Thermal - electrical analogy in dynamic simulations of buildings: Comparison of four numerical solution methods

The lumped capacitance method is widely used in dynamic modelling of buildings. Models differ in complexity, solution methods and ability to simulate transient behaviour of described objects. The paper presents a mathematical description of a simple 1R1C thermal network model of a building zone. Four numerical methods were applied to solve differential equation describing its dynamics. For validation purposes two test cases (600 and 900) from the BESTEST procedure were used. In both cases detailed results were given. Better ability of the simulation model to reproduce transient behaviour of the modelled buildings was noticed in case of the lightweight object (case 600). Annual heating and cooling demand was within the reference range for heavyweight one (case 900). The kind of the computation method had no significant effect on simulation results.