This paper investigates the feasibility of using short segments of weather data to simulate annual energy use in buildings. Use of a “typical week” of weather data is investigated as an alternative to the normal 8760-hour annual simulation process. Statistically correct weekly weather data were first generated; then trial runs were made on a skin-load-dominated building in four U.S.

Application of the finite control volume method on simulating thermal fire resistance of building materials and elements was evaluated. Example was taken on studying the thermal responses of a concrete column under fire. By neglecting moisture transfer, the thermal conduction equation in concrete was solved numerically to get the temperature distribution. Results were compared with those calculated from other finite difference schemes including the forward difference, backward difference and central difference schemes.

A major barrier to using energy simulation tools during the design process of a building has been the difficulty of using the available programs. The ENERGY-10 program overcomes this hurdle by automating many of the time-consuming tasks, shortening the time required from hours or days to minutes. Building descriptions are created automatically based on defaults. The APPLY and RANK features speed the process of comparing the performance of energy-efficient strategies by automatically modifying the building description and sequencing the operations.

A large office building has been the object of a detailed feasibility study in order to select the most effective actions for energy saving in space cooling. Actions concerning the modification of building envelope layout, including materials, shading devices, colours, and retrofit insulation have been tested together with a set of improvements of the lighting system and an extensive use of daylighting strategies. Building energy performances under the various retrofit hypotheses have been assessed by means of DOE-2.1E.

This paper describes the simulation of electric storage heaters and their controls. A method for modelling manual control, inferred from transformer readings, is described. Use of the dynamic simulation language ESL compiled into a single program with an existing building simulation program, is explained. This provides a powerful and flexible tool for the evaluation and development of storage heaters and controls. Optimisation of storage heater controls has been shown to be a complex process which requires a sophisticated modelling approach.

A method to evaluate the energy demand for lighting on an hourly basis is presented. The method is based on a raytracer and a dynamic modelling of the sky’s luminance distribution. The link to the thermal building simulation is shown by examples.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that mould infestation in buildings can have serious health implications for the occupants. On the basis of an analysis of published data, growth limit curves for six generic mould categories have been generated in terms of the minimum combination of temperature and relative humidity required to sustain growth on indoor building surfaces. These limits have been incorporated within the ESP-r system for use in conjunction within combined heat and moisture flow simulations.

Life-cycle design of air conditioning systems requires that plant should be capable of maintaining zone comfort conditions within specified limits, while minimising capital and operating costs. Lack of suitable design tools often prevents these objectives being met in conventional design practice. ZEBRA is a software package designed to simulate the performance of air conditioning plant across the whole range of operation. The structure of the package, which uses object-oriented methodologies, is described, as is its relationship to existing plant modelling codes.

Many building simulation computer programs, originally developed on mainframe computers for research purposes, can now run on the powerful workstation and personal computers that are available to most architectural and engineering firms. Major efforts have been underway during the last decade to compile these programs on personal computers and make them available to a wider range of building professionals. However, even with the addition of user-friendly front- and back-ends, their use is still limited to a small number of specialized consultants.