The effect of the turbulence area on heating and cooling energy consumption of buildings

Abstract

Over the last decades, as a consequence of growth in global energy demand and global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, the application of building performance simulation is a must for more efficient buildings with low energy demand. In this study, the effect of the turbulence areas on heating and cooling energy consumption of buildings is examined by the help of building performance simulation. Two 3-D models sketched in ANSYS Fluent CFD program to represent control building as a stand-alone structure and as in turbulence area. After sketching, they are meshed with multizone mesh model. Later, the realizable k-✏ analysis used for fluid dynamics computations while steady-state thermal analysis used for heat flux computations in ANSYS Fluent. 6 different wind cases were analysed, resulting 12 cases in total. The results show that the energy need for heating and cooling energy is lower for the buildings which are in the turbulence (vortex) area. Therefore, this research has a theoretical contribution to the literature within its specific domain. It shows that researchers, practitioners and urban planners should not ignore the turbulence effect on heating and cooling energy consumption of a building for future works.