Energy consumption and thermal comfort study of hospital ward buildings across climate zones: based on sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization framework

This study addresses the challenge of synergistically optimizing energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the early design of hospital buildings in different climate zones of China, proposing a decision-making framework integrating SA and MOO. Based on a benchmark model of an inpatient building in Xiamen, the study quantifies and analyzes four key performance indicators—CEC、HEC、LEC and TDH—through parametric modeling and dynamic energy consumption simulation. The study uses standardized regression coefficients and the Morris method to identify eight key design parameters, and then employs the NSGA-II algorithm to generate Pareto optimal solution sets for five major climate zones. Results show that the framework effectively achieves performance trade-off optimization, reducing HEC by 7.4%-12.8% and LEC by 0.6%-0.7% in SCZ and CZ; reducing CEC by 48% and TDH by 16% in CWZ; reducing CEC by 45% and TDH by 17% in MZ; and reducing CEC by 47% in WWZ. The research findings provide a data-driven climate-adaptive design strategy for medical buildings and have practical value for promoting the construction of energy-efficient and thermally comfortable hospitals.