Session 8: Experimental methods and model validation

Simulation is useful in many aspects of the design, control, and evaluation of buildings and their associated heating and cooling equipment. Pure experimental studies are often limited by the bounds of cost and measurement techniques, whereas simulation studies are limited by theoretical understanding and computational constraints. In particular, experiments are needed to develop the fundamental understanding necessary to create new mathematical models and to validate larger scale simulation models. In some applications involving controls or performance monitoring, measurements and data analysis tools are used to determine the parameters of empirical (black box) or semi-empirical (gray box) models. Papers in this session address both the validation of simulation models used to characterize building and equipment performance and techniques used in obtaining, characterizing, and analyzing measurements. In some cases, validated simulations were used to study the performance and/or design of the system under consideration. The following summary is organized in three sections: 1) room air conditions, 2) system energy requirements and analysis, and 3) equipment. Each section gives an overview of the topic area and describes the contributions of each paper within that topic.