On the 20th of February Mollier organized the BPS Campus Tour. This was for bachelor students with an interest in BPS and master students who are still orienting for a master project. We visited the BPS facilities and at every stop a PhD student or teacher told us something about what they do and what the possibilities are in their research group.
We started the tour in the SkyBar, where we left our bags, and then walked to the Alcodome (Koepel) on the other side of the campus. Here we found what seemed like an almost abandoned ghost site. There was an old wind tunnel and some buildings that have fallen into ruins and have been used by the fire department for fire drills. However, Karin Schollbach and Perry van der Wouw arrived and showed us that it was mostly used for the storage of concrete constituents but that there are also still experiments being conducted. There is a pulverizer and there is also space to do tests for concrete with military purposes, to see how well it can withstand an impact.
The next stop was the new wind tunnel, where Thijs van Druenen told us about the kinds of research they do. We could see what the wind tunnel looks like and Thijs explained us how it works. They were still improving the wind tunnel, as workers were taking it apart during our visit. They still need to make roughness elements to be able to simulate the atmospheric boundary layer which can be used to do urban measurements. Thijs told us that they expect to be ready after the summer. After this, master students will be able to use the wind tunnel for research projects.
Then we went to the acoustic laboratory ECHO where we had a presentation by Raúl Pegán Muñoz about all the current research that is being conducted in the acoustics field. They mainly do research in urban, building and room acoustics. We saw the acoustic lab with a coupled resonance chamber for measuring the acoustic properties of building materials and constructions.
We went to the roof of Vertigo, on the third floor, where Roel van Loonen showed us SolarBEAT. This is the solar research facility where new innovative building integrated photovoltaic products are analyzed. Roel also told us about the research in solar and photovoltaic panels that is being done by the chair of building performance. The research being done is to find solutions for energy generation, storage, distribution and demand reduction, and to integrate and optimize these in design, construction and operation of new and existing buildings. They do simulations and experiments and also facilitate this for companies.
Katarina Katik showed us the climate chamber, where simulations can be done on several environmental conditions. She did research on a thermophysiological model and the thermal response of the human body under various personal and environmental conditions. This is needed for designing HVAC systems and control systems in buildings. She told us about the research that could be done in the building services department.
After seeing the climate chamber, Karin Schollbach was eager to tell us more about the materials laboratory inside the Vertigo building, where most of the tests are being done and most of the equipment is. Here they research building materials and sustainable buildings. Through processing equipment, analysis, equipment air quality, equipment and concrete performance analysis all the new materials can be tested.
We also paid a visit to the daylight research facilities, where they have a diffuse sky simulator and direct sunlight simulator. The lab is being used to compare measurements with simulations and for the design of comfortable, healthy and energy efficient buildings.
Last but not least we also showed the group our Mollier office and gave them the latest issue of our INSide Information magazine, in which they can read some more about the research being done in our department.
Afterwards we had a small drink with the participants where we could talk some more about our unit and what we do during our master.
