Martin Gough Award - Winning Paper

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The first ever winner of the Martin Gough Student Award is Mohataz Hossain, PHD Student from the University of Birmingham.

Key Facts

  • First ever winner of the award
  • Significant thermal comfort improvements realised through VE Dynamic Thermal Simulation and CFD
  • Impressed judges with understanding of need for calibration with real data

The first ever winner of the Martin Gough Student Award is Mohataz Hossain, PHD Student from the University of Nottingham with his paper on ‘Application of the IES-VE simulation tool in quantifying the indoor environmental benefits of retrofitting a garment factory: A case study in the tropical climate’.

Read on to find out more about Mohataz’s research paper and why it has been selected as this year’s winner.

The Winning Paper

In his paper, Mohataz researched successfully developing a valid simulation model of an existing ready-made garment factory in the tropical climate of Bangladesh, predicting the indoor environmental benefits of a number of workable retrofitting solutions.

As part of his ongoing doctoral study, the paper initially includes accurate 3D modelling of the case study building using the IES Virtual Environment (IESVE) ModelIT application, as well as ApacheSim, MacroFlo and MicroFlo applications to model the base case condition of the building.

The model was then calibrated using validated weather and meteorological data alongside real operational field data. To quantify the benefits of three workable strategies, such as running a full day time ventilation strategy complemented by a night time ventilation strategy, changing window type effecting opening size and changing functional layout for improved airflow, four and five different simulation scenarios were considered for performative studies with Dynamic Thermal (DT) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations respectively.

The results of the study showed that the IESVE is capable of producing DT and CFD models of the case study building that closely represent the real site. The results also confirm that proposed retrofitting strategies can significantly improve worker comfort through enhanced indoor airflow distribution and increased air speeds. Thus, this paper shows that IESVE software is an effective tool to successfully validate an existing factory building in a tropical context and generate useful simulation results for building designers and researchers to improve thermal comfort of workspaces. 

Judges Comments

“The winning paper stood out firstly in terms of its interesting subject matter: improving indoor environmental conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh is very topical, in particular improving worker thermal comfort is a critical and timely area for academic study. What was also impressive was that the paper understood the need for calibration with real world data to ensure that any recommendations are based on accurate virtual representations of the actual building.”
Craig Wheatley, Chief Technical Officer IES

“The breadth of study performed for Mohataz Hossain’s paper really stood out for me, where both a calibrated Dynamic Thermal simulation and a validated Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation were used to establish the paper’s findings.”
Don McLean, Founder & Managing Director IES

Could you be next year’s winner?

Congratulations again to Mohataz! If you are interested in taking part, please sign up for updates via our newsletter or watch this space for further details being posted in due course.

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