Building Physics

Topics: Thermal insulation, moisture protection and sound insulation of buildings

Prof. Dr. Christoph Höller // Prof. Dr. Oliver Steffens

About the laboratory

The Building Physics Laboratory is dedicated to research and teaching on the topics of thermal insulation, moisture protection and sound insulation in buildings. Special emphasis is placed on the acoustic characterization of constructions and building materials as well as the investigation of the energy efficiency of buildings and districts.

Teaching

In teaching, the Building Physics Laboratory is comprehensively represented in various degree courses through lectures and laboratory practicals as well as student work.

The impedance tube is used in research projects and laboratory practicals. (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)

Labor für Bauphysik/ sample case for various insulation materials — This sample case for various insulation materials is the result of a student research project.
(Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)

Students on the Bachelor's degree courses in Civil Engineering and Building Climatology experience the Building Physics Laboratory in various basic practical courses right at the start of their studies. For example, they measure the thermal conductivity or acoustic absorption coefficient of various building materials, learn how a heat pump works or experimentally determine the sound insulation value of a wall.

In advanced laboratory practicals or practical exercises, students learn how to use sound level meters, measure thermal comfort or perform thermography with a thermal imaging camera.

Bachelor's and Master's theses solve application-oriented, current problems and combine the practical skills of the students with the equipment of the Building Physics Laboratory. This is done regularly as part of current research projects or collaborations with industrial partners such as engineering firms.

The Building Physics Laboratory regularly offers topics for student theses (Bachelor's theses, Master's theses, project work). It is also available to supervise external work. If you are interested, please contact the building physics professors.

Research

Paper-based room acoustic elements — Room acoustic elements made of paper honeycombs with perforated cover layers. (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)

The Building Physics Laboratory is characterized by application-oriented and innovative research, particularly in the fields of energy efficiency in buildings and sound insulation.

Current research projects

SPlanRoB

Sound engineering planning principles for pipelines and fastening elements

How can it be predicted during the construction phase how noise sources (e.g. pipelines; technical building systems) will affect the occupants? The project aims to answer this question, which is important for the entire field of building acoustics, for the first time using the example of water-bearing piping systems.

Cooperation partners: Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences; Technical University of Berlin; Fischerwerke GmbH & Co.

Principal investigator at OTH Regensburg: Prof. Dr. Christoph Höller

AkuPap

Paper-based room acoustic elements

Development of a multilayer composite optimized for sound absorption for room acoustic elements made of fibre-based and highly filled individual paper layers through the combined use of numerical simulation methodology and metrological validation.

Cooperation partner: Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), Heidenau

Principal investigators at OTH Regensburg; Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marcus Wagner (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), Prof. Dr. Christoph Höller (Faculty of ANK)

FEM2SYS

Extension of dynamic building system simulations using FEM-based simulation models

In this project, thermal ‘building performance simulations’ are carried out using detailed multiphysics FEM software. This enables a previously little-researched approach to building simulation. Traditional software for thermal BPS is based on compact models that offer a short simulation time, but at the expense of the fineness of the model. The FEM-based approach enables more precise and finer analyses as well as the identification and quantification of physical effects relevant to the building climate such as radiation, convection, fluid mechanics and humidity.

Funded by: Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Oliver Steffens

Project responsible: Paul Schoplocher

Laboratory equipment

Wall sound transmission test suite including measurement equipment (DIN EN ISO 10140)

Reception plate including measurement equipment (DIN EN 15657)

Wall sound transmission test suite including measurement equipment. (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)
Impedance tube incl. measurement technology for measuring the acoustic absorption coefficient in accordance with DIN EN ISO 10534

Flow resistance measuring device for measuring the flow resistance in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9053-1

Test stand for measuring dynamic stiffness in accordance with DIN EN 29052

Elastic intermediate layers for floating screeds are analysed on the test stand for measuring dynamic stiffness. (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)

The impedance tube is used to determine the sound absorption coefficient of acoustic materials. (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)

Flow resistance is an important parameter that affects the acoustic quality of a material.
(Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)
Vibration measurement technology (accelerometers, shakers, instrumented hammers, impedance head, etc.) for measuring structure-borne sound and sound transmission in buildings

Sound level meters (NTi Audio XL2) for measuring the sound pressure level in various situations

Measurement technology for airborne and impact sound measurements in buildings

(Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)
Thermal imaging cameras (testo 882 and 885) for thermographic measurements

Comfort set (testo 400) for measuring thermal comfort and PMV/PPD in accordance with DIN EN ISO 7730

Measuring thermal comfort (Photo: Florian Hammerich / OTH Regensburg)
The Building Physics Laboratory uses standard software tools for building physics verifications and energy balancing of buildings. In addition, specialized software tools are available for teaching and research.
- CadnaA for calculating sound propagation outdoors
- CadnaR for calculating sound propagation indoors
- Hottgenroth Energieberater for calculating the energy efficiency of buildings
- Hottgenroth SWS for simulating protection against summer overheating
- ZUB Argos Pro for calculating thermal bridges
- IDA ICE for thermal building simulations
- WUFI Plus and WUFI 3D for hygrothermal simulations
- COMSOL for finite element calculations
- MATLAB for self-programmed data analyses, simulations, and calculations

Contract research

The Building Physics Laboratory is available for consultations and measurements on building physics issues as well as research and development projects as part of contract research. If you are interested, please contact the laboratory managers.

