International Journal of

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Nowadays, with the development of the economy, the demand for energy is increasing rapidly while the energy supply is growing shorter and shorter. Researches indicate that energy consumption in the residential sector counts for the main parts of the total energy consumption. This paper evaluates the effect of building orientation on exposure to the solar radiation in a NESW orientated case of urban residence in semi-arid climate. SW envelope, with an annual exposure of 13.52 percent, only improves the thermal comfort of the house because of its annual climatic radiation trend. For vertical NE surface with insufficient winter radiation exposure of (0 %) and cool summer radiation exposure of (3.38 %), it could be concluded that the NE elevation is suitable and in demand in the summer but not in the winter. Total annual horizontal solar radiation exposure percentage of (83.04%) indicates that huge non- climatic roof radiation is inappropriate and should be omitted. Finally, the effects of solar radiation envelopes on electricity and natural gas consumption were thoroughly discussed.

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Experts have found that natural environment could have positive impacts on patient’s treatment process. The impact of natural environment on mental state and lowering the stress level of the patients is undeniable. In this study, the impacts of natural environment on patient women in Tehran general hospitals were investigated. After conducting a topical study of the issue on hand, using field observation method, opinion of the patient women in a few of Tehran’s general hospitals was asked. Moreover, number of doctors and architects were asked to furnish the study with their opinion on this issue. After analysis of the answers, interesting conclusions on effect of open and green space on patient women were drawn. Based on these findings, designing open green spaces adjoined to the maternity ward could be in a way that encourages social behaviors, personal progress and convenient interaction with others and elevates mental and physical health of the patients.

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Using outdoor public spaces as a place of social interaction is in a great consideration these days. Providing tolerable thermal condition as long as possible is one of the primary stage for people’s presence in these places. Outdoor thermal indices are introduced to help architects making appropriate decisions in climate responsive design procedure. By doing some field study research in extreme climatic condition of tropical city of Kuala Lumpur, this article will introduce a research method of data collecting and data analyzing using outdoor thermal indices. How to do an effective and helpful research for design requirements is the aim of this method. Field data are collected by a Kestrel portable weather station in different outdoor spaces of the city centre. Weather data are analyzed in three levels of meso, local and microclimate. Architectural properties of the place are explained as the respective climatic design solution. Software named SIKRON is designed to speed up the analyzing process.

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Human’s disregard to nature and consequently his living environment’s distance from natural endowments and potentials have caused many problems. Human’s living spaces are less desirable for him, and have destroyed his comfort in many cases, as man-made things. In this regard, public open spaces in residential areas can be mentioned because they are usually considered among the most vulnerable spaces due to having the least thermal comfort and spatial quality. This is because they are able to provide comfort only if they interact with nature and use natural energy sources such as sun, wind, plants etc. In this regard, this study focused on providing comfort specifically thermal comfort in residential public open spaces by using natural endowments and energies especially the sun and shade provided by solar radiation. This study aimed to analyze the climatic factors in Yazd meteorological station, especially the temperature and radiation analysis and making this information meaningful regarding human’s thermal comfort in open spaces to introduce the climate potentials specifically the sun. Then, some traditional houses in Yazd were analyzed, their length, width and heights were surveyed, the real shade masks of the walls in yards were measured, and a logical relationship was observed between solar radiation and yard proportions and how the shade is formed in these yards. Therefore, it could be concluded what the role of these proportions and the best yard proportions is to provide the thermal comfort in open spaces.

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One of the most important methods of saving energy and providing indoor comfort conditions of buildings is the careful design of the façades. A “double skin glass façade” is optimally one of the best options that control the heat interaction between indoor and outdoor spaces. Two kinds of heating energy is usually transmitted through exterior envelope “conduction” and “radiation”. Double skin glass façades (DSFg) are designed to manage these energies and in some special conditions, can prepare determined convection. The total solar radiation energy that can be received into the interior space, is one of the most important parameters for estimating the cooling load of the building and its occupants’ thermal comfort. DSFg also provides flexibility in architectural design. Recently, it has been more attention to double skin glass façades opposed to the most typically curtain walls for its ability to efficiently reduce energy consumption and therefore save cost. The design of the double skin glass façade involves decisions of geometric parameters, glass selection, ventilation strategy, shading, daylighting, wind loads, and maintenance and cleaning cost expectations. In this article, the authors intend to investigate features of double skin glass facade in reducing air pollution, air conditioning, fire safety and in the optimal use of sunlight within the building. In another part, this article will pay attention to the effect of wind, shading, type of glass and ventilation in the space between skins on the performance of double skin glass façade and their effect on energy saving. Finally, the authors analyze the rate of energy transfer from the double skin glass facade and provide four case studies. In addition, this paper shall review previous studies done on DSFg systems in building for saving energy.

