FORM EXPLORATION OF LARGE PANEL BUILDINGS FOR HIGH THERMAL PERFORMANCE, USING THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC ALGORITHM

Building thermal performance is crucial in architecture because it affects directly the energy usage, the inhabitant commodity and the environmental impact. The optimal form of the buildings can reduce the energy consumption, improve the commodity inside buildings, as well as contribute to sustainable buildings with efficient costs. Therefore, architects should give priority to thermal performance and design forms, taking into account the environment. The main issue related to the form of large panel buildings that severely contribute to thermal performance problems is their natural lack of thermal mass and the insufficient insulation. These buildings often have light construction will thin walls, limiting their structural capacity and making it difficult to regulate the heat inside. The absence of the thermal mass means that they can absorb and release heat gradually, resulting in temperature oscillations inside buildings. Moreover, many of these buildings were first built with minimal insulation or degraded insulation, making it difficult to keep the temperatures inside constant, increasing the energy consumption and reducing the inhabitants’ comfort. Addressing these important topics — increasing the thermal mass and improving thermal insulation — is crucial to increase the thermal performance of large panel buildings. Evolutionary Genetic Algorithm can address the issues of thermal performance in large panel buildings by optimizing the designing parameters. Through repetitive simulations and processes selection, inspired by the natural selection—the theory of Charles Darwin —, this study finds the optimal combination of insulation thickness, thermal mass and the rearrangement of modules that give form to the buildings in overall. This can lead to different optimal solution of the form of the building regarding to their thermal performance.