Simulation Study and Design Optimization Project

Module: Green Building Modeling and Simulation

(Studied in Year 2 Semester 1)

This module provides in-depth modeling and simulation concepts of green buildings. It demonstrates the impact of solar geometry on building façade and indoor spaces as well as the ventilation through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

The simulation includes site analysis, solar radiation analysis, shading design, overshadowing, airflow, and the envelope thermal transmittance value (ETTV) of the building façade.

Project Brief:

The key objective of this project was to simulate, analyze and evaluate a building to determine its design scheme. This is followed by identifying strategies to reduce heat gain and increase natural ventilation around the building, and later to propose recommendations to enhance the design of the building to improve results generated from the earlier analysis.

Software used for simulations: BIMHVAC Tool

Simulations such as shadow analysis, solar analysis, ETTV, and CFD were done in BIMHVAC Tool.

Learning Experience:

When doing this project, I spent time to research on strategies that were already implemented to current existing buildings and took inspiration from those case studies. It really helped me to better understand how different designs and implementations can affect a building and whether or not it is suitable for building users. I did run into several issues such as when my simulation was not working but it was resolved when I asked my friend for help. This project reminded me that teamwork is extremely important as we get to learn and help from each other.

The skills I have learned from this project such as CFD simulation were very beneficial as these will definitely be of great use especially in the future when I am still studying about green buildings or if I were to pursue a career within the industry.