Shen Wei

Verified

Shen verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Shen verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• PhD in Building Services Engineering
• Professor (Associate) at University College London

The solar air collector (SAC) is one of the key technologies for space heating, with various designs proposed to enhance heat collection, but increasing design complexity makes determining the optimal structure more challenging. In this paper, a gradient optimization method, based on heat transfer and optical models, is established for the structur...

The book has 18 chapters describing many facets of the design, management and delivery of intelligent buildings and infrastructure. It includes chapters on technology , nature built solutions, and how to incorporate human and social values into designs. The final chapters include case studies and a look into the future. The book considers the barri...

This study presents a numerical simulation of underground water spontaneous upward imbibition at high density ratios using the improved lattice Boltzmann method coupled with the P-R equation of state. Porous media was created using the Quartet Structure Generation Set (QSGS) method. The research delved into the impact of factors such as porosity, s...

Indoor transitional space is a popular buffer space between buildings’ interior and exterior environments nowadays. Maintaining a comfortable indoor thermal comfort for transitional spaces often poses challenges to building designers and engineers. Some existing studies have already explored this topic, but they are mainly carried out in academic b...

It is well established that occupant-building interactions impact both (1) building energy performance and (2) occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality. As part of an international research collaboration (the International Energy Agency, Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme, Annex 79 Occupant-Centric Building Design and Oper...

Owing to the complexity of metros, the energy consumption characteristics of metro systems exhibit variability and the energy‐saving management of the systems encounters challenges. To encapsulate the essential characteristics of energy usage and to objectively assess the energy performance of metro systems, this study presents a generalized framew...

When studying occupant window behaviour in buildings, the measurement of environmental factors often requires dedicated measuring equipment. Currently, there is no universally accepted methods for the measurement, and in particular the location of sensors. Therefore, researchers more often selected the one they are most familiar with, which reduces...

People spend up to 90% of their time inside buildings, making indoor air quality an extremely important factor affecting public health and building design. Due to the inherent ability to absorb/filter pollutants, plants present a promising method for improving indoor air quality. In recent decades, many studies have quantified plants’ effectiveness...

With the urgent need of reducing building carbon emissions to ease climate change, it is necessary to have energy efficient buildings. An effective way of achieving this mission is adopting natural ventilation, which is commonly achieved by openable windows controlled by building occupants in most cases. In this kind of buildings, therefore, occupa...

In the published publication [...]

Nowadays, relevant data collected from hospital buildings remain insufficient because hospital buildings often have stricter environmental requirements resulting in more limited data access than other building types. Additionally, existing window-opening behavior models were mostly developed and validated using data measured from the experimental b...

Particulate matter in Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining workshop is harmful to workers’ health. This paper studies particulate matter transfer and the performance of various ventilation strategies in a CNC machining workshop. To obtain the boundary condition of the particle field, instruments were installed to obtain the particle size atte...

With the advent of advanced battery technology, EVs are gradually gaining momentum. An appropriate decision-making method for the number of charging piles is in need to meet charging needs, and concurrently, to avoid the waste of infrastructure investment. In this study, an optimal charging pile configuration method for office building parking lots...

Energy consumption in buildings has become one of the most critical problems in all countries and principles of sustainability suggest that a satisfactory solution must be found to reduce energy consumption. This study aims to identify and prioritize energy consumption optimization strategies in buildings. Data collection consists of gathering prim...

This study proposes a new integrated air supply strategy of impinging jet ventilation (IJV) and intermittent airflow to improve indoor thermal comfort. Vertical thermal stratification is created by the IJV, and a fluctuating thermal environment is created by the intermittent airflow. Three pulsating periods (3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes), tw...

Improving the applicability of solar air collectors in different climatic regions is important for its popularization. In this study, a novel triangular solar air collector (TSAC) was proposed. The insulation material (TSAC_1), transparent cover plate (TSAC_2) or double transparent cover plate (TSAC_3) could be fitted on the side of TSAC to adapt t...

Studies have shown that urban vegetation can be an effective strategy for reducing energy consumption in urban buildings by regulating the microclimate and shading solar radiation on building surfaces. However, an understanding of the potential energy savings of vegetation morphological planning at the urban scale is still lacking, particularly reg...

