An Aiding Tool for Building Design Generation, Thermal Assessment and Optimization -- EnergyPlus Interaction Overview

A building design aiding tool for space allocation and thermal performance optimization is being developed to help practitioners during the building space planning phase, predicting how it will behave regarding energy consumption and thermal comfort. The tool evaluates, ranks, and optimizes generated floor plans according to thermal performance criteria, using the dynamic simulation program EnergyPlus. The tool is currently able to use a wide variety of EnergyPlus objects, allowing for various template and detailed HVAC, DHW, and thermal and electrical energy production systems and components, as well as numerous internal gains types, construction elements and energy saving controls, to be accounted for and simulated in the generated buildings. This paper presents the tool overall concept as well as the main features regarding dynamic simulation. Some performance results are presented for distinct systems to illustrate the use and potential of the tool.