Bad experiences with construction quality, the energy crises of 1973 and 1979,complaints about 'sick buildings', thermal, acoustical, visual and olfactory discomfort, the need for good air quality, the move towards more sustainability - all these have accelerated the development of a field that, for a long time, was hardly more than an academic exercise: building physics. The discipline embraces domains such as heat and mass transfer, building acoustics, lighting, indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency. In some countries, fire safety is also included. Through the application of physical knowledge and its combination with information coming from other disciplines, the field helps to understand the physical phenomena governing building parts, building envelope, whole building and built environment performance, although for the last the wording 'urban physics' is used. Building physics has a real impact on performance-based building design. This volume on 'Applied Building Physics' discusses the heat, air and moisture performance metrics that affect building design, construction and retrofitting.
About the Author
Dr. Ir. Hugo S.L.C. Hens is an emeritus professor at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. Till 1972, he worked as a structural engineer and site supervisor at a mid-sized architectural office. In 1975, after defending his PhD-thesis, he started the research unit Building Physics within the Faculty of Engineering of the university. He taught Building Physics from 1975 till 2003, Performance Based Building Design from 1975 till 2005 and Building Services from 1975 till 1977 and 1990 till 2008. He authored and co-authored some 70 peer reviewed journal and 170 conference papers about the research done at the unit, helped man-aging hundreds of building damage cases and acted as coordinator of the CIB W40 working group on Heat and Mass Transfer in Buildings from 1983 till 1993. Between 1986 and 2008, he was operating agent of the Annexes 14, 24, 32 and 41 of the International Energy Agency`s EXCO on Energy in Buildings and Communities. He is a fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
