Insulation, building mass and airflows provisional multivariable analysis

The study analyses the influence on building energy demand for both cooling and heating of different insulation values and window types. This analysis is based on the variations of the material elements of the envelope including insulation and on the gaseous matters related to airflows moving inside building spaces. This research aims at providing an early-provisional model to analyse the potential performances of a case study by also considering the further integration between ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) and the envelope design towards a sustainable building definition. During the research, a specific code was generated to parametrically control the input data flow used in dynamic-energy simulations and generate a performance-model based on variations of boundary conditions linked with the envelope thermal design. The paper includes the flowchart of the developed Python script able to integrate the energy-dynamic tool EnergyPlus with the performance-driven design approach mentioned above. Furthermore, it is reported a sample application considering a typical section of an office building localised in the climate of Torino-Caselle. The considered parameters are the thickness of the insulation layer, the type of considered window elements, and the activation of the controlled natural ventilation (on/off). Moreover, a statistical analysis on the potential influence of the casual variation of occupation rates was also performed. The provisional analyses were generated by using polynomial regression models and a statistical-based choice of their feasibility.