Minimizing Heat Loss of an Octagonal Shaped Building

by Maxwell Shepherd

Submitted : Spring 2011

Finding the most efficient design for an octagonal shaped building to minimize heat loss and therefore reduce electricity cost came down to quantifying heat loss for each inside surface of the building and defining a total heat loss function of the structure. Once the function was determined, calculus was used to minimize the loss and finally solved for the unknown required building dimensions. For this particular building of said heat loss information with volume of 1500m³, the required length of one side is 5.28m and the height is 11.14m. As a result, the span of the floor and the height of the building should be close in magnitude for an efficient design to minimize heat loss.

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