Quantifying the Human Induced Ventilation of Buildings

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)

Dr EA Hathway
Civil and Structural Engineering
University of Sheffield

Standard

EPSRC

24 July 2013

23 November 2014

16 months

£100,645

Civil eng. & built environment

Yorkshire & Humberside

NC : Engineering

Dr EA Hathway, Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield

Project Contact, University of Leeds
Project Contact, Buro Happold Ltd
Project Contact, Liverpool John Moores University
Project Contact, University of York
Project Contact, County Training

As we increase the air tightness of our buildings in line with more stringent building regulations it is vital to specify adequate fresh air ingress to all occupied spaces to ensure the health and well-being of occupants. In order to optimise buildings for energy and health it is important that we have a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of indoor air flow, which is complicated by the impact of human behaviour. Current knowledge of how humans interact with their environment and implications for the airflow within buildings is virtually non-existent. This proposal aims to develop facilities for investigating the detailed fluctuations of air movement due to occupants opening and moving through doorways. This will have a significant impact on the understanding of contaminant transport and fresh air ingress into buildings; it will also have implications for ventilation specification and simulation as well as building energy prediction

09/10/12