Effect of geometric factors on the energy performance of high-rise office towers in Tianjin, China

Abstract

To improve energy efficiency of office buildings in Tianjin, we select a prototypical high-rise office tower as an example and focus on the effect of geometric factors on building energy performance. These factors include the orientation, plane shape, floor area, plane shape factor (the ratio of the plane length to the plane width, only as regards to a rectangle-shaped plane), floor height, floor number and window-to-wall ratio. The simulation is performed in DesignBuilder, which integrates artificial lighting with instantaneous daylight during the energy simulation process. The geometric factors of the defined prototype are examined in both single-parameter and multi-parameter evaluations. As to the multi-parameter results, the energy saving rate can vary by up to 18.9%, and reducing the floor height is observed to be the most effective means of reducing annual total end-use energy consumption, followed by increasing the plane shape factor and reducing the floor area. The results can serve as a reference for passive design strategies related to geometric factors in the early design stage.