Energy Efficient Structures

In the new drive towards more energy efficient buildings and structures there is an increasing need to monitor and assess structures and the effects of these structures on the building’s occupants. This work package will address this need by the design and implementation of ‘Building services 4.0’.

With the need to build over 300,000 new homes in the UK, and the Government’s desire for these homes to be timber framed and to include more bio-based materials, there is a need to grow confidence in these materials, by the continual monitoring and modelling and prediction of failures before they become a problem.

Aim & objectives

The overarching aim of the energy efficient structure work package is to develop the capability of buildings to self-predict failures in the infrastructure through advanced monitoring (through a network of super-accurate sensors) and the development of predictive models, integrated in smart computer-based systems. These systems will also incorporate models that predict user well-being and increased environmental efficiency. The specific objectives are:

  1. To determine the properties and energy efficiency of new bio-based construction materials, including multi-material elements, and their response to modern indoor environmental conditions that is required to incorporate them in smart structures.
  2. To develop multi-dimensional models to predict potential energy-costly failure in construction materials and elements.
  3. To design efficient sensor networks to supply data to the predictive models, including the use of sensor drones.
  4. To validate the predictive models and sensor array outputs.
  5. To deploy the sensor arrays and predictive models in integrated smart-structures at a real building scale and monitor their energy-efficiency performance.