Building Energy and IAQ improvement by Coupled Model

The building performances are related to Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Modeling is one of the best accurate tools for measuring the building performance. Nowadays, Energy Efficiency and IAQ are modeled individually for buildings. Improvement strategies in both areas are analyzed separately. The fundamental problem in Energy and IAQ modeling is related to interaction to each other. This problem makes the modeling results unrealistic to the building performance solutions. To avoid this problem, in this current research, Energy and IAQ models are coupled simultaneously as a new co-simulation method. EnergyPlus and CONTAM are used as Energy and IAQ models, respectively. With the co-simulation method, these two models are coupled together. The method is based on the exchange of control variables between both models dynamically and simultaneously. As a result, the exchanges of temperature and air flow variables are corrected. The verification of the new model is based on the comparison of the simulation and analytical results of temperature and air flow variables. In the next step, this new coupling-co-simulation method for a townhouse building is done in two cases: a leaky and a tight building envelopes. Both cases are compared in two types of ventilation systems: infiltration only, and exhaust only. At this point, the simulated air change rates, gas energy use, and particles concentrations are compared for each case. Finally, the necessity of the accuracy of this new method is concluded.