps. Based on this, we can clearly understand the course selection behavior.
     About the experiment, the subjects were asked to draw courses, mark their interested places on those maps, and answer face sheets at the end of experiments. We analyzed the results of coures selected, the areas where the subjects were interested in and the subjects' personal feature respectively, then grasp the relationship among the three. Furthermore, we also discussed the differences of the course selected strategies of the subjects with different personal features. We show the knowledge provided from the experiment result below.
     First, according to the result of course selected, the subjects were classified into 3 groups by Cluster Analysis. The subjects of Group 1 tended to walk a long distance and prefer narrow and complexed streets. The subjects of Group 2 had medium values of all the index of course selected were centered. In the subjects of Group 3, they prefered a short distance and simple street. As a feature of interested places in each group, Group 1 showed a wide range of interested places and have a large number of street units in interested places. In contrast, Group 3 showed a small range of interested places and tended to mark street blocks with special shape.
     Second, regarding to personal features, they can be divided into 5 factors by Factor Analysis, namely space recognition, interest in strolling, interest in maps, sense of direction and curiosity. The subjects of Group 1 were most interested in strolling and they also have good spatial cognitive abilities. The spatial cognitive ability of Group 2 was the strongest among three groups, while the preference of strolling was slightly lower. The subjects of Group 3 lack preference of strolling and spatial cognition ability, but they have curiosity.
     Finally, as a result of course selected strategy, the subjects of Group 1 tended to plan their course spread throughout the map. The subjects of Group 2 planned to choose curved streets and the streets where they were interested in. The subjects of Group 3 showed greater attention to the main streets or streets of special shapes.
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  • - A study on Up·PHe·PSe synthesis evaluation system of river landscape Part 2-
    Rui JIANG, Daisaku NISHINA, Takahiro TANAKA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 657-667
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     1 Introduction In order to help us understanding river landscape better and create value as urban river landscape resources, we need more objective and quantitative cognition. Therefore in previous studies, we dedicated to make a synthesis evaluation system(SES) of Urban Planning·Physical evaluation·Psychological evaluation (Up·PHe·PSe), and confirmed validity of physical quantitative evaluation indexes(PHqi), then tried to make a predicting model to forecast satisfaction of landscape by PHe values. In this study, we try to confirm CG pictures, whether validate to landscape evaluation, both for PHe and PSe. Also, land cover data is sorted out, for making an assay of the relationship of 2D urban planning data and 3D space data.
     2 Method of the study In this study, a city river space of Ota river in Hiroshima city was investigated as a case. At first, we took 312 photographs of the scenes of river-scape toward the opposite bank, by which all scape over of Ota river are covered, then 49 samples were selected, considering greenery and buildings. Then CG pictures, with same viewpoints, visual fields, shooting directions of photograph samples were created by GIS to simulate river landscape, based on actual 2D data. PHe values and PSe values of Photographs and CG pictures were acquired respectively. Also, land cover in prospective area of these samples were investigated and sorted out, and correlation coefficients among the three parts were analyzed of SES to confirm the validity of CG pictures for river landscape evaluation.
     3 Conclusion Major findings are as follows:
     1) We created the CG pictures of river landscape based on 2D data, by providing the floor height of the GIS building data, defining the viewing area, and adding green information. By calculating the area ratio of the landscape elements as the physical evaluation from the obtained CG pictures and comparing it with the actual landscape photograph, the validity of CG pictures was verified.
     2) We confirmed the validity in PHe of CG images created from the GIS data. In particular, the proportion of the dominant factors (sky, buildings and trees, etc.) that had an enormous influence on the PHe, showed a significant correlation with the actual landscape values of about 0.9.
     3) According to the comparison of results of PSe, the correlation coefficient between the items concerned with four factors of the previous report showed that the psychological evaluation had certain validity. However, as for the easy-to-judge landscape elements such as quantity of architecture and green plants, the lack of detail in the performance of the CG images was particularly ineffective for the comprehensive evaluation.
