OPTIMIZATION OF WINDOW-WALL-RATIO USING BIM-BASED ENERGY SIMULATION

In this research, sensitivity analysis is applied to investigate the impact from U-values of walls, U-value of windows, and the window-to-wall ratio. The purpose is to find the co-relationship between those parameters with the building energy performance, including embedded energy in materials and operational energy during the lifecycle. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is used as a platform to obtain the material quantities and carry on energy simulation. A case study is applied for a manufactory plant in Suzhou, China. By applying both local sensitivity analysis and global sensitivity analysis, it is found that thermal properties of walls have insignificant impact on Operational Energy to Embodied Energy (OE-EE) relationship of Window-Wall-Ratio (WWR) whereas changing thermal properties of windows affects the OE-EE relationship behaviour of WWR. Lowering U-value of windows brings positive impact to the OE-EE relationship of WWR, and vice versa. Therefore, suggestions are made as reducing/increasing U-value of windows while increasing/decreasing the WWR of building.