Evaluation of thermal and solar performance in atrium buildings using sequential simulation

Abstract

Nowadays complex atrium design is becoming popular in city skylines that bring natural lighting to create more pleasant indoor environment. Atriums with complex skylight design and lack of knowledge in building thermal performance in relation to transmitted solar radiation through skylight contribute to greenhouse effect. This has imposed high-energy consumption for cooling load particularly in warm humid regions. In order to obtain good thermal performance of atrium with appropriate skylight design, scholars in atrium studies have suggested that designers should test, simulate and evaluate the thermal performance of atrium building at the early design stage. This paper aims to investigate thermal and solar performance of atrium skylight design in warm humid region. Three thermal analysis software with different capabilities in evaluating thermal and solar performance of skylight forms, positioning and orientation were utilized. Five types of atrium design were modelled and simulated using Ecotect, EnergyPlus and solar radiation simulation model. The results have revealed that different software has different capabilities in measuring thermal and solar performance in atrium skylight design. Each software was used sequentially to provide results in stages starting from verifying variables, identifying critical climatic regions, measuring initial and validating accurate energy use for heating and cooling load until amount of solar received on atrium roof surface, geometry and curvature been achieved. This research could guide designers and engineers to understand the capabilities and reliability of selected thermal and solar analysis software in simulating and evaluating atrium's thermal and solar performance at early stage design in order to identify appropriate low energy atrium design.

Thermal Comfort Improvement for Atrium Building with Double-Skin Skylight in the Mediterranean Climate

“…Since atria generally suit cold and temperate climates, hot climates with high solar radiation are challenging. In the tropics, atria with side-lit skylights are mostly recommended [11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…In the tropics, Moosavi (2015) tested different passive strategies in a multi-storey atrium with a southern facade, and concluded that operating natural ventilation decreased the indoor temperatures and humidity levels [22]. Ab Ghafar and others (2019) tested different materials and forms of atrium skylights; the study concluded that the northern and more inclined skylight consumes less energy [11]. Another study tested a lateral atrium with double-skin facade and concluded that atrium thermal performance can be improved by the openings' size and position design [43].…”

“…Recently, atria have received popular acceptance in modern architecture, especially in deep-plan buildings for their aesthetical, environmental, and economic benefits [10][11][12][13]. However, the use of atria is not limited to the buildings themselves: they may expand to form an urban design by gathering different buildings within the urban context [14].…”

Application of fractional-order voltage controller in building-integrated photovoltaic and wind turbine system

“…[7][8][9] In particular, the integration of renewable energy sources into smart buildings, smart sites and smart home concepts have gained importance; the studies examining the performance of integration and offering different energy management systems to increase performance have also gained importance. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Lee et al 14 analyzed the overall utilization potential of BIPv/Wt system for 143 cities at a different global region. Buonomano et al 15 considered a hybrid renewable energy system contains photovoltaic panels and wind turbine with an energy storage system.…”

The effects of atrium on energy performances of office buildings according to Turkish climate regions

“…At this point, the height of the building varies according to parameters such as glazing type and climate type. Ghafar et al [18] tested the thermal performance of 5 different atrium types for 4 different climate types according to different skylight positions and tilted angles using 2 simulation programs (to ensure the accuracy of the results). And then calculated the solar intensities for different roof geometries.…”