English

The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the latest developrnents of the CSTB R&D program Intelligent Simulation Environment (ISE). This project tackles; the problem of fácilitating the transfer of technologies from the research centers to engineers in consulting offices dealing with building related issues (indoor air quality, energy consumption, acoustics, structural analysis, etc.). 

The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss the needs and expectations concerning simulation analysis and evaluation tools from the viewpoint of the design process. The main q questions arising from this viewpoint are those considering the nature of energy use in the building sector as a factor of decision making, building design and sonte of its charac teristics as an information process, and the value added to a particular design by the utilisation of simulation tools.

Thermal bridge (cold bridge) assessment is becoming more important for two reasons: firstly, as legislation and energy awareness lead to increased insulation levels, so losses due to cold bridging form an increasing fraction of building heat losses; and secondly, condensation and mould growth are increasingly a focus for environmental health concern. This paper describes two recent developments aimed at improving thermal bridge assessment. The first is the EUROKOBRA thermal bridge atlas, which was developed with the aim of giving designers an easy to use, flexible, assessment, tool.

The paper presents the results of the simulation of the energy performance of underground buildings variously insulated, in two different climates. The long-term unsteady thermal processes between the building and surrounding soil are considered together with the heat transfer at the ground surface throughout the year. Presented results include the time and space distribution of the heat flow between the building and surrounding soil at different time intervals and during the whole year for various insulation patterns, and the heat flows through the ground surfáce.

This paper describes the implementation of a computational fluid dynamic algorithm within the ESP-r building energy modelling system. While the implementation is specific to ESP-r the conflation approach is general and could be applied to other building performance appraisal programs. The paper also presents an example application to indicate the potential effects of the enhanced modelling resolution and some of the new issues to emerge.

The Heat Balance Loads Calculator (HBLC) is a powerful software tool for calculating heating and cooling loads for buildings. It allows the user to access complex heat-balance algorithms using a Windows interface. Geometric inputs are entered graphically using intuitive click-and-drag mouse functions. HBLC creates an input file for the Building Loads Analysis and System Thermodynamics simulation program (BLAST), making some of the most powerful and accurate algorithms for calculating heating and cooling loads available through a símple, Windows-based program. 

Previous work has shown that for saturated air/water vapour mixtures, water vapour transfer in cavities can cause very large increases in net energy transfer due to its effect on natural convection. Given that many materials used in building envelopes adsorb water vapour, then in many situations a water vapour pressure gradient will exist across a cavity, leading to water vapour transfer across the cavity. In these situations the mixture is generally not saturated, but some effect of the water vapour transfer on natural convection can be expected. 

There are two main issues to be resolved in order that design tools can be used in cooperative mode, each communicating with the other. Firstly, there is a need to put in place a consistent product model of a building and its systems from which disparate design tools can obtain their inputs and return their outputs. Secondly, there is the requirement to manage the transactions between users and design tools. Tbese issues were addressed within the European COMBINE project. This paper is concerned with the latter issue.

RADIANCE has emerged as one of the most powerful programs for modelling the luminous environment within and around buildings. It has a large and growing number of users in many countries including the UK. This paper illustrates its use for producing photo-realistic images of proposed building designs and for daylight analysis of a complex atrium building. The results of validation work, using real sky data, are presented and some current UK research involving RADIANCE is described. 

Learning how to model and simulate dynamical systems such as a building does not have to be restricted to specialists who have learned the physics, applied mathematics, and engineering necessary for the task. Modern software tools allow for a new approach to modeling which makes it accessible to a much wider group of scientists, eng neers, and architects. This paper presents an integrated modular method for training students in the methodoIogy of modeling and simulation.