Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.)http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/187142024-03-29T10:40:18Z2024-03-29T10:40:18ZAppraising a relationship between morphology and energy index of office buildings in tropics:Jayasinghe WShttp://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/168992022-08-25T09:41:36Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZAppraising a relationship between morphology and energy index of office buildings in tropics:
Jayasinghe WS
In the last few years, together with the surge in new construction, the energy demand from
buildings has also been influenced by current practice on energy demanding mechanically
controlled buildings with artificially lit interiors. Present urban development strategy of
implementing Mega polis development plan for city of Colombo expands its boundaries of
the urban building stock. Thus, it’s vital to explore the end use energy demand of national
building stock and comprehend a relationship between building morphology and energy
consumption. A walkthrough field investigation was performed in 46 Wards in Colombo
Municipal Council region. The structure of the survey was organized in relation to
geographical information system (GIS) data and land use maps of the CMC region. Data was
collated to formulate a comprehensive database on morphology of office building stock
comprising major physical parameters and energy indices. Results revealed the office
building stock is primarily composed of Air-conditioned office spaces and of which 78%
contains naturally ventilated common spaces. In this stock 53% and 13% of the office
buildings have an annual average building energy index above 200KWhm¯² and
300KWhm¯² respectively. Linear shape dominates the plan form representing 70.2% of the
stock. Other basic shapes such as square, circular and composites corresponds to 19.5%,
2.3% and 8% respectively.
. 54.55% of the office buildings have an average BEI of 150-250 kWhm-². Out of which
37.03% of the office buildings are EW oriented. Nexus between building façade
configuration and building energy index were further analyzed using multiple and simple
linear regression analysis. The analysis was conducted for buildings in the identified energy
index categories by considering all four orientations. EW and NS oriented buildings were
considered for further investigation to evaluate the effect of aspect ratio on energy index. It
is evident that aspect ratio of 0.70 (1:1.43) in 100-150 kWh-² energy index range was within
the optimal range. The optimal aspect ratio for buildings along east west axis is within the
range of 1.27:1 to 1.5:1. Further increase of aspect ratio beyond this range result in increase
of energy consumption in buildings. The average aspect ratio for NS oriented buildings in
100-150 kWh-² energy index range was 1.49 (1.49:1), which was within the optimal range.
Nonetheless, the average aspect ratio for NS oriented buildings in Average Range is 3.22
(3.22:1), which is beyond the optimal range.
Further onsite thermal investigations in the selected representative buildings with deep and
shallow plan forms revealed a clear indoor temperature difference during air conditioned and
non-air-conditioned period. It is evident that deep plan form has a greater potential to control
external heat gain and reduce end use energy demand. In contrary, shallow plan forms are
more susceptible for external heat gain and higher temperature variation is evident periphery
and core. Moreover, overheating building periphery in both shallow and deep plan forms are
susceptible for overheating condition. Thus the findings of this study represent the criticality
of building morphology based on plan shape, orientation and interior planning which
demonstrate a significant impact on end use energy demand due to external heat loads.
2020-01-01T00:00:00ZImpacts of restoration of ulpotha micro-cascade in Galkiriyakanda cascade on environment and rural livelihoodFernando, DJhttp://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/138302022-08-25T09:52:16ZImpacts of restoration of ulpotha micro-cascade in Galkiriyakanda cascade on environment and rural livelihood
Fernando, DJ
This dissertation identifies and analyses the restoration efforts of Ulpotha micro-cascade located in the Galkiriyakanda cascade. The ‘Case Study’ methodology was used for the research. A Conceptual Framework has been established (with five independent variables and one dependent variable) based on five hypothesis developed. The research question mainly focused on ‘positive changes and possible gaps in the Ulpotha restoration efforts’. Analyses in the dissertation include changes in forest, environment, hydrology and other socio-economic impacts on Walathwewa and Ihala Thimbiriyawa village communities who are dependent on it for living and livelihoods.
The Galkiriyakanda cascade is located in the northern part of Kurunegala district. Galkiriyakanda stretches about 10 km and covers area of 1,106 hectares. There are about 1,500 households living around this cascade. Galkiriyakanda has many micro-cascades and Ulpotha is the major micro-cascade which is the main focus of this study. All most all communities live on agriculture and irrigated paddy is the main crop cultivate in the area. The cascade and communities faced many challenges during the recent past and degradation of cascade was the main threat to environment and rural livelihood.
Research discusses in detail the impacts made by the rehabilitation efforts done in Ulpotha micro-cascade during 2004 – 2011 through Sri Lanka Australia Natural Resource Management Program (SLANRMP). Required information and data were collected through a Likert scale questionnaire and SPSS system has been used to analyse the data collected. Relationships between independent variables and the dependent variable have been analysed under five main hypotheses. The results of this study indicate positive impacts of the Ulpothe micro-cascade rehabilitation towards physical environment, livelihood and rural economic development.
