Resumen de Integrated solutions for the energy and seismic retrofit of existing buildings
European building stock is characterised by low energy efficiency and high structural vulnerability with respect to earthquakes, especially in seismic prone areas like Italy. In fact, the vast majority of buildings has been designed before the introduction of modern energy and seismic codes. Faced with the need for energy and structural retrofit, an integrated approach becomes a suitable choice, with benefits in terms of reduced construction time and costs. The present work proposes a framework for the holistic renovation of existing buildings, improving their structural and energy performance with low environmental impact. A “holistic renovation” approach aims to concurrently tackle all building’s deficiencies, increasing the structural design service life, and achieving higher levels of safety, sustainability and ultimately resilience. The aforementioned holistic approach is applied to a real case study: a multi-storey reinforced concrete building located in Pescara (Central Italy) retrofitted with an Engineered Double Skin Façade. The proposed intervention is chosen based on the great variety of possible configurations it may assume and its applicability on the building’s envelope. The insertion of a such conceived retrofit provides the building with a so-called “filter zone” which guarantees better comfort conditions in the indoor spaces, as well as higher seismic performances. In addition, occupants’ relocation is prevented and therefore, any potential downtime. In order to assess the effects of the Engineered Double Skin Façade on the case study, multisectoral simulations are performed, including energy, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), life cycle assessment (LCA) and structural analyses. Obtained results are used to discuss the multiple benefits of the proposed retrofit from the structural and the energy efficiency point of view. The thesis can be subdivided into two sections. The first part is centred on the analysis and description of the holistic approaches mainly adopted for the integrated retrofitting of existing buildings, with the identification of interesting examples of engineered multi-layered façades. The second part, instead, aims to test and validate the selected Engineered Double Skin Façade by performing dynamic energy, CFD, LCA and structural simulations in order to estimate the improved performances ensured by the intervention.
