PF4213 Building Energy Analysis and Simulation Assignment: Optimizing Passive Retrofit Strategies for SDE2 Building Across Diverse Climatic Conditions

PF4213: Individual Assignment AY 2025/26 — Semester 1

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this assignment, you should be able to. . .

• Develop and apply a simplified EnergyPlus model of an existing building.
• Demonstrate understanding of heat transfer processes by interpreting annual simulation results of envelope performance.
• Propose and justify passive retrofit strategies appropriate to different climates.
• Communicate key insights through effective visualizations and data interpretation.
• Use AI tools to support analysis and improve clarity of findings.
• Appreciate the importance of academic integrity and giving credit where it is due.

Description

This is an individual assignment. For this assignment, you are required to complete the following tasks:

1. Model the SDE2 Building using the provided floor plans to construct a simplified DesignBuilder model using the drawing file provided. Include key surrounding buildings and make appropriate thermal zoning assumptions. You may assume the following baseline conditions:
   • Brick-wall construction
   • Window-to-wall ratio of 40%
   • Clear double-glazed windows
2. Using the weather file for Singapore, run an annual simulation and propose an optimal passive retrofit strategy for the SDE2 building. You may consider strategies such as external shading, glazing upgrades, or surface property changes. Your proposed strategy should be clearly justified based on Singapore’s climate and first-principles building physics reasoning.
3. Choose a second, distinctly different climate and rerun the simulation using an appropriate weather file. For this climate, propose a new optimal passive retrofit strategy tailored to its specific climatic conditions.
4. Choose a second, distinctly different climate and rerun the simulations using an appropriate weather file with the same set of passive retrofit strategies evaluated for Singapore. Discuss why the results differ for this climate, and then propose a strategy that is most suitable for the second climate.
5. Compare the two climate-specific retrofit strategies and interpret their performance. Discuss how and why the optimal strategies differ across climates, drawing on concepts of solar irradiance, conduction, convection, and other relevant heat transfer processes.

Declaration of AI Usage

You are encouraged to use AI tools to enhance your data visualization and interpretation. However, to ensure academic integrity and transparency, the use of such tools should be properly acknowledged and credited. When submitting this assignment, students should include a section titled “Declaration of AI usage” that is placed at the beginning of the report (after the cover page (if any) and before the main text). This section should clearly state the following:

• The AI tool that was used.
• How it was used.
• The reason for its use.

Grading

This individual assignment has a 35% weight on your overall grade for this module and will be graded, taking into consideration the following.

• Quality of simulation and retrofit strategies that are demonstrably optimized for the two respective climates.
• Demonstrating deep understanding of first-principles building physics reasoning and the use of appropriate metrics.
• Insightful comparative analysis across the two climates.
• Appropriateness, clarity, and justification of the performance metrics used.
• Effective use of data visualizations to highlight simulation results and key insights.
• AI Tool usage and declaration.

As part of this assignment, you should submit the following to Canvas on Week 10, Friday before 11:59pm:

• A single ZIP file to the folder Assignments > Individual Assignment.
• The zip file should contain the following

  i) A report for your study in PDF format. The report must NOT exceed 15 pages excluding references and cover page (if any). There is no minimum number of pages. There are no strict formatting requirements, but your report must not use a font size that is smaller than 11 points and line spacing that is smaller than 1.

  ii) You should use in-text citations in your writing. You may use any of the citation styles listed on NUS Libraries

  iii) Your DesignBuilder model.

• You should name the ZIP file using snake_case (only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores) using the convention “(last name)_(first name).zip” (For example “chong_adrian.zip”).

If you need or desire an extension on this assignment, contact me in a timely fashion. There is no guarantee that you will receive an extension, so plan your schedule carefully. Late submissions will be penalized as follows:

• Within 3 day – 5% of grade for this assignment
• Within 4–7 days – 20% of grade for this assignment
• More than 7 days – 50% of grade for this assignment

Academic Integrity

Please review the NUS code of student conduct . Under the code of student conduct:

The University takes a strict view of cheating in any form, deceptive fabrication, plagiarism, and violation of intellectual property and copyright laws. Any student who is found to have engaged in such misconduct will be subject to disciplinary action by the University

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