A simple building modelling procedure for matlab/simulink

A computationally-efficient building thermal model is developed for short-timescale investigations applicable to control system design. A lumpedcapacity treatment of the building elements is used which can be summarised by a simple analogue electric circuit. The method is procedurallytransparent and leads to a state-space description of a building space which is implemented using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The model is tested using experimental data from a building with high thermal capacity. The accuracy of second-order descriptions of the high thermal capacity building elements compared with first-order descriptions is also examined. Good agreement with experimental data over short simulation periods is obtained using firstorder element descriptions.