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Building Performance Simulation: Workflows and Tools

Drury Crawley, Ph.D., BEMP


Director of Building Performance Bentley Systems

Traditional Simulation Workflow Challenges


Early design through construction documents with increasing detail, multiple solutions Existing buildings with no details (maybe no drawings?) Manual input, data re-creation, translation errors and omissions Utilizing virtual data (2-D CAD, BIM) geometry robust, other data limited
Nall and Crawley 2011

Manual Model Creation


Analysis Results Paper or BIM Drawing

Manual Data Re-creation and Entry

2D Workflow
2-D Drawing

Analysis Results

Define Spaces

Energy Model

BIM to Sim (In)directly


BIM Model Analysis Results

Analytical Model

via gbXML, IFCs, direct

Energy Model

BIM to Sim(ulation)
Translate BIM to Simulation
BuildingSMART IFCs (Industry Foundation Classes)
Any BIM software that supports interoperability, available since 2001 Limited to what BIM tools decide to exporttypically only geometry

gbXML

Autodesk Green Building Studio


Web-based conversion of major BIM formats to energy simulation inputs Limited coverage Can require users to create their BIM drawings in structured way (may not follow designer regular workflow)

Direct from BIM to Simulation


Major tools already have or are adding direct export to one or more simulation tools

Interoperability is key to getting energy simulation mainstream. Other driverszero-energy buildings and green building rating systems

Direct from BIM to Sim Available Now

What Should I Look for in Performance Simulation Tools? Accuracy Sensitivity Versatility Speed and cost Reproducibility Ease of Use Validation

How Do I Decide Which Building Performance Tool(s) to Use? What am I trying to assess?
Simple change in performance may warrant a simpler tool such as bin method or degree-day Interactions of building systems warrants dynamic simulation tools

Make sure the tool can predict the physics youre interested in, such as radiant systems, daylight illuminance, ground heat transfer, or a specific HVAC system configuration

Where Do I Look?
ASHRAE Handbook 2013 Fundamentals Chapter 19 Energy Estimating and Modeling Methods US DOE Building Energy Software Tools Directory Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation
Hensen and Lamberts 2011

Summary
Software tools are available today to support analysis of many aspects of building performance BIM to Sim still challenging Critical to select the right software for the building performance issues that youre evaluating

More Resources
ASHRAE Fundamentals 2009, Chapter 14 Hensen, Jan L.M. and Roberto Lamberts. 2011. Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation. London: Spon Press. US DOE Building Energy Software Tools Directory http://buildings.energy.gov/tools_directory/ Contrasting the Capabilities of 20 Building Simulation Programs (2005): http://buildings.energy.gov/tools_directory/pdfs/contrasting_the_capabilities_of_building_en ergy_performance_simulation_programs_v1.0.pdf GSA BIM Guide for Energy Performance (2012) http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/GSA_BIM_Guide_Series.pdf National BIM Standard (2012) http://www.nationalbimstandard.org/ Daniel H. Nall, Drury B. Crawley. 2011. Energy Simulation in the Building Design Process, ASHRAE Journal, republished from November 1983. pp. 36-43, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July).

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