Runming Yao

• University of Reading

With the increase of aging population in China, the need for a care home for the elderly is growing. Care home buildings consume higher HVAC energy due to high occupancy intensity and long hours of operation of the system. Low-energy design of care home buildings is pivotal to reducing carbon emissions and saving energy costs. However, there is a l...

Quantum simulators with hundreds of qubits and engineerable Hamiltonians have the potential to explore quantum many-body models that are intractable for classical computers. However, learning the simulated Hamiltonian, a prerequisite for any applications of a quantum simulator, remains an outstanding challenge due to the fast increasing time cost w...

Green-blue-grey infrastructure (GBGI) offers environmental benefits in urban areas, yet its impact on air pollution is under-researched, and the literature fragmented. This review evaluates quantitative studies on GBGI's capability to mitigate air pollution, compares their specific pollutant removal processes, and identifies areas for further inves...

People in cities use outdoor space for a wide range of activities such as exercise, rest and socializing. Climate change, Urban Heat Islands and extreme heatwave events are threats to pedestrians’ health and well-being. Good urban planning and design can provide a high-quality urban living environment by meeting the need for outdoor thermal comfort...

The spin-boson model is a prototypical model for open quantum dynamics. Here we simulate the spin-boson model using a chain of trapped ions in which a spin is coupled to a structured reservoir of bosonic modes. We engineer the spectral density of the reservoir by adjusting the ion number, the target ion location, the laser detuning to the phonon si...

A large qubit capacity and an individual readout capability are two crucial requirements for large-scale quantum computing and simulation¹. As one of the leading physical platforms for quantum information processing, the ion trap has achieved a quantum simulation of tens of ions with site-resolved readout in a one-dimensional Paul trap2–4 and of hu...

The air quality in classrooms significantly impacts school children’s health and learning performance. It has been reported worldwide that classroom air quality does not meet the required standard and actions are pledged for improvement. However, it poses a challenge for decision-making in terms of prioritising taking-up measures. The aim of this s...

Given the increasing aging population and rising living standards in China, developing an accurate and straightforward thermoregulation model for the elderly has become increasingly essential. To address this need, an existing one-segment four-node thermoregulation model for the young was selected as the base model. This study developed the base mo...

The combination of urbanization and global warming leads to urban overheating and compounds the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events due to climate change. Yet, the risk of urban overheating can be mitigated by urban green-blue-grey infrastructure (GBGI), such as parks, wetlands, and engineered greening, which have the potential to effect...

The effects of vertical temperature differences (VTD) on human thermal comfort have attracted growing attention from researchers when utilizing split air conditioners for winter heating. This study underscores the need to investigate the influences of gender disparities in the context of significant vertical temperature variations, a critical aspec...

Particulate matter (PM) resuspension from indoor surfaces is one of the leading causes of occupant exposure to PM. It has been recognized as a main source of indoor air pollution by many field studies. This review article explores the mechanisms and effects of single and multiple influential factors on PM resuspension, distribution characteristics,...

Daily transitions between indoor and outdoor environments involving temperature step changes have been extensively studied in young people, but little attention has been given to age-related differences and the development of thermal prediction models specifically for the elderly. To address this knowledge gap, a study was conducted in a climate ch...

In a progressively ageing society, providing thermally comfortable environments for the elderly has received attention from academics and practitioners. Thermal comfort models lay the foundation to promote the health and well-being of occupants of all ages and to achieve sustainable community goals. However, most existing models are developed for h...

GWQ-9617-Reducing particulates in J Li, Yongqiang; Du, Chenqiu; Yao, Runming; Lli, bing/GWQ-9617-2022; li, bing/HTS-1845-A method to identify ind J/0000-0002-4105-6081; Evaluating the effect of J Du, Chenqiu; Li, Baizhan; Liu, Hong; Li, Cha li, bing/HTS-1845-2023; li, bing/GWQ-9617-Effect of air humidity on J Du, Chenqiu; Lin, Xi; Yan, Ke; Liu, Hon...

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that particulate matter (PM) can induce or exacerbate hypertension. High relative humidity has been associated with elevated blood pressure in certain regions. However, the coupling effect of humidity and PM on elevated blood pressure and the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, we aimed to explore...

We have modeled the transmission of coronavirus 2019 in the isolation room of a patient suffering from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. An adaptive mesh computational fluid dynamics model was used for simulation of three-dimensional spatial distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the room....

The trapped-ion quantum simulator has demonstrated qualitative properties of different physical models for up to tens of ions. In particular, a linear ion chain naturally hosts long-range Ising interactions under the laser driving, which has been used for various phenomena, such as quantum phase transition, localization, thermalization, and informa...

Many primary schools in the UK are situated in close proximity to heavily-trafficked roads, yet long-term air pollution monitoring around such schools to establish factors affecting the variability of exposure is limited. We co-designed a study to monitor particulate matter in different size fractions (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), gaseous pollutants (NO2, O3...

