What We Do / Technology
In the modern built environment there are requirements for services like ventilation and heating which cannot be solely reliant on natural methods. The projects below show different strategies for optimising these systems, and subsequently improving both the efficiency of the building and the comfort of the space to improve its usability.
Asymmetric Radiation and Thermal Comfort
Asymmetric radiation occurs when you stand close to a cold window or a hot radiator. In buildings people are often exposed to this and it can influence human comfort, performance and health. In this project a computer model of human heat transfer was created to show how the body is effected by different sources of asymmetric radiation. It is then used to predict the physiological response humans have to these environmental changes.
By analysing the projected physiological response in humans, complex environments can be examined in terms of predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD). By linking this information to a building model, a time specific analysis of an occupied zone can be created. This model has been used to influence the car and textile industry, and in the building sector it can be used to analyse different types of building construction.
Optimum Design of Building Services Systems
Building services are often created with standard guidances or ‘rules of thumb’. These create workable designs, but to create optimal designs which maximise the efficiency of a building’s services a new methodology is needed. This project looked at how HVAC systems (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) can be optimised during both the design and operational phases.
This was achieved by a method called evolutionary strategy, where a solution is continually tested and refined until the predetermined requirements of the HVAC system have been met.
Atrium assisted natural ventilation: CFD study
Computer modelling has made it much cheaper and quicker for designers to integrate complex building systems into designs. This project looks at how new Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling can be used to predict natural ventilation using the example of a single storey space connected to an atrium.
Comparing the new methodology to older, labour intensive ones such as salt bath modelling showed that whilst the results corresponded, the CFD modelling allowed faster calculations and the ability to quantifying specific air flow rates. This allows designers to create natural ventilation systems both quicker and more efficiently than with previous methods.