Computer Simulation of Buildings and Solar Energy Systems
- 1st Edition - January 1, 2027
- Latest edition
- Author: Juergen Schumacher
- Editor: Ursula Eicker
- Language: English
Computer Simulation of Buildings and Solar Energy Systems aims to bridge the gap between the basic concepts and theoretical aspects of solar technology and their practical applic… Read more
Description
Description
Computer Simulation of Buildings and Solar Energy Systems aims to bridge the gap between the basic concepts and theoretical aspects of solar technology and their practical applications, enabling readers to simulate solar energy systems, solar thermal energy, and thermal performance of buildings. Acknowledging the critical need for robust, scalable simulation tools that can adapt to varied climates, helping professionals and students overcome challenges related to energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, and the optimization of renewable resources, the book covers the fundamentals and latest advances in simulation techniques and tools that are crucial to accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
This is all supported by case studies, example code, equations, datasets, and extensive visuals such as process diagrams, flowcharts, and photos. This book will be a valuable resource to readers at various levels, from practitioners looking to enhance their technical skills in renewable energy and building simulation to academic researchers exploring innovative simulation methodologies. In addition, students looking to understand simulation techniques in this complex, multidisciplinary area will find this an important resource.
This is all supported by case studies, example code, equations, datasets, and extensive visuals such as process diagrams, flowcharts, and photos. This book will be a valuable resource to readers at various levels, from practitioners looking to enhance their technical skills in renewable energy and building simulation to academic researchers exploring innovative simulation methodologies. In addition, students looking to understand simulation techniques in this complex, multidisciplinary area will find this an important resource.
Key features
Key features
- Introduces mathematical concepts, numerical methods, programming languages, and energy meteorology
- Explores simulation tools tailored for specific key applications, such as solar irradiance analysis and thermal modeling for buildings
- Includes several case studies that demonstrate successful implementation in various contexts that are all supported by performance data
- Addresses this multidisciplinary area by integrating computer simulation, renewable energy engineering, environmental science, and urban planning
Readership
Readership
Researchers, students, and faculty with an interest in computer simulation, solar energy, renewable energy, energy systems engineering, environmental science, and sustainable technology
