Research Method Analysis

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to analysis one of the previous researches that we’ve chose as the resources. I’ve selected “Adaptive Roof Aperture for Multiple cooling Conditions.

Adaptive Roof Aperture for Multiple cooling Conditions

Aviv, Dorit. “Adaptive Roof Aperture for Multiple Cooling Conditions.” SimAUD 2018 Proceedings, TU Delft, May 2018.

Research Question:

Which geometries optimize the performance of a roof aperture in terms of day and night cooling modes while external factors like wind direction and sun position change?

Hypothesis:

Optimization of both dry and night cooling modes within the same device while external natural environments are dynamic requires the kinetic transformation of the aperture from a narrow downdraft chimney into an open radiation apparatus.

General Research Methods:

The general research method of this research is kind of an experimental research with developing a prototype for a passive cooling roof device, which operates in multiple constellations triggered by sensor inputs for achieving to a dual response:

1. As a wind catcher it captures external airflow and channels it into the building’s interior volume by orienting the roof opening toward the current prevalent wind direction.
2.  At the same time, the aperture is responsive to radiation either avoiding direct solar radiation during the day or maximizing radiant cooling during the night by exposing the building’s interior to the night sky.To achieve these states:

They simplify the geometry of the aperture into a segmented cylinder with multiple blades and allow for myriad potential constellations to occur by introducing a motorized joint with three degrees of freedom for each of the aperture’s blades and then examine the range of possible outcomes and functional relationships in the system with both digital simulations and physical prototypes. A wind tunnel test was conducted to compare the performance of different configurations.

Specific Research Strategies and Tactics:

1. Algorithmic Rotation and Actuation
The first strategy is a digital simulation of the wind catcher’s blades rotation.

2. Wind Optimization
conducted wind tunnel tests for models representing several geometric configurations.

As the research question is about finding the geometries which optimize the wind comes indoor , I think the strategies are perfectly designed to achieve the best answers for that.