Evaluating Integration of Shading Devices with Naturally

Ventilated Double Skin Facades in Hotel Buildings

(With Special Reference to Greater Cairo, Egypt)

Abdulrahman Fahmya, Morad Abdulqaderb, Hanan Sabryc and Ahmed Faggald

a Architectural Design Demonstrator at Ain Shams University.
b Professor of Architecture and Environmental Control at Ain Shams University.
c Professor of Architecture and Environmental Control at Ain Shams University.
d Professor of Architecture and Environmental Control at Ain Shams University.

Abstract. This paper evaluates using shading devices with naturally ventilated walls in hotel
buildings in Greater Cairo as a passive technique to lower cooling loads in cooling seasons.
CFD simulations were done using DesignBuilder to compare between three cases. In case one a
single skin façade was used. In case two a naturally ventilated double skin facade is used. And in
case three highly reflective shading devices are added inside the cavity near the outer skin.

Keywords: Passive Cooling, Double Skin Facades, Naturally Ventilated Walls, Shading Devices,
CFD Simulations.

1. INTRODUCTION
Double skin façades are becoming a trend in architecture nowadays in terms of
energy conservation and natural ventilation. Their different applications and types
introduce a wide range of choices regarding energy conservation mainly. They can
be used in different types of buildings to cool them naturally or with the less possible
use of mechanical ventilation.
Double skin facades, in their form may be used as an interior space if used as a
corridor. This could add a value to the design as well.
Nowadays, Egypt suffers from energy problems. Buildings are the most element that
uses electricity especially those which rely on HVAC systems for cooling in Egypt’s
hot climate [1]. HVAC systems may cause serious problems to the environment
because of the radiations and the vapors that harm the ozone layer [2]. Due to these
problems, architects need to consider designing buildings that are naturally
ventilated where different passive cooling techniques are applied. These designs
should suite Egypt’s climate and conditions and should be environment friendly.
Double skin facades are a proper solution that may work in Egypt that needs to be
tested and considered in the design phase. This research aims at evaluating how the
naturally ventilated walls may affect thermal comfort in hotel buildings in Greater
Cairo, as the hotel buildings are considered a type of buildings that consumes a large
amount of electricity.

2. Double Skin Facades

A double skin façade is defined normally as a pair of glass walls which are
separated by an air gap. This gap works as insulation against noise, wind with high
velocity (especially in high rise buildings), and mainly temperature. It also forces an
airflow next to the exterior glazing that can be used as natural ventilation for the
interior spaces [3].
Double skin facades differ in types. They are classified either according to the
ventilation system (natural – mechanical – hybrid) or according to air movement
(Corridor - Shaft box – Buffer – Extract Air – Twin Face - etc.).
A double wall can also be supported by shading device to control the heat gain due
to direct sun rays. This adds a value to the environmental aspect where the double
skin façade minimize the heat gain of the interior spaces and help achieving natural
ventilation. Double skin facades will work efficiently also if daylighting is
considered because the need for lighting systems in the day will be less because of
the large glazed areas of the facade.
However, depending on the location, the double skin façade will cost more
financially, because of the glazing, the structure and the mechanical systems’ cost.
Yet, researchers mentioned that the saving in the energy in the operation phase, due
to avoiding the use of HVAC systems, can justify the cost on the long term.
2.1 Naturally Ventilated Walls
An advantage of the double skin façade is that it allows natural ventilation if it
was well designed because of the outer skin that protects from wind in case of high
wind and allows operable windows in the inner skin to naturally ventilate the interior
spaces. This can lead to reducing energy consumption. This also leads to reduction
in CO2 emission in the operation phase.
Different types of double skin facades should be applied according to the climate,
orientation, location of the building, and its type so that it can help providing fresh
air [4]. There are some factors that controls achieving natural ventilation through
double skin facades including difference in temperature that causes air changes,
pressure differences which causes air flow, and stack effect which is described by
authors as the movement of air into and out of the building and is driven by
buoyancy. In hot weathers, these forces are not always enough for achieving natural
ventilation [5].
2.1.1 Naturally Ventilated Walls in Hot Arid Climates
In hot regions, the main challenge that faces buildings is ensuring indoor
thermal comfort for their occupants. Some regions weather is constantly hot, and
this can be easier in dealing with their buildings’ envelopes regarding sustainable
design. Other regions have a partially hot weather (Moderate/Mediterranean) where
the weather in summer is hot while moderate-cool-cold in winter. This variation in
weather requires dynamic building envelopes that are capable of achieving thermal
comfort regardless of the weather conditions. As large glass facades where
introduced to the Middle East in the seventies of the twentieth century, a lot of
solutions had to show up to protect the interior spaces from high solar gain. A
promising solution that appeared to solve the problem is the double skin façade [6].
In hot weather, high irradiance levels and high ambient temperatures could seriously
affect DSF’s thermal efficiency. That’s because a large amount of direct solar gains
can penetrate through the outer façade and heat up cavity’s components and some
will reach the interior spaces depending on the incident angle, irradiance levels, and
the properties of glass. A lot of authors mention that DSFs show acceptable thermal
performance if designed properly even in extreme hot climates. The proper design
includes providing sufficient ventilation for the cavity and adding shading devices
to block an amount of the direct solar gain. When using natural ventilation to provide
thermal comfort to the interior spaces, architects and designers have to give more
attention to air direction and velocity to successfully apply the technique.
For cooling demands, air reaches the cavity where it carries away heat that can be
accumulated in the cavity and then partially be transferred into the adjacent interior
spaces. The inner membrane’s temperature is kept lower than without the airflow.
Thus; radiation, conduction and convection from the inner spaces are reduced. In
this case, less heat reaches the inner spaces and so, the need for energy to cool the
building is reduced. Another solution to reduce heat gain, is adding solar shading
devices between the skins to reflect or absorb unwanted solar radiation. The
absorbed heat by the shading devices is removed after that by convection when the
air moves along the surface of the blinds towards outside the cavity [7].