Table of contents
Table of contents
Prolog
Preface
Introduction
1 Mathematical concepts and numerical methods
1.1 Mathematical concepts
1.2 Discrete mathematics
1.2.1 Sets
1.2.2 Logic
1.3 Linear Algebra
1.3.1 Linear equation systems
1.3.2 Rotation matrices
1.4 Analysis
1.4.1 Functions
1.4.2 Polynomials
1.4.3 Differential equations
1.4.4 Integral transforms
1.5 Numerical methods
1.6 Numerical differentiation
1.7 Numerical integration
2 History of Computing, Programming and Simulation Languages
2.1 First Computers
2.1.1 What is a Turing Machine?
2.2 Data types
2.2.1 Encodings
2.2.2 Files and file systems
2.2.3 Pseudo code
2.2.4 FORTRAN
2.3 Simulation languages
2.3.1 MATLAB
2.3.2 Modelica
3 Software Architecture1
3.1 Clean architecture and the SOLID principles
3.1.1 Monolithic and microservices architectures
4 Simulation Techniques
4.1 Diagrams, pseudo code, and modeling languages
4.1.1 Continuous diagrams
4.1.2 Block diagrams
4.1.3 Bond graphs
4.1.4 Network analysis
4.1.5 Non-linear networks
4.2 The simulation environment INSEL
4.3 Résumé
5 Energy Meteorology
5.1 The Sun
5.2 The Earth
5.2.1 Earth’s magnetic field
5.2.2 Geographic coordinate systems
5.3 The Moon
5.3.1 Selenographic coordinates
5.4 Electromagnetic radiation
5.4.1 Electromagnetic spectrum
5.4.2 Radiation sources, sinks and their units
5.4.3 Photon modes 167
5.4.4 Bose statistics of photons
5.4.5 Radiation laws
5.4.6 Stefan Boltzmann equation
5.4.7 The visible part of the spectrum
5.4.8 Radiometry and Photometry
5.5 Solar geometry
5.5.1 The Earth’s path around the Sun
5.5.2 Extraterrestrial radiation
5.5.3 Coordinate systems
5.5.4 Incidence angle
5.5.5 Calculation of the Sun’s position
5.6 Terrestrial radiation
5.6.1 Sky models
5.6.2 Diffuse radiation
5.6.3 Conversion of radiation data
5.7 Meteorological data sources
5.7.1 Typical meteorological years
5.7.2 Design reference years
5.8 Generation of meteorological time series
5.8.1 Rough models
5.8.2 Gordon Reddy model
5.8.3 Aguiar Collares-Pereira model
5.8.4 Ambient temperature
5.8.5 Physical and climatological basics
5.8.6 Calculation of monthly mean values of hourly ambient temperature
5.8.7 Construction of hourly ambient temperature sequences
5.8.8 Literature review
5.8.9 Synthesis of hourly ambient temperature
5.8.10 Comparison of synthetic and real time series
5.8.11 Summary
5.8.12 Sky temperature
5.8.13 Soil temperature
6 Solar electricity
6.1 Basic semiconductor physics
6.1.1 Schrödinger postulates
6.1.2 The potential-well or particle-in-a-box problem
6.1.3 Band gap
6.1.4 Energy bands and charge carriers
6.2 Crystalline Silicon
6.2.1 Intrinsic silicon
6.2.2 Doping
6.2.3 p-n junction
6.2.4 Photon absorption
6.2.5 Recombination
6.2.6 Ohmic losses
6.2.7 Two diode model
6.2.8 Reverse bias
6.3 Thin-film solar cells
6.3.1 Amorphous silicon solar cells
6.3.2 Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells
6.3.3 Micromorphous silicon solar cells
6.4 Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems
6.5 Thermoelectric generators
6.6 c-Si solar cells in practice
6.6.1 Parameter identification
6.6.2 Module temperature model
7 Thermodynamics
7.1 Thermodynamics
7.1.1 Intensive and extensive properties
7.1.2 The ideal gas
7.1.3 Carnot cycle
7.1.4 Refrigerants
7.1.5 Humid air
7.1.6 Sorption materials
7.1.7 Lithium bromide–water solutions
7.2 Heat transfer mechanisms
7.2.1 Conductive heat transfer
7.2.2 Convective heat transfer
7.2.3 Radiative heat transfer
7.2.4 Kirchhoff’s law
7.3 Heat exchangers
7.3.1 Parallel-flow heat exchangers
7.3.2 Counterflow heat exchangers
7.3.3 Cross flow plate heat exchangers
7.3.4 Boilers and condensers
7.4 Compressors
7.5 Geometrical optics
8 Solar Collectors
8.0.1 Flate-plate solar collectors
8.1 Thermal storages
8.1.1 Sensible heat storages
8.2 Solar cooling systems
8.2.1 Air conditioning
8.2.2 The wet product
8.2.3 Drying
9 Building and city simulation
9.1 Building simulation approaches
9.1.1 Transfer function method
9.1.2 Finite difference schemes
9.1.3 Equivalent models
9.1.4 Energy balance models
9.1.5 Inverse modeling
9.2 Short survey on existing building simulation tools