In response to China’s “double carbon” policy, cold, rural areas of the nation are currently upgrading their heating methods. Since rural areas are more dispersed than urban areas, centralized heating is not easy to use. Therefore, electric heating has become one of the major solutions. However, few studies have investigated the performance, suitab...

The perception, physiology, behavior, and performance of building occupants are influenced by multi-domain exposures: the simultaneous presence of multiple environmental stimuli, i.e., visual, thermal, acoustic, and air quality. Despite being extensive, the literature on multi-domain exposures presents heterogeneous methodological approaches and in...

A comfortable sleeping environment can improve sleep quality. Electric fans are widely accepted as an effective method in South China to improve the thermal environment in summer when people are sleeping. To determine the proper fan control strategy under the all-night blowing mode, pre-sleep and during-sleep experiments were performed in a climate...

Geothermal is considered to be one of the most promising renewable sources for district heating. Ground source heat pump systems coupled with the coaxial deep borehole heat exchanger have been widely applied because of their high efficiency. However, in order to reduce the total energy consumption of the system, there are few studies on the optimiz...

The building design cooling load is the basis of sizing the air-conditioning equipment, but the extreme values are always used as the referenced design parameters for occupants, lighting and equipment respectively without considering the relationship between the internal load sources which will result in an oversized equipment. Based on the measure...

Traditional hot-water ASHP systems have disadvantage of low energy efficiency due to the requirement of secondary heat exchange. To maintain the stability of indoor air temperature during defrosting, the existing ASHP systems adopt heat exchanger to store heat, which increases the system complexity. To overcome these obstacles, a novel ASHP system...

The coupled solar chimney with earth-to-air heat exchanger system can passively regulate indoor air quality and thermal environment without electricity cost and carbon emissions. One dynamic model has been established and validated for the system, and using the model this system’s diurnal and annual performances were investigated. The simulation re...

The risk assessment system of virus infection probability and the prevention measures for virus transmission are keys to controlling epidemics. In the context of university resumption, this study identifies the risk elements in terms of the mechanism of virus transmission. The effect of two recognized effective measures, i.e., occupancy constraints...

Responding to the national “double carbon” policy, rural areas in China are upgrading their heating methods. Since rural areas are more dispersed than urban areas, centralized heating is not easy to use. Therefore, electric heating has become one of the major solutions. However, relevant studies on electric heating usage in rural areas are limited....

The solar air collector assisted air source heat pump is demonstrated to be an efficient clean heating technology, while the research on its working modes, and the corresponding energy, exergy, economic, environmental (4E) analysis is insufficient. In this study, a novel triangular solar air collector assisted air source heat pump (TSAHP) for build...

The geothermal energy is considered as one of the most promising renewable techniques for district heating. The deep coaxial borehole heat exchanger (BHE) is an economic and efficient measure for extracting the geothermal energy from underground, which attracts numerous attentions recently. However, the researches on the influences of the operation...

To improve the energy efficiency of underground metro stations, and in view of the absence of a comprehensive energy performance evaluation system for underground stations, this study introduced building Energy Performance Certification (EPC) tools into underground stations and conducted a comparative analysis of their applicability. The findings i...

The data collected during long-term monitoring (LTM) of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can reflect occupants’ exposure to contaminants and can be used to improve thermal comfort. As there are large differences among existing guidelines for IEQ monitoring of dwellings, it is important to identify a sampling method that balances data accuracy, sa...

This study experimentally investigates the natural ventilation performance of a solar chimney (SC) integrated with an earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) during the transition seasons. The experiment was conducted in a comparative manner under three operating modes: Mode A: SC operating with EAHE with the window closed; Mode B: SC operating with an ope...

Extreme heat is a likely consequence of global warming, leading to increased mortality and reduced wellbeing. There is limited research evidence of experiences of living with and without air-conditioning (AC), commonly regarded as the sole technological solution, but such knowledge is essential to progressing alternative approaches. A total of 72 p...

The solar-assisted heat pump (SAHP) is considered to be one of the efficient and promising clean heating technologies, while the research on its operation strategy is insufficient. In this study, a novel triangular solar air collector assisted air source heat pump (TSAHP) for rural residence heating is presented. Three working modes of the TSAHP in...

