Reports

Lynches Lane Reed & Willow Bed Facility Final Report South Dubin County Council

Liam McCarton et al. — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:18:04 PDT

This final report will present results from a two year study to monitor the performance of a hybrid reed willow bed facility at Lynches Lane, in the administrative area of South Dublin County Council (SDCC). Design specifications for the facility are presented. Monitoring results for a two year period including influent and effluent parameters, rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, and soil classification are also presented and discussed. During the two year monitoring period the system achieved a zero discharge. This report will discuss the potential application of similar systems within South Dublin County Council administrative area. This is in the context of a recent EU judgment which declared that Ireland has failed to fulfill its obligations regarding domestic wastewaters disposed of through individual waste water treatment systems. The development of an appropriate zero discharge wastewater facility similar to the one operating successfully at Lynches Lane, has the potential to address this source of environmental pollution in Ireland.

Rainwater Harvesting Pilot Project Report

Liam McCarton et al. — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:00:15 PDT

The rainwater harvesting pilot project was commissioned by the National Rural Water Monitoring Committee in 2005 to assess the feasibility of supplementing treated mains water used for non-potable purposes. The project involved the design, installation, commissioning and monitoring of rainwater harvesting facilities in a rural housing development in County Carlow and in a 250-acre livestock farm in County Meath. Construction was carried out between 2005-2007.

Sustainable Water Supply in Ireland

Liam McCarton et al. — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:26:27 PDT

Sustainable water technology is concerned with the complete range of technologies, techniques, products and processes that will enable humankind to reduce the impact of water production and water consumption on the environment and to establish a more sustainable mode of development. The concept of sustainable development has gained wide usage over the past 15 years in an attempt to balance development needs and environmental protection. The Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987) identified sustainable development as a global objective, which involved economic, social and environmental values. It defined sustainable development as ‘ development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Sustainable development of water resources involves considerations of population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, land use practices, climate change and water recycling. As these factors are constantly changing, both in themselves and with respect to each other, any consideration of sustainable water resource management must take a short term and a long term view. To facilitate discussion of sustainable water resource management the following structure will be adapted:

Quantification of Renewable resources.
Water Quality Protection.
Conservation by the producer/consumer (economy in use0.
Product substitution/Recycling.
Integrated water management systems.

Performance-based Testing Methodology for Concret Durability

Niall Holmes et al. — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 05:54:52 PDT

This report presents an overview of performance based testing methodology for concrete durability and work currently underway jointly at Queens University Belfast and Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, to undertake this research under a EPSRC funded project (EP/G02152X/1).

EN206-1 superseded BS 5328 on 1^st December 2003 and allows designers and producers to use a wide range of cements and aggregate types for a variety of exposure conditions. In this new standard, the durability of concrete is specified in terms of the constituent materials of concrete, properties of fresh and hardened concrete, limitations for concrete composition, specification of concrete, delivery of fresh concrete, production control procedures, conformity criteria and evaluation of conformity and verification of these properties. Within this, six basic forms of exposure is also specified, namely XO (no risk of corrosion), XC (Corrosion induced by carbonation), XF (Freeze / thaw attack), XS (Corrosion induced by chlorides from seawater), XD (Corrosion induced by chlorides other than from seawater) and XA (Chemical attack).

According to EN206-1, the performance method adopted should be based on satisfactory experience with local practices in local environments from data obtained from an established performance test method for the relevant mechanism, or using appropriate proven predictive models. Therefore, the methods that may be used include those methods based on:-

· long-term experience of local materials and practices and on detailed knowledge of the local environment.

· approved and proven tests that are representative of actual conditions and have approved performance criteria.

· analytical models that have been calibrated against test data representative of actual conditions in practice. The concrete composition and the constituent materials should be closely defined to enable the level of performance to be maintained.

In order to determine the best methods for assessing concrete durability for performance, it is important to review those methods which have been developed and used in Queens University Belfast and Heriot Watt University to test for permeability, diffusion and absorption as well as electrical methods used to assess if the performance criteria have been achieved in structures using non-destructive testing methods.

Prior to specifying durability performance testing methods, a review of previous projects where limits on permeability, diffusion, electrical resistivity etc, are presented along with the various durability tests used to assess these limits. The examples given are from a number of projects in the UK, Ireland and Europe of varying complexity and size. Due to the relatively small number of such examples in the UK and Ireland, the need for the research presented here is further justified.

The proposed experimental work for the EPSRC project is presented which includes a breakdown of the concrete samples, tests and details of a new marine exposure site on the Northwest coast of Ireland.

Based on the findings of this experimental work and the numerical calibration using the ClinConc model, development of a methodology for testing the concrete durability to assess the performance limits set will be determined. Through this work, the performance methods adopted will satisfy the EN206-1 guidelines above.

International Energy Agency BESTEST for Ground Coupled Heat Transfer

Joel Neymark et al. — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:58:32 PST

The objective of this project is to assess the accuracy of building energy analysis tools that have incorporated detailed models for predicting ground-coupled heat transfer related to floor slab and basement constructions. An executive summary is to be found in the main report.