Architectural Environment Engineering BEng

This module aims to help you develop a basic awareness of the building design process and the design skills and techniques used by engineers. Visits to construction sites help to deepen your understanding of the material covered in lectures and tutorials. The module introduces:

• an overview of the construction sector and the role of the engineers in design teams
• hand sketching and 2/3D computer drafting tools, and their role as an aid to the design process
• communication and IT skills, including programming, used by professionals involved in the design of buildings
• simple assessments of the designed performance of buildings
• a field trip
• training in how to present work through use of graphics, numerical data and text

You’ll have two hours of lectures and six hours of tutorials a week for this module.

This module introduces you to some of the technical knowledge and techniques for surveying buildings and structures and identifying common defects using both qualitative and quantitative methods of assessment. Through a two-hour lecture each week you will cover topics such as moisture ingress, surface and interstitial condensation, freeze/thaw resistance, rot and infestation, sulphate attack, carbonation and corrosion.

Building on Level 1 design modules, you’ll be introduced to engineering concepts that inform and enrich the environmental performance of buildings. You’ll cover the fundamentals of fluid mechanics (fluid properties, hydrostatics, fluid dynamics) and then explore some of these through the analysis of flow through piped water systems and the design of hot and cold water services. You’ll spend around three to four hours in lectures and workshops studying for this module.

This module introduces you to the algebra of complex numbers providing a key mathematical tool for analysis of linear mathematical and engineering problems. You will have one 3-hour lecture and workshops each week where you will study the complexity of solving general systems of equations using matrix techniques and review the calculus of a single variable.

Introducing you to the environmental agenda as it applies to the architectural profession, you’ll explore the key bioclimatic strategies used to maintain appropriate conditions for the occupants of buildings, thus tying together occupant comfort, building schedule and climate. You’ll have a two-hour lecture per week using both physical modelling and computer simulation techniques to gain a better understanding of the strategies involved and their relationship with building design.

This module introduces the principles of thermodynamics and the thermodynamic concepts relevant to the applications to building environment engineering. Topics covered include: dimensions and units, thermal properties, thermodynamic systems, energy, work and heat transfer processes, perfect gases, steady flow energy equation, 1st law and 2nd law of thermodynamics and basic modes of heat transfer.

This module aims to provide you with a basic understanding of design software and techniques for the design of simple building services systems. It also aims to give you practical experience of fabrication skills. The lectures will introduce you to the engineering design principles of building services, including heating, lighting, piping design, water supply, drainage and basic control systems.

In the design project tutorials you’ll develop the basic design skills introduced in K11AE1 by carrying out a simple services design project for a case-study building. The project makes use of the knowledge gained from the lectures.  The engineering fabrication practicals will give you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of the practical skills used by craftsmen responsible for the installations. You’ll have workshops on metal work, plumbing, electrics and wall building. The module is delivered through two hours of lectures and three hours of practicals a week.

You will be given an understanding of the role that electricity plays in controlling the environment within buildings and the wider built environment through two hours of lectures each week.

Advancing on from the year one module Thermofluids 1, you will cover topics such as: vapour compression and vapour absorption, adiabatic saturation of moist air, steady-state one-dimensional conduction of heat conduction, convection heat transfer and introduction to radiant heat transfer. You will spend around four hours per week in lectures and laboratory classes studying for this module.

This module introduces you to the fundamentals of acoustic and lighting phenomena as they relate to design within the built environment. During two hours of lectures each week, you’ll be given an overview of the psychological and technical considerations that underpin design requirements and explore the selection of acoustic and lighting strategies relating to the design of buildings through the introduction of appropriate tools and techniques.

This module aims to introduce you to large scale building services, principally natural ventilation, air conditioning and other environmental control systems, and to discuss the reasons for resorting to and avoiding A/C and the consequent design issues.

Topics include:

• assessments of heat gains and losses, thermal comfort and relevant climatic data
• system types and associated secondary plants
• plant selection, location, sizing and design alternatives

This module is delivered through four hours of lectures each week.

