BIM and Experimental Design Analysis Toward Sustainable Energy Efficiency in Buildings: A Modular Construction Case Study

Abstract

This work proposes a novel framework to evaluate the energy consumption of construction projects and empower the decision-making process toward sustainable energy efficiency and management in buildings, through a parametric analysis. A modular construction unit is applied to validate the proposed framework of this work, which intends an integration between Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Parametric Analysis of construction components (i.e. external walls, roof, lighting control, and glazing type). Autodesk Revit is used to simulate the modular construction unit and its components, Minitab software is applied to simulate an experimental design analysis via the use of several performance parameters related to the design of the modular construction, and Autodesk Green Building Studio is used to simulate the sequences designed in the experimental study. Insights into the potential improvements in energy efficiency in buildings, mainly modular construction buildings, are presented due to the possible integration between BIM and experimental design analysis to perform the changes related to the design factors and performance parameters. This work highlights that some modular construction components such as structural insulated panels could optimize energy consumption when used for external walls, however, using the same component shows less efficiency when used for roofs. Furthermore, using occupancy sensors for lighting control and insulated and reflective glazing types are recommended to increase energy efficiency in such types of construction.