9.3 INSEL Building Simulation Blockset
9.4 Validation of building energy simulation tools
9.4.1 The TRNSYS Restaurant
9.4.2 VDI 6020
9.4.3 ASHRAE Standard 140
9.4.4 IEA EBC Annex 58 – Subtask 4
9.5 Urban simulation
9.5.1 Photogrammetry and data acquisition
9.5.2 XML Coordinate Reference System (CRS)
9.5.3 The CityGML Database 3D City DB
9.6 Building Physics Libraries
9.6.1 IWU building typology
9.6.2 Berkley Lab WINDOW
9.7 SimStadt
9.7.1 Region Chooser
9.7.2 CityDoctor
9.7.3 Software architecture
9.7.4 Monthly Heat Demand Analysis workflow
9.8 Case studies in New York City
9.8.1 Modeling five New York City Buildings
9.9 Tools4Cities
9.9.1 Background
9.9.2 Software architecture of Tools4Cities
9.9.3 Workflows
9.9.4 Modelling tools and simulation engines
9.9.5 Retrofitting workflow
9.9.6 Visualization of outputs
9.9.7 Case studies and results
9.10 An INSEL4D roadmap
9.10.1 Models versus templates
9.10.2 Lessons from SimStadt
9.10.3 What do we want with INSEL4D?
9.10.4 Block ideas for INSEL4D
9.10.5 Ten points on software architecture
9.10.6 If you want to join in
A Appendix
A.1 Physical constants
A.2 Periodic table of the elements
A.2.1 Periodic table layout
A.3 Greek alphabet
A.4 SI prefixes
A.5 ASCII table
Preface
Introduction
1 Mathematical concepts and numerical methods
1.1 Mathematical concepts
1.2 Discrete mathematics
1.2.1 Sets
1.2.2 Logic
1.3 Linear Algebra
1.3.1 Linear equation systems
1.3.2 Rotation matrices
1.4 Analysis
1.4.1 Functions
1.4.2 Polynomials
1.4.3 Differential equations
1.4.4 Integral transforms
1.5 Numerical methods
1.6 Numerical differentiation
1.7 Numerical integration
2 History of Computing, Programming and Simulation Languages
2.1 First Computers
2.1.1 What is a Turing Machine?
2.2 Data types
2.2.1 Encodings
2.2.2 Files and file systems
2.2.3 Pseudo code
2.2.4 FORTRAN
2.3 Simulation languages
2.3.1 MATLAB
2.3.2 Modelica
3 Software Architecture1
3.1 Clean architecture and the SOLID principles
3.1.1 Monolithic and microservices architectures
4 Simulation Techniques
4.1 Diagrams, pseudo code, and modeling languages
4.1.1 Continuous diagrams
4.1.2 Block diagrams
4.1.3 Bond graphs
4.1.4 Network analysis
4.1.5 Non-linear networks
4.2 The simulation environment INSEL
4.3 Résumé
5 Energy Meteorology
5.1 The Sun
5.2 The Earth
5.2.1 Earth’s magnetic field
5.2.2 Geographic coordinate systems
5.3 The Moon
5.3.1 Selenographic coordinates
5.4 Electromagnetic radiation
5.4.1 Electromagnetic spectrum
5.4.2 Radiation sources, sinks and their units
5.4.3 Photon modes 167
5.4.4 Bose statistics of photons
5.4.5 Radiation laws
5.4.6 Stefan Boltzmann equation
5.4.7 The visible part of the spectrum
5.4.8 Radiometry and Photometry
5.5 Solar geometry
5.5.1 The Earth’s path around the Sun
5.5.2 Extraterrestrial radiation
5.5.3 Coordinate systems
5.5.4 Incidence angle
5.5.5 Calculation of the Sun’s position
5.6 Terrestrial radiation
5.6.1 Sky models
5.6.2 Diffuse radiation
5.6.3 Conversion of radiation data
5.7 Meteorological data sources
5.7.1 Typical meteorological years
5.7.2 Design reference years
5.8 Generation of meteorological time series
5.8.1 Rough models
5.8.2 Gordon Reddy model
5.8.3 Aguiar Collares-Pereira model
5.8.4 Ambient temperature
5.8.5 Physical and climatological basics
5.8.6 Calculation of monthly mean values of hourly ambient temperature
5.8.7 Construction of hourly ambient temperature sequences
5.8.8 Literature review
5.8.9 Synthesis of hourly ambient temperature
5.8.10 Comparison of synthetic and real time series
5.8.11 Summary
5.8.12 Sky temperature
5.8.13 Soil temperature
6 Solar electricity
6.1 Basic semiconductor physics
6.1.1 Schrödinger postulates
6.1.2 The potential-well or particle-in-a-box problem
6.1.3 Band gap
6.1.4 Energy bands and charge carriers
6.2 Crystalline Silicon
6.2.1 Intrinsic silicon
6.2.2 Doping
6.2.3 p-n junction
6.2.4 Photon absorption
6.2.5 Recombination
6.2.6 Ohmic losses
6.2.7 Two diode model
6.2.8 Reverse bias
6.3 Thin-film solar cells
6.3.1 Amorphous silicon solar cells
6.3.2 Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells
