PhD Students

Building form and its orientation are important factor in architecture as well as to lower energy demand by passive way that implemented since initial design stage before using other semi-permanent efforts such as the utilization of material-construction, color, shading, etc. Meanwhile, we can only find that some studies related to forms are commonly conducted against compactness index and shape factorizing. My research investigates some innovative forms for their performance in supporting energy efficient building. The investigation conducted using several simulation softwares and include a parametric study that will put the forms for test in different scenarios. This research important to help architects and designers to choose / create decent forms since early stage.

This sponsored PhD project aims to develop a novel manufacturing process to design and test a photovoltaic vacuum glazing (PV-VG) for building applications. This research focuses on using an embedded thin-film PV panel, innovative methods and materials for the reduction of window heat transfer in buildings.

The main aim of the project is to develop a waste heat-driven Combined ORC - Trigeneration - Ejector system, suitable for sustainable heating/cooling and electricity generation at reduced cost for the food and drink manufacturing and (re) processing plants. The proposed technology represents a significant advancement in Trigeneration - Ejector system based on the utilisation of low grade waste heat (80°C or over) to generate heating, cooling and electrical power. The system using a new ORC refrigerant (e.g., R1234yf, R1234ze and R1223zd) as a working fluid.

Due to the progressively urban population in many parts of the world and the hazard of the global warming, it is very necessarily to work more toward sustainable solutions in building industries. Mosques are the worship building for Muslims and they are one of the most power consuming among other public building. They are unique because of their intermittent operation and various users’ number, which require a unique HVAC strategies. Therefore, this research is trying to set a guideline for designers who are designing mosques to assure producing sustainable outcomes. The method is by simulating different techniques in certain climate and evaluate their impacts in lowering cooling or heating demands.

Main area of research interests fall within:

• Sustainable and Renewable Energy Technologies
• Sustainable Building Technologies
• Building Integrated Renewable Energy Systems

I’m currently investigating innovative cooling and self-cleaning technologies for Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) systems. The proposed system suggests the integration of CPV with Thermoelectric generator (TEG) with a heat pipe for heat extraction form from the PV surface in a hybrid compact design for electricity generation.

Traditionally, urban studies, design guidance and planning policy in Britain have been largely dominated by morphology literature. The core element of this research involved the adaptation of social sciences tools and their application to appraise the social and perceptual dimensions of place, looking at public life in the public realm in British neighbourhoods.

The findings demonstrated that all three dimensions are strongly interconnected: road hierarchy and social spheres appeared with enclave-belonging behaviours; informal contact at a street level was strongly related to street patterns; public building provision was associated with the creation and development of social networks; and the value that neighbours gave to public places had correlation with certain urban characteristics of place but not with professional evaluations of urban quality.

This new knowledge made two main contributions to urban practice: methodological, with the introduction of feasible ways to appraise the social and perceptual dimensions of place in neighbourhoods; and empirical, with evidence based validation of existing synergies between three dimensions of place in neighbourhoods. It also contributed to urban literature and opened channels for further research.

Alternative methods are being explored to increase the number of energy efficient buildings.

My research revolves around incorporation of micro encapsulated phase change materials (MEPCM) panels as a thermal energy storage (TES) in passive cooling systems of buildings. The research aims to assess the capacity of nocturnal radiant and ventilative cooling energy available at summer nights coupled with the PCM storage system in maintaining all day thermal comfort and lowering the energy consumption in domestic buildings in hot and arid regions. The proposed system is investigated numerically utilising transient CFD simulation in ANSYS FLUENT and experimentally testing a room-size TES prototype.

The PhD investigates improve daylight performance inside the office buildings, by using Grasshopper as a parametric software based on Rhinoceros 3D. Grasshopper is used as a method to control different complex parameters to utilize the daylight during the daytime. The study aims to provide the building with constant distributed light during the working hours to achieve human visual comfort and save energy. 

The general proposal of this research is inscribed in the improved use of mathematical concepts applicable to sustainable architecture in the following terms:

• It is suggested the wide and comfortable interaction between its elements and their mathematical representations: numeric, tabular, graphical, and algebraic.

• As far as possible, mathematical models of the representations will be obtained to encode them in a programming language so they can be directed to different purposes of future research, either to focus on energy transitions, temperature, or lighting.

• It is intended that with the development of these programs settle down a primordial component of the study of climate and comfort.

Nowadays, more than 1.1 million acre greenhouse vegetables commercially around the world suffered from high energy consumption. The poor thermal insulation features responsible for up to 40% heat loss from the envelope. Therefore, the research work aims to cut the heat loss by using super thermal insulation as the envelope and high efficient Heat pump to provide heating and cooling. The sustainable energy will be provided with solar PV and underground storage. The proposed system allows improving the indoor air quality of the greenhouse and enhancing the productivity.

The precise energy savings of green roofs have been difficult to quantify and predict due to lack of technically sound data for different types of construction, ages of buildings, soil properties, and locations. About three-quarters of the non-domestic buildings, that standing in 2010 will still be standing in 2050, which will account for 60% of the building stock in 2050. Half of the existing 23 million homes in the UK are more than half a century old and over half of the existing UK building stock built before any roof-insulation was required. Therefore, the case for retrofitting existing buildings reviewed and it is found there is a strong potential for green roof retrofit in the UK for old buildings. Many other benefits of green roofs are just as achievable, but thus far, the green roofs generally are not optimized to meet those. This is generally due to lack of research on different aspects of green roofs and premature introduction of products into the market. Hence, there is a great need for green roof research.