The active chilled beam system has been popularly used in office and meeting rooms. There are very few studies of their terminal configuration on the thermal comfort and ventilation performance of systems with different heat gains. A comparative experimental study was implemented in mock-up office and meeting rooms to provide a comprehensive evalua...

The presence of dampness and visible molds leads to concerns of poor indoor air quality which has been consistently linked with increased exacerbation and development of allergy and respiratory diseases. Due to the limitations of epidemiological surveys, the actual fungal exposure characteristics in residences has not been sufficiently understood....

The trapped ion quantum simulator has demonstrated qualitative properties of different physical models for up to tens of ions. In particular, a linear ion chain naturally hosts long-range Ising interactions under the laser driving, which has been used for various phenomena such as quantum phase transition, localization, thermalization and informati...

Several research studies have ranked indoor pollution among the top environmental risks to public health in recent years. Good indoor air quality is an essential component of a healthy indoor environment and significantly affects human health and well-being. Poor air quality in such environments may cause respiratory disease for millions of pupils...

Urban canyon albedo (UCA) is a primary indicator used to evaluate the impact of urban geometry on radiation absorption. A rapid and effective theoretical calculation for the UCA is helpful in urban design. This research establishes a simplistic but robust mathematical model for calculating the UCA. The model was validated using prior observational...

Heat stress events in urban areas are increasing as a result of global warming and urban heat islands. In response to heat stress, outdoor activators naturally often move themselves to a less hot place. An understanding of human physiological responses in dynamic outdoor thermal environments is desired. This study aims to reveal the dynamic physiol...

China, with the largest energy consumption system in the world, faces numerous challenges in achieving the government’s commitment to reach a carbon-peak and carbon-neutral target. As the most common public building type in terms of floor area, office buildings have great potential for energy saving and emissions reduction. To meet this target, bui...

Thermal comfort is fundamental to indoor environmental design and operation as well as indoor thermal environment evaluation. This paper has reviewed the historic evolution of thermal comfort research during the last century using a systematic approach and a particular focus on adaptive thermal comfort studies. A large number of published articles...

Under the British national target of saving energy and reducing carbon emission, building sector energy saving has been topical. Energy monitoring and management enables to record and visualise energy consumption data, and then provide opportunities for data analysis. In this way, potential energy waste can be identified and addressed. In this rese...

The changing climate is one of the most important factors affecting public health. Older people are particularly threatened due to their less efficient immune systems. To evaluate the potential benefits of short-term indoor dehumidification on their circulation and cardiopulmonary health, we conducted a random, cross-over experiment with 36 healthy...

Hospital buildings are required to secure a variety of indoor environments according to the diverse requirements of patients and staff. Among these requirements, thermal comfort is an important design criterion for indoor environmental quality that affects patients' healing processes and the wellbeing of medical staff. The patients’ thermal comfort...

Winter heating in the Hot Summer and Cold Winter (HSCW) region is a widely debated topic. This study aims to compare adaptive thermal comfort and the thermal exposure of occupants in non-heating and decentralized heating environments and enhance understanding of the dynamic thermal adaptation process under different indoor thermal conditions. A fiv...

The air source heat pump (ASHP) is commonly used for improving indoor thermal comfort with its traditional defrosting strategy based on reverse circulation, leading to a widely fluctuating range of indoor air temperatures, which can drop dramatically when the defrosting is in operation and increase sharply after it stops. Based on a theoretical ana...

Despite building energy use being one of the largest global energy consumers, building energy simulations rarely take the actual local neighbourhood scale climate into account. A new globally applicable approach is proposed to support buildings energy design. ERA5 (European Centre Reanalysis version 5) data are used with SUEWS (Surface Urban Energy...

Exposure to indoor air particulate pollution increases respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, especially in the elderly. To assess a short-term, indoor air filtration's potential benefit on circulatory and cardiopulmonary health among healthy older people, a randomized, double-blind crossover trial was conducted with 24 healthy res...

Ventilation systems are the primary way of eliminating airborne pathogenic particles in an operating room (OR). However, such systems can be complex due to factors such as different surgical instruments, diverse room sizes, various staff counts, types of clothing used, different surgical types and duration, medications, and patient conditions. OR v...

Identifying the determinants of household electricity use is a key element in facilitating the efficient use of energy. Even more so, segmenting households into well-resolved and characterised groups makes it possible to explore electricity use trends at more disaggregated levels, revealing consumption patterns and reduction opportunities for diffe...

Energy conservation policies of buildings (ECPB) comprise combined governmental forces of national plans, laws and mandatory regulations of buildings, which have proved important contribution in improving energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. However, increasing the effectiveness of national policy is a challengeable task due to the comple...