3. Integrating Shading Devices with Naturally Ventilated Double Skin Facades

A lot of studies of shading devices inside DSFs cavities showed that shading
devices affect thermal comfort for the occupants by reducing the amount of direct
solar gain reaching the indoor spaces. Thus, shading devices highly affect energy
performance of buildings where double skin facades are applied, especially in hot
climates, where overheating can occur inside the cavity because of the high solar
radiations transmission through the DSF glazing which leads to high air temperature
inside the cavity [8].
Shading devices positions, size and angle are the main parameters that affect cooling
energy saving which could reach 23%. Although shading devices are installed to
control direct solar gains and thus reduce energy consumption, placing them inside
the cavity may affect the air flow speed and pattern which needs to be studied in the
early design stage for the shading devices placement and angles.
Oesterle, et al, 2001 investigated the integration of shading devices inside the air
cavity and stated that the exterior skin can reduce a minimum of 10% of solar
irradiance while the integrated shading devices could reduce around 50% to 60% of
solar irradiance when compared to interior blinds. Therefore, the optimal integration
of shading devices with DSFs can show up as a solution that overcomes
disadvantages of DSF concepts in hot climates [8].
While shading elements act as heat collector, the part of heat they absorb stays inside
the cavity and therefore it enhances the cavity’s buoyant flow. And with sufficient
natural ventilation, the performance of DSF systems in hot climates will be
enhanced. In this case, the quality of natural ventilation is a key factor that decides
whether the system will succeed or not [8].

4. CFD Simulations
To test the results of integrating shading devices with naturally ventilated double
skin facades on Hotel Buildings in Greater Cairo, Three models were built on
DesignBuilder. A single skin façade, a naturally ventilated double skin façade and
naturally ventilated DSF with shading devices. The three models were an ‘internal
bathroom’ generic plan arrangement for an 8x4.5 m hotel room. Figure 1 shows the
plan and section of the room.
The simulations were done 2 PM and 6 PM on the fifth, twentieth and thirty fifth
floors. The chosen simulation day was the 23rd of August which had the highest
operative temperature in Cairo’s summer according to thermal simulations done on
DesignBuilder.
 FIGURE 1. Plan of Naturally Ventilated Wall Case (Left) and Section (A-A) Passing through
Plan (Right)

4.1 Models’ Parameters

The base case was a double glazed reflective single skin façade where the outer
glazing is 0.08 cm and the inner glazing is 0.06 separated by 0.1 cm air gap. Those
parameters are added to the DesignBuilder model for simulations. Figure 2 shows
the model of the single skin façade on DesignBuilder.

