Energy saving by using Double Skin Façade for office buildings in the UAE

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Date
2014-03
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
There is more demand on glazed façades for high-rise buildings which, increase cooling loads especially in hot and arid climate. Double skin façade is widely used to reduce energy loads and provide visually transparent façades, it has become more popular in cold climates because of the evident ability of the double skin façade to reduce heating loads, on the other hand many studies have shown potential energy savings by using double skin façade in hot climate as well, it is thought to be as a result of ventilating the channel between the external and internal façade. This study attempted to simulate the thermal performance of the double skin façade in high-rise office building in Dubai city, where temperature could reach over 42 ᵒC in summer. The study examined different parameters that could affect the performance of the double skin façade such as, channel width, glazing type, and natural ventilation mode. Results showed that double skin façade can reduce cooling loads regardless the channel was ventilated or not as result of reduced solar gain by the external façade. The results also showed up to 20% savings in cooling plant sensible annual load and 8% savings in total annual energy consumption, computer simulation were used to estimate thermal performance of the façade and also computational fluid dynamic analysis was used in a partial section of the model to simulate thermal behavior inside the channel. More comprehensive evaluation is recommended for double skin façade system, to balance between cost increase when adding another skin to the building and total running cost savings by reducing annual total energy consumption.
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Keywords
energy saving, double skin facade, office buildings, United Arab Emirates (UAE), high-rise buildings, ventilated double skin façade, solar heat gain, Dubai, hot climate
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