TURBULENCE-INFORMED PREDICTIVE MODELING FOR RESILIENT SYSTEMS IN EMERGING GLOBAL CHALLENGES: APPLICATIONS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND INDOOR AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION CONTROL

Evidence for climate change-related impacts and risks is already widespread globally, affecting not only the ecosystems but also the economy and health of our communities. Data-driven predictive modeling approaches such as machine learning and deep learning have emerged to be powerful tools for interpreting large and complex non-linear datasets such as meteorological variables from weather stations or the distribution of infectious droplets produced in a cough. However, the strength of these data-driven models can be further optimized by complementing them with foundational knowledge of the physical processes they represent. By understanding the core physics, one can enhance the reliability and accuracy of predictive outcomes. The effectiveness of these combined approaches becomes particularly feasible and robust with the recent advancements in the High-Performance Computing field. With improved processing speed, algorithm design, and storage capabilities, modern computers allow for a deeper and more precise examination of the data. Such advancements equip us to address the diverse challenges presented by climate change more effectively.

In particular, this document advances research in mitigating and preventing the consequences of global warming by implementing data-driven predictive models based on statistical, machine learning, and deep learning methods via two phases. In the first phase, this dissertation proposes frameworks consisting of machine and deep learning algorithms to increase the resilience of small-scale renewable energy systems, which are essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the ecosystems. The second phase focuses on using data from physics-based models, i.e., computational fluid dynamics (CFD), in data-driven predictive models for improving the design of air cleaning technologies, which are crucial to reducing the transmission of infectious diseases in indoor environments.

Specifically, this work is an article-based collection of published (or will be published) research articles. The articles are reformatted to fit the thesis's structure. The contents of the original articles are self-contained.