Computational Analysis to Design Energy Efficient Built Environments
Double skin facades (DSF) provide a means of enhancing the energy saving capabilities of buildings. By being able to respond dynamically to changing ambient conditions using natural ventilation, shading devices, and/or thermal insulation devices or strategies, DSFs are being incorporated into modern architecture and even retrofitted in some older structures to reduce the energy required to balance the load input into the building. Utilizing a general building model and weather conditions and integrating various designs for DSFs, a comparative study can be made to support or oppose the different designs changes being made. The analysis of the set-up will be performed by Fluent, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Fluent will solve for the Navier-Stokes equations and turbulent flow using the finite volume method. These results show that the energy necessary to power the HVAC system decreases with certain configurations.