BIM2Modelica - An open source toolchain for generating and simulating thermal multi-zone building models by using structured data from BIM models

Abstract

This contribution describes an open source toolchain which can transfer BIM models of 3D building constructions from CAAD programs into executable thermal multi-zone buildings models based on Modelica building energy simulation libraries. For this purpose, different open source libraries and tools were integrated into a Python-based software architecture of the toolchain: the IfcOpenShell/OCC libraries as the foundation for the import, analysis, and preparation of the BIM models; CoTeTo as the tool for the template-based code generation of the Modelica building models; the BuildingSystems library as the base for the thermal multi-zone building models; and JModelica as the simulation tool to perform the simulation analyses. While the first part of the paper describes the general approach and the software architecture of the toolchain, the second part illustrates its application with an example of a real building.