Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Energy Modeling”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1983

Catalog of selected heavy duty transport energy management models

A catalog of energy management models for heavy duty transport systems powered by diesel engines is presented. The catalog results from a literature survey, supplemented by telephone interviews and mailed questionnaires to discover the major computer models currently used in the transportation industry in the following categories: heavy duty transport systems, which consist of highway (vehicle simulation), marine (ship simulation), rail (locomotive simulation), and pipeline (pumping station simulation); and heavy duty diesel engines, which involve models that match the intake/exhaust system to the engine, fuel efficiency, emissions, combustion chamber shape, fuel injection system, heat transfer, intake/exhaust system, operating performance, and waste heat utilization devices, i.e., turbocharger, bottoming cycle.

Colello, R. G.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Modeling City Building Stock for Large-Scale Energy Efficiency Improvements using CityBES

Buildings in San Francisco consumed 52% of total primary energy. Improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies cities are adopting towards their energy and climate goals. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures for investment and to design effective incentive and rebate programs. This paper introduces methods to develop a standardized dataset of city building stock, and it demonstrates the use of a UBEM tool, City Building Energy Saver (CityBES), for an urban-scale energy retrofit analysis of building stock in the city of San Francisco. CityBES is an open web-based data and computing platform providing city-scale building energy modeling and performance visualization and benchmarking. CityBES utilizes an international standard CityGML to represent the three-dimensional building stock in cities. As an application example, 940 office and retail buildings in six districts of northeast San Francisco were modeled and analyzed with CityBES to evaluate energy savings for five selected measures. The analysis found that replacing existing lighting with LED and adding an air economizer to HVAC systems are cost-effective measures with combined savings per building between 17% to 31%. The CityBES retrofit analysis feature does not require users to have deep knowledge of building systems or building energy models, which helps overcome barriers for city managers and their consultants to adopt UBEM.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1992

A new energy transfer model for turbulent free shear flow

A new model for the energy transfer mechanism in the large-scale turbulent kinetic energy equation is proposed. An estimate of the characteristic length scale of the energy containing large structures is obtained from the wavelength associated with the structures predicted by a weakly nonlinear analysis for turbulent free shear flows. With the inclusion of the proposed energy transfer model, the weakly nonlinear wave models for the turbulent large-scale structures are self-contained and are likely to be independent flow geometries. The model is tested against a plane mixing layer. Reasonably good agreement is achieved. Finally, it is shown by using the Liapunov function method, the balance between the production and the drainage of the kinetic energy of the turbulent large-scale structures is asymptotically stable as their amplitude saturates. The saturation of the wave amplitude provides an alternative indicator for flow self-similarity.

Liou, William W.-W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

CHUWD-H v1.0: a comprehensive historical hourly weather database for U.S. urban energy system modeling

Reliable and continuous meteorological data are crucial for modeling the responses of energy systems and their components to weather and climate conditions, particularly in densely populated urban areas. However, existing long-term datasets often suffer from spatial and temporal gaps and inconsistencies, posing great challenges for detailed urban energy system modeling and cross-city comparison under realistic weather conditions. Here we introduce the Historical Comprehensive Hourly Urban Weather Database (CHUWD-H) v1.0, a 23-year (1998-2020) gap-free and quality-controlled hourly weather dataset covering 550 weather station locations across all urban areas in the contiguous United States. CHUWD-H v1.0 synthesizes hourly weather observations from stations with outputs from a physics-based solar radiation model and a reanalysis dataset through a multi-step gap filling approach. A 10-fold Monte Carlo cross-validation suggests that the accuracy of this gap filling approach surpasses that of conventional gap filling methods. Designed primarily for urban energy system modeling, CHUWD-H v1.0 should also support historical urban meteorological and climate studies, including the validation and evaluation of urban climate modeling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

A multi-scale calibration approach for process-oriented aggregated building energy demand models

