Validation exercise applied to some TRNSYS components in the context of IEA 34/43.

An important part of IEA 34/43 is concerning validation of building simulation models. Analytical and comparative validation of multizone building simulation models are the object of Subtask B while empirical validation of models dealing with the shading, day lighting and cooling load interaction is targeted by Subtask C.
For the first approach, the Multizone Building Component of TRNSYS (“Type 56”) was tested in a
series of exercises ranging from analytical and simplified cases up to more complex situations where special features like presence of site obstructions, internal windows are taken into account. The good capabilities of TRNSYS Type 56 as well as its limitations were pointed out by the exercise and the results are discussed in the paper.
In the second approach, a well-instrumented testing infrastructure (a test-cell) located at EMPA in Zürich, Switzerland was used to check the performance of TRNSYS regarding the solar processing features (calculation of diffuse radiation; repartition of solar radiation on vertical facades) as well as the dynamic behavior of the Multizone Building model in different shading situations: no shading, internal shading, external shading. High quality measurements corresponding to periods of 600h were generated for each of these situations and the simulation model was tailored to represent as much as possible the experimental conditions. In general, the behavior of TRNSYS was demonstrated very good. The influence of some specific features of Type 56, for instance concerning the calculation of the infrared exchanges, is illustrated in the paper.