Anticipating the impact of microclimates on the energy consumption of buildings

Context and objectives

Microclimates can significantly change the results of energy simulations of buildings, for example, in urban areas with wind deflection phenomena. To reduce energy consumption in the French overseas territories, passive cooling systems and natural ventilation must be encouraged. Microclimate phenomena play an important role in the design of these systems, which is why it is necessary to be able to model them as accurately as possible.

The internship, led in 2019 by Lucas Striegel at MINES ParisTech and supervised by Bruno Peuportier, enhanced the simulation of a DTS (Dynamic Thermal Simulation) tool, Pleiades COMFIE, with a microclimate simulation tool, UrbaWind, by creating an interface between the two software programs. Two concrete case studies, in Guyana and Reunion, formed the field of experimentation.

Modelling of the territory (UrbaWind software) and of the studied building (Pleiades).Results, pressure coefficients provided by Urbawind and comparison with default values.