Abstract:
This paper presents a thermal simulation validation study of the typical precision that a trained thermal
simulation engineer can expect to obtain for the simulation of a room connected to a naturally ventilated
double skin facade. The open source building thermal simulation tool EnergyPlus is used to predict air
and surface temperatures in a free running weather exposed test cell. The validation approach used does
not allow for fine tuning the simulation model by trial and error and includes a sensitivity analysis on
the impact of different simulation options such as: number of thermal zones, ground heat transfer and
accuracy of solar radiation data. The analysis of the results is consistent with the engineering application
goal by focusing on standard indicators: average error, bias and difference between predicted and measured
daily maximums. The results show good agreement between simulation and experiment, with an
average simulation error in air and radiant temperature of1.4"C and an average daily maximum error of
2.5oC,