INTEGRATION OF CAAD, THERMAL BUILDING SIMULATION AND CFD BY USING THE IFC DATA EXCHANGE FORMAT

This paper describes the results of a German research project, where a CAAD-program (Computer Architectural Aided Design) was integrated with two energetic building simulation programs to a software package for calculating and optimising the energy demand of CAAD-constructed buildings. The used key technology to transfer the huge number of geometrical, topological and physical building parameters was the IFC data exchange format. For realising the project task, the CAAD-program was extended for the use with energetic building simulation and the building simulation tools were coupled. Furthermore a simulation user interface was implemented to improve the usability of such complex simulation tools. Different possibilities of a graphical and statistical postprocessing allow the user a better understanding of the simulation results. The software package was used sucessfully to analyse some testcases of 3D digital building constructions.