Optimization of the Exhibition Building Form Based on the Solar Energy Absorption

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of the form and the shape of the exhibition on the performance of the absorption of solar energy in both cold & mountainous and hot & dry climates has been investigated. The form as the most prominent design feature in buildings has a significant impact on energy efficiency and can be expressed in different ways in a building. In order to evaluate the energy performance of various geometries as an exhibition, the absorption of solar energy in several geometries with different shapes, such as: hexagonal / pyramid / prism / incomplete prism / rectangular cube / cube / hemisphere / cylinder / cylinder combination and the rectangle cube combination, have been numerically simulated. For all geometries, the total area and other simulation conditions are assumed to be the same. The results show that in both types of climate, the most absorbed solar energy is obtained for pyramidal geometry and the least absorption is obtained by hemispherical geometry. The hemisphere form in the hot and dry climate has the best form-to-type ratio in order to provide thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption during the exhibition. In the cold and mountainous climate, pyramidal geometry has the highest energy absorption and is the best option among all investigated geometries. The absorption of solar energy in hemispherical geometry for hot & dry and cold & mountain climate is 66% and 54% compared to pyramidal, respectively.