The calibration of building energy models is crucial for their use in some applications that depend on
their accuracy for adequate performance, such as demand response and model predictive control
(MPC). In general, energy models offer many possibilities/strategies when characterizing a construction
system, and such a characterization is key when analyzing both its thermal behavior and its energy
impact. This research analyzes the different ways to characterize the thermal interaction of the building
energy model (BEM) with the ground, comparing conventional approaches with new approaches based
on both optimization of the former and dynamic ground characterizations. Using a model adjusted to
a real case study, each of the existing options are analyzed, in which a different control of the ground
temperature both in terms of its temporal oscillation and its location in the building (based on thermal
zones) is taken into account. Exhaustive monitoring of a real building and measuring the ground and
ground floor surface temperatures have made establishing which EnergyPlus components/objects best
characterize the ground-slab interaction possible, both in terms of the simplicity of modeling and the cost
(economic and technical) required for each of them. As will be seen, there are objects with an excellent
cost/effectiveness ratio when characterizing the groun
