Thermal Analysis of an Office Building Using Passive Cooling Design in Aizawl, Mizoram

Due to climate change, the overheating risk of the buildings becomes alarming worldwide, thus increasing energy demand for thermal comfort of the inhabitant. This study was conducted to provide overheating risk reduction measures using passive cooling design for both existing buildings and those yet to be constructed. Simulations were done in Revit software and Autodesk Insight, and the results were compared with the first simulation to see its effect. The building study typology is an office building of Mizoram University. The simulations were done using thermal wall absorptance, thermal transmittance through glazing, wall and roof insulation using expanded polystyrene and polyurethane, natural shading by trees and changing the window-to-wall ratios (WWR) by measuring the heating and cooling loads from Revit and also through optimizations done in Insight. This study concluded that the best thermal comfort measure can range from building to building. Since the building used in this study is an office building, having high WWR, the windows played the most important role in the overheating of the building. This study highlights the significance of thermal comfort and overheating risk measures.