English

This paper deals with two examples of sources for uncertainties in the simulation of high efficiency buildings. The two sources deal with solar shading and the value of simulation parameters like albedo and initial state.

The design of retrofitting strategies for historical buildings involves various challenges. The aim is often not only to save energy while providing acceptable indoor conditions for its users, but also to preserve the building and potential cultural artifacts, making it a multi-criteria issue, with multiple demands on the simulation tools and methods. This paper describes one way to fulfill on these demands through a serial, stepwise simulation process and a special tool, designed for that process. A case study, performed with the use of the method and tool, is presented.

This paper outlines a methodology for the calibration of detailed building energy simulation (BES) models using an analytical optimisation approach. The approach combines evidence-based model development with statistical Monte-Carlo based optimisation techniques. The first stages of the proposed calibration methodology are applied to a 700m2 naturally-ventilated library building using short-term monitored BMS and sensor data. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this methodology differs from existing approaches and the benefits it offers over traditional calibration techniques. 

In this study, the sensitivity of occupancy behaviour on building energy simulation is investigated. Given the changing nature of the office environment as well as advances in technology, standardised user patterns may have become out dated. This research investigates the importance of reliable occupancy patterns by simulating a representative office building in the Adelaide CBD, varying the hours of use, thermostat settings, lighting use and ancillary appliances, which are all largely user dependant, and comparing the results against variations in the building envelope.

This paper describes the development of a modelling approach which combines the energy use in industrial production, with the energy flows relating to the building. Through case studies, the effects of energy conservation measures in production on the overall thermal energy balance of a factory production area are explored. The paper identifies three types of manufacturing processes; thermal ‘air’ process (oven), thermal ‘fluid’ process (vat) and electrical processes (motor).

This paper adopts an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach to investigate the dispersion behaviors of human exhaled droplets under the displacement ventilation in a typical office room. A particle source in-cell (PSI-C) scheme is used to correlate the concentration with the Lagrangian particle trajectories in computational cells. Droplets with size from 0.1-20μm are released from a numerical thermal manikin’s (NTM) nose or mouth with different initial momentums and directions. The possible cross-infection risk caused by the exhaled infectious droplets is investigated.

This paper describes a systematic methodology for the development of calibrated thermodynamic Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models for controlled environments in buildings utilising wireless sensor networks. The calibrated CFD model will be used to optimise the positions of the physical sensors for the management of energy efficient internal environments by building operators.

Excess energy consumption of HVAC system is not usually noticed without the dissatisfaction to thermal environment. Recently it has become easier to discover it in buildings with the aid of Building Energy Management System (BEMS). Indoor Air Mixing loss occurs in an office when the perimeter zone is heated by one HVAC system and the interior zone is cooled by the other system. The aim of this study is the quantitative analysis of the mixing energy loss in office buildings. Experiments are conducted in a full-size experiment room.

Given the challenges to design Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs), the use of Building Performance Simulation (BPS) tools during early design phases has been indispensable. In this context, we compare ten early design BPS tools. The aim is to define the potential of using and integrating the tools by architect during the design of NZEBs. The examined tools include HEED, e-Quest, ENERGY-10, Vasari, Solar Shoebox, Open Studio Plug-in, IES-VE- Ware, DesignBuilder, ECOTECT and BEopt.  The comparison is based on two different criteria sets.

The accurate representation of building operation is essential for building simulation to represent the consequence of design and operational controls correctly.  This imperative is increasing with the use of calibrated simulations as a tool in the retrofit of buildings.  Central to this is the representation of HVAC systems and controls, which have a major influence on building performance.  In this paper, the representation of common HVAC types and control strategies in DOE-2, Tas, Energy Plus and IES is reviewed and compared.