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Day lighting is one of the important qualitative factors in housing, which is also effective on health and well-being of occupants. Extensive glass surfaces and Transparency in building facades provides good daylight quantity for interior spaces. However, this lighting system is not appropriate for climates faced with higher sunlight radiation (Such as hot-humid areas), due to overheating and disturbing the thermal comfort. There are efficient day lighting strategies in the traditional Iranian architecture as one of the valuable remaining heritages of Human experiences, which are useful for contemporary architecture. This article intends to investigate daylight quality in the houses of Bushehr from Qajar period by modeling and simulating in daylight calculation software (Dialux) and identify day lighting strategies utilized in these houses. As Bushehr city is located in the hot-humid region of Iran, is faced with high sunlight radiation, making balance between receiving light and heat gain through windows needs careful attention. The houses of Qajar period in Bushehr are evolved samples of traditional architecture in the city and Rashidy house (built in 1893) is one of them which its form and details can reveal many lessons on coping with climate by merely using renewable energies.

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This paper deals with evaluating the thermal behavior of exterior walls in dwellings of a particular place. Today, there is a huge increase in constructing multi-storey apartment buildings and single-family houses in the city of Yazd, a city with hot dry climate and a rich historical architecture in Iran. Unfortunately, the new methods that are used nowadays to make the envelopes of these dwellings are not suitable for the climate of the city, so they are not sustainable. The aim of this study is to evaluate the thermal properties of all types of applicable walls and recommend suitable exterior walls that are constructed of common materials in the region to improve comfort and energy conservation. The procedure of the research includes two parts: at first the climatic characteristics of Yazd is Studied. At the second part, to define the most suitable wall, effective thermal properties of the walls are calculated in none steady-state conditions. These properties are calculated for the walls with different types and thicknesses of common material layers in various positions. At last, a comprehensive compare between thermal properties of the different walls is done and sustainable envelopes ─exterior walls that are suitable for both cold and hot seasons in Yazd─ are defined. In the result section, the types, thicknesses, and positions of the layers of the recommended walls in four directions of acceptable building orientation (that is +15 degree towards east-south) are defined, and the needed amount of mass and insulation as well as their relative positions is discussed. Furthermore, sun porch as a suitable passive heating system for cold seasons is suggested in some directions.

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This paper classifies green envelopes as green roofs and green walls according to effective factors, which were derived from literature to compare the green envelopes’ thermal and energy performance in a more effective way. For this purpose, an extensive literature review was carried out by searching keywords in databases and studying related journal papers and articles. The research method for this study was bibliographic and logical reasoning. The paper proposes five classification factors: contextual factors, greenery factors, scale factors and surface and integration factors. It also demonstrates the influence of physical and geometrical properties of plants and their supporting structures on the thermal performance of green envelopes. The paper argues that climatic conditions also have an important role on the thermal behavior of green envelopes and it determines the types of greenery integration into building envelopes.

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The numerical investigation of computing the rate of radiated solar-energy requires equations as a function of solar-time according to the radiation angle of the sun (β) in the latitude 37°N and the shape. This paper implements the Lagrange interpolation to obtain the equations of normal diagram of elements based on data obtained from surveying. Also the method of Hann-window equation used to estimate the sun path. Albeit, the solar radiation angle effects on the length of element`s shadow on the ground but it is a function of solar-time too. The parameters of the dome traits did compute using the solar-geometry principles in a coexisted function of time to reach a viable equation. The amount of absorbed and wasted energy is presented by analysing its surfaces in the all sides simultaneously. Every single element of BM has been considered to define its especial equation of geometry to analyse their different reactions while transferring energy. Quantitative method of this paper has based on library method of research to define especial equations and field survey to experiment data analysis. According to the mentioned methodology, around 7,54e+4(Kcal.h/m2) solar energy radiate on the BM that its value is equal to around 9,43 (lit/h) energy of gasoil. In other word at least 75,44lit/day fossil energy is saved by the Blue-mosque.

