An optimized energy efficient design of a light gauge steel building

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of an energy efficient and cost optimized design of a light gauge steel building. The structural analyses conducted were linked to the concept of design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) for the optimization of assembly time, quantity of labors and materials. A variety of analyses were performed on a prefabricated residential building constructed with cold formed and hot rolled steel materials for comparison which has a limited research previously. The energy optimization for the prefabricated building was carried out using Autodesk Insight 360. Several tools for structural, thermal, energy and cost analyses were adopted in this research. A Building Information Model (BIM) was developed in Revit and structural model in ETABS for structural analysis. Thermal performance was executed using Simulinks in MATLAB followed by energy simulations in DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus software packages. The material and energy costs of the designed building were estimated using CostX tool. From the analysis, the optimal window-wall ratio (WWR) was found to be 10%− 15% produced better energy and cost savings. Furthermore, the total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the building was found to be reduced by 28.7%− 31.5% with an application of insulation in its external walls in simulations. Improved bending capacity and shear force for CFS compared to RHS was observed. Finally, a framework was proposed for the automation and interoperability of building analysis tools.