Filip G. E. Descamps

Daidalos Peutz bouwfysisch ingenieursbureau, Leuven, Belgium · Building physics and sustainability

Glare assessments are currently made from High Dynamic Range (HDR) images taken from the Point Of View (POV) and viewing direction of a user. This paper analyses the feasibility to estimate the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) at the user-level based on machine-learning techniques, sun position and a downward-pointing camera sensor mounted at the c...

Shading control strategies are nowadays employed in office environments to improve the visual comfort of the user. These strategies are often solely illuminance-based whereas comfort metrics as the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) also need luminance values. In previous studies, daylight glare has been assessed by calculating the DGP from luminance...

The RenovActive renovation concept seeks to offer healthy, affordable, easy to reproduce, scalable solutions for the existing building stock of European housing. The concept was developed and tested in a prototype phase, where 7 principles have been applied to a semidetached house built in the 1920s, situated in a garden city in Brussels. The renov...

This renovation concept seeks to offer healthy, affordable, easy to reproduce, scalable solutions for the existing building stock of European housing. The concept was developed and tested in a prototype phase, where 7 principles have been applied to a semidetached house built in 1920s, situated in a garden city in Brussels. The prototype was now oc...

Designing, optimizing and testing ventilation systems and their control strategies calls for dedicated simulation tools. Because building occupants are important influence factors for thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ) and active actors by opening doors and windows, these tools must allow both an adequate modelling of air flows and of occ...

Daylighting in offices creates a comfortable and healthy working environment for its users. However, maximizing the amount of daylight can cause visual hindrance. To improve the visual and thermal comfort for the users, designers implement shading systems, which control the transmitted solar and visual radiation. To ensure a comfortable indoor envi...

When designing energy efficient buildings it is useful to study existing climate—responsive building typologies. The wind towers or wind-catchers of Yazd city in Iran are typical examples of such a typology. Although many previous studies have investigated the performance of various types of wind catcher systems, studies based on a long-term real-l...

Ancient wind catchers of Yazd city as net zero energy building components request the detailed numerical and experimental studies to renovate and reuse in old part of the city and for developing the new design strategies in future. In this ingenious natural ventilation strategy no other energy sources are required except wind and sun. In this resea...

Wind catchers (wind towers) are one component of the traditional sustainable buildings with a central courtyard in the hot regions of Iran. In this research a most common type of the wind tower – the four sided wind catcher-was evaluated both experimentally and numerically. The tower of the Mortaz house in the city center of Yazd was equipped with...

Wind catchers – “ Baud-Geers” in Persian– are the main component of the traditional buildings in the hot regions of Iran. A Baud-Geer is a tower linked to a building that uses wind to provide natural ventilation and passive cooling. This passive renewable strategy offers the opportunity to improve the ambient comfort conditions in buildings whilst...

User behaviour plays a key role in the energy demand of residential buildings, and its importance will only increase when moving towards nearly Zero-Energy homes. However, little detailed information is available on how users interact with their homes. Due to the lack of information, user behaviour is often included in building performance simulati...

User behaviour plays a key role in the energy demand of residential buildings, and its importance will only increase when moving towards nearly Zero-Energy homes. However, little detailed information is avail-able on how users interact with their homes. Due to the lack of infor-mation, user behaviour is often included in building performance sim-ul...

User behaviour plays a key role in the energy demand of residential buildings, and its importance will only increase when moving towards nearly-zero-homes. However, little information is available on how users interact with their homes. Due to the lack of informa-tion, user behaviour is often included in building per-formance simulations through on...

Throughout building history, various natural low pressure techniques were developed and used to improve the indoor air quality and temperature in buildings. In the 19th century, innovative heat and wind induced low pressure systems were introduced in public buildings and dwellings. Due to the further development of mechanical ventilation systems fr...

In healthcare facilities, the prediction of mean thermal comfort perception of patients and staff is necessary to formulate requirements for the architectural and building systems design and control, and for establishing guidelines for the use of clothing and bedding systems.In this study thermal comfort of patients is evaluated by comparing object...

A multiscale network model is presented to model unsaturated moisture transfer in hygroscopic capillary-porous materials showing a broad pore-size distribution. Both capillary effects and water sorption phenomena, water vapour and liquid water transfer are considered. The multiscale approach is based on the concept of examining the porous space at...

Descamps, Building physics laboratory, KU Leuven. 'Anyone who has ever watered the roses or given a baby its bottle, will have witnessed the phenomenon of air bubbling induced by liquid transfer.'