Empirical Validation of Building Energy Simulation Software: Energyplus

This paper compares the results from a study conducted at Iowa Energy Center’s Energy Resource Station with EnergyPlus simulation results. The building consists of controlled test rooms, dedicated air handling units and air-cooled chillers for the purpose of obtaining quality data suitable for empirical validation studies. Weather data were also collected at the facility and used for the simulation. Empirical validation can be performed on various levels of the program such as zone level, systems level, and plant level. This study is unique in the sense that it integrates the zones, system, and plant into one analysis. For this study, the difference between empirical and EnergyPlus predicted zone cooling loads varied from 1.7% to 10.2%, but the difference for the compressor power was as much as 22.4%. The paper also describes the potential reasons why simulation results might not match field data.