| Globally,natural ventilation has become a significant initiative in cooling buildings.Evaluating the natural ventilation cooling potentials in early design stage can maximize the balance between investment and income.However,the natural ventilation cooling potentials will be affected by factors such as the external environment,building geometry,building materials,and thermal mass.In this context,this paper provides a component of the evaluation of natural ventilation cooling potentials in early design stage,which can quantify the natural ventilation cooling potentials under the action of single and multifactor combinations,quantify climate utilization efficiency,and dynamically respond to building design options in order to assist architects in iterating design space decisions.The natural ventilation cooling potentials evaluation component involved in this paper is based on the natural ventilation cooling effectiveness(NVCE)index,and the airflow network model is added to calculate natural ventilation.Grasshopper’s computer-aided architectural design component is created from static and dynamic simulations conducted using Ladybug Tool and Python.An early design simulation program is formed by combining iterative components with a parameterized model interface.The study reviewed the basics of natural ventilation and numerical calculation models,the performance-based design of natural ventilation cooling,and the evaluation methods of natural ventilation cooling potential,and summarized and refined early design indicators for natural ventilation cooling potential.In addition,this paper improves the NVCE index,proposes a method of evaluating the cooling potentials of natural ventilation,and describes its generation process and application.Three cities in China are used as examples,benchmark buildings are selected,and parametric model components,evaluation components,and iteration components are applied to predict natural ventilation’s cooling potential and to iterate options.The program also discusses how natural ventilation cooling can be enhanced and verified.Based on the results of this study,the cooling potentials evaluation component for natural ventilation buildings can provide a decision-making basis in early design stage.As a result,airflow and indoor heat gain should take priority when ventilation conditions are limited to enhance cooling potential when thermal mass has the least impact. |
