Building Performance Analysis Research Articles

Performance analysis of a novel building integrated low concentration photovoltaic skylight with seasonal solar control

This paper presents the development and performance demonstration of a novel low concentration PV skylight system that ensures seasonal solar control in buildings. It uses static Fresnel lenses that deviate solar radiation to the solar cells during the spring-summer period, increasing the electricity production while decreasing the heat into the building. During the autumn-winter period, the system allows the light to pass into the building, producing electricity as usual. Similar existing solutions normally only consider the PV performance but leave aside other energy parameters of the building. The development phase includes several mechanical, fire and PV tests. The new system is validated in two test benches: firstly, integrated as a skylight in the experimental FACT building at CEA INES in France; secondly, in a bigger system in Tecnalia facilities in Spain. In both cases, the system shows a significant increase of the PV production in the overall spring-summer period between 10 and 20% compared to an equivalent system without lenses. The measured cooling demand during spring-summer is reduced by 20% while daylighting in the building is not significantly affected. These advantages make this solution suitable to replace common non-photovoltaic glazing skylights and produce electricity while the solar gains are controlled in the building.

Building performance analysis for optimizing the energy consumption of an educational building

PurposeIn response to rising energy prices and growing environmental concerns, there is a growing demand for environmentally friendly building facilities. This study investigates optimizing energy consumption and improves the level of accuracy when selecting suitable materials and components with minimal impact on the overall energy consumption of buildings.Design/methodology/approachThis study was carried out from the perspective of an educational building's energy simulation, using a validated building energy analysis tool Green Building Studio (GBS). There were eight parameters analyzed considering at least two connected variables without measuring the initial building configuration. After that, Autodesk Revit and Insight 360 were used to make similar scenarios of the best performance selections so that the general results could be compared and the initial hypothesis could be proven.FindingsIn this study, the initial building analysis showed that there was an annual energy use of 139 kBtu/sf and the estimated carbon emissions were about 156 tons/yr. After the parametric analysis, the maximum energy saving was about 32.38%, considering the best performance scenario with a reduction of CO2 emissions of around 28.85%.Originality/valueThe outcome of this study will help Bangladeshi architect/designers to make appropriate decisions regarding the selection of suitable building materials and components at the initial stage of any project in terms of the energy consumption aspects. In addition, energy-efficient buildings provide cleaner combustion and better circulation than traditional buildings, that is why they reduce indoor air pollution, maintaining a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for future generations.

A Review of Optimization Techniques Application for Building Performance Analysis

Optimization techniques (OT) are tools to find the best solution during a decision making process. Each of these techniques has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on their objectives and focus areas. Early application of OT was recorded as early as the 1930s with the introduction of the Monte Carlo Method, which is widely used in business studies. The idea was conceived due to poly-objectives, or multi-objectives, in identifying the best solution. OT theories and methods have evolved to cover various fields of study. This paper aims to provide a brief review of OT through a comparison of the pros and cons of each OT technique. The findings emphasize the suitability of each technique for different applications in various fields of study. Finally, this study aims to select the most suitable OT for building performance for energy optimization. In conclusion, the summary of findings and recommendations from Tables 2, 3, and 4 need to be combined during the process of selecting the most suitable OT. Regardless of the various categories and their multiple applications, it is the summary of characteristics of each optimization technique that determines their suitability for adoption depending on the research objectives, strength of the researcher, and availability of data. ANN is suitable for optimization for building energy performance covering energy use, energy cost and energy prediction which offer a high level of accuracy. However, it is a complex model that requires historical data input and can produce only short-term predictions. For broader optimization objectives which cover energy load, a hybrid of ANN and kNN is recommended. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-04-014 Full Text: PDF

A Review of Mathematical Models of Building Physics and Energy Technologies for Environmentally Friendly Integrated Energy Management Systems

