Influence of orientation, glazing proportion and zone aspect ratio on the thermal performance of buildings during the winter period

The objective of this study is to assess the effect of orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio of building zones on heat fluxes through their surfaces, under specific environmental conditions. The investigation is carried out for thermally-insulated building zones with a varying facade orientation corresponding to each cardinal point, during the winter period in the northern Greek region. For this purpose, three glazing-to-facade ratios (GR) are taken into account; along with the glazing ratio the influence of the glazing U value is also considered. Regarding the impact of the fenestration layout geometry, five different building aspect ratio profiles are examined. Thermal fluxes are assessed for two different indoor temperature settings, while the operation of the heating unit is assumed to be continuous. The transient thermal analysis with its mathematical formulation and solution are based on the thermal-network modelling approach, while the solar heat gain through glazing relies on the sunlit-pattern approach; in this way, the stricken by the solar rays glazing area is projected onto any interior surfaces to form the so called “sunlit” areas. As the orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio of the building zone vary, so do the sizes and shapes of the illuminated “sunlit” areas. Accordingly, the delivered into the zone direct solar energy and its diffused and ground reflected components can be determined. The adopted methodology provides a more accurate determination of solar heat gain with respect to glazing proportion and orientation as well as zone aspect ratio. With regard to surface orientation, glazing proportion and aspect ratio, computer results demonstrate the improvement of the thermal performance for a building zone with a south oriented glazing surface, as well as the deterioration for the other surface orientations; relative increases/decreases in the energy fluxes of a rectangular shaped building zone compared to a square-shaped building zone can reach up to 50%/100%.