A new Building Energy Model coupled with an Urban Canopy Parameterization for urban climate simulations—part II. Validation with one dimension off-line simulations

Abstract

Recent studies show that the fluxes exchanged between buildings and the atmosphere play an important role in the urban climate. These fluxes are taken into account in mesoscale models considering new and more complex Urban Canopy Parameterizations (UCP). A standard methodology to test an UCP is to use one-dimensional (1D) off-line simulations. In this contribution, an UCP with and without a Building Energy Model (BEM) is run 1D off-line and the results are compared against the experimental data obtained in the BUBBLE measuring campaign over Basel (Switzerland) in 2002. The advantage of BEM is that it computes the evolution of the indoor building temperature as a function of energy production and consumption in the building, the radiation coming through the windows, and the fluxes of heat exchanged through the walls and roofs as well as the impact of the air conditioning system. This evaluation exercise is particularly significant since, for the period simulated, indoor temperatures were recorded. Different statistical parameters have been calculated over the entire simulated episode in order to compare the two versions of the UCP against measurements. In conclusion, with this work, we want to study the effect of BEM on the different turbulent fluxes and exploit the new possibilities that the UCP–BEM offers us, like the impact of the air conditioning systems and the evaluation of their energy consumption.