English

The CLIM 2000 software environment was developed by the Electricity Applications in Buildings Branch of the French utility company, Electricité de France. This software, which has been operational since June 1989, allows the behaviour of a whole building to be simulated. The building is described by means of a graphics editor providing multi-windowed dialogue in the form of a set oficons representing the models chosen by the user These models are taken from a library containing about one hundred elementary models supplied on a standard basis by the software.

Software engineering is the structured approach to the development of computer software. It centres upon the concepts of system theory, and as such, many of its concepts, philosophies and techniques can be applied to the development of systems outside the field of computer software. The main area covered by this paper is the use of process modelling techniques as an aide in architectural design.

The use of simulation as a tool for assessing building thermal performance is a powerful technique but contains certain difficulties, which limit very much its application and even its dissemination. In this paper, some of the Portuguese experiences of building simulation are presented and discussed, focusing on a large simulation exercise. The different strategies and decisions taken by the modeller during the process and their consequences, are discussed for this particular case.

This paper describes the recent, current and projected uses of building energy simulation software. Limitations of the currently available software are discussed. Suggestions as to the formal of future programs

Active and passive solar designs work on the basis of complex interactions of conduction, convection, radiation, mass flows, feedback and control mechanisms which are inherently dynamic and often tightly coupled. Historically the appraisal of such designs has been done in the context of one domain i.e., fabric, plant or flow analysis, with the other facets of the design handled as abstractions with limited interaction with the core domain.

The technical systems of buildings have become increasingly complex during the last years. This has led to new challenges both in developing tools for operation, monitoring, fault detection and optimal dynamic control of the systems. The mathematical theory of optimal systems offers a means of tackling these problems in a formal and efficient way. This paper presents a conseptual framework for applying simulation of optimal systems in building energy management and optimization.

The SPARK simulation environment is an object based simulation environment. Its objects are equations or systems of equations. Creating SPARK objects requires from the user to write SPARK syntax and C code. Hooking objects together requires from the user to specify their common variables. Then SPARK creates a C program that solves for the specified problem. The first task of creating SPARK objects and C code is automated by use of an interface written in MACSYMA or MAPLE, both well known computer algebra languages.

The paper reports on the NODES project as a spin-off implementation of the EC-funded COMBINE project. NODES targets efficient data exchange in a LAN-connected engineering design team, where each member of the team, representing a separate node, communicates building and performance data with other members through a central data repository. The central conceptual building model and its implementation in an ODB (Object Data Base) is discussed. The focus will be on the CAD-tool supported "design node" and two "simulation nodes", i.e.

The object oriented (00) approach to software engineering offers new possibilities for the modelling of plant systems within a building context. This paper describes the development of the EKS plant modelling classes which facilitates the automatic creation and maintenance of plant system simulation models.

The "CALIN" project (Computer Aided Learning Integration System) aims at the development of a hybrid computer aided learning (CAL) integrated system for Engineering Education applied to Energy conscious design of buildings. Different learning strategies relying on the cooperation of different, established computer science techniques have been developed simultaneously. These techniques are ranging from algorithmic simulation, to knowledge bases in an expert system shell, graphical components in a CAD program, hypermedia to present technical information and graphical user interface (GUI).