The Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University held again the Doctoral Examination in Hybrid (offline-online) on Thursday (16/12) in the Theater Room on the 4th floor. For the Doctoral Program in Architectural and Urban Sciences, the implementation of the exam model will certainly be the first, after policies related to the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic are implemented (odd semester 2021/2022-red).

Augi Sekatia, an Architectural Practitioner who is a Doctoral Candidate Batch of 2016 PDIAP FT Undip nicely presented the results of his dissertation research in front of the examiners directly (offline) and also with the Zoom Meeting (online) media. The research entitled “Performa Kenyamanan Termal pada Bangunan dengan Ventilasi Bawah di Iklim Tropis Lembab”  is a study on natural ventilation, which is a passive cooling method and is expected to be an alternative in energy conservation. Natural ventilation can help reduce electricity consumption and of course can increase thermal comfort in buildings, she explained.

The object buildings are two church buildings that have ventilation under the building, namely the Bogor Cathedral Church with a bottom ventilation height of 70 cm from the floor and the Semarang Cathedral Church with a bottom ventilation as high as 40 cm from the floor. The study also found a regression model for thermal comfort and polynomial equations for the relationship between air movement and wind speed as well as air movement and the difference between the height of the measuring point and the height of the ventilation opening, Augi continued.

The conclusion of this study is that the placement of ventilation under the building affects the direction of air flow, the value of air movement and its distribution so that at a certain point (the location of the user’s activity) it will feel like they have greater air movement when the bottom ventilation is lower, she concluded.

Augi’s research contribution was also deeply appreciated by the Dean of the Undip Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Agung Wibowo who was present as Chair of the Session, especially now that Augi Sekatia is still relatively young for someone with a doctorate. Prof. Jeffrey I. Kindangen from Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, who was present virtually also gave a positive appreciation to the promovenda for his excellent mastery of the dissertation theme and also the CFD program. Also present were Prof. Gagoek Hardiman (virtually), Prof. Atik Suprapti (Head of PDIAP study program), Prof. Erni Setyowati (Promoter), Prof. Wahyu Setiabudi and also Dr. Ir. R. Siti Rukayah with graduation results, Augi Sekatia was declared Passed with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.00 and became the 70th doctor of PDIAP FT Undip.