A Multi-Functional Ventilated Façade Model within a Parallel and Object-Oriented Numerical Platform for the Prediction of the Thermal Performance of Buildings
Abstract
The population growth, increasing demand for building services, higher levels of comfort requirements, and larger periods of time spent indoors are some of the main factors which indicate an upward energy consumption trend within the buildings of the industrialized countries in the coming years. Owing to this fact, there is a large potential for energy savings in the building sector, especially through the retrofitting of the existing buildings. Multi-functional ventilated façades have appeared as a possible solution in both new and retrofitted buildings in order to reduce the building energy demand. In addition to the improved thermal and acoustic behavior, the possibility of integrating innovative elements like photovoltaic modules or electrochromic devices make the multi-functional façades an interesting architectonic solution. Due to the widespread implementation of these innovative elements, there emerges a need for developing accurate tools and methodologies in order to analyze their performance. Thus, the present work aims at providing a numerical tool, which -linked with the capabilities of an existing numerical platform- can predict the thermal behavior of these elements. Its modular design permits the study of different façade configurations by replacing the actual standard elements with other innovative ones, considering different modes of operation and flow regimes in a versatile manner.
Keywords
Multi-functional ventilated façade, Object-oriented, Parallel computation.