scholarly journals The importance of infiltration pathways in assessing and modelling overheating risks in multi-residential buildings

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S McLeod ◽  
Michael Swainson ◽  
Christina J Hopfe ◽  
Kostas Mourkos ◽  
Chris Goodier
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Building Simulation ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Performance Simulation ◽  
Building Performance Simulation ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Critical Aspects

With the help of building diagnostics, the causes and solutions to complex problems in buildings can be determined. In central and greater London, an increasing number of cases of chronic, year-round, overheating in buildings have been reported. We present three cases of unexpected temperatures in multi-storey residential buildings. Detailed analysis and modelling of these scenarios have led to an investigation of whether the way in which infiltration is currently modelled in building performance simulation may be exerting a pronounced effect on the results of overheating studies. An EnergyPlus model, of one of the dwellings in a multi-residential building in London, was created to investigate the influence of infiltration and exfiltration pathway assumptions on the prediction of overheating. The simulation results were compared to empirical data and show that the predicted indoor temperatures are highly sensitive to how the infiltration airflow network is modelled. The findings of this study have been used to provide practical guidance for modellers and building designers on critical aspects to consider when creating building performance simulation models to ensure more reliable outcomes. Overheating in buildings is an emerging topic of critical importance to the future of the built environment. The importance of understanding infiltration pathways in assessing and modelling overheating risks in flats and multi-residential buildings has been hitherto underestimated or simply ignored. In this paper, examples are given which highlight the need for a fuller understanding of internal air movement where accurate predictions of internal temperatures are required. At present, common building simulation practices and existing technical memorandum (TM) standards are masking the problem and do not provide a basis from which typical or worst-case scenarios can be adequately considered.

scholarly journals Guidelines to Calibrate a Multi-Residential Building Simulation Model Addressing Overheating Evaluation and Residents’ Influence

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 242
Author(s):  
Christoph Schünemann ◽  
David Schiela ◽  
Regine Ortlepp
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Building Simulation ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Building Performance Simulation ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
3D Simulation Model ◽  
Building Physics

Can building performance simulation reproduce measured summertime indoor conditions of a multi-residential building in good conformity? This question is answered by calibrating simulated to monitored room temperatures of several rooms of a multi-residential building for an entire summer in two process steps. First, we did a calibration for several days without the residents being present to validate the building physics of the 3D simulation model. Second, the simulations were calibrated for the entire summer period, including the residents’ impact on evolving room temperature and overheating. As a result, a high degree of conformity between simulation and measurement could be achieved for all monitored rooms. The credibility of our results was secured by a detailed sensitivity analysis under varying meteorological conditions, shading situations, and window ventilation or room use in the simulation model. For top floor dwellings, a high overheating intensity was evoked by a combination of insufficient use of night-time window ventilation and non-heat-adapted residential behavior in combination with high solar gains and low heat storage capacities. Finally, the overall findings were merged into a process guideline to describe how a step-by-step calibration of residential building simulation models can be done. This guideline is intended to be a starting point for future discussions about the validity of the simplified boundary conditions which are often used in present-day standard overheating assessment.

scholarly journals Sustainable Passive Design for Building Performance of Healthy Built Environment in the Lingnan Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9115
Author(s):  
Bin Li ◽  
Weihong Guo ◽  
Xiao Liu ◽  
Yuqing Zhang ◽  
Peter John Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Performance Simulation ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Building Performance Simulation ◽  
Adaptive Thermal Comfort ◽  
Passive Design

Having a healthy built environment becomes increasingly important, especially under the effects of COVID-19. This paper intends to combine sustainable goals based on climate change with passive design principles to achieve a healthy built environment regarding the building performance of residential buildings. The Yuedao Residential Community in the Lingnan area was taken as an example for the research. Based on relevant standards of healthy buildings, the thermal, light, and acoustic environment requirements were determined. The methods of building performance simulation and on-site measurement were used to quantify the research object environments. Then, the outcomes were obtained based on these standards. As observed, the thermal environment’s adaptive thermal comfort level was level III. It was hot indoors, but the light and acoustic environments met the requirements. Building designs based on a built environment optimized by external shading systems aim to solve problems through building performance simulation and qualitative analysis. After optimization, the thermal environment improved. According to the literature review, this research focused on a healthy built environment with a sustainable passive design in terms of building performance. A research workflow was established that could be used for more practical research, with abundant research methods. The problems were solved to varying degrees, and the Lingnan architectural culture was preserved. Moreover, this research filled the gap in interactive research on healthy built environments with sustainable passive design regarding building performance.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Energy Retrofitting, a Simulation for Potential Energy Use Reduction in Residential Buildings in Palestine

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3876
Author(s):  
Sameh Monna ◽  
Adel Juaidi ◽  
Ramez Abdallah ◽  
Aiman Albatayneh ◽  
Patrick Dutournie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Water Heating ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Space Cooling ◽  
Cooling Loads

Since buildings are one of the major contributors to global warming, efforts should be intensified to make them more energy-efficient, particularly existing buildings. This research intends to analyze the energy savings from a suggested retrofitting program using energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings. For the assessment of the energy retrofitting program using computer simulation, the most commonly utilized residential building types were selected. The energy consumption of those selected residential buildings was assessed, and a baseline for evaluating energy retrofitting was established. Three levels of retrofitting programs were implemented. These levels were ordered by cost, with the first level being the least costly and the third level is the most expensive. The simulation models were created for two different types of buildings in three different climatic zones in Palestine. The findings suggest that water heating, space heating, space cooling, and electric lighting are the highest energy consumers in ordinary houses. Level one measures resulted in a 19–24 percent decrease in energy consumption due to reduced heating and cooling loads. The use of a combination of levels one and two resulted in a decrease of energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting by 50–57%. The use of the three levels resulted in a decrease of 71–80% in total energy usage for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, and air conditioning.

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