You will be using the Building Simulator to simulate the thermal performance of buildings. The main applications are in the assessment of environmental performance, natural ventilation analysis, prediction of energy consumption, plant sizing and simulation, analysis of energy conservation options and energy targeting.
The application will use the geometry that you will already have drawn in the 3D Modeller. When you export the geometry to TBD the Building Simulator will automatically open. This is where you will enter detailed information about the expected internal gains, infiltration and ventilation rates, heating and cooling setpoints, building materials, zone groups, apertures, substitute elements, feature shading, bulk inter-zone air movement, and occupation patterns. The simulation results will then be output to the Results Viewer.
The fundamental approach adopted by Tas is dynamic simulation. The simulation will trace the thermal state of the building through a series of hourly snapshots. This will give you a detailed picture of the way the building will perform under extreme design conditions and throughout a typical year. This approach allows the influences of thermal processes occurring in the building, their timing, location and interaction, to be properly accounted for.
These processes are illustrated schematically in the next topic, which shows the movement of heat in various forms as it is conveyed into, out of, and around the building by a variety of heat transfer mechanisms, including conduction, convection, long-wave radiation, and solar radiation.