BIM-based building energy load calculation system for designers

• Published in: KSCE journal of civil engineering 2016, 20(2), , pp.549-563
• Main Authors: Kim, Karam, Yu, Jungho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Buildings; Civil Engineering; Computational efficiency; Computing time; Construction Management; Designers; Energy; Engineering; Engineers; Feedback; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Green buildings; Green development; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Load; Manuals; Matching; Mathematical models; 토목공학
• ISSN: 1226-7988; 1976-3808
• DOI: 10.1007/s12205-015-1625-0

In addition to the global awareness regarding green buildings, there is growing interest in Building Energy Load Calculation (BELC). The BELC process, however, has several potential problems, including the fact that the required data are input manually through subjective engineer choices and, during the BELC process, a designer must wait for feedback from the engineer regarding the BELC results. This paper addresses these problems by proposing a BIM-based building energy load calculation system for designers. To that end, the required data for BELC are divided into four types: general, space, material, and element. According to the required data, input methodologies are categorized as either automatic type-A or manual type-M data. The proposed system for BELC is developed with four key functions: type-A data input, type-M data input, material-property matching, and calculation functions. To validate the proposed system, two designers with more than seven years of practical experience and a BELC engineer using the eQUEST and EnergyPLUS programs applied the model to the current and proposed approaches. The proposed system contributes to increasing the efficiency of the BELC process by facilitating self-check by the designer and by reducing the need for engineering input during the BELC process.