Buckman, A H (2016) An exploration of the applications of increased information availability in smart buildings. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, UK.
Abstract
Modern buildings have the capability to capture vast quantities of information about the building itself, its purpose, the people that use it and its wider environment. With the development of fields such as the Internet of Things and Big Data, the future of buildings will involve more data around all aspects of their operation and the people using them. Within the context of these changes, this research hypothesises that the availability of increasing information within buildings can enable new ways of operation to step change their performance. Initially the thesis combines an extensive literature review of modern building developments and the current landscape that buildings operate within to develop clarity around the term “Smart Building”. Two case studies are then presented to demonstrate the potential of Smart Building concepts: The first case study involves a pilot study within an existing university library building using occupancy, energy, occupant satisfaction and building functionality data to investigate the potential of the buildings ability to vary physical space with occupancy. The second study uses computational fluid dynamics to model the thermal comfort variations throughout a large underfloor heated naturally ventilated atrium. The results are then used to investigate potential energy savings and comfort improvements through correlating individual comfort preferences with environmental variations. The work forms a clear definition of a Smart Building to create a framework for researchers and designers to focus future Smart Building developments. The first case study then demonstrates that by varying physically occupied space with occupancy, energy consumption of the building can be reduced by approximately 33%. The second study demonstrates that a step change in both comfort and energy efficiency can be achieved in flexible working spaces by aligning individual preferences with environmental conditions. These findings are discussed in detail, addressing limitations and future expansions of the novel approaches developed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Beck, S and Mayfield, M |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | energy consumption; improvement; occupancy; performance; variations; designer; efficiency; case studies; case study; energy efficiency; thermal comfort |
| Index terms: | occupant satisfaction, thermal comfort, computational fluid dynamics, comfort, energy-saving, energy consumption, internet, case study, efficiency, energy efficiency, designer, variation, smart building, exploration, environmental conditions, preference, step-change, functionality, literature review, big data |
| Subjects: | decision-making and reasoning, environmental science, environmental resource management, design features, innovation studies, construction type, information systems, environmental engineering, occupational health and safety management, contractual condition, performance management, energy systems, data analysis and analytics, sustainability and energy, modelling and simulation, computing systems, data collection methods, profession, user-centered design |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Contract Administration, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Sustainability, Health and Safety, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here