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

Kwok et al. (1992, 1993) also used wind-tunnel and field measurements to investigate
snow drifting around antarctic buildings, both on-ground and above-ground construction.
Their objective was to formulate design guidelines for buildings in Antarctica. They
investigated the effects of the model geometry and the angle of wind incidence on
snowdrift formation. Their finding included the following.
• For a single on-surface building: Snow drifting was attached to the leeward side of
the building. By elevating the building, snow drifting can by considerably reduced
and formed well clear of the building. The wind load and vibration of elevated
buildings should be considered in the structural design of the building, particularly in
the design of foundations.
• For grouped on-surface buildings: A large snowdrift formed at the leeward side of
the last building in a row of buildings and was attached to the leeward wall.
Significant snowdrift also formed between buildings and was attached to the
neighbouring walls. Grouped above-surface buildings created larger snowdrifts than
grouped on-surface buildings. However, the snowdrifts for the above-surface grouped
buildings were not attached to the leeward wall, as was the case for the grouped onsurface
buildings. Also, smaller snowdrifts formed between and underneath grouped
above-surface buildings.
Windows Performance
Dutta (1999) evaluated the performance of four prototype windows at extremely lowtemperature
environments similar to the condition at the location of the US South Pole
Station. The study objective was to identify whether the window performance degrades
with progressive thermal cycling over time. The interior of the building was maintained
at a temperature of 24ºC (75ºF). The outside temperature varied from -70ºC (-94ºF) to -
5ºC (23ºF) on a sunny day. The windows were exposed to a large temperature differential
up to 94ºC (169ºF), which led to differential expansion and contraction of the windows’
materials. The differential movement might produce unacceptably high stresses leading
to either the failure of components or degradation of their performance over time.
Measured R-values ranged from R-2.5 to R-10 (RSI-0.44 to RSI-1.8). Dutta used
measured transient temperature data to calculate R-values; therefore, Dutta noted that
these R-values are for comparison only, and couldn’t be compared to the manufacturers’
values that are based on steady state conditions. One of the four windows performed best
in terms of endurance and R-value that ranged from R-5 to R-10 (RSI-0.9 to RSI-1.8).
The change in glazing surface temperature was small (1ºC to 5ºC/2ºF to 9ºF) with the
large change of ambient temperature from the warm to cold cycles of 24ºC (75ºF) to -
70ºC (-94ºF).
Structural Materials Performance, Antarctica and Indian Himalayas
Pathak (1996) reviewed a number of construction materials used successfully in the
extreme cold environmental conditions of Antarctica and the Indian Himalayas. These
included a special frost-resistant concrete mixture, new aluminum alloys, sandwich
composite panels, sealing compound, and a fire retardant material.
PERD-079: Task 2 - <strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> 55