English

Simulation   of   energy   systems   and   associated  thermodynamic   domains   is   very   powerful   in delivering   precise   information   at   high   resolution.  Modelling   software   requires   detailed   information about   the   energy   system.   The   specialised   user  usually has questions about specific aspects of the energy   system   and   may   not   be   interested   in   the  complete   set   of   outputs   available   from   simulation results. Similarly the specialised user may only be concerned about a subset of the inputs provided to the software.

As with all large software projects, the support demands of a diverse community of a simulation tool exceeds the means of supply.  Interested parties may be users (from novices to experts), support staff (e.g. computing infrastructure technicians, QA specialists), researchers who wish to use or extend a feature of the software, other (possibly remotely located) members of the development team or validation groups who what to ensure equivalence of models. An open source model for simulation software poses particular challenges.

This paper seeks to highlight the recent developments in TRNSYS including the introduction of a three-dimensional geometrical building model and interface, improvements in the TRNSYS simulation engine to facilitate the creation of user-written components, ease-of-use modifications to the graphical interface, and new components including a BESTEST reference standard model that accurately calculates and displays the energy transfer between a building and the surrounding earth. 

This paper will present a review, for a range of building design and performance issues, of the visualization language used in building design and in building simulation, and identify the overlaps and divergences in their use. There is a plethora of techniques available ranging from textual data to graphical representation, from 2D drawings to 3D representations, and from static images to interactive animations and virtual reality. The review has been undertaken using taxonomy of visualization techniques based on data type and analytic task.

Many building related products and systems such as insulation, solar shading, reflective roof coverings have an important impact on the energy performance of the building where it is installed. The commercial departments of these manufacturers get more and more inquiries about the energy related advantages of their products. They need specific tools to answer these questions.

The aim of this work is to discuss the effect of urban block and lot design in natural ventilation of self built houses in the city of Campinas, Brazil. The research was carried out with CFD simulation, using the software PHOENICS to calculate air velocities in the external regions of the residences. The case study was a surrounding in the city, the settlement São José, which was urbanized by the public organs having in mind lowincome selfbuilders.

This paper presents the development of an automated energy analysis for GSA and the results of a case study comparing two courthouse design options in the Preliminary Concept Design stage. The purpose of this study is to understand the issues around a BIM-driven concept design process that integrates building simulation for design evaluation.

The transient accessibility of supply air (TASA) and transient accessibility of contaminant source (TACS) in ventilated rooms are important indices to evaluate the effect of ventilation and the indoor air quality (IAQ). These indices can be measured by experimental method or calculated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. Compared to the measurement method, the numerical method has a lot of advantages such as fast, flexible and with detailed data. In this paper, the calculation and validation of the TASA and TACS are introduced.

In the article the authors present the results of heating and cooling energy usage of earth-sheltered houses with exposed southern elevations. The results were then compared to a conventional above-ground building.

This paper presents the development of a model, using TRNSYS, of a large central cooling and heating plant. The model includes the chillers, cooling towers and pumps of the chilled water loop, and the heat recovery system from the chillers. The model is calibrated with monitored data of June 23rd to June 29th, 2008, and then tested with data over the summer season, from June 23 to September 21, 2008.