ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 32
4. Conclusion
The field investigation presnted in this paper explored the thermal behavior and construction
quality of residential buildings’ envelope through infrared thermography audit during construction
under the extreme hot climate of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. The objective was to identify
construction defects in the building’s envelope which may affect the thermal integrity of the building’s
envelope. Several residential units in Al Ain formed the corpus of this study. The results of the
thermography surveys indicated a number of improper installations that led to thermal defects through
thermal bridging. The recurrent defect was the thermal bridging between non‐insulated reinforced
concrete structural frame, and insulated concrete block, which occurred in all cases examined, and will
compromise the targeted thermal performance of the exterior wall. Next, oversized service outlets and
mortar joints were recurrent defects that intuen will affect the thermal integrity of the walls. Finally,
non‐complinat design changes in the construction phase with improper implementation resulted in
clear thermal bridging. Hence, improper insulation strategies, poor workmanship and late non‐
compliant design changes will impede the designed target thermal performance. These may well be
due to the lack of skilled workers and insufficient or inadeuqate site control during construction. These
results call for a reconsideration of the construction quality control process during construction to
ensure the designed building meets its intended standards and expected thermal performance.
Author Contributions: Prof. Kheira Tabet Aoul conceived the presented idea and ensured funding acquisition,
Eng. Rahma Hagi developed the approach and carried the field investigations. Boshra Akhozheya, Rahma
Abdelghani , Yasmin Abdou and Noor Suleiman collected data and literature. Prof. Kheira Tabet Aoul and
Rahma Hagi discussed the results and developed the manuscript.
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the United Arab Emirates
University through the SURE Plus undergraduate research funded project (105).
Conflicts of Interest: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
21
A. C. Overview, ʺConstruction Analytics Archiveʺ 15 May 2016. [Online]. Available:
https://www.bncnetwork.net/analyze/MQ
S. center, ʺStatistical Yearbook of Abu Dhbai,ʺ Statistics Centre ‐ Abu Dhabi (SCAD), Abu Dhabi, 2018.
Alkhateeb, E., Hijleh, B. A., Rengasamy, E., & Muhammed, S. (2016). Building refurbishment strategies and
their impact on saving energy in the United Arab Emirates. SBE16 Dubai, UAE.
Abu
Dhabi
Government,
‘Statistics
Center,”2018.
=[Online]
https://scad.ae/Release%20Documents/SYB_2018_EN_9Sep%20_Chart%20Correction.pdf
ʺEstidama insulation products and systems for PEARL villa ratingʺ 23 11 2016. [Online]. Available:
http://estidama.upc.gov.ae/estidama‐villa‐products‐database/insulationproducts‐.
Efird, B., Mollet, P., Al Mubarak, I., Sgouridis, S., & Tsai, I. (2017). The Political Feasibility of Policy Options
for the UAE’s Energy Transition (No. ks‐2017‐‐dp22).The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research
Center (KAPSARC), Saudi Arabia.
Gorse, C., Stafford, A., Shenton, D. M., Johnston, D., Sutton, R., & Farmer, D. (2012, September). Thermal
performance of buildings and the management process. In Procs28th annual ARCOM conference (pp. 3‐5).
Tabet Aoul, K. A., Hagi, R., Abdelghani,R., Akhozheya, B., Syam, M., Karaouzene, R. “The Existing
Residential Building Stock in UAE: Energy efficiency and retrofitting opportunities”, 6th Annual
International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering ‐ ACE 2018, 14‐15 May 2018, Singapore, pp.
598 – 602
Bianchi, F., Pisello, A. L., Baldinelli, G., & Asdrubali, F., ʺInfrared thermography assessment of thermal
bridges in building envelope: Experimental validation in a test room setup.ʺ Sustainability, 6(10), pp. 7107‐
7120, 2014
Taylor, T; Counsell, J; Gill, S;, ʺEnergy efficiency is more than skin deep: Improving constructionquality
control in new‐build housing using thermographyʺ Energy & Buildings, 66, pp. 222‐231, 2013.
ZEMCH 2019 International Conference l Seoul, Korea