Simulating thermal resilience of buildings and their influence by urban microclimate using EnergyPlus

Abstract

With the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, it is crucial to ensure urban buildings are resilient during those events to provide critical services to preserve occupant health. To provide a consistent and convenient way to measure building thermal resilience through simulation, we identified and implemented a list of resilience metrics and related reports in EnergyPlus including the Heat Index, Humidex, and Standard Effective Temperature. We then conducted a case study with prototype buildings and ran simulations under different scenarios to measure the passive survivability of the building under a heatwave in September 2017 in San Francisco. The results show magnitude of heatwave impact on thermal resilience and infer how microclimate plays an essential role in influencing thermal resilience.