Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    Requirements for a BIM-Based Life-Cycle Performance Evaluation Framework to Enable Optimum Building Operation
    (Eindhoven University of Technology, 2015-10-29) ; ;
    Buildings rarely perform as well in practice as anticipated during design, and often consume 20-30% more energy than necessary. One of the main causes of inefficient operation is the lack of data integration and system interoperability inherent in the AEC/FM industry. In many cases, the assumptions and specifications defined during design are not transferred throughout the life-cycle of the building, and actual operation deviates from design intent. Building Information Modelling enables designers to create digital models of buildings. Theoretically, these models should be exchangeable between disciplines and over different life-cycle stages, but in practice the lack of information exchange protocols in the building performance area inhibits such exchanges. In order to improve building operation throughout the building life-cycle, this paper proposes a BIM-based performance evaluation framework to compare design intent with actual operation. The framework uses the IFC schema to facilitate the information exchange process for better qualification and validation of data.
      488
  • Publication
    Building Manager Requirement Specifications for Efficient Building Operation
    Building management plays a significant role in an organisation aiming to achieve an energy efficient status. In this context, there is growing pressure on building managers to provide not only high-quality building services, but to run and manage buildings as economically and efficiently as possible. As such, management activities require a comprehensive data management system to capture, retrieve and put to optimal use, information related to building performance. In this scenario, Building Information Modelling (BIM) can play the role of data repository and provide easy access to information pertaining to precise equipment locations, equipment affected by a system failure, maintenance history information, etc. Therefore, this paper uses building manager’s business processes and associated information identified throughout the paper to propose a BIM-based building management framework that enables accumulation and management of energy life-cycle data based on Industry Foundations Classes (IFC).
      162
  • Publication
    Model View Definition for Advanced Building Energy Performance Simulation
    Recent demand for higher energy efficiency within the building sector has led to the use of Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) tools. These powerful predictive tools enable investigation of environmental and energy performance for different design and retrofit design alternatives. However, integrating BEPS with Building Information Modelling (BIM) based building design tools still experiences limitations due to a lack of standardised methods of information exchange between these domains. As a result, this paper presents a Model View Definition (MVD) for advanced BEPS. In doing so this work enables a standardised exchange of data from BIM to BEPS tools, such as Modelica, using the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. The entire process becomes available through the open source software framework emerged from the IEA EBC Annex 60.
      307
  • Publication
    Development of a Model View Definition (MVD) for thermal comfort analysis in commercial buildings using BIM and EnergyPlus
    (Construction IT Allance of Ireland, 2017-11-24) ; ; ; ;
    Buildings are major consumers of global energy resources. Approximately 80% of the energy used in commercial office spaces, is typically used for maintaining optimal comfort levels through delivery of heating, cooling, ventilating, and lighting. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has seen a significant uptake by designers in pursuit of sustainable building designs. Furthermore, general BIM systems already contain much of the information that can be further reused for additional project tasks such as thermal comfort analysis. Integration and improvement of information flows between BIM and Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) tools has the capacity to help designers assess building performance under various design conditions. In doing so, assessments of building performance and thermal comfort requires additional representative data about indoor environmental conditions and energy consumption. The process of connecting BIM to energy simulation tools, for the explicit purpose of thermal comfort analysis, requires a well-defined Model View Definition (MVD). MVDs define a subset of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) schema, which is needed to support a particular business process. This paper develops a MVD for thermal comfort that represents the data needed by building designers or operators to deliver a satisfactory level of thermal comfort in a typical small, single occupant office. The use case consists of a single thermal zone with a HVAC system. The detailed specification for these requirements is based on the IFC data representation. The IfcDoc application tool is used to improve the consistency and define computer-interpretable definition of the MVD. The outputs of this work will allow a standardised exchange of the necessary requirements from BIM to BEPS tools (e.g. EnergyPlus) for thermal comfort analysis.
      292
  • Publication
    Development of a Model View Definition for Environmental and Energy Performance Assessment
    Very often, building managers face the challenge of having to operate a building in the absence of the appropriate information about how it should function. This problem is one of the many reasons why buildings operate inefficiently and tend to consume excessive amounts of energy. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technology which addresses the management of information throughout the Building Life-Cycle (BLC). Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a non-proprietary data model of BIM that enables effective data integration over the BLC. IFC is a rich data model which may represent the entire building, however most applications are interested in a subset of this model. Hence, it is necessary to filter the information exchange between different applications and Model View Definitions (MVD) is the methodology to define such subsets. This paper presents the development of a MVD for environmental and energy performance assessment to support building managers during operation.
      372
  • Publication
    MVD based information exchange between BIM and building energy performance simulation
    The process of preparing building energy performance simulation (BEPS) models involves repetitive manual operations that often lead to data losses and errors. As a result, BEPS model inputs can vary widely from this time consuming, non-standardised and subjective process. This paper proposes a standardised method of information exchange between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and BEPS tools using the Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and Model View Definition (MVD) methodologies. The methodology leverages a collection of use cases to initiate the identification of exchange requirements needed by BEPS tools. The IDM/MVD framework captures and translates exchange requirements into the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) schema. The suggested approach aims to facilitate the transfer of information from IFC based BIM to either conventional or advanced BEPS tools (e.g. EnergyPlus and Modelica) through the development of a specific MVD that defines a subset of the IFC data model that deals with building energy performance simulation. By doing so, the potential of BIM-based simulation can be fully unlocked, and a reliable and consistent IFC subset is provided as an input for energy simulation software.
      1928Scopus© Citations 98
  • Publication
    Realizing openBIM: Development of a BIM Model View Definition for Advanced Building Energy Performance Simulation
    OpenBIM, by definition, uses open data models to allow collaborative work practices. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is an open source data model for sharing planning, design, construction, and facility management data across various applications used in the AECOO industry. IFC is therefore suitable for storing significant volumes of data required for advanced Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS). This comprehensive nature of the data model makes IFC the key technology for storage and distribution of data but requires extensive infrastructure for data management. The use of Model View Definition (MVD) methodology refines data management by enabling lean data management through process specific subsets of the IFC data model. This paper describes the development of an MVD for advanced BEPS.
      340