Detailed weather data generator for building simulations

Energy and Buildings 31, 1 (2000) 75-88 Thermal buildings simulation softwares need meteorological files in thermal comfort, energetic evaluation studies. Few tools can make significant meteorological data available such as generated typical year, representative days, or artificial meteorological database. This paper deals about the presentation of a new software, RUNEOLE, used to provide weather data in buildings applications with a method adapted to all kind of climates. RUNEOLE associates three modules of description, modelling and generation of weather data. The statistical description of an existing meteorological database makes typical representative days available and leads to the creation of model libraries. The generation module leads to the generation of non existing sequences. This software tends to be usable for the searchers and designers, by means of interactivity, facilitated use and easy communication. The conceptual basis of this tool will be exposed and we'll propose two examples of applications in building physics for tropical humid climates.