Influence of orientation, glazing proportion and zone aspect ratio on the thermal performance of buildings during the winter period

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the effect of orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio of building zones on heat fluxes through their surfaces, under specific environmental conditions. The investigation is carried out for thermally-insulated building zones with a varying facade orientation corresponding to each cardinal point, during the winter period in the northern Greek region. For this purpose, three glazing-to-facade ratios (GR) are taken into account; along with the glazing ratio the influence of the glazing U value is also considered. Regarding the impact of the fenestration layout geometry, five different building aspect ratio profiles are examined. Thermal fluxes are assessed for two different indoor temperature settings, while the operation of the heating unit is assumed to be continuous. The transient thermal analysis with its mathematical formulation and solution are based on the thermal-network modelling approach, while the solar heat gain through glazing relies on the sunlit-pattern approach; in this way, the stricken by the solar rays glazing area is projected onto any interior surfaces to form the so called "sunlit" areas. As the orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio of the building zone vary, so do the sizes and shapes of the illuminated "sunlit" areas. Accordingly, the delivered into the zone direct solar energy and its diffused and ground reflected components can be determined. The adopted methodology provides a more accurate determination of solar heat gain with respect to glazing proportion and orientation as well as zone aspect ratio. With regard to surface orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio, computer results demonstrate the improvement of the thermal performance for a building zone with a south oriented glazing surface, as well as the deterioration for the other surface orientations; relative increases/decreases in the energy fluxes of a rectangular shaped building zone compared to a square-shaped building zone can reach up to 50%/100%.

Effect of window-to-wall-area ratio on thermal performance of building wall materials in Elazığ, Turkey

“…Many studies have been performed regarding the thermal performance of building elements [4][5][6][7], in particular, wall and roof elements. However, the effect of window-to-wall-area ratio on thermal behavior has been studied by only a few researchers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], in which different wall and windows were investigated under different climatic conditions.…”

Advanced Strategies for Net-Zero Energy Building: Focused on the Early Phase and Usage Phase of a Building’s Life Cycle

“…Accordingly, a variety of studies have been carried out in relation to the reduction of the building energy demand through the envelope design. In this study, the above-mentioned past studies can be classified into heat insulation, opening design, and shading device (refer to Table 4) [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. First, in terms of the heat insulation, the studies that have been carried out to reduce buidling energy demand are as follows [40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

“…Also, the results showed that the room temperature can be lowered by 3.4 • C when the green roof is applied [45]. Second, in terms of the window design, most of the previous studies mainly focused on the derivation of an optimal design solution considering that the window is more vulnerable to heat gain and loss than the wall is [46][47][48][49][50][51]. Goia (2016) examined the optimal window-to-wall ratio (WWR) for four cities (i.e., Oslo, Frankfurt, Rome, and Athens) located in the mid-latitude region of Euroupe through the EnergyPlus software program.…”

Energy Performance Optimization for A School Building in Syria According to Building Shape and Orientation

“…The impact of architectural volumetric design solutions on the need for energy in buildings has recently been the subject of much investigation [1][2][3][4][5]. Through their aspect ratios, the design and shape of buildings can influence energy performance [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Wang et al [12] optimized a form with a multi-sided polygon using a genetic algorithm technique.…”