scholarly journals Basic Principles, Most Common Computational Tools, and Capabilities for Building Energy and Urban Microclimate Simulations

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6707
Author(s):  
George M. Stavrakakis ◽  
Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis ◽  
Markos Damasiotis
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Models ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Urban Microclimate ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Computational Tools ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Urban Heat

This paper presents basic principles of built-environment physics’ modelling, and it reviews common computational tools and capabilities in a scope of practical design approaches for retrofitting purposes. Well-established simulation models and methods, with applications found mainly in the international scientific literature, are described by means of strengths and weaknesses as regards related tools’ availability, easiness to use, and reliability towards the determination of the optimal blends of retrofit measures for building energy upgrading and Urban Heat Island (UHI) mitigation. The various characteristics of computational approaches are listed and collated by means of comparison among the principal modelling methods as well as among the respective computational tools that may be used for simulation and decision-making purposes. Insights of coupling between building energy and urban microclimate models are also presented. The main goal was to provide a comprehensive overview of available simulation methods that can be used at the early design stages for planning retrofitting strategies and guiding engineers and technical professionals through the simulation tools’ options oriented to the considered case study.

scholarly journals Updated Typical Weather Years for the Energy Simulation of Buildings in Mediterranean Climate. A Case Study for Sicily

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Costanzo ◽  
Gianpiero Evola ◽  
Marco Infantone ◽  
Luigi Marletta
Keyword(s):  
Residential Building ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Weather Station ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Energy Simulations

Building energy simulations are normally run through Typical Weather Years (TWYs) that reflect the average trend of local long-term weather data. This paper presents a research aimed at generating updated typical weather files for the city of Catania (Italy), based on 18 years of records (2002–2019) from a local weather station. The paper reports on the statistical analysis of the main recorded variables, and discusses the difference with the data included in a weather file currently available for the same location based on measurements taken before the 1970s but still used in dynamic energy simulation tools. The discussion also includes a further weather file, made available by the Italian Thermotechnical Committee (CTI) in 2015 and built upon the data registered by the same weather station but covering a much shorter period. Three new TWYs are then developed starting from the recent data, according to well-established procedures reported by ASHRAE and ISO standards. The paper discusses the influence of the updated TWYs on the results of building energy simulations for a typical residential building, showing that the cooling and heating demand can differ by 50% or even 65% from the simulations based on the outdated weather file.

Simulation tools to assess microclimate and building energy – A case study on the design of a new district

2016 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 112-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien Gros ◽  
Emmanuel Bozonnet ◽  
Christian Inard ◽  
Marjorie Musy
Keyword(s):  
Building Energy ◽  
Simulation Tools

scholarly journals Conceptual analysis of single-feed heterogeneous distillation columns

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Carlos Arturo Martinez Riascos ◽  
Libardo Estupiñan Perez
Keyword(s):  
Heterogeneous Systems ◽  
Azeotropic Distillation ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Liquid Equilibrium ◽  
Pinch Point ◽  
Distillation Columns ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Vapor Liquid

<p class="Abstractandkeywordscontent">Separation in heterogeneous distillation columns is attained by interaction of two liquid and one vapor phases, interaction of three phases involves complexities due to the determination of vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium and hence, in the design of separation units. Nevertheless, the liquid-liquid equilibrium allows developing separations that may be unfeasible by vapor-liquid equilibrium. In this way, heterogeneous azeotropic distillation is a useful operation for the separation of azeotropic and close-boiling mixtures. In this work, a new methodology for evaluating the feasibility of this process is developed. This methodology is an extension of that proposed by Castillo <em>et al</em>. (1998) for homogeneous systems. Operation leaves for heterogeneous systems are calculated using the concept of pinch point curves in order to establish the process feasibility. Heterogeneous columns with external decanter are considered as the only heterogeneous stage (OHED: only heterogeneous external decanter). The initialization process for the column calculation requires the selection of the distillate composition using thermodynamic criteria in order to guarantee homogeneous phases within the column. A system with industrial and academic relevance was considered as case study: water-acetic acid-amyl acetate. Results show that the developed shortcut method allows evaluating process feasibility and estimating design parameters, without the use of trial and error procedures implemented, with the aid of simulation tools.</p><div> </div>

