Numerical simulation of building performance under different low energy cooling technologies

Numerical simulation on building performance under different low energy cooling technologies are carried out in order tor educe the energy consumption and peak demand associated with the building cooling. The simulation is based on a heat and mass balance principle and verified by measured data. In simulation, the building zones, air-handling systems, central chiller plant and other equipments are integrated in the heat balance equations sequentiallyand the Euler formula is employed to solve and complete the numerical calculation. Various measures such as focusing on chilled ceiling, pre-cooling of building thermal mass and economisersystems are taken into account to evaluate the energy consumption, the indoor environment and greenhouse emission by office buildings in a subtropical climate - Central Queensland, Australia. Chilled ceiling, a radiant cooling system, is modeled using time series solution by extending the conduction transfer function method. Aspecific on-off control strategy is used to model pre-cooling and economizer system in the building simulation. The results indicate that low energy cooling techniques save operating energy in subtropical climates and also provide better thermal comfort for building occupants.