Effects of Vertical Meteorological Changes on Heating and Cooling Loads of Super Tall Buildings

Vertical meteorological conditions encountered by super tall buildings, such as wind speed, temperature and humidity, vary due to their height. Therefore, it is necessary to consider these environmental changes to properly estimate the heating and cooling loads, and to minimize the energy demands for HVAC in super tall buildings. This paper aims to analyze how vertical meteorological changes affect heating and cooling loads of super tall buildings by using numerical simulation. A radiosonde, which observes atmospheric parameters of upper air such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity and pressure, was used to provide weather data for the building load simulation. A hypothetical super tall building was used for the simulation to provide quantified characteristics of the heating and cooling loads, comparing the lower, middle and upper parts of the building. The effect of weather data on the heating and cooling loads in super tall building was also discussed.