Paper Conference

Proceedings of BSA Conference 2013: 1st Conference of IBPSA-Italy

     

Extending the use of parametric simulation in practice through a cloud based online service

Emanuele Naboni, Yi Zhang, Alessandro Maccarini, Elian Hirsch, Daniele Lezzi

Abstract: The aim of the present research is to facilitate the implementation of parametric energy studies among the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry by creating an online service to execute parametric energy simulations using cloud computing. A web-based service was developed to submit parametric simulations based on the open-source energy simulation program EnergyPlus. An adapted version of jEPlus (parametric shell for EnergyPlus) was created to handle the jobs execution on the VENUS-C [1] cloud infrastructure. In addition, a web client called HUB-Engineering (HUB-E) was developed. The latter allows submissions of parametric simulations and results retrieval from any device connected to the internet. The results can be visualized and explored with a freeware interactive Parallel Coordinates Plot (PCP). Finally, a workflow is proposed to integrate the online cloud-based service within design processes of architectural and engineering practices. The workflow is tested with the parametric simulation of the energy performance of a building simulating 221,184 design options. By developing the first version of the service, which will be accessible to the AEC community, and by testing it successfully, the research shows the potential impact of cloud computing when coupled with parametric energy simulation.
Pages: 105 - 112
Paper:
bsa2013_11