National Science Foundation funding
BIM solar design, simulation project

Three faculty members at Texas A&M's College of Architecture are aiming to advance the field of solar building design and simulation through the introduction of Building Information Modeling in a three-year, $300,000 study.

Wei Yan, assistant professor of architecture, Mark Clayton and Jeff Haberl, professors of architecture, are the principal investigators in the project, "Physical Building Information Modeling for Solar Building Design and Simulation." Its funding comes from the National Science Foundation's Environmental Sustainability Program, part of the NSF's Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems.

"The software we invent in this project is intended to help designers better understand buildings' energy use and energy production," said Clayton. “We hope to integrate energy simulation more tightly into the architect’s design software to support better decisions to reduce energy use.”

The team will research a novel BIM method that involves adding capability within a BIM model to interface more effectively with simulation software.

"It should be faster, less error prone, and easier to use than current practice, which is to export a BIM model to a different format into a legacy software system," said Clayton.

The new method, said Yan, integrates the emerging technologies of BIM and Object-Oriented Physical Modeling.

"While BIM supports 3-D, semantic and parametric modeling for design and construction in a building’s lifecycle, OOPM facilitates the simulation and analysis of both natural and artificial physical systems," he said.

Other objectives of the project, as listed in its abstract, are to:

• build a prototype of the method for solar building and simulation integrating building-integrated photovoltaic, passive solar thermal, and daylighting systems;
• test BIM simulation results using benchmark simulations;
• evaluate the usability of the method in architecture design classrooms, and
• provide guidelines for software developers to create new tools for solar building and whole building simulations.

“Design decisions inevitably reflect optimization of performance across multiple factors," said Clayton. "This research will push forward the art and science of design by integrating simulation of energy, daylighting, photovoltaic systems and architectural design.”

The study, he said, reflects the national priority to reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling buildings.

"Our goal is to reach 'net-zero' buildings that not only use very small amounts of energy, but also produce energy in sufficient quantity to cancel all of the amount used," said Clayton. "Even better are 'net-positive' buildings that, through technologies such as photovoltaic panels and wind generators, produce more energy than they consume."

Part of the research, he said, will involve building-integrated photovoltaics, arrays of cells containing material that converts solar radiation into electricity.

"BIPV is a new approach to integration of energy production into buildings," said Clayton. "Rather than being an add-on tacked on to the building, BIPV replaces conventional cladding materials such as shingles or wall panels with solar cells. Our research will take a big step forward in analyzing the impact of these technologies on building design and help pave the way to their widespread adoption.”

- Posted: Mar. 29, 2010 -