Building Thermal Efficiency

Conduct some thermal performance modeling and dynamic energy consumption forecasting on a monolithic concrete dome structure of a defined size and shape. Then to baseline it against a “traditional building envelope.” Lastly, to install sensors in the test structures that the sustainability decathlon team is building this fall, and compare actual building performance with the models. The tasks will include:

1) identify appropriate thermal modeling software,
2) built a structure energy model with appropriate heat load conditions,
3) run simulations in the software,
4) track atmospheric/climatological data,
5) install data logging sensors and track building thermal performance, and
6) iteratively analyze and compare model predictions and actual building performance