Building Physics Test Cases

The diagram on this page illustrates the building physics test cases in BESTEST-EX. In these cases, the model inputs that describe the house are fixed by the test specification. The energy usage for the base case and energy savings for a number of retrofit measures are then compared to NREL predictions using state-of-the-art building energy simulation programs.

This diagram provides an overview of the BESTEST-EX physics case process. On the left side of the diagram is a box labeled "BESTEST-EX Document" with a list that contains two bulleted items. The first bullet reads "Defines a representative existing home and several retrofit measures." The second bullet reads "Provides inputs necessary to model existing homes and retrofits." Underneath this list is an image of a house and to the right of this is a listing of measures: R-wall=5.1; ELA=196 in2 ; Tsat=68°F, etc. Underneath this grouping is another bullet that reads "Presents average retrofit energy savings predictions using state-of-the-art detailed simulation programs (EnergyPlus, DOE2.1E, SUNREL). Below this bullet is a bar graph showing energy savings on the y axis and retrofit measure on the x axis. An arrow labeled "Results" points horizontally to the results box on the right. From the top half of this first box, an arrow that is labeled "Inputs" points horizontally to the right to another smaller box that is labeled "Audit Software Provider." Underneath this heading are two bullets: one reads "Creates model of existing home using inputs from test," and the next one reads "Predicts retrofit energy savings." Underneath these bullets is an image of a house; to the right of the house is a bar graph showing energy savings on the y axis and retrofit measure on the x axis. From this box an arrow labeled "Results" points directly down to another box showing a bar graph comparing the simulation results of a number of retrofit measures with the reference results. The energy savings is on the y axis and the retrofit measure is on the x axis.

Back to BESTEST-EX Web page.

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