Department of the Built Environment

Building Physics and Services

Preservation of energy and limitation of the environmental impact while providing a healthy and comfortable indoor and outdoor environment are essential requirements for the built environment.

Enabling meaningful sustainability innovation through building physics and services research

The Building Physics & Services (BPS) unit at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) looks beyond energy-neutral and climate-neutral buildings. The aim is to generate new knowledge and to integrate and develop design methods that lead to a sustainable, healthy, comfortable and productive indoor and outdoor environment. The goals is to support truly sustainable habitats with energy generation near the end user, combined with energy storage and smart control technologies and designing and operating buildings and built environments that are sustainable, healthy and comfortable.

This can only be achieved by a holistic approach to tackling the complexity of the problems at hand. The common long-term vision within the BPS research program is articulated as follows: “World-class excellent research in the different disciplines in Building Physics & Services to strongly contribute to a healthy, comfortable and sustainable indoor and outdoor built environment, taking into account economical, ecological and energetic constraints”.

BPS works across six interdepartmental research areas: Building Acoustics, Building Lighting, Building Materials, Building Performance, Building Physics (including Urban Physics and Building Physics of Monuments) and Building Services (including Integral Design)
Research is focused on:
- Building physics: experimental, theoretical and numerical modeling of physical aspects in the indoor and outdoor environment and the building envelope (heat, air and moisture transfer, wind, light and acoustics, building behavior simulation, systems, components and materials)
- The design process related to sustainable buildings.

The mission of the research program is to contribute to research in the built environment in the field of Building Physics & Building Services in several areas:
- scientific: fundamental and applied research; design and testing of solutions in prototypes, models, simulation and systems in practice
- societal: focus on sustainability and comfort in a broad sense
- knowledge dissemination to building designers and practitioners
- information and communication technology: development of modern design tools
- synergy and interaction between education, research and practice.

Research yields scientific results that contribute to the understanding and knowledge of physical behavior of buildings and environments and of Integral Building Design (processes). The BPS research is concerned with the development of tools for the analysis, design and conservation of a high-quality indoor and outdoor environment, in which energy efficiency, health, comfort and sustainability are key research topics. The program also provides knowledge to the building industry and engineering consultancy firms.

Research is organized as a network of collaborators within a common BPS research program with a single strategic mission. Synergy between research groups is essential to cover the interdisciplinary challenges that arise from the complexity of the built environment. In recent years, BPS has increasingly taken a leading role in energy, health and sustainability related programs, assuming roles in the Eindhoven Energy Institute, the 4TU (4l Universities of Technology) Focus point ‘Bouw’ (Built Environment) and the International Urban Physics Research Schools.

Sustainable Building Materials conference

The building sector is by far the largest consumer of raw materials and producer of human-made materials. From a sustainability and circularity point of view, the effects of this demand can among others be mitigated using biogenic resources, smart material design, enhanced durability, functionalization, reuse and recycling, and the use of side streams (“waste”). The conference addresses this challenge starting from a scientific approach: building materials science being a syncretic discipline hybridizing mineralogy, ceramics, solid-state physics, chemistry, metallurgy and biology. Advanced characterization and treatment methods, together with novel technologies and modelling tools, are vital for the study and improvement of the complete life cycle of building materials, from raw materials, to production, use and recycling.

More information and registration

Our Research Groups

Building Physics and Services works across six interdepartmental research groups.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Materials

The goal of the BM research group is obtaining more sustainable, durable and functional materials and products.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Lighting

The research of the BL group focuses on daylight as well as artificial lighting, including both fundamental and applied research.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Performance

The BP group contributes to a sustainable, energy-positive built environment with an optimal indoor environmental quality.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Services

The group develops design methods and adapts building services technology to ensure buildings meet current and future requirements.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Acoustics

The BA group addresses adverse health effects caused by human induced noise, and promotes positively perceived sound environments.

Department of the Built Environment

Building Physics

The BP group focuses on acquiring new knowledge and developing and integrating methods, based on physics research and application.

Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

The wind tunnels on the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) facilitate aerodynamic and boundary layer research on static and moving objects, at both small and large scale.

Experience our Wind Tunnel

News

September 12, 2019

The complex puzzle of 3D concrete printing captured in a model: from layers to bridges

Researcher Rob Wolfs gains his PhD today, for his model which made it possible to print concrete structures in a wide variety of shapes.

September 10, 2019

Climate systems in museums appear to be too strictly regulated

Thomas Arends and Rianne Luimes will obtain their doctorates at TU/e in September

August 5, 2019

Fold-out energy tower for festivals is ready for practical use

As a sustainable alternative, TU/e researchers and ten companies have developed a 21-meter high fold-out tower with solar collectors and a wind turbine.

Research meets practice

Our group has a well-equipped Laboratory of 2100 m^2m, with highly qualified technical staff. Research is carried out in the laboratory as well as ‘on site’. The basic facilities allow for a wide range of experiments in all aspects of building physics: acoustics; light; air quality; heat, air and moisture transfer; wind flow; material science.

Our research meets practice in the spin-off Level Acoustics BV as well as in the outdoor research facility for so-called building-integrated solar energy: SolarBEAT (Solar Building Elements Application Testing). SolarBEAT is a joint venture between TU/e and SEAC (Solar Energy Application Center, an initiative of TNO, ECN and branch organization Holland Solar).

Recent Publications

Our most recent peer reviewed publications

See all publications

Student opportunities

Are you interested in the Bachelor’s and Master’s courses we offer? The focus of attention of Building Physics and Services is on physical aspects and processes to support and design healthy, comfortable and sustainable indoor and outdoor built environments. BPS relates to heat and moisture transfer in building constructions, urban physics and wind engineering, indoor air quality, building performance, lighting, building and urban acoustics, heating, ventilation, airconditioning and materials.

More information for students

Contact

Visiting address

Vertigo

Groene Loper 6

Eindhoven

Netherlands

+31(0)40 2472400
Postal address

Department of the Built Environment

P.O. Box 513

5600 MB Eindhoven

Netherlands
Secretary

secretariaat.bps@tue.nl

Building Physics and Services

Enabling meaningful sustainability innovation through building physics and services research

Sustainable Building Materials conference

Our Research Groups

Building Materials

Building Lighting

Building Performance

Building Services

Building Acoustics

Building Physics

Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

News

Research meets practice

Recent Publications

Is the sound environment relevant for how people use common spaces?

Impact of urban microclimate on summertime building cooling demand

Large-scale forcing effects on wind flows in the urban canopy

Estimating the influence of occupant behavior on building heating and cooling energy in one simulation run

Characterization of aerodynamic performance of vertical axis wind turbines

Student opportunities

Contact

Visiting address

Postal address

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