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In the construction industry, various parties are involved in a project. Consequently, claims and disputes are inevitable in this industry. This paper aims to develop Integrated project delivery (IPD) practices including early involvement of stakeholders and multiparty contracts which its combination with advanced technologies such as blockchain can lead to better dispute management and improve the whole construction process.

Based on literature review, the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for IPD contacts were identified, and three formats of IPD contracts were selected, and the dispute resolution process of them has been analyzed. Then, based on blockchain review, a conceptual blockchain-based dispute management (BDM) model was generated for ADR in IPD. Model validation was done by an interview. Experts were asked to compare the BDM model with the traditional system regarding the ADR duration.

Analyses of the collected data from the experts demonstrated that the BDM model has better function in terms of time and cost for ADR process when the project is facing serious and considerable number of disputes. The relation between blockchain technology (BCT) and building information modeling (BIM) has been examined through a framework, and the ability of the proposed model for administrating dispute resolution process has been verified using four different scenarios of construction claims that show the system can run successfully.

The current study proposes a truthful model, reliable framework to address the problem of project dispute management in IPD contracts. The system combines the ability to being unchangeable and the reliability characteristics of BCT with informative and automation aspects of BIM together to improve dispute resolution issue in the IPD system.

Optimisation of daylight admission through window is crucial for alleviating glare while maintaining useful daylight levels in order to enhance occupants' health, visual comfort and moderating lighting energy consumption. Amongst various solutions, fixed external shade is an affordable solution for housing spaces that need to be sophisticatedly designed, especially during the period of increasing home spaces as working environments. In the humid subtropical region, daylight control plays an important role in indoor comfort, particularly with areas with a high window to wall ratio (WWR). Due to the insufficient amount of such study on non-office spaces in Australia, shading-related standards are not addressed in Australian building codes.

The chosen methodology for the research is a quantitative data collection and analysis through field measurement and simulation simultaneously. The first step is a multi-objective optimisation of shading elements through a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) on parametric modelling via Rhino3D CAD and simulation engines (DIVA and ClimateStudio). In the second phase, the Pareto front solutions are validated by experimental measurements within a room with a single north-facing window (the most probable for the daytime glare in Sydney) for the seven most common local window configurations.

Through the simulation of ten genes, 1,560 values and 2.4 × 1,019 of search space, this study found an optimum shade for each local common window layout, resulted in +22% in (UDI) and −16% in views with discomfort glare on average. Moreover, an all-purpose polygonal shade showed an average of 4.6% increase in UDI and a 5.83% decrease in the percentage of views with discomfort glare.

The findings are subject to the room dimensions, window dimensions and layouts, and orientation of windows for selected residential buildings in Sydney.

The study contributes to the development of highly accurate fixed external shading systems with rectangular and tapered-form external shapes. A real-time measurement by luminance-metre sensors and HQ cameras located at six eye levels is conducted to corroborate simulation results of the visual comfort.

The purpose of this paper is to propose correlations between Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers for the case of inclined and closed air-filled hemispherical cavities. The disk of such cavities is subjected to a constant heat flux. The study covers a wide range of Rayleigh numbers from 5×107 to 2.55×1012.

Correlations are obtained from numerical approach validated by experimental measurements on some configurations, valid for several angles of inclination of the cavity between 0° (horizontal disk) and 90° (vertical disk) in steps of 15°.

The statistical analysis of a large number of calculations leads to reliable results covering laminar, transitional and turbulent natural convection heat transfer zones.

The proposed correlations provide solutions for applications in several fields of engineering such as solar energy, aerospace, building, safety and security.

The new relations proposed are the first published for high Rayleigh numbers for this type of geometry. They supplement the knowledge of natural convection in hemispherical inclined cavities and constitute a useful tool for application in various engineering areas as solar energy (thermal collector, still, pyranometer, albedometer, pyrgeometer), aerospace (embarked electronics), building, safety and security (controlling and recording sensors).

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel patterns, use of space and modal choice. Cities took actions in a way they did not before, trying to accommodate economic and travel needs with the goal of reducing the spreading of the virus. Active travel (AT) played an important role in accommodating travel needs and in increasing the resilience and environmental friendliness of the urban transport system. As cities gradually return to their normal life, transport planners must decide which role to assign to AT in future urban plans. In particular, whether to confirm the temporary policies incentivising AT enacted to counteract the reduction in the use of public transport or to return to the previous road space allocation that dedicated considerable urban space to motorised vehicular traffic. After reviewing the empirical evidence on the AT evolution during the various pandemic phases and illustrating the main policies planned and implemented at city level in many countries, this chapter summarises the lessons learnt, derives some policy suggestions, and identifies future research needs.

This paper aims to numerically investigate the natural convection heat transfer of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-water nanofluid in U-shaped enclosure equipped with a hot obstacle by using the lattice Boltzmann method.

The combination of the three topics (U-shaped enclosure, different positions of the hot obstacle and MWCNTs-water nanofluid) is innovative in the present study. In total, 15 different positions of the hot obstacle have been arranged, and the effects of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh numbers, the solid volume fraction of the MWCNTs nanoparticles on the flow field, temperature distribution and the rate of heat transfer inside the enclosure are also investigated.

It is found that the average Nusselt number increased by raising the Rayleigh number, and so did the nanoparticle solid volume fraction regardless the position of the hot obstacle. Moreover, enclosures where the hot obstacle is located at the bottom region proved to provide a better rate of heat transfer at high Rayleigh number (106). It is concluded that at a low Ra number (103-105), the higher heat transfer rate and Nu number will be obtained when the hot obstacle is located in the left or right channel.

