Using specification and description language for life cycle assesment in buildings

The definition of a Life Cycle Assesment (LCA) for a building or an urban area is a complex task due to the inherent complexity of all the elements that must be considered. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach is required due to the different sources of knowledge involved in this project. This multidisciplinary approach makes it necessary to use formal language to fully represent the complexity of the used models. In this paper, we explore the use of Specification and Description Language (SDL) to represent the LCA of a building and residential area. We also introduce a tool that uses this idea to implement an optimization and simulation mechanism to define the optimal solution for the sustainability of a specific building or residential.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Analysis of the gamification applications to improve the energy savings in residential buildings

This paper proposes a set of metrics to evaluate and compare applications in a new but quickly developing field – energy management software (EMS) in residential buildings. The goal of the paper is to highlight tendencies and to detect drawbacks of pre sent applications to develop a new one taking into account the results of previous analysis. It shows a shortlist of applications examined. Provides the conclusion drawing to the metrics and proposes mai n issues to be considered in the development of a new application.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Indústria 4.0 / Status Report Marc de referència sobre la Indústria 4.0 octubre 2016

L¿objecte d¿aquest document és donar a conèixer els elements de la Indústria 4.0 als enginyers, al teixit industrial català i a la societat, podent ser utilitzat com a instrument que faciliti el debat i la construcció d'un discurs normalitzat al voltant de la mateixa. Existeix el debat sobre fins a quin punt el màrqueting de la Indústria 4.0 va per davant de la realitat o a l¿inrevés. En qualsevol cas, l¿objectiu de la Comissió i4.0 d¿Enginyers de Catalunya és contribuir a l¿establiment de bases sòlides i a la formalització del cos de coneixent de la Indústria 4.0.Preprin

Using Specification and Description Language to define and implement discrete simulation models

The formal languages become important tools since they allow the complete understanding of the model and help in its implementation. However only a few simulation tools allow an automatic execution of a simulation model based in a formalization of the system. Specification and Description Language is a modern object oriented graphical formal language that allows the definition of distributed systems. It has focused on the modeling of reactive, state/event driven systems, and has been standardized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in the Z.100. Since it is a graphical formalism simplifies the understanding of the model. In this paper we show how we can use Specification and Description Language to represent a discrete simulation model. We propose a solution, implemented in SDLPS, regarding how to manage the time in Specification and Description Language. Also, we show how SDLPS infrastructure allows a distribute simulation of the models.Postprint (published version

Simulation hypotheses

Defining a simulation model implies the use of different knowledge of the system we are going to model. Often, this knowledge is not complete or lacks in the needed detail in order to fully explain the behavior and the structure of the system. In that case, different hypotheses must be used in order to constrain the reality, or allow the needed complete and unambiguous definition of the model. However, all the hypotheses used do not lie in the same category. In this paper, we propose taxonomy for the hypotheses used in a simulation model in order to detect, previously to any implementation or model definition the possible lacks in the model construction.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Cost-effective analysis for selecting energy efficiency measures for refurbishment of residential buildings in Catalonia

© 2016. This version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This paper presents the results of a detailed method for developing cost-optimal studies for the energy refurbishment of residential buildings. The method takes part of an innovative approach: two-step evaluation considering thermal comfort, energy and economic criteria. The first step, the passive evaluation, was presented previously [1] and the results are used to develop the active evaluation, which is the focus of this paper. The active evaluation develops a cost-optimal analysis to compare a set of passive and active measures for the refurbishment of residential buildings. The cost-optimal methodology follows the European Directives and analysed the measures from the point of view of non-renewable primary energy consumption and the global costs over 30 years. The energy uses included in the study are heating, domestic hot water, cooling, lighting and appliances. In addition, the results have been represented following the energy labelling scale. The paper shows the results of a multi-family building built in the years 1990–2007 and located in Barcelona with two configurations: with natural ventilation and without natural ventilation. The method provides technical and economic information about the energy efficiency measures, with the objective to support the decision process.Postprint (author's final draft

Analysis of applications to improve the energy savings in residential buildings based on Systemic Quality Model

Creating a definition of the features and the architecture of a new Energy Management Software (EMS) is complex because different professionals will be involved in creating that definition and in using the tool. To simplify this definition and aid in the eventual selection of an existing EMS to fit a specific need, a set of metrics that considers the primary issues and drawbacks of the EMS is decisive. This study proposes a set of metrics to evaluate and compare EMS applications. Using these metrics will allow professionals to highlight the tendencies and detect the drawbacks of current EMS applications and to eventually develop new EMS applications based on the results of the analysis. This study presents a list of the applications to be examined and describes the primary issues to be considered in the development of a new application. This study follows the Systemic Quality Model (SQMO), which has been used as a starting point to develop new EMS, but can also be used to select an existing EMS that fits the goals of a company. Using this type of analysis, we were able to detect the primary features desired in an EMS software. These features are numerically scaled, allowing professionals to select the most appropriate EMS that fits for their purposes. This allows the development of EMS utilizing an iterative and user-centric approach. We can apply this methodology to guide the development of future EMS and to define the priorities that are desired in this type of software.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Contribution of thermal inertia to the interior climate of Girona Cathedral: feasibility analysis for the preservation of pieces of art through the monitoring of thermal conditions for 6 years

The purpose of this study is to determine Girona Cathedral’s thermal performance and to verify that it is suitable for containing historical pieces of art. We present the results of our analysis of the indoor thermal conditions during the period from January 2011 to December 2016. Real data were collected from strategically located probes inside the cathedral and from an outside weather station. The results were compared with an EnergyPlus computer model to verify the calculations and improve decision making. The model considers the envelope’s thermal inertia, the characteristics of the enclosure, and the passive systems for performing thermal analysis. The cathedral’s indoor environment is very stable. Because of a high capability of thermal-energy accumulation, a one-month thermal lag between indoor and outdoor temperatures exists. Furthermore, the maximum and minimum temperatures are dampened, with a two-degree variation above or below the outdoor average, depending on the season. The outdoor humidity can vary from 40% to 100% daily, whereas the indoor humidity variation is around 5%. This indoor stable condition protects the artistic objects in the building. This six-year monitoring and analysis allows for the determination that high-inertia buildings are suitable for displaying and preserving pieces of art and antique furniture, protecting them from deterioration.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Bartering integer commodities with exogenous prices

The analysis of markets with indivisible goods and fixed exogenous prices has played an important role in economic models, especially in relation to wage rigidity and unemployment. This research report provides a mathematical and computational details associated to the mathematical programming based approaches proposed by Nasini et al. (accepted 2014) to study pure exchange economies where discrete amounts of commodities are exchanged at fixed prices. Barter processes, consisting in sequences of elementary reallocations of couple of commodities among couples of agents, are formalized as local searches converging to equilibrium allocations. A direct application of the analyzed processes in the context of computational economics is provided, along with a Java implementation of the approaches described in this research report.Comment: 30 pages, 5 sections, 10 figures, 3 table

NECADA. Optimization software for sustainable architecture

In this work, we present a hybrid infrastructure, named NECADA, which supports the execution of a detailed simulation model representing all building processes on a supercomputer, cloud, cluster of computers or desktop environments. The aim of this infrast ructure is to find optimal values for various building parameters and the associated impacts to reduce the energy demand or consumption of the building or the residential area . The infrastructure combines both, formal languages and co - simulation in order to obtain a complete unambiguous definition of the model, using the best tools to simulate any model component.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft