Linking two building performance simulation tools to a product model testbed

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. After dealing with the concept of a Product Model as the the complete and consistent representation of the building, the functionality of ProMod, which was developed by TNO-Bouw in the Netherlands as a testbed for product modelling concepts, is briefly reviewed. Starting from the analyses of the data requirements of the two BPE tools (in our case resulting in IDEF1X data models), we show how both data models can be mapped to one single integrated data model, and demonstrate how this data model is implemented in ProMod. The actual interface (programmed in C) retrieves all the building data from ProMod and prompts the user for additional application-specific data. An intermediate file is produced with the complete input required by each BPE-tool. With a view towards future full blown data integration we discuss the demands on future developments.