Team

Laboratory management: Prof. Dr. Christoph Höller (Building Acoustics)

Laboratory management: Prof. Dr. Oliver Steffens (Building Physics)

Technical assistant: Sven Lange

Research assistant: Georg Bäumler

Research assistant: Anna Rieger

Research assistant: Mubashar Rafiq

Research assistant: Paul Schoplocher

Completed research projects

AI-based, energetic digital twin for dynamic energy management in neighbourhoods and settlement structures

Project duration: 2020 - 2022

Project sponsor: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie / ZIM (VDI/VDE/IT)

Cooperations: Luxgreen Climadesign, Consolinno Energy

Team: Prof. Dr. Oliver Steffens, Stefan Ettengruber M.Sc., Paul Schoplocher M.Sc.

About the Project:

Reducing energy demand is a central task of the German government; primary energy demand is to be reduced by 80% by 2050 compared to 2008. Buildings consume more than a third of the world's energy and directly or indirectly cause a third of global CO2 emissions. In addition, there is a great need for more residential and commercial space.

In order to reduce primary energy consumption in buildings quickly and significantly, rapid planning of new energy-optimised urban districts and rapid refurbishment of existing districts are required. Most buildings in the old industrialised countries were built between the 1950s and 1970s, have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years and are characterised by high final energy consumption. According to the German government, the refurbishment rate must be increased from 1% to at least 2 to 2.5%.

The aim of the EDDA project is to develop realistic, dynamic, energetic digital twins in order to combine innovative energy supply technologies on the one hand and building materials on the other in combination with large amounts of ‘processed’ data from a wide variety of sources. The data is determined using various simulations and processed using artificial intelligence. The result is an optimal tool for the neighbourhood planning of the future. At the same time, the innovative system provides optimised training data for the AI (artificial intelligence) of the energy management system, so that the energy supply reaches an optimisation level of 90% after just a few days. Previously, this required a runtime of at least two years.

OTH Regensburg's contribution to the project was the development and evaluation of new building system simulation components using the finite element method. This makes it possible to determine the thermodynamic behaviour of building storage masses and to generate load curves in interaction with the transient boundary conditions of the structural simulation (FEM simulation). At the next level, these results and component properties are approximated and new model components for building system simulation with IDA ICE are programmed using the equation-based neutral model format and integrated into the model library. Specifically, convective phenomena, solar radiation effects and the heat-moisture interaction in building components are taken into account.

Publication: Dragos Paul Schoplocher, Stefan Ettengruber, Oliver Steffens: Improvements for building-performance simulations by a comparative finite-element method analysis. Energy and Buildings 278, 112563 (2023).
Production and installation of an innovative solar-active façade plaster system based on the principle of a polar bear skin (Photo: OTH Regensburg)

Energy modernization of the cooperative residential quarter Margarethenau Regensburg

In 2021, the MAGGIE project won the Federal Environment Agency's ‘Environment & Building’ award in the ‘Climate-friendly refurbishment’ category. The judges recognised the refurbishment of Margaretenau as a lighthouse project on the way to achieving climate targets in the building sector with the participation of residents and taking social compatibility into account.

Project duration: 2017-2022

Project sponsor: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (Projektträger Jülich GmbH)

Cooperations: Universität Bayreuth, Baugenossenschaft Margaretenau eG, Franken Maxit, Stadt Regensburg, Luxgreen Climadesign, Consolinno Energy, TGA Projektierung
Sustainable energy modernisation and restoration of historic city districts

The quality of life in an urban neighbourhood can be enhanced when architecture, energy efficiency, renewable energy supply and cost-effective living come together. All of this requires comprehensive expertise from architects, planners and operators.
How can a building refurbishment be successfully implemented for the purposes of climate protection and sustainable living quality? Professor Oliver Steffens and his research team at OTH developed strategies for this using the example of the Plato-Wild ensemble, a cooperative residential neighbourhood from the 1920s in the east of Regensburg. The special thing about the refurbishment concept is its interdisciplinary approach: 30 project participants from the technical, economic and social science disciplines developed several solutions for the Plato-Wild ensemble: Following an in-depth inventory, the project team pursued the concept of redensification and energy-efficient refurbishment of the building envelope. The aim was to preserve the historic façade. The project team underpinned the architectural modernisation and regenerative energy supply approaches with numerous designs, calculations and simulations. Building physics considerations regarding heat, moisture and sound insulation were another important component.

