Multi-objective optimization of glazing and shading configurations for visual, thermal, and energy performance of cooling dominant climatic regions of India

Climate adaptive passive design features such as glazing and shading configurations, often exhibit conflicting behavior to maintaining indoor visual and thermal environment while minimizing energy consumption. This study employed a multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach through SPEA-II and HypE algorithms to find the efficient glazing and shading configurations in four cooling dominant climatic zones of India such as hot and dry, composite, warm and humid, and temperate. A residential building situated in Jaipur city (India) was chosen for the analysis and to demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the optimization process. Twenty-six design variables including wall window ratio, louvers depth, louvers count, fin depth and fins count of each orientation, window height, sill height, glazing U-value, solar heat gain coefficient, and visual light transmittance were imported into the Octopus to investigate their interactive impact on the useful daylight illuminance (UDI), thermal discomfort percentage (TDP) and energy use intensity (EUI). The optimized trade-off solutions represented a considerable improvement; UDI increased by 24.61%, 21.90%, 14.91% and 26.41%, and TDP reduced by 10.38%, 1.5%, 13.95% and 17.68%, and EUI decreased by 10.10%, 1.9%, 15.82% and 19.19% compared to initially generated solutions for Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore cities, respectively. Finally, the Bayesian machine learning technique has been used for sensitivity analysis to identify the correlation between the design variables and performance objectives. Horizontal louver depth, WWR, and window height were found to be crucial for all locations, while the other variable exhibited significant variability. The outcome of this research presents an algorithmic-based MOO methodology for designing glazing and shading in residential buildings within arid and semi-arid climate zones, ensuring good building performance in terms of occupant comfort and energy efficiency.