Paper Conference
Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2012: 5th conference of IBPSA USA
 
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Streamlined Multizone Model Creation
Jason W. Degraw, William P. Bahnfleth, Amy MusserThe Indoor Environment Center, Department of Architectural Engineering The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA VandeMusser Design, PLLC, Asheville, NCAbstract: Multizone modeling for the simulation of airflow and contaminant transport in buildings is intermediate in resolution and complexity between the extremes represented by single-zone models and computational fluid dynamics. The model input time requirements for a multizone building model are likely less than that required for the construction of computational fluid dynamics model of a building subset, but are likely more than required for a single-zone building model. This paper describes techniques intended to reduce the time required to construct a multizone representation of a building and presents data demonstrating their effectiveness. The airflow network that models the movement of air is constructed semi-automatically from input geometrical information, simple mechanical systems descriptions, and high-level weather parameters. The time required for model construction with this streamlined input procedure is measured using an implementation of the streamlined procedures. Model creation time is found to be approximately one quarter of the time required to construct the same model using standard techniques. When calibrated, the resulting models are sufficiently representative of the buildings under study to be useful for analytical and design studies. Pages: 177 - 184 Paper:simbuild2012_03b_2_DeGraw