Thermal simulation of buildings with double-skin façades

Highly glazed commercial buildings with double-skin façades may overheat during summertime due to a coincidence of high outside temperatures, solar gains and internal heat gains. To optimize thermal comfort and minimize cooling loads, the thermal behaviour of this type of building, therefore, requires careful investigation at the design stage. However, complex physical phenomena—notably optical, thermodynamic and fluid dynamic processes—are involved and as yet, no single simulation tool is able to handle all these processes while remaining an efficient design tool. This paper presents a method based on the coupling of three different types of simulation models that is economical in terms of computing time, and thereby, suitable for design purposes. These models are: spectral optical model, computational fluid dynamics model and building energy simulation model. Various tools are available at each modelling level. The method is demonstrated on a commercial building with double-skin façades and additionally, night-time ventilation.