RESEARCH
OCCUPANT/HUMAN
Experimental:
Setup of monitoring systems (permanent in university living labs, moveable in external buildings), test of new comfort assessment techniques (IR imaging for thermal comfort), and definition of questionnaires for special environments (classrooms, physiotherapy clinics) to investigate thermal, visual and acoustic comfort, air quality and subjects’ performance (listening efficiency) and possible interactions in real and lab environments.
Numerical:
Implementation of solar radiation sensitive thermal comfort models (steady and dynamic). Inclusion of thermal and visual comfort aspects in the multi-domain analysis of glazing and shading systems and in multi-objective optimization of retrofit measures. Definition of long-term and spatial representation metrics for comfort analysis. Use of calibrated thermal simulation to investigate thermal comfort in real buildings.
Collaborations:
DTU (Bjarne Olesen), Purdue University (Athanasios Tzempelikos), TU Wien (Ardeshir Mahdavi), University of Ferrara (Nicola Prodi), University IUAV of Venice (Francesca Cappelletti), University of Trento (Alessandro Prada).
BUILDING/HVAC
Experimental:
Design and operation of a system for steady and dynamic tests on opaque components; test of shading and glazing systems in real applications; design and installation of an HVAC systems test system; design of new laboratory facilities for dynamic testing of thermal and acoustical properties of envelope components, and for heating and ventilation systems.
Numerical:
Proposal for improvement of technical standards (thermal bridges of windows, dynamic transfer properties); modelling of liquid desiccant systems; multi-domain parametric analysis (thermal and visual) of windows systems; multi-objective optimization (optimization methods and applications to retrofit to investigate different aspects: location, incentives, behavior)
Collaborations:
Purdue University (Athanasios Tzempelikos), University of Colorado Boulder (Moncef Krarti), University IUAV of Venice (Francesca Cappelletti, Piercarlo Romagnoni), University of Padua (Giovanni A. Longo), University of Trento (Alessandro Prada, Paolo Baggio).
OUTDOOR CONTEXT
External Climatic and non-Climatic (urban) conditions
Experimental:
Solar radiation measurement setup.
Numerical:
Recasting of technical standards on weather data; sensitivity analysis of MOO in retrofit on TRY (Typical Reference Years), ERY (Extreme Reference Years), solar radiation models; potential of ventilation heat recovery in different climates (sensible heat recovery, total heat recovery); multi-objective optimization for urban areas (applications to retrofit and public incentives); synergies and trade-offs between district heating and building retrofit; new approaches to define TRY and ERY; new approaches to define climatic regions for building and HVAC performance analysis.
Collaborations:
TU Eindhoven (Jan Hensen), TU Wien (Ardeshir Mahdavi), University of Trento (Alessandro Prada).
The Building Physics Research Group