(a) Describe briefly the objectives of the study and how the system operates.

The component
Proforma files and descriptions will provide useful information for reference.
This simulation model is used to predict the thermal behavior of a building based on a set
of one-week winter weather data for Boulder, Colorado (from 8th Jan to 14th Jan). By law of
conservation of energy, energy stored in a building is equivalent to a subtraction of energy
leaving out the building from energy generated inside the building. Normally, heat can be gained
from absorbed solar radiation, auxiliary heater, occupancy of people, equipment in the building,
glazing, and other sources. At the same time, heat can be removed by utilizing to change in the
temperature of ventilation and infiltration air, or some cooling devices. A similar analogy can be
made as an electrical system to simulate a heat gain and heat loss model of a building. Heat
flowing from a wall to the ambient air outside the building can be interpreted as heat being
transferred across a resistor, whereas heat stored in a building can be treated as a capacitor
storing up heat energy. With this simulation, numerical values of heat gain or heat loss can be
calculated, and graphical plots can be drawn to depict relationships among thermal parameters.
By knowing the thermal behavior of a building, it is easier for us to tailor-made a better cooling
or heating system and a better ventilation system for the building in regard to energy saving,
system performance, and cost.
As for system operation, a set of weather data (weather_T9 component) is fed to four
different components, including a thermal storage wall (stor. Wall_T36d), a solar radiation
processor (radiation_T16a), a psychrometric chart (psychrometrics_T33f) and a building
(Building). The solar radiation processor and psychrometic chart are based upon what weather
data is given. For instance, given the time range of data recorded on the strength of radiation on
horizontal from the weather component, the radiation component will generate out sets of

incident solar radiation values of 4 walls and a roof, for the building component in which loading
is calculated. Similarly, with the knowns of dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature in the
weather data, the psychrometic chart can provide the value of humidity ratio for the building
component as a further loading calculation.
As for the thermal storage wall, it is a high capacitance solar collector directly coupled to
a room. Heat can be either conductively transmitted through walls/a roof to the room or
convectively slipped in a gap from a hot outer wall surface to the room. Heat can also be lost via
conduction, radiation, convection to the outside through glazing covers. This storage wall
component can help figure out the values of different kinds of heat transfers. Some of the outputs
from this component can be directly plotted out via the online graphical plotter (online_T65).
Some is fed to a quantity integrator (integrator _T24) for data integration over a specified period
of time. Some goes through the equation component (Equa) for a basic unit conversion (from kJ
to J). Some is directly linked to a printer (plot_T25b-2) to list out a set of data points over a
specified time interval. Some is fed to the building component to form a closed loop; meanwhile,
the building component passes information of the room back.
After done unit conversions in the equation component, data will go to the online
graphical plotter, printer or integrator. The quantity integrator (integrator_T24) integrates power
inputs (in a unit of kJ) over time, so that the values of energy are obtained (in a unit of kW).
Printer (summary_T25b) will tabulate all the heat transfer values, including one input data from
the building component, to an output file. Plot_T25b-2 component serves the same purpose as
(summary_T25b) besides presentation on different values. The online graphical plotter
(online_T65) will generate plots according to input data from the plot_T25b-2 component.

(b) Identify all the input and output parameters for each component by following all the links
connected with a particular component. Tabulate the results for all components directly linked to
a particular component.
Total Number
Component

Total Number
Input

of Inputs

1.

weather_T9

Linked Components
Output

of Outputs

N/A

for Output
output-4

stor. Wall_T36d

output-5

radiation_T16a

output-6

psychrometrics_T33f

output-7

building

output-99
output-100

radiation on horizontal

total radiation on surface 1

building

time of last data read

total radiation on surface 2

integrator_T24

time of next data read

beam radiation on surface 2

stor. wall_T36d

total radiation on surface 3

2.

radiation_T16a

8
total radiation on surface 4
total radiation on surface 5
Beam radiation on surface 1
Incidence angle for surface 1

dry bulb temp

psychrometrics_
3.

2
T33f

humidity ratio
1

wet bulb temp

building

Total Number
Component

Total Number
Input

of Inputs

Linked Components
Output

of Outputs

for Output

CondWall-7->Heat transfer

ERZone-> Zone

rate at inner surface

temperature

stor. wall_T36d

A Wall-1S-> Incident solar

ERZone-> Sensible load

Equa

radiation
A Wall-2E-> Incident solar

ERZone-> Zone

radiation

temperature

summary_T25b

A Wall-3N-> Incident solar

radiation
A Wall-4W-> Incident solar
radiation
4.

building

11

3
Aroof-6-> Incident radiation
19Wind2-8->Incident solar
radiation
19Wind2-8->Incident beam
radiation
ERZone-> Ambient humidity
ratio
ERZone-> Ambient
temperature
ERZone-> Wind speed

Total Number
Component

Total Number
Input

of Inputs
6

Linked Components
Output

of Outputs

for Output

ambient temperature

energy flow to room

building

wind speed

Temperature of wall node-1

Equa

total radiation

Temperature of wall node-5

plot_T25b-2

beam radiation

internal energy change rate

integrator_T24

solar absorption rate

online_T65

stor.
5.

incidence angle

wall_T36d
room temperature

wall to room heat transfer

glazing to ambient heat
transfer
ventilation energy flow

input to be integrated-1

result of integration-1

input to be integrated-2

result of integration-2

input to be integrated-3

result of integration-3

input to be integrated-4
6.