The Hot Summer and Cold Winter (HSCW) climate zone along the Yangtze River Valley Region is an economically well-developed region in China. With the improvement of indoor thermal environments, the Chinese government implemented the control of energy use intensity (EUI) for heating and cooling to prevent the excessive growth of energy usage in the a...

The building sector accounts for 30% of final energy consumption and 28% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, with space heating and cooling consuming a large share of total buildings’ energy consumption. Building stock modelling for space heating and cooling energy prediction provides critical insights on the stock energy consumption...

Window operation behavior has been recognized as one of the pivotal factors affecting building energy efficiency and indoor environments. Such behavior could vary from one region to another. A holistic understanding of the temporal and seasonal variations in the operation of residential windows in the Yangtze River region remains insufficiently exp...

Energy consumption for space heating and cooling typically accounts for more than 40% of residential household energy consumption. An accurate and fast prediction of space heating and cooling loads aids energy conservation and carbon emission reduction by relieving the simulation burden for optimisation design, which consider various building chara...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.01.005

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.01.005

[In Press] The UK-China research project Low carbon climate-responsive Heating and Cooling of Cities (LoHCool) investigates enhanced indoor summer comfort in the 9 Billion m2 of building stock of the challenging Hot Summer and Cold Winter (HSCW) zone of China. The HSCW region lies South of the Huai River-Qin Mountain line below which central heatin...

In real engineering of solar thermal applications, it needs considerable effort to determine the incidence angle modifier (IAM) of flat plate solar collectors, according to the test standards (BS EN ISO 9806, 2017; ASHRAE 93-2010, 2014). And the available method in the test standards is usually inapplicable to measure thermal performance of install...

The increased demand for improving indoor thermal environment in the hot summer and cold winter climate zone (HSCW) in the Yangtze River region in China poses enormous challenges in terms of energy policy and design solutions for this unique region. A comprehensive understanding of people’s habits and behaviors involving winter heating is imperativ...

Taking office building in Chongqing as an example analyzes the effect of increasing building airtightness on energy consumption and indoor temperature. The simulation results show that the indoor temperature will increase as the airtightness level improves in summer, but reduce the comfort degree and increase air-conditioning load. In winter, it sh...

With increasing global warming, a method to identify individual heat exposure risk and conduct interventions is essential, in order to mitigate impacts of extreme climates on people's health. This paper aims to examine the differences of individual's physiological response in hot environments and consequently proposes a personal-based method to ide...

The increasing construction of buildings and infrastructure in cities heavily influences pollutant dispersion and causes a spread of increased particle concentrations. Real-time data and information on local pollution levels are highly desired by residents, urban planners and policy-makers. Such information is scarce due to the high cost of real-ti...

Various governments are planning their cities to be climate responsive by reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions according to different scenarios whilst maintaining good indoor comfort conditions. A robust and reliable tool that can estimate the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of a city is required. This paper presents a new bottom-up engi...

As buildings are main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is important to assess the performance of existing buildings and assist the design of new sustainable buildings through building energy simulation. It is well known that by using local climate measurements for building energy simulation would provide more accurate result than by usin...

Occupants’ thermal comfort and their adaptation behaviors are essential aspects of building design and energy operation. There is a growing need to better understand the impact of seasonal variation on occupants’ dynamic thermal comfort which provides evidence for building energy flexible design and management. The aim of this study is to investiga...

The energy flexibility for heating and cooling has not been fully explored though human thermal adaptation has been acknowledged in achieving energy savings in buildings. The aim of this study is to explore the capacity for heating/cooling flexibility in residential buildings in the hot summer and cold winter zone in China, by investigating the yea...

How people would like to interact with surrounding environment will subsequently influence indoor thermal conditions and further impact building energy performance. In order to understand occupants’ adaptive behaviours in terms of environmental control utilization from the point of view of quantification, an investigation on windows operation was c...

Window operation of occupants in building has close relationship with indoor air quality, indoor thermal environment and building energy performance. The objective of this study was to understand occupants’ interaction with window opening in transition seasons considering the influence of subject type (e.g. active and passive respondents) and to de...

Portable air cleaners are commonly used to reduce indoor air particles in China, but few studies have evaluated the treatment efficiency under real living conditions. We aimed to evaluate the efficiency of a portable air cleaner in common residences under normal living conditions. A single-blind cross-over field study was conducted in 20 urban resi...

Ventilation and air distribution methods are important for indoor thermal environments and air quality. Effective distribution of airflow for indoor built environments with the aim of simultaneously offsetting thermal and ventilation loads in an energy efficient manner has been the research focus in the past several decades. Based on airflow charac...

The Predicted Heat Strain (PHS) model predicts physiological responses of European people to heat stress; while its performance for Chinese population remains underexplored. The study conducted a heat exposure experiment (temperature: 35 °C/38 °C/40 °C, relative humidity (RH): 25%/40%/60%) in a well-controlled climate chamber. 10 male Chinese worke...

