Abstract

Adaptive glazings facades have the potential to play a significant role in new buildings with high energy performance, since they enable the envelope to adapt its properties dynamically to transient ambient thermal conditions. In particular, Water-Flow Glazings (WFG) are a type of dynamic glazing able to enhance energy efficiency of buildings. However, WFG simulation in Building Energy Modelling (BEM) software is still an unresolved concern because simulation software is mainly designed to use glazings as passive solar elements. The lack of such a thermal simulation tool limits the use of WFG for building designers and constructors. A hybrid experimental-simulation methodology using TRNSYS is presented to face this issue. This work proposes a novel procedure to determine thermal specific U-value and SHGC of adaptive WFG facades in mild climates. The proposed methodology makes possible to reach a rapid empirical estimation of these two thermal parameters of WFG facades. This heuristic approach proved to be helpful to reproduce the experimental results in mild climate conditions and is proposed to evaluate the thermal performance and energy contribution of adaptive facades.