Findings of this study will help administrators, policy makers and rural development planners to expand and replicate this development model to other dry zone cascades as well. In addition, another important area of hydrology and indigenous irrigation in cascade was also identified as potential research areas for PhD studies.
Development of a theoretical framework to facilitate creative process in architectural design educationGunarathne, ANCKWhttp://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/132942023-05-15T08:47:46ZDevelopment of a theoretical framework to facilitate creative process in architectural design education
Gunarathne, ANCKW
Creativity is the key for a progressive human evolution. Our creative ability places us as the
superior species on earth. The need to be creative is felt within every industry and
construction industry being engaged with original products finds it more challenging.
Architecture is an art. It is not mere art it is an art of science, art of technology,
predominantly an art of social existence. Architectural residuals possess the ability to recite
the legends of vibrant societies that prevailed, the economic conditions, aesthetic sense and
the technological advancements of a particular era. As with many other professions within
contemporary competitive consumer society finding creative solutions is vital for its
survival. Education is the key to foster creativity and developing strategies are based on
theoretical understanding. However creativity being studied by different disciplines the
research literature on theory is rich in both depth and breadth.
Looking into creativity theories it reveals that fostering creativity in education posits its roots
on considering the socio-cultural, cognitive-psychological, neuropsychological,
neurobiological understanding as well as developing person-oriented, process-oriented and
product-oriented approaches. Being placed at the highest level in each education domains
creative interventions are essential in education programs to achieve creative outcomes.
In developing creative interventions one needs to develop a theoretical framework to base its
model. This requires understanding the domain specific influencing factors and the
demanding orientation. Within architectural education design studio i? a key in nurturing
creativity and it is organised into a process. Therefore the study explores the impact of
strengthening of the creative process as a strategy to develop an intervention where the
pertaining theories are assembled into an integrated theoretical framework termed
"theoretical model of creative design process".
The student performance in an interior architecture module was carefully investigated.
Research design is an action research method where data is generated through a series of
task performance. It was revealed that there is a significant relationship between the
performance in creative process phases and design performance while the design mark after
the intervention shows a significant improvement.
Human exposure to street level air pollutants in Colombo and exploration of mitigation options using CFD modelingPerera, GBShttp://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/16992023-08-04T09:49:19ZHuman exposure to street level air pollutants in Colombo and exploration of mitigation options using CFD modeling
Perera, GBS
Human exposure to street level air pollutants in Colombo and exploration of mitigation potions using CFD modeling was studied. To fulfill the requirement, present study was designed to gather baseline air pollution data, health risk assessment data and computer modeling was subsequently applied to a selected urban area and urban school to minimize the air pollution. For the purpose of estimating the air quality effects of land use and planning variables, a free-ware model named ENVI-met was used. ENVI-met is a numerical, 4 dimensional (three spatial plus the time dimension) microclimate free ware model which can simulate the microclimate within street canyons through the solution of the physical basic equations for the wind current, the thermodynamics and the radiation balance of surfaces. In order to estimate the effect of land use and urban planning variables, several ENVI-met simulations were run: change of street vegetation, change of soil conditions and building geometry. Measured Respirable Particulate Matter (RPM) values were used to calibrate the simulation cases. It was found that the high risk urban location had RPM of 437~glm3 whereas low risk village had 212~glm3. Total Suspended particulate mater (TSP) levels during peak hours (7.30am-8.30am and 2.00pm- 3.00pm) exceeded the Sri Lankan standard (>538 ug/m ' against 500 ug/nr') ..The data also revealed that apart from the number of vehicles, meteorological factors such as high temperature and low relative humidity increased the Respirable Particulate. Matter. A significant different in aerosol exposure levels was resulted in urban and rural dwellers for S02 and N02. Similarly exposure levels of urban & rural school children were resulted for S02 and N02. Simulations carried out at the urban area and school area clearly showed that the increasing greenery and banning of vehicles from busy sub roads with paving resulted the decreasing of particulate matter concentration. On the other hand, high rising buildings resulted the increase of
particulate matter concentration heavily in the urban area and urban school respectively. Compared to the Base Case, results have shown that marked decrease of PM concentration has occurred by the suggested Best Case and for the Worst Case
considerable increase of PMIO concentration in the urban area and urban school
respectively. Best city design with minimum air pollution can be modeled using the
ENVI-met computer modeling software with minimum cost. Therefore possibility of
using this model in planning stage of new cities as well as redesigning of cities is
highlighted.