CanmetENERGY Ottawa Envelope Research Building (CERB)

Project Overview and Objectives

State-of-the art building enclosure research facility

Our building envelope research and development (R&D) program is housed in a new facility, called the CanmetENERGY Ottawa Envelope Research Building (CERB). The building is also home to Carleton University’s Centre for Advanced Building Envelope Research (CABER). CERB and CABER represent a unique partnership. The laboratory equipment inside is owned and operated by Carleton University, but CERB is owned and operated by NRCan. The building itself is used to collect data on the performance of wall assemblies. Sections of the South and West facing façades are removable. Experimental assemblies can be installed in their place to conduct in-situ testing and assess the long-term performance of alternative designs.

The facility enables fundamental and applied research associated with developing high-performance building envelopes or enclosures for the residential and commercial sectors.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Carleton University are working together to explore ways to build buildings that are better, healthier and more resilient to climate change. Join us as we tour the facility with NRCan’s Alex Ferguson and Carleton’s Dr. Cynthia Cruickshank and Dr. Christopher Baldwin, as well as former Carleton students Tait Seguin and Dr. Calene Baylis.

Testing building envelopes in a state-of-the-art facility (Byte-Sized Science)

In-Situ Opening Test Capabilities

The in-situ wall openings (ISWO) are used to test long-term durability performance of wall assemblies. There are 4 openings that face due South and 2 openings that face due West. The openings are each 3 m wide by 3 m high and pre-wired to record thirty-two thermocouples, thirty 0-10 VDC measurements, and twenty resistance measurements. These measurements may include humidity, moisture content, differential pressure, or mass. Samples will be installed within these openings for a minimum of 1 year, with data recorded as frequently as 5 minute intervals, to determine the impact of long-term exposure to actual environmental conditions. This could include ageing of materials, resilience of wall designs and hygrothermal measurements.

The West facing openings are currently configured to evaluate the drying potential of panelized overcladding retrofits of masonry wall assemblies. Two of the south-facing openings are configured with interior test chambers for precise control of interior conditions (temperature, humidity and pressure).

CABER laboratory equipment includes a two-storey Guarded Hot Box and Pressurized Spray Rack, intended to simulate representative climate conditions from across Canada including wind, solar heating, temperature, and humidity. For more information, visit: carleton.ca/caber.

The equipment and facilities included in the CanmetENERGY Ottawa Envelope Research Building enable a broad and comprehensive research program that includes the study of building enclosure assemblies, their component materials, and their impact on occupant comfort. CERB will be used to help answer research questions under the CanmetENERGY Building Envelope Research program.

Partners and Acknowledgments

The building enhances CanmetENERGY Ottawa’s ability to collaborate by providing laboratory and fabrication workspace to work with Carleton University researchers and other partners – including Algonquin College, Concordia University, and the National Research Council, and industry stakeholders.

Funding was generously provided by the Office of Energy R&D.

Contact

For further information about CERB, contact Brock Conley, Housing & Buildings R&D, Buildings and Renewables Group, CanmetENERGY: Brock.Conley@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca

For information about CABER, contact Dr. Cynthia Cruickshank, Director and Principal Research, Carleton University Centre for Advanced Building Envelope Research (CU-CABER): Cynthia.Cruickshank@Carleton.ca