Numerical optimization applied to the thermal design of buildings

Abstract:Finding the most appropriate configuration of building components at the design stage can reduce energy consumption in new buildings. This study aims to optimize the design of the envelope of a new residential building located in a warm climate (southern Italy). The thermal behaviour of the building has been analysed to evaluate the indoor operative air temperature for several configurations. The building prototype has been modelled using the dynamic simulation software TRNSYS 17 (A transient system simulation program, University of Wisconsin, Solar Energy Laboratory, USA, 2010) using a sequential search technique. Starting from the simplest building configuration, the main evaluated components are: walls, slab-on-ground floor, roof, shading, windows and internal heat loads. For each of these components, different design options have been modelled and compared in terms of indoor thermal comfort. Comfort parameters have also been taken into account to evaluate users' satisfaction with the optimized configurations. The study of the operative air temperature demonstrates that the absence of insulating layers in the ground floor ensures a lower internal temperature in summer. The paper shows how each component impacts the thermal behaviour of the whole building. It highlights the usefulness of the envelope design optimization that is characterized by high values of heat storage capacity, enabling internal temperature fluctuations to be kept under control, especially during summer.Keywords: envelope; optimization; building; TRNSYS; operative air temperature; warm climate; comfort HIGHLIGHTS:•The envelope design of a residential building has been optimized for a warm climate.• Several envelope design options have been evaluated and compared.• Walls with a high internal areal heat capacity are preferable in a warm climate. •The absence of insulating layers on slab-on-ground floor provides lower temperature in summer.• Low emissivity glass and low solar absorbance roof reduce heat loads.

Section: Building Optimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Envelope Design Optimization by Thermal Modelling of a Building in a Warm Climate

Baglivo

Congedo

Cataldo³

et al. 2017

“…Sensitivity coefficients may be determined on the basis of any number of simulation results [10][11][12][13]. Even using the same output results, the sensitivity coefficient may be expressed in various forms.…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysis For Building Energy Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For thermal interactions between building variables based on building physics problems, it is unable to describe the physical phenomena by simple mathematical relationships since descriptions and relationships are so abstract and complicated [10][11][12][13]22,23].…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysis For Building Energy Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Heuristic Rule-Based Passive Design Decision Model for Reducing Heating Energy Consumption of Korean Apartment Buildings

Suh

Chang

2014

This research presents an evaluative energy model for estimating the energy efficiency of the design choices of architects and engineers in the early design phase. We analyze the effects of various parameters with different characteristics in various combinations for building energy consumption. With this analysis, we build a database that identifies a set of heuristic rules for energy-efficient building design to facilitate the design of sustainable apartment housing. Perturbation studies are based on a sensitivity analysis used to identify the thermal influence of the input design parameters on various simulation outputs and compare the results to a reference case. Energy sensitivity weight factors are obtained from an extensive sensitivity study using building energy simulations. The results of the energy sensitivity study summarized in a set of heuristic rules for evaluating architectural features are estimated through case studies of Korean apartment buildings. This study offers valuable guidelines for developing energy-efficient residential housing in Korea and will help architects in considering appropriate design schemes and provide a ready reference to generalized test cases for both architects and engineers so that they can zero in on a set of effective design solutions. OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2014, 7 6898

“…From as early as 1990, Bouchlaghem and Letherman [49] introduced a numerical optimization method applied to the thermal design of non-air-conditioned buildings, combining an optimization technique and a thermal analysis model. Early optimization studies used the generic optimization process [50], but soon it became clear that multi-objective optimization (MOO) methods were more suitable to the complex nature of building optimization, because they would allow the assessment of multiple variables or conflicting objectives, and find sets of global Pareto optimal (non-dominated) solutions.…”

Section: Design Optimization and Genetic Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Simulation Integrated in Parametric 3D Modeling as a Method for Early Stage Design Optimization—A Review

Touloupaki

Theodosiou

2017

During the last decades, standards on building construction have risen sharply to integrate new, ambitious demands regarding energy efficiency, as well as thermal and optical comfort in the design procedure. Building simulation software assists in the accurate calculation of a hypothetical or existing building's performance on several aspects; but they are, in their vast majority, assessment-oriented, rather than focused on dynamically supporting the decision-making procedure. During the last two decades, a clear shift of design professionals and academia towards addressing performance issues from the conceptual stages of a building's design is observed. In this review, the methodology of performance-driven design optimization using computational/parametric design and optimization is presented, and the core literature available on the topic is reviewed in order to identify the current status, different approaches, obstacles, and areas of future research on the subject. The review findings confirm that there is enormous potential for the design of better-performing buildings using this technique, but there are still many obstacles to overcome and areas for future research.