Optimization-based Calibration for Dynamic Building Simulation Models : a Case Study

This study presents an original methodology for calibrating building energy models based on monitored data. An optimization-based approach was applied to a monitored test building coupling the building simulation program EnergyPlus with the optimization software GenOpt. An objective function was set to minimize the difference between the simulated and the monitored energy consumption at the hour time scale, varying the building model parameters selected at the beginning as the most influencing. After calibration, the observed heating energy consumption of the case study matched closely the monitored data, the model accuracy was verified according to the MBE and the Cv(RMSE) limit set by the ASHRAE guideline 14.