English

In this paper, two different forms of the non-linear PDE-system for heat and mass transfer in porous materials and their implementation with COMSOL Multiphysics are considered. The φ-based form presents the relative humidity as system variable and leads in general to non-conservative solutions.

Being highly insulated, low energy buildings are very sensitive to variable solar and internal gains. In this context, thermal mass is useful in storing surplus energy, reducing temperature variations and improving thermal comfort. Thus, conduction modelling is fundamental, but not sufficient: appropriate superficial heat transfer modelling is also needed. Therefore, several common simplifying assumptions have been investigated and adapted to the case of high performance buildings.

This study reports the application of a stochastic simulation model that estimates community-scale residential electricity demand and photovoltaic (PV) generation to simulate the voltage of medium- and low-voltage distribution networks. This model enables the evaluation of the impact of PV diffusion and energy management technologies using, for example, battery and electric vehicles, on voltage management.

The occupant behavior related to window and air conditioner operation has a large influence on the cooling energy consumption. The occupant behavior model developed in a previous work has been modified on the basis of the results of a survey conducted in 2012 to simulate the variety of occupant behaviors regarding the preferred temperature set point for cooling. The reduction in cooling energy consumption achieved upon changing the temperature set point of an air conditioner could be estimated by applying the modified model.

In order to handle a case of pollutant dispersion in an urban environment Computational Fluid Dynam-ics (CFD) emerges as a fast and flexible method. By coupling it to a parametric optimization approach, the present study aims at simulating the photocatalytic de-struction of NOx particles as they hit the coated walls of an isolated building. This approach permits to eval-uate the impact of different design parameters as the wind speed and the sun exposure on the air quality. The first and critical step of the study presented in this article is to verify the CFD model.

The aim of this study is to check the accuracy of a nodal model to predict correctly the flow fields involved inside a building by wind-induced pressure. The model is confronted to experimental tests involving a four-storey dwelling at a reduced scale of 1/20 placed in a wind tunnel facility. Different configurations are tested considering openings of different sizes for outside openings as well as for internal doors and the presence or not of a collective duct connecting the kitchens to the outside at roof level. For each configuration, various wind incidences are studied.

The indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency are the main design criteria for modern home energy systems (HES). In this work, simulation assisted development process of the home energy management system (HEMS) in a typical single-family house (SFH), equipped with a heat pump (HP) system, is depicted. By using the Software-in-the-Loop (SiL) approach, the controller is configured and optimized in connection with numerical simulation models, which are developed in Modelica language.

This paper presents a generic model developed as a base case to represent a mid-sized Australian office building with possible best practice HVAC configurations. A number of common control methods or failures were assessed by the simulation. The methodology used in developing the models is given and the simulation was carried out in four Australian capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. The impact of the control methods or failures were compared and analysed.

One of the key responses of the UK Government to the European Energy Performance Building Directive EPBD2002 has been the introduction and refinement of an energy efficiency compliance tool for domestic dwellings, the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP, 2009). A major disadvantage of the current assessment procedure is that a SAP model is generally confined to the final compliance stage of the design when it is used to certify energy performance once the design is concluded owing largely to the perceived complexity of the existing interfaces amongst architects (lowcarboncymru.org, 2012).