The research work was funded by the Zukunft Bau research initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. The guide has been published as the third volume in the series ‘Zukunft Bauen: Research for Practice’ series. The guideline's recommendations for action are aimed at planners, architects and owners.
(Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development)

More information and project report download (German): BBSR - Veröffentlichungen - RENARHIS

Project duration: 2012 - 2014
Selected conference contribuion and publications about the MAGGIE project:
- Oliver Steffens: Historische Gebäude mit künstlicher Intelligenz (Projekt MAGGIE):
  Wege zur nachhaltigen Energiewende im Bestand. vhs-Vortragsreihe Offene Hochschule. Regensburg, 10.10.2022.
- Belal Dawoud: Das MAGGIE-Hybridversorgungssystem; Chancen und Lehren für die Energiewende. 3. Kongress Energiewendebauen. Wuppertal, 09.06.2022.
- Thomas Mühlberger: Solares Bauen: Energetische Modernisierung des genossenschaftlichen Wohnquartiers Margaretenau in Regensburg – MAGGIE. Klimagerechte Sanierung eines Wohngebäudes mit Entwicklung eines Hybrid-Energiesystems in Verbindung mit innovativen Fassadensystemen. Bayern Innovativ-Tagung „Energetische Sanierung im Gebäudebestand“. Regensburg, 06.10.2021, mit anschließendem Exkurs in die Wohnsiedlung Margaretenau. https://www.bayern-innovativ.de/de/veranstaltung/energetische-sanierung-im-gebaeudebestand
- Oliver Steffens: MAGGIE - Künstliche Intelligenz, Sektorkopplung und solaraktive Bauteile für Klimaschutz und bezahlbares Wohnen: Innovationen in der Regensburger Margaretenau. 10. Bayerischer Innovationskongress. Regensburg, 14.07.2021. https://www.techbase.de/news-termine/events-termine/detail/14/7/2021/10-bayerischer-innovationskongress
- Oliver Steffens: Solares Bauen: Energetische Modernisierung des genossenschaftlichen Wohnquartiers Margaretenau in Regensburg – MAGGIE. Künstliche Intelligenz für Klimaschutz und niedrige Wohnkosten. Stadt.Land.Digital – Bundesweiter Digitaltag „Digitale Kommunen sparen Energie – Online-Präsentation und interaktiver Austausch guter Beispiele aus smarten Kommunen“, 18.06.2021. https://www.wik.org/fileadmin/StadtLandDigital/210618_StadtLandDigital_Digitale_Kommunen_Sparen_Energie.pdf
- Oliver Steffens: Solares Bauen: Energetische Modernisierung des genossenschaftlichen Wohnquartiers Margaretenau in Regensburg – MAGGIE. Künstliche Intelligenz für Klimaschutz und niedrige Wohnkosten. Berliner Energietage, 22.04.2021.
- Oliver Steffens: SOLARES BAUEN: Nachhaltige Modernisierungskonzepte am Beispiel der Margaretentau in Regensburg. Überblick über das Forschungsprojekt MAGGIE. Symposium "Klimaneutrale Stadt", OTH Regensburg, 09.02.2019. https://idw-online.de/de/news710438
- Oliver Steffens: Neue Zukunftsideen für traditionelle Wohnquartiere. Zukunftsweisende Modernisierungskonzepte am Beispiel der Margaretentau in Regensburg. vhs-Vortragsreihe Offene Hochschule „Wie wollen wir leben? Neue Konzepte für Wohnen und Mobilität in Regensburg“. Regensburg, 28.05.2018.
Publikationen resulting from the MAGGIE project

