Dr. Kavgic is an assistant professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Manitoba and her work has centered around energy use in buildings and sustainable design strategies. Before joining UofM, Dr. Kavgic was a post-doctoral fellow with the Renewable Energy Storage Lab of Dalhousie University and conducted research on advanced HVAC strategies for buildings. Dr. Kavgic holds a PhD degree in Environmental Design and Engineering from University College London in UK. Dr. Kavgic was involved in the the European Union's Research and Innovation funding programme titled PURGE where the results of her PhD research were used to examine the health impacts of GHG reduction policies in urban settings in Europe.
I am looking for highly talented students who are looking for pursuing an MSc degree, PhD degree or collaborating in interdisciplinary research projects in Building Science. Areas of interest include Phase Change Materials (PCMs), high performance building envelopes, Model Predictive Control (MPC), HVAC systems, thermal comfort, building energy consumption. Applicants must have good computer programming skills, strong knowledge of HVAC systems, heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics and strong interest in energy efficiency in buildings. Knowledge in building simulation modelling, parallel computing and advanced plotting tools in MATLAB (or any other languages) is an asset.
-Experimental and numerical analyses of PCMs
-Whole building energy modeling and optimization of PCMs for cold climates
-Development of new HVAC control strategies based on MPC
Dr. Kavgic's research interests are in the area of energy use in buildings which is dependent upon a complicated set of interactions between building components, systems and equipment coupled with the complexities related to the need and behaviour of the building users.
Innovative building materials, sustainable building design strategies and technologies are seen as vital tools in the fight against climate change. It is particularly important to conduct research on application of advanced building facade materials (e.g. phase change materials), systems (e.g. ventilated double skin facade, smart glass systems, etc.) and sustainable solutions designed to make buildings more resilient under the extreme weather conditions and to support changes in the national building codes. In addition, to reduce performance gap between design and operation of highly energy efficient buildings it is necessary to improve understanding and knowledge related to the uncertainties that are present in building design, construction quality and occupant behaviour.
Advanced building performance simulation tools are the suitable instrument to support decisions regarding the selection and integration of various design and technical options for energy conservation in buildings. Experimental analysis and field testing are required to provide real operational data for validation and verification of developed building models.
1. Kavgic M., Hilliard T., Swan L., Qin Z., 2016. Method for validation of statistical energy models. eSim 2016 Building Simulation Conference, May 3-6, Hamilton. Link
2. Hilliard T., Swan L., Kavgic M., Qin Z., DeWolf S., 2016.Using building simulation software to quantify the savings of a model predictive control implementation. eSim Building Simulation Conference, May 3-6, Hamilton. Link
3. Kavgic M., Hilliard T., Swan L., 2015. Opportunities for implementation of MPC in commercial buildings. International Building Physics Conference (IBPC), June 14-17, Italy. Link
4. Hilliard T., Kavgic M., Swan L., 2015. Model predictive control for commercial buildings: trends and opportunities. Advances in Building Energy Research (Taylor & Francis). Link
5. Hillard T., Swan L., Kavgic M., Qin Z., Lingras P., 2015. Development of a whole building model predictive control strategy for a LEED silver community college. Energy and Buildings (Elsevier), Vol. 111, pp. 224-232. Link
6. Kavgic, M., Mumovic, D., Summerfield, A., Stevanovic, Z., 2014. Application of a Monte Carlo model to predict space heating energy use of Belgrade's housing stock. Journal of Building Performance Simulation, Vol. 8, pp. 375-390. Link
7. Kavgic, M., Mumovic, D., Summerfield, A., Stevanovic, Z., Ecim-Djuric O., 2013. Uncertainty and Modelling Energy Consumption: Sensitivity Analysis for a City-Scale Domestic Energy Model. Energy and Buildings 60:1-11. Link
8. Kavgic, M.; Summerfield, A., Mumovic, D., Stevanovic, Z., Turanjanin, V., Stevanovic, Z.Z., 2012. Characteristics of indoor temperature over winter for Belgrade urban dwellings: indications of thermal comfort and space heating energy demand. Energy and Buildings, pp. 506-514. Link
9. Kavgic, M., Mavrogianni, A., Mumovic, D., Summerfield, A., Stevanovic, Z., Djurovic-Petrovic, M., 2010. A Review of Bottom-up Building Stock Models for Energy Consumption in the Residential Sector. Building and Environment, pp. 1-15. Link
10. Kavgic, M., Mumovic, D., Davies, M., Stevanovic, Z., Djurovic-Petrovic, M., 2009. A Framework for Comparative Analysis of Belgrade Housing Stock-Determinants of Carbon Reduction Strategy. International Conference, Building Simulation Proceedings, pp.1075-1082, Glasgow, Scotland. Link
11. Kavgic, M., Mumovic, D., Stevanovic, Z.,Young, A., 2008. Analysis of Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality in a Mechanically Ventilated Theatre. Energy and Buildings, Vol. 40, pp.1334-1343. Link
12. Kavgic, M., Stevanovic, Z., 2008. Numerical Modelling of Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality in a Mechanically Ventilated Theatre-Case Study. Fifth Annual International Course: Computational Engineering, pp.190-210, Kopaonik, Serbia.