Influence analysis of space configuration on cooling load of a large semi-closed atrium in hot and humid region

作者：Xu, Fei; Li, Chunying; Tang, Haida^*

来源：BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT, 2022, 225: 109670.

DOI：10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109670

• Large semi-closed atrium
• Block model
• Incident solar radiation distribution
• Cooling load
• Space configuration

Atriums commonly appeared in large-scale public buildings to build up a pleasant and natural indoor environ-ment. However, an overheated indoor environment and a large cooling load often occurred in a semi-closed atrium in hot and humid regions. This study extended the Block model considering the incident solar radia-tion distribution and air infiltration to predict the indoor temperature stratification, and further validated by on -site measurement with root mean squared errors less than 1.0 degrees C. The influencing factors on cooling load, i.e., the transmittivity and absorptivity of the roof, the area of top openings, the section aspect ratio and the top-bottom area ratio of the atrium, were analyzed by simulation. According to the simulated annual cooling load of a large semi-closed atrium, the roof transmittivity imposed the greatest influence on the cooling load. The annual cooling load was reduced by 41.6% with roof transmissivity decreased from 50% to 30%. The annual cooling load was slightly reduced by 7.3% with the roof absorptivity decreased from 10% to 1%. Furthermore, the design strategies including optical properties of the roof, dynamic regulation of the opening size and an adaptive atrium shape were proposed to improve the indoor thermal environment of the large semi-closed atriums in hot and humid regions with less energy consumption.