The Energy Management System (EMS) is an efficient technique to monitor, control and enhance the building performance. In the state-of-the-art, building performance analysis is separated into building simulation and control management: this may cause inaccuracies and extra operating time. Thus, a coherent framework to integrate building physics with various energy technologies and energy control management methods is highly required. This framework should be formed by simplified but accurate models of building physics and building energy technologies, and should allow for the selection of proper control strategies according to the control objectives and scenarios. Therefore, this paper reviews the fundamental mathematical modeling and control strategies to create such a framework. The mathematical models of (i) building physics and (ii) popular building energy technologies (renewable energy systems, common heating and cooling energy systems and energy distribution systems) are first presented. Then, it is shown how the collected mathematical models can be linked. Merging with two frequently used EMS strategies, namely rule-based and model predictive controls, is discussed. This work provides an extendable map to model and control buildings and intends to be a foundation for building researchers, designers and engineers.

Optimization and Performance Analysis of Residential Building for Sustainable Energy Design Through BIM

The problems and effects of global warming stand a primary concern for most of the people in today’s world. As the demand for energy increases, the available energy resources noticeably decrease which rapidly upsurges the need for energy-efficient buildings. Housing is one of the largest energy consumers as it consumes about 40% of the total energy. This study aims to improve the energy consumption and the strength of houses in India compared to other materials in construction walls. The study includes the record of electricity life cycle, fuel consumption and Life Cycle Energy Costs (LCEC), the intensity of the annual energy consumption and the peak value of the annual demand, its evaluation and presents the comparison with the original planning. Finally, the measure of the total annual energy and total electricity and fuel life cycle costs for the building wall in the Indian scenario using sustainable energy efficient design and construction methods under BIM and tools like Revit, Insight360 and Green Building Studio are presented. An energy analysis model that integrates BIM to create precise residential performance forecasts with better optimization scenarios is represented.

Determination of Business Intelligence and Analytics-Based Healthcare Facility Management Key Performance Indicators

The use of digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and smart meters induces a huge data stack in facility management (FM). However, the use of data analysis techniques has remained limited to converting available data into information within activities performed in FM. In this context, business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) techniques can provide a promising opportunity to elaborate facility performance and discover measurable new FM key performance indicators (KPIs) since existing KPIs are too crude to discover actual performance of facilities. Beside this, there is no comprehensive study that covers BI&A activities and their importance level for healthcare FM. Therefore, this study aims to identify healthcare FM KPIs and their importance levels for the Turkish healthcare FM industry with the use of the AHP integrated PROMETHEE method. As a result of the study, ninety-eight healthcare FM KPIs, which are categorized under six categories, were found. The comparison of the findings with the literature review showed that there are some similarities and differences between countries’ FM healthcare ranks. Within this context, differences between countries can be related to the consideration of limited FM KPIs in the existing studies. Therefore, the proposed FM KPIs under this study are very comprehensive and detailed to measure and discover healthcare FM performance. This study can help professionals perform more detailed building performance analyses in FM. Additionally, findings from this study will pave the way for new developments in FM software and effective use of available data to enable lean FM processes in healthcare facilities.

Preserving cultural heritage and tourism promoting city values: Applying digitalization trends to cultural heritage

Even if the implementation of Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) for historic buildings is still beset with challenges and difficulties, researchers all over the globe are continually developing new technologies, which exhibits positive tendencies. However, there hasn't been a lot of study done on HBIM in Vietnam yet. Therefore, in an effort to expand and promote HBIM to a wider community, the purpose of this study is to digitize cultural heritage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam using a heritage information data model integrated enhanced data model that incorporates Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) for the virtual tour, as well as historical preservation; as a result, the city's legacy may have a greater value, both in terms of its tangible and intangible aspects. The research is broken down into four main steps: (1) observing the potential application of 3D Laser Scanning in preserving the tangible cultural heritage; (2) implementing scanning work for a case study in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam; (3) identifying the workflow for integrations; and (4) assessing the orientation of the research, the Temple of King Hung in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is chosen for the case study. The research results show the constraints in utilizing the Trimble X7 3D Laser Scanner; the working experience is examined to improve the future workflow for future case studies. The coupling of HBIM with application history environments for building performance analysis, structural analysis, facilities management, augmented reality, virtual reality, and secure design fire protection for historic buildings may be determined to be beneficial. An altered approach involving VR, AR vision algorithms is also presented by promoting digital tourism, making valuable cultural heritage and tourism accessible to people by technology.