You will learn techniques for solving selected classes of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) relevant to the analysis of engineering topics. This module also provides the basic calculus to help analyse engineering problems in two or three dimensions and special solutions of partial differential equations relevant to engineering applications. You will spend around three hours per week in lectures and workshops.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to computer simulation tools and explore how they may be used to understand the energy behaviour of buildings. Specifically, you’ll learn about the methods of examining non-steady state performance of buildings. Starting from a theoretical exploration of transient building response, computer simulation tools are introduced and then used to explore energy flows through buildings.

The simulation process is used to explore and develop an awareness of the relationship between building performance and climate, design, materiality and occupant behaviour. This module is delivered through four hours of lectures each week.

This module aims to help you develop and extend your skills in designing building services of increasing complexity. You’ll study design topics such as:

• large scale HVAC systems
• utility services
• lighting and fire protection services
• natural ventilation
• sustainable systems

This module expands the design principles of HVAC, along with utility services, and the fire protection systems, into a co-ordinated design. Engineering systems are integrated into a building which is at the design stage. You’ll make design calculations and sketch drawings of system layouts. By the end of the module you should be able to design and commission air distribution systems within buildings, understand various cooling techniques for buildings and have an appreciation of lighting and drainage systems. The module is delivered through a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar each week.

Examining various sources of renewable energy suitable for use in buildings, you will concentrate on wind, water waste heat, solar, geothermal and bio-mass as potential sources of energy. You will investigate the potential contribution they make to a building's energy requirement, the technology used to harness them and limitations associated with their use. For this module you will have a two hour lecture per week.

Two main themes are addressed in this module: Project Development issues and Project management issues. Lectures will introduce the process of procurement of land and buildings, project management, development finance and economic factors, strategies and controls, facilities, estate and property management in relation to interests in the architectural profession and the building industry. Risk management and studies on human resources management will also be introduced.

This module aims to develop an awareness of fluid mechanics and its application within building environment engineering and to teach you the fundamental principles of fluid mechanics and their application to practical problems in building environment design. You’ll spend around four hours per week in lectures and workshops studying for this module.

This module will introduce you to the techniques and procedures employed in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It focuses particularly on the development of hands-on experience in the numerical modelling of fluid flows for the built environment. CFD, once the domain of academics, postdoctoral researchers or trained specialists, is becoming progressively more accessible to graduate engineers for research and development as well as design-orientated tasks in the built environment. You’ll learn about the necessary operations that are involved in setting up a fluid problem, solving the numerical problem, and managing some graphical representation of the results. This module is delivered through two hours of lectures and a one-hour workshop each week. 

In this module you will get the opportunity to create work as part of a ‘consultancy’ team with other students to produce a group report. The project will utilise, extend and develop the fundamental knowledge and skills that you have gained throughout the previous semesters. The initial task is to analyse a current building and, based upon an assessment of the current climate and thermal comfort condition, you will propose a method to take the building towards net zero energy demand. You’ll need to research the relevant standards and apply manual calculations and computer simulation.

The second stage will build upon the initial analysis to develop a building services solution for the building. You’ll produce a professional report documenting a plan for HVAC design. With your team, you’ll investigate appropriate systems and provide reasoning behind the solution you have chosen. You’ll make applicable engineering calculations throughout the design process. We’ll support and encourage you to research the actual plant, consider the physical sizing and detail how this plant would be accommodated in the actual building. Controls will also be considered and the impact that these have upon energy demand. Your team will attend a weekly tutorial session to discuss your work with an individual member of staff where you will receive support, direction and knowledge for fulfilling a successful project. 

You will undertake an individual piece of original research on a topic in building/environmental services engineering. You will be allocated a supervisor and moderator who are both normally members of staff within the department in order to provide guidance in choosing and carrying out the project, while the moderator helps judge the effectiveness of your understanding and presentation of work.

The aim of this module is to give you an understanding of the importance of traditional fossil fuels and biomass fuels to the current and future energy supplies, the environmental impacts of energy consumption, the benefits and types of combined heat and power, and waste treatment and disposal. You will have a two hour lecture per week.