Nk. Bansal et Ms. Bhandari, COMPARISON OF THE PERIODIC-SOLUTION METHOD WITH TRNSYS AND SUNCODE FOR THERMAL BUILDING SIMULATION, Solar energy, 57(1), 1996, pp. 9-18
Based on periodic solutions of the governing heat conduction equations
in a single zone building, computer software ADMIT has been developed
for thermal simulation of buildings. Standard computer software, name
ly TRNSYS and SUNCODE, have also been used to simulate the same buildi
ng under similar conditions. Simulations have been performed for three
different climatic zones in India for light and heavy constructions u
nder conditions of glazed/unglazed areas and ventilation rates. The re
sults are presented in terms of the hourly variation of the room tempe
rature. For insulated heavy construction, the results of different mod
els are significantly different. This difference is due to the use of
different approaches to solve the heat conduction equations. SUNCODE d
epends on the RC network approach and underestimates the heat losses.
TRNSYS uses the transfer function approach, which is sensitive to the
initially assumed value of the room temperature. ADMIT represents a qu
asi-steady-state periodic variation and is not suitable for transient
variations. For insulated light buildings, the heat transfer mechanism
s used in the mathematical models are not the governing factors. The m
odels also differ in treating the penetration of solar radiation throu
gh a glazed window and the subsequent heat-transfer mechanism. For a s
outh window and air changes in an insulated building, the results obta
ined by SUNCODE and ADMIT are in good agreement, but the results obtai
ned by TRNSYS are considerably different. The reason for this needs de
tailed analysis. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.