A simulation-based approach to develop a holonic robotic cell

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Clint Alex Steed
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Models ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Robotic Cell ◽  
Communication Interface ◽  
Smart Cameras ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Cell Controller

Purpose This paper aims to present an approach for the simulation of a heterogeneous robotic cell. The simulation enables the cell’s developers to conveniently compare the performance of alternative cell configurations. The approach combines the use of multiple available simulation tools, with a custom holonic cell controller. This overcomes the limitation of currently available robot simulation packages by allowing integration of multiple simulation tools including multiple vendor simulation packages. Design/methodology/approach A feeding cell was developed as a case study representing a typical robotic application. The case study would compare two configurations of the cell, namely, eye-in-hand vision and fixed-camera vision. The authors developed the physical cell in parallel with the simulated cell to validate its performance. Then they used simulation to scale the models (by adding subsystems) and shortlist suitable cell configurations based on initial capital investment and throughput rate per unit cost. The feeding cell consisted of a six-degree of freedom industrial robot (KUKA KR16), two smart cameras (Cognex ism-1100 and DVT Legend 500), an industrial PC (Beckhoff) and custom reconfigurable singulation units. Findings The approach presented here allows the combination of dissimilar simulation models constructed for the above mentioned case study. Experiments showed the model developed in this approach could reasonably predict various eye-in-hand and fixed-camera systems’ performance. Combining the holonic controller with the simulation allows developers to easily compare the performance of a variety of configurations. The use of a common communication platform allowed the communication between multiple simulation packages, allowing multi-vendor simulation, thereby overcoming current limitation in simulation software. Research limitations/implications The case study developed here is considered a typical feeding and assembly application. This is however very different from other robotic applications which should be explored in separate case studies. Simulation packages with the same communication interface as the physical resource can be integrated. If the communication interface is not available, other means of simulation can be used. The case study findings are limited to the specific products being used and their simulation packages. However, these are indicative of typical industry technologies available. Only real-time simulations were considered. Practical implications This simulation-based approach allows designers to quickly quantify the performance of alternative system configurations (eye-in-hand or fixed camera in this case) and scale, thereby enabling them to better optimize robotic cell designs. In addition, the holonic control system’s modular control interface allows for the development of the higher-level controller without hardware and easy replacement of the lower level components with other hardware or simulation models. Originality/value The combination of a holonic control system with a simulation to replace hardware is shown to be a useful tool. The inherent modularity of holonic control systems allows that multiple simulation components be connected, thereby overcoming the limitation of vendor-specific simulation packages.

scholarly journals Hourly simulation results of building energy simulation tools using a reference office building as a case study

Data in Brief ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107370
Author(s):  
Mara Magni ◽  
Fabian Ochs ◽  
Samuel de Vries ◽  
Alessandro Maccarini ◽  
Ferdinand Sigg
Keyword(s):  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Building Energy Simulation ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Simulation Results

scholarly journals The Urban Heat Island phenomenon modelling and analysis as an adaptation of Maghreb cities to climate change

2018 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 02090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaoutar Ouali ◽  
Khalid El Harrouni ◽  
Moulay Larbi Abidi ◽  
Youssef Diab
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Urban Microclimate ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Analysis And Evaluation ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The Subject

The modeling of the urban microclimate, in particular the phenomenon of the Urban Heat Island (UHI), is becoming increasingly essential for city planning and urban design. The phenomenon analysis is henceforth possible thanks to the increase in computational power, the link between simulation tools and urban databases, which allow to represent explicitly the characteristics of the urban microclimate and to better understand its effects, through the analysis and evaluation of the different impacts of the urban climatic or anthropogenic contributors (urban morphology, land use, building sites, albedo, …). However, the choice of the scaleof the study depends on a balance between the precision of the modeling, the capacities of calculation and the availability and reliability of the data.The UHI phenomenon has been the subject of several research studies in the European countries since the 2000s. Thispaper focuses mainly on the description of the phenomenon, the different methodsused to evaluate and modeled its impacts, using some approaches for mitigating these ones.The contribution aims to highlight the phenomenon of the UHI based on a bibliographic study of the latest research on this topic in Maghreb cities.The state of art focuses on the progress made during the last 15 years taking into account the UHI in the different strategies for adapting cities to climate change and for improving their resilience.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document