ALMABEST: a new whole building energy simulation Simulink-based tool for NZEB design

In this Thesis the new tool ALMABEST for the dynamic energy simulation of the whole building coupled to HVAC systems is presented. This tool, developed in the Matlab environment, consists of two libraries, ALMABuild and ALMAHVAC, dedicated to the building and HVAC system modelling respectively; this Thesis is focused in particular on ALMABuild. In the first part of this Thesis, the description of ALMABuild, which consists of a Simulink library and a set of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), is presented. It is emphasized how the use of these GUIs allows to overcome the drawback of other Simulink-based tools in terms of introduction of building data and of implementation of the model in the Simulink desktop. The benchmark of ALMABuild has been performed following the BESTEST procedure. In the second part of this work, applications of the ALMABEST tool are illustrated with the aim to highlight the main features of this tool. In particular, the detailed evaluation of the spatial distribution of radiative, indoor air and operative temperature obtained by means of ALMABEST has been used in order to compare the indoor local comfort conditions obtained by six different emitters. Furthermore, the impact of the temperature sensor position in a room on the local indoor comfort conditions and on the dynamic response of the emitters has been analysed. The coupling of the Matlab Optimization Toolbox with ALMABuild is illustrated by means of a series of single and multi-objective optimizations in which the total annual energy demand is minimized by modifying a series of specific building parameters. Finally, the impact of occupant interactions with windows on comfort and heating energy consumptions is analysed. Results emphasize how the presence of occupants and their active behaviour cannot be ignored if an accurate and realistic evaluation of the building performance have to be obtained.