Peer-Reviewed articles:
- Lang et al. 2019: Electricity Load Forecasting - An Evaluation of Simple 1D-CNN Network Structures, Beitrag zur ITISE 2019 (6th International Conference on Time Series and Forecasting) in Granada, September 2019, ITISE 2019 Proceedings, ISBN 978-84-17970-78-9
- Lang et al. 2019: Applying a 1D-CNN Network to Electricity Forecasting, Kapitel in Contribution to Statistics (ISSN: 1431-1968), Springer
- S. Malz; O. Steffens; W. Krenkel: Infrared reflective wall paint in Buildings: Energy saving potentials and thermal comfort, Energy & Buildings, Vol. 224, 2020
- P. Steininger, M. Gaderer, B. Dawoud, Experimental and Numerical Study on the Solar Gain and Heat Loss of Typical Existing and Refurbished German Buildings, in: World Energy and Environment Technology Publishers (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Resilient Built Environment, Coventry, United Kingdom, 2020
- Haug, S., Vetter, M. & Weber, K. (2020). Energetische Gebäudesanierung zwischen Energieeffizienz und Sozialverträglichkeit. Das Beispiel Margaretenau Regensburg. TATuP – Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis, 29(3)
- Steininger, P.; Gaderer, M.; Dawoud, B. (2020): Experimental and numerical study on the solar gain and heat loss of typical existing and refurbished German buildings. In: iCRBE Procedia 1.1, S. 75–93
- Haug, S.; Vetter, M.; Weber, K. (2020): Energetische Gebäudesanierung zwischen Energieeffizienz und Sozialverträglichkeit. Das Beispiel Margaretenau Regensburg, in: TATuP – Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis 29/3
- Haug, S.; Vetter, M. (2021): Altersgerechtes Wohnen im Quartier. Standort 45 (1), 11–17
- Haug, S.; Vetter, M. (2020): Ältere Menschen im Wohnquartier der Margaretenau in Regensburg – aktuelle Situation und zukünftiger Bedarf, In: Andrea Teti, Harald Künemund, Judith Fuchs, Enno Nowossadeck (Hrsg.): Wohnen und Gesundheit im Alter – Chancen für die Gestaltung von Gesundheit, Wohnen und Wohnumfeld in der Gesellschaft des langen Lebens. Vechtaer Beiträge zur Gerontologie. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 239
- Malz, S.; Krenkel, W.; Steffens, O. (2021): On the development of a building insulation using air layers with highly reflective interfaces. In: Energy & Buildings, Vol. 236
- Steininger, P.; Gaderer, M.; Steffens, O.; Dawoud, B. (2021): Experimental and Numerical Study on the Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Newly-Developed Solar Active Thermal Insulation System. In: Buildings, 11.3, 123
- Steininger, P.; Gaderer, M.; Dawoud, B. (2021): Assessment of the Annual Transmission Heat Loss Reduction of a Refurbished Existing Building with an Advanced Solar Selective Thermal Insulation System. In: Sustainability, 13.13, 7336
Other publications:
- Malz, S.; Steffens, O.; Krenkel, W.: Solaraktive Fassaden im Bestandsbau, Konferenzbeitrag, Bauphysiktage, Weimar, 2019
- Nagl et. al. 2018, Stochastische Optimierung und maschinelles Lernen von Sektorenkopplung zur Entwicklung integraler energetischer Planung von Quartierskonzepten und automatisierter vorausschauender strommarktgeführter Steuerung, Beitrag zur Clusterkonferenz in Amberg 2018
- Riederer, M; Das MAGGIE - Projekt, SolaresBauen: Energetische Modernisierung des genossenschaftlichen Wohnquartiers Margaretenau in Regensburg, 4. Regensburger Energiekongress, Posterbeitrag
- Haug, S.; Schiele, A.; Weber, K.; Riederer, M.; Saller, T., 2019: Nachhaltig Leben und Wirtschaften am Beispiel des Sanierungsgebiets Margaretenau Regensburg. Vortrag bei der XX. Tagung für Angewandte Sozialwissenschaften: Nachhaltig Leben und Wirtschaften. Management Sozialer Innovationen als Gestaltung gesellschaftlicher Transformation. Hochschule München, 24.-26.05.2019.
- Hartmut Netz (2020): Herausforderung: Erhaltung und Weiterentwicklung. Sanierung historischer Substanz. In: Die Wohnungswirtschaft DW 73, 02.2020, S. 20–23. – ein Interviewbeitrag von Oliver Steffens
- Haug, S.; Vetter, M.; Cerullo, L.; Weber, K. (2020): MAGGIE: Energetische Modernisierung des genossenschaftlichen Wohnquartiers Margaretenau in Regensburg.
- Die Wohnungswirtschaft 01/2019 – Solaraktives und solaradaptives Außenputzsystem. Sanierung historischer Bausubstanz mit Solarputz, S. 28-30. „Solaraktive Putzsysteme halten Wärmeverluste gering“. Interview mit Oliver Steffens. https://www.haufe.de/download/die-wohnungswirtschaft-ausgabe-12019-wohnungswirtschaft-481062.pdf
- Die Wohnungswirtschaft 02/2020 – „Ein Spagat zwischen drei Polen“. Interview mit Oliver Steffens, S. 22. www.haufe.de/download/die-wohnungswirtschaft-ausgabe-22020-wohnungswirtschaft-508764.pdf
- Ausstellung der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Bayern „Bezahlbarer Wohnraum“ –Denkmalgerechte Quartiersmodernisierung in Regensburg
- Wolf, Katharina (2022): Klimaneutral im Quartier. In: Erneuerbare Energien, 09.12.2022 (08/2022), S. 60–63. www.erneuerbareenergien.de/energieversorger/stadtwerke/klimaneutral-im-quartier