7.

integrator_T24

Equa

summary_T25b

result of integration-4
8

input to be integrated-5

result of integration-5

input to be integrated-6

result of integration-6

input to be integrated-7

result of integration-7

input to be integrated-8

result of integration-8

input1

QWALL

plot_T25b-2

QAUX1

integrator_T24

QAUX

online_T65

input2

Total Number
Component

Total Number
Input

of Inputs

Linked Components
Output

of Outputs

for Output

input to be printed-1 (QUTSID)

input to be printed-2 (INSIDE)
8.

plot_T25b-2

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

input to be printed-3 (QWALL)

input to be printed-4 (QAUX)

input to be printed-1 (QWALL)

input to be printed-2 (QAUX)
input to be printed-3 (QSINC)
input to be printed-4 (QSAB)
summary_T2
9.

input to be printed-5 (QWCND)

5b
input to be printed-6 (QWVNT)
input to be printed-7 (QWLOS)
input to be printed-8 (DELENG)
input to be printed-9 (TROOM)

Right axis variable-1 (QWALL)

Right axis variable-2 (QAUX)
10.

online_T65

4
Left axis variable-1 (OUTSID)
Left axis variable-2 (INSIDE)

(c) Perform simulation run and plot all output results

Figure 1. Based on the data from plot_T25b-2 component and stor.wall_T36d component, the
online graphical plotter (online_T65) shows change in surface temperature of wall from the
inside and outside and heat energy being transferred from wall and auxiliary heater to zone (a
room) over a period of time.
-Red line shows outside surface temperature change of wall
-Blue line shows inside surface temperature change of wall
-Pink line shows heat transfer from wall to zone
-Orange line shows heat transfer from auxiliary heater to zone
Moreover, in the summary_T25b component which tabulates out different heat transfer
outputs and room temperature values over a period of time in a text file, a graphical plot can be
made from excel.

TIME

QWALL

QAUX

QSINC

QSAB

QWCND

QWVNT

QWLOS

DELENG

TROOM

[HR]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[kJ]

[C]

2.40E+01

5.38E+03

7.35E+04

5.30E+03

4.53E+04

4.13E+03

1.25E+03

4.65E+04

-6.56E+03

1.80E+01

4.80E+01

5.23E+03

3.05E+05

1.11E+04

9.48E+04

3.26E+03

1.97E+03

9.73E+04

-7.75E+03

1.80E+01

7.20E+01

6.51E+04

5.50E+05

3.13E+04

2.73E+05

4.06E+04

2.45E+04

1.71E+05

3.76E+04

1.80E+01

9.60E+01

7.66E+04

8.56E+05

3.18E+04

2.77E+05

5.20E+04

2.46E+04

2.26E+05

-2.53E+04

1.80E+01

1.20E+02

4.81E+04

1.26E+06

3.41E+04

2.96E+05

2.35E+04

2.46E+04

2.77E+05

-2.95E+04

1.80E+01

1.44E+02

8.31E+04

1.60E+06

5.17E+04

4.51E+05

4.08E+04

4.23E+04

3.40E+05

2.82E+04

1.80E+01

1.68E+02

1.70E+05

1.83E+06

7.09E+04

6.20E+05

1.02E+05

6.78E+04

4.12E+05

3.81E+04

1.80E+01

Different Heat transfers Occurring in a Building at a Constant Room Temperature

over a Period of Time

Heat Transfer [kJ] or Temperatture [C]

1.80E+06
QWALL [kJ]
QAUX [kJ]

1.30E+06

QSINC [kJ]
QSAB [kJ]
QWCND [kJ]

8.00E+05

QWVNT [kJ]
QWLOS [kJ]
DELENG [kJ]

3.00E+05

TROOM [C]

-2.00E+05

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Time[HR]

Figure 2. This graph obtained from Excel indicates different heat transfers occurring in a building over
a period of time while room temperature remains constant.

(d) Change the component order for Order No. 4 and Order No. 5 by bringing up the Control Cards.
Perform the simulation run again and explain the observed results.

Figure 3. Screen capture after swapping the order between 4&5.

If we swap the original order of 4 (stor.wall_T36d) and 5 (ERZone) and then run the simulation, there
will be an error and graphs cannot be plotted. It is because in this simulation we adopt the successive
substitution method. When the program runs and begins to do calculations by iterations with assumed
values, due to an improper choice of order of the algorithm with the swapping, this method does not
lead to converge but diverge. The program perceives this divergence as an error. In other words, when
an assumption is made wrongly, this method goes to diverge from a root, so none of the answers can be
found.