History and development of validation with the ESP-r simulation program

It is well recognised that validation of dynamic building simulation programs is a long-term complex task. There have been many large national and international efforts that have led to a well-established validation methodology comprising analytical, inter-program comparison and empirical validation elements, and a significant number of tests have been developed. As simulation usage increases, driven by such initiatives as the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, such tests are starting to be incorporated into national and international standards. Although many program developers have run many of the developed tests, there does not appear to have been a systematic attempt to incorporate such tests into routine operation of the simulation programs. This paper reports work undertaken to address this deficiency. The paper summarizes the tests that have been applied to the simulation program ESP-r. These tests have been developed within International Energy Agency Annexes, within CEN standards, within various large-scale national projects, and by the UK's Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. The structure used to encapsulate the tests allows developers to ensure that recent code modifications have not resulted in unforeseen impacts on program predictions, and allows users to check for themselves against benchmarks

Indoor mould growth prediction using coupled computational fluid dynamics and mould growth model

This study investigates, using in-situ and numerical simulation experiments, airflow and hygrothermal distribution in a mechanically ventilated academic research facility with known cases of microbial proliferations. Microclimate parameters were obtained from in-situ experiments and used as boundary conditions and validation of the numerical experiments with a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis tool using the standard k–ε model. Good agreements were obtained with less than 10% deviations between the measured and simulated results. Subsequent upon successful validation, the model was used to investigate hygrothermal and airflow profile within the shelves holding stored components in the facility. The predicted in-shelf hygrothermal profile was superimposed on mould growth limiting curve earlier documented in the literature. Results revealed the growth of xerophilic species in most parts of the shelves. The mould growth prediction was found in correlation with the microbial investigation in the case-studied room reported by the authors elsewhere. Satisfactory prediction of mould growth in the room successfully proved that the CFD simulation can be used to investigate the conditions that lead to microbial growth in the indoor environment

Adaptation of single-family houses to the nZEB objective in cool-temperate climates of Spain. Optimisation of the energy demand and the thermal comfort by full-scale measurements and simulation assessments with an insight into the global warming scenarios

394 p.Se han analizado las características energéticas de las viviendas unifamiliares de consumo de energía casinulo (nZEB) construidas en España. La primera parte analiza los resultados de monitorizar durante 14meses el funcionamiento real de una vivienda pasiva en uso. El consumo de calefacción fue muy reducido,de 17,6 kWh/m². Se analizaron el confort térmico y el comportamiento de la envolvente térmica, midiendolas pérdidas de calor por la envolvente y la ventilación. Se analizó el confort térmico de la casa en veranocon diversos métodos y se comprobó que no existe sobrecalentamiento, gracias a la ventilación naturalempleada. La segunda parte compara los potenciales de mejora en invierno con cambios en la calefacción,y en verano mediante refrescamiento por ventilación y sombreamiento. Se calibró un modelo de simulacióndel rendimiento energético del edificio (BEPS) ajustado mediante los valores mensuales de la casamonitorizada. La ventilación mecánica con bypass de verano al caudal máximo es insuficiente para enfriarlo suficiente y mantener el confort térmico. Los sombreamientos ligeros exteriores para edificios existentestambién son insuficientes por sí solos. Es necesario aplicar ventilación natural para mantener los umbralesde confort interior. La tercera parte estudia la adaptación de las viviendas nZEB a los climas frescotempladosde España (se consideran las zonas C1, D1, D2, D3, E1 del CTE) a través de unos casosunifamiliares tipo. Se recomiendan niveles de aislamiento en la envolvente entre 10 cm y 20 cm según lazona climática, forma y orientación de cada caso. Se estudió la capacidad de adaptación con ventilación(VMC-RC y natural) y sombreamientos convencionales. Los resultados indican que es posible conseguirun confort térmico óptimo en verano e invierno aplicando las medidas adecuadas de refrescamiento pasivo,sin refrigeración activa en todas las zonas climáticas. Las simulaciones con climas futuros indican subidasde las temperaturas interiores entre 1-2 °C para 2040 y entre 2-5 °C para 2080. Se recomienda que losdiseños actuales verifiquen el sobrecalentamiento en los escenarios futuros, para mantener en el futuro elconfort térmico en las viviendas unifamiliares de las zonas climáticas estudiadas

BDAQ53, a versatile pixel detector readout and test system for the ATLAS and CMS HL-LHC upgrades

BDAQ53 is a readout system and verification framework for hybrid pixel detector readout chips of the RD53 family. These chips are designed for the upgrade of the inner tracking detectors of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. BDAQ53 is used in applications where versatility and rapid customization are required, such as in laboratory testing environments, test beam campaigns, and permanent setups for quality control measurements. It consists of custom and commercial hardware, a Python-based software framework, and FPGA firmware. BDAQ53 is developed as open source software with both software and firmware being hosted in a public repository.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Dynamic thermal models: reliability for domestic building design

This paper describes a three year UK initiative—Applicability Study 1-to enhance the usability and credibility of detailed thermal simulation programs with particular reference. to the design of passive solar dwellings. Researchers at Leicester Polytechnic and the Building Research Establishment are working with ESP, HTB2 and SERIRES. The aims are to identify the problems for which these programs can be used reliably and those for which they cannot, to provide guidance on the best modelling techniques, indicate the uncertainty inherent in predictions, identify the attributes of programs which are necessary to obtain reliable results, and indicate areas in which additional theoretical or experimental research is needed. The results to date show that good agreement in some design trends can be obtained provided a high level of quality control is exercised and program users have a good understanding of the theoretical basis of the programs. There were, however, some situations in which the programs still predicted significant differences in the trends in energy consumption as the building design changed. These may be explained by the different algorithms employed by the detailed thermal simulation programs and errors in them

Extensible Component Based Architecture for FLASH, A Massively Parallel, Multiphysics Simulation Code

FLASH is a publicly available high performance application code which has evolved into a modular, extensible software system from a collection of unconnected legacy codes. FLASH has been successful because its capabilities have been driven by the needs of scientific applications, without compromising maintainability, performance, and usability. In its newest incarnation, FLASH3 consists of inter-operable modules that can be combined to generate different applications. The FLASH architecture allows arbitrarily many alternative implementations of its components to co-exist and interchange with each other, resulting in greater flexibility. Further, a simple and elegant mechanism exists for customization of code functionality without the need to modify the core implementation of the source. A built-in unit test framework providing verifiability, combined with a rigorous software maintenance process, allow the code to operate simultaneously in the dual mode of production and development. In this paper we describe the FLASH3 architecture, with emphasis on solutions to the more challenging conflicts arising from solver complexity, portable performance requirements, and legacy codes. We also include results from user surveys conducted in 2005 and 2007, which highlight the success of the code.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures; revised paper submitted to Parallel Computin