This paper examines the application of simulation tools to daylighting and heating energy use in the context of what questions the designers wish to ask and what answers they seek. We describe a framework to provide an integrated simulation environment which the designer can use to pose such questions and receive the required answers. While the structure of the integration framework is similar to many comparable projects in the field of integrated environments, we concentrate on the methods required to provide tailorable user-interfaces to the base models.

The simulation of daylighting performance requires some knowledge about prevailing sky conditions, especially luminance. Commonly the CIE standard models (clear and overcast, and often some combination of both) are used to provide the necessary estimates to obtain the temporal and spatial variance of luminances and the consequent illuminance levels in buildings.

This paper describes the modelling and the experimental validation under ALLAN.TM Simulation software³ of a dwelling subjected to actual indoor and outdoor conditions. The construction of the global model is made in two steps: a downward analysis, by breaking up the system in elementary components; an upward synthesis, by assembling the elementary models into macro-models. Experimental data for the thermal behavior of the dwelling structure has been obtained at Gaz de France, Direction des Etudes et Techniques Nouvelles (St-Denis).

New object oriented simulation environments offer dramatically improved possibilities for simulation of coupled systems. In contrast to traditional building simulation, where separate, stand-alone tools are used for each simulation task; the new environments will offer a unifiedf ramework for all simulation problems. For design tool users this leads to two major advantages. (1) model coupling and comparison of results between different simulation applications will be practical, and (2) usage and input data will be standardised across applications.

The conceptual theory and qualitative structure of a model for the evaluation of life safety in building fires is presented The model is based on a hierarchical framework, which is then overlain with an interactive network to represent the inter?relationships between the factors directly or indirectly determining life safety Representation of time in fire events is made using five discrete notional am stages corresponding to the characteristic Phases of escape. The model is a systemic approach to life safety in fires.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has recently released two new programs, LightCAD and LightPAD, to enhance the design and application of lighting in commercial buildings. LightCAD is a companion program to AutoCAD and is used by lighting designers and drafts persons to design more energy-efficient lighting systems in new buildings. LightCAD 2.0 is an advanced lighting layout too I in the CAD environment aimed at improving basic lighting in standard commercial environment-it is not a highly sophisticated analysis tool for detailed or specialized lighting analysis.

In this paper the availability of weather data in Australasia in terms of both hourly data for energy simulations and synthesized design day data for cooling and heating load estimation is discussed. Problems in establishing suitable data as identified in recent and current work carried out by ACADS and others, together with some possible solutions are discussed. A method of extrapolating energy consumption estimates to locations where hourly climatic data is not available is presented.

As a result of the progression of computing power and the increasing demandsfor detailed thermal performance assessment users are shifting from simplified design tools to comprehensive, dynamic thermal appraisal tools which are able to handle the complexity of design. From the standpoint of researchers and developers the days of a single person or even a small group maintaining and advancing such appraisal tools is problematic.

Thermal simulation programs for buildings have been available for many years. They vary from simple methods that can be performed at the sketch design stage using a spreadsheet through to sophisticated dynamic thermal simulations requiring mainframe computers. However, these methods are not widely used by building designers during the early stages of design when the most important decisions are made. Explanations for this are that the preparation of the data can be time consuming and few building designers are confident in interpreting the results of the simulations.

Starting from the basic governing equations for fluid flows, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is described. The pre-processing and post-processing software was integrated with the CFD code to form a more user-friendly computer package. This new computer package has been used to carry out several simulations on air and smoke movement in atrium with balconies. It has been found that the pre?processing and post-processing software can greatly reduce the data preparation and analysis time. It can also reduce the likelihood of making errors in data entry.