Long-term energy planning relies largely on projections of future energy demand and hourly load profiles. Aggregate building models are increasingly being utilized to characterize the sensitivity of current and future building stocks to changes in climate, population, and building technology on city-to-regional-to-national scales. Due to challenges in the availability of data, those analyses have been limited to projection of energy demand at a single scale, usually state or country, while long-term planning power system models and production cost models might operate at different spatial scales such as energy regions which are focused on ensuring adequate generation infrastructure. In this work, we propose and evaluate a novel method to calibrate an aggregate building energy demand model (PNNL’s BEND model) against the best available data at the spatial scale of balancing authorities. This approach extends previous work on aggregated building energy demand by facilitating analysis of building energy demand across scales, in particular policy and operational decision-making scales. We show that the bias-corrected model estimates building electric loads reasonably well compared with estimates from a statistical model, but has the additional feature of flexibility across spatial scales. While the calibration approach is presently U.S.-centric and associated with U.S. energy regions, it can be extrapolated to other worldwide regions with similar scale challenges between policy and operational implementation decision making. We discuss the significant challenges involved in formulating and calibrating a complex physical model based on simulations of roughly 100,000 individual buildings against available aggregate regional electric load data and highlight areas for potential future work and improved data collection.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2015

Technical Note: Improvements in GEANT4 energy-loss model and the effect on low-energy electron transport in liquid water

Purpose: The GEANT4-DNA physics models are upgraded by a more accurate set of electron cross sections for ionization and excitation in liquid water. The impact of the new developments on low-energy electron transport simulations by the GEANT4 Monte Carlo toolkit is examined for improving its performance in dosimetry applications at the subcellular and nanometer level. Methods: The authors provide an algorithm for an improved implementation of the Emfietzoglou model dielectric response function of liquid water used in the GEANT4-DNA existing model. The algorithm redistributes the imaginary part of the dielectric function to ensure a physically motivated behavior at the binding energies, while retaining all the advantages of the original formulation, e.g., the analytic properties and the fulfillment of the f-sum-rule. In addition, refinements in the exchange and perturbation corrections to the Born approximation used in the GEANT4-DNA existing model are also made. Results: The new ionization and excitation cross sections are significantly different from those of the GEANT4-DNA existing model. In particular, excitations are strongly enhanced relative to ionizations, resulting in higher W-values and less diffusive dose-point-kernels at sub-keV electron energies. Conclusions: An improved energy-loss model for the excitation and ionization of liquid water by low-energy electrons has been implemented in GEANT4-DNA. The suspiciously low W-values and the unphysical long tail in the dose-point-kernel have been corrected owing to a different partitioning of the dielectric function.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development of Automated Procedures to Generate Reference Building Models for ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and India’s Building Energy Code and Implementation in OpenStudio

This paper describes a software system for automatically generating a reference (baseline) building energy model from the proposed (as-designed) building energy model. This system is built using the OpenStudio Software Development Kit (SDK) and is designed to operate on building energy models in the OpenStudio file format.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of Precompression Deformation on the Strain-Controlled Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Extruded AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

In this work, the effect of precompression along the extrusion direction on the strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue behavior of an extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy was investigated. After precompression deformation occurred, the tensile yield strength decreased, whereas the tensile yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increased gradually as precompression deformation increased. The shape of the stress–strain hysteresis of a specimen with 5% precompression deformation changed from asymmetrical to symmetrical compared with that of the as-extruded specimen. Hence, the whole process was likely dominated by twinning–detwinning behavior. Fractographic analysis revealed that the crack propagation region of the specimen with 5% precompression deformation was flatter than that of the as-extruded specimen because of the compressive mean stress and finer grains in the specimen with 5% precompression deformation. The fatigue lives of the as-extruded and precompression specimens were predicted by the Coffin–Manson model, the Ellyin energy model, the Smith–Watson–Topper model, the Fatemi–Socie model, and the Jiang model, respectively. The life predicted by the Ellyin energy model and the Jiang model was consistent with the experimental data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1972

Model for energy transfer in the solar wind: Model results

A description is given of the results of solar wind flow in which the heating is due to (1) propagation and dissipation of hydromagnetic waves generated near the base of the wind, and (2) thermal conduction. A series of models is generated for fixed values of density, electron and proton temperature, and magnetic field at the base by varying the wave intensity at the base of the model. This series of models predicts the observed correlation between flow speed and proton temperature for a large range of velocities. The wave heating takes place in a shell about the sun greater than or approximately equal to 10 R thick. We conclude that large-scale variations observed in the solar wind are probably due mainly to variation in the hydromagnetic wave flux near the sun.

