Coupling Sensitivity and Correlation Analyses to Identify Important Modeling Variables in a Naturally- Ventilated Building

Implementation of natural ventilation as a method of air supply and cooling of a building has the potential of reducing the amount of energy that must be consumed to serve this purpose by traditional mechanical devices. The optimization of this method is heavily influenced by the decisions taken during the initial design phase of a building project. Through building performance simulation, the selection of parameters and the design decisions are more asserted to an optimal goal performance, however, methods such as sensitivity and correlation analyses provide a deeper understanding of the interactions that many of these parameters have between each other and with the expected output of the simulation. Therefore, the present research combined both methods to identify the most significant variables and parameters involved in the thermal dynamics of a naturally ventilated single-story building under the climate conditions of Panama City, Panama. Results showed that combining these two approaches opens the possibility of developing a sufficient analysis regarding the influence that many secondary parameters have on the most influential ones over the output performance, therefore strategic changes can be elaborated furtherly.

I. Introduction

Natural ventilation in edifications has become an attractive cooling strategy applied as an air supply method in buildings, with the main advantage of not relying on mechanical mediums powered by electricity to serve this purpose. Multiple studies have stated, through the results of dynamic simulations and physical modeling, the potential of natural ventilation in energy saving [1]–[3]. Natural ventilation as a passive mode of operation in buildings can be modeled mathematically if the heat transfer mechanism is identified, in tandem with the element of the building that is subjected to said heat transfer mechanism. To achieve this, the different variables that partake in these processes need to be identified, and hence their level of relevance according to the circumstances must be established.