English

Because every description formalism has advantages and disadvantages, a modelling platform for ODE/DAE systems allowing several formalisms would be required. MS1 is such a program and is described in this paper. Its development will start in August 1991 and will last three years. MS1 is based on an internal normalized formalism that is actually a mere topological representation of mathematical equation sets. we call that formalism information networks . computational causality is assigned after subsystem assembly and determines the assignment form to be used in each specific case.

The comparisson between measurements and simulations is a very important stage in the methodology for empirical whole model validation of building energy simulation programs developed within the PASSYS project. The aim of this paper is to describe and to evaluate several statistical tools that could be used for this purpose.

This paper describes a numerical whole-building optimization method that has been developed to optimize selected residential building envelope and equipment efficiency parameters, using life-cycle cost (LCC) as the optimization criterion. Details of the method are discussed, including the exploitation of special characteristics of the objective function, and its numerical implementation. The method is demonstrated by calculating optimal configurations for a typical single-family residence for a range of U.S. climates.

The development of an interface, which links two building simulation tools to a test version of a product model is discussed. The two simulation tools in hand can be regarded as representative members from the broad spectrum of building performance evaluation (BPE) tools: BFEP: a component-based program for the simulation of the temperature behaviour of buildings; SIBE: a program for calculating the solar irradiation in the built environment.

This paper deals with an optimal control algorithm which enables to regulate the heating installation of a building with discontinuous occupation. The control structure is based on the quadratic optimization principle. It seems to have several characteristics that are worth mentioning, in particular its simple calculating method and its easy installation. As opposed to the optimal control algorithms based on the minimum principle, the above-mentioned algorithm can be set up in microprocessors of very low capacity.

We describe the need for a joint effort between design researchers and simulation tool developers in formulating procedures and standards for integrating simulation into the building design process. We review and discuss current efforts in the US and Europe in the development of next- generation simulation tools and design integration techniques.

General continuous simulation of today is a handicraft mastered by a small group of experts. Systematic modelling techniques and supporting tools are beginning to emerge, promising access to advanced simulation also for less experienced users. Several ambitious projects around the world are at different stages of completion (e.g. EKS, SPANK, CLIM2000, SEE, HS1). These projects approach the task from widely different angles and the final products, once available, will offer a rich menu of alternatives.

In order to define a global control strategy leading to a more rational use of energy, the CSTB, in collaboration with Gaz de France (GAR), has carried out a large study on gasflred heating plants, taking into account three types of heating and ventilation systems. The first investigated system is a hot water radiator coupled with a single-flux ventilation. The second system of interest combines a double-flux ventilation with standard hot water radiators.

One of the inherent problems with monitoring hourly energy use and environmental conditions in commercial buildings is efficiently processing the "sea" of data that accumulates into an easily understood form. Even when the data exist, building energy analysts generally rely on multiple "flat" ASCII files for storing and retrieving their data only to find that it can take several hours to perform a simple task such as creating a 2-D time series plot of energy use using data from several monitored channels.

The present paper shows a possible way to make simulation computer codes more easy to use by nonspecialists. The basic idea is to implement a code which translates the building representation into a suitable thermal model. It is a part of a more important project which takes place at the Solar Energy Laboratory (LESO-PB), and which aims at the elaboration of an integrated system to assist building designers (Morel 1989a).