FIGURE 2. Reference Case Thermal Study Unit Axonometric (Left) and Plan (Right) on
DesignBuilder

Table 1 shows glazing specifications used in DesignBuilder.

TABLE 1. Glazing Material Specifications
Conductivity (W/m- Specific Heat (J/Kg-
Element Density (Kg/m3)
K) K)
Glazing 1.00 750 2500
Double Glazing Emissivity Solar Absorptance Visible Absorptance
 0.90 0.70 0.70

4.1.1 Naturally Ventilated Wall Double Skin Façade Parameters

The naturally ventilated wall used in the simulations is a shaft type double skin
façade with 1 m chimney at the top of the cavity. The width of the cavity is 1 m and
the two layers of glazing are the same as the layers used for the single skin façade
case. Figure 3 shows the model of naturally ventilated wall on DesignBuilder.

FIGURE 3. Model of Naturally Ventilated Wall on DesignBuilder

4.1.2 Shading Devices Parameters

The shading devices are designed according to sun rays angle at 4 PM. The shading
slats are Aluminum placed 0.26 cm from each other. They are placed 20 meters away
from the external skin. Their depth is 0.05 cm, their width is 40 cm and their angle
is 90 degrees. Figure 4 shows the detail of used shading slats.

FIGURE 4. Detail of Shading Devices

5. CFD Simulations Results
The output of the simulations on DesignBuilder were operative temperature in
Celsius degrees, air velocity in m/s and age of air in seconds.
The results of applying naturally ventilated wall showed that mean OT temperature
could be reduced by 3.07 degrees compared to curtain wall case (reference case) at
6 PM and could be reduced by 2.71 degrees at 2 PM. However, mean AOA increases
and mean AV decreases in West and South orientations where AOA increases by
177.55 s and AV decreases by 0.06 m/s.
The results showed that North orientation had the lowest mean OT followed by East,
West and South respectively. Also, West orientation had the lowest mean AOA and
the highest mean AV followed by North, East and South.
On the other hand, the results of integrating shading devices with the naturally
ventilated walls showed great enhancement in mean OT in all orientations except
North. While mean AV and mean AOA were enhanced in all of the other orientations
generally. The difference between mean OT in case 1 and in naturally ventilated wall
reached the highest of 1.68 Celsius degrees in South orientation. West and East
orientations came second and third in enhancing mean OT. While North orientation
showed increment in mean OT with a maximum of 0.45 Celsius degrees. The reason
behind this could be the reflection of solar gain from surroundings in North direction
which is not highly affected by direct solar gain.
Mean AOA difference was at its highest in South orientation where a decrement of
163.93 seconds appeared. East, West and North orientations followed that with a
maximum decrement of 17.66, 13.67 and 13.86 seconds respectively.
Table two compares between the three cases’ highest and lowest mean operative
temperatures.
TABLE 2. Comparison between mean highest and lowest OT of different cases
Hour 2 PM 6 PM
Ambient OT 33.89 33.96
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Mean OT
OT OT OT OT
South
Single Skin Facade 35.23 34.77 34.40 32.64
DSF Case 34.83 33.19 34.85 33.57
Shading Devices 33.15 32.38 33.63 32.74
West Ambient OT 33.79 34.93
 Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Mean OT
OT OT OT OT
Single Skin Facade 35.13 31.11 36.35 35.60
DSF Case 32.75 32.02 33.75 32.96
Shading Devices 32.64 31.94 33.59 32.82
Ambient OT 33.05 33.74
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Mean OT
OT OT OT OT
East
Single Skin Facade 33.96 33.73 33.84 33.15
DSF Case 32.39 31.32 31.84 31.64
Shading Devices 32.21 31.27 32.58 31.62
Ambient OT 33.27 33.73
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Mean OT
OT OT OT OT
North
Single Skin Facade 33.18 32.58 33.69 33.04
DSF Case 32.53 31.48 33.02 31.96
Shading Devices 32.81 31.96 33.28 32.40