Studi Dampak Penggunaan Insulasi pada Bangunan Rumah Tinggal Terhadap Konsumsi Energi Pendingin Ruangan

The global warming issue has become a concern for environmentalists activists, including many governments. This concern is due to the increasing attention to reducing the use of fossil energy because fossil energy has significantly exacerbated global warming. To minimize the use of fossil energy, especially the housing sector that is one of the extensive energy users. Building performance's analysis is done by creating changes to the case study's building envelope material. Case study buildings were simulated in energy analysis software. Preliminary analysis shows how the performance of the case study building is still far from the standard of thermal comfort. Air conditioning (AC) usage in the room will give comfort in terms of temperature. But, even though with the AC, the humidity level of the room was still high. Two building models are then created in the software to see the performance of the building by making changes to the building envelope material. With the settings on air-conditioning (AC) and environmental conditions in both models, the results indicate differences in the building performance of the two buildings. The results show that the building with insulation are using less energy and can provide optimal comfort for building users. Comfort is not only in terms of the building's temperature but including building relative humidity. In buildings with insulation, the temperature and humidity of the building are relatively stable throughout the year.

Distance learning of designing high-performance, sustainable, intelligent buildings at the Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology

The article presents experiences from the use of distance learning methods during project classes, seminars and lectures. The author conducts 3 courses in the field of sustainable architecture, high-performing buildings, energy efficiency and modern methods for simulating the building performance. These are: “New Technologies and Methods in Architecture Design”, “Intelligent Building - Building Performance Analysis” and “Specialist design resulting from local conditions”. Students taking the courses are in the first year of Master’s studies at the Silesian University of Technology (SUT). Following the European Bologna model, this program at SUT lasts one and a half years and requires a bachelor’s degree.

Co-model for urban density permutations and building form optimization with high-performance energy criteria

Computational models capable of generating accurate site metrics for building performance analysis are often limited, complex and time-consuming. To address this gap, a new procedure has been developed with a five-step optimization process relevant to examining urban forms with buildings density constraints, window-to-wall ratio, incident solar radiation and energy production potential in façades. Factors analyzed include floor space intensity ( FSI ), building height ( H ), spatial daylight autonomy ( sDA ), annual sun exposure ( ASE ) and the effect of façade tilt angles on efficiency targets in cold climates. A myriad of parametric functions has been incorporated in the process through Grasshopper, DIVA, ArchSIM, and evolutionary algorithms in Galapagos. The study revealed effective results of energy production across prominent façade design options. Increasing FSI was found to decrease sDA , for a fixed H . In contrast, increasing H for a fixed FSI decreased sDA with an insignificant magnitude of 4%. The ratio of increase in glazing to increase in sDA was in the order of 1:1.47. Overall, the findings showed novelty in optimizing each façade panel to achieve best performance demonstrated by different urban densities with low/mid/high-rise building conditions. Energy production reached 13 kWh/m 2 with integrated photovoltaics , as a renewable source. High-rise buildings showed the best conceivable energy improvement as opposed to other height conditions. The improvement percentage was observed to be directly proportional to the height difference between the studied building and the surrounding context. • Five-step method to determine the impact of different urban densities on energy production. • Novel optimization method to achieve optimum performance for each façade panel. • Demonstrating the relationship between urban context and renewable energy production. • Parametric workflow that can be re-applied to different contexts and case studies.

