Li, H X; Ma, Z; Liu, H; Wang, J; Al-Hussein, M and Mills, A (2020) Exploring and verifying BIM-based energy simulation for building operations. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 27(8), pp. 1679-1702. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The operational phase of a building's lifecycle is receiving increasing attention, as it consumes an enormous amount of energy and results in tremendous detrimental impacts on the environment. While energy simulation can be applied as a tool to evaluate the energy performance of a building in operation, the emergence of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is expected to facilitate the evaluation process with predefined and enriched building information. However, such an approach has been confronted by the challenge of interoperability issues among the related application software, including the BIM tools and energy simulation tools, and the results of simulation have been seldom verified due to the unavailability of corresponding experimental data. This study aims to explore the interoperability between the commonly used energy simulation and BIM tools and verifies the simulation approach by undertaking a case study. Design/methodology/approach: With Autodesk Revit and EnergyPlus selected as the commonly used BIM and energy simulation tools, respectively, a valid technical framework of transferring building information between two tools is proposed, and the interoperability issues that occur during the data transfer are studied. The proposed framework is then employed to simulate the energy consumption of a single-family house, and sensitivity analysis and analysis on such parameters as schedule are conducted for building operations to showcase its applicability. Findings: The simulation results are compared with monitored data and the results from another simulation tool, HOT2000; the comparison reveals that EnergyPlus and HOT2000 predict the total energy consumption with a difference from the monitoring data of 8.0 and 7.1%, respectively. Practical implications: This research shows how to efficiently use BIM to support building energy simulation. Relevant stakeholders can learn from this research to avoid data loss during BIM model transformation. Originality/value: This research explores the application of BIM for building energy simulation, compares the simulation results among different tools and validates simulation results using monitored data.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | autodesk revit; building information modeling; energy monitoring; energy simulation; energyplus; hot2000 |
| Index terms: | emergence, simulation tool, building operation, methodology, sensitivity analysis, energy simulation, interoperability, energy performance, lifecycle, building energy simulation, monitoring, energy consumption, transformation, energyplus, energy monitoring, case study, building information modelling |
| Subjects: | analytical methods, project delivery, environmental science, energy systems, modelling and simulation, sustainability and energy, control systems, business, data collection methods, systems engineering, information systems, environmental hazards, systems and processes, research methods, management |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice, Site Management, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here