The Proper Design of Facade Openings for Occupant Satisfaction: Variance Based Sensitivity Analysis and Optimization of Model Output

The paper examines the relationship between energy efficiency and indoor comfort presenting an original methodology to assess data from simulation software. Recently, concerns about aspects related to occupant indoor comfort are arising near energy issues, usually considered the predominant key point for a sustainable construction. Various energy-oriented software are used, showing some main problems connected to the subjective nature of some parameters, the proper definition of input data, the output data management and options optimization. The research presented addresses these issues. It is based on the design and analysis of a free running single building. A brute force analysis was performed using EnergyPlus and an algorithm prepared with Wolfram Mathematica for the optimization problem. A variance-based sensitivity analysis was made considering the contribution of single variable to the amount of output uncertainty (first-order sensitivity index) and the uncertainty caused by interactions with other input variables (total effect index). Secondly, an optimal solution was evaluated, through the definition of an “objective function” considering both energy efficiency and indoor comfort. The simulation software were proved to be a valid support in the comfort design process, but a careful implementation of the initial settings management and of the expected solution interpretation is required.