Making the invisible visible: Building physics from Weimar reveals airflows

How do air currents, heat, and exhaled air move within our indoor spaces? An innovation project based at the Chair of Building Physics at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar makes the invisible tangible: using highly sensitive schlieren systems, large mirrors, and specialized cameras, even the slightest differences in density and temperature are visualized with precise optical resolution. By combining this with thermal sensors and thermal manikins, the research team analyzes the dynamics of indoor airflows, ventilation strategies, and the human microclimate zone under realistic conditions.
This high-precision measurement expertise yields crucial insights for energy-efficient construction, healthier indoor air, and optimized climate control systems—a powerful example of how EU funding fosters scientific excellence in Thuringia and sustainably improves people's immediate living environments.