IBPSA2003

Certain energy-related building standards make use of simple numeric indicators to describe a building's geometric compactness. Typically, such indicators make use of the relation between the volume of a built form and its surface area. The indicators are then used along with information on the thermal transmittance of the building enclosure elements to evaluate the degree to which a building design meets the relevant thermal insulation criteria.

A simple approach for calculation of the electrical yield from building integrated PV (photovoltaic) systems has been implemented in BSim2002 - a program package for thermal simulation of energy and indoor climate conditions in buildings. The module – SimPv - takes advantage of the building model geometry and solar distribution routines of BSim to simulate solar irradiation on a face fitted with PV. The routines also handle shades from local and distant obstacles. The electric yield is calculated in SimPv from a very limited number of data on the PV system.

This paper describes a relatively simple software tool that has been developed to perform annual hour-by hour energy simulation of a building. It extends earlier work performed for one-zone buildings (Bernier and Randriamiarinjatovo, 2001) to buildings that can be represented by five thermally similar zones. The simulation program has been built using a general equation solver (Klein and Alvarado, 2002). As implied by the title of this paper, the solver is easy to use both for the software developer and the user.

This paper deals with neural networks modelling of HVAC systems. In order to increase the neural networks performances, a method based on sensitivity analysis is applied. The same technique is also used to compute the relevance of each input. To avoid the prediction errors in dry coil conditions, a metamodel for each capacity is derived from the neural networks.

This paper presents the concept of a tool adapted to zonal models and devoted to the simulation of thermal dynamic phenomena in buildings. The aim of this tool is the automatic generation of zonal models requiring the minimum user's expertise. The proposed tool uses a database to deduce the behavior of flows and thermal transfers.

Advanced packages for building energy analysis require simplified methods to reduce the computational time in assessing the indoor visual environment. The paper develops and compares some simplified calculation procedures for a quick assessment of the minimum indoor natural illuminance on the working plane in office spaces when external shadings and light control systems are used.

We introduce a representation framework that is aimed at supporting performance analysis during schematic and detailed design. The framework is based on two distinct representations as well as automated, bidirectional mappings to maintain consistency. Schematic building configurations are defined in a sheet representation, and may be expanded into a solid representation, where outlines of building and space enclosures may be further decomposed into construction layers or components.

Environmental design of buildings involves ‘finding the optimum’ solution satisfying predefined objective(s) (e.g., reduction in operating/capital cost, maximisation of daylighting etc.). A number of computer based simulation models exist to assist professionals in finding this optimum through building performance assessment. Contemporary practices involving building simulation require enormous effort to prepare input, extract output, and visualize data, which restricts designers from realizing the full potentials offered.

Daylight design for “extremely” obstructed urban environment is a relatively uncharted area of study. No city in the world has an urban density as high as Hong Kong. Designing daylight in the territory is a critical and important study. The paper attempts to develop and verify a simple method of design for architects based on theoretical formulation and results obtained using computational simulations. The Unobstructed Vision Area Method (UVA) proposed here is highly correlated to the Vertical Daylight Factor (VDF) of a building surface.