Publisher's Synopsis
The construction of earth buildings has been taking place worldwide for centuries. With the improved energy efficiency, high level of structural integrity and aesthetically pleasing finishes achieved in modern earth construction, it is now one of the leading choices for sustainable, low-energy building. The text Handbook of Modern Earth Buildings: Materials, Engineering, Constructions and Applications provides an essential exploration of the materials and techniques key to the design, development and construction of modern earth buildings.The purpose of first chapter is to develop, prepare, characterize, study, and compare thermal and mechanical properties of microcapsules containing organic phase change materials (PCM) in order to assess their suitability for use in buildings and other applications. The goal of second chapter is to demonstrate the feasibility of using EP-based composite PCM in cement boards to increase their thermal inertia and to reduce the energy demand of the building. Third chapter aims to analyze recent advances in the area of non-metallic building materials (BM) and outlines future prospects and challenges. Fourth chapter outlines and draws conclusions about different aspects of the material efficiency of buildings and assesses the significance of different building materials on the material efficiency. Fifth chapter develops a template for evaluating the embodied environmental impact of using a building information modeling (BIM) design tool as part of BIM-based building life-cycle assessment (LCA) technology development. In sixth chapter, we explain the Delphi method as a group decision-making technique, including its uses, underlying assumptions, strengths and limitations, potential benefits to qualitative higher education research, and key considerations in its use. In seventh chapter, a CFD-based model has been proposed to analyze the effect of phase change materials (PCMs) on the thermal behavior of the walls of a cubicle exposed to the environment and on the resistance of the walls to climate changes. In eighth chapter, we evaluate the thermal performance of a range of modern wall constructions used in the residential buildings of Tehran in order to find the most appropriate alternative to the traditional un-fired clay and brick materials. Ninth chapter presents a method for detecting and classifying changes to buildings by using classified and well registered (strip difference <10 cm) laser data from several epochs. A review of energy conservation properties in earth sheltered housing has been presented in tenth chapter. The aim of last chapter is to analyze large slope movements in conjunction with radar interferometry and damage data in order to investigate the state of the activity of such phenomena and to describe the resulting level of damage as a function of the ground surface rate of movement.
