Architectural Environment Engineering - U6UAEENG

This module aims to help you develop a basic awareness of the building design process and the design skills and techniques used by engineers. Visits to construction sites help to deepen your understanding of the material covered in lectures and tutorials. The module introduces:

• an overview of the construction sector and the role of the engineers in design teams
• hand sketching and 2/3D computer drafting tools, and their role as an aid to the design process
• communication and IT skills, including programming, used by professionals involved in the design of buildings
• simple assessments of the designed performance of buildings
• a field trip
• training in how to present work through use of graphics, numerical data and text

You’ll have two hours of lectures and six hours of tutorials a week for this module.

This module introduces you to some of the technical knowledge and techniques for surveying buildings and structures and identifying common defects using both qualitative and quantitative methods of assessment. Through a two-hour lecture each week you will cover topics such as moisture ingress, surface and interstitial condensation, freeze/thaw resistance, rot and infestation, sulphate attack, carbonation and corrosion.

Building on Level 1 design modules, you’ll be introduced to engineering concepts that inform and enrich the environmental performance of buildings. You’ll cover the fundamentals of fluid mechanics (fluid properties, hydrostatics, fluid dynamics) and then explore some of these through the analysis of flow through piped water systems and the design of hot and cold water services. You’ll spend around three to four hours in lectures and workshops studying for this module.

Introducing you to the environmental agenda as it applies to the architectural profession, you’ll explore the key bioclimatic strategies used to maintain appropriate conditions for the occupants of buildings, thus tying together occupant comfort, building schedule and climate. You’ll have a two-hour lecture per week using both physical modelling and computer simulation techniques to gain a better understanding of the strategies involved and their relationship with building design.

This module introduces the principles, concepts and analysis of thermodynamics, relevant to the applications in building environmental engineering. The topics covered include: dimensions and units, thermodynamic properties, thermodynamic systems, forms of energy, work and heat, ideal gas law, steady flow energy balance equation, 1st law and 2nd law of thermodynamics (closed and open systems, internal energy, enthalpy and entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle, refrigerators and heat pumps), steam table and the Rankine cycle.

This module aims to provide you with a basic understanding of design software and techniques for the design of simple building services systems. It also aims to give you practical experience of fabrication skills. The lectures will introduce you to the engineering design principles of building services, including heating, lighting, piping design, water supply, drainage and basic control systems.

In the design project tutorials you’ll develop the basic design skills introduced in Architectural Engineering Design 1 by carrying out a simple services design project for a case-study building. The project makes use of the knowledge gained from the lectures.  The engineering fabrication practicals will give you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of the practical skills used by craftsmen responsible for the installations. You’ll have workshops on metal work, plumbing, electrics and wall building. The module is delivered through two hours of lectures and three hours of practicals a week.

You will be given an understanding of the role that electricity plays in controlling the environment within buildings and the wider built environment through two hours of lectures each week.

Explore how mathematics underpins engineering design. You’ll draw on real engineering problems in areas such as structural analysis, heat transfer systems and fluid mechanics and explore the mathematical methods you can use to solve these problems.

After consolidating key A level concepts, you’ll progress to topics including complex numbers, single variable calculus and methods for solving systems of equations. The focus is on developing confidence and fluency, so you can apply mathematics as a practical tool for engineering problem solving and design. 

Build on the foundations of Mathematical Methods for the Built Environment 1. You’ll draw on real engineering problems in areas such as control systems, heat transfer and fluid mechanics and explore the mathematical methods you can use to solve these problems.

The module progresses from A level concepts and previous modules to topics such as vector calculus, multi-variable calculus and further matrix methods. The focus is on developing confidence and fluency, so you can apply mathematics as a practical tool for engineering problem solving and design.

This module develops and advances the principles of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics in Thermofluids 1 [ABEE1030] and provides applications to architectural environmental engineering.

Topics may include:

• Vapour compression and vapour absorption refrigerator cycles.
• Psychrometry, wet-bulb temperature, air conditioning.
• General heat conduction equation (3-dimensional). Steady-state one-dimensional heat conduction in cylindrical coordinate, critical radius of thermal insulation
• Convection heat transfer: Laminar and turbulent flow in tubes and around bodies, correlations for forced convection heat transfer and natural convection.
• Introduction to radiation heat transfer: Stefan-Boltzmann law of black body radiation, intensity, emissive power, irradiation, radiation properties, Kirchhoff's law.

This module introduces you to the fundamentals of acoustic and lighting phenomena as they relate to design within the built environment. During two hours of lectures each week, you’ll be given an overview of the psychological and technical considerations that underpin design requirements and explore the selection of acoustic and lighting strategies relating to the design of buildings through the introduction of appropriate tools and techniques.

This module aims to introduce you to large scale building services, principally natural ventilation, air conditioning and other environmental control systems, and to discuss the reasons for resorting to and avoiding A/C and the consequent design issues.

