Arc 6780 building environmental simulation analysis @ b'lore

ARC 6780 - BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS NAME - SUDHEER AVR , REG NO - 110118895

January 25

2012

ECO HOUSE @ BANGALORE AND FLORIDA

BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

INTRODUCTION

The Project is to design a Zero Carbon House for two different locations having contrast climatic conditions. We are supposed to use few softwares such as Ecotect and Design Builder to carry out the analysis and simulation. After careful consideration, i felt Ecotect with Radiance is a good software for calculating the Day light factor and the illuminance levels for a space whereas the Design Builder is a much sophisticated software for the Thermal Comfort calculations of Heating, Cooling and ventilation. I felt the need to exploit the best out of both the softwares to acheive a good enough report for further analysis and research. The locations that i have chosen for the Eco House are Bangalore (India) and Melbourne (Australia). Both the locations are quite different in terms of temperature, hummidity, rainfall and wind movement. Hence the materials and type of construction of the building fabric would vary a lot for the thermal analsis. The use of renewable energy is required to be considered to produce a zero energy (near zero carbon) house.

The Environmental Analysis of the House is done through Ecotect which gives us results such as Site Analysis, Daylight factor and illuminance levels of a space, etc. Such type of work is very useful for a project in its initial design stages as the positioning of windows, type of the materials to be used, size of the openings and the building fabric materials could be easily determined. An energy efficient design could be acheived by such process. Ecotect is a user friendly software whose Graphical representation is excellent but at the same time has design limitations. The daylight and illuminance levels are derived by exporting the model to Radiance that gives us clear contours of the spread of light with a graph. In this way, the analysis of Eco house is done for botht he locations.

The aim of the project is to do a detailed model in Cyprus, choose two different locations an do a detailed site and building analysis for an energy efficient design with optimum illuminance levels. The building should be comfortable in thermal, lighting and ventilation aspect. The objectives of the project are modelling the house as per the given plans, sections and elevations in Ecotect or Design Builder, to upload the weather data, analyse and modify the orientation of the building, to update the materials of the building fabric, design the size of openings with its materials and simulate the building for accurate results. Envest 2 is considered to show the Environmental impact of the constructions for the final report.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

SITE AND CLIMATE ANALYSIS OF LOCATION Climate = Tropical Wet and Dry climate Longitude = 77 degree 37' E Lattitude = 12 degree 8'N Altitude = 3000ft above sea level Average temperature maximum in a year = 27.8°c Average minimum temperature in a year = 19.8 °c Average rainfall = 968 mm (approx) Number of days of rainfall = 60 days (approx) Average bright sunshine hours = 197 hours (in a month) (RH) Relative Humidity minimum = 44 % (RH) Relative Humidity in maximum = 80-85 %

Bangalore lies in the southeast of the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is positioned at 12.97°N 77.56°E and covers an area of 741 km² (286 mi²). Bangalore is a place that falls under a moderate climate. It enjoys a unique climate of warm summers and cool winters. The data required to carry out an energy efficient design are, 1. Climatic data of Bangalore 2. Wind movement of the loation 3. Site conditions and other factors.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

(Average temperature of Bangalore) (Average Relative hummidity of Bangalore) The average temperature in Bangalore is 23.6 째C, the warmest average max/ high temperature is 33 째C in April & May and the coolest average min/ low temperature is 15 째C in January & December. 90% of Wind, Bangalore gets from South or West or South west direction.

(Solar position of Bangalore)

(Wind Rose of Bangalore)

EXISTING MODEL OF HOUSE

( A DESIGN BUILDER MODEL)

( AN ECOTECT MODEL WITH RADIANCE OUTPUT)

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR BANGALORE Bangalore is a tricky place where equal importance to building strategies are given to both summer and winter months. It is located in a moderate climate zone and most of the air movement is received from the south/south-west direction. Hence the shorter span of the building is to face the East-west direction and the larger span of the building is to face the North-South axis. This is done to minimise the direct solar radiation in to the house. The house could receive maximum light and optimum heat for a comfort living.

As you see the present condition and sun path diagram of the house with shadows, it clearly indicates and longer axis and shorter axis of the building. The important changes that need to be considered are, 1. Increase of Shading on the North and South facing walls.

2. The orientation in such a way the longer axis of building is opposite to the sun's radiation 3. The insulation of the building fabric is to be considered as it becomes cold during the nights and the winters.

