Assessment of the life cycle of masonry walls in residential buildings

Abstract

Abstract. Environmental assessment over the course of the full life cycle of a building (LCA -Life Cycle Assessment) covers the environmental burden connected with energy consumption and the accompanying emission of contaminants into the atmosphere from the moment of obtaining a raw material and all stages of its processing and treatment, through the service life of a building, up to the moment that the use value of the building expires and the storage of waste. Literature on the subject is already very rich in this scope. There are numerous works pertaining to the guidelines for calculating all costs of the life cycle of buildings, i.e. environmental, economic and social costs. In these works, however, not much is said about the means of determining the life cycle of building structures. This is very important, especially in the case of the analysing the cycle of the further existence of buildings no longer in use, as well as newly designed ones. The article presents a method of predicting the performance characteristics of a building over the course of its use. The application of this method has been illustrated by the prediction of the performance characteristics of masonry walls, verified by studies carried out on existing buildings. The method -the purpose of research, can be applied to determine the life cycle (LC) of buildings for which LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis) is carried out. A significant problem pertaining to every object in use is ensuring adequate reliability. The process of modeling reliability should have a mathematical basis enabling the problem to be described in detail. The ultimate aim is applying this description when solving problems connected with planning renovation work.

Performance Characteristics of Buildings in the Assessment of Revitalization Needs

“…They emphasize the difficulties in indicating degradation even in the case of similar buildings because, in practice, there are many variables that influence their service periods. The variety of buildings, environments, surroundings, quality of construction works and future standards of upkeep result in uncertainty when predicting the service life [9,[16][17][18][19].…”

“…Maintaining an adequate level of operating efficiency for each technical structure requires the application of supplementary solutions which support the diagnosis of damages and optimal planning of renovation works [9,[16][17][18][19]. Familiarity with changes in the performance characteristics is an excellent prediction of detrimental changes in the building.…”

Diagnoses in the Aging Process of Residential Buildings Constructed Using Traditional Technology

“…Service Life Prediction is necessary to evaluate Life Cycle Assessment for a sustainable construction process [21]. In Reference [22], the time behavior of building components is simulated using time dependent environmental models thanks to the correlation between performance characteristics' decay (measured by lab programs) and the conditions established by users' requirements.…”

The Method of Predicting the Extent of Changes in the Performance Characteristics of Residential Buildings

“…At the same time, along with the aging process over the course of using a building are the ever-increasing civilizational needs of the inhabitants [4][5][6][7]. A prediction of the aging process of a building is useful when making decisions regarding renovation undertakings over the course of building maintenance [8][9][10]. In accordance with the standard [11][12][13][14], the prediction of the degradation of a building ought to rely on predicting changes in its operational properties.…”