A validation suite for fuel-fired furnace models

Validation is the key when attempting to instill confidence in a building simulation tool. The user expects that the underlying algorithms are correct, and will have more confidence in the simulation results generated using a program that has undergone validation testing. The IEA BESTEST (Judkoff and Neymark 1995) was developed by the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling (IEA/SHC) Task 12 and the Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Annex 21 as a test procedure for building simulation program developers. The test involves comparing simulation results, for a series of test cases, to results from state-of-the-art building energy simulation programs. In this case, the results from the simulation programs consist of heating and cooling energy demands for a test house; no simulation of the mechanical system is considered.
The HVAC BESTEST (Neymark and Judkoff 2002), developed under IEA/SHC Task 22, is an extension of the IEA BESTEST for testing mechanical system simulation models. HVAC BESTEST has its own set of results from several state-of-the-art software tools, and in some cases, analytical solutions. The focus of the first draft of HVAC BESTEST was the modelling of unitary space cooling equipment, but various HVAC equipment tests have since been developed, including forced-air fuel-fired furnace equipment and radiant heating and cooling equipment. This paper documents a series of test cases for validating the modelling of fuel-fired furnaces in whole building simulation programs. Analytical and semianalytical solutions are included in addition to results from several building simulation tools.