analysis of the influences of solar radiation and façade glazing ...

4.1 Summary 99
4 Summary and conclusions
4.1 Summary
The duty of environmental protection and its sustainable development requires the design
of energy-efficient buildings. Computer-based simulations play a very important role in
this process. Additionally, this type of analysis can be useful in achieving thermal comfort
in the occupied spaces.
Three co-operative apartment houses, which are currently being built in Hannover, are the
object of this dissertation. Each of the five storey buildings consists of nineteen
apartments, a staircase and a storeroom for each home. The house envelope was designed
for the optimal utilization of solar radiation energy during the heating season. A HVAC
system of the considered buildings consists of mechanical ventilation, a heat recovery
exchanger with its economizer controller and a combination of baseboard convective
heaters and floor heating.
In order to prove the hypothesis, three basic research methods were chosen. Firstly,
detailed literature research was conducted to identify the current published knowledge
concerning the impact of solar radiation on the thermal behavior of buildings. Computer
simulation technique, which grows in popularity each year, was selected as the next
investigation method. Additionally, experimental investigations were carried out to
determine the thermal performance of the considered external wall and then for calibrating
a building simulation software.
The bibliographic review and state-of-the-art technology was focused on solar heat gain
through windows, the simulation of building thermal behavior, the influence of the
building envelope construction on energy consumption and modelling and designing solar
domestic hot water systems.
The detailed simulation method was chosen, as recommended in the literature, as the best
tool for the research of active solar domestic hot water, heating, ventilation and air
conditioning systems. Simultaneous modelling of building thermal behavior and the
operation of plant and HVAC systems was employed by the author to approach simulation
results with physical reality. The EnergyPlus V3-0, as the verified and fully validated tool,
was chosen from a wide variety of simulation programs. This software with structured,
modular code models combines heat and mass transfer, simulates multi-zone airflow and
operates heating, cooling and ventilating systems in all kinds of buildings for long periods
of time under varying conditions.
First of all, a survey of problems concerned with the subject of the current dissertation in
order to perform a more detailed and complex analysis of thermal behavior of buildings