Srijan K Didwania
Senior Simulation Specialist
Education
MS in Built Environment, Arizona State University, US (GPA – 4.00 / 4.00) (2014 – 2015)
B.Tech. in Civil Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, India (2007 – 2011)
Publications
Kris Subbarao, Srijan K. Didwania , T. Agami Reddy & Marlin Addison (2021) A rigorous physics based enhanced parameter estimation (EPE) methodology for calibration of building energy simulations Science and Technology for the Built Environment DOI: 10.1080/237 44731.2 021.2011615
Didwania, S., Rawal, R., Shukla, Y., Bansal, N.K., “Relevance of Radiant Space Cooling in Indian context”. ASHRAE conference on Energy and Indoor Environment for Hot Climates, Qatar, February 2014.
Rawal, R., Didwania, S., Shukla, Y., Manu, S., Panchal, P., “Deployment of energy simulation for design of voluntary Window Labeling Program in India”. BS2013, 13th IBPSA conference, France, August 2013.
Rajan, R., Vadodaria, K., Shukla, Y., Didwania, S., Singh, M., “Review and Application of Methodologies Available for 33 ULBs in Maharashtra, India”. White Paper, CARBSE, CEPT University, India, March 5, 2014.
Rawal, R., Shukla, Y., Didwania, S., Singh, M., Mewada, V., “Residential Buildings In India: Energy Use Projections and Savings Potential”. Technical Report, CEPT-GBPN, September 2014.
Software Skills Proficiency Level
Whole Building Simulations - eQUEST, EnergyPlus, DesignBuilder, CBECC-Res Advanced
Component simulation tools - LBNL WINDOW, COMFEN Advanced
Optimization using Genetic algorithm - GenOpt with EnergyPlus Advanced
MS Office with advanced Excel (with VBA) Advanced
Coding, Statistics, Machine / Deep Learning – Python, VBA Intermediate
Hygro-thermal Simulations using WUFI Basic
Professional experience
Senior Simulation Specialist (Jan 2020 to Present)
Simulation Specialist / Energy Analyst (Jan 2016 to Dec 2019)
M.S. Addison and Associates LLC, USA
Calibration and energy analyses of retrofit projects including high rise commercial buildings, schools and prison campuses (> 7 million SQFT, Details available on request).
Energy analyses of new construction projects especially Hospitals and Multifamily, including T-24 compliance, ASHRAE compliance, LEED and Utility rebate modeling (> 1.5 million SQFT, Details available on request).
Worked on a research project “Building Energy Calibration based on Parameter Estimation and Machine Learning”, funded by DOE.
Development of spreadsheet/VBA based tools to support analyses at various pre- & post-processing stages of the project.
Research Associate (June 2012 to June 2014)
Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy, CEPT University, India
Simulation and analyses (using Energy Plus and GenOpt) for design of voluntary ‘Window Labeling Program in India’. The research is published in IBPSA Conference Proceedings.
Case study for comparison of Radiant Cooling Systems with VAV systems with respect to energy consumption, installation cost and Life Cycle Cost for four climate zones of India, using EnergyPlus as the simulation tool. The research is published in ASHRAE Conference Proceedings.
Developed an excel based tool to compare the Life Cycle Cost of two design alternatives with respect to envelope characteristics by integrating library of material properties, cost, and pre-simulated energy consumption data of various design combinations from EnergyPlus.
Contributed to the development of Indian Version of COMFEN tool under US-India CBERD initiative in collaboration with ‘Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’.
Worked on hygrothermal testing of materials and simulation tool ‘WUFI’ at ‘Oak Ridge National Laboratory’ to facilitate establishment of hygrothermal testing facility at CEPT University.
Developed a ‘Comfort tool’ for representation of comfort conditions based on PMV and Adaptive model.
Worked as part of Survey team (15 office buildings in 5 cities of India) for subjective thermal comfort assessment, to facilitate development of adaptive comfort model in Indian context.
Energy simulations for ‘Residential baseline study in India’ (A CEPT and GBPN initiative).
Comparison of low energy cooling systems like ‘Direct and In-direct Evaporative Cooling’, ‘Radiant Cooling’, ‘Dehumidification System’, ‘Displacement Ventilation’, and ‘UFAD’, using EnergyPlus.
Graduate Management Trainee
Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited (2011 – 2012)
Worked with planning and execution team for construction of ‘Green & Intelligent Building’ for ONGC and ‘Fully Automated Multi-Level Underground Car Parking’ that featured a unique top-down construction strategy.
Internship
Infosys Technologies Ltd - Green Initiative (Summers 2010)
Developed calibrated models for four existing buildings (using Design Builder and EnergyPlus) to suggest measures for improving energy efficiency.
Research Experience
Arizona State University, USA (August 2014 to Dec 2015)
Application of a diagnostic model deduced from metered energy consumption data to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings.
Commissioning of a dual-axis solar tracker.
Energy Simulations to support decision making during initial design stage for a Net Zero Energy Building at ASU campus.
Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, India (2011)
Carried out a study on “Optimization of Building Envelope”, as part of the regular curriculum to investigate the application of an optimization program (GenOpt) for identification of the optimum envelope configuration by minimizing the energy consumption and Life Cycle Cost (LCC).
IIIT Hyderabad, India (Summers 2009)
Coupling GenOpt with EnergyPlus and developing an online tutorial.
Optimization of WWR for different types of buildings in different climate zones