Acoustic design and optimization of an organic architecture, a cross disciplinary design of an open-space airport case study

Architectural innovation, both at morphological and technological scale, have increased the importance of new methodologies and tools for the building performance analysis. New organic shapes have decreased the reliability of traditional specialistic knowledge, highlighting the importance of new methodologies to manage complex models and analyse the indoor comfort. The aim of this paper is to present a case study of the acoustic design of an organic open-space airport, realized integrating architectural and acoustic concepts in the design workflow. The building, characterized by a curvilinear plan, a wavy suspended ceiling, and a tilted façade, behave as a single tall, large volume containing different small low-height closed service boxes. This architectural approach leads to a mixture of functions in the same large volume with a resulting complex problem of acoustic optimization. To that end, different studies have been conducted from the protection from external noise to the optimization of the reverberation time, and to the design of the speakers. Considering the geometric complexity, different tools and a particular methodology have been used to properly model the building and to optimize the use and the placement of acoustic absorbing materials.

Measurement, Simulation, and Quantification of Lighting-Space Flicker Risk Levels Using Low-Cost TCS34725 Colour Sensor and IEEE 1789-2015 Standard

Building owners are transitioning towards a smart lighting solution for illumination purposes. LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting application has become a norm given its high efficacy and energy efficiencies. This paper presents an approach to monitor the percent flicker conformance of interior building lighting to international standards. The focus is on flickers induced by LED lightings. This experiment utilises a TCS34725 RGB (red, green, blue) colour sensor to measure the flicker parameters of interior lighting spaces. Light-sensitive photodiodes in the sensor detect changes in lighting intensity, and output digitised values. A Raspberry Pi4 minicomputer processes the data measured for comparison to several standards. Non-conformance is reported to building owners to take corrective actions and minimise flicker discomfort exposure to building occupants. A flicker risk level factor is determined to gauge the severity when flickers are present. This method may be used to replace luminaires or fix flickering lighting issues in buildings. The results show that the monitoring system is functional. The proposed measurement and data processing method can be incorporated into any smart building hub for automation and building performance analysis. The method may also be used to measure non-LED lighting flickers.

Worldwide dynamic predictive analysis of building performance under long-term climate change conditions

Around the world, expected climate changes can affect indoor comfort conditions in buildings. Analysing the climate in which buildings are located is the first step towards high-efficiency design, and today it is no longer possible to ignore impending climate change. This study has provided a worldwide picture of how comfort conditions inside a building can change as external climatic conditions change. For the first time, a building is tested worldwide over a long-term period, and not just in a specific climate or a small group of climates. Several cities homogeneously distributed around the world were selected, covering all climates of the Köppen-Geiger classification. A hypothetical building was implemented with the Termolog Epix 11 software in order to monitor the operative temperature (TOP) in free-floating mode on an hourly basis and test its temperature variations in the short, medium and long term. The percentage values of the hours when the TOP is in a comfort or discomfort conditions were compared for all configurations. The results showed that the comfort conditions vary with the climate. Climate zone A displayed for most subclimates high TOP values. Climate zone B showed an irregular trend, from 2020 to 2080 the hours when TOPs fall below 20 °C decreased in most locations. Climate zone C included areas where TOPs are mostly in the comfort range. Some sub-climates in zone D show very cold climates, with an average of about 15–20% of the annual hours in the comfort zone in 2020, then increasing slightly by a few percentage points in 2080.

Energy performance analysis of a historical building using cost-optimal assessment

The energy efficiency concept has attracted significant attention over the last few years and has taken a prominent role in the development goals of countries. Considering that buildings have a high share in total energy consumption, it is crucial to improve their energy performance both in environmental and economic terms. Although efforts in increasing buildings’ energy efficiency have primarily focused on new buildings, existing buildings still retain their importance. Historical buildings are included in the existing building stock. It is essential to increase their energy efficiency to achieve carbon–neutral building targets set from EU Directives. In this paper, we proposed measures to improve the energy efficiency and determine cost‐optimal levels of a public historical building located in a hot-humid climate zone of Turkey. An integrated approach based on in situ measurements and building energy simulations was used to create a building energy model that was calibrated by using real measurements. Then, 365 energy-efficient measures are applied to the building and conducted an economic feasibility study by utilizing a cost-optimal envelope, lighting, heat pump and photovoltaic panel. A sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the impact of investing on optimal cost-of-energy level calculations with focus on the inflation rate, different interest rates, and calculation periods. Sensitivity analysis of discount rate has shown when the discount rate increases, global costs decrease. It is observed that the changes in economic parameters that could cause a decrease in annual costs reduced the cost effectiveness of the scenarios with high initial investment costs.

