Conference Paper

Proceedings of Building Simulation 2013: 13th Conference of IBPSA

Implications Of The Uncoupling Of Building And Hvac Simulation In The Presence Of Parameter Uncertainties

Godfried AUGENBROE, Yuna ZHANG, Javad KHAZAII, Yuming SUN, Heng SU, Benjamin D. LEE, Jeff WU

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2013.1408
Abstract: Building simulation has made significant advances towards fully integrated building-system simulation. An intriguing question is however, whether a fully coupled “brute force” approach is always relevant and necessary, given the fact that the combined simulation is computationally intensive and, perhaps more important, requires a substantial effort on the part of the energy modeler as the HVAC system model is complicated and requires a high level of expertise and attention to modeling details. In addition there is an increasing focus on the role of modeling uncertainties and modeler's bias in energy simulation outcomes. To analyze the combined effect of uncertainty in building parameters and HVAC system properties, the natural tendency is to model the HVAC system as an integral part of the whole building simulation. In this paper we investigate whether this approach is justified in the light of unavoidable uncertainties which may blur the advantage of the coupled simulation. To do so, we compare an uncoupled sequential approach (using a dynamic building simulation followed by a simplified HVAC calculation platform) with the fully coupled dynamic simulation. We limit the investigation to a case study building with different types of HVAC systems, and focus only on energy consumption outcomes. The results of both a deterministic and uncertainty analysis outcomes are discussed.
Pages: 3169 - 3176
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