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ShadingPlus—a fast simulation tool for building shading analysis

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Abstract

Shading system plays a significant role in reducing building energy demand. To analyse the performance of a shading system, traditional method is either conducting experimental tests for solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) or through detailed energy simulation for energy saving during specific period. But no simulation tool is able to accomplish the two objectives at the same time, and the latter is always too detailed and cumbersome with traditional simulation tools. To help architects analyse the shading system in a more comprehensive and simple way, a fast simulation programme—ShadingPlus—is proposed and developed in this work. With EnergyPlus as its core simulation engine, ShadingPlus applies an optimal methodology to calculate SHGC. Moreover, annual energy saving calculation is also available with ShadingPlus which reflects shading system in a more realistic way. It is expected that the analysis for shading system can be greatly simplified using this tool. Case studies are also given to illustrate the way ShadingPlus works.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Shanghai Research Institute of Building Science, Shanghai, China.

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Correspondence to Peng Xu.

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Ye, Y., Xu, P., Sha, H. et al. ShadingPlus—a fast simulation tool for building shading analysis. Energy Efficiency 9, 239–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-015-9360-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-015-9360-4

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