English

The present  work  deals with  the  determination  of a mathematical correlation for conductivity in the fully water-saturated state in  terms  of  dry-basis conductivity and porosity. In the mathematical model, the material microstructure is taken into account in a multiscale percolation system and the macroscopical conductivity is obtained with a renormalization technique. The model is presented and the obtained correlation is tested for some porous  building materials .  To  conclude,  we  show  how  porosity  can affect thermal conductivity.

Advances  in  psychoacoustics  through  the  years, have made it possible to evaluate the acoustical quality of a room, based on several numerical parameters that have been developed. Even though there is not a total agreement about which parameters are truly important, some of them are accepted by most of the acousticians. When designing a concert hall, ray-tracing softwares can be used to calculate some of these parameters. However,some input data carry some uncertainties.

We give an overview of how windows are modeled in the EnergyPlus whole-building energy simulation program. Important features include layer-by-layer input of custom glazing, ability to accept spectral or spectral-averaged glass optical properties, incidence angle-dependent solar and visible transmission and reflection, iterative heat balance solution to determine glass surface temperatures, calculation of frame and divider heat transfer, and modeling of movable interior or exterior shading devices with user-specified controls. Example results of EnergyPlus window calculations are shown.

The  important  variation  of  the  urban  morphology has direct effects on the disparity of the outdoor climates, as well as indoor climates. In this context, this work aims at answering at  the  following question : how to simulate, in an operational way, the relation between urban form and climate, at an intermediate scale corresponding to the neighbourhood ? Our  approach  tries  to  answer  to  this  question,1by working at the neighbourhood scale, and by proposing a complete and operational system of morphological indicators of the built environment.

This paper describes the development and validation of a simulation model for Advanced Integrated Mechanical Systems (AIMS) destined for residential applications. AIMS are defined as mechanical systems that integrate the functions of residential space heating (optional cooling), heat recovery ventilation and hot water heating. Efficiency advancements of these systems are expected through the use of intelligent controls, high efficiency fans and motors,and the use of computer models to optimize the performance. The model was developed as a stand-alone application for testing and validation.

The Energy and Environmental Prediction (EEP) model is an environmental auditing and decision making tool for cities, to be used by planners and others in pursuit of sustainable development. The EEP model is based on Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques and incorporates a number of sub-models to establish current energy use and emissions produced by buildings, transport systems and industry. Two of the sub-models are concerned with building energy use, namely, for domestic and non-domestic buildings.

In the last seven years, a method has been developed to analyse building energy performance using simulation, in Brazil. The method combines analysis of building documentation, and walk-thought visits, electric and thermal measurements, with climate analysis and the use of an energy tool (DOE2.1E code). The method was used to model more than fifteen office buildings (more than 200 000 m²), between 12.5 and 27.5° of South latitude. The paper describes  the  basic  methodology  and  justifies  it, using some results.

The measured thermal behavior of a massive building that uses passive techniques for indoor air conditioning is presented. The building thermal transient behavior was simulated with SIMEDIF code. The measured mean indoor temperatures fall between 20 and 23.5ºC, while the  outdoor temperature is around 15ºC. Because of the symmetry of the building with respect to the north-south plane, the assumption that there is no heat flux between east and west wings has been made. Measured data set and simulated data set are both in good agreement.

In   this   work,   the   results   obtained   during   the monitoring of a building together with the adjustment curves achieved with the numeric simulation program SIMEDIF are presented. SIMEDIF has been developed in the INENCO (Non Conventional Energy Research Institute), Salta, Argentina,. In the measured data (from 1 to Aug. 4, 1997) the light weight character of the construction is evidenced by the lack  of  an  appreciable phase out between  the interior and the external temperature. The expected dissimilar behavior between the rooms facing South and North was observed.