Energy assessment and optimization of perforated metal sheet double skin façades through Design Builder; A case study in Spain

Double-skin perforated sheet façades, are enclosures composed of a perforated metallic sheet, air chamber and glass, is showing an increasing tendency in modern building design. In a previous research, their thermal behavior was addressed, taking into account several physical parameters such as, perforation rates, colors and materials, as well as the influence of wind penetration through a Matlab® model, validated through a fully experimental test campaign, monitoring metallic sheets during 1 year, for different configurations, within a range of 0-35% (perforation rates), black-white (colors) and galvanized steel-aluminum (materials). Here, following this research, first of all, the behavior of such configurations is also fully addressed, through a complete Energyplus® model (design builder), which was validated through the abovementioned Matlab® model and experimental outputs. The relevant contribution shows a new parametric energy assessment taking into account additional variables such as the air-gap and location (according to the different climate zones defined for Spain). Finally, the influence of different enclosures on the cooling, heating and lighting loads (energy consumptions) of the building as a whole was obtained, demonstrating the suitability of the previously optimized configurations in terms of relative energy savings. This leads to set up a new methodology aiming to the optimization of design sustainability based on minimum energy consumption.