ASHRAE Journal - October 2019 - 89

RESEARCH REPORT

1760-RP

Update of Clothing Database for Existing and New
Western Clothing Ensembles, Including Effects Of
Posture, Body And Air Movement

April 2018 - February 2020 (P); Loughborough University; Principal Investigator: George
Havenith; TC 2.1, Physiology and Human Environment,

To improve the clothing database, to provide data that are not presently available
for input into Standard 55 and other models, and to make these standards and methodologies more accurate in their application to situations where western attire is worn.

1762-RP

Update the ASHRAE Design Guide for Combustion
Turbine Inlet Air Cooling Systems Published in 1999

January 2018 - June 2020 (P); Avalon Consulting; Principal Investigator: Dharam V. Punwani;
TC 1.10, Cogeneration Systems

The overall objective of the proposed project is to update the CTIC Design Guide
published in 1999. The speciﬁc objectives of the project are to perform a thorough
review of the literature and extract all relevant information for updating the guide
in the following areas: Include environmental beneﬁts of CTIC for reducing emissions of carbon and NOx for power generation. Include information on several new
commercially available CTIC cooling technologies: indirect evaporative cooling, wet
compression and hybrid systems. Include quantitative CTIC design guidelines and
a performance tool for comparing the performance of various CTIC technologies.
Enhancement of the Economic Evaluation section, from the current one-page
qualitative description, to include a typical data sheet useful for collecting the data
needed for a better economic evaluation. Include a new section for the selection
and speciﬁcation of some of the important and major components of CTIC systems:
media for wetted media, cooling coils for chiller systems, mist eliminators for all
cooling technologies, detrimental effects of non-uniform distribution of cooled air
temperature across the inlet area of compressors and methods for achieving acceptable temperature distribution.

1769-RP

Experimental Evaluation of the Efficiency of Belt
Drives For Fans

September 2018 - August 2020; AMCA International Inc.; Principal Investigator: Mark DeRoo;
TC 5.1, Fans

The results of this research effort will provide tools to air system designers to allow
them to separate out the impacts of belt part-load efﬁciency on system efﬁciency, to
compare the efﬁciency levels of belt- and direct-driven fans, and to balance energy
savings with other requirements used in the fan system selection process

1771-RP

Energy Modeling of Typical Commercial Buildings
in Support of ASHRAE Building Energy Quotient
Energy Rating Program

January 2018 - March 2020; University of Colorado; Principal Investigator, Wangda Zuo;
bEQ, Building Energy Quotient Energy Rating Program; Co-sponsored: TC 7.6, Building Energy
Performance, TC 4.7, Energy Calculations

The overall objective of the proposed research is to reconcile the differences
between the empirical and modeled baselines for energy performance comparison
for new commercial building designs and existing commercial buildings, allowing
seamless translation of building energy performance metrics among LEED, Standard
90.1, Standard 189.1, Standard 100, and the bEQ As Designed and In Operation ratings. The proposed research will contribute to a better understanding of the role of
neutral variables in building energy modeling predictions. The research will also lead

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Wind Tunnel Simulation Tests
Ability to Reduce Wind Loads
on Roof-Mounted Equipment
Many urban planning and zoning requirements mandate hiding roofmounted equipment, and architectural screens can achieve this while
reducing the wind loads on the equipment. But there is a lack of guidance for designers and engineers on how to appropriately calculate
wind loads on these porous wind screens, according to 1692-RP,
Effects of Shielding on the Wind Loads on Roof-Mounted Equipment.
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety partnered with
ASHRAE's TC 2.7, Seismic and Wind Resistant Design, for this project
to determine the wind loads on architectural screens and their effect
on wind loads for roof-mounted equipment (RME). IBHS conducted
full-scale wind tunnel experiments to study the wind loads. The study's
results support designers and engineers design efficient systems to
resist design wind loads and be used to update and improve design
standards for RME and architectural screens. This research was published in August 2017.
The research examined the effect of net free area and aspect of screen
openings; the effects of location of screen walls and RME on a building's roof; elevation ratios and distance between RME and screen walls;
and configurations-fully enclosed vs. partially enclosed-of screen
walls.
During the experiments, the architectural screens were tested with
RME units on a flat-roof, low-rise building at the IBHS Research Center
in a large wind tunnel. When architectural screens fully surround RME,
wind loads are 46%-60% of those provided by ASCE Standard 7-10,
Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other
Structures, according to the research. The study found:
* Architectural screens reduce wind loads on RME when the screens
*
*
*

*

are taller than the equipment;
RME that is fully surrounded by screens has a larger reduction
than if the equipment is partially surrounded;
The location on the roof does not appear to significantly change
wind loads on architectural screens;
The load reduction because of a partial screen configuration is
negligible near the center of the building relative to the isolated
case at the location;
The screen type does not appear to affect the wind load reduction.

to consistency of energy performance metrics for Standard 90.1 and LEED), Standard
189.1, and Standard 100.
O C T O B E R 2 0 19

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