scholarly journals NREL Evaluates the Thermal Performance of Uninsulated Walls to Improve the Accuracy of Building Energy Simulation Tools (Fact Sheet)

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Building Energy Simulation ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Fact Sheet

Three-Dimensional Numerical Evaluation of Thermal Performance of Uninsulated Wall Assemblies

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
El Hassan Ridouane ◽  
Marcus V. A. Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Cavity Surface ◽  
Building Energy Simulation ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Whole Building Energy Simulation

Uninsulated wall assemblies are typical in older homes, as many were built before building codes required insulation. Building engineers need to understand the thermal performance of these assemblies as they consider home energy upgrades if they are to properly predict pre-upgrade performance and, consequently, prospective energy savings from the upgrade. Most whole-building energy simulation tools currently use simplified, 1D characterizations of building envelopes and assume a fixed thermal resistance that does not vary over a building’s temperature range. This study describes a detailed 3D computational fluid dynamics model that evaluates the thermal performance of uninsulated wall assemblies. It accounts for conduction through framing, convection, and radiation and allows for material property variations with temperature. Parameters that were varied include ambient outdoor temperature and cavity surface emissivity. The results may serve as input for building energy simulation tools that model the temperature-dependent energy performance of homes with uninsulated walls.

Improving direct solar shading calculations within building energy simulation tools

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 437-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismael Maestre ◽  
Luis Pérez-Lombard ◽  
Juan Foncubierta ◽  
Paloma Cubillas
Keyword(s):  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Building Energy Simulation ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Solar Shading

scholarly journals Building Performance Evaluation Using Coupled Simulation of EnergyPlus™ and an Occupant Behavior Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengda Jia ◽  
Ravi Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Building Energy Simulation ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Occupant Behavior ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Simulation Engine

Building energy simulation programs are used for optimal sizing of building systems to reduce excessive energy wastage. Such programs employ thermo-dynamic algorithms to estimate every aspect of the target building with a certain level of accuracy. Currently, almost all building simulation tools capture static features of a building including the envelope, geometry, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, etc. However, building performance also relies on dynamic features such as occupants’ interactions with the building. Such interactions have not been fully implemented in building energy simulation tools, which potentially influences the comprehensiveness and accuracy of estimations. This paper discusses an information exchange mechanism via coupling of EnergyPlus™, a building energy simulation engine and PMFServ, an occupant behavior modeling tool, to alleviate this issue. The simulation process is conducted in Building Controls Virtual Testbed (BCVTB), a virtual simulation coupling tool that connects the two separate simulation engines on a time-step basis. This approach adds a critical dimension to the traditional building energy simulation programs to seamlessly integrate occupants’ interactions with building components to improve the modeling capability, thereby improving building performance evaluation. The results analysis of this paper reveals a need to consider metrics that measure different types of comfort for building occupants.

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