Coupled Modeling and Monitoring of Phase Change Phenomena in Architectural Practice

Geometries designed with carefully controlled heat
absorption and heat transfer profiles often elude designers
because of the complexity of thermodynamic phenomena
and their associated discipline-specific numerical models.
This project examines the behavior and design of geometries
associated with non-isolated thermodynamic systems by
constructing a material prototype that is fully coupled to a
mechanistic modeling interface. The prototype, a facade
system of phase change materials, was mounted on an
adjustable outdoor testbed. Its baseline geometry was
continuously monitored over two seasons and characterized
with respect to variation in liquid and solid states. The
mechanistic model, which uses a finite element method,
incorporates multiple components including geometry,
orientation, material properties, context geometry (e.g.
buildings and vegetation), weather, climate, and an array of
sensors monitoring the real-time temperature distribution of the testbed and phase-change materials. Data were continuously collected from the testbed and used to calibrate, validate, and verify the mechanistic model. In turn, the calibrated mechanistic model provided a platform for the design of new facade geometries and predictions of their behavior. The project demonstrates an integrative modeling approach, orchestrating handshakes and feedback loops between disparate spatial and temporal domains, with the ambition of defining a cogent design framework for practices that are trans-scalar, trans-temporal, and trans-disciplinary.