To achieve efficient ventilation and purification in the high-ceiling painting workshop is faced with the contradiction between effect and energy consumption. Understanding the characteristics of gaseous pollutants is of paramount importance for ventilation and purification system design. The composition and concentration of volatile organic compou...

Traditional gas fired boilers and air-source heat pumps are not efficient for heating when the outdoor temperature is low, while the air-source heat pump is still one of the most promoting measures for building energy-efficient heating. In this study, a novel air-source gas-fired absorption heat pump with vertical falling film exchangers has been p...

In recent years, in order to promote the construction of low-carbon communities (LCCs) in China, many scholars have proposed an evaluation indicator system of LCC. The existing indicator systems are mostly established from the macro perspective of environmental impact and resource conservation, but few are from the micro technical perspective. Thus...

In practical building control, quickly obtaining detailed indoor temperature distribution is necessary for providing satisfying personal comfort and improving building energy efficiency. The aim of this study is to propose a fast prediction method for indoor temperature distribution without knowing the thermal boundary conditions in practical appli...

Occupants’ comfort perception affects building energy consumptions. To improve the understanding of human comfort, which is crucial to reduce energy demand, laboratory experiments with humans in controlled environments (test rooms) are fundamental, but their potential also depends on the characteristic of each research facility. Nowadays, there is...

The application of solar air collector (SAC) in rural residence is beneficial to the realization of clean heating in rural areas and improvement of the thermal comfort in the rural residence, but the available covered area for the SAC on the south wall of rural residence is limited. In this research, a novel triangular solar air collector (TSAC) wi...

In this study, a composite double-layer wallboard with shape-stabilized phase change humidity control materials (PCHCM) has been proposed for building usage. This novel PCHCM can absorb/release both heat and moisture to moderate indoor hygrothermal environment. Based on a numerical analysis in an office building in Wuhan (30.52°N, 114.32°E), China,...

The refrigerant-direct convective-radiant cooling (RCC) system is attracting widespread concern due to its advantages of good thermal comfort, high energy efficiency and simple structure. However, researches on thermal and economic optimization of this system are rare. In this study, a novel heuristic approach is proposed to optimize the aluminum c...

Buildings account for almost 40% of global energy consumption. Due to the high energy consumption of chilled water plants, various studies have optimized chiller loading in plants with multiple chillers for energy conservation. However, few studies have optimized dual-temperature chiller plants, even though better energy efficiency could be achieve...

In China, natural ventilation is a common way of improving indoor air quality (IAQ) in college classrooms. However, until now, the effects of both manual airing strategies and architectural factors on IAQ in classrooms have not been well explored. The present work aimed to investigate the effect of manual airing strategies, such as opening doors an...

Due to the humid underground environment, underground metro stations often have internal condensation issues, especially during the commissioning and initial operation phases, and these issues will have a negative impact on the equipment operation and building life. This study aims to solve the issue by 1) identifying common areas with condensation...

Three dimensional (3D) geometric models of buildings are foundational for urban building energy modeling. A complete 3D geometric model contains building-relevant information like building footprint, height and Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR). Existing methods creating these models have certain limitations, such as unavailability of Geographic Informati...

Split air-conditioners have deficiency in thermal comfort due to its draught sensation and fan noise. The existing radiant cooling systems adopt chilled water as circulating medium, leading to low energy efficiency because of the requirement of secondary heat exchange. To address these problems, a novel refrigerant-direct radiant cooling (RDRC) sys...

The concept of net zero energy building (NZEB) has attracted worldwide attention and has the potential to achieve significant energy and emissions reductions. Various technical strategies have been demonstrated to be able to achieve the net-zero-energy target. However, this issue becomes more complex when the economic performances of these strategi...

The traditional single-effect absorption heat pump is an effective district heating measure, while the low ambient temperature will degrade its performance significantly. To overcome this dilemma, a novel air-source absorption heat pump (ASAHP) for district heating (DH) is proposed in this paper. This system can operate at low ambient temperature a...

