“Parallel” EnergyPlus and the development of a parametric analysis tool

Parametric analysis is a powerful method for exploring alternative design options and establishing variable dependency therefore design guide. The text-based user interface of EnergyPlus makes it a perfect simulation tool for automated (or scripted) parametric analysis. Since the number of simulations required for parametric analysis tend to be large, a software utility that may take advantage of the ever-increasing desktop computing power is desirable. “Parallelism”, in its broad sense of running more calculations simultaneously, comes naturally into our view. Two implementations have been tested on a single-box dual-core PC and a 256-core Beowulf Cluster. This paper presents the development of the Java tool that prepares the parametric runs, as well as the performance enhancement achieved on different platforms.