Parametric Study on Determining Optimum Shading Techniques for Urban High-Rise Dwellings

Shading techniques constitute one of the most passive, beneficial strategies for reducing energy consumption in urban dwellings. Shading affects many factors, for example, the solar gains and radiations falling on the facade, which are considered the most significant in increasing the cooling energy demand in hot climates. This paper conducts a parametric study on external and internal shading devices and establishes their impact on energy consumption, daylight levels, and ventilation. The work was conducted using Integrated Environmental Simulation Virtual Environment (IES-VE) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical methods. The results revealed that optimised shading can influence savings in terms of energy and cooling, in addition to the enhancement of daylighting and reduction of glare. After studying all these factors associated with the different shading techniques investigated, the findings revealed that all shades affect the energy, daylight and ventilation parameters positively. However, despite all external and internal shadings showing improvements, the egg crate shade was determined as that which provided the optimum energy saving, while enhancing daylight and improving natural ventilation for a sustainable building design.