Open-plan office design for improved natural ventilation and reduced mixed mode supplementary loads

Abstract

The hybrid philosophy behind the mixed-mode (MM) strategy aims at achieving energy-efficient buildings and sustainable development. A performance-based open-plan office design facilitates the handling of multiple design parameters to identify optimal design solutions for effective MM offices. This research presents a method of open-plan office design for an improved natural ventilation potential and reduced supplementary heating/cooling loads in the early design stage within a Mediterranean climate. Different design variables including office size, layout aspect ratio, window orientation and fraction of window opening, with several factor levels, were studied. The design of experiment developed by the Taguchi method was applied to define the most informative simulation scenarios. Analysis of variance was utilised to indicate the effectiveness of each design parameter, while the signal-to-noise ratio approach identified the near-optimal level combinations that support informed decision-making. Suggested by the EN 15251:2007 standard, the hourly dynamic simulations were conducted using TAS Engineering. The measurement criteria included airflow rate, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, adaptive thermal comfort and air-conditioning (AC) loads. The calculated indicator was the number of hours in which a specific performance criterion is met during the occupancy period and the AC loads.

SARS-CoV-2 airborne infection risk in venues with different ventilation strategies – a comparison between experimental, numerical and analytical approaches

“…Nevertheless, it should be noted that well-designed NV systems are potentially suitable for infection control and provide a cost-effective ventilation approach. However, they are usually highly dependent on natural forces such as wind, open windows or doors and air temperature, and are therefore characterised by unstable and changing air ow patterns, associated with a variety of potential distributions of infection risk in a room 10,12,[52][53][54] .…”

Airborne infection risk in venues with different ventilation strategies – a comparison between experimental, numerical and analytical approaches

“…Nevertheless, it should be noted that well-designed NV systems are potentially suitable for infection control and provide a cost-effective ventilation approach. However, they are usually highly dependent on natural forces such as wind, open windows or doors and air temperature, and are therefore characterised by unstable and changing airflow patterns, associated with a variety of potential distributions of infection risk in a room 10,12,[52][53][54] .…”

Prediction and control of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ventilated context: from source to receptor

“…By proper passive design of the building structures and their openings (e.g. windows, doors, solar chimneys or wind towers) or combining passive cooling or heating systems, fresh outdoor air can be directly induced to improve indoor air quality and thermal comfort (Abdullah & Alibaba, 2020;Deng & Tan, 2020;Deng et al, 2021;Fan et al, 2020;Jia et al, 2021;Lipinski et al, 2020;Wang, Cao et al, 2020;Wen et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2021). WHO specified a fresh air volume of 160 L/s per patient for naturally ventilated in health-care facilities (WHO, 2020).…”