Simplification of a high-fidelity model for generating thermoenergetic metamodels in a university educational building

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18830/1679-09442026v19e60256

Keywords:

Metamodels, Thermal-energy simulation, Thermal zones, Calibration

Abstract

With climate change and the increased demand for cooling, computational thermo-energetic modeling becomes essential for studying and adapting buildings. However, developing models that accurately represent complex buildings can be highly time-consuming and computationally intensive. This study investigates the use of metamodels to reduce building simulation time without compromising result accuracy. Using the Pavilhão de Aulas II (PVB) at the Federal University of Viçosa as a case study, three metamodels were developed, via EnergyPlus, based on simplifications of the original calibrated model. Validation was performed using ASHRAE Guideline 14, considering the Normalized Mean Bias Error (NMBE) and Coefficient of Variation of the Root Mean Square Error (CV(RMSE)) indices, as well as statistical approaches. Among the three metamodels compared, the simplest achieved the best performance and the shortest simulation time. The results indicate that reducing the number of thermal zones allows decreasing computational time, while keeping errors within acceptable limits.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Kahena Marx Silva, Federal University of Viçosa; Center for Exact Sciences; Department of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Undergraduate student in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV).

Rafael de Paula Garcia, Federal University of Viçosa; Center for Exact Sciences; Department of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), a master's degree in Computational Modeling from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), and a doctorate in Civil Engineering, with an emphasis on Computational Systems, from COPPE/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor 2 in the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at UFV, where he teaches courses in graphic representation. He is also a member of the faculty of the Postgraduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism at UFV. His research focuses on optimization theories and applications, with an emphasis on evolutionary metaheuristics and machine learning.

Ligiana Pricila Guimarães Fonseca, Federal University of Viçosa; Center for Exact Sciences; Department of Architecture and Urban Planning.

PhD candidate, Master's degree in Architecture and Urbanism, and architect and urban planner from the Federal University of Viçosa, conducts research in the area of ​​Environmental Behavior of Built Space, mainly focused on environmental comfort and energy efficiency of built spaces. She has experience with parametric modeling and simulation processes and simulation-based optimization. Currently, she is a tenured professor at CEFET-MG Varginha campus, working in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Joyce Correna Carlo, Federal University of Viçosa; Center for Exact Sciences; Department of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Holds a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1997), a specialization in Urban Analysis from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1999), and a master's degree (2002) and doctorate (2008) in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina. She completed a post-doctorate at UFSC, where she implemented the Brazilian Building Labeling Program in conjunction with Inmetro and Procel Edifica. She has been a professor in the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Viçosa since August 2009. She has experience in the areas of Bioclimatic Architecture, Energy Efficiency, and Thermo-energetic and Lighting Simulations, having carried out consultancies and architectural projects. She teaches courses in these areas, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She develops research focused on the performance and comfort of buildings with the development of building technologies or those related to climate change. She participated in the drafting of Inmetro's building labeling regulations. She is currently a specialist in building energy efficiency for the accreditation of inspection bodies by Inmetro and a participant in the Building Energy Efficiency Network and the Technical Secretariat of PBE Edifica. Member of the Committee for the Capes Thesis Award, 2023 edition, and of the Board of Directors of IBPSA - Brazil.

References

ALI, Usman; SHAMSI, Mohammad Haris; HOARE, Cathal; MANGINA, Eleni; O’DONNELL, James. Review of urban building energy modeling (UBEM) approaches, methods and tools using qualitative and quantitative analysis. Energy and Buildings, v. 246, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111073.

ARENDT, Krzysztof, et al. "Comparative analysis of white-, gray-and black-box models for thermal simulation of indoor environment: Teaching building case study." In: Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild: Co-organized by ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA. ASHRAE, 2018.

ASHRAE. ASHRAE Guideline 14-2014 (Reaffirmed 2018): Measurement of Energy, Demand, and Water Savings. Atlanta: ASHRAE, 2018.

ASHRAE – American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. ASHRAE Guideline 14-2023: Measurement of Energy, Demand, and Water Savings. Atlanta: ASHRAE, 2023.

