On September 3, 2026, Mahir Hafizović, Adjunct Senior Assistant at the Mechanical Engineering (ME) study program of the IUS Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS), successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled “Numerical Modelling of Turbulent Urban Flows for the Assessment of Outdoor Ventilation Efficiency.”
The dissertation was completed under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Muhamed Hadžiabdić.
The Defense Committee consisted of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Benjamin Duraković, Chair; Prof. Dr. Muhamed Hadžiabdić; Prof. Dr. Adnan Mašić; Dr. Bojan Ničeno; Prof. Dr. Edin Berberović; and Asst. Prof. Dr. Nima Rabiei as substitute member.
Dr. Hafizović’s research focused on the development, validation and application of an integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based methodology for assessing urban ventilation, with particular emphasis on physics-based ventilation indices that can be applied to realistic urban geometries.
The methodology covered the full modelling chain required for realistic urban flow analysis, including the numerical approach, turbulence modelling strategy, boundary conditions, wall and roughness treatment, urban geometry processing and mesh generation. It also enabled the evaluation of different urban forms through complementary microscale and local-scale ventilation indices.
By combining advanced numerical modelling with realistic urban environments, the research contributes to a more detailed understanding of how air moves through cities and how urban form can influence outdoor ventilation efficiency.
We congratulate Dr. Mahir Hafizović on this important academic achievement and wish him continued success in his future research and professional work.
