Modelling Transient Occupant Loads for Offices

Occupant load profile of the space is an essential parameter for planning facilities, operations, water and energy consumptions of a building. In view of growing concerns on the effectiveness of building designs, in terms of space utilization, equipment sizing, energy performance and consumption, occupant loads have been specified in some building regulations, design guides and codes of practice. However, an occupant load would be varied from time to time and difficulties would be encountered in determining it to certain accuracy at the building design stage. This paper proposes a mathematical model to generate time-variant design occupant loads using Monte-Carlo simulations, with the model parameters determined from a year-round occupant load assessment in a typical high-rise office building in Hong Kong. Example occupant load profiles for some offices were generated to demonstrate the application of the model. The model would be useful in determining the occupant load profiles of some office buildings in Hong Kong.

[1]  Konstantinos Papakostas,et al.  Occupational and energy behaviour patterns in Greek residences , 1997 .

[2]  L. T. Wong,et al.  Determination of domestic flushing water consumption in Hong Kong , 2005 .

[3]  M. New,et al.  Book reviewStatistics for the behavioural sciences: S. Weinberg and K. Goldberg: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K. (1990). xiii + 621 pp. £25.00 , 1994 .

[4]  K. A. Andam,et al.  Stochastic assessment of the lifetime maximum live load , 1998 .

[5]  Thananchai Leephakpreeda,et al.  Real-time determination of optimal indoor-air condition for thermal comfort, air quality and efficient energy usage , 2004 .

[6]  Kurt Binder,et al.  Monte Carlo Simulation in Statistical Physics , 1992, Graduate Texts in Physics.

[7]  H. D. Searles-Wood.  Means of Escape in Case of Fire , 1910, The Hospital.

[8]  Edward Henry Mathews,et al.  A thermal design tool for buildings in ground contact , 1994 .

[9]  Wenxing Zhou,et al.  Load factor calibration for the proposed 2005 edition of the National Building Code of Canada: Statistics of loads and load effects , 2003 .

[10]  Michael A. Regan,et al.  A comparison between actual and predicted evacuation times , 2001 .

[11]  Moncef Krarti,et al.  Simplified Prediction Tool for Peak Occupancy Rate in Office Buildings , 1999 .

[12]  L. T. Wong.  Occupant Load Assessment for Old Residential High-Rise Buildings , 2003 .

[13]  James A. Milke,et al.  A Survey of Occupant Load Factors in Contemporary Office Buildings , 1996 .

[14]  David Butler,et al.  The influence of dwelling occupancy and day of the week on domestic appliance wastewater discharges , 1993 .