Determining the optimal specifications of cooling systems in highly glazed buildings using design of experiments method

In high-temperature summer conditions and under intense sunlight, cooling systems are often required in glass buildings to improve the indoor environment and meet the needs of occupants. However, the advantages and disadvantages of different cooling systems, as well as their varying specifications, pose significant considerations for both the optimization of existing buildings and the installation of new ones. Current researches primarily focus on comparing the performance of different cooling systems.

However, it is still challenging to fully account for the impact of varying system specifications on the indoor environment and to dynamically visualize these changes. To address this research gap, this numerical investigation combines CFD modeling and design of experiments methods to investigate the changes in the indoor environment under sunlight exposure during the operation of different cooling systems. Given the numerous design parameters distributed across different levels, and to avoid modeling all 4096 scenarios, the Taguchi method was employed to simulate only 16 scenarios.

These scenarios encompass 12 design parameters across two levels, allowing for an evaluation of their impact on indoor environmental quality. The results showed that among the different cooling methods, using air handle units for air ventilation and cooling stands out more for ensuring high indoor environment quality.