4. The type of glazing used needs to be considered 5. The percentage of glazing needs to be considered.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

THERMAL ANALYSIS OF HOUSE 1. The materials considered/ altered for the building fabric are,

The Thermal analysis mainly depends on the building fabric. The materials need to chosen carefully. The U-Values of the material is given preference, the lower the U-Value means a better Thermal performance or there is a delay in the solar gains of a building. The HVAC system is calculated based on the amount of solar gains. Brickwork outside with air gap and concrete wall inside is a unique combination that blocks the incoming solar gains while the air gap acts as a stack effect.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 2. The window materials considered were

Double glazed windows with 6mm clear glass and 30mm air gap are provided to reduce the internal heat gains during the summer months. The type of wood depends on location to location subject to availability and the ambient energy required to source the wood. Hence locally available timber with lowest U-Value is preferred for all the windows. Doors are provided with 30mm thick solid timber.

3. The Flooring materials of ground and first floor considered were

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

There is a very little variation of materials in roof for both the ground and the first floors. The ground floor is given soil filling and 100mm of concrete with ceramic tiles whereas the above floors is given150mm lightweight concrete with plaster below and asphalt cover on the top for smoothing of the floor level. The U-Values considered for both the scenes are almost similar and low. Hence these materials were considered.

4. BUILDING ALTERATIONS EXTERIOR

EAVES EXTENSION TILL THE END OF BUILDING EXTERIOR PROVIDING 600mm SUNSHADE FOR THE WINDOWS ADDITION OF DROPS BELOW THE FIRST FLOOR BALCONY TO REDUCE HEAT GAINS

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 SUNSHADES PROVIDED ON THE GROUND AND FIRST FLOOR ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE BUILDING.

5. THERMAL ANALYSIS OF THE BUILDING

The above data shows the Hottest Day in a calender year. I had acheived 28 degrees as the hottest peak which is less than the outside temperature.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

The above data shows coldest peak day at 20.1 degrees which is comfortable temperature for living.

The hottest month of may is seen above at an average temperature of 25.6 degrees which is seen as a good temperature to live without the much need of mechanical heating.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

The above chart shows the Annual Temperature distribution of all the floors. The results show the thermal comfort zone at 18 - 26 degrees with more than 75% of the ground floor space comes under this zone, nearly 80% of the space in first floor comes under this zone and 83% of the second floor space comes under the comfort zone band. Hence, i feel i had done justice to the Thermal comfort of this house for the chosen location.

LIGHTING ANALYSIS OF HOUSE The lighting conditions in a building play an important role in our day to day activities. The minimum day light levels are a mandatory to any building design. There is a standard available to acheive the minimum illuminance and daylight factors for a building and individual rooms.

The illuminance distribution levels standards are taken from the CIBSE Guidance code, with the building design being developed to acheive the comfort daylight factors as per the guide. The analysis is carried out in Radiance that shows a clear graphical representation of light levels within a given space. The Radiance analysis is to be done for LIVING/DINING, KITCHEN, OFFICE AND A BEDROOM. 10 MSC SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE STUDIES

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The above pics show the Illuminance levels and the day light factor of the Living/Dining Area.

As you can notice, the windows of the room had been considerably altered for this location as there was too much of glazing and illuminance. The glazing area is reduced on both the facades to acheive a comfortable good levels of illuminance and daylight factor.

The picture on the left shows the lux levels at 350 to 550 throughout the space and much higher lux level at the window corner junctions. The picture on the right shows the daylight factor of the space at an average of 4.5 to 5.5 in the space and more at the window corners.

The above pictures show the values of the KITCHEN that were derived during the analysis. The picture on the left shows the lux levels acheived were between 250 to 550. The picture on the right gives the day light factor which is between 2.5 to 3.5% greater than the required value of 2. Hence sufficient levels of illumination have been acheived.

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The above picture shows the Lux levels of the Bedroom on the First floor between 450 to 650 inside the room and greater than 650 at the periphery. This shows there are sufficient number of windows in that space and there wont be a much need of artificial lights during the evenings.

The picture showing the daylight factor shows the value at 3.5 to 5.5 within the space and greater than 6.5 at the periphery. Adequate lighting is present in this space throughout the year for all the seasons.

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The above images show the values of lux and DF of the Office room in the ground floor. The lux levels measure at 250 to 550 as average and DF coming up to 3.5 to 4.5 as an average.

In order to the individual spaces, a whole building daylight factor is calculated floor by floor in Ecotect lighting analysis.

The daylight factor of the whole floor took a while to analyse and acheived at 2.61% which is above the required crieteria irrespective of the rooms under consideration. The overhangs are all considered for the calculation of the daylight factor of the ground floor.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012

The daylight factor of the second floor is acheived at 5.83% which is above the required crieteria irrespective of the rooms under consideration. The windows could be re-arranged in the bedrooms for a much sophisticated output of the Daylight factor of the first floor.

