Research

Current research

My research focuses on improving building energy efficiency through the integration of building physics, experimental investigations, computational modelling, and data-driven approaches. My current research programme encompasses: residential building retrofits, smart metering of homes, and the impact of climate change on building energy consumption. Details of the experimental facilities in my lab can be found here.

Past research

My past research focused on strategies for improving indoor and outdoor air quality. The research is summarised below.

• Phytoremediation of indoor particulate matter: This research investigated the effectiveness of indoor plants for removing particulate matter and improving occupants' well-being. Please see Budaniya and Rai, 2022 and Budaniya et al., 2025 for details.

• Low-cost sensors for monitoring outdoor air pollution: My postdoctoral research investigated the use of low-cost air quality sensors for urban air pollution monitoring. Please see Rai et al., 2017 for details.

• Ozone-initiated chemistry in aircraft cabin environments: My PhD research studied ozone-initiated chemistry in indoor environments, with applications to occupants' exposure assessment in aircraft cabins. Details can be found in my PhD thesis and related publications.

Selected publications

An up-to-date list of my publications is available on my Google Scholar profile. Selected publications from different stages of my career are listed below.

At IIT Kanpur (2022–present):

1. Budaniya M, Mishra AK, Rai AC, and Dasgupta MS, 2025. Indoor plants’ effect on occupants’ performance, perceived comfort, and affect in an open-plan space in composite climatic regions, India, Building and Environment 274, 112785.

2. Ukey R and Rai AC*, 2024. Envelope retrofits for enhancing thermal comfort in detached houses in hot semi-arid climatic conditions: A year-long monitoring and simulation study, Building and Environment 257, 111536.

3. Babu ADCA, Srivastava RS, and Rai AC*, 2024. Impact of climate change on the heating and cooling load components of an archetypical residential room in major Indian cities, Building and Environment 250, 111181.

4. Budaniya M and Rai AC*, 2022. Effectiveness of plants for passive removal of particulate matter is low in the indoor environment, Building and Environment 222, 109384. This paper was cited by a BBC news article.

At BITS-Pilani (2017–22):

5. Ukey R and Rai AC*, 2021. Impact of global warming on heating and cooling degree days in major Indian cities, Energy and Buildings 244, 111050.

6. Rai AC*, 2021. Energy performance of phase change materials integrated into brick masonry walls for cooling load management in residential buildings, Building and Environment 199, 107930.

7. Sharma V and Rai AC*, 2020. Performance assessment of residential building envelopes enhanced with phase change materials, Energy and Buildings 208, 109664.

At the University of Surrey (2016–17):

8. Rai AC, Kumar P, Pilla F, Skouloudis AN, Di Sabatino S, Ratti C, Yasar A, and Rickerby D, 2017. End-user perspective of low-cost sensors for outdoor air pollution monitoring, Science of the Total Environment 607, 691–705.

At Purdue University (2010–14):

9. Rai AC, Lin C-H, and Chen Q, 2015. Numerical modeling of particle generation from ozone reactions with human-worn clothing in indoor environments, Atmospheric Environment 102, 145–155.

10. Rai AC, Lin C-H, and Chen Q, 2014. Numerical modeling of volatile organic compound emissions from ozone reactions with human-worn clothing in an aircraft cabin, HVAC&R Research 20, 922–931.

11. Rai AC, Guo B, Lin C-H, Zhang J, Pei J, and Chen Q, 2014. Ozone reaction with clothing and its initiated VOC emissions in an environmental chamber, Indoor Air 24, 49–58.

12. Rai AC, Guo B, Lin C-H, Zhang J, Pei J, and Chen Q, 2013. Ozone reaction with clothing and its initiated particle generation in an environmental chamber, Atmospheric Environment 77, 885–892.

13. Rai AC and Chen Q, 2012. Simulations of ozone distributions in an aircraft cabin using computational fluid dynamics, Atmospheric Environment 54, 348–357.

*Dr. Rai is the corresponding author.