Framework for parametric assessment of operational and embodied energy impacts utilising BIM

In recent years advances in digital tools have been leading the way in the construction of cleaner, more energy-efficient buildings. Furthermore, improvements in Building Information Modelling (BIM) have resulted in various tools being used to assess building performance and overall Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This work offers a unique insight into the development of a parametric LCA BIM tool, focusing on both operational and embodied energy perspectives through case study analysis of a commercial and a domestic building in the UK. A mixed research method was employed combining a literature review, qualitative and quantitative LCA case study analysis, and parametric modelling. The results indicate that embodied energy is much more critical in the early stages of the building's life, then is quickly overtaken by operational energy. In addition, many variations exist in energy outputs between domestic and commercial buildings. Operational energy takes a significant share in domestic buildings compared to commercial buildings. These variations are attributed to different design methods, construction materials, occupancy patterns and energy demands. The study proposes an LCA-BIM interactive user-led method of addressing energy hotspots for both operational and embodied elements, which can provide more instant identification of energy critical areas. Such an approach can offer real alternative BIM-based analysis tools during the design stages, compared to those currently being used, which focus mainly on either LCA of operational or embodied energy.

Analysis of green building performance in cold coastal climates: An in-depth evaluation of green buildings in Dalian, China

This study described here evaluated certified green building projects in Dalian, a typical coastal city in a cold region of China, from 2008 to 2017. Of 16 surveyed cases in Dalian, 73% adopted a high-performance building envelope system. Energy-saving technologies were favored and demonstrated worthwhile economic benefits. In 80% of the cases high-performance green materials had been used. Resource-saving technologies also were widely adopted. In addition to analyzing all the data collected, the study under-took an in-depth analysis of one building. A representative three-star green public building in Dalian, China, was chosen as a case study for analyzing the energy consumption and operating performance. The study found that energy use intensity of the case-study building is 68.02 kW-hours per square meter per year(kWh/(m2・a)). It saves 44.14 kWh/m2・a compared with a conventional building in the same climate, thanks to its energy efficiency systems and integration of renewable energy. The water consumption of the building when operating was 0.41 cubic meter per square meter(m3/m2) per year, which is even lower than the design value. The case-study building also demonstrated good indoor environmental quality throughout different seasons. Finally, practical methods and suggestions were derived from evaluating and discussing effective technologies in the 16 buildings surveyed. The research led to recommendations for developing green buildings in cold and coastal climates. It also provides a substantial guidance for the energy-saving design of green buildings and the application of appropriate technologies in cold coastal cities.

Integration of non-destructive testing, numerical simulations, and simplified analytical tools for assessing the structural performance of historical adobe buildings

For existing structures, the development of seismic vulnerability studies requires the availability of information related to geometry, boundary conditions, material properties, and accumulated damage. In the case of historical constructions, modern conservation criteria recommend carrying out a comprehensive structural assessment that involves the use of concurrent experimental diagnosis complemented with numerical and analytical approaches for structural analysis. This paper presents a proposal for a comprehensive integration of these perspectives by the application of several tools for the seismic performance analysis of an iconic Andean historical adobe building: the 'San Pedro Apostol Church' located in Andahuaylillas, Southern Peru. In this church, several non-destructive techniques for geometrical and damage assessment were combined with structural exploration tools, nonlinear numerical modeling, and simplified analytical tools for performing predictive seismic analysis. The results indicate the feasibility of the integration of these techniques for studying existing earthen buildings and their capacity to properly predict observed damage in past earthquakes (i.e. failures of bell towers, façade walls, tympani, and triumphal arches). In particular, the analyses allowed the identification of high seismic vulnerability of the studied church in occasional earthquakes (earthquakes with a return period of 72 years) due to the activation of collapse mechanisms consisting of rocking of the façade walls and out-of-plane overturning of the lateral walls.

