Advanced building services simulation software providing design solutions in Dublin and Boston

The paper uses the latest state of the art dynamic simulation software to analyse and present design information for building design engineers on current design questions in both Dublin and Boston. The design questions analysed include the options for office perimeter HVAC in Boston e.g. VAV with terminal reheat versus VAV with terminal reheat and trench heating. This is explored with full height glazing and 50% glazing to façade ratio. The design information for the Boston design questions are presented in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) format to address the interaction of natural convective air currents and conditioned air from the variable volume terminal units. This information allows thermal comfort analyse to be conducted in the occupied zones for each HVAC configuration. For Dublin the design questions addressed include brise soleil and its impact on the visual conditions within the space i.e. assessing glare. The Radiance daylight computer simulation program is used to provide visual comfort information for the Dublin design questions. Two visual comfort metrics are used i.e. Guth Visual Comfort Probability and the CIE Glare Index.