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One of the main architectural characteristics in the central area of Iran is the relation between life and climatic conditions; e.g., the four-seasonal house which is a typical kind of the central-yard house. As the climate of Isfahan is more pleasant than other desert regions in the central part of Iran, wind towers are replaced with skylights to ventilate the pool area of hoze-khane. So far, several researches have been carried out to study the stack effect characteristics and to review wind tower performance. In this paper, a case study is carried out to investigate the effect of the skylight of Mosaver-al-Molki house on the flow pattern and natural ventilation. The performance of skylight on the internal air flow patterns as an effective tool in improving the natural ventilation is investigated by using the Ansys Fluent software. Other elements which have been discussed in this paper are the vault and the columns. These elements have a distinguished effect on distribution of inlet streams in different parts of the hoze-khane. Analysis of the simulation results were obtained for wind velocities of 2.5 m/s and 8 m/s. The numerical results show that wind speed of 2.5 m/s has better performance than wind speed of 8 m/s in terms of ventilation.

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Environmental problems caused by fossil fuel consumption, on the one hand, and the upcoming prospect of ending these fuels on the other, attracted much attention towards sustainable architecture. Traditional buildings can be seen as a sample of sustainability; as they have used strategies to cope with the environment, which have been developed over the years, providing users’ comfort conditions for centuries. But before implementing these strategies in today buildings, we need to know the exact effect of their use; something that is regularly performed by an energy simulation software. Thus, first, we should know the ability of the software in modeling different design strategies, and secondly we should be certain of the validation of its results. This research aims to study the ability of DesignBuilder software (as one of the most applied software for building energy simulation) to model and simulate a complex traditional building. The accuracy of DesignBuilder thermal simulation results, in comparison with the experimental data is the main question of this study. To do this, Rasoulian house in Yazd (in hot and arid climate of Iran) was chosen as a case study and after simulating the entire building, the simulation results were compared with experimental measurement data. The results show that in most spaces, the experimental data were only 1–5°C different from the results of the simulation. Finally, the probable causes of these differences were analyzed and some suggestions were proposed to develop DesignBuilder, to be more applicable in simulating buildings of hot and arid climate.

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Due to the superiority of functional requirements of equipment and systems over human requirements in the field of architectural and environmental design of industrial buildings, users have to adapt themselves to the conditions which might be followed by imposed biological and psychological pressures. The present study examines the components and environmental parameters influenced by building features (thermal comfort, lighting quality, office layout, interior decoration, acoustic quality, air quality, cleanliness and maintenance) in typical control building of combined cycle power plants. Using a questionnaire based on Vischer’s model of environmental comfort regarding people’s environmental perception, the level of users’ satisfaction with the environmental factors and their self-estimated performance in relation to these factors at the two levels of physical and functional comforts has been determined. The statistical analysis of the results shows that the lack of consideration of the environmental comfort parameters of workspace in the process of architectural design of industrial buildings influences users’ satisfaction with these factors which is directly related to their self-estimated performance in workplace and consequently their job satisfaction by decreasing them. Taking into account the fact that the amount of impact of various environmental factors on the individuals’ function was evaluated differently, prioritizing the physical factors in the work place for corrective purposes was finally done using affectability of performance in the degree of satisfaction with any factor.