POTENTIAL ENERGY SOURCES The building design could be made energy efficient but not a Zero Energy Home. I beleive there is a need to adopt few renewable strategies to the building and to maximise the use of alternate energy sources to further reduce the energy consumtion.

The use of Photo-voltaic cells on the sloped roofs of the building could be considered. The use of Solar thermal collectors on the flat roof for the purpose of hot water, the low water required fixtures in the toilets could minimise the water requirement.

Rainwater Harvesting with efficient mechanisms to collect the rain water run-off is a basic need for all the houses. The use of wind energy could be given a thought as it can contribute to the energy requirement of a building. Small wind - turbines could be installed in a remote location with few colonies of houses attached to that grid. Small zones can make a way to a big zone which will benefit the society and the Neibhourhood.

Green Roofs and Green Facades is a new modern approach to reducing the energy loads of a building that can act as an insulation material and as a rainwater collector in the roofs. These principles could be applied in a building, with 30% differences in Thermal data could be witnessed.

There are many such renewable principles that could be applied to a housing project which could make an impact for today's Energy requirement and contribute towards the reduction of the Global warming.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 RESOURCE CONSUMPTION The Eco House at Bangalore is considered as Mixed-Model system that co-relates with the building HVAC for cooling and heating. The operative temperatures of the cooling and heating are given from 11am to 3pm throughout the Week.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 The above two graphs show the use of electricity for mechanical cooling that is used during the peak hours to maintain the optimum temperature constant. By the use of renewable energy, these cooling loads could reduce even further making the building a LOW/ZERO ENERGY HOUSE.

ECO HOUSE AT MIAMI (FLORIDA)

MIAMI, FLORIDA

Latitude - 24° 27′ N to 31° 00' N Longitude - 80° 02′ W to 87° 38′ W Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, the climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by the fact that no part of the state is very distant from the ocean. North of Lake Okeechobee, the prevalent climate is humid subtropical, while coastal areas south of the lake (including the Florida Keys) have a true tropical climate . Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90s Fahrenheit (32–34 °C). Mean low temperatures for early to mid January range from the low 40s Fahrenheit (4–7 °C) in northern Florida to the mid-50s (≈13 °C) in southern Florida. With an average daily temperature of 70.7 °F (21.5 °C), it is the warmest state in the country.[24] In the summer, high temperatures in the state seldom exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Several record cold maxima have been in the 30s °F (−1 to 4 °C) and record lows have been in the 10s (−12 to −7 °C). These temperatures normally extend at most a few days at a time in the northern and central parts of Florida. Southern Florida, however, rarely encounters sub-freezing temperatures.

Snow is very uncommon in Florida, but has occurred in every major Florida city at least once.

Snow does fall very occasionally in North Florida. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Florida was 109 °F (43 °C), which was set on June 29, 1931 in Monticello. The coldest temperature was −2 °F (−19 °C), on February 13, 1899, just 25 miles (40 km) away, in Tallahassee. (WIKIPEDIA)

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DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR MIAMI (FLORIDA) Miami, Florida is located in the Southern part of America and close to the ocean. There is 3 side clear wind movement around the city. The breeze level is high with surroundings open with no obstructions. The temperatures of the city are quite constant throughout the year, the average temperatures have been shown above.

The orientation of the building is tilted -120 degrees and the sun path is calculated. The longer part of the building which is the north and south do get direct solar radiations. Certain portions of the north and south sides need to be shaded to avoid high level of solar gains during the summer months. Many windows from the rear side have been removed due to higher lux levels. Sufficient number of windows have been provided to acheive the required illuminance levels.

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THERMAL ANALYSIS FOR MIAMI (FLORIDA) 1. The materials considered for the Eco house are,

The building fabric is the most important element to consider in terms of an Energy efficient design. In this case, I had considered 150mm of Concrete plaster with 110mm Brick masonary

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 and PLaster board with 25mm to finish the Interior. The U-Values of these materials were the lowest shown in the ecotect data. Hence these materials were considered for this location.

2. The materials considered for the Windows are,

The materials considered for the windows were Double Glazing window with Low e Aluminium Frame. The glass thickness is considered as 8mm and a 30mm air gap is considered for optimum results.

