SIM_zonal : a software to evaluate the risk of discomfort : coupling with an energy engine, comparison with CFD codes and experimental measurements

The software Sim_Zonal is a tool for evaluating indoor temperature and air flow distributions for residential and office buildings. The aim of this EDF (Electricity of France) software developed in collaboration with LEPTAB (University of La Rochelle) is to evaluate comfort problems and specifically risks of discomfort (risk of draught, indoor gradient temperature, etc..) with taking
into account the coupling with the building envelope. The objective is to obtain a simple software for rapid appraisals, which is complementary to the CFD codes. This version makes it possible for the users to achieve dynamical and parametric simulations with variable configurations of rooms, different emitters (electric heaters, heated or cooled floors, heated or cooled ceilings) and
variable boundary conditions (meteorological conditions) with a one hour time step. The final aim is to calculate comfort criteria as PMV or UCRES (comfort criteria developed by CSTB).