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Power plants with complex technology have various gradations in design process so that this level in the current time by maintaining the goals of sustainability and sustainable development have a critical importance. These buildings require to be sustainable according to their complexity to provide the finance and discrete budgets for functional needs, meanwhile to design solutions to avoid creating pollution and the reduction of energy should be careful and they are in their life cycle which have a social function. These solutions are possible to offer providing a method in design. Focusing on interventional and unique procedures in design can be very efficient. The present research is applicable with the aim to emphasize and recognize the importance of prioritizing in selecting different areas in combined cycle power plants based on the parameters of sustainable development and responds to the question on what priority should be set in the areas of combined cycle power plants,while observing the principles of sustainable development in the direction of control and decrease of economic, social and environmental risks, describes the infrastructures of sustainable development in the areas of combined cycle. Therefore while addressing senior managers, advisors and contractors ,has presented a list with the consultation of the experts and in the second stage through scrolling using questionnaire and survey from experts and AHP software analysis among consulting companies managers, contractors and professionals the criteria were prioritized in hierarchical method. The economic-functional criteria with rank 0.541 have been in the first priority of attention form the experts’ choice and considering the effect of these criteria on the choices, the choice of steam in combined cycle power plants was placed in the first priority with final weight 0.313 and the gas area was determined in the second priority with final weight 0.266. This was also true in the sensitivity test. Thus paying attention to the functional criteria in order to gain economic productivity in the steam area was defined in the priority of attention.

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Good daylighting design in buildings not only provides a comfortable luminous environment, but also delivers energy savings and comfortable and healthy environments for building occupants. The importance of using daylight in educational buildings is because of the synchrony of operating hours of the school and daylight plenitude the sky. Daylight improves environmental quality and saves energy efficiency by minimizing artificial lighting requirements and thus reducing the cooling load. Window design is a primary sustainable approach in achieving environmental goals and contributes to comfort and satisfaction. This study analyzes the variations of annual thermal energy demand and useful daylight illuminance to determine the optimal Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) of a simulated primary school classroom in Tehran in two directions of south and north. Twelve different window sizes in two types of horizontal expanded windows (Height of the window remains constant, the width is varied) and vertical expanded windows (Width of the window remains constant, the height is varied) were compared in two parts, Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) and thermal and electricity energy, using Honeybee plugin of Grasshopper. Finding of this research reveals that vertical expanded windows are more energy-efficient in classroom while they give almost the same UDI as horizontal expanded window in both south and north facades. Generally WWR in the range of 25% to 35% in south façade has the best performance in daylight and thermal loads.

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Disconnection with nature and history as a result of modernist approaches occurred in the early twentieth century has led to great consequences. Climate change, environmental problems and energy and resources crises have posed numerous challenges to contemporary architects across the globe. The present paper focuses on the issue of passive thermoregulation strategies in vernacular and biomimetic architecture - two approaches in architecture that connect architecture to nature and history -which can offer solutions for environmental crisis. The main objective of this study is to highlight the similarities and differences between vernacular and biomimetic architecture based on passive thermoregulation criterion. So the main question is: what are the common features of biomimetic and vernacular architecture in their use of passive thermoregulatory mechanisms. In this study, the comparative method is used to point out the similarities and differences that can be found between some case studies of vernacular and biomimetic architecture. First, some examples of biomimetic architecture are selected using desk studies and, then, their approach to heat regulation are analyzed using descriptive-analytical research methodology. The results show that while vernacular architecture has a static nature and is depended on low-tech and biomimetic architecture has a dynamic (kinetic), intelligence and interactive nature which relies on high-tech and new materials, their approaches to thermoregulation are similar in some ways. While different in form, they are both based on controlling solar radiation through shading, dissipating heat through convective and evaporative cooling systems, and using the sun as a renewable source of energy.

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Due to the climate change impact, personal thermal comfort (PTC) studies in buildings have been highlighted to reconsider previous results. PTC causes thermal adaptation) physical, physiological, and psychological adaptation (that is the process of acclimatization to different conditions. Thermal comfort is affected by environmental, personal, mental, cognitive, and behavioral criteria. This study was conducted to emphasize the effects of psychological components on PTC in order to improve offices indoor environment quality and reduce energy consumption. In this perspective, cognitive flexibility and resilience have been selected to examine PTC and the ability to accept and choose thermal adaptive strategies based on cognitive characteristics. The research question is: do different cognitive flexibility and resilience level lead to different levels of PTC and conscious/unconscious reaction? To answer this question and calculate comfort temperature, field study was carried out in an office building. The study had two steps: questionnaire and on-site measurements. The questionnaire included an assessment of psychological components, personal components, and thermal responses scales. Environmental components were measured using mobile instruments and the nearest weather station data. A study of 108 participants indicated that cognitive flexibility and resilience had a significant correlation with thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and thermal preferences. So, we can have linear and logistic regression models to predict adaptive behavior, thermal comfort, and thermal preferences based on psychological and personal components. Analysis of comfort temperature using the Griffiths method showed indoor temperature should be 23.7°C for the majority of occupants. We can also be sure that at least two degrees change in indoor temperature is needed to shift occupants’ thermal sensation.

