A framework to integrate object-oriented physical modelling with building information modelling for building thermal simulation

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for integrating building information modelling (BIM) and object-oriented physical modelling-based building energy modelling (BEM) focusing on thermal simulation to support decision-making in the design process. The framework is made of a system interface between BIM and Modelica-based BEM and the visualization of simulation results for building designers. The interface consists of the following two major features: (1) pre-processing BIM models to add required thermal parameters into BIM and generate the building topology and (2) translating BIM to Modelica-based building energy modelling automatically and running the thermal simulation. The visualization component presents the simulation results in BIM for designers to understand the relationship between design decisions and the building performance. For the framework implementation, we have created a ModelicaBIM library and utilized the Modelica Buildings library developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. We conducted a case study to demonstrate and validate the framework simulation results.

Keywords:

• building information modelling
• building energy simulation
• building thermal modelling
• object-oriented physical modelling

ORCID

WoonSeong Jeong http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0210-8464

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the valuable input from Sandeep Kota, Jose Luis Bermudez Alcocer, and the BIM-SIM Group, and the contribution from Mateo Aviles at Texas A&M University.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number 0967446]. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.