Thermal analysis of buildings in a mathematical programming environment and applications

An approach for computer-aided thermal analysis of buildings in a high level mathematical programming environment is presented with typical applications. It is based on a set of independent files organized through a hypertext system as an electronic book in a mathematical programming environment. Each file (section), which covers a specific topic such as psychrometric calculations or heating load estimation, integrates live equations (the program), explanatory text and figures, as well as graphs linked dynamically to equations and data. Both equations and input data can be readily changed and the results are instantly updated within the same document, thus providing unique educational and research capabilities. Three applications are presented: analysis of a floor heated with an infrared radiant ceiling system, thermal control analysis of a heating system and calculation of the thermal admittance transfer functions for a wall. The main advantage over the use of black box building simulation programs is that the user consolidates in a single document the input data, the output data, and the model, thus having the capability to easily understand and change the model as well as the data. However, this flexibility may also be a disadvantage if the models are quickly changed without careful planning; this problem may be avoided if well documented versions of a section (file) are created after each modification.