Performers:
-- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab – Berkeley, CA
-- Argonne National Lab – Argonne, IL
Performance Period: October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2022
Funding Type: 2019 Building Energy Modeling competitive lab call
Budget: $1,950,000
Related Projects: Empirical Validation and Uncertainty Characterization of Energy Simulation, Empirical Validation of Energy Simulation: ETNA, Empirical Validation of Energy Simulation: FRP, iUnit, and NZERTF, ASHRAE Standard 140, EnergyPlus.
Project Objective
Maximizing the adoption of high-performance buildings will require reducing the associated risks to clients and designers. A key part of reducing these risks is reducing the uncertainty, both real and perceived, in performance prediction. This project has the dual objectives of: (1) Improving the accuracy of simulation results by measuring and documenting validation data sets for use in identifying errors and inadequate assumptions in simulation engines so that they can be rectified by the developers, (2) characterizing the remaining uncertainty in simulation engines so that it may be properly controlled and accounted for in analyses and projects.
The project will build on the work performed by LBNL and ANL in the Phase I Empirical Validation and Uncertainty Quantification project. Phase I work in FLEXLAB focused on heating and cooling loads in empty spaces served by conventional mixing ventilation. The comprehensive instrumentation installed, and the experimental procedures implemented and refined, will be used and augmented in this second phase to support high-quality measurements for a range of new room configurations and new space conditioning systems. This phase will focus on thermal loads in the presence of furniture, different sources of internal gains, and variation in air flow rates for both overhead mixing ventilation and radiant slab and panel systems.
The project will produce detailed experimental descriptions and documented measured data sets. The project team will work with the ASHRAE Standard 140 project committee to incorporate these test data sets into the standard. The team will also work with the EnergyPlus development team to identify and correct significant deficiencies.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Amir Roth
Principal Investigator: Christian Kohler, LBNL