Literature Review on Building Envelope, Heating and ... - Beeshive.org

Quimby (1998) compared the energy use of the building to a typical two-storey Alaskan
residence that encloses a volume of 968 m 3 (the volume of the dome building was 2211
m 3 ), has RSI-3.3 (R-19) walls and RSI-7.9 (R-45) ceiling, and is heated by a hot water
baseboard system. The energy use for the dome building per unit volume of enclosed area
was about 88% of that required by the residential building during the same period.
Air-formed concrete dome shells offer several advantages for cold region applications:
• the efficient use of materials;
• the speed of construction;
• the limited amount of work to be performed outdoors (Once the dome fabric is
inflated, all work moved indoors.);
• the ability of the dome shape to shed snow (Virtually no snow accumulated on the
Alaskan dome, because of the low surface friction of the form fabric and also the
result of wind scour. Snow is generally windswept from the surface with some snow
drifting on the windward side of the building.);
• the absence of ice damming, which eliminates the maintenance and safety problems
associated with it;
• the structure’s extraordinary strength and low stresses; and
• its thermal efficiency and lower air infiltration rates. Compared to other types of
construction of similar size, computations indicated that dome buildings require the
lowest heating load. For a 21ºC (70ºF) interior temperature, -23ºC (-9ºF) exterior
temperature, the heating demand of a dome with 75 mm (3 in.) polyurethane
insulation (RSI-3 to 3.6/R-17 to 20) iv is reported to be 75% of that of a comparable
frame construction building with RSI-3.3 (R-19) walls and RSI-6.7 (R-38) ceilings.
Dome structure disadvantages include instability, known as snap through buckling. This
is often a concern of large domes. In smaller domes, the need to wait for curing of
successive layers of concrete might cause down time. This is not a problem in large
domes, because the first sprayed concrete has time to set before the entire layer is
completed.
Swedish Research Station, Antarctica
The Swedish Research Station (called the Wasa Research Station) was constructed in the
summer of 1988-89. Haugun (1991) presented the design and construction of the station,
as well as its monitoring program and results. The station is located at S 74º 35’ and W
11º 13’, at about 450 m (1476 ft.) above sea level, and 100 m (328 ft.) below the Basen
summit. The Station consists of two buildings. A utility building is made of three steel
containers that are joined together. This building is about 25 m 2 (269 sq. ft.) and contains
the generator, repair shop, and storage. The main building, about 117 m 2 (1259 sq. ft.)
provides shelter to 12 people and is equipped with comfort amenities.
Facility Construction
The main building was constructed with the same technology common to houses in
Northern Scandinavia. The structure consisted of prefabricated wood panels and steel
beams. Two factors determined the selection of the building envelope system:
transportation issues limited the weight of each building element to 450 kg (992 lbs) and
PERD-079: Task 2 - <strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> 50