     4) Judging from the correlation between PHe and PSe, CG pictures and landscape photographs had the same evaluation structure especially in terms of green-visibility.
     5) We also organized the land cover of the prospective area and defined the building area shielding by greenery. The relationship between 2D urban planning data and 3D spatial data were suggested that utilization of prospective area had maintenance affection on PHe and PSe of the river landscape.

     In the future, we will continue to study the impact of buildings and greenery on river landscapes, propose effective PHqi to explain the complexity and openness and plan to improve the comprehensive applicability of synthesis landscape evaluation systems.
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  • Creation of numerical model and consideration of cascade system
    Kazuki KUDO, Taro MORI, Yuji ISHIDOYA, Yoshiko OHTSUKI, Yuka KUSAMA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 669-678
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Introduction
     In cold climate area, the number of houses with high energy efficiency and high airtightness continues to increase. Most of the heating loads for such houses are caused by fresh air which has large temperature differences. Reducing ventilation load, preheating is effective with natural resources. Therefore, in this research, we aim to develop a preheating system for ventilation combining a solar thermal collector and a heat storage. Initially, we verified PCM panels for mounting in a heat storage. Next, we made a numerical model related to the heat storage. Finally, we investigated the performance of multilayer thermal storage using PCM panels and the availability of this system using the numerical model.

     Thermal Heat Storage System with PCM Panel
     Warm air heated in solar thermal collector flow into the heat storage chamber in which one PCM panel shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 was installed, and the heat was stored in the PCM panel. After heat storage periods, the cold fresh air flow into the heated heat storage chamber, and heat exchange is carried out by passing the cold air through the PCM panel. Figures 8, 9, and 10 show the measurement results of inlet temperature and outlet temperature during the procedure. The difference between the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature shows the effect of heat storage and preheating.

     Numerical Model Outline
     Based on the experimental results of the above system, we made a numerical model and verified the consistency between the experimental value of the exit temperature and the analytical value. The numerical models are shown in equations (1), (2) and (3). Based on the comparison of the experimental value and analysis value shown in Fig. 12 and the result of RMSE shown in Table 4, we judged that the model had enough consistency.

     Analysis of Cascade System and Conclusion
     In order to expand a range of the heat storage temperature and increase the PCM weight per installation area, PCM panels in the heat storage chamber were arranged at a certain interval. In addition, we changed the combination of melting points of PCM panels and investigated the influence of the range of the heat storage temperature. In this analysis, the solar radiation and the outside air temperature obtained from the standard weather data were used through the system, the room air warmed by the solar air collector flows into the heat storage chamber during the day, and outside fresh air was heated by heat storage chamber before it flows into the room. The findings obtained by this analysis are shown below.
     (1) According to the results showing in Fig. 14 and 15, no significant difference between the inlet temperature and outlet temperature was confirmed regardless of the change in the heat storage temperature.
     (2) According to the results showing in Fig. 16, 17 and 18, the distribution of outlet temperature from the heat storage chamber and the radiation time had the difference at the range from 15 to 30 °C.
     (3) No significant difference was observed in the distribution and the total heat dissipation in typical one week shown in Figs. 19 and 20.
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  • Keiichiro TANIGUCHI, Yoshihiko AKAMINE
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 679-689
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     This study aimed to establish a handy database of wind pressure coefficients that can assist designing buildings with better cross ventilation in a dense residential block. With this in mind, we started by surveying the blocks density of the main residential areas in Tokyo and calculated their average Gross Building Coverage Ratio (Gross BCR). It was found that almost all Gross BCR is in the range of 24% to 42%, and the average is approximately 33%. Hence, the Gross BCR of 33% was used to build the context model of the wind tunnel test whereas various experiments on the wind pressure acting on the wall/roof surface of the building under different conditions were made. Ultimately, the study deduced the following points:

     1) A high correlation was found between the Gross BCR and the average wind pressure coefficient acting on each surface. Therefore, it is possible to predict the average wind pressure coefficient for any Gross BCR with good accuracy.
