Are Optimized Design Solutions Robust? A Case in Point — Industrial Halls with Varying Process Loads and Occupancy Patterns

Industrial halls are mainly low-rise rectangular shape structure of simple construction. Manufacturing processes, lighting, and the corresponding amount of energy spent on space conditioning to remove the excess heat gain, all contribute to the high energy demand of industrial halls. Since thermal comfort is seldom a concern; the relatively loose requirement in space conditioning and the comparatively high internal heat gain make the approach in industrial hall design quite differs from that of office building design. The simplicity in the building geometry and the construction method allow the investigation of energy demand for building services to be limited to a few number of demand side parameters (e.g. insulation value of walls). Through building performance simulation and optimization, this paper will identify the most optimal combinations of values of demand side parameters that will minimize the total energy consumption of ventilation, heating, and lighting for a typical industrial hall. For industrial halls, energy demand for building services could be very sensitive to changes in the process load and occupancy pattern, which in reality, fluctuate widely due to seasonal cycles, and other factors. Optimized design solutions for industrial halls projected for a particular process load and occupancy pattern might not perform as predicted due to anticipated but unascertainable changes. To take into account such possible changes, uncertainty analysis can be performed to determine if the optimized design solutions are in fact robust to such changes and to identify solutions that are less susceptible to uncertainty.