Performance enhancement of double skin facades in hot and dry climates using wind parameters

This research aims to demonstrate a model of Double Skin Facade (DSF) that functions efficiently in hot and dry climates. Knowing that DSF performs well in winter at hot and dry climates as thermal mass is needed. However, this method during summer evinces overheating between the two skin layers. This paper introduces some modifications in order to improve the functioning of DSF when overheating occurs in the cavity between the two skin layers. Overheating in DSF can be prevented by using properties of wind pressure. Considering the condition of the wind flow, different geometric forms in the upper part of DSF as well as its lower portion of window opening are evaluated. The numerical method and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are used in order to evaluate the hypotheses of this study. The obtained results of this research suggest that dividing the cavity space into smaller parts makes no significant changes. Designing an additional channel in the northern part of the models, directly impacts the functionality of DSF, which can be concluded to be very efficient. Finally, by increasing airflow velocity within the cavity, it is possible to decrease the problems of using DSF in hot and dry climates. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.