Simulation of building thermal performance in an institutional building in subtropical climate

Abstract

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.

Simulation of building thermal performance is important in predicting comfort of the occupants in buildings. An analysis and prediction of thermal comfort using DesignBuilder based on EnergyPlus, state of the art building performance simulation software, is presented in this study for an air conditioned multistoried building in Rockhampton city of Central Queensland, Australia. Rockhampton is located in a hot humid region; therefore, indoor thermal comfort is strongly affected by the outdoor climate. The actual thermal condition of the Information Technology Division (ITD) Building at Central Queensland University during winter and summer seasons is evaluated and the possibilities of energy conservation without compromising thermal comfort of the occupants are explored. The Fanger comfort model, Pierce two-node model and KSU two-node model were used to predict thermal performance of the building. A sophisticated building analysis tool was integrated with thermal comfort models which allow for the determination of appropriate cooling technologies for the occupants to be thermally comfortable with sufficient energy savings. This study will also compare predicted mean vote (PMV) and thermal sensation vote (TSV) on a seven point thermal sensation scale calculated using the effective temperature, relative humidity, discomfort hours for alternative cooling and ventilation techniques.