In the literature, no trace of studying the natural convection of nanofluids in U-shaped enclosures with heating obstacles was found. Also, MWCNTs were less used as nanoparticles. As the natural convection of nanofluids in thermal engineering applications would expand the existing knowledge, the current researchers conducted a numerical study of the natural convection of Maxwell nanofluid with MWCNTs in U-shaped enclosure equipped with a hot obstacle by using lattice Boltzmann method.

This study aims to investigate the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation in a cuboid enclosure filled with CuO-water nanofluid.

The lattice Boltzmann method is used to solve the problem numerically. Two different multiple relaxation time (MRT) models are used to solve the problem. The D3Q7–MRT model is used to solve the temperature field, and the D3Q19 is used to solve the fluid flow of natural convection within the enclosure.

The influences of different Rayleigh numbers (10³ < Ra < 10⁶) and solid volume fractions (0 < f < 0.04) on the fluid flow, heat transfer, total entropy generation, local heat transfer irreversibility and local fluid friction irreversibility are presented comprehensively. To predict thermo–physical properties, dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity, of CuO–water nanofluid, the Koo–Kleinstreuer–Li (KKL) model is applied to consider the effect of Brownian motion on nanofluid properties.

The originality of this work is to analyze the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation using a new numerical approach of dual-MRT-based lattice Boltzmann method.

The nanofluid natural convection heat transfer in a hollow complex enclosure, which is named as Shamse knot shape, is studied numerically. This paper aims to present how the Rayleigh number, nanoparticle volume fraction, Hartmann number and hollow side length affect the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics.

The continuity, momentum and energy equations have been solved using lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Numerical simulation has been obtained for a wide range of Rayleigh number (10³ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶), nanoparticle volume fraction (0 ≤ ϕ 0.05) and Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 60) to analyze the fluid flow pattern and heat transfer characteristics. Moreover, the effect of hollow side length (D) on flow field and thermal performance is studied.

The results showed that the magnetic field has a negative effect on the thermal performance and the average Nusselt number decreases by increasing the Hartmann number. Because of the high conduction heat transfer coefficient of nanoparticles, the average Nusselt number increases by rising the nanoparticle volume fraction. The effect of adding nanoparticles on heat transfer is more effective at low nanoparticle volume fraction (0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.01). It was also found that at Ra = 10⁶, when the hollow side length increases to 3, the flow pattern becomes different due to the small gap. The averaged Nu is an increasing function of D at low Ra and an opposite trend occurs at high Rayleigh number.

For the first time, the effects of magnetic field, Rayleigh number, nanoparticle volume fraction and hollow side length on natural convection heat transfer of hybrid nanofluid (Ag-TiO₂/water) is investigated in a complicated cavity.

The purpose of this study is to quantify the free convective heat transfer around a vertical cylindrical electronic component equipped with vertical fins representing an antenna, contained in a closed cavity maintained isothermal. Its cooling is provided via a water-based copper nanofluid whose volume fraction varies between 0% and 10%. Its effective viscosity and thermal conductivity are determined with the Brinkman and Maxwell models.

The governing equation system has been solved by means of the volume control method based on the SIMPLE algorithm.

A Nusselt-Rayleigh correlation valid in the 3.32 × 10⁵ – 6.74 × 10⁷ Rayleigh number range is proposed. It allows the thermal sizing of the considered system used in high power electronics to ensure their correct operation in the worst conditions.

The proposed correlations are original and unpublished.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate energy efficiency of 132 countries from 2007 to 2014 according to their performance, categorizing the nations into similar groups.

Data envelopment analysis model based on Goal Programming and then K-Means clustering algorithm are used to determine the efficiency and clustering the nations based on their efficiency performances.

The results of the study reveal that developing low-income countries could lead to high energy-efficiency scores, and countries with different development and income levels can become efficient in the field of energy consumption. Following the nations during a seven-year period also indicates that the changes in energy-related indicators such as renewable energy consumption and energy productivity are the main drivers to move a country between clusters.

The present study aimed to investigate whether similar nations with similar energy efficiency level in a cluster are similar in their development and income level, and changing the energy consumption pattern during the seven-year period could move the countries from a cluster to another one.

Despite worldwide climate change and the problems caused by using fossil fuels, energy consumption in the world keeps rising every year. The areas with extremely cold or scorching climates are large, and significant amounts of energy are getting used in these areas for heating, cooling, and ventilation. The general purpose of this study is to investigate the possible relationship between the climatic characteristics of the Esfahak, a village located in the hot desert region of Iran, and the physical characteristics of its built environment.

The method of this research is qualitative and somewhat descriptive-analytical. In this regard, the architectural features of Esfahak village are compared with the principles mentioned in the Mahoney tables to determine the degree of compliance of the architecture of this village with the climatic condition.

The results show that design principles have been used in all indicators discussed in the Mahoney tables. By applying these principles, not only did the acute weather conditions not prevent the initial settlement in the village location, they have not caused inhabitants to leave the site over time as well.

The impacts of bioclimatic design strategies on thermal comfort in hot desert regions are seldom studied. This research provides evidence-based and informed design recommendations that can help building designers and city authorities integrate bioclimatic design strategies at the earliest conceptual design phases in hot desert climates.