SUMMARY

Most humanitarian missions, including disaster relief and refugee camps, as well as military missions, are off-grid and require the use of liquid fuels for local generation of electricity. These forward operating bases (FOB) are typically located in remote areas, often in regions of conflict. Delivering fuel and other supplies to such FOBs can be both costly and risky. To lower the frequency of fuel delivery, it is important to predict the minimum amount of fuel needed for a given mission. Large portion of generated electricity in FOBs is consumed by heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) demands of the temporary structures, known as shelters. Energy consumption of these shelters plays a crucial role in overall energy demand of the FOBs.
This research develops a method for modeling shelters that are deployed off the grid, and proposes a validation process to ensure that the energy performance of generated model corresponds to the actual shelter. The developed shelter models are then used to predict their energy usage in different geographical locations, before they are deployed. Shelter energy simulations are also integrated with advanced construction materials to seek energy performance improvements on existing shelter configurations.