Barnes, A. A., Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2015

A simplified model for estimating population-scale energy impacts of building envelope air-tightening and mechanical ventilation retrofits

Changing the air exchange rate of a home (the sum of the infiltration and mechanical ventilation airflow rates) affects the annual thermal conditioning energy. Large-scale changes to air exchange rates of the housing stock can significantly alter the residential sector's energy consumption. However, the complexity of existing residential energy models is a barrier to the accurate quantification of the impact of policy changes on a state or national level. The Incremental Ventilation Energy (IVE) model developed in this study combines the output of simple air exchange models with a limited set of housing characteristics to estimate the associated change in energy demand of homes. The IVE model was designed specifically to enable modellers to use existing databases of housing characteristics to determine the impact of ventilation policy change on a population scale. The IVE model estimates of energy change when applied to US homes with limited parameterisation are shown to be comparable to the estimates of a well-validated, complex residential energy model.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Implementing Nonlinear Buoyancy and Excitation Forces in the WEC-Sim Wave Energy Converter Modeling Tool: Preprint

Wave energy converters (WECs) are commonly designed and analyzed using numerical models that combine multi-body dynamics with hydrodynamic models based on the Cummins Equation and linearized hydrodynamic coefficients. These modeling methods are attractive design tools because they are computationally inexpensive and do not require the use of high performance computing resources necessitated by high-fidelity methods, such as Navier Stokes computational fluid dynamics. Modeling hydrodynamics using linear coefficients assumes that the device undergoes small motions and that the wetted surface area of the devices is approximately constant. WEC devices, however, are typically designed to undergo large motions in order to maximize power extraction, calling into question the validity of assuming that linear hydrodynamic models accurately capture the relevant fluid-structure interactions. In this paper, we study how calculating buoyancy and Froude-Krylov forces from the instantaneous position of a WEC device (referred to as instantaneous buoyancy and Froude-Krylov forces from herein) changes WEC simulation results compared to simulations that use linear hydrodynamic coefficients. First, we describe the WEC-Sim tool used to perform simulations and how the ability to model instantaneous forces was incorporated into WEC-Sim. We then use a simplified one-body WEC device to validate the model and to demonstrate how accounting for these instantaneously calculated forces affects the accuracy of simulation results, such as device motions, hydrodynamic forces, and power generation.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bay Area Regional Energy: Network Integrated Commercial Retrofits (BRICR) Project. Final Report

The BRICR project applied large-scale building energy modeling concepts with the aim of reducing the cost of energy efficiency targeting, design, and project development, and measurement of energy savings for energy efficiency programs implemented by local governments that serve small and medium commercial buildings (SMB). The project leveraged the services and resources of existing local government energy programs serving disadvantaged and hard-to-reach SMB customers. In contrast to programs run by utilities, local government programs generally do not have direct access to energy billing records for an entire class of customers in a geographic area, which prior research demonstrated useful for large-scale building energy model baseline development and calibration. , However, local governments are rich in public records that offer important clues about physical attributes and uses that, along with behavior, determine energy use. Relying only on public records, BRICR demonstrated development of credible baseline energy models for 3,792 office, retail, and hotel buildings. Publicly disclosed annual energy use data from a local energy benchmarking program and anonymized data from the Building Performance Database, the nation’s largest dataset about energy-related characteristics of buildings, were utilized to validate and calibrate energy models via an innovative method comparing distributions of energy intensity by fuel type for portfolios of buildings of similar size, vintage, and use. Portfolio calibration does not provide certainty that an energy model fits an individual building; the method is useful when billing data is not accessible – a common situation for researchers, energy service providers and ESCOs, local governments, and any party other than a utility. A software component was developed, the BRICR gem, which automates simulation when relevant data is added or edited by the user to a file saved in the standardized BuildingSync XML schema for energy audit data. The component was demonstrated as a simplified means to generate a mass of energy models corresponding to public records containing basic attributes such as building scale, location, use, year built, and aspect ratio in combination with building energy code prototype data corresponding to use and vintage. The component was also demonstrated as a simplified means to automate energy simulation when attributes are revised; the intention was to enable iterative improvement of the baseline model and energy savings estimates for common energy conservation measures as users revise relevant attributes based on their observations. In the context of institutional change and uncertainty for the participating local government energy programs, 13 whole building retrofits were completed. Impacts were measured by applying the CalTRACK2.0 methods to standardize measurement of normalized metered energy consumption. The GRIDMeter methods of stratified sampling and individual load shape analysis were applied to adjust for impacts of the effect of COVID-19 on retrofitted buildings in the context of all local buildings of similar size and use. Excluding impacts of the pandemic, retrofitted buildings demonstrated between 1.6% and 25.1% reduction in energy use. The project contributed use cases and feedback that helped inform evolution of the software tools and data formats that were combined for the first time in the BRICR project.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