     2) When the target building is located at the corner of the real context block, and when the facing-the-street surface is on the windward side, a positive pressure is expected to act on these surfaces, which is advantageous for ventilation, unlike other setups. On another hand, when the building of interest is at the center of the dense blocks, the change in the wind direction has an intangible effect on the average wind pressure coefficient on the surfaces when comparing between the case where the surrounding buildings are simplified dense context and the case when the building is located center of the real context block.
     3) A sloped roof has a relatively higher negative pressure relative to a flat roof. Meanwhile, for the hipped roof, a great wind pressure coefficient differences can be somewhat ensured between the gable end side and the eaves side surfaces.
     4) It was found that changing the neighbor building condition facing the gable wall has a profound effect on the average wind pressure coefficient acting on that wall. Meanwhile, much less effect on the eave wall is found when the neighbor building, that faces the eave side, is manipulated. Yet, in both setups (either gable or eave-facing adjacencies) manipulating the neighbor building significantly change the pressure difference between the windows on a corner room, considering that one window is at the gable wall and the other eave wall. Accordingly, it can be said that it is important to design the opening carefully and seriously consider the surrounding buildings in the design phase. Designers should not only look at the pressure coefficient of each wall separately, but identifying the potentials of the pressure differences between the various walls.
     5) The stable negative pressure generating strategies can be well developed if the site prevailing wind direction and the neighbor building conditions can be obtained correctly. Such strategy can act and compensate, the courtyard in a narrow housing as an effective ventilation path between the outside wall.
     6) The negative pressure on the shed roof is quite stable, regardless of the presence of the roof monitor. The wind pressure coeffect acting on the monitor sides is always greater than acting on walls, for all wind directions. In fact, the highest negative pressure is found on the top of the roof monitor and it has the greatest potential for driving natural ventilation. Therefore, the prevailing wind direction should be carefully identified when planning an opening in roof monitor as its position will dictate either the monitor is going to be an inlet or an outlet for the cross ventilation.
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  • Masayuki OTSUKA, Ryota SUGIMOTO, Shin KOUNO, Naofumi KOBAYASHI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 691-701
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In Japan at present, SHASE-S206 Plumbing Code regulates the drainage performance (permissible flow rate) of loop vent systems, but the prescribed value is not supported by systematic experimentation, and the theoretical grounds for it are yet to be clarified. Therefore, the study was conducted with the aim of clarifying the following three points: identifying the variation of internal pipe pressure and air flow rate characteristics when systematically applying drainage loads to a loop vent drainage system for high-rise buildings by the testing method specified by SHASE-S218; identifying the drainage performance of the system on the basis of the test results; and correlating said drainage performance with the permissible design flow rate specified by SHASE-S206 so as to propose new design data. Finally, to provide a theoretical basis, the analysis model for drainage/vent pipelines, which was previously proposed by the author and his fellow researchers, was expanded to propose a prediction method for identifying the drainage performance of loop vent drainage systems, and the practicality of the model was discussed. Consequently, the following points were clarified.
     (1) In the simulation tower, the loop vent pipe connecting the horizontal fixture drain branch to the vent stack was installed in different locations; on one floor, two floors or all floors, to identify variations in the distribution of internal pipe pressure, and the maximum and minimum system values, which were obtained from the distribution of internal pipe pressure corresponding to each installation location in the single stack system (the standard system), were used as indices to quantitatively measure the relaxation rate, etc., of each value.
     (2) In relation to (1), the flow rate of air sucked from the stack vent pipe was actually measured and it was pointed out that the measured flow rate was greater than the required flow rate calculated by the constant flow method specified by SHASE-S206, when the same drainage load flow rate was applied, and the difference between the flow rates was quantitatively obtained.