Table three compares between the three cases’ highest and lowest mean air velocity.
TABLE 3. Comparison between mean highest and lowest AV of different cases
Hour 2 PM 6 PM
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AV AV AV AV
South Single Skin Facade 0.041 0.039 0.032 0.029
DSF Case 0.031 0.024 0.030 0.021
Shading Devices 0.041 0.037 0.042 0.039
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AV AV AV AV
West Single Skin Facade 0.090 0.039 0.038 0.031
DSF Case 0.040 0.037 0.041 0.039
Shading Devices 0.042 0.040 0.042 0.040
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AV AV AV AV
East Single Skin Facade 0.029 0.025 0.037 0.035
DSF Case 0.037 0.036 0.040 0.037
Shading Devices 0.038 0.035 0.039 0.030
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AV AV AV AV
North Single Skin Facade 0.033 0.029 0.037 0.035
DSF Case 0.038 0.033 0.041 0.039
Shading Devices 0.040 0.035 0.042 0.039
Table three compares between the three cases’ highest and lowest mean age of air.
TABLE 4. Comparison between mean highest and lowest AOA of different cases
Hour 2 PM 6 PM
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AOA AOA AOA AOA
South Single Skin Facade 412.26 394.58 523.69 519.62
DSF Case 451.18 415.34 523.48 416.81
Shading Devices 371.49 362.22 362.04 354.46
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AOA AOA AOA AOA
West Single Skin Facade 359.66 193.49 455.42 399.15
DSF Case 373.40 371.03 346.47 345.86
Shading Devices 367.88 357.36 349.70 341.47
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AOA AOA AOA AOA
East Single Skin Facade 610.08 577.32 451.05 448.27
DSF Case 406.06 398.25 379.47 359.76
Shading Devices 395.69 385.73 375.63 369.83
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
AOA AOA AOA AOA
North Single Skin Facade 514.05 496.08 443.01 445.38
DSF Case 402.61 388.87 372.60 357.30
Shading Devices 389.93 379.88 692.59 354.91

6. CONCLUSION
To conclude the results of this research, it is noticeable that integrating shading
devices with naturally ventilated DSF could enhance thermal comfort in the hotel
room. The enhancement includes lower mean OT compared to ambient OT that
could reach 1.85 Celsius degrees difference in West facade. It also includes
relatively higher mean AV in the space than the other 2 alternatives which could
reach a highest value of 0.042 m/s which is close to the required AV that achieves
indoor air quality (IAQ). At last, this option shows the best results regarding mean
AOA with a lowest value among the 4 cases which is 349.70 m/s in West façade.
This option achieved acceptable and noticeable results in South, West and East
facades. While using naturally ventilated DSF without shading devices showed the
best performance in North façade.
Although the mean OT is out of the comfort zone, results of mean AV and mean
AOA could enhance ventilation rates and IAQ. And also the reduction in mean OT
could lower down the consumption of energy using HVAC systems.
However, the ambient temperature which is higher than comfort range will always
affect the mean OT of the indoor space. This is because the temperature of
incoming air could affect thermal comfort because the air flow will be hot and will
not necessarily enhance IAQ. This problem needs more studies regarding applying
another passive cooling techniques and more studies need to be done regarding
changing the other parameters of shading devices.

RECOMMENDATIONS
For future investigations regarding applying naturally ventilated walls and
shading devices in hot arid climate in Cairo. The research recommends the
following points:
1- Investigating the effects of controlling the coming air temperature by integrating
different passive techniques.
2- Experimenting within heating seasons to study the efficiency of naturally
ventilated walls in Cairo’s winter.
3- Investigating the efficiency of integrating shading devices and naturally
ventilated walls in low rise hotel buildings to check the applicability of the concept
on them.
4- Experimenting different parameters of shading devices such as their position,
number, and materials.
5- Investigating the cost of installing a DSF and Shading devices in Cairo with the
current results especially if HVAC systems will be used as well to know the
efficiency of applying the technique on the long run cost wise.

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