Title
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Optimizing the ductwork design of centralized air distribution systems for new buildings and retrofits : a holistic simulation-based approach
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Author
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Abstract
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Efficient centralized air distribution systems are essential for non-residential buildings, ensuring healthy indoor air quality, and occupant comfort. Recent health crises, rising energy costs, and climate change have underscored the need to optimize these designs. Centralized systems involve complex ductwork that must balance energy efficiency, acoustical comfort, pressure-balance, and achieve the desired indoor air quality. When it comes to designing ductworks, engineers face challenges with the conflicting material and operational costs, space constraints, and retrofitting within budget and time limits. Therefore, current practices rely on engineers' expertise, often leading to conservative and inefficient solutions due to the lack of standardized optimal design methods. This study develops a heuristic optimization method specifically for ductwork design in both new buildings and retrofits. Our method integrates system constraints and aims to minimize life-cycle costs (LCC). Throughout this study, we revealed the impact of some overlooked design choices which would maximize the optimization potentials, and we integrated these choices into a simulation-based design method. A case study at the University of Antwerp showed our method reduced LCC by 13.62% and achieved a more pressure-balanced system (+25.3%) compared to conventional methods. For retrofitting, the method maximizes the reuse of existing components while meeting performance criteria and minimizing LCC. A case study in a multi-storey school building demonstrated a 17% LCC reduction and a well-balanced design. Optimized configurations can introduce acoustical issues. Our study addresses these potential problems by integrating silencer design into the optimization process. Comparing three ductwork layouts, we found that neglecting acoustical considerations leads to higher overall costs. This insight guides the refinement of our method to integrate both acoustical and economic factors, creating a comprehensive tool for ductwork design in both new installations and retrofits. |
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Language
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English
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Publication
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Antwerpen
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University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Engineering
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2024
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ISBN
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978-90-5728-844-9
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DOI
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10.63028/10067/2062380151162165141
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Volume/pages
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xiv, 199 p.
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Note
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Verhaert, Ivan [Supervisor]
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Jorens, Sandy [Supervisor]
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Full text (open access)
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