Abstract
The overall building performance depends mainly on the energy performance, indoor air quality, and moisture performance. In order to accurately calculate the building performance, the development of a model with the ability to integrate all three performances is required. In this research, a combination of three models namely EnergyPlus for energy, CONTAM for indoor air quality, and WUFI for moisture transport are used to develop an integrated model. The mechanism of this combination is based on the exchange of temperatures, airflows, and heating-cooling flows control variables between all three sub-models. By using the paired sample t-test, an integrated model is verified and its accuracy is validated. The accuracy of the integrated model is verified by the paired sample t-test. In order to analyze the accuracy of the integrated model in comparison with single models, four scenarios of airtight fan off, airtight fan on, leaky fan off, and leaky fan on are defined for a three-story-house subjected to three different climate cities of Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. Percentage differences of simulated measures with the ASHRAE Standard are considered as the performance criteria. The simulated results by single and integrated models are compared and analyzed. Finally, the scenarios with the high performances are evaluated in terms of energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and moisture for Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. Overall, it can be concluded that an integrated model should be developed.
Highlights
There are three aspects to be used for increasing the performance of the buildings.These aspects include energy consumption, indoor air quality, and moisture control [1].Conducting numerical modeling is one of the most important tools in calculating building performance
For a case of a three-story house subjected to three different climatic zones of Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami, the scenarios that were chosen to analyze the accuracy of the integrated model compared to single models are based on 4 common features: (1) reducing energy consumption with reducing indoor air quality, (2) reducing energy consumption with increasing indoor air quality, (3) investigate the moisture performance due to reducing indoor air quality, and (4) investigate the moisture performance due to increasing indoor air quality
The measures of space heating/cooling energy consumptions, indoor CO2 concentration, and relative humidity (RH) for all four scenarios are simulated in the first phase by single models of EnergyPlus, CONTAM, and WUFI, respectively
Summary
Conducting numerical modeling is one of the most important tools in calculating building performance. To calculate the efficiency of a built school campus in London, Jain et al [3] considered the interrelationships between energy and indoor air environment, and they concluded that building performance depends on two important parameters, energy, and indoor air quality (IAQ). Thermal comfort, and indoor air quality performance for underground buildings were evaluated by Yu et al [5]. EnergyPlus is a whole building energy simulation tool that can calculate energy performance in a building [7]. It is important to point out that CONTAM is a multizone building airflow and contaminant transport simulation tool that can calculate indoor air quality performance in a building [10]. Wang et al [11] used CONTAM as a multizone airflow network computer program for building ventilation and indoor air quality analysis
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