Multi-gene genetic programming for predicting the heat gain of flat naturally ventilated roof using data from outdoor environmental monitoring

Abstract In this work, a multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) approach was implemented to predict the heat gain per square meter for flat naturally ventilated roof using experimental data set. Experiments were conducted using a test cell with an adjustable ventilated roof, designed and instrumented to measure the incoming heat flux under outdoor environmental conditions. An MGGP predictive model was trained and tested considering as input data: ambient air temperature, solar irradiation, wind speed, relative humidity, and different ventilated flat roof channel widths. The developed model was statistically compared with others multivariate analysis methods, achieving good statistical performance, high correlation fitness, and the best generalized performance capacity (RMSE = 3.74, R2 = 94.52% for training data and RMSE = 3.72, R2 = 94.30% for testing data). In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the relative importance of the input parameters in the predictive model. According to the results, the proposed methodology based on evolutionary programming is useful to model the complex nonlinear relationship between the ventilated roof heat gains and outdoor environment. Finally, the methodology based on MGGP can be applied to identify the adequate ventilated channel widths that ensure thermal comfort and energy saving.

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