BOUCHLAGHEM, N. M.; LETHERMAN, K. M. Numerical optimization applied to the thermal design of buildings. Building and environment, v. 25, n. 2, p. 117-124, 1990.

COAKLEY, Daniel; RAFTERY, Paul; KEANE, Marcus. A review of methods to match building energy simulation models to measured data. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, v. 37, p. 123–141, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.007.

CUI, C.; HU, M.; WEIR, J. D.; WU, T. A recommendation system for meta-modeling: a meta-learning based approach. Expert Systems with Applications, v. 46, p. 33–44, 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2015.10.021.

DONOVAN, O.; PAUL; MURPHY, M. D. Predicting air temperatures in a naturally ventilated nearly zero energy building: Calibration, validation, analysis and approaches. Applied Energy, v. 250, p. 991–1010, 2019. Disponível em: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.082>.

FOUCQUIER, A.; et al. State of the art in building modelling and energy performances prediction: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, v. 23, p. 272-288, 2013.

GIL, María del Pilar Casatejada. Simplificações na modelagem de habitações de interesse social no programa de simulação de desempenho térmico EnergyPlus. 2017. Dissertação (Mestrado em Arquitetura, Urbanismo e Tecnologia) - Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 2017. DOI:10.11606/D.102.2018.tde-12012018-103257. Acesso em: 04 abr. 2025.

IPCC, Working Group II. Technical Summary. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeClimate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Cambridge; New York. DOI: 10.1017/9781009325844.002.

KAVGIC, Miroslava et al. A review of bottom-up building stock models for energy consumption in the residential sector. Building and environment, v. 45, n. 7, p. 1683-1697, 2010.

LOPES, Adriano Felipe Oliveira; SILVA, Caio Frederico e; AMORIM, Cláudia Naves David; BATISTA, Juliana Oliveira. Avaliação do desempenho térmico de ambiente escolar padronizado, em contexto climático brasileiro, por meio de simulação termoenergética. PARC: Pesquisa em Arquitetura e Construção, Campinas, SP, v. 14, n. 00, e023030, 2023. DOI: 10.20396/parc.v14i00.8670652. Disponível em: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/parc/article/view/8670652. Acesso em: 17 out. 2025.

LUCARELLI, Caio de Carvalho; OLIVEIRA, Matheus Menezes; CARLO, Joyce Correna. Comparative analysis of Viçosa’s weather files: simulation adequacy for urban microclimate. In: PASSIVE AND LOW ENERGY ARCHITECTURE CONFERENCE – PLEA, 37., 2022, Santiago. Proceedings of the Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference 2022. Santiago: PLEA, 2022. Disponível em: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371444251.

MACIEL, Thalita dos Santos; LEITZKE, Rodrigo Karini; DUARTE, Carolina de Mesquita; SCHRAMM, Fábio Kellermann; CUNHA, Eduardo Grala da. Otimização termoenergética de uma edificação escolar: discussão sobre o desempenho de quatro algoritmos evolutivos multiobjetivo. Ambiente Construído, Porto Alegre, v. 21, n. 4, p. 67–86, out./dez. 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-86212021000400567.

OLINGER, M. S.; MELO, A. P.; NEVES, L. O.; LAMBERTS, R. Surrogate model development for naturally ventilated office buildings. In: BUILDING SIMULATION 2019: 16th International Conference of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), Roma, Itália, 2–4 set. 2019. Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019. Roma: International Building Performance Simulation Association, 2019. p. 1396–1403. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2019.210542.SILVA,

OLINGER, Marcelo Salles; MELO, Ana Paula; LAMBERTS, Roberto. Developing a surrogate model for naturally ventilated cellular offices in Brazil. Building and Environment, v. 233, p. 110075, 2023.

ØSTERGÅRD, Torben; JENSEN, Rasmus L.; MAAGAARD, Steffen E. Early Building Design: Informed decision-making by exploring multidimensional design space using sensitivity analysis. Energy and Buildings, v. 142, p. 8-22, 2017.

