What is the impact of glazing selection, framing type and window-to-wall ratio on the overall thermal performance of a curtain wall system?

PROJECT INFORMATION

Graphic Name:

Submitted By:

Olivier Brouard

Firm Name:

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP

Other contributors or acknowledgements (optional):

- Olivier Brouard, Sustainability Engineering Team Leader - Stephen Ray, CFD Engineering Specialist

What tools did you use to create the graphic?

Project Information

What are the primary inputs of the analysis/analyses included in the case study?

Frame U-value, Center of Glass U-value, Window-to-wall ratio

What are the primary outputs/metrics of the analysis/analyses included in this case study?

Overall fenestration U-value

Gross Floor Area of Project Covered by Analysis

200,000

ASHRAE Climate Zone

Project Zip Code (optional)

Primary Building/Space Type Covered by Analysis

Office

If you selected 'Mixed Use' on the previous question, what are the different uses?

SIMULATION PROCESS SECTION

List the investigations questions that drove your analysis process.

Building performance is notably driven by Energy codes defining the minimum requirements for reaching specified objectives. Reducing cooling and heating loads calls for passive design strategies starting by the orientation of the building and notably its envelope performance driving heat transfer. Increasing requirements for energy conservation have resulted in greater consideration of the effect windows have on the overall heat losses of an external wall. The prescriptive requirements of the Beijing Energy code looks at the U-value of the assembly of the fenestration system (Glass + Frame)

Who performed the simulation analysis? (select all that apply)

Architect - Internal Sustainability Personnel

What tools were used for the simulation analysis? (select all that apply)

OpenStudio + Eplus

What phase of the project was analysis conducted? (select all that apply)

Design Development

How was simulation integrated into the overall design process?

The simulation was integrated at design development when the team realized that the Beijing performance code had been updated pushing at the forefront the facade sustainability energy requirements limiting the surface of glass of the enclosure and calling for redesign. In order to avoid this to happen in the future, a tool was developed to proactively address 225 different design options from which a designer can choose from to establish a ballpark U-value fenestration number to start with.

How did you set up the simulation analysis and workflow?

The simulation workflow was established as follow: - Used D3 - a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. - Download d3.parcoords (parallel coordinates) open source code - Modify & add Functionalities to the code - Ran Therm and Window models from LBNL. - Parametrically set up an excel file to generate multiple outputs as a function of the window-to-wall ratio changing from 20% to 90% - Created an excel spreadsheet csv file with inputs and outputs - Link the database csv file to the D3 HTML code - Designed and Formatted with the firm Standard - Visualized the tool running a Javascript Node Server locally or on an intranet server

How did you visualize the results to the design team? What was successful about the graphics that you used to communicate the data?

To understand the magnitude impact of design decisions very quickly and simultaneously. An interactive engaging exploration tool reading pre-run simulations Leverages high multidimensional results of large-scale dataset Customizable and optimized for storytelling. Provides real-time feedback to Design Team to highlight major findings

Most importantly, what did you learn from the investigation? How did simulation and its outputs influence the design of the project?

The selected choice for the softwares used didnt exist. The process is shown below: - Used D3 - a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. - Download d3.parcoords (parallel coordinates) open source code - Modify & add Functionalities to the code - Ran a Therm and Window models - Parametrically set up an excel file to generate multiple outputs as a function of the window-to-wall ratio changing from 20% to 90% - Created an excel spreadsheet csv file with inputs and outputs - Link the database csv file to the D3 HTML code - Designed and Formatted with the firm Standard - Visualized the tool running a Javascript Node Server locally or on an intranet server

Is there anything else you'd like to mention? This can be in terms of your case study, this form, or suggestions for improving the submission process in general?

Add your Youtube Video Url (One in a row)