Estimating Functional and Physical Service Life of Timber Buildings Concerning Thermal Performance Simulations

Currently, the cities in southern region of Chile present extremely high levels of atmospheric pollution. One of the main reasons for that is the adoption of inadequate thermal envelopes, which are not adapted to the buildings’ climatic and environmental surrounding conditions. Usually, the existing...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Prieto Ibáñez, Andrés José, Silva, A., Tori, F., Carpio Martínez, Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo General de la Arquitectura Técnica de España (CGATE)
Repositorio:RIARTE
OAI Identifier:oai:www.riarte.es:20.500.12251/2847
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12251/2847
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85138779385&doi=10.3390%2fbuildings12091299&partnerID=40&md5=b440c839e3b1193c4490b5748afc9df6
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Chile
Contaminación
Envolvente de edificio
Patologías - Construcción
Aislamiento térmico
Rendimiento energético
Edificación residencial
Vida útil - Edificación
Mantenimiento preventivo
3305.14 Viviendas
3305.90 Transmisión de Calor en la Edificación
3310.04 Ingeniería de Mantenimiento
3311.02 Ingeniería de Control
Descripción
Sumario:Currently, the cities in southern region of Chile present extremely high levels of atmospheric pollution. One of the main reasons for that is the adoption of inadequate thermal envelopes, which are not adapted to the buildings’ climatic and environmental surrounding conditions. Usually, the existing buildings do not have any type of thermal insulation, which causes excessive heating of spaces, in a region where the main source of heat is firewood. Thus, there is a need to intervene, improving the thermal energy performance of timber buildings, but will it be possible to make technically informed decisions that consider buildings’ service life? In this study, 72 buildings in the cities of Valdivia and Niebla (South Chile) have been analysed based on in-situ visual inspections. Concerning the novelty of the study, two methodologies have been used to define the end of their physical and functional service life, establishing a hierarchical scale concerning the priority of intervention in timber buildings. After that, three different thermal energy insulation performance scenarios have been modelled in terms of evaluating current conditions, basic thermal rehabilitation, or deep thermal rehabilitation. A more effective and profound intervention in terms of thermal performance leads to better habitability conditions for the buildings’ occupants in the context of South Chile, increasing their comfort between 36% to 46% of the year, when compared with current conditions. This kind of innovative analyses are extremely significant for the implementation of preventive maintenance programs focused not only on the restoration of the physical or functional service life of building stocks, but also considering their thermal energy performance in order to improve the habitability of the buildings for their occupants, and reducing both atmospheric pollutants and firewood consumption in the South of the country. © 2022 by the authors.