Latest updates (2020-07-07) are highlighted

Organization of the course homepage

The course page is organized in modules that follow learning activities in the course such as lectures, calculation exercises, computer tutorials. The modules serve as document folders and may inlude files and links. Hereafter on this page you can find the course PM. Some small details may be updated during the course and changes will be highlighted. 

News are published under Announcements. 

Kind regards,

Angela and the teaching team

 

Course PM for ACE335 Building physics advanced, summer 2020

 

Teaching and administrative staff

Role	e-mail	phone
Examiner, lecturer and course coordinator
Angela Sasic Kalagasidis	angela.sasic@chalmers.se	031-772 1998
Teaching assistant (discussion forum)
Gaurab Lama
Guest lecturers (reroded lectures)
Pär Johansson	par.johansson@chalmers.se	031-772 1966
Paula Wahlgren	paula.wahlgren@chalmers.se	031-772 1987
Study administrator
Ingela Gustafson	ingela.gustafson@chalmers.se	031-772  2307

 

Course purpose

This course provides you with the knowledge about how buildings store thermal energy and buffer moisture in real situations, i.e. under varying indoor and outdoor conditions, how to use ground as a natural thermal storage and how natural ventilation works. The purpose is to learn to adequately combine these features in order to optimize the building’s performance in a given environment and minimize the risk of extreme energy use. You will be guided through different modelling techniques and technical solutions that describe and support these processes. These will be examined both independently and in the way they interact and affect one another.

 

Schedule

See attached file and Canvas calender. The schedule is indicative. Smaller changes and adjustments may occur. 

Detailed time schedule ACE335 Building physics advanced 2020-07-07.pdf

(now with the new date for the exam, August 19, 8-16).

Course literature, softwares and computer resources

Compendium, calculation exercises, pre-recorded lectures and tutorials  are distributed through the course homepage.  

Matlab/Simulink and Comsol are installed on the most of student computers (StuDat) at Chalmers, which can be accessed remotely by following the instructions on IT portal. Due to regular summer maintenance, only selected computer rooms/remote computers will be available until August 2. See more info here. You can download students’ versions of these programmes to your personal computer via Chalmers IT service. 

CamScanner is a free of charge application for mobile phones that makes clear pdfs of hand-written documents. It works as a camera and turns image file formats into clear pdfs. Please use it to make pdf copies of your hand-written solutions to the home assignments and to the home exam that you will upload in the course homepage. The app can be downloaded from here. 

 

Course design

The course is entirely given online and combines synchronous (live) and asynchronous teaching with self-conduct learning activities (offline).

Live activities include online instructions and discussions with the teacher or in groups. These activities are scheduled in Canvas calendar together with Zoom links. Approximately 2-4 hours per week are dedicated to live activities.   

Asynchronous teaching refers to pre-recorded lectures and tutorials, and the discussion forum. Pre-recorded lectures and tutorials are based on carefully developed supporting material to the course compendium and computer manuals and closely connected to the home assignments. All pre-recorded material can be downloaded from Canvas. Questions related to the studied topics, home assignments and the exam can be asked in the Discussion forum in Canvas. The teaching staff will answer the questions at the earliest convenience. All students are encouraged to both post questions but also to contribute with answers.   

Self-conduct learning activities are arraigned around six Home assignments whose aim is to initiate and assure the learning process. Home assignments are issued on weekly basis. Each home assignment involves one to two tasks that are closely related to the theory and calculation models presented in the course. Most of the task can be solved by hand calculations, but some tasks combine hand calculations and computer simulations in Simulink or Comsol. Guidelines for studying are presented in Canvas and include preparations for each Home assignment.

Compulsory activities

Home assignments are compulsory for participation in the first exam after the end of the course. If you plan to take the exam at a later occasion, you don’t need to hand in these assignments. Home assignments are to be done in groups of 2-3 students. See more in Module: Guidelines for studying

Progress meetings (Discussions & Consultations) are compulsory for everyone participating in home assignments. There are six meetings in total. For more details see Calender. 

Deliverables

Solutions to the home assignments 1 – 6 are to be handed through the course homepage.  Hand-written (and readable) solutions are fair enough – don’t spend time on computer typing. Write your name on each hand-in. 

Solutions to home assignments will be published on the course homepage after a majority of the hands-in are made. The hand-in dates are indicated in the detailed time table and in the assignment section.

 

 

Changes made since the last occasion

All synchornouse lectures are replaced by asynchronouse ones.

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

After completion of this course, the student should be able to…

• Understand needs, conditions and describe principles for heat storage in buildings and in the ground, moisture buffering in indoor environment, and natural ventilation of buildings
• Perform modelling, using analytical and numerical models of time-varying heat storage and moisture buffering in buildings, heat storage in the ground, long-wave heat exchange in a room, operating temperature, natural ventilation, airtightness of a building envelope
• Evaluate the effects of the building's heat and moisture inertia on heat / cooling power requirements, long-wave radiation on thermal comfort in a room, placement of ventilation openings on natural ventilation, airtightness of a building envelope on indoor air pressure
• Use scientifically verified numerical methods for the practical design of underfloor heating systems. Predict the effects of future climate change on the energy performance and moisture security of buildings
• Demonstrate ability to combine studied models in designing a new building, identify cause - effect relationship, solve open problems

 

Qualifications for the enrollement

Since this is an advanced course, the teaching material and learning activities are arraigned for students with certain pre-knowledge in building physics.  If you are in one of the following categories, you most-likely fulfil the qualifications for the enrolment: 

You are already a master student at MP SEB (Structural Engineering and Building Technology) or MP SES (Sustainable Energy Systems) at Chalmers.

You are enrolled at another master programme but you have passed basic courses in Building physics, Building service engineering and Building materials at the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers, or similar at another schools. The master students of MP SEB are then in advantage for the course Building performance: Design and assessment (BOM 285).

You have studied at another school where you passed the courses in Thermodynamics and Building service engineering or similar, with the focus on heat transfer mechanisms, heat storage in solids, heat and mass transfer balances for ventilated spaces, general gas law and humid air. Be ready to put some efforts in getting familiar with building materials, moisture storage in building materials and building technology.

In case of questions, please contact the responsible teacher.

 

Examination form

Home exam - an individual written exam between 8 am to 4 pm with theory and calculation problems that are solved with the help of the course literature (including calculation examples that are distributed during the course).

NEW Preliminary date for the home exam August 19