3. The flooring materials that were taking in to consideration were,

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 A different type of roofing is considered for this location. A 75mm of tiling brick is laid with 10mm of Bitumen as a damp proofing membrane in case of moisture penetration. Further is the 150mm of Concrete deck on which is the 25mm of thick dry plaster to finish the flooring. A combined effort of these materials has bought about the reduction in the U-Value of 1.240.

Hence these materials were considered fpr the structural construction of the eco house.

BUILDING ALTERATIONS, MIAMI (FLORIDA) OVERHANG PROJECTED

PERGOLAS COVERED FOR PROTECTION

SUNSHADE EXTENDED

WINDOW REMOVED

WINDOWS CHANGED WITH ALTERNATE SIZES

WINDOWS ALTERED

THE BUILDING ORIENTATION IS CHANGED AS PER THE IMAGE ON THE LEFT. THE ABOVE CHANGES HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO THE BUILDING TO ACHEIVE THE REQUIRED ILLUMINANCE AND DAY LIGHT FACTORS. THE BUILDING HAS BEEN ANALYSED IN ECOTECT FOR THERMAL ANALYSIS AND RADIANCE FOR DAYLIGHT FACTOR AND LUX LEVELS.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 THERMAL ANALYSIS OF THE HOUSE, MIAMI (FLORIDA)

The above graph shows the Thermal analysis of April 1st, showing the average temperatures of the different floors with ground level showing an Average of 25.4 degrees which could be termed as comfort zone.

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BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS 2012 The above graph shows the Hottest Peak day in a calender year which is june 28th showing an average temperature of 29.1 degrees. The outside temperatures during this period are fluctuating above the inside temperature. Hence through the little use of mechanical ventilation for selected hours during a day, the average temperature could be easiy brought to a much comfort level. The condition is still managable with 29 degrees. The comfort factor depends on the end user.

The above graph shows the Coldest Peak day in a calender year which is January 1st. The average temperature of the building is 20.1 degree which is considered as highly comfortable. Hence it is placed in between the red and blue grids. By this, we can say, the Insulation of the building fabric is performing well without the need of external ventilation.

This graph shows the values of the most overcast day in a calender year, 2nd May showing the average thermal value of 23 degrees. The rainfall and winds during this period could be unpredictable.

The space is comfortable.

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The above graph shows the Annual Peak thermal distribution of various floors. The comfort zone is fixed at 18 - 26 degrees. I had received 5566 hours in this band, making it 64 - 73% of the building zone falls under the comfort band. Hence, i beleive the Thermal Analysis of the eco house has been accomplished with sufficient insulation and lux levels.

LIGHTING ANALYSIS OF THE HOUSE, MIAMI (FLORIDA) The lighting levels of a space are crucial to the performance of the user and their day to day activities. Sufficient levels of Lux and daylight factor need to be acheived for a building to become energy efficient eco house.

A Kitchen is a place where enough lux levels are required to perform activities. The left side image shows the Lux levels of the space. The illuminance levels acheived are between 300 500 Lux whereas the right image shows the daylight factor of 3.5 - 5.0 which is sufficient and comfortable levels for the space during day time.

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This is the Living and Dining Space of the Eco house. As seen in the image, the window sizes and positions have been altered in order to reduce the illuminance levels. Another reason to reduce the size of the windows is to minimise the solar gains of those facades. The left image showing a sufficient comfortable levels of 450 - 650 Lux in the central regions and above 650 Lux at the periphery. The daylight factor of the space acheived is between 2.5 to 4.5 which is more than the required levels mentioned as per the BRE standards.

The above image shows the Lux levels between 250 - 550 of the Bedroom. The window position and the size have been altered in order to receive the required lighting levels.

The Daylight factor acheived in this space is measured at 2.5 to 4.5 DT. This is a comfortable day light level to carry out activities.

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The above image showing the office space lux levels at 350 to 550. The corner junctions are less lit in the space, but are enough to carry out daylight tasks.

The above image shows the Daylight factor of the office room at 1.5 to 3.5. Hence comfortable lighting levels have been acheived throughout all the spaces.

In this way, the lighting calculations are carried out in radiance to individually show the various different rooms and their illuminance and daylight factors.

CONCLUSION The Ecotect model that has been given for Cyprus is now used for two locations such as BANGALORE (INDIA) AND MIAMI (FLORIDA). By doing for these locations, it has enabled us to think broadly in terms of choosing materials, changing the orientations of the building, to acheive low lux levels, enabled us to acheive sufficient lux levels and to minimise the energy requirements efficiently. The use of Radiance has enabled us to acheive specific levels of illuminance to all the required spaces.

The module has been a useful process to us in learning these softwares in a sophisticated way and to carry out various analysis to a building .

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