A Semi-Automated Approach For Detecting Building Spaces With Deteriorating Performance Using IFC-BIM and Energy Simulations

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2017

School

Construction and Design

Abstract

Facility managers constantly face energy performance issues, wjiich result from the mismatch between a facility's actual energy performance and its predicted performance, i.e. design energy simulation results. While the gap between the predicted and actual energy performance may be result of several factors stem from any phase in a facility's life cycle, facility managers are the ones responsible for reducing it. Nevertheless, they lack the tools and methods for detecting spaces with deteriorated equipment or system malfunctions in timely manner, which only contributes to the energy performance gap in a given facility. Therefore, this paper proposes a semi-automated framework that enables detecting spaces with deteriorated energy performance within a facility using BIM and energy simulation results. The framework automatically aggregates data from two different Facility Management (FM) systems, namely Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) and Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), and use the aggregated data to run energy simulations in IFC-Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment. The next step is the comparison between the actual and the predicted energy performance that needs to be carried out manually by the facility manager. The proposed framework was validated using data obtained from an unoccupied educational building. The results indicated that the framework is capable of aggregating and visualizing space oriented information in IFC-BIM environment. Furthermore, the aggregated data was used to run energy simulations to obtain facility's actual energy performance, and was compared to the predicted energy performance. This study supplements the existing body of knowledge by providing a framework that enables facility managers to detect spaces with energy over consumption within their facilities. The proposed framework could help enhance current maintenance planning practices and help improve facilities energy performance.

Publication Title

Proceedings, Annual Conference - Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Volume

2017-May

First Page

45

Last Page

53

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