Double skin façade consists of two layers, usually glass made, placed at a distance, forming a cavity that allows air circulation. These layers include complex physical phenomenon, such as the ventilation stack effect and thermal radiant exchanges. This paper presents a simulation method using the software EnergyPlus to analyse the performance of a double skin façade environment. The layers of the double skin façade were subjected to radiant exchanges and to the stack effect. The method considers the cavity (between layers) as a microclimate, where climatic conditions were used to generate a weather file of the specific conditions for that zone. The weather file was later used in another simulation, which considered only the inner layer of the façade, with focus on the solar radiation. The data presented validate the simulation process, given the variables available for the program. The results were compared to a base case without double skin facade. The heat gains in the façade and the internal operating temperatures were used to verify the performance of the environment with double skin facade. This procedure provides a basis to analyse more complex models.
Double skin façade; Stack effect; Computational simulation; EnergyPlus
