English

Despite the software developments intended to facilitate the use of energy simulation programs by architects in the early design stage, a very limited guidance is available, leading to a limited uptake. This paper investigates ways to better inform architects about energy simulation, firstly by enabling them to identify and translate the design inquiries into simulation tasks for deriving productive decision support and secondly by familiarizing them with the concepts and processes involved in energy simulation.

This paper describes the modelling and analysis of a 5 MW chilled water plant used for the cooling of a recently constructed data centre in the UK. The model was developed using the TRNSYS software with the aim of studying the impact of perturbations such as chiller failure on the water and air temperatures in the system. The model includes the chillers, hydraulic network (piping, valves and pumps) and individual water-to-air heat exchange units.

This paper presents the development of a novel school outline design, which can be applied in the different climate zones of Turkiye, underpinned by building performance simulation. The work builds on an earlier study, presented at the Building Simulation 2007 conference, which analysed the sensitivity of an existing scheme that had indeed been applied in all different climate zones, with different degrees of success. This follow-on project goes one step further and attempts to develop a new, more thermally robust school outline design.

In the beginning of 2008 the new Dutch standard NEN 5060:2008 (NEN,2008) was published (status is still ‘preliminary’). The standard contains four new weather data files for various applications. The files are intended as replacement for the commonly used defacto standard “De Bilt 1964/1965”, which is used as a reference year for building performance simulation in the Netherlands. The Royal Dutch Metrological Institute (KNMI) has defined four possible future scenarios for the expected climate change.

Overheating during hot summers is a major risk which will increase under climate change. Thermal dynamic modelling is used to compare the current overheating risk of typical residential properties in the UK with the future overheating risk for the middle decades of this century, i.e. the period 2040- 2069.  A wide range of passive and low-energy climate change adaptation measures - which could be retrofitted to existing dwellings to alleviate overheating - have been modelled and a package of adaptation measures recommended and costed.

The purpose of this study is to develop a design support tool by combining a thermal environment simulation with a luminous environment simulation for urban outdoor and semi-outdoor living spaces. In order to evaluate thermal and luminous environments in parallel, a radiation transfer simulation algorithm with high-resolution mesh model was developed. The results of the application to an area containing membrane structure buildings confirmed that this simulation tool is capable of examining this trade-off between thermal and luminous environments.

In this study, a multizone model of an existing shopping mall is developed in IDA Indoor Climate and Energy (IDA ICE). The model is validated using field measurements regarding use of energy for heating, sum of cooling and ventilation, operational electricity and tenant electricity. In addition, other input data used are energy use, operation hours, customer frequency, lighting, building envelope, HVAC system and control strategies. In this study, a parameter analysis regarding the building orientation, glazed façade area ratio and lighting is conducted.

This paper describes an effort to build and partially validate an energy model of an existing educational building located in Cambridge, MA, USA. This work was carried out as part of a research seminar for graduate architecture/design students and included four related tasks: Modelling the building’s geometry and thermal properties in DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus, generating a site-specific weather file based on near-site measured data, assessing internal load schedules based on a detailed building survey, and collecting monthly metered data for heating lighting and cooling over a whole year.

Building simulation supported projects are difficult to manage when there are many different participants involved (e.g. simulation specialists, project managers, design teams with engineers and/or architects and clients). These participants are often dispersed and have a diverse knowledge level.  In addition, the goal of understanding how the building works and the impact of design decisions is often hampered by limitations in the presentation of performance data.

The use of computer simulation has increased rapidly within the construction industry over the last few years and this trend is set to continue.  However, it is important not to forget that physical testing methods still have a vital role in establishing the validity of and confidence in simulation modelling results. This paper reports on the experience of modelling in excess of 10 large shopping centres where for the majority, natural ventilation and wind driven air movement was a principal means of ventilation and cooling.