Research profile for the research unit Indoor Environmental Engineering

The research is based on human needs for healthy and comfortable surroundings. A healthy indoor climate can be ensured by proper choice of materials and in the design of buildings and building services to achieve an optimal indoor climate and energy consumption in the building. The research is based on a combination of analytical, numerical and experimental methods.

The research is divided into two research areas:

Indoor Environmental Fluid Dynamics

This research area focuses on air flow processes in buildings and building services.  Ventilation and air flow in buildings are significant elements in the determination of energy and mass flow in a building and form the basis for determining global thermal comfort and air quality. The description of local comfort and air quality is also closely related to a description of the air flow parameters involved. The subject covers many areas such as free and forced convection, boundary layer flow, jet flows of different nature, stratified flow and plumes above heat sources. The research also involves other areas, e.g. thermal conductivity, thermal radiation and mass diffusion, and has interfaces to medicine and physiology in connection with studies of air distribution and mass transport around persons. Also, the air flow processes in building components and services are addressed. Therefore, ventilation and air flow processes in buildings form the basis for determination of energy consumption, indoor climate and work environment, but are also applied to risk assessment in connection with fire, dispersion of smoke, contamination, transport of bacteria and dispersion of gases in disasters.

Energy efficient building design

The research is based on the social needs for minimizing the energy consumption and environmental influences of the construction industry and at the same time maintain a satisfactory indoor climate. Pursuing this, the design process and the design of buildings have changed in recent years. The objective is to minimize the influences on the environment through increased utilization of passive energy technologies such as passive solar heat, passive cooling, natural and hybrid ventilation and daylight. Also, the limit for optimizing single components has been reached in many areas so that further development requires system optimization with simultaneous participation of all parties of the building sector.

Energy conversion in buildings is due to interaction of a number of factors such as the design of buildings, adaptation to the surroundings, outdoor climate, the use of buildings, building services, user behaviour, the control strategies etc.

Special focus is concentrated on the interaction of passive energy technologies such as natural ventilation, passive solar heat, passive cooling and daylight and the design of the building as well as optimization of the interaction between traditional building services and passive systems. As a means of estimating the stochastic influences, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses are used.