A high-resolution time interval numerical model is more accurate to analyze the building dynamic thermophysical processes in the intermittent occupancy, while relevant professional software, such as EnergyPlus, is not compatible with different time intervals. The present study aims to investigate the thermal mass effectiveness of external walls on...

Although local air movement acts as a critical factor to enhance human thermal comfort and energy efficiency, the various factors influencing such movement have led to inconsistent publications on how to evaluate and design localised airflow systems in practice. This study aims to identify the main impacting factors for a localised airflow system a...

Air humidity produces conditions of varying moisture contents in clothing, which affects the heat and moisture transfer between human body, clothing and environment, as well as the wearers’ comfort. This study was designed to evaluate the moisture effects in clothing in cold environments. A series of wearing experiments were conducted in a climate...

The climate-responsive strategies for energy efficient building design and management require a detailed understanding of the local climatic conditions, while climate zones are fundamental to building regulations and the application of technologies. Smaller and more homogeneous climate zones could help policy-makers and building designers to improv...

Building stock modeling can predict stock energy consumption and carbon emissions for both current and future conditions to inform building design and retrofitting policies. A ‘bottom-up’ engineering approach for building stock energy modeling is attractive to built environment energy researchers because of its capacity for detailed energy analysis...

The application of Natural Ventilation (NV) as a measure to improve comfort conditions in transition and summer periods has been a topic of research on the spotlight for years. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how the combined effect of a dense urban layout with high pollutant concentrations may affect its potential. This paper addresses...

Citizens eager to know the local pollution level to prevent from air pollution. The real-time measurement for everywhere is a very expensive way, a statistical model based on artificial neural network is applied in this research. This model can estimate particle pollution level with some influencing factors, including background pollution level, we...

This paper aims to analyse the thermal characteristics of a novel system of Capillary Tubes embedded in a Phase Change Material (CT-PCM) as part of active building environmental design for energy conservation and the improvement of indoor thermal environment. The CT-PCM system is proposed based on the concept that low-grade energy utilisation poten...

The extensive research interests in environmental temperature can be linked to human productivity/performance as well as comfort and health; while the mechanisms of physiological indices responding to temperature variations remain incompletely understood. This study adopted a physiological sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) as a temperature‐se...

Thermal adaptation has been well interpreted well by behavioral, physiological, and psychological factors, but the mechanism and interaction between the three factors remain in a “black box”. This paper aims to apply the general system theory and information entropy to investigate the quantitative relationships of the three thermal adaptation proce...

In this chapter, we considered a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system, which was installed at Yasar University in Izmir, Turkey, within the framework of an EU/FP7-funded project and has been successfully operated since February 8, 2016. The BIPV system consists of 48 crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules in 4 rows and 12 columns, and the tot...

There is a lack of a systematic decision-making criterion to select appropriate indicators for Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) analysis due to the fact that significant levels of various POE determinants are indeterminate. The present work aims to identify the degree of importance of a set of POE determinants based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AH...

This paper presents an investigation of the Natural Ventilation Cooling Potential (NVCP) of residential buildings located in the Hot Summer Cold Winter (HSCW) climate zone of China by means of dynamic simulations. First, Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) analysis is used for sub-zoning the HSCW zone according to different wind speeds. The...

The human thermal adaptation has been documented while the underlying mechanisms of the adaptive processes remain incompletely understood. This study was to evaluate human thermal adaptation and take a step further to reveal the development via a repeated heat exposure design. Two series of experiments were conducted in a well-controlled climate ch...

Energy benchmarking is useful for understanding and enhancing building performance. The aim of this research is to develop an object-oriented energy benchmarking method for the evaluation of energy performance in buildings. Statistical analysis of the four-year monitored energy consumption data for office buildings was conducted. The results show t...

The parameter of human body metabolic rates has been popularly used for the prediction of human heat stress in hot environments. However, most modules use the fixed and estimated metabolic heat production. The aim of this study is to develop the prediction of personal heat stress in dynamic working environments. Based on the framework of the predic...

Built-up areas tend to comprise a variety of buildings with diverse and complex shapes, functions and construction characteristics. This variety is the source of significant challenges when calculating building energy use at the building stock level. Moreover, the process of developing stock models usually requires large amounts of data that are fr...

This paper presents an integrated bottom-up approach aimed at helping those dealing with strategical analysis of installation of Building Integrated Photo Voltaic (BIPV) to estimate the electricity production potential along with the energy needs of urban buildings at the district scale. On the demand side, hourly energy profiles are generated usin...

Buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption in the UK and more than 55% of this energy is used by heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems. This significant energy demand and the ascending trend in utilising HVAC&R systems together with the global need to impose energy-efficiency measures underline the imp...