Airborne particulate matter (PM) is associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease, and the elderly are more susceptible to the adverse effects of PM due to weakened immunity. In China, the use of portable air purifiers is a common method to reduce indoor PM pollution but few studies have evaluated the purification efficiency of portable air pu...

The existing radiant cooling systems have the drawback of low energy efficiency due to its secondary heat exchange via chilled water. To overcome this dilemma, a novel refrigerant-cooling radiant terminal (RCRT) system utilizing the refrigerant as direct medium is proposed. A detailed numerical model is established to describe the heat transfer cha...

Split air-conditioners have limitations in terms of energy efficiency and local comfortability. Radiant cooling systems (RCSs) cannot be used in most residential buildings, due to its lack of space for a central plant room to achieve secondary heat exchange. To overcome these defects, a novel radiant-convective cooling system with the refrigerant-c...

Buildings consume a large amount of energy across all sectors of society, and a large proportion of building energy is used by HVAC systems to provide a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. In medium and large-size buildings, the central cooling system accounts for a major share of the energy consumption of the HVAC system. Improving the coo...

Due to the increasing number of underground metro stations worldwide and the great energy consumption of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in underground stations, reducing the HVAC energy consumption while maintaining a hygienic and acceptable environment in underground stations is becoming an ongoing research challenge. Thi...

Building performance design (BPD) is a crucial pathway to achieve high-performance buildings. Previous simulation-based BPD is being questioned due to the performance gaps between simulated and measured values. In recent years, accumulated on-site building performance data (OBPD) make it possible to analyze and design buildings with data-driven met...

Buildings account for a large portion of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Therefore, reducing the energy demands of buildings has become a global topic for sustainable development. A central cooling system accounts for a significant part of a building’s energy consumption. This study proposes a tap water-based free cooling system that r...

The hydraulic transients are obvious during the operation and adjustment of large-scale district heating (DH) network. Hydraulic transient modeling and simulation methods can provide basis for efficient operation of the DH network. In this paper, two hydraulic transient models, the distributed parameter model (DPM) and lumped parameter model (LPM),...

The air source heat pump (ASHP) system with the direct-condensation radiant heating panel (DRHP) is an efficient space heating method. To evaluate the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system, a thermodynamic model was established. The effects of external air temperature, indoor air temperature and condensation temperature on the system efficie...

Active-passive phase change heat storage technologies have been obtained extensive application to decrease greenhouse’s demands for fossil energy during off-seasons. To develop the utilization ratio of solar energy in solar greenhouses during winter, the active-passive ventilation wall with latent heat storage (APVW-L) was introduced and could be i...

Individual thermal comfort models based on physiological parameters could improve the efficiency of the personal thermal comfort control system. However, the effect of thermal history has not been fully addressed in these models. In this study, climate chamber experiments were conducted in winter using 32 subjects who have different indoor and outd...

Conventional PV/T systems generally focus on maximizing electricity generation by PV modules only, and they do not balance the generation of electricity and heat for buildings. To match the varying energy demand of buildings, a flexible management method of novel PV/T systems with spectrum regulation was investigated by a 2D-Monte Carlo method. To...

The complexity and randomness of occupancy often lead to the deviation between simulated energy and measured energy. It is of great significance to select appropriate approaches for occupancy prediction. This study applied Gaussian distribution model to fit occupancy of three functional buildings within a campus. Abandoned the average occupancy lev...

Sleep thermal environments substantially impact sleep quality. To study the sleep thermal environment and thermal comfort in China, this study carried out on‐site monitoring of thermal environmental parameters in peoples’ homes, including 166 households in five climate zones, for one year. A questionnaire survey on sleep thermal comfort and adaptiv...

The morphology of urban green infrastructure (UGI) will affect the quality of urban environment and the way people perceive. The three-dimensional morphological features of UGI have been proven to be the key factors to effect urban ecological environment, which have rarely been incorporated into the UGI morphology in the previous researches. In thi...

In district heating technologies, gas fired boilers and conventional heat pumps have poor performance at low ambient temperature. To tackle this issue, this study has proposed a novel air-source gas-fired absorption heat pump for district heating with flue gas recovery. Compared with conventional absorption heat pumps, the proposed solution in this...