One of These Things IS Like the Other: Pursuing a New Taxonomy of Industry for Improved Energy System Modeling

Industrial processes drive the exchange of materials, energy, and currency throughout the economy. These processes are powered by electricity and direct combustion, with variation in their operation even within the same industry. This heterogeneity makes it difficult for large models, including the National Energy Modeling System (US), to project their energy use while remaining tractable. Decarbonization and ensuing changes to the energy system require changes to industrial processes while offering opportunities for process innovation, but the extent and nature of changes are difficult to model with current classification schemes and corresponding data. The North American Industrial Classification (NAICS) is an economic taxonomy of industries, but its categories are less meaningful from an energy and material flow perspective. For example, a facility that makes steel from iron ore in a blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace is categorized under the same NAICS code as a facility that makes steel from scrap in an electric arc furnace despite the scale, use of recycled scrap versus iron ore, and energy use differences in the two facility types. Exploratory analysis is performed on a large dataset used for plant-level energy assessment in order to detect clusters that can aid in better modeling of industry for energy analysis in an evolving system with breakthrough technologies.

28 EE - Advanced Manufacturing Office (EE-5A)↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scalable tuning of building models to hourly data

Energy models of existing buildings are unreliable unless calibrated so they correlate well with actual energy usage. Manual tuning requires a skilled professional, is prohibitively expensive for small projects, imperfect, non-repeatable, non-transferable, and not scalable to the dozens of sensor channels that smart meters, smart appliances, and cheap/ubiquitous sensors are beginning to make available today. A scalable, automated methodology is needed to quickly and intelligently calibrate building energy models to all available data, increase the usefulness of those models, and facilitate speed-and-scale penetration of simulation-based capabilities into the marketplace for actualized energy savings. The "Autotune'' project is a novel, model-agnostic methodology which leverages supercomputing, large simulation ensembles, and big data mining with multiple machine learning algorithms to allow automatic calibration of simulations that match measured experimental data in a way that is deployable on commodity hardware. This paper shares several methodologies employed to reduce the combinatorial complexity to a computationally tractable search problem for hundreds of input parameters. Furthermore, accuracy metrics are provided which quantify model error to measured data for either monthly or hourly electrical usage from a highly-instrumented, emulated-occupancy research home.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Empirical validation of building energy simulation model input parameter for multizone commercial building during the cooling season

This paper presents a critical advancement in Building Energy Modeling (BEM) through an empirical validation approach using a high-quality dataset from a multizone commercial office building in Oak Ridge, TN, USA. BEM is widely utilized in diverse construction applications, but its effectiveness relies on the accuracy of its predictions. The study focuses on empirical validation of input parameters in BEM, including building envelope data, infiltration modeling, and rooftop unit system performance curves. The validation of simulation input parameters leads to substantial improvements in the accuracy of simulation results. Notable both NMBE and cv (RMSE) values are reduced by 0.5 % for indoor air temperature and 17 % for indoor air relative humidity compared to the previous model. At the system level, both NMBE and cv (RMSE) values are reduced by 2 % for fan energy consumption and 4 % for cooling energy consumption, compared to the previous model. A literature review highlights a significant gap in empirical validation studies, which predominantly concentrate on either component-level or whole building validation. Furthermore, many studies employ simplified setups that may not faithfully represent the complexities of multizone commercial buildings. This paper distinguishes itself by emphasizing the critical importance of component-level input parameter validation. It underlines the need to validate data related to building envelope components and HVAC system performance curves, resulting in more accurate simulation outcomes. In conclusion, the utilization of actual multizone commercial building data enhances the study's practical relevance. In summary, this research underscores the pivotal role of input parameter validation in enhancing the accuracy and reliability of BEM.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