Calibration of building model based on indoor temperature for overheating  assessment using genetic algorithm: Methodology, evaluation criteria, and  case study

Mutasim Baba, Fuad; Ge, Hua; Zmeureanu, Radu; (Leon) Wang, Liangzhu

Calibration of building model based on indoor temperature for overheating assessment using genetic algorithm: Methodology, evaluation criteria, and case study

Date

2022

Authors

Mutasim Baba, Fuad

Ge, Hua

Zmeureanu, Radu

(Leon) Wang, Liangzhu

Publisher

Building and Environment 207 (2022) 108518

Abstract

With the increased severity, intensity, and frequency of “heatwaves” due to climate change, it has become imperative to study the overheating risks in existing buildings. To do so, a building simulation model needs to be calibrated based on measured indoor temperatures under the current weather conditions. This paper presents a robust automated methodology that can calibrate a building simulation model based on the indoor hourly temperature in multiple rooms simultaneously with high accuracy. This methodology includes a variance-based sensitivity analysis to determine building parameters that significantly influence indoor air temperatures, the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm to calibrate different rooms simultaneously based on the significant param eters identified by the sensitivity analysis, and new evaluation criteria to achieve a high-accuracy calibrated model. Maximum Absolute Difference (MAD), a new metric, that calculates the maximum absolute difference between simulated and measured hourly indoor temperatures, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Normalized Mean Bias Error (NMBE) were used as the evaluation criteria. Another new metric is introduced, 1 ◦C Percentage Error criterion that calculates the percentage of the number of hours with an error over 1 ◦C during the cali bration period, to select the best solutions from the Pareto Front solutions. 0.5 ◦C Percentage Error criterion is also used for the level of accuracy the model can achieve. It was found that the calibrated model achieved these metrics with RMSE of 0.3 ◦C, and MAD of 0.8 ◦C, and 85% of data points with an error less than 0.5 ◦C for a school building case.

Keywords

Multi-objective genetic algorithm Model calibration Indoor temperature Global sensitivity analysis Whole-building simulation

Citation

Baba, F.M. et al. (2022) “Calibration of building model based on indoor temperature for overheating assessment using genetic algorithm: Methodology, evaluation criteria, and case study,” Building and Environment, 207.