6.3.3 Micromorphous silicon solar cells
6.4 Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems
6.5 Thermoelectric generators
6.6 c-Si solar cells in practice
6.6.1 Parameter identification
6.6.2 Module temperature model
7 Thermodynamics
7.1 Thermodynamics
7.1.1 Intensive and extensive properties
7.1.2 The ideal gas
7.1.3 Carnot cycle
7.1.4 Refrigerants
7.1.5 Humid air
7.1.6 Sorption materials
7.1.7 Lithium bromide–water solutions
7.2 Heat transfer mechanisms
7.2.1 Conductive heat transfer
7.2.2 Convective heat transfer
7.2.3 Radiative heat transfer
7.2.4 Kirchhoff’s law
7.3 Heat exchangers
7.3.1 Parallel-flow heat exchangers
7.3.2 Counterflow heat exchangers
7.3.3 Cross flow plate heat exchangers
7.3.4 Boilers and condensers
7.4 Compressors
7.5 Geometrical optics
8 Solar Collectors
8.0.1 Flate-plate solar collectors
8.1 Thermal storages
8.1.1 Sensible heat storages
8.2 Solar cooling systems
8.2.1 Air conditioning
8.2.2 The wet product
8.2.3 Drying
9 Building and city simulation
9.1 Building simulation approaches
9.1.1 Transfer function method
9.1.2 Finite difference schemes
9.1.3 Equivalent models
9.1.4 Energy balance models
9.1.5 Inverse modeling
9.2 Short survey on existing building simulation tools
9.3 INSEL Building Simulation Blockset
9.4 Validation of building energy simulation tools
9.4.1 The TRNSYS Restaurant
9.4.2 VDI 6020
9.4.3 ASHRAE Standard 140
9.4.4 IEA EBC Annex 58 – Subtask 4
9.5 Urban simulation
9.5.1 Photogrammetry and data acquisition
9.5.2 XML Coordinate Reference System (CRS)
9.5.3 The CityGML Database 3D City DB
9.6 Building Physics Libraries
9.6.1 IWU building typology
9.6.2 Berkley Lab WINDOW
9.7 SimStadt
9.7.1 Region Chooser
9.7.2 CityDoctor
9.7.3 Software architecture
9.7.4 Monthly Heat Demand Analysis workflow
9.8 Case studies in New York City
9.8.1 Modeling five New York City Buildings
9.9 Tools4Cities
9.9.1 Background
9.9.2 Software architecture of Tools4Cities
9.9.3 Workflows
9.9.4 Modelling tools and simulation engines
9.9.5 Retrofitting workflow
9.9.6 Visualization of outputs
9.9.7 Case studies and results
9.10 An INSEL4D roadmap
9.10.1 Models versus templates
9.10.2 Lessons from SimStadt
9.10.3 What do we want with INSEL4D?
9.10.4 Block ideas for INSEL4D
9.10.5 Ten points on software architecture
9.10.6 If you want to join in
A Appendix
A.1 Physical constants
A.2 Periodic table of the elements
A.2.1 Periodic table layout
A.3 Greek alphabet
A.4 SI prefixes
A.5 ASCII table
Product details
Product details
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: January 1, 2027
- Language: English
About the editor
About the editor
UE
Ursula Eicker
Ursula Eicker holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities and Communities, at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. With a PhD in solid state physics, her work has expanded from the fundamentals of photovoltaics to building physics and renewable energy systems to today’s research on decarbonization of cities. Her research focuses on digital twins to model the urban built environment and transportation systems.
Affiliations and expertise
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities and Communities, Concordia University, Montreal, CanadaAbout the author
About the author
JS
Juergen Schumacher
Juergen Schumacher (1952-2020) was a mathematician with a PhD in physics from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, who spent his life developing software tools for renewable energy simulation. With a keen sense of detail, he researched the background of simulation algorithms widely used in the energy community and provided full derivations of many formulas around solar irradiance, the physics of photovoltaic cells, building simulation and other domains. Dr. Schumacher managed the research center for renewable energy technologies at HFT Stuttgart before moving to Concordia University in Montreal as a senior scientist for urban scale simulations.
Affiliations and expertise
Senior scientist for urban scale simulations, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada