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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Level of detail (LoD) is an important factor in urban building energy modelling (UBEM), affecting functionality and accuracy. This work assesses the impacts of the LoD of the roof, window, and zoning on a comprehensive range of outcomes (annual heating load, peak heating demand, overheating, and time-series heating error) in a representative New Zealand house. Lower-LoD roof scenarios produce mean absolute error results ranging from 1.5% for peak heating power to 99% for overheating. Windows and shading both affect solar gains, so lower-LoD windows and/or shading elements can considerably reduce model accuracy. The LoD of internal zoning has the greatest effect on time-series accuracy, producing mean absolute heating error of up to 66 W. These results indicate that low-LoD “shoebox” models, common in UBEM, can produce significant errors which aggregate at scale. Accurate internal zoning models and accurate window size and placement have the greatest potential for error reduction, but their implementation is limited at scale due to data availability and automation barriers. Conversely, modest error reductions can be obtained via simple model improvements, such as the inclusion of eaves and window border shading. Overall, modellers should select LoD elements according to specific accuracy requirements.

Details

Title
The Impact of Building Level of Detail Modelling Strategies: Insights into Building and Urban Energy Modelling
Author
Bishop, Daniel 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Mohkam, Mahdi 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Williams, Baxter L M 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wu, Wentao 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bellamy, Larry 1 

 Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand; [email protected] (M.M.); [email protected] (W.W.); 
 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand; [email protected] 
First page
2280
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
26734117
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3110454874
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.