At the Creative Energy Homes test site, I have designed and installed an integrated heat and power network to allow for the testing of distributed energy generation in communities. My research focusses on writing control algorithms to optimise the system.

The research project investigates an innovative design of ventilation air dehumidification in buildings using a solid desiccant coated air channels. The design consists of using a thin desiccant material layer coated on the inner wall of an air duct with heat transfer enhancement on the outer surface. A mathematical model to quantify a complex mass and heat transfer both in adsorption and regeneration process was developed. The work also involves design of a small scale laboratory rig to validate the computer model.

Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) technology has become a very attractive option for solar-driven combined heat and power systems. Heat from a PV/T system can be used directly or stored for use at other time to drive a power cycle. The project aims to investigate the potential of a PV/thermal coupled with thermal storage and ORC as an alternative to lithium battery in matching the energy demand projectile in building systems. A transient simulation of a heat storage unit will be generated and an experimental investigation with a focus on 3D printed expander will be conducted.

The research aims to contribute to the delivery of better indoor environmental conditions in primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and help inform design standards. This also helps the understanding of children behaviour and adaption to classrooms’ environment, and the consequent impact on productivity. The identification of design parameters that can contribute to better quality classrooms can have a major impact on the design of new and retrofit of existing schools, improving learning environments and reducing energy use.

The core of the research is mainly concentrated on using a novel thermochemical materials with a high energy density, consists ofcomposite of salt impregnated vermiculite with embedded porous fibre capillaries. The composite utilizes the reversible reaction of salt and moisture vapour to produce heat, which can replace the existing insulated domestic hot water tank for heating purposes. It is envisaged that the expecting materials are too far promising, and this type of applications could be breakthrough in upcoming heating household’s researches.

School energy efficient such as adaption of numerous energy efficiency represents a driver for increasing the school energy performance due to significant environmental effects and major impact on student’s performance and health. My research is focused on investigating the outcomes of energy efficiency improvement and analysing the benefits achieved under various energy efficiency measures from energy audit based on the vast case studies.

Correlation between the air leakage characteristics of a building taken at 4 Pa of pressure difference, the air infiltration and the environmental/geographical factors that are involved in the infiltration process.

This is a sponsored PhD based on the question ‘how can the concrete industry improve its understanding of the housing industry so that it can be more effective at optimizing the use of concrete within it?’ The concrete industry within this research has become that of a case study exemplifying the broader issues facing all innovative solutions fighting for recognition within an industry that is undeniably difficult to influence. The aim is to define the barriers to innovation rather than re-emphasise the well rehearsed benefits to be gained by its adoption, and develop a strategy for assessing the most appropriate markets within which to seed that innovation.

Compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) has been a widely used solar concentrator in collecting solar energy and daylighting control. My research focuses the energy saving of daylighting and development of 3D dielectric compound parabolic concentrator. Investigating the potential on daylighting control of 3D dCPC by designing and optimizing the structure of it through different approaches, such as optical analysis software Photopia, data analysis software Artificial neural network, and energy consumption simulation software EnergyPlus, Grasshopper, etc.

PhD aims to explore how smart cities employ citizen-centric approaches. The project will use grounded theory and qualitative research methods to examine case studies of global cities as to how they engage with city communities in identifying urban problems. The studies will define a citizen-centric smart city and draw on the experiences of cities in different economic and social contexts to understand how they have adopted "citizen-centric" practices to deliver sustainable results for urban development using data. Overall, the project will contribute to the development of a theoretical basis for citizen-centric smart cities, which is currently mostly grounded in practice.

 

My PhD research aims to improve the simulation of energy performance in the context of urban communities. A common drawback of current energy simulation packages is the neglected impact of neighbourhood effect in cities. Urban climate, however, is  mutually impacted by a building's indoor climate. The aim of this study is therefore to couple the energy simulation technique with microclimate Computational Fluid Dynamics to enhance a better resolving of neighbourhood effect on buildings and vice versa.

To achieve zero carbon emissions and low energy consumption during building operation, my research focus on the prefabrication and Low-carbon Technologies. The research comprises the Building Information Modelling design, simulation and construction of low carbon prefabricated houses for Chinese suburban area. The house is unique and has been designed to satisfy the requirement of Chinese suburban and climate in Wuhan. The house is projected to achieve the German Passive House certification criteria standards.

To achieve zero carbon emissions and low energy consumption, solar powered thermochemical energy storage (TES) technologies can be an alternative to conventional energy because of the high energy density, low heat loss, low regeneration temperature and low volume requirement. And also, stored energy can be used in later time to fill the gap between energy demand and supply. In the research process, thermochemical energy storage technologies for heating and cooling will be developed by using endothermic and exothermic open reaction system. It shows significant advantages that compared to the common energy system, TES is more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

My PhD task is to investigate of low temperature district heating design for a small community using distributed heat (solar, HP, biomass).The aim of PhD project is to develop a computer model for multiple heating source(HS) and a multi HS in district heating(DS), optimise thermal storage and heat emitters supply/return temperatures. Using computer software (MATLAB, TRNSYS) to set up energy modelling to the district heating and direct measurement will be taken to assess the low temperature district heating system.

The case study based in Yangon and Mandalay, the PhD aims to explore sustainable design innovation for Myanmar based on cross-discipline models: architecture, building structure and building services model, etc. The research will present how a typology can shape, weaken and strengthen by its energy consumption from building form, building skin and the use of technology. The 'Fabric-first' and 'PassivHaus' approached investigation aims to contribute the development of future Myanmar affordable housing design. The quantitative and simulation based case study is approached from two different paths: the vernacular architecture and modern method of construction.