Generating prototypical residential building geometry models using a new hybrid approach

Building prototyping has regularly been used in building performance analyses with statistically feasible models. The novelty of this research involves a new hybrid approach combining stratified sampling and k-means clustering to establish building geometry prototypes. The research focuses on residential buildings in Ningbo, China. Seventeen small residential districts (SRDs) containing 367 residential buildings were systemically selected for survey and data collection. The stratified sampling used building construction year as the main parameter to generate stratification. Floor numbers, shape coefficients, floor areas, and window-to-wall ratios were used as the four observations for k-means clustering. Based on this new approach, nine building geometry prototypes were identified and modelled. These statistically representative prototypes provide building geometrical information and characteristic-based evaluations for subsequent building performance analysis.

Morocco’s housing challenge: Effect of current marketed building materials on the energy performance of residential buildings

The paper provides a research on the energy performance of current marketed building materials used for household construction in eastern Morocco. Firstly, the characterization of the thermophysical properties of commonly used building materials (cement, plaster, hollow bricks and insulation boards) was carried out using the Hot Disk method. A local building material database of eastern Morocco region was developed. It was found that the thermal conductivity of the most affordable insulation boards was of 0.03 W/mK, while the thermal conductivity of cement-based products ranged from 0.65 to 0.7 W/mK. The experimental results show that the Moroccan market of building materials cannot participate in promoting eco-construction and designing efficient lightweight building envelopes at local level. Therefore, a strong focus on the development of local low-cost insulation materials for building applications are needed. The numerical building performance analysis shows that available building practices are only efficient for passive heating. Further studied on passive cooling techniques are greatly required for designing low energy buildings in Morocco.

STACKED: The building design, systems engineering and performance analysis of plant factories for urban food production

Expanding cities across the world rely increasingly on the global food network, but should they? Population growth, urbanisation and climate change place pressure on this network, bringing its resilience into question. For decades urban agriculture has been discussed in popular media and academia as a potential solution to improve food security, quality and sustainability. The new idol in this discussion is the plant factory: A fully closed system for crop production. Arrays of LEDs provide light and hydroponics provide water and nutrients to vertically stacked layers of crops, hence the term vertical farming. The plant factory features more extensive climate control than high-tech greenhouses. The question remains whether this level of climate control is necessary, effective and/or efficient. The scope of this research is therefore to investigate the potential and limitations of plant factories for urban food production. The STACKED method was developed to address the performance of plant factories across multiple scales, from leaf to facility to city. The role of plant processes in the total energy balance was outlined first. Performance was assessed by analysing the resource requirements, including energy, electricity, water, CO2 and land area use, for the production of fresh vegetables. The impact of facade and cooling system design was analysed in detail. Lastly, the effects of local food production on the urban energy balance were assessed for various scenarios. The results of this dissertation can serve as a foundation for future studies on the application of plant factories in both theoretical and real world applications.Expanding cities across the world rely increasingly on the global food network, but should they? Population growth, urbanisation and climate change place pressure on this network, bringing its resilience into question. For decades urban agriculture has been discussed in popular media and academia as a potential solution to improve food security, quality and sustainability. The new idol in this discussion is the plant factory: A fully closed system for crop production. Arrays of LEDs provide light and hydroponics provide water and nutrients to vertically stacked layers of crops, hence the term vertical farming. The plant factory features more extensive climate control than high-tech greenhouses. The question remains whether this level of climate control is necessary, effective and/or efficient. The scope of this research is therefore to investigate the potential and limitations of plant factories for urban food production. The STACKED method was developed to address the performance of plant factories across multiple scales, from leaf to facility to city. The role of plant processes in the total energy balance was outlined first. Performance was assessed by analysing the resource requirements, including energy, electricity, water, CO2 and land area use, for the production of fresh vegetables. The impact of facade and cooling system design was analysed in detail. Lastly, the effects of local food production on the urban energy balance were assessed for various scenarios. The results of this dissertation can serve as a foundation for future studies on the application of plant factories in both theoretical and real world applications.