Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemSensitivity analysis on energy performance, thermal and visual discomfort of a prefabricated house in six climate zones in Australia(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2021-09-15)In prefabricated buildings distinctive construction process and lightweight components affect design strategies and consequences. Therefore, to create more sustainable prefabricated buildings, it is important to understand the effects of their envelope parameters on energy performance and indoor environmental quality. Although previous research have investigated the effects of envelope on energy and indoor comfort outputs, the parameters of lightweight prefabricated envelope are not thoroughly considered. This article quantifies the effects of building envelope parameters on the energy use, thermal comfort and daylighting levels of a prefabricated house built in Australia. A building simulation model was developed and validated by comparing predicted with measured indoor temperatures of the house. The baseline performance for evaluation of energy consumption, thermal discomfort hours and daylight unsatisfied hours were carried out using Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) tool. Series of regression-based sensitivity analyses (SAs) to identify the most sensitive parameters were conducted by coupling TRNSYS, jEPlus and SimLab. Applications in six climate zones were investigated. The important focus areas found by SA in each climate and their corresponding design responses can be applied across ranges of prefabricated building projects if built in similar climatic conditions. SA results revealed window glazing and shading among the most influential parameters on all targeted performance outputs. The relationship between sensitivity levels to energy consumption and degree days indicated that the type of window has a higher impact on the reduction of energy use in the cooling dominated climates while insulation of wall was found a more effective strategy in heating-dominated climates.
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ItemMulti-objective optimisations of envelope components for a prefabricated house in six climate zones(Elsevier, 2021-01-15)The ever-increasing attention towards implementation of environmentally sustainable buildings necessitates the predictions of energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) during early design stages. Prefabrication of buildings changes the construction process and components which affects building performance. Better understanding the effects of envelope components on energy performance and IEQ will inform design decisions leading to the creation of more sustainable buildings. In this article multi-objective optimisations of building envelope were carried out by coupling TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Tool) and jEPlus + EA (EnergyPlus simulation manager for parametrics + Evolutionary Algorithms). The objective functions to be minimised were thermal discomfort hours (TDH), daylight unsatisfied hours (DUH) and life cycle costs (LCC) while maintaining acceptable sound transmission levels and indoor air quality. The decision variables were envelope components of a prefabricated house. Applications for six different climate zones corresponding to eight locations in Australia were investigated. The optimal solution sets were unique for each climate zone. The optimal solutions achieved 27–31% savings in LCC compared to the baseline. The reductions for TDH varied from 6% to 55% among the locations. As a result of trade-offs, the selected compromised solutions in each climate could achieve better reductions for either TDH, LCC or both.