Impacts of glazing system design factors upon dynamic indoor thermal comfort incorporating solar radiation effects

Abstract

Solar radiation makes great influence on human perception of thermal balance and comfort. This study investigated the effect of glazing system design factors on thermal comfort in the presence of solar radiation and aims to clarify the relationship between glazing system performance and thermal comfort through simulations. Specifically, a cellular office unit with different window sizes, glazing types, and shading devices was set for simulating the thermal environment based on an integrated MRT algorithm that considered both longwave radiation from inner surfaces and shortwave solar radiation. The temporal and space thermal comfort were evaluated through long-term metrics including space Thermal Comfort Availability (sTCA) and temporal Thermal Comfort Usability (tTCU). Under the climatic conditions in Taiwan, it was found that SHGC makes greatest influence on sTCA/tTCU, followed by window size and overhang depth. Eventually, an additive model was chosen to construct the functional relationship between sTCA/tTCU and the main effects of three important parameters as well as their interactions. The simple and quick method we established is believed to be helpful to architects in the preliminary evaluation of the space dynamic thermal comfort of the design scheme in the early design stage.