Open student theses

Introduction

On this page you will find a list of topics for scientific papers, which can be worked on as document or project work or scientific thesis or as diploma or bachelor or master thesis. The topics presented here serve as orientation, concrete tasks will be adapted according to your own ideas and interests as well as the scope of the work.

Topics for architects

Topics available soon

Topics for civil engineers

The themes listed below are outlines, which can also be adapted after consultation with the students.
If you are interested in a theme, please contact by e-mail: Dirk Weiß

Building simulation will become more and more widespread in the future. This is shown by the increasing use in practice as well as the requirements of standards. The building simulation calculates the energy demand of the building or the settlement and allows conclusions to be drawn in other areas, such as cost and life cycle analysis. The building simulation is implemented with the planning tools DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus. DesignBuilder is available at the Institute for Building Climatology as a student and teaching version. It forms an attachment mask to the calculation kernel EnergyPlus and ensures a fast data input of the geometry, material and construction allocation. The development of the EnergyPlus computational kernel has been sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and has been continuously enhanced by various universities and departments for over 10 years. Further information is available from the website of the DOE.

From the topic area of building simulation, various subtopics are offered for processing, which you will find below:

Plant comparison

Within the scope of the work, European and American plant technology (water-operated) are to be compared. This results in the following focal points:

The comparisons are to be traced with the planning tool EnergyPlus in relation to practical applications and evaluated via simulation. Occurring problems and errors are to be identified and described. Solution approaches for these are to be proposed and implemented as far as possible.

• Heat transfer in the zone/room -> radiators, panel heating
• Heat distribution to zones/rooms -> riser, distribution circuits, pipe network analysis and dimensioning
• heat production -> generator elements such as boilers, district heat transfer, CHP

Validation scenarios

With the help of EnergyPlus, existing validation scenarios from ASHRAE, DIN, VDI and EN are to be implemented. Furthermore, continuative scenarios are to be created. These are to be processed and described in a suitable form. The evaluation procedures shall correspond to an automated sequence, an automatic post-simulation in case of model changes shall immediately detect and indicate sources of error.

Transfer of input data

The input and research (product data sheets) of parameters for the simulation (model parameters) is usually time-consuming. Not all model parameters are always supplied by the manufacturer for the object/element. Suitable model transfer information and default values for these models and parameters are to be found and described. This is to be done with the simulation tool EnergyPlus.

Settlement mapping

With the simulation tool EnergyPlus a settlement shall be mapped. The result is an energetic evaluation of the settlement. Different system schemes are to be implemented and investigated. The necessary boundary conditions and models are to be created and documented.

"Grey energy"

The integration of the grey energy is to be included in the evaluation of the energetic simulation. For this purpose, model extensions have to be found and created. The transformation is to be implemented in EnergyPlus.

Topics for construction computer scientists

Call for papers and diploma theses:

Extension of the simulation platform SIM-VICUS

The aim of the work is the implementation of an automatic quality standard for material files which are used for the calculation in the hygrothermal component simulation. Besides the standard given by the supervisor, a scientific investigation of possible other applicable quality standards/quality metrics shall be included in the work. Programming skills in elementary C++ will be required for this work.

If interested, please mail to: Stephan Hirth or Hauke Hirsch