The effect of the interaction between suboptimal input data and building features on the simulation results

Dynamic energy simulation has the potential to provide relevant information about building energy behavior. However detailed models require an increased number of input data, which sometimes can undermine the accuracy of the simulation outcomes.  Among the terms of the building energy balance, one of the greatest contributions is provided by the heat transfer through the envelope. This is mainly affected by the uncertainty of the thermo-physical properties such as conductivity, specific heat and specific mass. Furthermore, buildings are not equally sensitive to uncertain material properties, the effects of which are strictly connected with building characteristics. For this reason, the research aims to investigate the interaction between building features and uncertainties in thermal conductivity and specific heat. Several building configurations are examined by changing the aspect ratio, the percentage of glazing surface, the envelope and the glazing features.