SAKIYAMA, N. R. M.; MAZZAFERRO, L.; CARLO, J. C.; BEJAT, T.; GARRECHT, H. Natural ventilation potential from weather analyses and building simulation. Energy and Buildings, v. 231, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110596.

SÁNCHEZ-ZABALA, Víctor F.; GÓMEZ-ACEBO, Tomás. Building energy performance metamodels for district energy management optimisation platforms. Energy Conversion and Management: X, v. 21, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2023.100512.

SHI, Xing; TIAN, Zhichao; CHEN, Wenqiang; SI, Binghui; JIN, Xing. A review on building energy efficient design optimization from the perspective of architects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, v. 65, p. 872-884, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.07.050.

SILVA, Arthur Santos; GHISI, Enedir. Uncertainty analysis of the computer model in building performance simulation. Energy and Buildings, v. 76, p. 258-269, 2014.

SOUZA, Pedro Carmo e. Effect of natural ventilation on airborne disease infection risk in lecture halls. 2024. 111 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Arquitetura e Urbanismo) - Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa. 2024.

SUN, Han; BURTON, Henry; HUANG, Honglan. Machine learning applications for building structural design and performance assessment: state-of-the-art review. Journal of Building Engineering, v. 33, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101816.

TOULOUPAKI, Eleftheria; THEODOSIOU, Theodoros. Optimization of building form to minimize energy consumption through parametric modelling. Procedia Environmental Sciences, v. 38, p. 509–514, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2017.03.114.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY. EnergyPlus Engineering Reference: The Reference to EnergyPlus Calculations. Version 25.1.0. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy, 2025. Disponível em: https://energyplus.net/documentation. Acesso em: 4 abr. 2025.

VEIGA, Rodolfo Kirch; ELI, Letícia Gabriela; KRELLING, Amanda F.; OLINGER, Marcelo Salles; outros. Development of a metamodel to assess building thermal performance for naturally ventilated residential buildings. Proceedings of Building Simulation 2021, 2021.

WESTERMANN, Paul; EVINS, Ralph. Surrogate modelling for sustainable building design–A review. Energy and buildings, v. 198, p. 170-186, 2019.

WMO - World Meteorological Organization. State of the Global Climate 2022. Geneva, Switzerland: WMO.

WONG, Cyrus Ho Hin; CAI, Meng; REN, Chao; HUANG, Ying; LIAO, Cuiping; YIN, Shi. Modelling building energy use at urban scale: a review on their account for the urban environment. Building and Environment, v. 205, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108235.

WORTMANN, Thomas; CICHOCKA, Judyta; WAIBEL, Christoph. Simulation-based optimization in architecture and building engineering - Results from an international user survey in practice and research. Energy and Buildings, v. 259, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111863.

XIA, D.; WU, Z.; ZOU, Y. Developing a bottom-up approach to assess energy challenges in urban residential buildings of China. Frontiers of Architectural Research, [S.l.]: Elsevier/KeAi, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2025.03.006.

YANG, Song; TIAN, Wei; CUBI, Eduard; MENG, QingXin; LIU, YunLiang; WEI, Lai. Comparison of sensitivity analysis methods in building energy assessment. Procedia Engineering, v. 146, p. 174–181, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.369.

YU, Xingji; GEORGES, Laurent; KNUDSEN, Michael D.; SARTORI, Igor; IMSLAND, Lars. Investigation of the model structure for low-order grey-box modeling of residential buildings. In: INTERNATIONAL BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, 16., 2019, Rome. Proceedings of the International Building Performance Simulation Association Conference. Rome: IBPSA, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2019.211209.

Published

2026-02-25

How to Cite

Marx Silva, K., de Paula Garcia, R., Pricila Guimarães Fonseca, L., & Correna Carlo, J. (2026). Simplification of a high-fidelity model for generating thermoenergetic metamodels in a university educational building. Paranoá, 19, e60256. https://doi.org/10.18830/1679-09442026v19e60256

Issue

Section

Technology, Environment and Sustainability

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.