Use of the IWEC, SWERA, INMET, TRY and TMY Climate Archives of the City of Belém-PA for Structural Thermal Performance Analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze thermal performance of a standard building in the city of Belém-Pará-Amazon through numerical simulation. Thus, the SketchUp, OpenStudio, EnergyPlus and DView software, along with the IWEC, SWERA, INMET, TRY and TMY climate files are used. The analysis of the duration curves showed that the TRY climate file resulted in a better thermal comfort, with 33.8% of the annual period within the parameters defined by ISO 9241. The simulation results are compared with external data for the city of Belém-PA, available in the Climate Data, and it is found that there are significant variations in the average and maximum temperatures. Among the climate files, the INMET shows the lowest variations in relation to the real temperature data of the city. The simulation also determined data on direct solar radiation, diffuse solar radiation, dry-bulb air temperature, wet-bulb air temperature, as well as variations in the average, minimum and maximum temperatures, and monthly standard deviation throughout the year 2022. In conclusion, the numerical simulation allows for an accurate evaluation of the climate conditions that affect the building structure, and comparison with the city's external data resulted in significant variations in the average and maximum temperatures. The INMET climate file is identified as the most accurate in relation to the climatic loads of the city. The use of this approach can be extremely useful for construction projects that aim to maximize thermal comfort and minimize energy consumption.