The Framework of an Optimization Model for the Thermal Design of Building Envelopes

Careful long term decisions in the design and operation of buildings can significantly improve the thermal performance and thus reduce the consumption of energy. The availability and ease of use of today's computers can be a sigruficant benefit to the decision making process of building design. In dealing with the building as a thermal system, the proper selection of its components and their relationships can be organized using a systems approach. This can be achieved by coupling an optimization technique into the thermal performance of buildings early in the design process. This requires formulating the building as a well-defined thermal system in a framework suitable for the application of systematic approaches. The aim of this paper is to describe the basic framework of a building thermal design optimization model by defining building design variables, a criterion of optimality, constraints, and a suitable thermal simulation model that can be integrated into the proper optimization technique