Topics include:

• assessments of heat gains and losses, thermal comfort and relevant climatic data
• system types and associated secondary plants
• plant selection, location, sizing and design alternatives

This module is delivered through four hours of lectures each week.

Extend your mathematical skills to tackle advanced engineering problems. You’ll further develop your ability to translate physical engineering situations into mathematical form, drawing on real engineering examples in areas such as control systems, heat transfer and fluid mechanics and exploring the mathematical methods you can use to solve these problems.

Progressing from Mathematical Methods for the Built Environment 1 and 2, you’ll study topics such as systems of ODEs, separation of variables and the application of Fourier series. The focus is on developing confidence and fluency, so you can apply mathematics as a practical tool for engineering problem solving and design.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to computer simulation tools and explore how they may be used to understand the energy behaviour of buildings. Specifically, you’ll learn about the methods of examining non-steady state performance of buildings. Starting from a theoretical exploration of transient building response, computer simulation tools are introduced and then used to explore energy flows through buildings.

The simulation process is used to explore and develop an awareness of the relationship between building performance and climate, design, materiality and occupant behaviour. This module is delivered through four hours of lectures each week.

This module aims to help you develop and extend your skills in designing building services of increasing complexity. You’ll study design topics such as:

• large scale HVAC systems
• utility services
• lighting and fire protection services
• natural ventilation
• sustainable systems

This module expands the design principles of HVAC, along with utility services, and the fire protection systems, into a co-ordinated design. Engineering systems are integrated into a building which is at the design stage. You’ll make design calculations and sketch drawings of system layouts. By the end of the module you should be able to design and commission air distribution systems within buildings, understand various cooling techniques for buildings and have an appreciation of lighting and drainage systems. The module is delivered through a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar each week.

Two main themes are addressed in this module: Project Development issues and Project management issues. Lectures will introduce the process of procurement of land and buildings, project management, development finance and economic factors, strategies and controls, facilities, estate and property management in relation to interests in the architectural profession and the building industry. Risk management and studies on human resources management will also be introduced.

This module aims to develop an awareness of fluid mechanics and its application within building environment engineering and to teach you the fundamental principles of fluid mechanics and their application to practical problems in building environment design. You’ll spend around four hours per week in lectures and workshops studying for this module.

This module will introduce students to smart energy systems, which exploit synergies across multiple sub-systems such as electricity, heating, and transport to optimise energy use and reduce carbon intensity. The importance of data science to enable increased efficiency at the building and systems level will also be highlighted. You will be introduced to renewable energy technologies and investigate their performance in hands-on lab sessions. You will also build a model of a smart energy system in the context of a real-life case study.

In this module you will get the opportunity to create work as part of a ‘consultancy’ team with other students to produce a group report. The project will utilise, extend and develop the fundamental knowledge and skills that you have gained throughout the previous semesters. The initial task is to analyse a current building and, based upon an assessment of the current climate and thermal comfort condition, you will propose a method to take the building towards net zero energy demand. You’ll need to research the relevant standards and apply manual calculations and computer simulation.

The second stage will build upon the initial analysis to develop a building services solution for the building. You’ll produce a professional report documenting a plan for HVAC design. With your team, you’ll investigate appropriate systems and provide reasoning behind the solution you have chosen. You’ll make applicable engineering calculations throughout the design process. We’ll support and encourage you to research the actual plant, consider the physical sizing and detail how this plant would be accommodated in the actual building. Controls will also be considered and the impact that these have upon energy demand. Your team will attend a weekly tutorial session to discuss your work with an individual member of staff where you will receive support, direction and knowledge for fulfilling a successful project. 

This module will introduce you to the techniques and procedures employed in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It focuses particularly on the development of hands-on experience in the numerical modelling of fluid flows for the built environment. CFD, once the domain of academics, postdoctoral researchers or trained specialists, is becoming progressively more accessible to graduate engineers for research and development as well as design-orientated tasks in the built environment. You’ll learn about the necessary operations that are involved in setting up a fluid problem, solving the numerical problem, and managing some graphical representation of the results. This module is delivered through two hours of lectures and a one-hour workshop each week. 

This module develops your understanding of how data underpins analysis and decision-making in the built environment, spanning information modelling, Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks and operational data from building management systems. You will learn to prepare, analyse and model real datasets to address practical questions such as energy demand forecasting, anomaly detection in building services and optimisation of comfort-energy trade-offs.

The aim of this module is to give you an understanding of the importance of traditional fossil fuels and biomass fuels to the current and future energy supplies, the environmental impacts of energy consumption, the benefits and types of combined heat and power, and waste treatment and disposal. You will have a two hour lecture per week.

A year-long, intensive research experience. Working alongside current researchers you will pursue an investigation using cutting edge laboratory and/or informatics tools to answer a question of your own design. Build your research skills, career prospects and pursue your own research interests.