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Today, the use of building information modeling (BIM) has become widespread in developed countries; however, in Iran, the use of BIM-based software has received less attention for some reasons. In the present study, in the first phase, library studies and data collection related to research objectives have been surveyed. Then the identification of indigenous indices of green architecture in Iran was identified and explained through the Delphi method with Kendall's W correlation coefficient in SPSS software as a table Test Statistics. Finally, a green villa building in the Lavasan area in Tehran was detected and designated as a sample to be studied. The building was simulated using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in order to better understand its environment. Moreover, the energy consumption of the mentioned building during the previous year was studied by modeling it in Revit software. The results of the research indicate that the selected building, which has been claimed to be green, has a distance of 58 kWh / m² with the global standards of ASHRAE and LEED. Accordingly, the studied building does not have the fundamental requirements and basic principles to receive the green building certification according to these international rating systems. Thus, with regard to the green building information modeling in Iran, it could be inferred that due to the lack of an indigenous guide (in terms of energy consumption) provided by the authorities, the environmental ecosystems as global assets are at risk.

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The demand for energy has increased all over the world, and the construction industry makes up a high percentage of energy consumption. Different design components, construction, and exploitation regarding the field of construction energy consumption and the drive towards sustainability have been taken into consideration; however, energy conservation with an emphasis on the user's behaviors has been ignored. The purpose of this research is to provide a quantitative definition of the impact of behavior on energy consumption in three residential, institutional, and educational occupancies in one apartment through survey and simulation. In this research, by allocating three different occupancies to one building in Qom, the cooling and heating loads for each occupant have been compared in a one-year interval. First, the building modeling was carried out in Ecotet software and put in Energyplus software. Then by assuming a single building and describing three different patterns of using the space in Energyplus, the outcomes were compared. The results show that the reduction or increase in energy consumption in each occupancy was influenced by the number of users and the patterns of their activities or clothing. Reducing the duration of presence or changing the work hours in warm seasons of the year can significantly help reduce energy consumption in educational and institutional occupancies in hot and dry climates. The residential users' economic motives can be one of the reasons for reduced energy consumption in residential occupancies, compared to institutional occupancies.

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For years, research on daylight in work environments with different climates has been important for researchers to distribute light evenly in the indoor space in order to create a healthy work environment and visual comfort. This study examines the effect of horizontal and vertical shading devices, the depth and distance of louvres on daylight with the aim of increasing DLA (daylight autonomy) for Abrisham tower in Tabriz, Iran. As input parameters the depth of louvres was considered 5 and 15 cm and their distance were considered 150 and 200 cm. Modeling was performed in Rhinoceros software and the Simulation was done in Grasshopper plugin to control the geometric parameters and with the help of ladybug and honeybee plugins. The multi-objective simulation tool, octopus was used to optimizing. Results show that vertical louvers caused more light reduction. Furthermore, the simulation effects of shaders parameter's include depth and distance being examined and analyzed, it seemed that the distance between louvers in this case and in Tabriz is more important variable and moreover, using reflective material or coating on louver’s surface as there are many weeks are overcasting theirs in Tabriz can help and improve internal light autonomy. The optimal cases that were obtained for north façade windows are horizontal louvres with a depth of 5 and a distance of 190 cm and vertical louvres with a depth of 15 cm and a distance 200 cm. In south facade are horizontal louvres with a depth of 13 and a distance of 161 cm and vertical louvres with a depth of 14 cm and a distance of 153 cm.