A paper on the Daniels Faculty’s Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory (GRIT Lab) written by Master of Landscape Architecture students Matthew Perotto and Catherine Yoon, along with Environmental Civil Engineering PHD student and GRIT Lab co-researcher Jenny Hill, has been accepted for peer review and publication in the 2015 RCI Convention and Trade Show Conference Proceedings. RCI is an international association of building envelope consultants.  

Perotto and Yoon are both research assistants at the GRIT Lab. They presented their paper at the 2015 RCI Convention and Trade Show in San Antonio this past March.

“We got really good feedback from the presentation attendees,” says Perotto. “They were really excited to have student presenters, especially since we were discussing a research project as elaborate as GRIT Lab.”

The complete abstract for Perotto, Yoon, and Hill's paper is posted below.

For more information on the GRIT Lab, visit: http://grit.daniels.utoronto.ca/

 
Processes of Quantifying the Hydrological Performance of Extensive Green Roofs
Jenny Hill, Matt Perotto, Catherine Yoon
2015 RCI Convention and Trade Show, San Antonio

The Green Roof Innovation Testing (GRIT) Lab at the University of Toronto is a multi-year research project comparatively analyzing thirty-three extensive green roof modules with variables of composition and maintenance.  Each module is continuously monitored through an array of nine thermal and hydrological sensors.

The paper will focus on the troubleshooting and calibration processes of two sensors contributing to the hydrological modeling of the modules:

1. Decagon 5TE Moisture sensors embedded within the planting substrate, and

2. Hydro Services TB6 rain gauge, measuring water volume drained through each module.

Each of these sensors was designed for slightly differing applications, and thus needed modification to accommodate the specific conditions of the research project.

The calibration process involved pairing substrate moisture with the dielectric permittivity of the two planting substrate types in the modules, and designing, fabricating and testing new components of the rain gauges.

Since installation, the re-calibrated instruments have been providing the GRIT Lab with accurate data since August 2013.

Learning objectives will include:

• A comparison of substrates used in green roof construction

• The relevance in monitoring green roof performance in research and practice

• The role of instrument calibration

• An analysis of calibration processes of research instruments