Document Type
Theses, Masters
Rights
Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence
Abstract
local and global environment is becoming increasingly important. Several methods and procedures have been adopted to encourage designers and engineers to become more environmentally friendly and energy conscious. The advance of computer simulation and modelling of buildings has been successful in addressing potential problems in the design process while providing additional information otherwise not available to the design team. However, it is the purpose of this thesis to use this information and benefits of simulation and modelling at an earlier stage in the design. This thesis endeavours to investigate the requirements and benefits and integrated Early Design Stage program would bring to a project and the design process. As the essence of this thesis would have implications on the role of a Building Services Engineers in the design process, it was necessary therefore to identify the role currently of the Building Services Engineer and the other members of the design team throughout a project from the initial brief through to construction. An extensive Literature Review of approx. sixty computer programs was analysed to establish the computer software programs available both commercially and educationally. This Literature Review entailed a description of the programs, their advantages and disadvantages, number of world-wide users, user expertise required and the computer language the programs are written in. A Questionnaire/Survey was carried out on Building Services Engineers working in the Industry to establish the current design procedures with respect to building services systems design and assess the industries experience and knowledge in regard to computer simulations and modelling. The results of the Questionnaire/Survey identified that an Early Design Stage tool would be beneficial to the design process and it was widely recognised the potential of such a program to tackling energy efficiency and energy reduction in buildings. In order to emphasise the importance of computer simulation and modelling in the design of a building and its potential benefits to the design process, two case studies were investigated. Both of the case studies directly compared computer simulation of a building to traditional calculation methods. With the completion of the Literature Review, Questionnaire/Survey and the Case Studies, the need for an Early Design Stage computer program was identified. It was therefore necessary to specify the requirements of such a program. This entailed proposing the structure of a program, input and output parameters and working with my industrial partner in the development of the software. Following the completion of the development of the Early Design Stage Computer Program, a case study on the program was carried out. This identified the benefits of the program and highlighted the advantages this new program would bring to the design team, especially in terms of the information available to the engineer, architect and the client at the early design stage.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/D7BW3D
Recommended Citation
Denver, B. (2001). The Development of a Computer Program to Co-ordinate Early Design Stage Information. Masters dissertation. Dublin Institute of Technology. doi:10.21427/D7BW3D
Publication Details
Successfully submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) to the Dublin Institute of Technology, December, 2001.