     (3) The quantitative values of drainage performance of the respective vent systems were successfully obtained by testing the systems in accordance with SHASE-S218. The results indicated that the flow rates were below the SHASE-S206 permissible flow rate for loop vent systems when the house drain had elbows spaced at 1m or 3m intervals, i.e., not straight. However, it was indicated that the SHASE-S206 permissible flow rate could be reached more or less depending on the way of drawing the vent stack from the drainage stack and the degree of expansion of the diameter of the house drain.
     (4) The pipe network analysis model proposed in the previous report was expanded and applied to the clarification of drainage performance of the loop vent system. Subsequently, it was indicated that when the house drain had elbows, the difference between the estimated value and the actual measured value of the maximum system value (positive pressure), a drainage performance index, was significant, but said difference was small when the house drain was straight. Therefore, the pipe network analysis model was deemed applicable. The analysis model was practically effective in the pipe configuration provided for this study, but for further study, a thorough consideration should be given to the airflow resistance in parts that constitute the model and for the optimization of suction power, while accuracy needs to be improved.
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  • Hideyuki AMAI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 703-710
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     CO2 tracer gas decay tests were conducted in test chamber to assess the procedure of evaluating air change effectiveness in the current standard. Age of air in the test room was simultaneously measured at 18 locations. The results showed that most of the variances in the test space were less than or equal to 16%. It was considered that one could acquire relatively reliable computation with the reduced number of measuring points. In addition, the correlation of thermal effectiveness and air change effectiveness was proposed as a possible alternative to evaluate air change effectiveness in all air mixing ventilation.
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  • Pre-cooling / heating characteristics of the earth-to-air heat exchanger system in long-term operation (Part1)
    Akitoshi MUTA, Yasuyuki SHIRAISHI, Kento TOMODA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 750 Pages 711-718
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: August 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In recent years, passive cooling and heating systems have been added to existing buildings, thus bringing them to the public’s attention. Passive cooling and heating systems, which control or utilize natural energy sources, can contribute to the cooling and heating of a building without mechanical equipment. Underground Air Tunnel, which are a type of earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE), have often been adopted in relatively large buildings. On the other hand, we confirmed that there is a difference of pre-cooling / heating effects in summer and winter during system operation. Thus, it was suggested that the pre-cooling / heating effects of the system was affected with long-term operation over multiple years. In order to estimate the pre-cooling / heating effects of EAHE, it is desirable to estimate by coupled simulation of three-dimensional CFD analysis in air channel and heat conduction analysis of underground soil for long terms since underground pit has complicated shape. However, due to the limitation of calculation load of flow fields, etc., annual calculation of unsteady CFD analysis is difficult with general computers. Therefore, we proposed a long-term prediction method of pre-cooling / heating performance of the EAHE by unsteady CFD analysis which did not analyze flow fields to reduce the calculation load. However its verification period was one year, thus we had not studied about the heat balance of pre-cooling / heating effects of introduced outdoor air over multiple years.
     In this study, firstly we evaluated the annual thermal performance of an underground air tunnel which operating multiple years in an actual existing building with a long-term measurements and BEMS(Building Energy Management System) data. Secondly, the estimation of the thermal performance of this system was also conducted based on with an unsteady CFD analysis that did not analyze flow fields for 8 years.
     The following results were obtained: 1) According to the comparison with each seasonal average air temperatures of inlet and outlet, the outlet air temperature was about 3°C lower (or higher) in summer and winter 2016. 2) The high humidity environment was frequently occurred in the air tunnel from Jun to August in 2016. 3) RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) of this analysis about outlet air temperature was 0.51°C (2009), 0.48°C (2010), 0.46°C (2011) and 0.55°C (2012) in the measured period, thus it was confirmed that the proposed method had high prediction accuracy. 4) The temperature distribution of soil around EAHE was changed with long-term operation over multiple years. Thus, this result has possibility to affect the pre-cooling / heating effects of this system in the future.
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