Numerical transient simulations of heating plants for buildings

Abstract

The area of domestic heating and cooling is nowadays a key sector in the energy policies pursued by the European Union, since about 30% of energy consumption in the EU countries is due to thermal comfort in buildings. To achieve the reduction of fossil fuels consumption one solution is to optimize the use of the energy having an efficient management of the heating plants. A dynamic approach is therefore needed, since energy saving actions are possible only with the knowledge of the behavior in time of the different elements of the plant. In this paper, the development of a dynamic model for buildings heating plants is described. The model, validated by means of a comparison with measured data, allows to simulate the variation in time of some key parameters and to describe the behavior of the whole system for varying boundary conditions. Some parametric studies are presented in order to better describe the capabilities of the model.