�鶹APP

The Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering presents its MMAE 593 seminar series featuring guest speaker Mohammad Heidarinejad, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Tech, who will present “Heat, Mass, and Airflow in Buildings: Modeling, Optimization, and Field Validation for Energy, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Resilience.” This event is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, March 11, from 12:45–1:45 p.m. in Room 104 of the Rettaliata Engineering Center.

Abstract

Buildings are complex systems whose design, operation, and optimization are governed by fundamental principles of heat and mass transfer as well as airflow. Achieving energy efficiency, acceptable indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and resilience in real buildings, therefore, requires a combination of complementary approaches, including modeling, optimization, and field validation. This presentation discusses several of these approaches by focusing on: (1) advanced control of building energy and environmental systems, with emphasis on both software- and hardware-based innovations; (2) building energy efficiency, with particular attention to the use of optimization, coupled airflow and energy modeling, artificial intelligence, and digital twins; and (3) thermal comfort, extreme heat, and indoor air quality (IAQ), including their implications for human exposure and health outcomes, using both experimental measurements and numerical modeling. These topics are motivated by the current condition of the U.S. building stock, much of which is aging and affected by deferred maintenance that constrains system performance. As a result, many existing buildings provide inadequate thermal comfort and IEQ, consume more energy and incur higher costs, and remain poorly equipped to cope with current and future extreme events, energy limitations, and health-related concerns.

Biography

Mohammad Heidarinejad is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Illinois Tech. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Before joining Illinois Tech, he served as a research assistant professor and research associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is co-director of the Built Environment Research Group (BERG), where his research focuses on building energy and environmental systems, building automation and controls, computational fluid dynamics, digital twins, and indoor air quality. His work integrates modeling, optimization, and field measurements to improve energy efficiency, occupant health, and building resilience. Heidarinejad teaches courses in building energy systems, HVAC design, building controls, instrumentation and measurements, and computational fluid dynamics. He is a recipient of the ASHRAE New Investigator Award, IBPSA-USA Emerging Contributor Award, Sigma Xi Junior Faculty Award, the Michael J. Graff Award for Innovation in Teaching, and the ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award.