"Comparing computer run time of building simulation programs" by Tianzhen Hong, Fred Buhl et al.

Building Simulation: An International Journal

Article Title

Comparing computer run time of building simulation programs

Authors

Tianzhen Hong, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Fred Buhl, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Philip Haves, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Stephen Selkowitz, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Michael Wetter, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Keywords

computer run time, simulation program, DOE-2, EnergyPlus

Abstract

This paper presents an approach for comparing the computer run time of building simulation programs. The computing run time of a simulation program depends on several key factors, including the calculation algorithm and modeling capabilities of the program, the run period, the simulation time step, the complexity of the energy models, the run control settings, and the software and hardware configurations of the computer used to run the simulation. To demonstrate this approach, we ran simulations for several representative DOE-2.1E and EnergyPlus energy models. We then compared and analyzed the computer run times of these energy models.