Hybrid Model of Existing Buildings for Transient Thermal Performance Estimation

Building level energy models are important to provide accurate prediction of energy consumption for building performance diagnosis and energy efficiency assessment of retrofitting alternatives for building performance upgrading. Simplified but physically meaningful models for existing buildings are preferable for practical applications. In this study, a hybrid building model is developed to describe building system for thermal performance prediction at building level. The model includes two parts. One part is the detailed physical models, which are the CTF models of building envelopes based on the easily available coincident detailed physical properties. The other part is the simplified 2R2C model for building internal mass, whose parameters are estimated and optimized using short-term monitored operation data. A genetic algorithm estimator is developed to optimize these parameters. The parameter optimization of the simplified model and the hybrid building model are validated in a high-rise commercial office building under various weather conditions.