{"id":24695,"date":"2026-02-01T21:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/?page_id=24695"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:09:18","slug":"parametric-modeling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/?page_id=24695","title":{"rendered":"Parametric Modeling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Historic masonry buildings undergoing adaptive reuse require interventions like internal insulation and new openings. These create critical trade-offs between structural integrity, thermal efficiency, and usable floor area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 01.<\/strong> Conceptual geometry of the historic masonry wall bay with window opening and internal insulation layer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Challenge:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The central challenge is to optimize the insulation thickness, window dimensions, and wall geometry so that the building meets modern safety and energy standards without excessive loss of room area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High Performance Criteria:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The design is evaluated against three quantitative goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Table 01. <\/strong>Design limits with engineering rationale<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Parameters:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Parameters are categorized into Geometry (wall\/insulation thickness, opening size), Materials (masonry and insulation conductivity), and Loads (axial line load and compressive strength).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Table 02. <\/strong>Key Parameters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parametric Model Description:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The model is built in Dynamo, where geometric changes (like widening a window) instantly propagate through structural and thermal calculations. The logic involves thickening surfaces into 3D solids and using “Solid.Difference” to cut openings. It includes a color-feedback system to visualize performance bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig 02. <\/strong>Overview of the Dynamo graph with grouped wall, insulation and space components<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance Calculations & Selected Alternatives:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1 Structural performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective pier length<\/td>leff<\/sub> = Lbay<\/sub> – wop<\/sub><\/td><\/tr>
Compressive stress<\/td>\u03c3 = Naxial<\/sub>\/twall<\/sub>*leff<\/sub><\/td><\/tr>
Utilization factor<\/td>\u03b7 = \u03c3\/fd<\/sub><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the parametric model, \u03b7 updates dynamically with any change to opening size, wall thickness or load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Energy performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layer resistances<\/td>Rwall<\/sub> = twall<\/sub>\/ \u03bbm    <\/sub>          Rins<\/sub> = tins<\/sub> \/ \u03bbins<\/sub><\/td><\/tr>
Overall U-value<\/td>U = 1\/ (Rwall<\/sub>+ Rins<\/sub>+ Rsi<\/sub>+ Rse<\/sub>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Internal insulation thickness directly controls resistance improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Space performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Net width<\/strong><\/td>Bnet<\/sub> = Broom<\/sub> \u2013 2*tins<\/sub><\/td><\/tr>
Net area<\/strong><\/td>Anet<\/sub> = Bnet<\/sub> * Lroom<\/sub><\/td><\/tr>
Area ratio<\/strong><\/td>Aratio<\/sub> = Anet<\/sub> \/ (Broom<\/sub>*Lroom<\/sub>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Design Alternative:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The report compares three scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A) (Minimal): Safe but poor thermal performance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 twall<\/sub> = 0.3m, tins<\/sub> = 0.04m, wop<\/sub> = 0.8m, Lbay<\/sub> = 3m —————- \u03b7 = 0.05, U = 0.49, Aratio<\/sub> = 0.97<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig 03. <\/strong>Dashboard outputs for Alternative A: structural, thermal, and spatial performance with color-coded 3D feedback<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B) (Balanced):<\/strong> The preferred solution; it provides significant thermal improvement while maintaining structural safety and usable space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 twall<\/sub> = 0.3m, tins<\/sub> = 0.08m, wop<\/sub> = 1.0m, Lbay<\/sub> = 3m —————- \u03b7 = 0.055, U = 0.29, Aratio<\/sub> = 0.94<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig 04.<\/strong> Dashboard outputs for Alternative B: structural, thermal, and spatial performance with color-coded 3D feedback<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C)(Aggressive): Large openings that lead to high structural utilization and reduced safety margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

twall<\/sub> = 0.3m, tins<\/sub> = 0.02m, wop<\/sub> = 1.6m, Lbay<\/sub> = 3m, Naxial<\/sub> = 380 —————- \u03b7 = 0.6, U = 0.83, Aratio<\/sub> = 0.98<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig 05. <\/strong>Dashboard outputs for Alternative C: structural, thermal, and spatial performance with color-coded 3D feedback<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Dynamo model demonstrates that linking geometric parameters to structural and thermal performance allows designers to explore “families of alternatives” rapidly, ensuring a balanced approach to the adaptive reuse of historic structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Hu, M. et al., \u201cAssessing the environmental benefits of adaptive reuse in the built environment,\u201d International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation<\/em>, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.NREL, Measure Guideline: Internal Insulation of Masonry Walls<\/em>, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.Hansen, E.J.D.P. et al., \u201cGuidelines for internal insulation of historic buildings,\u201d E3S Web of Conferences<\/em> 172, 01004, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.EN 1996-1-1: Eurocode 6 \u2013 Design of masonry structures \u2013 Part 1-1: General rules for reinforced and unreinforced masonry structures, CEN, 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.ISO 6946:2017 \u2013 Building components and building elements \u2013 Thermal resistance and thermal transmittance \u2013 Calculation methods, International Organization for Standardization, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.Freimanis, R. et al., \u201cHygrothermal Assessment of Insulation Systems for Massive Masonry Walls,\u201d Buildings<\/em> 13(10), 2511, 2023. 7.Australian Government, Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings, Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

< Historic Building<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Historic masonry buildings undergoing adaptive reuse require interventions like internal insulation and new openings. These create critical trade-offs between structural integrity, thermal efficiency, and usable floor area. Fig. 01. Conceptual geometry of the historicContinue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":0,"parent":24687,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24695","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24695"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28764,"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24695\/revisions\/28764"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/141.23.68.248\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}